Page 52 of River

“You don’t have to go home. You can stay with me. Butright now you can stay with River and Kat. I’ll bring your Mom to you.”

“Do you have a dog?” She asked, looking at Kat.

“Yes, we have two. Their names are Penny and Sissy. They will love playing with you,” Kat said.

“I can’t stay very long because my Mom will miss me something awful.”

“You can stay with us until Gideon finds your Mommy and brings her to you,” Kat said.

Haley looked at me, and I knew she was scared. “Kat is going to have two babies. Maybe she will let you feel them moving,” I said.

“Oh, how exciting! My grandpa’s cook is having a baby. We weren’t allowed to speak to her, but we would have if Grandpa hadn’t beenin the room. He’s a stupid, mean old man.”

“You no longer have to worry about him; the Golden Team is now your guardian,” I said, giving her some breakfast.

“I need to find Riley before she confronts the grandpa,” I said after breakfast as I walked them to the door. Make sure Haley isn’t seen in the back seat. You might want to go to Walmart or Target and get her some clothes when you get home.”

“Don’t worry about Haley; we will take good care of her. Come on, sweetie, we need to let Gideon find your Mom. Here are all the papers on everything you wanted me to dig up. Kat said, handing over the papers.

Haley ran over and hugged me. “Thank you for saving me, Gideon. Can you please hurry and bring my Mom to me?”

“I’ll do everything possible to bring her to you quickly, sweetheart.”

“The first thing I would do is go to her Grandpa’s house. If it were me, that’s where I would go looking for Haley,” Kat said.

“I will go there first,” I said, not saying that’s where I was planning to go. Since the baby was almost here, her emotions were more tender—at least, that’s what River told all of us—because he didn’t want to see her crying.

31

Riley

When the doorwas kicked in, I knew they found us. Before I could move, the man slugged me in the face. When I woke up, the cops were there, and Haley was gone. I had to go back to that bastard’s house and get Haley.

I’m surprised they didn’t kill me. I could only hope these police weren’t bought off like the ones I called in Chicago.

I explained what happened, and they thought I should hire someone to help me. How would I do that with Jonah having control of my money? I was just an ordinary girl who happened to be great at fishing. Fishing was my bread and butter.

Fishing has saved me from a life of hell. Even when I was young, I loved fishing. Now, I make money fishing, or I did until the devil took me to his house.

I was born and raised in Farmington, Oklahoma. I was in foster care most of my life, so I fished to escape my group homes. I lived in the same town near a large lake, and after doing my chores, I walked to the lake and fished.

No one cared where I went or what I did as long as my work was done. As soon as I turned eighteen, I was alone,which was fine with me. I’ve felt alone all my life until I married Gavin. The people didn’t want you because the government didn’t pay once you turned eighteen.

I entered some fishing contests and won most of them. I fished off the bank when the other fishermen went on their boats. I knew right where to fish because I knew this lake.

I had one friend, Charlie. He was an old man who fished as much as I did. When he couldn’t drive anymore, he gave me his old truck and boat. I was in seventh heaven. The truck had a camper on the back, and I fixed it up and stayed there most of the time. It had everything I needed.

Fishing contests helped me pay for books in junior college. I went two years before I met Gavin Reeves. He told me he had no family. Now I knew why he told me that. Who wanted to admit that the devil was your father?

We were married, and we were happy. Haley was born when I was twenty-four; she brought me so much joy. We were celebrating our sixth anniversary when a man walked into the restaurant and shot Gavin, and then he left. Gavin lived long enough to tell me to take Haley and hide.

After I stopped screaming, I was in shock; I couldn’t believe someone had killed Gavin for no reason. He never did anything to anyone. It was hard explaining to Haley that her daddy was never coming home because he was now in heaven.

I packed us up and moved close to where I grew up. I had money; I was surprised that Gavin had as much money as he did. He never spent a penny of it. We were married for six years, and he never told me about having money. We lived from paycheck to paycheck.

When that man showed up at our house, I knew why Gavin had told me to hide. His father came into our home and demanded that we live with him. When I said no, heslapped me so hard it knocked me down, and my ear was bleeding. Haley started crying. I was scared that he would hit her.

“You will be beaten if you don’t listen to what I say. I’m nothing like that wimpy son of mine. If my granddaughter didn’t need her mother, I would kill you right now.”

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