Page 13 of Stolen Dreams

And for the first time ever, I hear her giggle.The coldness that had settled in my bones since I was eight gets a touch warmer, sending me off my axis.I push off from the wall to get a closer look at her as she smiles up at Lilah.

“See.”Lilah nods.“Now, come and pet her.”She looks at her hand before moving behind Lucy, putting her hand in hers, and raising it up to the side of Rosy’s neck.Her tail’s going side to side as she gets rubbed.“She’s soft, right?”she asks Lucy, who nods.“Maybe tomorrow, if you come back, we can come back and see her again,” she suggests after a while.Lucy doesn’t say anything, but when she steps out of the stall, I see she has a little bit of a small smile.

“Did you have fun?”I ask, waiting for her to speak to me, but all she does is nod.“Thank you, Lilah,” I say to Lilah, hoping maybe Lucy will also thank her.However, it’s still radio silence.

“Anytime,” she replies, letting go of Lucy’s hand.“I’ll see you around, Lucy.”She waves at her before she walks away without giving me a second look.

“You ready to go see your new room?”I ask, and she just shrugs.The light in her eyes not too long ago is long gone, and in its place are the eyes that have haunted me for the past five days.Eyes that remind me of a time I blocked out and forced myself to forget.Told myself that I would never again feel pain like I did before.Eyes that look like a deer caught in headlights.Watching your life go from what you thought was happy to emptiness in a blink of an eye.If anyone knows what she is going through, it’s me.I also have no idea how to help her.

I turn and walk out of the barn with her by my side.Her head is down as we get back into Charlie’s truck.“We don’t live too far from here,” I say as she gets into the back and puts her seat belt on.

We pull up to the house, and I stop the car, looking over the seat at her.“Here we are,” I announce, getting out of the truck and walking around to see her slowly getting out and looking at a house double the size she used to live in.Opening the back of the truck, I grab the two of the four bags of clothes she has before going to join her.“Grab your backpack,” I say before she closes the door, reaching in for her pink backpack that holds her tablet and a bunch of other knickknacks she packed with tears running down her cheeks the whole time.

I wait for her to close the door to the truck before walking to the front of the house.She walks one step behind me, looking at the big black door as I put the code in.“There aren’t keys,” I inform her.“The code is one, four, seven, nine.”Even though there isn’t going to be a time in the near future that she will be arriving home without me, she should know it.I open the door and hold it open for her.

“Welcome home, Lucy,” I say as she steps inside hesitantly.Once she’s inside, I step in and kick off my shoes beside her.“I can give you a tour of the house, and then you can rest.”I watch her as she looks around the open-concept room.“This is the family room,” I say as I point at the big U-shaped couch I bought as soon as I got the house, hoping to fill up the space and make it feel like it was a home and not just a place where I crashed.“And that’s the kitchen.”I point at the kitchen right off the living room.“I don’t have a table.”I point at the empty space beside the big island.“But I’ll get one.”She doesn’t say anything nor does she step more into the house than she needs to.“That’s where my room is.”I point at the hallway on the side of the kitchen.“And your room is right over there.”I point at the opposite side of the house where her room is.“Autumn got things set up when we were still…” I trail off.“We have your things coming next week,” I tell her of her small bedroom set as I make my way to the bedroom.

Opening the door, I see Autumn did not fuck around when she said she took care of everything.A queen-sized bed with a cozy plush cream headboard sits in the middle of the room.There are two small ivory bedside tables, one on either side, with a white circle alarm clock on one, leaving the other empty.Four rows of pillows fill the top of the bed, with a light cream-and-brown checkered cover folded in half, showing you the light brown sheets.“I guess this is your room.”I laugh with her as she steps in and sinks into the cream-and-brown-colored carpet.“We can change anything you don’t like,” I assure her, “and we can add your stuff to this as soon as it comes in.”She takes off her backpack and tosses it on the bed.

“Would you like to take a shower?”I ask, and she nods.I point at the door in the room to the side.“That is your own bathroom.You can take a shower and then come and meet me in the kitchen when you’re done.”She again doesn’t say a word.“I’ll go and get your bags and put them in here, and you can put them away when you want.After that if you want, we can maybe call Mr.and Mrs.Graham.”I try not to act too much like I’m telling her what to do.Turning, I walk back out the front door, taking the bags out of the truck and placing them into the empty room before I close the door of her bedroom to give her privacy.Then I walk back out into the kitchen.

Only when I’m standing in the kitchen do I let my head hang and grip the back of my neck, feeling the tension that has been building since I got that phone call.

I think I’ve slept maybe five hours in total in the past five days.It’s been a blur, to say the least.

