Page 21 of Stolen Dreams

ChapterTwelve

LILAH

“What do you think?”Courtney asks as I look around the simple one-bedroom apartment she found about forty minutes away from town.

“I mean, it’s just you,” I say as I look at the small kitchen we both might fit into.

“I don’t want anything big.”She stands in the small living room/kitchenette area.“It’ll be the first time in my life that it’ll be just me.”She turns around in the space.“And this feels like it could be home.”

I’m about to say something to her when my phone rings from my back pocket.Pulling it out, I pinch my eyebrows together when I see his name.The bane of my anger today.“What do you want?”I snap into the phone, not willing to put up with his bullshit after hours.

“Lilah.”The way he says my name causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.“It’s Lucy.”

“What?”Confusion fills my body.“What do you mean it’s Lucy?”I look at Courtney who is looking at me with a worried look.“What is Lucy?”I feel like I’m stuck to the floor, or better yet, I’m stuck to the floor, and the room is now spinning all around me.

“She’s…” he says, and I can hear fear in his voice, which makes the hair on the back of my neck stick up.“She…” He stumbles on his words.

“She fucking what?”I snap.

“She tried to run away.”The words hit me like a blow as images of her hurt fill my head.My chest seizes as I find the energy to breathe.

“She tried to run away,” I repeat his words before looking at Courtney, moving the phone away from my ear for a second, telling her, “I have to go.”She nods and shoos me away with her hands.I rush out of the apartment.“Did you call the police?”I run down the steps.My heartbeat echoes in my ears as I make my way to my car.

“No,” he says, his voice low and quiet.

“No?”I practically shout at him as I unlock my truck and get into the driver’s seat.“You need to call the police.You need to call Charlie.You need to call everybody you know.”

“She’s in the barn.”I don’t know why, but when he says those words, my head falls forward on my steering wheel.“She’s in the crawl space and won’t come out.”I hear him walking now.“She told me to go away.”

Once I start the truck and put it in drive, the phone connects to Bluetooth.I put my phone down.“I’m about forty minutes away,” I mutter, almost in tears.“What did you do to her?”I ask, and I can hear his heavy breathing.

“Lilah.”His voice is so broken that I almost have to pull the truck over to the side of the road as I can’t see through my tears.

“Tell her I’m coming,” I tell him.“And how about you start with I’m sorry?”I hang up on him before I say something to set him off, and he takes it out on her.I go just above the speed limit and check the time on the dash every single minute, making it feel like hours have gone by.Once I get to Main Street, my heart picks up even more, knowing I’m so close but still feeling like I’m so far away.I turn down the paved driveway to the barn.The white fence is semi-lit up with the reflection of the moon and my headlights as I make it down toward the barn.

I spot him by the barn door, pacing back and forth.His hair looks like he’s going to pull it all out.His shirt is plastered onto his body.I put the truck in park, getting out and leaving it on.The lights from my headlights fill the barn door even more.The adrenaline runs through my body, making my hands shake.If I didn’t have the mission of getting to her, I’m pretty sure my body would be shaking like a leaf on a tree in a windstorm.“She’s—” he starts, and I walk into the barn, looking at him beside me.Worry is all over his face, and when he points at the small crawl space, I waste no time getting on my hands and knees.“I tried to get in, but it’s too tight for me.”

Looking at the hole, I know if he would have gone in, he would have gotten stuck.Squatting down, I take one more look at him as he stands there, bent over at his waist, his hands on his knees as he exhales and inhales.His eyes find mine for a second, and I can see the tears in them, the worry, and the franticness he must feel.Most importantly, I see the love he has for Lucy.“I’ll bring her out,” I assure him before I basically belly crawl into the space, the heat hitting me right away.Once I’m in the hole, it opens up a bit, and I’m able to fully get on my knees.“Lucy,” I call her name softly as I move slowly down the clearing.There is dust on my hands and knees, and I maneuver around the two-by-fours holding up the walls.I remember seeing some of Charlie’s cousins’ kids playing hide-and-seek here when I was cleaning out the stalls.A yellow tractor is tucked behind like someone was hiding it and forgot it.“Lucy?”I call her name and crawl around the corner and see her sitting against the wall with her legs propped in front of her.She looks up at me, her face streaked with tears.“Hey,” I say, going toward her and sitting next to her.“You had us all worried—” I start to say.“You had your dad worried.”She looks over at me as I stretch my legs out in front of me, the ceiling an inch from my head.“Are you okay?”I ask softly, knowing she isn’t okay but not sure how to play it.I’m scared I’ll make her retreat even more or she’ll hate me for helping her dad.But mostly, I’m afraid I won’t be able to help her.

“I want my mom,” she whispers, and the sobs come ripping through her.I can’t help but reach over and pull her into my lap.She lays her head on my chest; my arms wrap around her so she can feel my comfort as my T-shirt absorbs the tears pouring out of her.“I just want my mommy.”Her breath hitches as she tries to control her emotions, but it’s too much for anyone, let alone an eight-year-old little girl.

“Oh, baby.”I kiss the top of her head, rocking her side to side.“I know.”My heart breaks for her.

“I just want her back,” she murmurs between sobs.“I just want my mom back.I want her back.I want her back,” she chants over and over again.Her voice goes high at the end, and I can’t help my own tears that fall on top of her head.

“Baby, if I could,” I comfort softly when her sobbing calms down.“If your dad could, he would give you that.He would give you the world.”I try to soothe her, try to say the words so she knows he would do anything for her.

“He doesn’t like me,” she whispers.“He doesn’t want me.I want him to take me back home to my house.”

“He’ll never give you up,” I say, no matter how much of a grump he is.I know he loves this little girl, even if he has a weird way of showing her.

“Maybe Mr.and Mrs.Graham can take me and keep me,” she says, “so I can be next to my mom.”

“Lucy.”I rock her side to side.“One, I don’t think your dad will give you to anyone because he’ll probably miss you too much.”I kiss her head softly.“And second, you are always with your mom.”She looks up at me, confused.“She’s in your heart, isn’t she?”I ask.“Do you love her?”

“Yes.”She lays her head back down on my chest.

“Then she is with you everywhere you are.You carry her with you.She’s everywhere with you.”

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