Chapter 4

Olivia didn't see Sylvia for a month or so after that; in fact, it was Christmas Eve before she saw the girl again. She was getting out of her car with some last-minute presents she'd picked up from the store after work, trying to balance the pile of boxes and various bags, and the board game she'd bought Elliot's son slid off the top of the pile as she kicked the car door closed. She cursed, trying to balance the pile of boxes against the car door as she stooped to pick up the fallen box.

"Here, let me get that," said a voice, and a hand scooped up the box. Olivia looked up, and saw Sylvia's smiling face as she deftly slid two more boxes and a bag out of Olivia's arms. The load went from barely manageable to easily-handled with her helping to carry the load.

"Via!" She smiled back. "I haven't seen you in a while, how are you doing?'"

"I'm doing good, Miss Olivia," the girl responded. "Need some help?"

"I could use an extra hand, thanks," Olivia said, turning and leading the way out of the parking garage to the front door of her building, where she let herself and Via in with her key. Via followed her up the flights of stairs to her apartment, and put the bags and boxes down on the low coffee table in her living room. "Last-minute Christmas shopping?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye, relieving Olivia of the rest of the load.

"Yeah," Olivia sighed, taking off her coat and dropping it across the back of the couch. "I hate last minute stuff, but we've been so busy I just haven't had the time to do any shopping till now."

"You know a lot of people," Via said as she put the last bag on the floor beside the low table, having run out of room on top of the table.

"Not really…well, I guess so," Olivia corrected herself. "I meet a lot of people while I'm doing my job. I don't get gifts for everyone, though. This stuff is mostly for my partners, and their kids. Fin's got a son, and Elliot has four kids, three girls and a boy. And I got a little something for his wife Kathy too." She took Via's coat, noting with a pang that it was old and worn-looking, and hardly appropriate for the New York December cold. "So how are things at your place? You done with all your Christmas shopping, too?"

Via shook her head as she pulled the elastic band out of her hair and started re-braiding the long strands. "Mom's spending the holidays with Leo and his girls. She didn't want me around any more than I wanted to be around, so…" she shrugged.

"So you're spending Christmas at your apartment alone?" Olivia tried not to sound disapproving.

Via looked down, as if embarrassed, and her voice dropped to a whisper. "We lost the apartment two weeks ago," she said quietly. "Mom's been sleeping over at Leo's, and I have a sleeping bag on the floor in his kitchen, but I don't like being there. I don't like Leo. So I try to be gone as much as possible."

"Wait. You don't have a home anymore?" Olivia's voice was sharp.

"We're renting a room from Leo right now. He gave Mom and me one of his bedrooms, but Mom doesn't want me in the room when he's sleeping with her at night, so I put a sleeping bag on the kitchen floor." She saw Olivia's look. "It's not really a big thing. It is the holidays, and the grocery store and the Seven-Eleven are busy, and they need the extra help. So I've been working a lot. Mom works for Leo, so he takes her rent out of what she makes, but I have to pay rent, too, so I work as much as possible. He wants a lot of money, and my two jobs barely covers it all, but I manage. There's not a lot of money left for presents, so…" she reached into the battered purse she carried, probably something she'd pulled from someone's garbage can, and gave Olivia an oddly-shaped but neatly-wrapped package. "I made this in craft class at school. Luis gave me a bit of leftover wrapping paper and the bow, and I made you a card myself." She pulled a white envelope from her purse. "I tried to make something for everyone I wanted to give gifts to. Luis loved his. Mr. Kinsley didn't care, and Mom said it was trash, but I thought you'd like one too." She looked at Olivia hopefully.

Olivia swallowed hard. Via didn't even have a home, but she'd tried so hard to make something for everyone who meant something to her. She was touched that the girl thought of her at all. "Via, you didn't have to," she whispered, feeling a tightness in her throat. "Thank you. I'll open it tomorrow morning. Would you like to stay the night?" She cursed herself for not getting around to emptying out her second bedroom; she hadn't seen Via in a few weeks, and it had slipped her mind. But she'd be all right on the couch for one night.

Via's eyes lit up. "Can I?" she asked tentatively. "I haven't got anywhere else to go."

"Of course." Olivia put the small gift under the small Christmas tree in the corner, glad she'd put it up. It was a small, four-foot tall artificial tree, just the right size for her apartment, and usually she didn't bother; she lived alone and rarely had company, so there was no one to see and enjoy it but her; but some impulse had made her get it out of its box and put it up two weeks ago. Now she was glad she had. She plugged in the string of lights and watched as it lit up.

Via stood looking at the tree with wistful eyes, smiling at the play of colored lights winking on and off among the green plastic branches. "We've never had a Christmas tree," she said softly. "Yours is beautiful."

Olivia turned away so Via wouldn't see the tears in her eyes and headed for the kitchen. "It's late, and I'm hungry," she called from the kitchen once she was safely inside and could wipe away the tears in her eyes. "Let's eat first, and then I'll wrap the gifts."

"Do you need help?" Via said from the living room, where she was still looking at the tree.

