Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Kylie
After our morning outing, Travis brought me back to the house.
I hadn’t realized how uncomfortable I’d been being out in the open until I walked inside and the door closed behind me.
I’d been anxious the entire time we had been outside, fearful that Martin would find me and either take me out or kidnap me again.
Granted, I had hidden those emotions well. To my knowledge, neither Gage nor Travis had picked up on my hypervigilance. At least I hoped they hadn’t.
Once we were back, I’d spent a little time looking around the house, seeing all the things that were different.
And there was so much. The furniture was no longer in the same place it had been, the couch and chairs shifted around, some of the smaller pieces of furniture missing, and some of the bedrooms rearranged, probably for preference.
My kids had always been independent thinkers. They liked things how they liked them.
I understood that.
I was curious what prompted the changes. Not because I didn’t like it. I simply wanted to know what had been going through their minds these past couple of years, what had happened while I wasn’t there.
But those were questions I would hold for a little while longer. Rather than rapid-fire them at Travis and Gage, I opted to process what they’d told me, what was going on around me, and let it simmer for a while.
Now, as I sat on the couch with my babies, watching Despicable Me and listening to their giggles, some of the stress of the day had eased.
I still felt like a live wire, but for the moment, I wasn’t sparking.
I was sure that the anxiety would return soon enough.
Until that time, I was content to sit with Kate and Avery, both girls cuddled up to my sides, while Kade, Haden, and Maddox sat on the blankets they’d spread out on the floor, their attention laser-focused on the television.
This was nice. It brought back memories of before the unspeakable happened, before I died. Good memories. The ones that I had clung to when I’d been chained to the floor in that house, melting in that room, starving—
“Mommy? You okay?”
Kate’s voice pulled me from those thoughts, and it was then that I realized I was shaking.
“I’m good, baby,” I lied, willing it to be true.
She cuddled closer, and I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. God, how I’d missed this. Spending quiet time with my babies. Sure, it had been a rare occurrence back then, considering their ages, but there had been moments like this.
It would’ve been easy to dismiss what Martin had done, to shove aside my need for vengeance. After all, I had this, so it had worked out in the end. Or it would. I needed time to acclimate, but deep down, I had hope that we could create a new path together.
That was the old me, though: The hopeful optimist always looking at the bright side.
The new me … the one who’d somehow survived these past two years was not going to sit back and let Martin get away with what he did. I would find that bastard—with or without Travis and Gage’s help—and I would make sure he paid for what he’d stolen from me.
And them.
Travis
“What’re you workin’ on?”
I looked up from my desk as Gage walked into my home office. I sat up and turned my laptop screen so he could see.
“We’ve got to get Kylie some clothes and shit. She said she doesn’t want to go shoppin’ right now, so I figured I’d order some stuff online.”
“Yeah … about that…”
The odd tone had me looking up at him. “What?”
Gage pursed his lips and walked away, heading for the window that overlooked the front yard.
The sun had set already, so it was dark, but the front porch light highlighted a portion of the flowerbeds.
It wasn’t impressive, so I knew this was Gage’s way of preparing to tell me something he didn’t think I would like.
And wasn’t this an interesting turn of events? I was usually the one staring into space, trying to come up with a logical explanation for something I’d done. It was kinda nice that I wasn’t in the hot seat for once.
Figuring he would get to it soon enough, I leaned back in my chair and watched him.
Less than a minute later, he turned to face me. “I … uh … I might’ve kept some of Kylie’s things.”
Frowning, I waited for him to elaborate.
“Back when we were cleanin’ it out, you had me take it all to Goodwill.”
“And?”
His expression was a mix of pain and … embarrassment, maybe. “And I couldn’t do it, so I rented a storage unit and put it in there.”
I sat up straight. “You said some things. How much?”
“All of it.”
“Everything?”
Gage nodded. “I went by there a couple of times, convinced I was strong enough to clear it out, but I wasn’t. So it’s there. Collecting dust while I pay it monthly.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“Are you mad?”
That got me on my feet. “Why would I be mad?”
“Because I was supposed to be stronger than that.”
It pained me that he thought so. Back when Kylie first …
when we thought she was gone, neither of us had been strong.
And we’d hurt each other in the process.
It had taken some time, and though I wouldn’t say we’d moved past it, we had found a new normal that worked for us. It got us through the day, anyway.
“Well, I ordered her a new cell phone,” I told Gage. “And tomorrow, we’ll get some people over there to clear out the storage and bring it here. That work for you?”
“You think she’ll even want it?”
I did. Well, she may not want the items, but I think it would help her to know Gage hadn’t been able to part with her stuff because he hadn’t been able to let go. She might’ve been out of sight, but she had never been out of mind.
“I do,” I answered. “Once we get it back here, she can go through it and pick out what she wants to keep. We’ll take the rest to Goodwill together.”
Gage smiled, but it was definitely forced.
I walked over and put my arms around him, pulling him against me. His arms came around me and we held each other.
“I missed her so fucking much,” Gage whispered.
I felt the tremor that moved through him and understood how he felt. I was relieved that she was home, but at the same time, I was terrified that I would either wake up to find this had all been a dream or the other shoe would drop and she would be taken away from me again.
The emotional chaos was intense, and until that storm subsided, we had no choice but to brace for impact.