Page 74 of The Chain

Eli jumps up onto the sofa next to Kylie and she picks him up and kisses him.

“How’s…” Rachel whispers to Pete.

“Sleeping. I’ll go back there in five. I just wanted to see you guys,” Pete replies.

“Uncle Pete,” Kylie says and puts her arms out for another hug.

Rachel sits on one side of her and Pete sits on the other. Eli nestles in her lap.It’s a miracle, that’s what it is,Rachel thinks. Sometimes kids do come back, but often they do not, especially girls.

“Do you know everything that’s happened?” Kylie asks Pete.

“Yeah, I’ve been helping your mom.”

“Group hug,” Kylie says, crying again.

Pete puts his arms around both of them.

“I can’t believe it,” Kylie says. “I thought I was going to be down there for a million years.”

They all sit there for a few minutes before Kylie looks up and grins at the two of them. “I’m hungry,” she says.

“Anything you like,” Rachel tells her.

“Pizza.”

“I’ll microwave one right now.”

She tries to get up and go to the kitchen, but Kylie won’t release her.

“Are you OK, Kylie?” Pete asks. “Did they hurt you?”

“The man hit me after I hit him and tried to escape. It really hurt,” Kylie says.

“Shit,” Pete says, his fists clenching by his sides.

“You must have been terrified,” Rachel says.

Kylie speaks and Pete and Rachel listen.

She tells them everything.

They let her words spill out. If she wants to talk about it, they’ll let her talk. Kylie isn’t one who clams up, and for this Rachel is grateful. She strokes her daughter’s hair and smiles at her bravery.

She heats the pizza while Pete goes back to the Appenzellers’ to check on Amelia.

Kylie goes up to her bedroom to see all her stuff.

“Mom, can I text with Stuart and all my friends now? Would that be OK?” Kylie asks.

“Yes, but you have to tell him that you had a stomach bug, OK?”

“OK, I guess. And what do I tell Dad?”

“Oh, crap, that’s a whole thing. You have to tell your father that you went to New York,” Rachel says, and she explains the situation with her father and Tammy and her grandmother.

“I need my phone!”

Rachel gets the phone. “I couldn’t fake-text for you because I didn’t know your passcode.”