Through Another's Eyes

Dinner was a quiet affair. Neither child talked much, even at Chris’ prompting. Adrian seemed even more timid around the barn manager than Delany. Both kids ate what was put on their plates but no more. When their glasses were empty, they didn’t ask for more drink. Finally, Cassidy asked if they wanted seconds and both responded in the affirmative.
“If you guys want more, feel free to ask. If you don’t like what I make, I told you I can cook most basics if you want something else or you don’t have to have seconds. But if you like it, I’m not above basking in praise for my amazing cooking feats and receiving compliments; one of which is asking for seconds and thirds.”
No answer.
Cassidy sighed. Another attempt at conversation out the window. She considered the day a mild success: she’d managed to bring Delany a little out of her shell and had some idea of what their bastard father had done to them. Doris would be coming tomorrow and prepared to dislike everything she saw but Cassidy had dealt with difficult people in the past and could deal with one prejudiced social worker.

A couple hours later, Cassidy woke from a sound sleep to someone screaming. It took her befuddled brain a moment to remember that she no longer lived alone. She threw back the covers and dashed out of her room down the hall to Delany’s with her two dogs on her heels.
She didn’t bother knocking. Delany was in the middle of the bed, thrashing and screaming.
Night terrors, Cassidy immediately diagnosed.
Adrian came in behind her and Cassidy went over to the bed. “Delany,” she said firmly. She took hold of the young girl’s shoulders and shook once, firmly. The screaming ceased and Delany’s eyes flew open. She stared up at Cassidy a moment, her eyes welling up with tears. Cassidy felt warm wetness where she knelt on the bed. As a teenager she would have fled the room awkwardly but she’d learned to deal with these kinds of things and keep a cool head.
“Easy,” she said softly, in the same tone she used with Hope. “It’s just me. Were you having a bad dream?”
Delany didn’t answer, just stared at her with wet, round eyes.
“Adrian you can go back to bed,” Cassidy said over her shoulder.
“But she wet-”
“Back to your room,” Cassidy said more firmly. Delany was probably already feeling humiliated enough without having her big brother know she’d wet the bed.
Adrian looked like he was going to argue, but in the end, he turned and went back to his room.
“Why don’t you go take a nice warm bath while I go hunt up some more sheets okay?”
Delany nodded wordlessly. She got out of bed and shrunk away with Lucky clutched to her chest. Breaker, Cassidy’s shepherd, tried to follow the girl into the bathroom.
“Breaker no,” Cassidy said softly. The dog whined. He was another good one with the kids. Some who were afraid of the horses first started out hanging around Breaker and most of them eventually lost their fear. The shepherd lay down in front of the closed bathroom door.
Cassidy found new sheets and an oversized t-shirt that Delany could use as a nightgown until they went shopping in the morning. “Delany I’m putting a shirt on the door for you,” she called softly and opened the door without knocking, having learned her lesson. She groped around the back of the door for the doorknob, hung the shirt on it, and quietly closed the door.
By the time she’d finished making the bed; Delany had emerged looking much cleaner and less afraid. She walked carefully past Cassidy and climbed back into the bed. As she had a couple hours ago, Cassidy tucked the girl in. This time, Breaker helped. He jumped onto the bed next to Delany and laid his massive head on his paws. Delany eyed the dog wearily. Breaker whined and wagged his tail once.
“If you ever get scared in the middle of the night, you can come sleep with me okay?” Cassidy asked. After a moment of deliberation, Delany nodded. “Okay then. ‘Night.” Cassidy walked to the doorway and looked back over her shoulder. “Breaker come.”
The shepherd whined again and wagged his tail, looking at Cassidy pleadingly.
“I think he wants to help you keep the bad dreams away,” Cassidy said with a smile. “Do you want to keep him in here tonight?”
Hesitantly, Delany stroked the dog’s head. Breaker rewarded her with another bat of his tail and a soft lick to her hand.
“Remember what I said about if you get scared,” Cassidy said as she turned out the light.
