Healed by Love - Book 2

by Ami Le Coeur

  I stuck a hand in my pocket to retrieve my phone and call 911. Damn. I’d left it with Maria. I turned on my heel and stalked back around the side of the house, towards the SUV. Rachel grabbed at my arm, trying to stop me. I kept walking, not even daring to push her away. Her nails sunk harder into my skin. I kept going.

  “You will not go inside my house. Do you hear me?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll never be caught alone with you again… ever.” I stopped and looked down at her. “Let me go. Now,” I growled.

  A neighbor’s light flicked on and Rachel dropped my arm immediately. I shook my head. She was always worried about what others thought of her. Good to know that hadn’t changed. At least there, I had some leverage.

  I started walking again… double time… right back to my vehicle, praying to who-knew-what she didn’t follow. She did, of course. She felt the need to micro-manage every movement. That hadn’t changed either.

  I tapped at the passenger’s side window and saw Maria jump. She’d been staring at my phone, probably trying to locate Em’s iPad. I signaled her to roll down the window. A second later, we were face to face.

  “Any luck?” I asked.

  She shook her head, looking at me with a combination of worry and sorrow in her eyes. Something shifted inside me, and I felt myself able to breathe again. Just being this close to her calmed me.

  I reached out my hand for my phone. “I’m going to call 911.”

  Blindsiding me with her elbow, Rachel stepped between me and Maria. She tried to grab the phone. raking her nails down Maria’s hand in the process. Maria gasped, but didn’t let go. Instead, she jerked away and glared at Rachel, who didn’t even have the grace to blush, let alone apologize.

  “Step away from my car. Now.” My voice was low and I felt my anger begin to boil. Again.

  “You are not calling the police,” she spit out between clenched teeth and tried reaching around me again, but I blocked her, careful to keep my hands far away.

  I knew her tricks.

  I’d been on the receiving end of her treachery for years and, most likely, would be held hostage by them for the rest of my life.

  “I absolutely am calling the police. This is much more than just a ‘family’ issue. My daughter is missing and I will do whatever it takes to make sure she’s safe. One would think any responsible parent would do the same.”

  As if she was reading my mind, Maria dialed 911 on my phone and I heard the dispatcher pick up over the speaker system. “911. What’s your emergency?”

  “My daughter has run away from her mother’s home,” I told the woman and heard Rachel grunt in barely suppressed rage as she stamped her foot. I knew she hated for anyone to think she wasn’t perfect, and it was clear she was more concerned about her reputation as the ‘best mom ever’ than for Emily’s safety. “I need assistance with a search, please.”

  “Your name and the name of your daughter?”

  I gritted my teeth. “Francis Lorain Thompson and my daughter is Emily Thompson.” Maria’s eyes snapped up to mine as I said my hideous name out loud. I narrowed my eyes at her and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand, turning until I only saw the back of her head. Shit. Now she knows why I always refused to tell her my full name. If the stress of the situation wasn’t so intense, this moment might even be funny.

  I answered a few additional questions, giving Emily’s age and physical disabilities and then gave them Rachel’s address. I hung up and immediately tapped the ‘find my phone’ app again. All thought of humor evaporated into the night.

  Damn.

  Still nothing.

  Did Em leave so quickly she forgot her iPad? Why didn’t she FaceTime me? Why? Why? Why?

  A thousand questions collided with each other, causing a whirl of confusion and anger. I looked over at Maria and took a deep breath.

  Calm. Control.

  Then I turned to Rachel. “What happened after I dropped her off here? Details. Tell me everything.”

  She curled her upper lip at me and crossed her arms over her chest. She overbalanced and teetered sideways a little bit. I peered at her more closely. Was she drunk?

  “What happened? You want to know what happened? I did what I do nearly every night of her life. I helped her get ready for bed. I made sure she brushed her teeth and washed her face. You know, those real-life must-do things that you know nothing about since you are a four night a month father.”

