Page 66 of British Daddy to Go
At least, it is until I get a chance to take in the room Maggie has been living in.
“Is this your bedroom?”
She nods nervously. “It never used to bother me until I was locked in and couldn’t get out. They even locked the bathroom door so that I couldn’t escape that way, either.”
“How long have you been in here?”
“Since the morning I came back home,” Maggie admits. I feel like an absolute ass. This entire thing is my fault! If I hadn’t let Maggie fall asleep that night, she wouldn’t be in this mess.
“Oh, Maggie, I’m so sorry…”
She squeezes me tightly. “It’s not your fault. My parents are crazy. I hate that it has taken me until now to figure that out. I should have moved out the second I turned eighteen instead of letting them control every aspect of my life.”
I glance around her room. It really is more like a closet than a bedroom. There’s hardly enough space for the twin-sized bed and the small dresser lined up against the far wall. The closet-sized space only has a single window.
Maggie has done her best over the years to turn it into a livable space. Aside from her bed and dresser, there’s a small table with a sewing machine perched on top. It’s taking up the last remaining space in the room. I couldn’t walk from one side to the other because the table and chair come right up against the side of the bed.
It’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic or this room would be suffocating.
“I can’t believe they locked you in here,” I finally say. “If I’d known…”
“You couldn’t have known!” Maggie assures me. “They took my computer and my phone. I’ve had no contact with the outside world for a full week. The only reason I know the time is because I have that clock on my wall.”
Sure enough, a simple clock adorns the wallpapered wall above her bed. I’m definitely missing my meeting right now. But like I’d said, Maggie is way more important to me than whatever those people needed me for. I’ll have Greg reschedule it when I get back to the office. That likely won’t be until tomorrow, if not the next day.
I will not let Maggie stay in this hell any longer. “Pack up everything you own,” I tell her. “We’re going to my place.”
“Sean, you don’t have to do that. I can go stay with Jenna. She’s been offering me a place in her apartment since high school graduation…”
I shake my head to cut her off. “I’m not letting you out of my sight again!” I promise.
Maggie smiles through her tears. “I’m so glad you came to find me.”
I stroke her messy hair. “You’re safe now, Maggie.”
She nods against my chest. “I always feel safe with you. I’m so sorry about what I said. That was what my parents thought, not what I thought…”
“Shh,” I say. “I get it now. I shouldn’t have been so angry with you that morning. You tried to explain how controlling and conservative your parents are, but I couldn’t imagine it. Now that I’ve seen your room, I really do understand.”
“I want you to know that this is the worst it’s ever been,” Maggie informs me. My heart shatters. This is all because of me, no matter how many times she tries to say otherwise! I’m the cause of her worst punishment to date. All the more reason to get her out of here. If her parents knew I was here right now, they’d probably come up with something worse than locking their only daughter up in her windowless bedroom.
“I’m sorry they did this to you.”
“Me, too. But can I be honest?”
I nod. “You can always be honest with me.”
“This week has been terrible, but I have to look on the bright side. At least their awful punishment brought me back to you. Which is especially funny considering the whole idea of the punishment was to keep me away from you.”
“You told them about us?”
Maggie laughs. “I tried to lie and say I was at Jenna’s, but they didn’t believe me. As soon as I spilled the truth, they called me every foul name in the book. Well, I shouldn’t saytheydid because it was mostly my mother. Dad didn’t do anything to stop it, though, so he’s as much at fault as she is.”
I can’t imagine letting anyone treat my child that way, let alone her own mother. If Maggie and I ever have children together, they’ll be so well-loved, they’ll want to rebel. At the end of the day, they’ll love us for loving them.
Maggie reluctantly steps out of my arms to gather up her possessions. After she’s filled a small suitcase with clothes, including the dresses from the floor beside the sewing machine, she joins me back in the doorway. She stares longingly at her sewing machine.
“We’ll get you a new sewing machine,” I assure her. “You can turn the spare room in my penthouse into a sewing room!”
Her eyes light up. “You’d let me do that?”
I kiss her for the first time in a week. She’s surprised at first, but then she quickly melts into my embrace. “I’ll let you do anything,” I whisper against her sweet lips. I absolutely mean it. Anything she wants, it’s hers.
She already has my heart.