by Rose, Willow
Once he was done, he came back to me. "Maybe we should take the children outside to wait?" he said. "This place stinks, and my eyes are watering."
We did. We walked into the hallway, Matt carrying Faith in his arms. She cried as we sat down on the stairs outside, rubbing her eyes, asking what had happened. Rylan grabbed her hand in his and sat with her, holding his arm around her shoulder while explaining to her that their mommy wasn't going to wake up anytime soon.
"He killed her a few days ago," I said, addressed to Matt after a few minutes. "And the children have lived alone all this time, taking care of themselves. Just like my dad had to take care of his own sister after his parents’ divorce. His sister ended up dying, though. This was all his way of telling his story, of going through his own childhood pain, killing his way through it in a very disturbed way. I can't believe I…that my…dad would do such a thing. I thought I knew him. But after tonight, I realized I didn't know him at all. I’m sorry for not involving you once I realized it had to be him. I had to be certain before I started accusing him of anything."
"I get it," Matt said. "It was something you felt like you needed to do on your own. It was your family. But, luckily for you, I knew you were up to something. I know you. Better than you think. I know you would never go back and sleep when your daughter was missing. After I dropped you off, I followed you as you ran to your parents’ house and then waited outside until you came back out and ran back for your car. I followed you here but didn't want to come in at first. I had no idea what you were doing in there until it took too long, and I finally decided to go after you, thinking something had to be wrong. I’m glad I did."
I smiled up at him, and he put his arm around me.
"So am I."
I sighed deeply, trying to shake tonight's events when my thoughts once again landed on Christine. She hadn't been in Sydney's old room. She hadn't been on his list of victims, and he hadn't mentioned her.
If my dad hadn't taken her, then where was she?
Chapter 89
The night became painfully long and, as morning broke, I was finally able to leave the site and go home. Rylan and Faith were in the hands of the DCF and would be sent to live with their grandparents in Wisconsin, they told me.
My mom was sound asleep on the couch when I came back inside. She woke up as I sat down on the coffee table she had once given me. She blinked her eyes.
"Eva Rae, we don't sit on the tables," she said. "That's what we have chairs for…"
The look in my eyes made her stop.
"You didn't find her?" she asked and jolted upright.
I shook my head. I grabbed her hands between mine. "Mom. We need to talk."
"Talk? What about? Don't tell me it's about what happened last night; I know it was…"
I shook my head. "That's not what this is about. We’ll get to that later. Right now, I need to tell you something that will completely shake your world, but you have to listen to me and let me finish, okay?"
My mom's eyes grew wide. "O-okay. But could we at least get a little coffee to wash this down with…whatever it is?"
"Deal."
I made the coffee, and we talked for hours. It was Saturday, so the kids didn't have school. I had to repeat a lot of it because my mom refused to believe it. But, little by little, it sunk in and soon my mom sat in my kitchen, crying and shaking her head.
"You think you know people…you live with them for years and years, and…it's all a lie?"
There were so many things I could have said at that moment to make her feel terrible about herself and how she had lied to me through all my life, but I decided against it. I realized I was no longer as angry about it as I had been. We were in this together.
"So…what will happen next?" she asked.
"Your house will be a part of the investigation," I said. "It's a crime scene now. Which means you'll have to live here for as long as it'll take them, God help us all."
"I heard that, Eva Rae," my mom said. In her voice, I heard a sort of relief. I wondered if she would ever want to go back to that place. Maybe staying here with me wasn't such a terrible idea after all. We both had to lick our wounds and find a way to move on past this. I knew we would drive each other nuts in the process, but the fact was, we needed each other.
I served my mom some cinnamon buns that I quickly baked, and she ate them without even talking about sugar or fat or cholesterol or asking if they were vegan or gluten-free. It was a relief to just be sitting there with my mom, and just be. Be human.
Barely had I finished my second bun when my phone buzzed.
"Ms. Eva Rae Thomas?" a voice asked from the other end.
"Yes?"
"TSA agent Frances Lopez, from Orlando airport here. I have someone who would like to talk to you."
"Mom?"
"Christine?"
"Oh, Mom, I…" she broke down and cried. I couldn't hold it back myself either.
"Where are you, baby? I'll come get you now. Just tell me where you are, and I'll be there."
"I'm…I'm at the airport," she said.
"Oh, baby girl. Stay where you are. I'll be right there."
I looked at my mom as I hung up. She smiled. "Well, what are you waiting for, Eva Rae? Go. I'll be here when the kids wake up."
I kissed her cheek. "Thanks, Mom."
"Just don't make a habit of it. I’m not a babysitter, you know," she shouted after me, but I was already gone.
Chapter 90
"Christine?"
I spotted her in the room that the TSA agent led me into while telling me that they had picked her up when she tried to purchase a ticket with my credit card.
Christine looked up at me, her eyes big and swollen from crying. "Oh, Mom, I'm…"
I knelt down and hugged her tightly. "No, baby. I’m the one who's sorry. I never meant to get so angry at you. I never meant to say those things. I am so, so sorry. You were trying to purchase a ticket to go see your dad, weren't you? To go to Washington?"
She nodded, crying. "Yes, but Mom, you were right. I took a shuttle to the airport and called dad and told him I was on my way, but then he said he couldn't have me. That I had to stay with you. That this wasn't a good time. I even told him I had quarreled with you and that I wanted to come live with him, but he said he didn't want that. I decided to go anyway and thought I could just crash at Amy's place instead until I convinced him to take me in. I didn't dare to come back to you. But you were right, Mom. He doesn’t want us anymore."
It broke my heart, and I couldn't stop crying. "Oh, dear baby. I am so sorry."
"Why is he being like that, Mom?"
"I…I don't know, honey. Dad's going through something."
