In This Together

by Kara Lennox

  But that was all about to change.

  The car pulled slowly up Daniel’s driveway, and MacKenzie’s nose was pressed to the glass, looking out. “Wow, that’s a big house.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Am I gonna live there?”

  This was the most talkative MacKenzie had been with Elena so far. “No, we’re just going to a party.”

  “Will Uncle Trav be there?”

  “Yes, he’s on his way here now. And he’s bringing a surprise with him.”

  “Did he find my tea set?”

  “It’s a better surprise than a tea set.”

  “A pony?”

  “No. But Mr. Logan, the man who owns this house, has some horses. Maybe later we could go visit them.”

  MacKenzie seemed to be digesting this new reality. She didn’t smile, but why would she? In the world she knew, a lot of promises were made but not kept, and any good fortune could be snatched away from her at any time.

  Randall opened the car door while Elena helped MacKenzie out of her child seat. Then the two of them walked hand in hand up to the imposing front door. MacKenzie’s eyes were huge as Mrs. Drury let them in.

  “May I take your coat, young miss?” the rather scary woman asked.

  MacKenzie looked suspicious. She cast a questioning glance at Elena. “Will I get it back?”

  “Oh, honey, of course you will. Mrs. Drury will just put it in that closet right over there, see? It’ll be there whenever you want it.”

  Reluctantly MacKenzie allowed the coat to be removed and turned over to Mrs. Drury.

  Daniel and Jamie were in the living room, where garlands and ribbons and wreaths had transformed the austere lines of the ultramodern room into something much cozier. A fire blazed in the fireplace, and though Houston experienced few nights that were cold enough to warrant building a fire, tonight was one of them. It always seemed a little more Christmassy if it was cold outside.

  MacKenzie studied everything, taking it all in. Her mouth formed an O as she surveyed the fourteen-foot decorated blue spruce. Then she stared at the fire.

  “Hi, Elena,” Jamie said. Her pregnancy was clearly showing now; she and Daniel had recently announced that their baby was due in May. “Merry Christmas. You’re looking so much better. And who have we here?”

  “This is MacKenzie, Travis’s niece.”

  Suddenly shy again, MacKenzie turned and buried her face in the folds of Elena’s skirt.

  Thankfully, no one pushed to get a response out of MacKenzie. Both Daniel and Jamie knew the little girl’s tragic history. A few others arrived—Jillian and her husband, Conner, and some of the senior staff from Project Justice along with family members. When two other children arrived, Elena persuaded MacKenzie to play a game with them in another part of the living room, where Elena could keep her eye on the girl, but MacKenzie didn’t seem to participate much. She kept looking over at Elena with a worried expression.

  Poor thing. The only security in her world right now was a woman she’d met only once before. When one of the servers brought a plate of kid-friendly hors d’oeuvres to the children, MacKenzie ate quickly, almost frantically, stuffing a cream puff in her mouth while holding another treat in each hand.

  Elena remembered what it was like to have to compete for food. When she’d been a street kid in Havana, she’d fought like a scrappy dog sometimes to keep what she’d scavenged.

  After a while, the other two kids decided to go outside, but MacKenzie retreated to Elena’s lap. She cheered up again when Daniel brought her a hot chocolate, declaring she’d never had one before.

  “Anytime you come to my house,” Daniel said, “you can have hot chocolate.”

  “I probably won’t come back,” she said solemnly.

  Elena’s heart ached for the child.

  “When is Uncle Trav coming?” MacKenzie asked as Elena wiped off a hot-chocolate mustache from the girl’s face.

  “Soon, I hope. But don’t worry. We’ll stay right here until he arrives.”

  “What about if it’s my bedtime?”

  “Just this once, you can stay up past your bedtime, okay? But not too late, ’cause Santa Claus is coming tonight.”

  MacKenzie made a sound of derision that no six-year-old should have made. “Santa Claus isn’t real. That’s just a story.”

  “Well, I bet Santa will bring you presents this year.” Elena and Travis had made sure of that. They’d bought her a new tea set and replaced some of the other toys and clothes the Stovers had sold.

