Willow's Secret

A sequel to Willow's Tale___ Willow has been keeping a secret since escaping slavery. She has a chance for a normal life, but will her haunting nightmares kill the dream?___ Search "Nannette Kreitzman" for more works by this author.___ Excerpt:___ Emma leaned back in the rocking chair and started crooning a lullaby to Lark, melodious as a lark herself. Willow was always amazed by her voice. In a different world, she could have been famous.___ "You know you...
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A sequel to Willow's Tale___
Willow has been keeping a secret since escaping slavery. She has a chance for a normal life, but will her haunting nightmares kill the dream?___
Search "Nannette Kreitzman" for more works by this author.___
Excerpt:___
Emma leaned back in the rocking chair and started crooning a lullaby to Lark, melodious as a lark herself. Willow was always amazed by her voice. In a different world, she could have been famous.___
"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Emma said when the song concluded.___
Willow turned to look at her puzzled. "Of course! Why do you ask that?"___
"Because Logan says you're still having nightmares. He's worried about you, and so am I."___
Willow tossed the cloth she was using into the bucket and leaned against the window's ledge. "Do you ever dream about any of it?"___
"Sometimes. All The Sisters do. The difference is, we tell each other about it. Why won't you?"___
Willow stared at the floor, the creak of the rocker marking the seconds. "I'm ashamed," she was her laconic reply.___
"Ashamed? Of what? Nothing that happened to us was our fault! We didn't ask for any of it!" Emma's voice had begun to rise, but she brought the volume down so as not to wake the child. "There is nothing for you to be ashamed of and you damned well know it!" she finished in an indignant hiss.___
"I'm not ashamed of what happened in the camp, it's what happened before I got there."___
Emma watched her, waiting. "Are you going to elaborate?"___
Reluctantly, Willow told her of the choice she was given and who she had chosen, but told her nothing of what had taken place in the shadows.___
"Jake?" she asked surprised. "But he wasn't even in the mating rotation! I always did wonder why," she pondered.___
"So did I, so I asked Sylvie. Apparently, before they started hunting for us, they stumbled upon a girl backpacking in the mountains."___
Willow went on to explain how they took the girl and forced her into the mating rotation with the female gang members. She ended up falling in love with Jake and reacted quite badly to him pushing her off to the next man on the list when their time was up, causing her to run away. ___
"She's why they came up with the metal cages for our legs," Willow concluded, referring to the contraption they were forced to wear that allowed mobility but hindered escape.___
"So he became celibate because of her?"___
Willow shook her head. "Sylvie said he shared a bed with some of the girls of the gang from time to time, but never a captive again."___
Emma sat mulling this over. "Okay, very odd, but then he was an odd guy."`___
"To put it mildly," Willow responded, rolling her eyes.___
"But that still doesn't explain why you're ashamed. He may think he offered you a choice, but you still didn't have one."___
Willow retrieved her rag from the pail and turned back to the windows. "There was a choice, I just made the wrong one."