Page 55 of Gideon

“We’ll stop at Walmart tomorrow and buy them some,” I replied.

“What about Laney? Will she be upset we’re staying with you?”

“No,” I said with certainty. “Laney will be thrilled that all of you are with me. Don’t worry about anything. I’m happy we’re finally together as a family. Ryan, I didn’t know about you before, but I want you to know I love you. You’re my son, and I’ll always love you. Laney loves you, too. We’re both so excited you’re part of our family.”

“You live in Carlsbad, California?” he asked as we drove through the town.

“Yes. Have you been here before?”

“When I was younger, my grandparents used to bring me here on vacation. They’d always say they wanted to buy a vacation home here. Then Brenda started having the kids and bringing them to my grandparents instead. Grandma used to joke that Brenda must’ve stolen the kids because she claimed Brenda was ‘fixed’ after I was born.”

“Have you ever seen their birth certificates?”

“No. My grandparents knew everyone in town, so the school let her register the kids without them. Brenda was supposed to get the certificates from Mom.”

“What? Where were you born?”

“I was born in Sacramento, California.”

“Do you think Brenda could’ve... taken the kids?”

“I wondered about it before,” Ryan admitted. “When we first got Trina, she was four years old and told us her name was Tammy. She said Brenda wasn’t her mommy. That was two years ago. Brend said Tammy was her invisible friend.”

A chill ran down my spine. Something felt terribly wrong. “How old was Lily when you got her?”

“Lily was a newborn. Grandma said she wasn’t more than three weeks old. Brenda brought Jeramy first—he was around three months old—and then Lily six months later. I think Grandpa confronted her about it. I saw them arguing. I overheard him saying she could go to prison for her actions.”

“And then a few months later, the accident happened.”

“Grandpa had a heart attack while driving.”

“I’m so sorry, Ryan. That must’ve been so hard, losing your grandparents like that.”

“It was. I miss them every day, and the kids miss them, too.”

“Ryan, would you be okay if we ran a DNA test on the kids?” I asked carefully. “It’s bothering me that your grandpa mentioned prison. What if Brenda did take these kids?”

“Yeah, I was stolen,” a small voice between us said.

I turned, stunned, to see Trina looking at me wide-eyed.

“She took me from my mommy at the park,” she continued matter-of-factly.

“Trina, do you remember that?” Ryan asked, his voice tight.

“Yeah. Remember how I told you my name was Tammy?”

“And Brenda said Tammy was your imaginary friend,” Ryan murmured. He looked at me, his expression troubled. “I love these kids, Dad. If you find out they were taken, I want you to investigate their families to make sure they’re good people before anything happens.”

“We can do that,” I said firmly. “We’ll handle it that way. Here we are.”

Ryan stared at the house as we pulled in. “This is nice. I’m... a little nervous,” he admitted.

“Don’t be nervous.”

“Who’s that?” Ryan asked, spotting someone through the windshield.

“That’s Kat. She’s part of our team.”

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