Page 72 of The Lovely and the Lost

A flash of motion was the only warning I got before an animal barreled out of the forest.Canine. Dog.My brain cycled through a start-stop chain of recognition before focusing on the animal’s familiar lines.Pad.

Cady followed a moment later, and on her heels, there were others—Mac and his dog, a handful of rangers.

I forced my fingers to loose the rock in my hand. As it thudded to the ground, I met Cady’s eyes. “You got my message?”

“Message?” Cady stared at me for a moment before shifting her gaze to Bella.“Oh.”That sound was gut-wrenching, like Cady hadn’t let herself believe that this story could have a happy ending—like she’d needed one, even more than I had. She dropped to her knees in front of Bella. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Are you hurt?”

Bella didn’t answer the questions. Instead, she stared intently at my foster mother. “Are you Cady?”

With a glance at me, Cady nodded. I expected Bella to leave me and go to my foster mother, but she didn’t. Instead, the little girl pushed close to my side.

Too many people,I thought, staring up at the rangers.Too much noise.

Somehow, my arm found its way around Bella, like human contact was my native language instead of one I’d struggled with for years. “She’s fine,” I said. “A scratch on her leg, but no other noticeable injuries. I found her farther upriver—a mile or two. I think she was waiting.”

For you.I couldn’t say those words to Cady—not in front of an audience.

“Any sign of her kidnapper?” Mac drew my attention from Cady.

I shook my head. “I tried to radio for help. I thought it went through, but I couldn’t get a clear response, so I decided to bring Bella in myself.”

One of the rangers took out a first aid kit. Another had a blanket to wrap around Bella’s shoulders, but when they stepped forward, the little girl stepped back.

“She just wants to go home,” I said, wishing I couldn’t hear an echo of that desire, an ache in my own tone. “She wants her family.”

Cady stood, bringing her face from Bella’s eye level to mine. “Areyouokay?”

Finding Bella was supposed to fix whatever had broken inside me. It was supposed to give me the magical ability to step back and see that Cady and Jude had only ever tried to protect me. It was supposed to tell me how to fix things with Free.

It was supposed to make meworthyandgoodandwhole.

“I’m fine,” I said, but what I was thinking was,You lied to me my whole life. Worse than that, I was thinking that the reason Cady had lied was that she thought I couldn’t handle the truth—and she was right.

Cady knew I wasn’t strong enough. She knew the only way I could ever be normal was to pretend.

Cady tucked a strand of stray hair gently behind my right ear, and then she looked down at Bella. “Let’s get you girls home.”

Bella sat next to me on the ride to the sheriff’s office. She didn’t say a word. Even once we’d arrived, and a pair of FBI agents came in with a child advocate, she refused to answer their questions—about where she’d been, about the person who’d taken her.

They thought she was traumatized. They let me stay because Bella had attached herself firmly to my side, and they let Cady stay because she was my guardian. What no one but me realized was that Bella wasn’t keeping quiet because oftrauma. I’d tried to tell the FBI what Bella had told me, I’d tried to make them listen, but each time someone spoke over me, the words got a little harder to find.

“You’re not asking the right questions.” I hadn’t meant to raise my voice, but at least this time, they heard me. Every adult in the room turned my way. “You keep asking about the person who took Bella. You should be asking about her angel.” I met Bella’s eyes and softened my tone. “Bella’s angel pulled her from the river, wrapped her in a blanket—saved her.” I swallowed. “Bella’s parents were gone, so the angel promised to take care of Bella until they got back. And in return…” I glanced down at the little girl. “Bella promised to help.”

“Help with what?” The sheriff inserted himself into the conversation. Even the sound of his voice put me on edge, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of showing it.

“I don’t know,” I said, turning to the little girl sitting beside me. “Bella? Why did the angel need your help?”

Bella caught her lip between her teeth. Seconds ticked by in silence, but eventually, she answered, “The angel needed to save someone else.”

“This angel…” The sheriff took a step toward Bella, but a glare from the child advocate cut him off midsentence and froze him in his tracks.

“Who did the angel need to save?” the woman asked quietly.

Before Bella could answer, the door opened, and the little girl’s entire face lit up. “Mommy!” She was on her feet in an instant. “Daddy!” She started forward, then paused, and I remembered that Bella’s angel had told her they’d left because they were mad.

“Baby.” Bella’s mom fell to her knees, her arms opening. The expression on her face was halfway between torture and exaltation. I thought of the way she’d refused to go back to the hotel, the way she’d fought for Bella, the only way she could. “You’re okay. You’re okay, Belly. Baby, you’re okay.”

Bella’s father showed no visible emotion until Bella launched herself into her mother’s grasp, and then without warning, he let out a sob and collapsed, his arms encircling them both.