Page 3 of Gideon

“It’s beautiful here,” Kat said. She stretched her back as she looked around.

We walked inside, and Haley was talking to Bear. He sat and listened as if he understood her every word.

“Haley, this is River and Kat. You’ll stay with them while I find your mom and bring her home to you.”

“We can’t go home because Grandpa will find us, and he’ll beat my Mom up again,” she said with a quiver in her voice.

“You don’t have to go home. You can stay with me. But right 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 are Bears sisters. They will love playing with you,” Kat said.

“I can’t stay very long because my Mom will miss me something awful. She doesn’t like me getting out of her sight. She’s scared Grandpa might do something, like steal me. He wants to kill her. So he can’t find us.”

“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 if Grandpa weren’t around,we would talk to her. He’s a stupid, mean old man. That’s what my Mommy said. She also said he was crazy and very dangerous.”

“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 Laney 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, Kat’s emotions were more tender—at least, that’s what River told all of us—because he didn’t want to see her crying.

2

Laney

When the doorwas kicked in, I knew they’d found us. The sharp crack of splintering wood made my stomach drop. Before I could move, a man slugged me in the face. Pain exploded behind my eyes, and everything went dark.

When I woke up, the cops were there—and Haley was gone.

I had to go back to that bastard’s house and get my baby.

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

I explained what happened, but they advised me to hire someone to help me. How would I do that with Jonah having control of my money?

I was just an ordinary woman who happened to be great at fishing. Fishing was my escape, my bread and butter, and the only thing that kept me sane. Even as a child, it was my refuge. Growing up in foster care in Farmington, Oklahoma, fishing saved me from the chaos of group homes. I lived near a large lake, and after finishing my chores, I’d head there to fish. No one cared where I went as long as my work was done.

When I turned eighteen, I was on my own—fine by me since I’d felt alone my whole life anyway. After I aged out of the system, the government stopped paying, so I entered fishing contests. Most of the time, I won, even fishing from the bank, while others used boats. I knew the lake like the back of my hand.

An old fisherman named Charlie became my only friend. He fished as much as I did and gave me his truck and boat when he couldn’t drive anymore. That truck had a camper on the back, which I fixed up and lived in. It wasn’t much, but it had everything I needed.

Fishing contests helped me pay for books in junior college. I managed fortwo 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?

Gavin and I were happy. When Haley was born, she became the light of my life. But everything changed on our sixth anniversary. A man walked into the restaurant and shot Gavin. He died in my arms, but not before telling me to take Haley and hide.

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