  Rage spiraled. The snake inside me craving to strike. I tamped it down, but just enough to keep it captive for the immediate moment. “Then, what? Let me guess… you locked her in her room? Did you berate her, too? Scare her? Did she hide?”

  Rachel’s head snapped back. Her face looked like she had been slapped. Her mouth opened and closed and then opened again. I’d never seen her so completely silenced. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

  “Oh yes, I know.” I took a step closer to her. “And I promise you one thing. When I find Emily… and I will find her… all of this stops. Do you understand that? It’s over.”

  Her face turned pale before blossoming into a bright red. She raised a hand to smack my face and I stood there, staring her down.

  Just then, a blast of a siren filled the air and Rachel jumped, dropped her arm, and whirled around. Police had arrived. There must have been a car nearby. I almost laughed when Rachel suddenly covered her face with her hands and began to sob uncontrollably.

  Almost.

  Fucking actress. She deserved an Academy Award shoved up her ass.

  Chapter 6 – Emily

  It was getting later and later. Darker and darker. Colder and colder.

  I yawned. I was really tired. I felt like I’d been walking for forever and that it must be morning time pretty soon. But, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure of anything anymore, except that I was tired and I wanted to find my daddy.

  The crickets chirped in the shadows, and the sound made me almost feel like I was safe in my room. I liked their singing and I made up stories about them. Stories about how they were watching from their hidey spots in the shadows, looking out for a little lost mermaid who had grown her legs and was trying to find her dad. Making up stories always helped me feel better. Naming the crickets helped, like they were really watching out for me. Pretending I was going to be okay helped, too. A little.

  Bang!

  A booming noise made me jump, and then an engine roared loud as it started up. The engine’s rumble drowned out the comforting cricket sounds and reminded me I was out here in the dark, all by myself.

  I sucked in my breath, looking around. The big car was close and I heard it getting closer. I moved as fast as I could to get away from it. I saw its headlights shining on a tree ahead, my shadow growing taller as it got closer. I chased after my shadow and finally made it to the tree, scraping my hand on its bark as I threw my arms around the trunk on the backside.

  Please don’t see me. Please don’t see me.

  The car didn’t slow, and once it had passed, I breathed a big gulp of air and slumped against the hard tree. It felt good to lean on something. I shut my eyes for a moment, glad to be safe from the car.

  At first, I hated that the streetlights were on the other side of the street, but now, I kinda liked it. I was sooo afraid that my mean mom would somehow know I was gone, and would come after me before I could find my dad. But with the shadows on this side, it was a whole lot easier to stand very still and pretend to be part of the tree when cars passed. The tree felt kinda like my daddy. Tall and strong. I wished it could hug me back. Daddy would be proud of me, remembering his “blend in” hiding secret.

  Daddy!

  I shrugged my backpack off my shoulders again and pulled out the iPad, feeling kinda dumb that I’d forgotten all about it. But I’d been so sure I could find his apartment. I’d thought for sure I’d be knocking on his door by now yelling ‘surprise’. But now, I’d just FaceTime him like always. He would come get me. I know he would.

  I waited
and waited for the iPad to come on. Why did everything take forever tonight? Finally! I hit the FaceTime button and… nothing.

  What? I shook the iPad. Nothing. Why wasn’t it working? Then I remembered to look at the little bar thingies at the top. No service. Just like what happened when Mom forgot to pay the bill.

  Tears burned behind my eyes and I sniffed them back. I couldn’t cry. That was what babies did. And I wasn’t a baby, I was a mermaid with legs, looking for her dad. I took a deep breath and turned off the iPad, remembering how important it was to save the battery. Then I stuffed it back into my backpack.

  A flash of light in front of me made me look up. More headlights. I needed to find a better hiding spot. I wiggled into my backpack again. Up ahead there weren’t many trees, so I hurried to find someplace where I could hide if necessary—at least for a little while. I really, really wanted to sit down. My legs were getting tired, and my arms were starting to hurt from the crutches. I needed to rest.

