“Why is there nothing about Harlowe online?”Archie asked.
“She deleted all her social media during the divorce and asked her company to take her off their website.She said she did it for safety reasons, but we were never clear on what her concern was.”
“I was afraid he’d kill me,” Harlowe said.
Her parents gasped.
“Do you remember, honey?”Archie asked.
Her lips quivered as she nodded.“I remember Evan.He hurt me.No one believed me.They said he came from such a nice family… We grew up together.He’d never hurt me.”
Archie noticed Harlowe’s hands were trembling.
“Ma’am, I’d like to sit with her.”
“Oh.”Barbara seemed startled.Thankfully, she got up and moved to another seat.
Archie sat next to Harlowe, put his arm around her and held her close to him, infuriated by the trembling.She’d remembered something, and it had upset her greatly.He feared what else she might remember and how it would hurt her even more.
Now he knew why there was no trace of her online.In a way, that was a relief, even if he hated the reason for it.
“Where’s Evan now?”Archie asked.“Could he be responsible for what happened to you?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“She pressed charges against him,” George said, “but the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.We don’t know where he is now.”
So the son of a bitch had gotten away with it.
“Needless to say, we’re not friends with his parents anymore,” George said.
“Was that your choice or theirs?”Archie asked.
“Mostly theirs.We felt terrible about what happened.”
“You felt terrible that their son hurt your daughter?”
“We…” Barbara looked to her husband as if she wanted him to reply.
“We felt terrible about all of it.”
“I think you should go,” Archie said.
“What?”Barbara said.“We just got here.”
“And now you have to go.”
“Is that what you want, Harlowe?”George asked.
“Archie said you should go,” she said.“That’s what you should do.”
“Who is this man you’re holding close while sending us away?”
“He’s the one who stepped up for me at the darkest time in my life, and apparently, he didn’t care for your answers just now.I don’t remember all the details, but it’s interesting to me that you didn’t say you felt terrible that my husband hurt me.You felt terrible about the whole situation.”
“Of course we did!”George said.“That boy practically grew up in our home.”
“ButIam your child,” she said softly.“Not him.”