Cassidy’s other dog, Tucker, followed Cassidy back down the hall to her own room. There were no more incidents that night.

The next morning Cassidy woke up at her usual seven o’clock, trusting that her grooms were taking good care of the horses. She opened Adrian’s door to find the boy still asleep. She left him to it. In a week or so, she’d register the two for school but for now they just needed some time off.
Delany was still curled up with one arm around Lucky and the other around Breaker’s neck. When Cassidy opened the door, Breaker’s eyes opened and he thumped his tail.
“Come on boy,” she called softly.
Breaker whined, looking torn.
Cassidy left the door open and padded down to the kitchen to start the coffee perking. She considered putting her usual breakfast: a bagel into the toaster while she went up and got dressed, but then she remembered that she no longer lived alone and didn’t know what the kids liked for breakfast. Doris Walker would also be arriving around noon and it would probably be a good idea to tidy up and offer her lunch…
She mentally groaned. Housework and cooking were on the bottom of her favorite things to do list. She let Tucker out while she searched the cupboard for instant pancake mix. As she was gathering the other ingredients, she heard paws on the stairs and tags jingling as Breaker bounded down.
Cassidy had the door open when the dog burst through the kitchen, covered the room in three strides and catapulted himself out the back door. She shut the door and went back to her rummaging. A few moments later, she heard another set of feet on the stairs, these more hesitant. A minute later, Delany entered the kitchen with Lucky, rubbing her eyes sleepily.
“Morning sleepy head. You like pancakes?” Cassidy asked.
Delany nodded absently and pulled up a chair. She set Lucky on another empty seat.
“Chocolate chip good or do you like blueberry better?”
“Chocolate.”
Again Cassidy said nothing about the girl’s speaking. “Those are my favorite too. What about your brother? Is he okay with chocolate chips?”
Delany nodded.
“You want to help?”
Delany left Lucky on the chair and walked over to help mix. When they had the first four sizzling, Delany surprised Cassidy.
“We won’t have to leave will we?”
Cassidy tried to keep her expression in check. “If Mrs. Walker says you can stay, you can stay as long as you want.”
“We don’t like her.”
“Now it’s not nice to dislike someone when you’ve only known them a short time.”
“But I like you.”
Cassidy smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. What about Chris?”
Delany smiled prettily. She was the spitting image of Shannon and in a few years would be catching every boy’s eye. Between the two of them, Shannon had gotten the looks and Cassidy the brains. But looks weren’t always everything. Shannon had taken a liking to Eddie Leeman and no boy could say no to her. It turned out Eddie was a jerk and had a wandering eye: most specifically an eye that wandered onto Shannon’s younger sister. But when Cassidy had tried to tell her sister, Shannon had called her a lying bitch. She’d accused of her of flirting and trying to steal her boyfriend. At fifteen, Cassidy had been completely innocent and clueless about what boys and girls did behind closed doors. Eventually, she’d stopped defending herself and Shannon had thought that her silence confirmed her guilt. Now Shannon was dead and that stupid fight was just that: stupid. Eddie had never really done anything out of line, just flirted behind Shannon’s back.
All the same, Cassidy wouldn’t speak up for him if his case went to trial. There was no question in her mind where Adrian’s black eye had come from.
By the time the pancakes had finished cooking, both dogs had been let back in and fed and Adrian had come down to the kitchen. Breakfast was only slightly more talkative than dinner the night before had been with Cassidy again dominating the conversation and the kids only taking seconds when Cassidy offered them.
“We’ll probably go shopping for clothes and stuff after Mrs. Walker leaves,” Cassidy told the two while they were cleaning up the breakfast dishes. “She should be here in a few hours.”
Both children wrinkled up their noses. Cassidy felt like doing the same thing.

At noon sharp, Doris Walker pulled into the driveway in her VW. Cassidy was showing the kids how to carefully groom Major in the barn aisle when the woman walked into the barn, looking disgusted.
“I really don’t think it’s safe for them to be around horses,” Doris said.
