Julia
Within seconds of Mario leaving the room he suddenly returns causing my hold on Nina to tighten while Riley seems to ignore him not seeming to be able to take his eyes off me while I sit on the floor with my little girl wrapped around me like a monkey. Mario grunts and finally Riley takes his attention off of us and onto him.
"Mario. Why are you back? Did you forget something?" As he asks the question, I feel my blood run cold. What if he's changed his mind and he wants to take Nina back? I mean he won't because over my dead body will she get kidnapped again. "I just wanted a quick chat with Julia, there was something that I forgot to ask her.
He turns his attention toward me taking a moment to stare at Nina. "Julia." he nods my way but I struggle to find any words.
"Julia. I just wanted to ask you something. Where my men found you, is that where you are living?"
"Hmmm..."
"This isn't a test of some kind Julia. What I want to know is are you still homeless, because if you are I want to help."
"But why? We don't know if you are... wouldn't you rather wait first? Besides I'm ok, well be ok."
"She is a part of this but even if I'm not I still want to help you, Julia. Nina meant a lot to me and I know she wants this too,"
This is the last thing that I was expecting to hear from him and I find myself speechless. "She was homeless but she's not anymore Mario. They will both be staying with me now." Riley's words throw me through a loop and if I thought I was speechless before then I don't know what I am now. I hear Riley and Mario as they keep talking but I can't seem to keep up with them, my brain is completely fogged over.
Nina wiggling around brings me out of the fog just as Mario heads for the door but before he leaves he turns back to face us with a curious look. "Is she yours?" Is who what? What's he on about?" I look over at Riley only to find him already staring at me, without a word he turns back to face Matio nodding. "Yes, she is. They both are." Mario's lips twitch in what I can only imagine is an attempt at smiling before he opens the door. "Your sister will be ecstatic!" he calls over his shoulder as he walks out of the room and down the hall.
A strange feeling comes over me "We need to go. I want to spend some time with Nina." I stand up still feeling a little foggy while Nina still has a hold of me. "You're not going back to the streets, Julia." Riley has moved so that he's not standing right in front of me, a stern look on his face.
"We haven't lived on the streets since we left the hospital." Granted where we've been staying hasn't been amazing but still, it's better than any alleyway that I've ever lived in and I've lived in a few. "Where have you been staying then? because I have spent every day this past week looking for you. Josh and I have searched every alleyway, every homeless shelter and you've been nowhere."
"We've been staying in an abandoned cottage that we found. Wait... you've been looking for us?" It may have taken a minute for his words to catch up with me but when they do they floor me. He nods while smiling a little. "Yes, of course, I have."
"But why?" I stare at Riley and then look around the room when I hear movement and watch as both Mandy and Josh head for the door. "We'll leave you to talk. Julia, would it be ok for Nina to come with me? I'm going to have some cookies and milk and would love for her to join me. I promise she won't leave my sight." Mandy's voice is as gentle as I remember back when she caught me stealing from her. I hesitate for a moment but deep down I know that I can trust her so I nod and an excited Nina runs towards her.
"You not leaving are you momma?" her little voice and question make me feel sad. My poor baby.
"No baby, I'll be here don't worry. You go and enjoy your cookies and milk and make sure to mind Miss Mandy ok?" She nods with a beaming smile as she takes hold of Mandy's hand and heads out of the room.
As soon as the door is closed I turn to face Riley. "Why?" he looks at me like I'm insane but I'm still confused. "Why do you think, Julia?" I shrug my shoulders like a child. " I don't know, Riley."
"Don't you remember everything that I've said to you since we met? Hell, I wanted to take you home with me that day in the alleyway but you didn't let me and I wanted to do the same at the hospital but again you wouldn't let me... again you ran."
"Of course, I remember everything." I don't know how many nights I've laid awake going over our conversations. "Then why did you run? Why are you trying to run now? Fuck..." One word and yet the moment he says it I know that he's already worked out all out, my secret, the reason for me running even when part of me didn't want to. "You were running because of Nina?" It's more of a statement than a question but I still nod silently answering him. "But why?"
"Because of Mario. When his man killed Nina... Little Nina was only 12 hours old, she hadn't even named her yet. I was holding her when... when he killed Nina and then he told me that I had two weeks to leave with the baby or he'd come for her too so I left. I took Nina and moved away from the city just outside of New York."
"Fuck, I can't even imagine what you've been through." He takes hold of my hand and pulls me over to a couch that's against the back wall of his office and sits down before pulling me down onto his lap. "So you had just lost your best friend and suddenly you were alone with a baby who wasn't even your own and homeless?" I nod as I try to stop my tears from coming out but it's no use. "So how did you end up back here?"
"After being away for about four months I came back to visit the others. It was a stupid risky thing to do but I was lonely tired and felt completely lost and alone and hoped that seeing the others would help me but if anything, the thought of leaving them again made me feel even worse. None of them wanted us to leave. They wanted us to stay and had a whole plan already made for if I returned. And so the next day we left that alleyway and moved to the one that I was living in when you met me. I barely slept for the first six months and not because of Nina. I was so scared... so scared that he would find us."
"so what changed? I know something changed because of how you have been. Were you planning on leaving again or did you just do that to get away from me?" He looks pissed but sad all at the same time and it's a strange combination. "No, no I wasn't running from you."
"So what happened?"
"About a month before we met he found me while I was out on the streets one day. I rarely went out in the say but Nina had a cough and needed some cough syrup so I had to. Anyway, he pulled me off the street and he... he held a gun to my head. He told me that he didn't want to kill Nina but that he would and that I had one more chance to leave. I had one month to be gone or he would find us and there wouldn't be a third chance. That's why I was running from you, it was because I knew that we had to leave after Christmas, that I couldn't risk staying here and him finding her.
"Fuck! He's a dead man!"