  At the corner, I saw the street opened up to a park. There were benches around a small playground that was set back from the road. I remember this park! Mom used to bring me here. Back when she was proud of me. My heart felt heavy all of a sudden as sadness pushed more tears out of the corners of my eyes.

  When, oh when had my mom become this… this… Mommy Monster? This Momster? No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t think of anything I’d done to make her change so much. I couldn’t even remember when she had become so mean. But every day it got harder and harder for me not to cry. And she hated, hated, hated for me to cry! I sniffled, a little, then wiped my nose on my sleeve, determined to be strong and not be a baby.

  With a big sigh, I sat down in the swing chair and dropped my crutches and backpack beside me. It felt good to rest, to not have to walk.

  Then I started to swing. It was kinda hard all by myself, but I pushed up with my feet, leaning back, then rocking forward. Then back again. Pretty soon, I was flying through the air, not very high, maybe, but flying just the same. I wanted to reach the tree tops, and I pushed forward with that in my mind.

  I started to relax a little, the rhythm of the swinging making me feel content, like I was in a big rocking chair. I pushed higher and higher, wishing I could fly off into the sky and never come back. I wondered if mermaids could grow wings and be like birds, or maybe lady dragons. Then they’d be able to swim in the water, walk on land and fly as far as their butterfly wings could carry them.

  Yes. Butterfly wings. I liked that. I’ll have to tell Miss Maria all about that one!

  I felt myself get sad inside as I thought about Miss Maria and Daddy. If I were a mermaid with butterfly wings, I’d make sure to fly back to see them. They wouldn’t yell at me. I sighed.

  Daddy! Thinking about how much I missed my dad almost made me cry, but then I reminded myself again—I would be strong and brave for him. Brave like him. Because he was brave. He was a hero. A real hero.

  One time when I was visiting, I’d snuck into his bedroom and found some medals in a drawer. One was purple and another was blue and had a beautiful eagle on it. There was even a letter from the President of the United States of America with my daddy’s name on it.

  But when I’d asked Daddy about them, he just shook his head. Then he got sad looking and quiet. I don’t like it when he looks sad, so I never asked him about them again.

  I stopped rocking my legs and let the swing slow until I could make it stop. I reached down into my backpack, pulling out my iPad mini again. I turned it on. Maybe there was an internet around here somewhere. I wasn’t really sure how the Wi-Fi worked, but I knew it somehow floated in the air. Maybe it floated in the air here too.

  I felt my shoulders slump—still no bar thingies in the corner. I hit the FaceTime button just in case, but didn’t have a lot of hope. Maybe the Wi-Fi only worked in the daytime? Did it have to sleep, too?

  I stared at the bars, wishing them to change. I knew I could FaceTime even if only one of the bars lit up. But none of them did. Not even one. I didn’t want to turn off the iPad, but remembered about the battery. As I started to turn it off, I saw my Angry Birds game in the corner. Maybe it would be okay to play for a little while before I turned it off again.

  I tapped the app and when the little round birds popped up on my screen, I grinned, feeling happier than I had since I’d plopped out of the window. I’d play for a little while. But not too long, because I didn’t want to run down my battery and not get to FaceTime Daddy when the Wi-Fi woke up.

  I flipped a bird and he knocked down some barrels. I flipped another and he knocked down some more. Soon, I won that level and looked at the bar thingy again.

  Nothing.

  I tapped ‘play again’ and sat on the swing flipping birds.

  Chapter 7 – Maria

  What was wrong with that woman?

  I’d seen a lot of people in my life, but I’d never seen one who could change personalities that quickly. One minute Rachel was snarling and then the next, she was crying like her heart was broken. I just stared at her while she begged the policeman who’d pulled up behind us to help her find her little girl.

  What a manipulative, self-serving bitch.

