Calling her nice was about the last thing Leah expected Alghren to refer to her as. Nice wasn’t a word anyone used to describe her, but in this situation, with the younger woman trying to convince the child that Leah could be trusted, Leah had no desire to be contrary. She cast her eyes about for someone — Lilah, Brandon, Evan, or even Kori — to reassure her, to stand at her back and lend their courage so that she could better handle this moment. No one was coming to her rescue, though, which meant she had to draw upon her own courage.
Leah was holding Marigold for the first time. That realization hit her like a physical blow. It was also the first time she was able to even look at the girl without her vision being hindered by a haze of drugs, tears, pain and fear. Her thoughts inadvertently reverted back to her first few days in quarantine; how she’d begged the doctors to let her hold Marigold just once. If Leah was going to die or turn into a zombie, she wanted her last happiest moments to be with her daughter. But her wishes had fallen on deaf ears and stone hearts.
Now, Marigold was in her arms, but the little girl hadn’t the faintest idea that she was being held by her mother. Leah sniffed and glanced at the ground, before turning her attention back to Alghren. The younger woman had been through one hell of a week. She didn’t need to be grilled for information or snapped at for doing what she believed was a good deed, nor did Marigold need to hear that kind of negativity. It would surely turn her off of wanting to be around Leah. “Thank you for not telling her anything else beyond that,” she said softly, letting her fingers gently stroke Marigold’s hair. If she shared her story with Marigold, she wanted it to be on her terms.
Leah’s expression softened when she heard the hesitance in Alghren’s voice. Maybe she didn’t know the extent of the psychological damage the woman had suffered, but she had a damn good idea of what it entailed. Her sympathy, as well as her understanding, went out to the other woman. “No one deserves what I had to go through,” Leah added, her eyes flicking pointedly to Alghren’s middle.
Then again, maybe saying that was a mistake. Evan and the rest of the group may have brought Alghren back, but that didn’t necessarily mean the government bastards hadn’t already taken what they wanted. She suspected, though, that if Alghren’s baby was gone, she wouldn’t be as together as she was right now.