Page 26 of The Last True Hero
Nine
"ELLIE! OH, ELLIE! You're back!" Thwaites wrapped his eldest daughter in his arms, dragging her against his chest so tightly that the girl cried out.
"Dad!" she said, pushing him away just enough to look at him. "What happened to your arm?"
Thwaites shook his head as if it didn't matter. "Where's Alice? Where's your mother?" He brushed past Ellie, looking around until he caught sight of Alice. The young sixteen-year-old hurtled into his arms and he closed his eyes, relief shining across his stark features. Just for a moment though. "Helen?"
"Dad." This time Ellie caught his arm, her eyes shining suspiciously. Reaching out, she drew her little sister, Alice, into a one-armed hug.
He looked at them. And he knew. Mia saw it in his face as he looked between both girls' faces. "No," Thwaites whispered, sinking to his knees. "No!"
Something in Mia's chest shriveled up and died. She wasn't the only one missing a piece of her heart right now. And if she told herself that often enough, then she wouldn't feel bitter.
At least she still had a chance to find her sister. Helen Thwaites was never coming home. Ellie and Alice would never hold their mother again.
"Mom wouldn't listen," Ellie told him, cradling his shaking head against her waist. She looked up and met Mia's eyes, as if aware they had an audience. "She went down fighting," she said fiercely, as if that mattered.
All around the camp the same scenes echoed. Men sobbing as they hugged their wives and daughters to them. Marisol, the young woman who'd insisted upon coming even though she'd never held a shotgun in her life, yanked her bruised brother into her arms as if she'd never let him go again. And others like Mia looked around, as if the very absence of their loved ones had been a punch in the face.
Six. There were six people missing who should have been there.
And Sage was one of them.
Mia could only stand it for another minute before she had to get out of there. Nobody noticed her leave. Pushing through the door into the hotel foyer, she found herself in the courtyard beyond, a half dozen frogs and crickets chirping in the night and the breeze sloughing away the grief that stained her. The floor was filthy. Leaves and rubbish piled up in the corners, as if blown there. The courtyard looked like it had been covered in a glass roof once, but now the plants had taken over. Moonlight streamed through the open hole, but the garden was mostly shadows.
McClain followed her, snagging her wrist. "Hey."
"Please," she whispered, letting her hair fall across her face to hide her gleaming eyes. "I need a moment alone."
He hesitated. "I don't know if that's a good idea, right now."
Those missing reiver bodies....A chill ran through her, but it felt like she was walled off somehow. She should care. She should have thought about that.
But she didn't.
"Here." Warm hands cupped her cheeks, tilting her head up. Those green eyes swam into view, his brow notched down in a frown. "Do you want a hug? No judgment, no reading into things. If you need someone to lean on right now, I'm offering it."
Tears sprang into her eyes. It sounded like everything she'd ever wanted—and perhaps he was right. She didn't need to be alone right now, even if it was her usual modus operandi.
"My sister's not there," she said hoarsely as he opened his arms. She could remember the first time she'd ever seen Sage, a girl of around three, with ragged red curls and tear-stained eyes. Her mom had brought her home after Sage's mom's funeral, and told Mia that Sage was hers to look after now.
"I know."
There was a weight of meaning in those two words, and she didn't want to deal with it at this moment. Mia slid into his arms, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder. Strong arms curled around her, holding her against a body that was warm and strong and comforting.
She let a shudder rack through her, swallowing hard. All of those emotions were fighting to get out of that box. If she let them, she'd drown. "Thank you."
"It's all right, Mia." A callused palm snagged in her hair as McClain stroked her skull. "You're not alone and this isn't done. If she's not here then we'll find her."
We.The word struck her straight through the heart. It meant everything right now.
"Why are you doing this?" she whispered hoarsely.
McClain owed them nothing. He'd just been a stranger riding through town, one trying to find himself in the bottom of a bottle of her finest whiskey.
"Every hero needs a cause," he replied jokingly. "Isn't that what you said to me once?"
She realized she was crying, and tried to wipe her eyes. She was wetting his shirt. God. Mia struggled but he shushed her, rocking her gently. She settled for dragging the back of her hand across her eyes.
