Almost on cue, they heard the back door slam shut, and a woman’s voice call out, “Ryan?”
He jumped up, and shot Selena and Jake an apologetic look.
“Let me tell her,” he whispered, and backed out of the room.
As Selena clutched Jake’s hand in a death grip, she heard her say, “Hi, babe. What are you doing in here, and what’s with those guys out there? They just gawked at me when I pulled up, and nobody said a word until Ed finally told me to come find you.” A note of alarm sounded in her voice. “Is something wrong? Is it Scott?”
“No, honey. Everything’s finally right,” they heard him say. “Rachel, one of the girls is here.”
They heard her gasp, and Selena wrung Jake’s hand.
“What did you say?”
She could hear the joy in his voice as he said, “Honey, our daughter’s home.”
Suddenly, they appeared in the doorway. Rachel leaned heavily on Ryan. She was alarmingly pale, looking as dazed and confused as a survivor of a plane crash, but she was a startlingly beautiful woman.
As much as Jake had thought the girls resembled their father a moment ago, he could now see the imprint of their mother. They shared the same heart-shaped face and full mouth, the same determined jut of a chin, and the same slender frame.
Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth, Rachel Grant stared at her daughter in stunned silence.
Selena stood awkwardly to her feet. “Are you okay?”
Rachel’s voice was strangled. “My baby…you’re really here!”
Selena held open her arms, and Rachel hugged her, clinging to her like a drowning woman clung to a life preserver.
For the next several hours, they laughed and cried and reveled in each other. Selena told her about Nat, and Nikki. As saddened as they were by the news of Nikki’s death, there was also an underlying sense of hope in the air as four people learned to let go of the past and embrace the future. As she looked at the joyful faces of her parents, and felt the reassuring grip of Jake’s hand in hers, Selena Hawthorne realized she now knew the secrets of the woman in the mirror.
She finally knew exactly who she was.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Unforeseen Danger Page 24