42. Chapter 42
Erik
Kylie’s cold hand twitches in mine as we walk through the heavy metal gates.
She’s nervous. Understandable. Hell, I remember how nervous I was when I saw this prison from the inside for the first time. On TV and in documentaries you tend to see the worst of prisons and imagine it to be full of violent people who are ready to strike at any second.
However, in reality, at least at this prison, most of them just want to get their sentence over without an incident. They keep their heads down and mostly to themselves.
Dad is already at his usual table, staring at the bleak tabletop and tracing an invisible pattern. But as we approach, he glances up. And when he sees Kylie, he does a double take.
“Son.” His face lights up and he pulls me into a hug. “And who did you bring?”
“I’m Kylie.” She offers him her hand, but he pulls her into a hug, too. It’s a little surreal to watch. At first she’s surprised, shoulders going rigid because she didn’t expect it. After a moment, she relaxes.
“I’m Anthony. It’s good to meet you,” he declares once he lets her go.
“It’s lovely to meet you too, sir.”
“Ah, cut that out.” He waves his hand through the air, then rounds the table and sits down. “It’s Anthony. So, you’re his girlfriend.” He puts his elbows on the table and props his chin on one of his hands.
“Let me guess. Aunt Molly already tattled.”
“She might have mentioned it.” His lips curl into a grin.
“But also, why else would you bring a beautiful woman in here to introduce to me?” He rolls his eyes. “It was either your girlfriend or…” He gulps heavily, his expression suddenly solemn. “You know.”
A smile tugs at the corners of my lips, my stomach bubbling with excitement. And Kylie’s amused glance drills a hole into the side of my head.
“Yeah, about this ‘you know.’ I come bearing news.”
“Huh?” He blinks at me. “Okay? Do you want me to look at more pictures?”
“You can look at the pictures, but we don’t need you to identify her.” I pull it out of my pocket and slowly unfold it.
“Is it a corpse? Because if it is, I don’t want to see it.” He turns pale and his voice breaks. “You know I’m bad with death. And I don’t really want to hurl into one of the corners here.”
“It’s not a corpse.” I push the photo closer to him.
At first, he keeps staring at me, pain washing over his face.
“It’s good news. I promise.” He glances at it.
Does another double take. And once he takes a closer look, he can’t take his eyes off it.
With trembling fingers, he picks it up and holds it closer to his face.
“This is her?” His eyes turn glassy and then the tears overflow. “My Lilith?”
“Yes,” I confirm with a nod. Kylie’s snakes her hand into mine, laces my fingers with hers and gives it a squeeze. “She goes by the name Maya now.”
“Maya,” he mumbles and lets one of his fingers trail over the picture.
“She has your eyes.”
“She does.” He smiles, tears streaming down his cheeks. “How, Erik? After all these years?”
“At least half of the credit goes to Kylie.” I nudge her, watching her cheeks turn fiery red. It’s adorable.
“Not my credit,” she mumbles, shifting in her seat uncomfortably. When she catches my dad’s confused stare, she elaborates.
“I know someone who knows someone who created an aged-up image with a different technique. And it turns out the result was close enough for Erik to find her.”
“You are an angel.” He quickly wipes away the tears from his cheeks. “Thank you, Kylie.”
“It’s really nothing to thank me for.” She shakes her head.
“Doesn’t matter,” Dad objects, followed by a relieved chuckle. “Oh, thank fucking God.” He leans his head back, putting the heels of his hands against his eyes. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Erik. Tell me about her.”
So I do. I tell him every detail about my meeting with her. The first one and the second one. He listens so closely I’m surprised he’s not whipping out a pen and paper to take notes.
When I explain to him how her parents never knew about the circumstances of her adoption, his face falls.
“I figured something like that might be the case,” he mumbles, wringing his fingers. “I’m glad she got adopted by a nice couple at least.”
“She seems to have had a nice life by all means,” I assure him and reach over the table to grasp his shoulder.
“Good. I’m glad.” Then something in his face changes and he turns to Kylie.
“Now tell me about you. What made you move to Wayward Hollow? It is a little far away from, well, anything.”
“I got divorced,” she explains with a shrug. “Getting away from everything seemed like a good idea.”
“Oh well.” Dad sighs. “Definitely wiser than some decisions I made.”
“We live and we learn.” She giggles and I can’t stop staring at her. I figured there might be awkwardness, or apprehension about being here or my dad from her side, but nothing. This probably isn’t much different from when she first met Bobby.
“Tell me about Erik as a child! Embarrassing stories to tell by the campfire preferred.” She leans a little closer to him, mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
“He was always a calm child. Literally. Wouldn’t talk. I brought him to specialist after specialist to find out why he kept quiet. Turns out he just didn’t want to talk. When he finally did, he already hit me with full sentences.”
“Erik!” She playfully swats my shoulder, then turns back to my dad with a smile bright enough to light the entire room. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. Reading was always more his thing. Even before he knew how to, he’d sit in a corner and hold a book in front of his face the wrong way around, figured people would live him alone that way.
Only his sister was allowed to sit by him.
He pretended to read her the stories when actually, he memorized it and when to turn the page. ”
Kylie’s hand flies in front of her mouth as she bursts into laughter. “I’m sorry.” She wheezes between giggles. “The image is hilarious. And it tracks so well.”
“Nothing much has changed,” I confirm with a nod and let her infectious giggle lift the corners of my mouth.
“Anyway, son. How is the investigation coming along? Do you know which poor soul you can thank for your meet-cute?”
Kylie blushes. Squeezing her hand, I give him a quick rundown, before visiting time is up. One of the officers approaches our table and I give him a nod. Considering I’m in the same line of work, they tend to give me some leeway, but it’s about time we head home anyway.
“It was lovely to meet you, Anthony.” This time Kylie is not surprised by the hug my dad pulls her into and returns it way more relaxed.
Then he pulls me into one and it says so much more than words ever could. “Keep the picture,” I mumble and push the paper against his chest. His eyes turn glassy again.
“Thank you.” I know he means much more than the piece of paper. “You two get home safely.”
“Will do.”
He stares after us as we leave. As soon as we’re past the first set of metal gates, Kylie reaches for my hand again.
“Are you okay?” I ask her. She nods enthusiastically as we make it outside.
“I imagined the whole prison thing to be a lot scarier than it was.” I open the car door for her and she climbs inside, buckling herself in as I round the car.
“Thank you for taking me along.”
“Thank you for coming along.” I grab her chin, turn her face to me, and capture her lips in a quick kiss.
“Now, let’s get home before Kieran teaches Abby some dumb tricks.”
“Knowing him, that’s a very real fear to have.” I draw back and start the car.