They're in Cayden's truck, and Angie's mad as a hornet.
The tsunami hit the beach! Angie broke free and crashed against the side cab door, "Let me out of here! I've got to get out!" She slammed back against Caprice. She swung out and hit the whore in the jaw, "I know you. I know who you are! You're here to get him and steal my baby," she started blathering and crying, "I know. I know. I know."
Caprice tasted the blood where Angie hit her, "Angie that's so ridiculous," she wrestled Angie to the seat, "I'm a fucking whore. Cayden bought me a week ago. They were going to kill me and he bought me," she kept Angie down, "Angie why would you believe a man like your father, a man you say kept you locked in a room for three years?"
Angie had wondered about that for a long time; she just never had an alternative to the things he'd said that made sense. Still tightly in Caprice's grip she looked up at Cayden and snarled, "I hate you. You know that."
I stared at her. I'd heard it a hundred times before; it always hurt.
Caprice tried to stay calm, "Let's go back to Cayden's. We'll take a shower. We'll find you something to wear. We'll all get a good night's sleep, she kept a tight hold on the smaller woman, "Tomorrow's Good Friday. There probably aren't any services, but we could go to church. We could pray about all this."
Angie had been brought up and schooled in the church; prayer had always been an outlet, she calmed perceptibly.
I hadn't had the churching Angie had, but I'd begun to see Caprice had also gotten quite a lot of it from somewhere, "I think Caprice is right. I've got some clothes that will fit you Angie."
Angie was starting again, "Why would you have any of my clothes?"
I slipped up, "I bought some stuff once right after I came home."
Both women looked up in mild surprise. Caprice kept a tight hold on Angie. Angie let her.
I restarted the truck, released the emergency brake, and pulled back on the road. Once we got back to my house I went upstairs to where I'd stored all the things having to do with Emily and Angie. I unlocked the bedroom door and went to the bureau. I pulled out all that stuff I'd bought for Angie. I got out the white blouse, slacks, panties, bra, socks and shoes. I laid them neatly on a chair, and then on a whim reopened Mitchell's sea chest. I just wanted to get another look at a couple of those pictures of my little girl.
Just as I was about to put the lid back down I heard some shouting downstairs. I ran down.
Caprice was holding my cell phone. She yelled at me, "That man Bernard went to Angie's mom's looking for Angie. He must have scared the lady to death. She called here looking for Angie. I told her she was here and OK. The lady wants to see you right away."
I was completely caught off guard; forgetting everything else I coughed out, "I left the clothes I got for Angie upstairs. You two can go get them. I'll go over to Mrs. Bradford's right away."
Angie spoke up, "I want to go too."
"No, you better stay here. I won't be more than an hour or so."
Caprice gave Angie a sympathetic look, "It'll be all right. We can clean up and get ready for bed."
I could see Angie wasn't happy, but I was sure it was the best thing. I had an unlikely thought, 'This Caprice; she's a natural at helping people.' I shoved the thought aside, and grabbed my keys, "I'll be right back."
Caprice took Angie's hand, "Come on let's go see what Cayden bought."
Angie and Caprice went upstairs. When they got there they went into the small bedroom. Caprice said, "Look, here are the clothes," she held up the blouse. Trying to be upbeat she said, "This is really pretty."
++++++++++
Angie gets a peek at something she wasn't supposed to see.
I wasn't interested in any old clothes Cayden might have bought me. I saw Uncle Mitchell's old sea chest. I knew Cayden, and I knew how he used that chest. I thought I might snoop around a little. The first thing I saw was this small stack of receipts Cayden must have just placed there. I picked them up, and immediately recognized them as the receipts for my and Emily's Easter Dresses as well as another receipt for my mom's dress. I started to dig deeper.
Caprice saw me, "Hey what are you doing?"
"Come here, look at this."
Caprice walked over. Since she didn't have any glasses all she saw was a bunch of blurry papers, "I don't think we should be looking at any of this."
Angie replied, "No look."
"I can't see. I need glasses."
Angie held up a bunch of papers, then a stack of pictures, "These are pictures of me and Emily, old pictures. And these are receipts. They're receipts for things I thought my mom had bought."
"What do you mean?"
Angie started to pull all the pictures and papers put of the chest. There were hundreds of things, "I thought. All this time I thought."
"Thought what?"
"All the clothes, the dance lessons, the money for her birthday parties; Cayden's been paying for everything."
"I don't get it?"
"No look, ever since Cayden's been back he's been buying everything. I should have known my mom didn't have the money; all my clothes, Emily's clothes, her presents, her Christmas presents. He's been buying it all. There's even a receipt for a pony here; a pony for Emily."
"This is a good thing then."
Angie started to tear up, "No this is terrible. All this time, all this time he's been..."