  When the doorbell sounded, Elena’s breath caught in her throat. She was pretty sure who was about to walk in the door.

  “Is it Uncle Trav?” MacKenzie asked excitedly.

  “It could be.”

  MacKenzie wiggled out of Elena’s lap, unaware of just how good a Christmas this was about to become.

  “Remember, I told you he was bringing you a surprise?”

  Travis appeared, standing in the doorway, looking luscious in a pair of dark blue pants and a sweater in a deep plum—he’d asked Elena to take him shopping when they’d made plans to attend this party. “I don’t want your friends to think you’re marrying down,” he’d said. No one would think that if they saw him tonight. With his hair trimmed and the new duds, he was easily the handsomest man in the room.

  Travis’s gaze zeroed in on MacKenzie.

  MacKenzie waved, finally flashing a quick, shy smile.

  When it appeared Travis was alone, Elena worried that something had gone wrong with their plans. But then someone else stepped around the corner. He was more gaunt than he’d looked in any of the pictures Elena had seen. His skin was pale, and he had one of the worst haircuts imaginable. But the man was unmistakably Eric Riggs.

  “Daddy!” MacKenzie shrieked, and then she was running across the room, dodging guests and furniture with surprising speed and agility. By the time she reached Eric, he was crouching down to receive her. She leaped into his arms and he picked her up and swung her around, then hugged her fiercely. Even from this distance, Elena could see he was crying.

  “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” MacKenzie just kept repeating.

  Elena joined Travis, and they put their arms around each other as they watched the scene unfold. Elena had tears in her eyes, too, and she saw Travis dab at his eyes a time or two. The rest of the party guests broke into applause. Most of them had known of the reunion Travis and Elena had orchestrated when they’d learned Eric would be released on Christmas Eve.

  No wonder Travis had been so desperate to preserve this father–daughter bond. The love between them was special—anyone could see that. It wouldn’t be easy for either of them, starting a life from scratch. But with a firm foundation of love, miracles could happen.

  “We do good work,” Travis murmured in her ear. “I know we can’t take all the credit for this, but knowing we helped make this possible feels pretty good.”

  “Yeah. It does. Merry Christmas, Travis.” She pointed to something above their heads, and he looked up.

  “Mistletoe. Did you plan this, too?”

  “Might have.” And they kissed.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from FOR THE FIRST TIME by Stephanie Doyle.

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  PROLOGUE

  “I NEED YOU to focus, Josephine.”

  She was focusing. She was focusing very hard. She knew that the man in front of her was a police detective. He had brown hair with gray mixed in on the sides. He wore brown leather shoes and khaki pants that were fraying a little around the hem. His badge number was 79134.

  She’d made herself memorize it—79134.

  “Tell me again everything that you saw.”

  Why? She’d said it all already. It wasn’t going to change.

  “Do it, JoJo. Tell him again.” Her father paced in the living room, stopping every once in a while at the chair where her mom sat so he could put his hand on her shoulder. It only made her mom cry harder.

  “We were at the mall.”

  “The strip mall on Springfield,” her mother interjected. “It’s where I dropped them off. They were supposed to go shopping, then call me to pick them up. They were supposed to stay there.”

  The detective nodded, and turned to JoJo. “But you decided to leave the mall instead.”

  “We wanted to see a movie. Two boys from our class were supposed to meet us there.” JoJo winced at the sound of her father hissing. “It wasn’t like a date or anything, Dad. They were just friends.”

  JoJo and Julia were only fourteen. They had already been told by their parents over and over that they weren’t allowed to date until sixteen. Which was so stupid. All the freshman girls in high school already had boyfriends. They were, like, the only single girls in the class.

  “Don’t worry about that,” the detective said. “Focus on what happened. You left the mall.”

  “The theater was just up the street a few blocks. The movie was at three forty-five.” She remembered that stupid detail.

  Three forty-five p.m. Why only that one?

  “She was walking too slow. She always walked so slow. Then she stopped because her shoelace came undone.”