Tucker and Breaker, noticing the woman for the first time, barked a greeting and ran towards her. The woman squeaked as the two danced around her.
“Don’t let them jump on me! This is a brand new skirt!”
“Down boys,” Cassidy said firmly. Both dogs obeyed, standing at Doris’ feet, wagging their tails at the prospect of getting their ears rubbed.
Doris, however, avoided the dogs entirely. “Like I said, horses are very dangerous and I don’t think it’s safe for the children to be around them.”
“Major’s a big puppy dog,” Cassidy said, patting the black gelding’s neck. As if to agree, Major bobbed his head. “And horses are very safe if people are taught how to correctly handle them.”
Just then Chris sauntered up to the kids. “Hey guys you want to come help me with something?”
“Who is this gentleman?” Doris demanded.
“This is Christian York. Chris this is Doris Walker from Child Protective Services.”
“Very nice to meet you,” Chris said with a smile, sticking out his hand. Doris took it hesitantly. Chris looked back at the kids. “Well come on guys I could really use your help on this.”
The kids walked away with Chris and Cassidy mentally thanked him.
“Regardless, horses are unpredictable-”
“Life’s unpredictable,” Cassidy countered. “I’ve been working around horses for over twenty years and have never been seriously injured. Scrapped and bruised, a little, but any kid’s going to scrape up their knees or bruise up their arms no matter what they’re doing. It has also been shown that kids who get into horseback riding are less likely to get into trouble with the police later in life.”
“Then why do you have a juvenile record Ms. Treymane?”
Cassidy clenched her teeth. “Surprised you didn’t ask that question yesterday.”
“Juvenile records are a little harder to find than adult police records. Of course I can’t access the particulars of the case.”
“I was arrested for assault because I caught a man abusing a horse. He pressed charges. They were eventually dropped and the man went to jail for two counts of animal cruelty.” It hadn’t helped that the arresting officer wasn’t an animal person and sided with the prosecution the whole time. But the important part was that Cassidy had been able to save the horse. He’d been the first horse she’d ever owned and at thirty, he was mostly retired.
“Assault?”
“Yes.”
“That won’t be a good environment for children to grow up in.”
Cassidy folded her arms defensively, feeling this was going to be a long battle. “It was also a long time ago. The only thing on my adult record may be a few traffic infractions.”
“Of course. The horses will still present a problem though.”
“I don’t think a judge will think so. I have a degree in equine management, the property is insured, I’m a certified instructor, and the farm is certified as a rehabilitation facility as well as a boarding facility. And I’m more than adequately capable of taking care of the kids financially as well as physically and psychologically.”
“I thought you had a degree in psychology,” Doris contradicted, sounding smug.
“The degree is called equine assisted psychotherapy. I forgot to mention I’m also a licensed mental help therapist. My biggest percentages of patients are kids that have been abused or have learning or physical disabilities.”
Doris was quiet.
“That’s why I’m qualified to give these kids everything they need, including mental help if they need it. I’m already making strides with Delany. Adrian will be a bit harder to crack but I’m up to the challenge.”
“They may not be here long anyway. Their father is out on bail.”
Cassidy’s chin went up a notch as if preparing to take a punch and giving her attacker a target. “I plan to try to get custody of them.”
Doris was silent another moment and then snickered once. “The courts are more likely to award custody to a parent.”
“A drug addict parent who beats up his kids and terrifies one of them so much that they have night terrors? I don’t think so.”
“We’ll just have to see won’t we?”
Cassidy checked herself just before making a snide remark. “Would you like a tour of the house?” She asked with forced politeness.
“Yes please,” Doris said regally.
Cassidy put Major back in his stall and led the woman towards the house with Tucker on her heels. Breaker had once again followed Delany.