"But…can't he do that without hurting us? His children?" she asked.
I pulled her into my arms. "I don't know, sweetie. All I know is that we need to stick together. We have to help each other get through this. And I promise to try and be home a lot more, okay?"
Christine got up and grabbed my hand in hers. "Good," she said with a sniffle. "Because I can't take care of Alex all on my own anymore. He's exhausting."
We walked out the door, and I smiled at the agent before we found the exit. "Well, I might have a solution for that," I said as we walked back into the parking lot.
"Really? What?"
"Grandma is moving in with us. At least for a little while. Isn't that neat?"
My daughter stopped as we reached the car. She stared at me. "Grandma? Does that mean we all have to become vegan?"
"Okay, so we haven't figured out all the details yet, but we'll get to that eventually. Now, let's get home, baby. It's been a long day."
Chapter 91
"Can we open our eyes yet?"
Olivia sounded annoyed, but I wasn't going to rush it just because of her. I wanted it to be perfect.
I corrected the board one more time, then said, "All right, you can look."
All three kids opened their eyes and stared at the whiteboard in
front of them that I had hung up on the wall in the kitchen. Behind them, my mom was whistling as she was preparing another odd dish for us for tonight. I was eternally happy she was there and that she was cooking for us, but I was getting pretty fed up with beans and lentils by now. I just didn't want to tell her how much we all loathed her food. I didn't want to break her heart. It had been broken so much already.
"Is that it?" Alex groaned. "I thought it was something cool."
"What's this?" Christine asked. "What are we looking at?"
"This, my children, is our new organizer board. See how I put all the days here and then all the hours there? This is where you write your activities down. Like Olivia has Volleyball on Tuesdays."
"Mondays and Wednesdays, Mom,” Olivia grumbled.
"Yes, okay, Monday and Wednesday," I said and wrote it on the board. "See? Now we all know where Olivia is between three and five o'clock on Mondays and Wednesdays. And if she has a game on Saturday, then she'll write it there, and we'll all know where she is, and where I'll probably be too because I will want to see all her games this season."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Really, Mom? Do you have to?"
I smiled. "Yes, and I will be cheering from the sidelines. Probably wearing a funny hat or something embarrassing. And maybe Grandma will want to go too?"
"Leave me out of this," my mom said. "I'll only come if sweet Olivia invites me."
"There you go," Olivia said. "Grandma understands how it works."
"Very well, but I plan on coming anyway. And I'll be at all your concerts, Christine, and your surfing contests, Alex, once you get to that level. Are we clear? Activities go on the board, and you remember to text me every now and then and you always, always pick up when I call, okay?"
"This is turning into a prison," Olivia said and walked away, probably rolling her eyes once again.
"What do you think?"
I looked at Christine for some sort of recognition. "It's okay…for you."
"I'll take that as an acknowledgment," I said and turned just in time to see Alex draw a huge fire truck all over my schedule.
"Oh, no, Alex. I spent a long time making this."
My son smiled and admired his artwork. "It looks much better now, Mom," he said, very visibly proud.
I chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder. "I can't argue with that."
Later that same evening, I was watching TV with my mom when there was a knock on the door. I went to open it.
"Matt?"
He looked at me nervously and, at first, I feared something was wrong.
"So, here's the deal," he said. "My mom can babysit Elijah this Friday."
I looked at him, puzzled.
"And?"
He was obviously looking for words. When he didn't find them, he walked up to me, grabbed me, and pulled me into a kiss.
"You annoy the heck out of me, Eva Rae Thomas," he whispered as our lips parted.
"Odd thing to say after kissing a girl," I said, still confused.
He shook his head, almost angrily. "Don't you get it?"
"I’m not sure I do, no."
He growled something, then turned around, then returned and looked at me. "Can we try? Please? I know it didn't work out the first time, but can we try again?"
I swallowed, and a smile spread across my lips.
"Is that your way of asking me out?"
He threw out his arms. "Yes!"
"This Friday?"
"Yes!"
I shook my head. "Matt…I can't…"
"Oh, okay. Wow," he said and stepped away from me, his voice turning shrill. "But that's okay. That's okay. At least I tried, right?"
He turned around and was about to walk away when I stopped him.
"Matt, I can't…this Friday. I’ve promised Melissa and Dawn I’ll go out with them. Some local band is playing at the Beach Shack. They're all excited to take me there. But if you can get your mom to babysit on Saturday, then I'll be delighted to."
Matt's face lit up. "Really?"
"Really."
"Yes!" he said, walking backward toward his car. "You've got it. I'll pick you up, right here. That's a date. It's a date!"
Matt got into the car and drove off, while I wondered if he was ever going to tell me what time he would pick me up. I shrugged and decided he'd probably text me, then went back inside where my mom was watching CSI Miami. I decided I wasn't in the mood for any more mystery in my life, then went into the kitchen, opened my laptop, and began to write the first page of my book.
Only, as soon as I had written the first line, I suddenly had a new idea. A story was asking to be let out and felt more urgent than the first one I had wanted to write.
The story of a boy turned killer. The story of the man I had once believed was my dad.
THE END
Afterword
Dear Reader,
Thank you for purchasing Don't Lie to Me. The idea for this book came to me when I spoke to a good friend of mine who is going through a tough divorce right now. Her husband is alienating the children against her, so they refuse to see her. He is telling them lies about her, and they believe him, mostly because they are afraid of him. It's an awful thing and happens a lot more than you'd think. When I researched it, I found so many stories like my friend's, you wouldn't believe it. Some children don't realize this has happened to them before they are grown up and they have lost contact with one parent. It devastated my heart to think that some parents won't get to see their own children and, not only that, their young hearts are turned against them. It's tough.
I hope you liked the book and will leave a review. It means so much to me.
Thank you for all your support,
Willow
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