Picture Perfect

“Bobby, I had a flashback,” Emily told her cousin. Then she proceeded to tell Bobby what had occurred in said flashback. It was all Bobby could do not to run off, find Richard, and beat the guy to a pulp. He voiced his yearning to do so.

Emily convinced Bobby not to. First, they had to make sure that they weren’t just going insane, making up stories which they may believe to be true, but may not actually be.

They confronted him. Of course, the man would not admit to anything. He said that he wouldn’t say anything at all, without a lawyer. Guilty without a reasonable doubt, Emily thought.

Emily and Bobby went to her parents. Surely they’d know something was up. Well, her mother might, it wasn’t like her father really paid attention to anything, unless it concerned booze.

“Emily, are you sure you want to be accusing your cousin, Richard, of this? This is a huge accusation.”

“Well, mother, my gut tells me it’s true. Bobby believes me, and he thinks he remembers some of the same incidences. If he believes me, why can’t you?”

“Emily, there’s nothing we can do regardless of whether or not it’s true. There’s no proof.”

“Mother,” Emily began, “you of all people should know that that isn’t true.”

Rachael looked astonished. “You can’t mean that…”

“Mother, there’s no statute of limitations on child molestation, here anyways.”

“You can’t mean that you actually intend to press charges, Emily.”

“Of course we intend to press charges, Aunt Rachael.” Bobby walked in the house to help his cousin.

At that exact moment, Emily’s father walked in. He had no idea what was happening, yet he could not help himself in commenting on the matter, like most men. He asked what they’d be pressing charges for, and who’d be on the one being on the other side of their lawsuit.

Rachael explained the situation, in her own words, to her husband. While Rachael seemed skeptical, Bruce didn’t seem the least bit astonished. He was on his daughter’s side, whether she was right or wrong. This vastly confused our heroine, Emily.

“I knew something weird was happening around here,” he said to his wife.

Emily and Bobby gasped. “You knew?”

“No, I didn’t know for sure. But I knew something shady was going on around here, in this house…and at Rick’s house.”

Bruce explained what he had witnessed. At the time, he hadn’t put two and two together, but now that he knew what had happened, he understood everything.

Bruce encouraged his daughter and his nephew to seek legal help.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Four Years + 1 Day Later

The case was finally over, and everyone was satisfied, except for Ella, Richard’s mother.

At the stand, Richard’s lawyer brought up his bad childhood, with his father beating him, worse than Emily’s father had ever beaten her. Richard had also been molested himself. The jury looked kind of sorry for him. He was crying, and then he broke down.

“It’s no excuse!” Richard exclaimed to the court. “My bad childhood is no excuse! I should never have hurt them! They’re my cousins!”

Then he proceeded to tell the court about his actions against his cousins, Emily and Robert.

Since he had confessed, he received a lighter sentence than he would have otherwise, if he had been found guilty.

Ella felt that she should have known that her son was doing this. Nobody blamed Ella.

Bruce and Rachael’s relationship could never be stronger, and they renewed their wedding vows. Bruce was off the bottle, no longer Winehouse-ing it and he had stopped hitting his daughter, and apologized over and over again. Emily forgave him, whatever one may think of that, and isn’t pressing charges for his abuse.

Bobby and Melanie took their relationship to the next level. He asked her to marry him, and she said yes. As for William and Emily, well, they got back together. At the sentencing, Liam held Emily close and whispered “I love you” in her ear.

Everyone’s looking forward to when they finally tie the knot. They all know it’s going to happen.

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