  JoJo could see it clearly. She was nearly half a block ahead. Julia bent down on one knee tying her shoe as if they had all the time in the world. Which, of course, they didn’t because it was already three-forty. What if the movie had started when they got there? What if they couldn’t find Peter and Jake? Then the whole point of doing this would be for nothing.

  JoJo shouted to her to hurry. But Julia flipped her the bird instead. It actually made JoJo smile.

  “Then a car pulled up along the side of the road. It was silver. A minivan. The kind where the side door slides over.”

  “Can you tell me the make? Was it a Toyota or a Ford?”

  JoJo shook her head. She only knew the makes of cars she liked. MINI Coopers and Volkswagen bugs because they were cool. She knew the Subaru her mother drove and the Toyota her dad had driven for years. But they weren’t minivans. It didn’t help. Nothing she knew was helping.

  “Then what happened?”

  “The side door opened and this guy jumped out. It happened so fast. He just grabbed her from behind. Then she was screaming and he put her in the van.”

  The tears that had been falling since she had watched her twin sister be dragged into that van came faster, but they wouldn’t help, either. She had to pull it together so she could tell the detective everything. It was the only way they would find her. Just like she’d told the people at the theater, and the first police officers who arrived at the scene and then her parents.

  “He wore jeans. His hair was dark. I think he had a hoodie on, but I can’t be sure.”

  “How could you tell what his hair color was if he was wearing a hoodie?”

  “It wasn’t on his head. The hood was down. It was gray. I’m sure it was gray. You know, like a workout sweatshirt.” She just remembered that, which meant maybe there were other things she would remember. Something important that would bring Julia back.

  “Then the van sped away. It made a U-turn in the middle of the street and was gone.”

  “Did you see the driver?”

  JoJo closed her eyes. “It was just a guy. I couldn’t really see. A shape behind the wheel, that’s it.”

  “But you know that the person who grabbed your sister wasn’t driving the van.”

  “Yes. It happened too fast. He grabbed her and the door was sliding closed and the car was moving.”

  “Okay, Josephine...or can I call you JoJo?”

  She shrugged. Whatever. She hated to be called Josephine. Julia sometimes did it to piss her off.

  “I need you to really think. When the car drove away did you see the license plate?”

  Everyone wanted to know that. They kept pushing her over and over again to think about it, visualize what the numbers and letters might have looked like. If she could just remember those numbers, then they could find Julia and everything would be all right.

  Only she couldn’t.

  “Think, JoJo!” her father shouted as he moved between her and the detective. “This is important. You have to think about what you saw and tell them the license. It’s her only hope.”

  She lifted her face to her father. “I can’t remember. I didn’t see it. I don’t think... Maybe it didn’t have a front plate. It was fast and I was running to get her.”

  “That’s not good enough!” he roared. “This is your sister’s life! Now think!” The blow to the side of her head knocked her off the couch.

  “Jonathan!”

  “No,” he barked at her mother. “She has to do this. You have to do this!”

  “Sir, I know what you’re going through right now. But this isn’t the answer,” the detective said, purposefully keeping his voice even and steady.

  JoJo lifted herself onto the couch with a ringing in her head. That was the first time her father had ever hit her. It was so weird.

  “Tell them the license plate numbers. Tell them. If you can’t do this, it’s your fault what happens to her. Do you hear me?”

  Her fault? Of course it was her fault. She’d wanted to go to the movies. She had a crush on Peter. Julia knew it, too. It was probably why she was being slow. She knew it would make JoJo crazy and Julia lived to make JoJo crazy.

  It was what twins did.

  JoJo closed her eyes and struggled to think about what happened. The sound of the tires screeching. The vague shape of the body behind the wheel. The back of the van moving away from her as she screamed and screamed and ran so hard after them.

  She couldn’t remember one stupid letter of the license plate. She didn’t think she even looked at it.

  ISBN: 9781460320389

  IN THIS TOGETHER

  Copyright © 2013 by Karen Leabo

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