Forgive Me

Normal POV

It had been a week since Joan got mad at Ollie. Valerie decided to pay more attention to her husband’s behavior toward Ollie. And her conclusions were really disappointing. She realized that Joan was an awful man. Valerie felt guilty not to have noticed this before.
One day, she came back home and heard some yelling from Ollie’s room. It was Joan yelling after Ollie. Valerie thought she would throw up; what Joan was telling Ollie…it was too much for her. She entered the room, pretexting she needed Joan’s help and gave an apologetic look to Ollie. Joan left the room and Ollie smiled lightly to her mother.
And that kind of things happened a few times. Maddy didn’t notice because she working with the guys or hanging out with Zack.
Ollie didn’t hang out much with the guys recently, and that worried Brian. He hoped he hadn’t done anything wrong… He couldn’t explain why Ollie wasn’t answering his phone calls or his texts.
The reason was that Ollie was afraid of Joan’s reaction. When Joan was getting mad at her, he often mentioned Brian, wanting to know who he was and why she was hanging out whit him. She retorted that she was 25 and that she could do whatever she wanted, with who she wanted, and then the beating and the yelling were getting worse. So she decided to avoid any form of contact with Brian.
Maddy wasn’t stupid at all. She had noticed the worried look of her mother, the sad expression on her sister’s face, and the desperation coming back in Brian’s life.

Back to the present, today was a normal day. Maddy was still at the guys’ place, Joan at work, Ollie was on her way home, and Valerie was patiently waiting for Ollie. It was the first time in month that Ollie had exited the house.
Valerie was more than worried and stressed since a few weeks, mostly because of the Ollie/Joan situation. So she decided she had talk with her daughter.
Ollie sighed when she opened her front door. The first person she saw was her mother. She looked around her to see if Joan was already here or not.

“He’s at work.”, her mother said, reading her thoughts.

“Oh. Okay.”, Ollie responded.

She was on her way to her room, when she heard her mother whisper to herself “you can do it, you can do it!”. Ollie frowned but continued to walk to her room.
She put her purse next to her bed, and sat on her bed with her laptop on her thighs.
She heard footsteps and frowned.
Her mother appeared in the way of her door.

“Sweetie?”, Valerie started.

“Yeah, mom?”, Ollie replied, a bit confused.

Valerie looked at her hand and made her way to Ollie’s bed. She sat down.

“I would like to talk to you.”, she said.

“Sure, mom. About what?”, Ollie responded, smiling to her mother.

Valerie sighed and looked deeply in the eyes of her daughter.

“Joan.”

Ollie’s jaw clenched and she looked at her hands.

“Okay.”, she finally managed to say.

“Hmm,…I see that things aren’t going well between you and him.”, Valerie said. She made a mental note to slap herself later for being so stupid.

Ollie chuckled nervously. “I guess you can say that.”

Valerie didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know how she could make Ollie talk about her relation with her stepfather.

“I…I would like you to tell me….if… Well… When did it started, you know…Him yelling and beating you?”

Ollie closed her eyes and clenched her fists. She couldn’t tell her mother the truth. Her mother didn’t deserve to know such a horrible thing.
But on the other hand, what if Joan became violent toward Valerie too? She had to be warned.

“Years.”, Ollie finally admitted.

Valerie’s eyes widened and her breath stopped. “What?”, she asked.

“You heard me. Years.”

“Why…why didn’t you tell me?”, Valerie sobbed.

Ollie bit her lip. “You were happily in love, Mom. I didn’t want to waste your happiness.”

Valerie started to cry hard by now. Ollie hugged her, but cried too.

Valerie pulled away and looked once again in Ollie’s green orbs.

“Were there some times where it was worse?”

Ollie felt her heart beating faster and faster. And then the memories came to her mind. Her room. Joan yelling. Her bed. Cries. Pain.
The rape.
She couldn’t talk to her mother about that. First, it was too hard, and it would also break her mother’s heart.
“Come on, sweetheart, you’ll feel better if you tell me what’s going on through your mind…”, Valerie encouraged.

