Chapter 34 #2
Haden took off toward his grandmother, grabbing her hand while his eyes remained on his brother and sisters.
No, four-year-old Haden wasn’t quite sure what was going on.
His mother had been absent for half his life, so it was to be expected.
Still, I got the feeling he sensed she was important to him, but he was understandably cautious.
Kylie ran her hand down Kate’s hair and whispered something to her. A moment later, Kate shifted to the side, but she didn’t go far. It was then that Haden saw her for the first time, and he took a step forward but then a step back into the security of my mother’s embrace.
“It’s okay,” Mom told him. “That’s your mommy. She’s missed you so much.”
Haden peered up at her, then back at Kylie.
If he was trying to find the resemblance to the woman in the pictures we kept all over the house, he was likely hard-pressed to find much.
Kylie looked drastically different. Especially to a child.
Her once golden hair lacked the shine it once had.
Her face was gaunt, her cheekbones sharp because of it.
Her blue eyes didn’t sparkle the way they used to.
She looked as though she’d been starved nearly to death, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she had.
“Hi, Haden,” Kylie said softly, tears spilling down her cheeks. “You’re so big.”
Haden looked up at Gage, then over to Kylie once more.
I could tell it broke her heart. It broke mine, too. But we would get through this. It would take time, but we would.
Still holding Maddox, I glanced over at him.
He was clutching his blanket in one hand and playing with the hair on the back of my head with his other.
I didn’t see the moment Kylie looked at him because I was focused on him, but I knew when it happened because his eyes widened, and a second later, he reached forward with both arms, as though expecting her to take him.
My heart squeezed painfully tight. I wasn’t sure how, but he recognized her.
Maybe it was her voice or merely a connection to the mother he had been so close to before she was taken.
Whatever it was, it was a miracle that caused a ripple through the room.
A sob sounded from Kylie and possibly Pop, too.
Before Kylie could get to her feet, I delivered Maddox to her.
He went right into her arms, his arm curling around her neck, his head resting on her shoulder, just as he’d done so many times when…
I took a deep breath, not bothering to wipe the tears trickling down my face. I’d dreamed about this moment, believing deep in my soul that it was lost forever.
Some might say we’d been given a second chance, but in reality, this was my third chance with the woman I loved.
And I had every intention of ensuring the people responsible for taking her from us would pay for their sins. Every last fucking one of them.
Jessica Prescott Walker
“Hey, Jess?”
“In the kitchen,” I called out to Braydon, hearing his footsteps coming my direction.
Wait. I heard his footsteps. Which meant he had on his boots.
I stopped prepping lunches for tomorrow and waited for my husband to appear in the doorway. When he did, I took him in from head to toe, noticing that he was dressed as though he was heading out.
“Where are you goin’?” I asked. “I hope it’s to get some ice cream because we are—”
“Jess. I need to tell you somethin’.”
The tone of his voice had me pausing again, turning to give him my full attention. “What’s wrong? Is someone hurt? Is Brendon all right?”
“Everyone’s fine.”
I exhaled and somehow managed to keep the starch in my legs. The relief was overwhelming. I didn’t do all that well with impromptu information. Not since Brendon had wrecked his truck years ago when he drove while intoxicated and hit a tree. And then when my sister—
Braydon moved closer, his eyes intense.
“You’re scarin’ me,” I told him as he continued his approach. “What’s goin’ on?”
He exhaled heavily and looked me directly in the eye as he gave me the news.
“Your sister’s alive.”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. Surely I’d heard him wrong.
“Kylie?” I mean, I only had one sister. Or rather, I’d had one sister. But she was—
“Yes. Kylie’s alive.”
I focused on breathing, realizing it wasn’t as easy as it normally was. My blood pressure was rising, too. At least that was what I was blaming the dizziness on.
I held Braydon’s stare. “I hope to God you’re not messin’ with me right now.”
“I would never,” he declared before he pulled me into his arms.
I grabbed onto him as an emotional dam started to crack. I kept it together by sheer force of will. “She’s … are you sure?”
He pulled back a little so he could look at me. “Your dad called me when I was drivin’ home.”
“You’ve been home for an hour, Braydon.”
“I know.”
“You’re just tellin’ me now?”
