Chapter 33 #2
“She died,” Kade said, not an ounce of emotion in his words.
“She’s sleepin’ in the diwt,” Haden said, the r in dirt sounding like a w.
“She’s not sleepin’ there,” Avery countered, her tone defensive. “Mommy died.”
“Listen to me,” I said sternly, putting a halt to the ensuing argument.
“Your mom didn’t die.”
“But you said she did,” Kade stated, his eyes narrowed.
“We thought she did,” I admitted, because it was the simplest answer. “But she was just very, very sick and she’s been somewhere gettin’ better.”
Kate’s eyes flared wide. “I knew it.”
When she clasped her hand over her mouth, I continued. “Your mom’s still healin’, so she might look a little different than you remember. She’s gonna need your help when she gets here.”
“How?” Avery asked.
“Well, she needs you to talk quietly. I know you’re gonna be excited to see her, but as I said, she’s been sick. So I want you to use your inside voices and no hoppin’ around. Got it?”
Heads bobbed up and down.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Is that her?” Kade shouted, launching to his feet.
I grabbed him and gave him a playful shove back to the couch. He giggled uncontrollably.
“Do me, Pop!” Haden insisted, jumping to his feet.
I playfully pushed him back, too, making him giggle while Lorrie headed for the door.
“Alright. That’s enough. Have a seat,” I instructed, using my stern voice when Kade jumped to his feet again.
“Who is it?” he asked, peering around me toward the door.
“Is it Mommy?” Avery asked, her eyes wide as she stared toward the front of the house as though waiting for a ghost to appear.
“It’s not your mom. She’ll be here in a little while.”
“Gramps!” Haden shouted when Joe, Kylie’s dad, walked into the house.
I had called him as soon as I got off the phone with Travis, wanting Kylie’s father to get the news directly. I hadn’t been surprised when he insisted on coming over. I peered behind him to see if Jessie had come with him.
“I talked to Braydon a minute ago,” Joe said, as though hearing my silent question. “They’ll be here in a bit.”
I nodded. I had intended to call Braydon myself to share the news, but Joe had asked if he could be the one to tell his daughter.
“We were just talkin’ about how their mom’s comin’ home,” I told Joe when he joined us, picking Maddox up and settling him on his lap.
“She’s been sick,” Avery informed him.
“She’s not gonna look the same,” Kade noted.
“It’s gonna be a little while before they get here,” Lorrie said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “So why don’t we make some popcorn and go upstairs and watch a movie?”
“I wanna wait down here,” Avery stated.
“We’re gonna watch a movie,” Kate said, getting to her feet. It was obvious she was in big sister mode.
“But I don’t wanna,” Haden argued.
“We’re gonna watch Inside Out,” Kate told them.
“Yay!” Avery shouted.
“Y’all always get to watch that one. I wanna watch Aquaman,” Kade insisted.
“I want you to do me a big favor,” I said before they could start arguing over whose turn it was to pick the movie.
Their eyes followed as I stood tall, peering down at them.
“I want you to promise to stay upstairs until I come get you.”
“Will you come as soon as she gets here?” Kate asked.
“Of course.”
She nodded.
“We pwomise, Pop,” Haden said as he headed for the kitchen.
“Go on,” I told them to get them moving. “Get some popcorn and head upstairs.”
When the room cleared of rugrats, I turned to Joe.
His eyes were rimmed in red, proof that he’d succumbed to his emotions already. “Is it really true?”
I nodded. “I talked to Brantley a few minutes ago. He said Travis and Gage are bringin’ her home now.”
“How the hell did this happen?”
I knew Joe was referring to his daughter disappearing for nearly two years while we all thought she was dead. I didn’t have the whole story, but I knew enough.
“Why don’t we make some coffee and I’ll tell you what I know.”
Kylie
I learned a lot on the drive back to Coyote Ridge. Most disturbing was that I’d only been an hour away from home this entire time.
One hour.
Sixty whole minutes.
A trip so short, it didn’t even require a bathroom break.
As Travis drove through the streets of the small town I’d grown to love, I realized not much had changed in the time I was away.
The sun was setting, darkness descending quickly, but even without the sun shining, it looked the same.
Mostly. There were a few differences, but nothing that altered the overall architecture.
It wasn’t until Travis pulled into the driveway that my heart began to pound and I felt a strange disorientation. Like I was dreaming and the house in front of me was there but not really. I got the impression I could touch it, but as soon as I did, it would disappear.
“Give me a few minutes,” Gage told Travis before getting out of the truck.
Travis nodded at him, and that was when I saw it. The love and trust I’d once seen on Travis’s handsome face were there, but it was directed at Gage. In fact, there was so much love in that single glance that I was tempted to look away.
“Mom and Pop are inside,” Travis explained when Gage closed the door, sealing us inside. “We left the kids with them earlier. They brought them here so they could be here when you got here.”
“Do they know?”
Travis nodded. “Pop was gonna tell them. He wanted to give them some idea of what’s comin’.”
Well, that made sense, I guess.
I stared at Travis, a dozen questions hovering on the tip of my tongue. All of them about what had transpired inside that house during the time I was gone. None of them voiced.
No, I couldn’t bring myself to ask because the thought that life had gone on without me was terrifying. They had thought I was dead. Probably mourned me for a little while, but then they had moved on. Nearly two fucking years had passed. They had definitely moved on.
Anger and pain coalesced, blocking out the panic. I could feel the rage and the hurt knitting together to form a wall to block out what was likely coming. The thought that my absence had hurt my children made me see red.
“He hurt you, Kylie.”
The pain in his voice shifted my attention. I looked at him, scanning his handsome face. While he hadn’t asked a question, I felt the need to respond. I considered lying, but decided he deserved the truth. As much as I was willing to give him, anyway.
“Yes,” I said, the word breathed out softly.
It lingered between us for a moment. I noticed the way Travis’s jaw bunched and flexed. I expected more questions, but they didn’t come. Travis swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as his eyes shifted to the windshield and the world beyond.
Taking a deep breath, I relaxed in the seat and waited.
The front door finally opened and Gage stepped outside. As he made his way to the SUV, I looked at Travis.
“I want to find him,” I said, keeping my voice low and firm.
His gaze met mine, held it.
“I want him dead, Travis. And I want it to be painful.”
He didn’t answer with words, but the curt nod he offered was as good as a promise from him.
The SUV door opened and Gage was there. “Ready?”
I turned to look at him, taking in his handsome features. Before I knew what I was doing, I had reached up, running my fingertips over his perfect jaw. His eyes instantly softened, and it wasn’t until that moment that I realized he’d been as scared as I was.
“I missed you,” he said, the words nothing more than a whisper on a breeze.
But I heard them. More importantly, I felt them. Deep in my soul. Those words cracked something inside me, and for the first time in so long, I felt as though there was a light at the end of the dark, lonely tunnel. It was in the distance, sure, but it was there.
“I missed you, too,” I admitted, a tear sliding down my cheek. “So much.”
His gaze linked with mine briefly, and I knew he had questions.
Rather than ask them, he said, “Come on. Let’s go see the kids. Then you can get some sleep. We’ll watch over you tonight.”
I didn’t bother telling him I didn’t need to sleep; I needed to plot my revenge. I had slept long enough. It was time I returned to the living and found a way to take down the bastard responsible for the nightmare I had endured.
Instead, I nodded, more tears dripping. I didn’t attempt to stop them. I hadn’t cried all that much, refusing to let Martin Calloway see my fear or my pain. But now, here … I felt as though my chest was an open wound, the sadness and fear finally having a release.
This was where I belonged.
I was finally home.