"She definitely would," Lee said. "And don't you think you ought to explain to her why you can't touch her? That might come a bit easier if you looked like you and not like a second mother."
Robert didn't relish trying to tell her that. He didn't want to upset her. He looked at Lee, not sure the timing was good on that.
"Robert," Lee said. "I know you, and I know how you raised your daughter. She's strong. You have no idea what a relief it will be to her if she understands that you don't hate her, that you do still love her."
Robert looked at Lee, frowning. Hating her had never once entered his mind.
"Robert, look at her face. Look at all the bruises that you put there because your curse made you so afraid of passing the curse onto her that you hurt her in trying to keep her from being hurt. If I didn't know how that all worked, I'd be confused. I'm sure she is. Talk to her. It'll help her to understand. And that can only help her."
Robert felt Abbey patting his cheek. He looked down at her.
"Papa? Mama has a boo boo?" She asked. Robert smiled slightly. Abbey had a way of understanding bits of conversation enough to get the gist of things.
"Abs," Lee said. "Yeah. Mama has a boo boo. She's here, and we're all taking care of her."
"Who hurt my mama?" She looked at Lee with hard, cold eyes. Lee had seen that look before. It was the same hard stare that Robert had, that Khaat had, that stare that made her all Lupin. Lee looked at her.
"Abs, it was the doggies," Lee said. "The same ones that sometimes come to your yard."
"I hate them," she said coldly. "I hates them lots!" Her fear of losing her mother was taking over, and her anger followed closely behind. Robert petted her hair and then wrapped her close to him again. She cuddled close, now needing her papa for comfort.
"You kill him," she looked up at Robert. She was insistent. She wanted James dead. So did Robert. Robert nodded. He had every intention of making sure James was dead. "I see Mama?"
"Abbey," Lee said, "her boo boos are pretty big."
"She MY mama. I see her," Abbey got up off Robert's lap and faced Lee, her little hands on her hips. Robert raised one eyebrow, not used to her being quite so assertive. He almost found it amusing.
"I'll take you downstairs, and we'll ask your Daddy," Lee said. "But if he says no, there isn't anything I can do. Okay?"
"She not his mama. She my mama," Abbey scowled.
"We'll try," he said. Robert got up and went into the bathroom off his office and made a quick change. He looked, on the outside at least, like he was back in power, back in command. But he was nowhere near ready for it. He shrank Kate's clothes and put them in his pocket, along with the bottle of polyjuice.
"You'll go ahead and see if they're okay with her visting before we go downstairs?" Lee asked.
Robert nodded and motioned to Jess to go ahead and help him explain to the others since he could not speak.