Chapter 31 #2
We bounced over the turnoff to Twin Tulip, the pavement giving way to gravel.
Ahead, the house was dark. I’d barely stopped the four-wheeler before Shay was out of her seat, across the driveway, up the porch.
I followed, watching as she swept the flashlight over the windows, the doors.
The place seemed empty and untouched but then she pushed one of the front doors and it creaked open.
She glanced up at me. “I’d say we should split up but—”
“But that’s fucking creepy,” I said. “If Gennie isn’t here, someone is.” I took her hand. “Let’s do this.”
Both of the front parlors were empty, the kitchens and bathrooms too.
We climbed the stairs, calling out to Gennie as we went.
With each step, it seemed less likely we’d find her here.
And if she wasn’t here, I didn’t know where to go next.
Deeper into the pastures? The cove? I didn’t want to think about her wading through the thick salt marsh.
Even a kid who was a strong swimmer would struggle in those muddy waters. And it was cold. And dark.
“Do you hear that?” Shay asked, turning her ear toward the end of the hall. “It’s—I don’t know what it is but it’s something.”
I couldn’t hear anything beyond the roar of my blood pressure. “No.”
“This way,” she said, tugging me toward her bedroom. “I know it.”
She pushed open the door and aimed her light at the bed, where Gennie was tucked under blankets and fast asleep.
Bernie Sanders, a fourteen-year-old black lab gone white all over his face, greeted us with an urgent whine.
He paced in front of the bed as if he knew precisely how bad it was for his young friend to be far from home this late at night.
Shay switched off the flashlight as I rushed into the room. “Gennie,” I cried, peeling back the blankets and gathering her close. She startled and blinked up at me, her eyes immediately filling with tears. “What—why are you here, kid? What happened?”
“I was scared,” she said as those tears spilled over.
“Of what?”
“I don’t want you to go away,” she sobbed.
“I know.” I held her close. “I know. But I’m always going to come back.”
She buried her face in my chest and shook her head. “But what if you don’t?”
“I’ll always come back,” I repeated.
“Momma said that too.”
Well, fuck. There was no clean way to walk that line. “I know it’s hard to believe me but I will always come back. Nothing will ever change that.”
“What if you have to go away? Like Momma did. Where will I live then?”
“I won’t have to go away. I can promise you that I won’t.”
“But what if you decide you don’t want to take care of me anymore? If you and Shay have a baby, you won’t want me and I’ll have to go somewhere else. Back to that scary place.”
My shirt was soaked through with tears. “No, Gennie, that’s not going to happen. You’re my family. I’m always going to want you.”
“Momma didn’t want me anymore.” Her words came in hiccupping jolts. “She went to jail to get away from me.”
“That’s not true,” I said quickly. “Your mother loves you so much. She made a bad mistake and that’s the only reason she went to jail. If she could be here with you now, she would be.”
“What if you make a mistake? What happens to me?”
This was the most painful conversation of my entire life and that included the conversation I had with my mother about taking my father off life support. “I’ll work extra hard at not making any mistakes.”
“But what happens if you make a mistake and have to go away?”
“I’ll take care of you,” Shay said. We both looked up and found her standing at the foot of the bed, tears brimming in her eyes and Gennie’s backpack in her hands. “No matter what happens, I’ll always be here for you.”
“You won’t send me away?”
She shook her head. “Never.”
Gennie stared up at me, her dark eyes swollen and red. “What if Shay makes a mistake too?”
“Teachers always follow the rules,” I said. “Shay is very well-behaved. She won’t make any mistakes.”
“I won’t,” Shay added.
“What if I’m bad too many times?” she whispered.
“Gennie, you aren’t bad,” I said. “You’re the best kid I know.”
“You don’t know any kids.”
“I don’t care. You’re still the best one.”
She sniffled. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Neither does running away,” I replied. “The whole farm is looking for you. Bones, Wheatie, Nyomi. Everyone. The Castro kids are out on their horses. Even the police.”
Tears poured from her eyes and she clawed at my shirt, balling her fingers and scrambling up my chest. “Don’t let the police take me.”
“Fuck, no, that’s not why we called them,” I said, ready to punch myself in the mouth. “We called them because we needed help finding you. They’re helping us, Gennie. They’re not taking you anywhere. You’re not in trouble.”
In this moment, that was the truth. Later, we’d have a talk about pulling stunts like this one.
I ran a hand over her hair. “Do you want to go home now?” After a second, she bobbed her head against my chest. I picked her up and nodded at Shay to lead the way with Bernie the black lab.
We went downstairs and locked up the house using the key Gennie had lifted from Shay’s room earlier today. She also had several sandwiches, two screwdrivers, a ball of twine, and my iPad in that backpack.
With Gennie bundled in Gail’s blankets between us in the front seat and Bernie sniffing the night air in the cargo bed, I clicked on the radio speaker and exhaled for the first time in hours.
“We have her,” I said, “and we’re headed home.”