“I was tryin’ to find the words.” He took a step back and met my gaze. “Pop texted a minute ago. Travis and Gage just brought her home.”
“Home. My sister … Kylie … she’s … where the hell has she been?”
“I don’t have all the details yet, but from what your dad said, someone faked her death and took her. They’ve kept her locked up all this time. Brantley and Reese found her.”
I heard the words, but they weren’t making much sense.
Before I could ask more questions, my cell phone started to ring. The ringtone was familiar.
I snatched it from the counter and answered abruptly. “Dad?”
“We’re at Travis’s with…” A rough sob sounded. “Your sister’s here.”
I could hear the tears in my father’s voice. The raggedness of his breathing matched mine.
“We’re on our way.” I looked up at Braydon. “Right? We’re goin’ over there?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll be there in a few minutes, Dad. Oh, my God.”
“See you in a few.”
The call ended, and I set the phone on the counter, staring at it. I kept waiting for something to happen. Something that would make me wake up and ruin the best dream I’d had in a long time.
“Jess. Come on. Let’s go see her.”
Trepidation curled in my gut, making me feel sick.
I grabbed Braydon’s arm. “Are you sure it’s really her?
I’ve heard about impostors and all that…
” Granted, the TV shows I’d seen were usually about kids who had been missing since they were really small, only to have a teenager pretend to be them in order to get something from the parents.
I was almost positive I’d never seen an adult do it.
“It’s her,” he said and his tone was so sincere, I had to believe him.
“Can we go?”
“Yes.”
“Who’s gonna watch the—”
A knock interrupted my question, and a second later, Brendon walked in.
“Brendon’s gonna watch the kids.”
I nodded although no one had asked me a question. After I managed to find my shoes and pull them on, my husband led me out of the house.
Somehow, I managed to keep the tears at bay, but the moment I laid eyes on my big sister, the dam broke.
Curtis
Being that my birthday was a couple of weeks away, I had to admit this was likely the best gift I could’ve ever received.
It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime things you hear about.
I could attest since I would be turning seventy-seven this month and in all my life, I’d never witnessed a miracle like this.
Kylie was alive.
My son’s wife had been taken from us, but not in the sense that we originally thought.
And yes, those were tears in my eyes as I stood there in Travis’s home watching as my daughter-in-law saw her children for the first time in nearly two years.
I figured it was a good thing my doctor had given me a clean bill of health; otherwise, I would question whether my ol’ ticker could handle something of this magnitude.
The tears were flowing steadily. Between my wife and Kylie’s father and sister, we had to break out an extra box of Kleenex.
Not that I was complaining. No, certainly not that.
As far as family reunions went, this was the best anyone could ever ask for.
Gage
My heart was in my throat. Or at least that was how I felt from the moment I saw Kylie. My world had stopped spinning momentarily as my eyes drank her in, convincing my brain that she wasn’t an illusion.
And since that moment, I’d found it difficult to breathe. My chest was tight, which was likely the only reason this felt real instead of like a really fantastic dream.
Kylie was alive.
The woman I loved more than life itself had come back from the dead.
Well, I guess technically, she hadn’t come back because she’d never been dead, but some deranged bastard had sure wanted us to believe it. And he’d won that round, stealing her from us for so long.
I would admit that I didn’t harbor grudges the way Travis did. Nor did I feel the need to dole out punishment when it was easier to save face. Most things could be handled with a civil conversation. But this was different. Martin Calloway would pay for his sins; that was a goddamn promise.
“I think it’s time for bed,” Travis said, speaking directly to the kids after nearly two hours of cuddling on the couch.
Lorrie and Curtis had gone home, promising to be in touch first thing in the morning.
Jessie and Braydon had come through, shared a bucketful of tears before taking their leave.
I was sure they needed time to come to terms with what had happened, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were on our doorstep before the sun was up.
Now it was just us, and Travis was right, it was time for bed.
For those who were still awake, anyway. Maddox had fallen asleep in Kylie’s arms while Haden was drifting in and out at her side.
Kate was on her other side, clinging to her arm like a lifeline.
Avery and Kade were on the floor, their heads resting against Kylie’s legs.
They were all touching her in some way, probably trying to assure themselves that this was real.