True to his word Dave got her not just the cane but a wide selection of audio books and even those written in braille. It has been some time since she had a chance to use her braille but she quickly picked it up once more.

She spent long quiet days in her room and only slowly spent time going about the estate. She didn't like being a nuisance and was sure she was for the guard. After a while she didn't need his help as much.

She was absolutely thrilled when Dave presented her with a special laptop for the blind. He even set it up so that she was able to get the education she was denied while a prisoner.

For his part Dave was impressed at how quickly Lydia not only adapted but thrived. She is rapidly catching up to where she should be education wise and he's debating about signing her on to online college courses. He's curious just how far his little guest could go if given the chance.

"Lydia?" Dave says having come up behind her. Normally he can't do so silently and she always knows when he or anyone else comes into the room, but this time she jumps. When she turns to face him he sees something he hasn't for months since she's come here, fear.

"Shh, it's okay, Lydia." Dave says trying to calm her. She's been here for months, almost a year actually and he doesn't like seeing the fear back.

With tears in her eyes Lydia tries to reassure him, "It's alright. I'm just not expecting you or anyone really. Usually you all are busy with work at this time." She's not stupid she knows what kind of work Dave does, but she does her best to stay strictly out of it. She figures that if she does then her chances of living increase. She's still not sure what Dave is going to be doing with her in the future.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, since you don't remember your birthday I thought we could celebrate the day you joined my household. That day is fast approaching, what would you like to do to celebrate it?" Dave asks gently.

Lydia looks at him strangely. She doesn't remember if she ever celebrated her birthday. She doesn't think that they should celebrate anything that has to do with her. "Dave, being here is enough. Knowing that I live each day without pain, without fear, that is celebration enough for me."

Dave smiles gently at the beautiful young woman before him. "That is all true I suppose, but I and my men would like to do something special for you."

Now Lydia is shocked. "Your men, Dave? You're kidding right? I'm sure that me being here is something they hate. I'm a-"

"Don't say it, Lydia," Dave warns her softly, but a shiver of fear runs up her spine. Dave is careful to never make her afraid. He once told her that she's suffered enough and doesn't ever want to add to it. "My men don't consider you a problem, indeed they love you more than a little. I think they'd save your life over mine, you've won their loyalty that much."

Lydia looks at Dave, or where she thinks he is by his voice, incredulous at his words. He continues impatiently, "They have given their loyalty to you." Now his voice turns amused and Lydia relaxes a bit. "I think if I ordered them to do anything but guard you they would turn on me. You've stolen them right out from under me."

Lydia doesn't believe a word of what he's saying. She's sure that she's a burden to Dave and his men. Dave is watching her and knows when she's going to contradict him.

"I don't lie, Lydia. My men follow me implicitly, until it comes to you. They will protect you even against me. I think they all see you as their own little sister or daughter and don't want anything to happen to you." 

Lydia is now embarrassed, she hasn't been so embarrassed since she accidentally interrupted him with one of his women. They had been making a lot of noise out in the hall and it scared her. She had gone out to see what the noise was and found Dave being rather excited with his latest woman on the way to his room.

Dave had been embarrassed as well, that she had caught him with a woman like that, but he was also amused. He's never made the same mistake again. He made sure to take his lovers to a hotel for the night instead of bringing them home.

The female on the other hand had been furious to see that he has another female actually living with him.

Lydia's response to the bitch still brings a smile to his face.

"He's my guardian, bitch. He's all yours, although I would appreciate it if you would keep the noise down, Dave. It's hard to sleep with all the screaming your fuck buddies give out."

"I'll do my best to keep the noise minimal, Lydia. Sorry for having disturbed you. You should have told me..."

Lydia snorted and said sassily, "Yeah, I just go to your study and say, By the way, Dave, could you please not cause your bitches to scream so loud at night? You know me well enough to know that I couldn't say anything like that to you. Well, now I can since I am."

"Sorry, I forget sometimes. I sincerely apologize, Lydia." And he had meant every word. He could tell that something was wrong with Lydia. It must bring memories back and he does his best to help her overcome those memories.

The next day he'd found out, "They would force others down there. Or they would take some of the whores and make me listen to them before warning me. They would touch me and whisper nasty things to me. I'm sorry, Dave, but I can't..." She had burst into tears after she told him why. Dave had held her in his arms until she was able to get herself back together.

"I promise, you won't have to hear anymore sounds like that from those I'm with. I'll take them elsewhere from now on."

"I've already caused you enough trouble, Dave. You don't need to let me chase you out of your own house too." Lydia had been horrified by his words.

