Chapter Fourteen

Juliette woke up to bright sunshine streaming through the window of the room she was in, she groaned and tried to sit up moaning as her stomach heaved. Pushing herself off the bed she headed for what she hoped was an ensuite bathroom and vomited into the toilet heaving until she could barely stand. Clutching the sink she stripped out of her jeans and stood under the cooling shower until her legs stopped trembling then wrapped herself in the thick fluffy towels. Barely giving the room a glance she curled back onto the bed and slept again, it took nearly 36 hours for the sedative to wear off. When she could finally move without wanting to throw up Juliette was furious at her treatment and flung open the bedroom door. Dressed in the silk pj’s that had been left for her she followed the sound of voices down to the main room, trembling with the effort she glared at the people in the room,

‘You better have a fucking good explanation for kidnapping me and bringing me to this fucking country’

She stood with her hands on her hips, her beautiful hair tumbling around her like a cape of flames, her golden green eyes flashing with anger, a slender wild spitfire,

‘Perché avevo bisogno di fare pace con mia figlia prima di morire’ [Because I needed to make peace with my daughter before I died]

The woman stood up and though her hair was more grey than gold there was no denying it was the same as hers, Juliette stood back even angrier,

‘You are not my Mother, I have been drugged and forced to come here against my will, no Mother would put her child through such trauma’

She turned away swaying with the effort of staying conscious not even realising she had understood her Mother speaking in Italian,

‘You are my daughter, and you know it’

The woman spoke perfect English now and Juliette turned back to her,

‘You gave up that right when you dumped me at a year old. You are nothing to me, I want to return home to my real Mother’

She said no more the fight to stay conscious was lost as her body gave in to the drug still running through her system, Roberto caught her as she fell,

‘Rimettila nella stanza e chiudi a chiave la porta.’ [Put her back in the room and lock the door]

The woman told him and sank back onto the sofa, she had expected Juliette to be upset and had hoped to be able to explain but she had not expected the hate and anger pouring from the girl. Lying back she let the Doctor place the oxygen mask back over her face and breathed deeply,

‘Non dovresti sconvolgerti, ti indebolisce.  Ora riposati e vedrò la ragazza’ [You should not upset yourself, it weakens you. Now rest and I will see to the girl]

He left her sleeping peacefully and went up to administer an anti-sickness drug to Juliette and attach a drip to give her fluids and vitamins to counteract what she had lost. He monitored her closely over the next couple of days, when she came around he insisted she eat little and often to build up her strength. As the colour returned to her cheeks he saw the anger gathering in her eyes,

‘It will do you no good’

He told her and she looked up at him in surprise,

‘She is your Mother and you will listen to her story it is only right and fair. Stop being angry at her she has done nothing wrong yet you punish and blame her. You are not a little child, grow up and behave like an adult.’

He was so dismissive of her feelings but before she could retaliate he took out the cannula in her arm and handed her some clothes,

‘Get dressed, your Mother does not have time for this nonsense’

She went into the ensuite and did as he asked following him back down to the same room standing behind him,

‘Juliette, she is here, do your talking’

He pushed her into the chair near the sofa,

‘Listen’

He instructed and she really had no choice but to hear her mother's story when she had finished she was crying, it was so painful to listen to everything she had been through,

‘Why did you not get rid of me?’

She sobbed quietly,

‘None of this was your fault my little one, I could not deny you life because of the dreadful way you were conceived that is why I sent you to England. I knew you would be loved and cared for by them. Your ‘Mother’ is my Great Aunt or something like that, she is a distant relative anyway. She could not have children and readily agreed to care for you. You were with ‘Family’, I knew you would be safe but they knew it was not forever.’

Juliette stroked her daughter's golden head,

‘I never stopped thinking of you Juliette and I never stopped loving you’

For the first time since that dreadful day, her little girl had been taken from her Anna held her daughter in her arms and the maternal love shone in her eyes. Over the next few days they bonded fully talking and talking, Juliette told her Mother all about her upbringing, and the freedom she had running along the beaches and climbing the cliffs. Anna saw the light fade in her daughter's eyes,

‘What happened?’

She asked softly and for the first time since it happened Juliette told her real Mother how she was almost raped by the Rangers,

‘I was lucky, I knew how to get away and I hurt them more than they hurt me but I wasn’t free any more my body betrayed me, and I could not stop nature. I grew up.’

Anna held her daughter's hand tightly,

‘Sadly my child I fear you will go through much worse before you are much older. Men are frightened and threatened by stunningly beautiful clever women like you. They will seek to possess you, they will try to own you and when that fails they will force you but you have something they cannot defeat my child. You have me.’