"No, no. Go ahead and relax, I'll be out in a minute." Olivia thought fast. Usually she'd just heat up a prepackaged dinner in the microwave, eat it while watching the eleven o'clock news, and go to bed afterwards. She hadn't expected to have a visitor. Grabbing a couple of jars of spaghetti sauce, she emptied them into a pot, then set another pot on the stove with water to boil for the pasta. Since that would take a while to heat up, she went back out into the living room and started to unpack the gifts she'd bought. Then she went to the hall closet, where she stored the extra wrapping paper and bows, and spread that out on the floor.

Via helped her wrap, handing her tape and scissors as needed. Olivia sighed as she tried to get a corner on the large stuffed animal she'd bought for Lizzie, then gave it up for the moment. "Spaghetti should be about done," she said, sighing as she got up. "Let's take a break. You know, there just isn't a way to neatly wrap something that isn't in a box."

Via studied the wrapping paper, and the teddy bear. "I think I see a way," she said. "May I, Miss Olivia?"

"Liv," Olivia corrected the girl. "Call me Liv. All my friends do."

She could almost hear the smile in Via's voice. "All right. Liv."

When Olivia came out of the kitchen with two steaming plates of spaghetti, Via was just putting a last piece of tape on the corner of the package formed by the bear's ear. Olivia stared, then broke into a smile. "Well. You're better at wrapping than I am. I have no patience with that sort of thing."

Via grinned and took the plate from Olivia. "Luis said the same thing. He got me to wrap all of his gifts."

Olivia groaned as she sat down on the couch and sank into the cushions. "If you want to wrap the rest of those, feel free," she said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes briefly. "I hate wrapping…and it's been a long day too."

"You look tired," Via said gently. "When do you have to work tomorrow?"

Olivia groaned. "Afternoon," she said. "I'll put all these in the trunk and leave them there, and give them to Elliot and Fin and John at the end of shift. I'll be coming in as they're getting off." She raised her head to look at Via. "Are you working tomorrow?"

"No," Via said.

"Well, then what are you and your Mom doing?"

Via's voice dropped. "Mom and Leo and some of Leo's other girls are going to a Christmas 'party'," she whispered. "I'm not going to see much of her the rest of the week; she's going to be really… tired… afterwards. She always is. And then I have to either take care of her or stay out of her way."

"Take care of her? She's going to drink that much?" Olivia was dismayed.

"No, no, not the alcohol. The guy who's having the party is one of Leo's club's richer members. He's having a party for the members of the club, with Leo's girls to…um…entertain. Mom still looks young enough to appeal, but she can handle pain better than the younger girls, so she's always in demand."

Olivia wanted to be sick. "Your mom like doing this, Via?"

Via hesitated. "She says she doesn't, but… she lets Leo do those things to her even when she's not getting paid, so she must like it at least a little bit."

Olivia sat up and leaned forward. "Via…does Leo do those things to you?"

"No," Via said, swallowing hard. "I… he's never hurt me. But I know he thinks about it; he suggested to my mother a month ago that she start bringing me around the club after Thanksgiving so I can be prepared to start working as soon as I'm legal." She looked at Olivia. "Olivia, can I ask you a question?"

"Yes." Olivia answered immediately.

"What's the legal age of consent here? For sexual activity, I mean."

"Seventeen."

Via stared at her, her lips parted slightly. "Seven…teen?"

Olivia nodded.

"Oh, God!" Via burst into tears and hid her face in her hands.

Olivia scrambled off the couch and sat beside Via on the floor. "Via, what? What's wrong?"

Via looked up at her, and the misery in her face tore at Olivia's heart. "I turn seventeen on New Year's Day." Olivia must have looked puzzled, because Via explained. "Mom and Leo said they want me to start working for him as soon as I turn seventeen."

"No!" Olivia was shocked. "Via, let me explain. You can give consent when you're seventeen, but you cannot have sex with someone older than you until you're eighteen. And since Leo's club sells alcohol, you can't start working there until you're twenty-one."

"I can't?" Relief flooded Via's face.

"You can't." Olivia said firmly. "And if they try to make you, call me. Immediately. Run away, if you have to. Get to a pay phone, borrow someone's, whatever you have to do, but call me. I'll protect you. I won't let them make you do anything you don't want to do."

Via's eyes were shining with tears. "Thank you, Olivia."

Olivia wrapped her arms around the girl. "You're welcome, Via."

Via ate the spaghetti eagerly; Olivia decided it had been a while since she'd eaten a home-cooked meal, and urged the girl to have another helping when she was done. Via headed off to the kitchen, and Olivia finished wrapping the presents and put them in large bags, ready to take out to the car the next morning, then picked up her coat and opened her front hall closet.

She was hanging up her coat when a flash of plastic caught her eye. Turning on the hall light, she dug around in the overstuffed closet and finally located the source. It was a coat, an insulated, fleece-lined jacket she'd bought on an impulse the last time she'd gone shopping. She'd gotten home and tried it on. The price tag had said it was a medium, but when she checked the inner care tag, it was a small. She'd put it in the closet still in plastic, intending to take it back to the store, but had never quite gotten around to it. Now it was too late to take back, but it was the perfect size for Via. Olivia hung the jacket next to Via's worn, threadbare coat, and smiled. She had something to give the girl the next morning.