Page 82 of Gwen's Delta
“Gwenie-bee, oh my goodness, what happened to you? And where are Arthur and Stacey? Didn’t they come with you?” Questions rolled out of Grams’ mouth one after another as she ran forward and squeezed Gwen. Tears ran down the old woman’s cheeks.
“They’ll be here soon, maybe tomorrow. But I’m okay, Grams. It looks worse than it is, I promise.”
Gramps put his arms around both of them and looked over at Luke. “I can’t thank you enough for bringing our girl home safe.”
“No thanks are necessary, Jack. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep her from being hurt.”
“I keep telling you, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”
“It doesn’t look like a scratch.”
Gwen smiled at her grandmother. “How can you tell? It’s under the bandage.”
“Oh, poo. You know what I mean. Don’t sass me, young lady.”
Luke chuckled. “Yeah, princess, don’t sass your grandmother.”
“Let’s get inside. You both look exhausted,” Gramps said.
Following the older couple into the kitchen, they sat at the same table where the whole mess had started. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. The past few days had altered her reality—for the good and bad. If nothing else, she learned she needed to stop waiting for things she wanted and to grab them for herself.
“Are you hungry? I have some leftovers in the fridge.”
“We’re fine, Mrs. Dedmond,” Luke answered.
“Becca or Grams is fine. We told you, you are family.”
“Yes, ma’am, I mean Becca,” Luke said with a grin.
God, he was perfect. He had to be exhausted, yet he’d help her calm her grandparents and help her answer their questions.
“That’s better. So now explain why didn’t your parents come back with you? Were they hurt?” Grams asked, pouring coffee into mugs and passing them around the table.
Gwen glanced at Luke as he reached for her hand. He knew how hard this would be for her.
“No, they weren’t injured. They weren’t actually kidnapped at all.”
“What the hell? I don’t understand. What do you mean they weren’t kidnapped? Then who did you pay the ransom for?” Worry coated Gramps’ words.
“We don’t know the whole story. But apparently, Mom and Dad have been CIA agents for years,” she said.
“I’ll be damned.” Gramps leaned back in his chair, looking a lot shell shocked.
“How is that possible?” Grams asked.
“You’ll have to ask them. I’m not sure what exactly happened. All we know for sure is that the Daesh ISIS group used the kidnapping as a ploy to get me to go to Egypt.”
“Why would they do that?” Grams clenched Gramps’ hand. Confusion was plain on her face.
“To get your son and daughter-in-law out of hiding,” Luke said. “It’s complicated, but they were right. When Gwen went to pay the ransom, her parents tried to save her.”
Gwen cringed at seeing the shocked looks on their faces. Betrayal. Anger. Disappointment.
“I’m sorry,” Gwen said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. It’s your father who should be sorry,” Gramps said.
She agreed, but it didn’t make it any less painful. They finished the pot of coffee and put a dent in a container of chocolate chip cookies while they chatted. When Gwen yawned for the third time, Luke took her home.