Ollie shook her head.

“Ollie, I won’t get mad or anything. Please tell me…”

Ollie was struggling inside. She never talked to someone about the rape, except Brian. Oh God, she wished Brian was with her right now. She wanted to feel his strong arms around her, protecting her… She shook her head to forget these ideas, and looked at Valerie.
Her Mom was the sweetest woman she knew. She never judged her, or said something bad about her.

“I…I..;”, Ollie started, sobbing hard.

“Shhh…Calm down. It’ll be okay. I’m here, honey.”, Valerie tried to be reassuring.

“Joan….he…I…Joan raped me.”, she said and cried all the tears her body could contain.

Valerie yelled and hugged her daughter tight.
How could a mother discover that her husband raped her daughter? Valerie felt broken inside. She held Ollie tighter and tighter as if it could make all those memories disappear. Ollie was her baby. Ollie was her daughter. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.

Then , for hours, Ollie and Valerie talked about all the things Joan had done to Ollie. Ollie confessed her fears to her mother. She talked about Brian too. She told her mother how supportive he was for her. Valerie smiled inside.
Then, when everything was said, Ollie got up from the bed.

“I think I’m gonna take a shower…”, the green-eyed young lady said.

Valerie nodded. She waited for her daughter to leave the room. When Ollie was gone, Valerie looked for Ollie’s phone all over the room. She eventually found it, and searched a particular number. She called this person.

“Hello?”, an unsure male voice said. “Ollie? Are you okay?”

Valerie took a deep breath. “Hello, Brian. I’m not Ollie. I’m her mother.”

*********

Brian’s POV

“Hello, Brian. I’m not Ollie. I’m her mother.”, Brian heard the woman say.

He opened wide eyes, and started to panic. Why was Ollie’s mother calling him? Did something happened to Ollie? Fuck. He needed to see Ollie. Or at least to talk to her.

“How’s Ollie?”, he asked shyly.
“She….She told me everything, about Joan, my husband. And I know that you know too. That’s why I’m begging for your help, Brian”, Valerie said with an emotional voice.

“Everything. I’ll do everything you want me to.”, he responded instantly.

Valerie explained to him what she wanted him to do.

“Okay, I’ll be there.”, and with that he ended the call.

He took his leather jacket and his car key.

He made his way to the front door.

“Where are you going?”, Matt asked.

“Ollie’s place.”, he responded, before exiting the house and reaching his car.

Ollie’s POV

She finally finished showering. She came back to her room and saw her mother packing stuff in a bag.

“What are you doing?”, she asked, frowning.

“Packing your stuff. You’re leaving.”, Valerie replied in a serious tone.

“Wait…what? Where?”, Ollie started to panic.

They heard the doorbell ring.

“It’s for you.”, Valerie stated.

Ollie asked herself what the fuck was going on, but she came to open the door nonetheless.

Her eyes widened when she saw Brian stand in the door way.

“What…what are you doing here?”, she asked, now really confused.

Normal POV

“You’re leaving with him.”, Valerie’s answered Ollie’s question.

“But…”, Ollie started.

“Shhh…”, Brian said, opening his arms for a hug. Ollie hugged him back.

“Are you sure?”, she asked. She didn’t know if it was directed to Brian or to her mother, though.

“Absolutely.”, Brian responded.

“You’ve got no choice, Ollie.”, Valerie added.

“And how many times I’ll stay with you? Well…with Brian.”, the dark haired girl wanted to know.

“I don’t know.”, Valerie replied, truthfully.

Ollie nodded and came to hug her mom.

“Come on, don’t waste any time!”, Valerie pointed, pulling away.

Valerie kissed Ollie’s forehead, and looked at Brian.

“Take care of my baby.”, she almost begged.

Ollie felt tears start to form in her eyes.

“I promise.”, Brian said.

And with that they left the house and climbed in Brian’s car, putting Ollie’s stuff in the back of the car.