Page 34 of The Unbecoming

“You don’t have to explain, Nora,” he says gently. “All I need you to do is go get your shoes.”

“My shoes?” I ask, confused.

“Mhmm. I will take you,” he says. “You’ll be in my custody, so we can be gone as long as we need.”

“You mean it?” I ask tearfully. “You’ll go with me?”

“I’ll hold your hand, stand guard, or wait in the truck. Whatever you need, I’m there,” he says.

“Why?” I ask. “Why do you care about me?”

“Why did Liam?” he asks. “Why did Alex?”

“I don’t know…”

“We don’t need a reason to have basic human compassion, Nora,” he says. “I’m so sorry that your life has taught you to be suspicious of kindness, because you deserve far more than that. Liam and Alex loved you.”

“Are you confessing your love to me right now, Ricky?” I ask, and Sadie barks out a laugh from across the room.

“Your sarcasm is truly a gift, Nora,” he says with a smile. “Do you remember the night your father was arrested? Remember who took you to the hospital?”

“No…”

“That was me, Nora,” he says. “I was about to become a detective, so I was taking on calls like these.”

“Really?” I ask. “I don’t remember…”

“Yeah, when I got the call, all I knew was that you had called the police and told the dispatcher what he had done to you the moment prior. You locked yourself in a closet and wouldn’t come out, so I sat on the floor and talked to you until you came out,” he says. “I took you to the hospital and stayed there until social services got there the next morning.”

“I remember feeling safe when I was at the hospital. Everything is foggy from back then.”

“Trauma does that,” he says. “Nora, I promised you in that room that life would get better someday, and I intend to stick around to see you get there.”

“Then you’ll ditch me?” I ask with a small smile, and he rolls his eyes but chuckles.

“Go get your shoes,” he tells me. “We can get this done, and then grab some food.”

“Will there be ice cream involved?” I ask.

“What kind of person do you think I am?” he asks. “Duh, there will be ice cream.”

Ricky is the closest thing I have to a father at this point, but it took me a while to see that he is nothing like my actual father. He was a sick man who deserved every miserable second he spent in jail before he was killed.

I get my shoes on, and when I come back, Ricky is getting off the phone. “Kimberly knows what’s going on. She said she will set up the meeting. She also said she called someone at the clinic. They are going to let you go through the back entrance so the media doesn’t spot you.”

“I didn’t even think of that,” I sigh. “Am I doing the right thing?”

“Can you imagine yourself living a happy and healthy life if you have this baby?” he asks me bluntly.

“No… The thought of it… I wouldn’t survive it, Ricky,” I say quietly. “I love them so much… but raising their child without them…”

“Then yes, I think you are doing the right thing,” he says. “What would they tell you?”

“When the condom broke, Alex told me he would support whatever I wanted,” I say. “Liam would have said the same.”

“Then don’t be too hard on yourself,” he tells me. “You are doing what’s best for you, and you are all that matters right now.”

“I love you so much,” Sadie says, hugging me.