"It's my job as host to make my guests as comfortable as possible." Dave shrugs and Lydia feels it. "Besides, it's a safety issue to bring my fuck buddies, as you call them, here."

"But it's also a safety issue to take them elsewhere," Lydia had protested horrified that he's doing this because of her.

"Thank you for your worry over me, Lydia, but it's not necessary. Where I'll take them will be a secure location." Dave smiles and although Lydia can't see it, she hears it in his voice, "If they try anything there they'll find themselves quickly taken care of by my men. They won't like what happens to them then."

A blinding pain had hit Lydia at that and she had fallen unconscious. She woke up hours later back in her bed. Dave sitting worriedly at her side.

"So do you want a party or would you like to go out to eat?" Dave asks the young girl smiling at her shock.

"You'd really take me out?" She hasn't been outside of the estate since she came there nearly a year ago.

"Yes, if you'd like, that is of course." Dave can't help pushing back a lock of hair to behind her ear. The gentleness in his touch brings tears to her eyes.

"I know you've told me before, but, Dave, just why the hell are you doing all this for me? I don't believe the reasons you've told me before are the real reasons." Now she looks in his direction and he sees the tears there.

"A long time ago, I had a friend. She was years younger than me, much like you and I. Her parents were head of a smaller mafia and her father had many enemies. All he had was his young daughter to take over should something happen to him. 

"He and my father entered into a marriage alliance between myself and his daughter. The very first day I met her was while they were negotiating the terms. My father sent me out to be with the girl. 

"We were both bored and she begged me to go outside and play in the snow with her. She finally talked me into it and we spent hours outside building snowmen, having a snowball fight, she held her own, and making snow angels. Finally we just started playing tag before we were called back in.

"Neither of us had known the reason for the meeting between our parents. I found out on our way home. My father warned me that I could date and fuck whomever I wanted, but in ten years I would be marrying the girl I spent the afternoon with.

"To say that I was shocked was an understatement.

"Not even two weeks later her parents were brutally murdered and she was injured. According to the alliance my father then took over the mafia, but we were unable to find those responsible. We think it was someone on the inside.

"We tried to get custody of the girl, but the courts gave her to her aunt and uncle. I never saw my friend and fiancee again.

"A year later her uncle sold her out to her father's enemies and she was kidnapped. We took the uncle when her aunt came to us and told us what happened. But he didn't tell us where she was or who had her. 

"All he said was that he got a promise from the one in charge that his people wouldn't kill her or rape her."

Dave lets the quiet fall and Lydia doesn't know what to say. Finally Dave speaks again. "She is presumed dead. Most mafia leaders don't keep their words to outsiders.

"The reason I have been helping you, Lydia, is because I hope that if anyone found my friend I would hope that they would help her the best of their abilities. I can't change your past, I can't make you remember, or even help you regain your sight, but I can treat you like I would like my fiancee treated if she is alive and if she needed help."

"You are so faithful then to a girl you've only met once." Lydia says thoughtfully.

Dave chuckles, "Not so faithful, eh?"

Lydia swats Dave, "You know what I mean."

"I know. Her eighteenth birthday is one year from today. If she doesn't show and if she does if she's not pure then I will be free to find a woman to marry."

Now Lydia is horrified, "If she's not pure? So even if she finds her way to you and she's been raped you wouldn't marry her? You've been with other females all this time willingly, but if she's been forced you can just toss her?"

"According to the alliance contract, yes. But do you really think so little of me? If she has been used like that of course I won't turn her away, but if she got free and found a boyfriend? Then I would give her the freedom to have a life away from all this. It already killed her parents, got her kidnapped and who knows what done to her. I wouldn't make her stay in this life if she wants out."

"Dave?" Lydia says softly.

"What, Lydia?"

"You're a good man. Thank you for all you've done."

Dave smiles gently at the young woman before him, "Only to you am I a good man. Now how would you like to celebrate the day?"

"I don't remember ever having a party before, but I would really like to go out to eat too. I don't ever remember going to a restaurant." Lydia looks down at the floor now.

"Then we'll do both. I'll take you to lunch and then in the evening we'll have a party for you. How does that sound?" Dave says gently lifting her face up to look at him.

The look of joy suffusing her face makes his heart warm. Something he hasn't felt since his friend was taken nearly ten years ago. 

"Really?" Lydia asks in a joyful voice.

Dave smiles, "Really. You can choose where ever you want to go."

Dave isn't expecting Lydia to jump from her stool to him and he hastily puts his arms around her to keep her from falling. "I love you, Dave. You're the best."

Dave isn't able to guard his emotions and if Lydia could see she would have seen shock spread across his face. No one has told him that since his mother died years ago.