  I looked down at my hand where red welts were already raised. I still couldn’t believe she’d tried to grab the phone from me like that. Why in the world wouldn’t she want the authorities involved? I already didn’t like or trust her after the things Thom had told me, but seeing all this firsthand, I had to wonder, what was she hiding?

  The policeman gave up trying to get information from a still-sobbing Rachel and started talking to Thom instead. I caught part of the conversation, but not all of it.

  Rachel’s wails would have woken the dead. The lights that had come on earlier were being joined by other lights in the neighborhood. I guessed that now that the police had shown up, she was playing the role of the distraught mother.

  I heard Thom give the policeman his cell phone number, but that’s about all I could hear. Then Thom was shaking the man’s hand and coming around the front of the Suburban. Two seconds later, he was in the driver’s seat and throwing the vehicle into drive.

  “What’s happening?” I finally asked when it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything.

  “We search. Officer Reynolds is calling in additional support and we’ll scour the streets until we find her.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say, so I said nothing, just looked out the window, peering into shadows for any hint of this sweet girl who had so completely captured my heart.

  “I’m sorry.” The words were low, a rumble. I wasn’t even sure he’d said them until he said them again. “Very sorry.”

  I didn’t dare take my eyes from the street in case I might miss some sight of her. “Please don’t apologize. I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through. Emily is missing. Your ex-wife is acting like a psychopath…” I paused and gloried in the little chuckle I heard him push out.

  “Do you mind checking the app again?” he asked.

  “Sure.”

  I tapped the app and held my breath. Please be there. Please be there.

  Nothing.

  “Not yet,” I said and peered into the shadows along the road again.

  Every fifteen minutes, Thom checked back in with the officer. On the outside, he didn’t look any different from the well-paid, well-mannered chauffeur that he showed the world. But I’d seen the insides. At least some of them, and this was no ordinary chauffeur we were talking about. Even I could feel the tension pulsing through the vehicle each time he heard that Emily had not yet been found. It was almost electric, a strange combination of warrior testosterone and fatherly protection. I liked the deliberate focus of his intentions. Even if the intensity was palpable.

  When nearly two hours had passed, the outer calm began to dissolve. His hands were white from gripping the steering wheel so tight.

  “Damn it. Where could she be?”

  I didn’t answer. He’
d asked the same question a hundred times. No matter how much I wanted to help, I didn’t have an answer. So I kept silent and simply tapped the ‘Find My Phone’ app again.

  Nothing.

  I felt tears burn the back of my eyes and discreetly dashed them away. I was worried. Worried for Emily, worried for Thompson, worried about crazy Rachel and what she might be hiding. And worried that tonight might not turn out so good. But right now I had to be strong. Thom needed me to be strong. He’d been there to support me. It was time for me to do the same for him.

  “Try again, would you?” he asked me.

  “Yes.” I pressed buttons, hoping against hope. Then an icon popped up on the map. This time it was different. There was a little green dot. My heart leapt into my throat.

  “Thom! Pull over,” I nearly shouted, wanting to show him, needing him to confirm what I was seeing. He whipped the SUV to the curb and I thrust the phone into his hands. “I think that might be her.”

  He looked up, eyes full of hope. “God, I hope you’re right.” He tapped on keys, typing rapidly and I jumped when the car speakers said, “Finding your location.” Then, “Getting route.”

  He pushed the phone back into my hand. “Let me know if it moves,” he said, the urgency back in his voice. He hit the accelerator and I sank back into the seat as we literally flew away from the curb.

  “In twenty-five feet, turn left onto Parker Avenue.”

  I grabbed the ‘oh shit’ handle as we flew around the corner. I glanced over at Thom who’d turned into Mario Andretti. His face was hard, but his eyes… his eyes were alive with hope.

  “Turn right onto Amhearst Boulevard.”

  I was better prepared for the squealing tires and sharp turn this time, but still hung on for dear life. I stared at the phone, the dot getting closer and closer. I was filled with hope, when the speakers called out, “Recalculating. Recalculating.”