After they took the DNA from me and Lucy, I was taken back to Mr.Graham’s office and read Paige’s last will and testament since I was the only one named in the will.She left everything to Lucy, obviously, which I, as her parent, would handle in trust until she was eighteen.After he read everything to me, and I felt more hollow than I did before, he stood with keys in his hands.“These are the keys to the house,” he told me.“You can go over there and see if there is anything you want, and then we can talk about selling the house.”

“No.”I shook my head.“Keep the house for her.”I motioned toward the room where Lucy sat at a table, her head down.“We can rent it out and put the money in a trust for her college.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Mr.Graham said, and before we left, he looked down and then looked up.“As per Paige’s request, there will be a quick funeral.”I thought I was going to throw up as soon as he said it.“She’s going to be released soon, and all her papers are done for the funeral home.”He shook his head.“She really wanted everything taken care of.”

I didn’t say a word.Not then and not the day after when he called to tell me I was, without a shadow of a doubt, her father.I didn’t say a word when we had to hit up a store to buy two black suits.I was going through the motions, trying to be strong for my daughter as she stood beside Mr.and Mrs.Graham dressed in a black dress with a black sweater, and cried for her mother.I had nothing to give her, but I vowed to Paige I would try.

Looking toward the hallway, I listen to hear the shower is now off, and I make my way to the bedroom.I’m about to knock on the door when I hear the silent cries.My forehead softly hits the door as I listen to her.“I’ll make it right,” I whisper to no one but myself.

ChapterEight

LILAH

My eyes blink open twice as I see the darkness from the outside pouring into the house.The images of Lucy flashing through my mind come to me again and again.All night long, all I could dream of was the way her eyes looked.I had no idea how she came to be.I had no idea what her story was, but what I did know was she was broken.She reminded me of a scared girl who came to Mustang Creek, one who trusted only her parents and no one else.

The alarm rings as I reach out to shut it off before getting out of bed.I walk over to the bathroom, stretching and feeling aches all over my body.My eyes feel like they weigh a thousand pounds as I turn on the cold water and splash it on my face.I get ready for work, but instead of going over to the barn, I head to see Juliet.I need to ride with the wind on my face.Parking at the side of the barn, I look over at the darkened house before I make my way inside.Grabbing my saddle, I walk over and put it on Juliet.“Morning, girl.”I kiss her side.“Want to go for a ride with me?”I ask, walking outside with reins in my hands and then mounting her, throwing my leg over her and sitting down.“Let’s let loose, baby girl,” I urge her and kick her side with the heel of my boot, and she takes off.

My head clears as she beelines toward the field and runs to the tree line before turning and running back.Zigzagging back and forth, I free my mind of everything, but the minute I stop, I can’t help the pull of looking at the house.I shake my head, telling myself I should leave it alone.After putting Juliet back in her stall and adding some water, I see Hector coming in with a pail of grain for the horses.“Morning.”I smile at him as I head out of the barn and toward my car.At the same time, I see the front door open, and Lucy steps out first, wearing a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt.On her feet are boots, unlike the running shoes she wore yesterday when she arrived.Emmett steps out after her as he closes the door behind him.

I stop looking at them as I pull out of the parking lot and head toward work.Pulling in at the same time as them, I pretend I didn’t just watch them like a creepy stalker when I get out of my own truck with my water bottle and my lunch box.“Good morning, guys,” I greet them more chipper than I should, borderline fake.“How is everyone doing?”I look at Lucy, who doesn’t say anything before Emmett speaks.

“Morning,” he says, and for the first time since the beginning, it comes out a touch softer than the grunt I usually get.

“Are you joining us at work, Lucy?”I ask, and she doesn’t answer me.Instead, she just nods.

“Do you want to come and help me say hello to the horses?”I ask, then look at Emmett.“If your dad says it’s okay.”Your dad, even the words feel foreign in my mouth.It was no secret that Emmett was a player.I mean, it’s not like he flaunted it in your face, but you knew he got around.The whispers about it always leaked in from the bar to the work area.He also never said a word when they would ask him about the girl he left with the night before.Each and every single time, it felt like a dagger in my heart.I became used to the pain until I saw his daughter.It felt like someone took the knife out of my heart, and it was like it was a plug, and as soon as it was out, the pain poured out of the wound.

“Do you want to go with Lilah?”he asks Lucy, who nods at him, and he looks at me.“I’ll be at my desk,” he says.“Come find me when you’re done.”

“Sounds good,” I reply, then look back down at Lucy.“Are you ready?”I ask, and she nods.I turn to walk to the kitchen to store my lunch.“Okay.”I clap my hands together.“Let’s go wake up the horses.”

We walk toward the barn and stop when I see Sammy.“Hey, Sammy,” I call to him, making sure Lucy is right beside me.

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