The Guardian

around.
    The problem was she noticed that he was always putting his hands on her. He would put his arm around her, a hand on her shoulder, rub her arm or put a hand on her knee if she sat next to him. They were very subtle little things. It probably meant nothing. She was just being weirded out or something.
    Sometimes though, he made her feel all tingly inside and she didn’t know what that was about. He would tell her how pretty she was, and what a beautiful woman she would grow into. It made her feel really, good.
    Therefore, it went on. It got to the point that Gil was coming into her room in the middle of the night. It started as innocent little talks and then to minor petting and then it progressed to him having her perform sex acts on him.
    He would make her perform fellatio on him while he fondled her. At first, she didn’t know what to do. She was really scared, nervous, and embarrassed. However, he would tell her that if it felt good it was okay, but that they had to keep it their secret. If her mother ever found out, she would be very jealous and be very mad.
    She was scared and didn’t know what to do. Amber couldn’t tell her friends. It was too embarrassing. Her brother was an idiot and didn’t care, and they never saw their father. He had gone off when they were very young and she didn’t even remember him.
    After about eight months of his visits to her room, she tried to tell him she didn’t like it and that she was scared and wanted him to stop. She wanted to tell her mom. That made Gil very mad. He told her that if she said anything that he would have to punish her. He made her take her clothes off and he put her over his knee and spanked her bare bottom, telling her that that was just a sample. If she told her mother anything, her mother would hate her and send her away.
    She sat there crying softly, not knowing what to do. She let him have his way with her as she stared off into nothingness. Amber waited for it to be over. She prayed that this would be the last time. She was just praying to God that it would be the last time. However, it never was.
    Chapter 31
    The next evening while sitting in front of the boob tube, Jane cuddled up next to Gil. She asked, “Have you noticed anything strange about Amber lately?”
    “No, why, what do you mean?” He said innocently.
    “I don’t know exactly. She has just been moody, not really herself. She’s not been very talkative.”
    “Have you asked her what’s troubling her?” Gil was curious now.
    “I asked her but she says it’s nothing.”
    “Well I’m sure it’s just some eleven year old’s growing up pains. It’s probably nothing to worry about.”
    Jane didn’t answer. She wasn’t so sure of that. Amber had always been a bubbly, outgoing, talkative type. She was worried about her mood change. No, she was convinced that something wasn’t quite right with her.
    She was going to make an appointment with her doctor. She needed to make sure that her kids were okay. She was the only thing they had and she wasn’t going to let anything happen to them.
    Gil was the best thing that had come into her life in a very long time. She couldn’t help but notice the changes in the kids since he had moved in. She couldn’t put her finger on it though. That whole first year that they dated the kids had really taken to him. He was like a father to them. Hell, he was the father they never had.
    It just seemed that after he had moved in, everything seemed to start getting different. It wasn’t that Gil wasn’t a good man. He made good money and made sure that he did his part in sharing the expenses. He took care of the cars and the house. He drank but wasn’t a drunk or abusive. Their sex life was really below average. It proved that you couldn’t judge a book by its cover. However, he made up for it in other ways. She just couldn’t put her finger on it.
    That’s what she would do. First thing in the morning, she would call her doctor and get Amber in for a check up. Jane would see what he had to say. You never know, now days all the weird stuff out there that kids have to deal with. She was just glad that she didn’t have to do her growing up in this era of time. She didn’t know if she could handle it, let alone knowing that her daughter was faced with it now.
    Chapter 32
    Amber was thirteen years old now and was not stupid by any means. She read the papers. Even at school, the teachers and other classmates talked about these types of