Cassidy could see that Doris Walker was grudgingly impressed. She picked on anything and everything she could find, starting with the mud room being dirty. Cassidy felt like emphasizing the mud in the room’s name. The kitchen sink didn’t sparkle, the stove burners, the old-fashioned coils, were dangerous, there were too many video games for the kids to play, the stairs creaked, the old-fashioned bathroom fixtures were prone to flooding and on and on it went. But the selling point for the woman had to be the individual rooms for each child. She could see the envy on Doris’ face when Cassidy showed her Delany’s room and the approval when she saw Adrian’s.
“Where do you sleep?” Doris asked.
Cassidy opened the door across from Adrian’s. The walls were painted toffee with coffee colored molding and the floor matched the base color. The bed was more modern than the other rooms, made of foam and king size so both Cassidy and her two dogs could fit in it. There was an end table on either side of the head board, a dresser to the right and the walk in closet with mirror-doors to the extreme left. On one end table sat a picture of Cassidy jumping her first horse Masquerade, the one she had rescued from his abusive owner. On the other end table was a lamp and the magazine she was currently thumbing through. On the back wall, there were three massive book shelves, all overflowing. Cassidy had just vacuumed that morning and her clothes hamper was empty.
“I’m within shouting distance if Adrian or Delany needs me. Actually, Delany had a nightmare last night and I heard her and woke up.”
Doris pursed her lips. “I’m still not sure about the children living here in such close proximity with those…horses.”
“I’m sorry but the horses are my livelihood and I love every one of them.”
“If you didn’t have so many-”
“I’ll probably get more as the years go on. The horses are nonnegotiable.”
Doris huffed. “Well I’ll take what I’ve seen back to the board and if all goes well, you will be able to foster the children.”
“How soon can I try to get custody of them?”
Doris stopped on her way out of Cassidy’s bed room. “The courts will probably award them to their parents when he gets out of jail.”
“If I have anything to say about it they’ll never see his face or hear his name again,” Cassidy said fiercely.
“A child’s place is with their biological parent.”
“Not if that parent is abusive to them,” Cassidy countered.
“You may never get custody of your niece and nephew Ms. Treymane,” Doris said stiffly. “I’ll see myself out.”
Cassidy waited until she heard the front door shut and pulled out her cell phone. Chris was keeping the kids entertained and she had other business to attend to. The first place she called was the hospital where Shannon’s body was being kept to see when her body would be released. She gave the name of the funeral home she wanted Shannon’s body to go to and hesitantly called her mother. She got an answering machine.
“Mom...its Cassidy. Call me back when you get a chance.”
The next phone call was to a number she had memorized.
A gruff voice came over the line, “Larson and Cutler Law Firm, Larson speaking.”
“Chuck its Cassidy.”
“Oh god what kind of horse am I trying to get out of hot water this time?”
“It’s a bit more of a serious matter…” Cassidy began. “You may want to sit down, this could take a while.”
A half an hour the lawyer sighed. “Damn that’s a hell of a mess.”
“You’re telling me.”
“If they’re wards of the state I can file for custody immediately. But that social services lady is right; if the court can they’ll award custody to the kids’ parent.”
“Even if he abused them? Physically and mentally?”
“The judicial system is screwed up.”
“Coming from a lawyer…”
Chuck laughed. “I’m one of the good guys. That’s why I never get elected into anything.”
“Hey I voted for you last election.”
“Yeah but nice guys always finish last don’t they?”
“One day you’ll come out on top.”
“Sure. When Major starts having a conversation with you is the day I’ll get elected a circuit court judge.”
“Pessimist.”
“Takes one to know one.”
“Touché.”
“Well I’ll get on it and call you when I hear anything. When’s the funeral?”
Cassidy rubbed the back of her neck. “Her body gets released in two days. I guess I’ll have it in three.”
“Call me if there’s anything I can do.”
Cassidy swallowed the lump in her throat. “Thanks Chuck I’ll do that.”
“Alright kid I’ll talk to you later.”
Cassidy hung up without saying goodbye. Talking about the funeral made it all so final. Cassidy would never see her sister alive again; the kids would never see their mother again. She and Shannon’s fight would hang over Cassidy her entire life.