60. Garrett
GARRETT
I remove the pan of mini blueberry muffins from the oven and put it on the counter. They don’t look too bad. Actually, they smell and look exactly how they’re supposed to, unburned and golden brown.
Athena is staring out at the dimming evening light through the living room window overlooking the driveway. The same place she’s been standing for the last two hours.
“They’re here!” The girlish pitch of her voice gushes out loud and excited, and my currently already faster-than-normal heart rate spikes.
Athena takes off running, sprinting past the coffee table and couch. I toss the oven mitts onto the kitchen counter and follow right behind her.
She unlocks the front door and flings it open without stopping to put on her shoes. She rushes toward the black SUV pulling up to the house. Her feet are bare, but she doesn’t seem to care.
I shove my feet into my sneakers, tie them up, and jog over to join her.
She bounces on the spot next to the open passenger door and frantically waves at Peony.
The woman agent removes my daughter from the car seat. Peony’s hugging a stuffed dog, shadows of exhaustion painted under her eyes. A physical exhaustion. As well as the emotional strain that could only come from the ordeal she has been through. Twice .
Hopefully with time and therapy and plenty of love, she will eventually heal.
And be the carefree little girl she’s meant to be.
Athena reaches for Peony. The agent gives Athena a small, placating smile and shifts her body slightly, putting herself between them.
“Are you Garrett Carson?” she asks me.
Peony’s sad eyes meet mine. Eyes with more knowledge of the world than someone so little should have.
Her face brightens, the reaction tugging deep in my chest and leaving me dizzy with relief. “Daddy!” She stretches her free hand toward me, answering the agent’s question.
And that one word is all I need to hear.
My heart climbs into my throat, and my vision blurs for the first time since learning she and Zara were missing.
I’d been able to hold back the tears all this time, but seeing my daughter, hearing her voice, getting to hold her warm body in my arms…
those are the things that finally pull down the dam, rip loose the floodgates.
I gather her in my arms, my tears dampening her hair. She’s alive. My beautiful, sweet little girl is alive. I hug her and kiss her cheek.
Her arms go around my neck, holding on tightly to me, and she rests her head on my shoulder. Little hiccupped sobs vibrate through her body, and wetness spreads through my T-shirt where her face is pressed against it.
“Christ, I’ve missed you.” Tears clog my voice, relief and happiness buff it to a shine. I hug her once more. I can’t stop hugging her.
I sniff back the tears and release a steadying breath, inhale her sweet smell. “Who’s your friend?” I pet the toy dog on its head.
“Doggy!”
Athena holds out her hands for me to give her Peony. But unless Peony wants to go to Athena, I’m not letting go of my daughter just yet.
Athena loves her, has been there for her during their darkest days, but that’s not enough for me right now.
She’ll have to be content for a few more minutes knowing Peony is safe and those men won’t kidnap my daughter again.
They’ve been arrested and face countless charges.
Athena will have to be content knowing she is safe; she can finally start her life over.
And I’ll do whatever I can to help her. I owe her that much…and so much more.
I thank the agent for bringing my daughter home to me.
“You’re welcome. She’s a sweet little girl. And brave too.” The agent looks down at Peony, and a gentle smile touches her mouth.
A small, shy smile bends on Peony’s mouth, and she buries her face into the side of her stuffed dog.
“Is Zara okay?” I haven’t heard anything about her since she and Peony were rescued. All I was told was Peony would be arriving home within the next few hours.
The agent’s brow creases. “Zara?”
“My friend who was kidnapped with Peony.”
“I was asked to escort Peony to Maple Ridge. No one mentioned anyone else.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Why do I have a feeling I’ve been kept out of the loop? That something has happened to Zara?
I tell myself she’s on another flight, but I have a hard time believing that. Peony trusts Zara. Why would FBI agents separate them?
The agent talks to me for several minutes, letting me know that victim support will be in contact, and then she and the police officer who drove her here leave.
Peony yawns.
“Do you want me to get you ready for bed?” Athena asks Peony, holding her hands out to Peony again.
Peony shakes her head, exhaustion slowing the movement. “Daddy.”
Hurt flashes on Athena’s face. The kind of hurt where her heart has been ripped out and stomped on. But she quickly hides it from Peony, from me, with a smile that ghosts her mouth.
“You can help me get her ready,” I tell Athena, wanting to lessen the sting of rejection.
Once Peony is asleep, I return to my office and dial Zara’s number. I’m sent to voicemail. I don’t leave a message. What I want to say needs to be said to her face .
I phone Samuel. He answers right away, and I leap straight in with my most pressing question. “Do you know when Zara’s coming back? The FBI agent who flew with Peony told me Zara wasn’t with her.”
“No one told you?”
Anxiety grabs my stomach in a vise and twists. “Told me what?”
“She’s in the hospital in New Orleans. Her spondyloarthritis symptoms have worsened, and she wasn’t in any condition to fly yet.”
Christ . Between the kidnapping and witnessing Emily being murdered, I can’t imagine how bad the symptoms got. Or how she would have been there for my daughter, even though Zara’s body felt like it was a nuclear plant on meltdown. “When is she coming home?”
“Not for a few days. Maybe a week. My parents are making arrangements to fly out. And I’ll be joining them.”
I’m relieved Zara won’t be alone, but at the same time, I want to be the one with her. The one sitting by her side. Holding her hand.
After we end the call, I open my inbox on my laptop.
Because Peony was kidnapped, my publisher and the movie production company extended the deadline, which had originally been a week today.
I send them an update on the situation and let them know I am on track with making the deadline—give or take another week or two. I CC my agent.
For now, that weight has been knocked off my shoulders.
The familiar cries of Peony having a nightmare come from her room, and I rocket to my feet. Both Athena and I reach Peony’s room at the same time.
Now that I know the cause of her nightmares, I stare at the cracked-open door, momentarily at a loss for what to do.
Athena doesn’t have the same qualms and hurries into the room. She turns on Peony’s bedside lamp, casting the room in a soft glow and chasing away the deep shadows. Deciding it’s safe to go in, I join her and kneel next to Peony’s bed.
I stroke Peony’s back and whisper soothing words.
Shit, what do I do? My daughter is here, in Maple Ridge, dealing with the trauma of what happened, both during the week she was kidnapped and for a good portion of her life. She has a play therapy appointment tomorrow. I never got around to canceling it after she went missing .
And Emily’s funeral is in four days. A funeral Zara will miss.
I can’t be in New Orleans, to be by Zara’s side while she recovers from her ordeal. I need to be here for my daughter, and I need to attend the funeral.
Except…except I know Emily. I know the woman who was such a romantic she started a small wedding consulting business. She would be the first person to tell me to rush across the country and declare my love for Zara.
She would tell me if there was ever a way to honor her in death, making the grand gesture for the woman I love would be it.
But that still doesn’t help me choose between the two most important females in my life.
Do I stay here with Peony? Or go to New Orleans to be by Zara’s side?