Some Bright Someday (Maple Valley #2) - Melissa Tagg Page 0,11
do next. She couldn’t stop from smiling in return, a quiet chuckle pushing out when Violet took another enormous bite.
“I think normally if someone found three abandoned children squatting on their property, they’d call the police,” Sam said quietly. Lightning flashed at the window behind him. “But considering I am the police, well . . .” He reached for the pizza box on the counter and lifted a slice. “We probably need to call DHS.”
The Department of Human Services. “But it’s the weekend.”
“I’m sure there’s an emergency number. I’ll look into it.”
Jenessa pushed away from the counter. “At least let me try to get a little more information first.” Although they’d all seen how well that had gone so far. She didn’t even know the kids’ last name—or names. She’d assumed they were siblings. Colie’s protectiveness surely seemed like that of an older sister. But all Colie had been willing to say to this point was to confirm that they were alone. That they’d only stayed in the cottage one night. That they hadn’t run away from home because they didn’t have a home to run away from.
But what exactly that meant, Jenessa wasn’t sure. She ambled to the table now, careful to keep her smile in place and the closest thing to ease she could manage in her movements. “Can we get either of you more pizza?”
Colie shook her head, but Violet nodded, her curls bouncing around her heart-shaped face. Sam carried over the pizza box and set a piece on Violet’s plate.
Jenessa glanced at Mara before speaking. Cade was sound asleep now.
“So girls, um, I was wondering . . . well, is there anyone who might need to know where you are right now? Parents or grandparents?”
“It’s just us,” Colie said quickly.
“But you can’t be entirely on your own. How’d you even get here? Did someone drive you or—”
“They took Momma’s car,” Violet cut in.
“Vi,” the older girl hissed.
“What? They did.” She set down her half-eaten slice of pizza. “First they took Momma. Then they took the car. And Colie says they’re gonna take the house, too, so we might as well leave. We walked and walked and pretended to be exp’orers and then we found the little house.”
Colie’s green eyes flashed with censure as she glared at her sister.
So they’d just stumbled upon the cottage? “What do you mean someone took your mom?”
“Not like that.” Colie’s tone was flat. “She died. The ambulance took her.”
At Jenessa’s side, Mara’s quick inhale matched her own shock, tinged with a well of pity for these children. “And . . . and your father?”
“And what was your mom’s name?” She nearly tripped over that word in the middle—was. What the reality of it meant for these kids. How long ago had she died? Was there no father in the picture? Had they somehow slipped through the cracks, been left to fend for themselves? Maybe they were in foster care.
Everything in her wanted to fire more questions at them and push for answers. But there were already shadows under Colie’s eyes and Violet’s chewing had paused, her slow blink attesting to the possibility that she might fall asleep at any moment, mouth still full.
“Tessa,” Colie finally answered.
Tessa Hollis.
Jenessa looked over her shoulder at Sam. He nodded. He’d do his cop thing—look up the name, confirm what little they knew of the kids’ story. But for now . . .
“Colie, I don’t want to bombard you with questions. But I really do need to know if you’re sure there’s no one worried about where you are right now.”
Quiet seconds ticked by until, finally, for the first time since she’d discovered Colie, Violet, and Cade Hollis in the cottage, the oldest girl met her eyes. “I’m sure.”
Well, at least she knew one thing, then. She wouldn’t be returning to the Everwood tonight.
4
He heard the explosion before he saw it. Its heart-stopping boom shook the earth—rattling the ground underneath his Army-issued boots until his knees hit the grass.
The smoke came next—acrid and black—tumbling over him in a cloud.
Then, when his eyes dared to squint and open, the sight of the flames, grappling toward the sky even as they fanned in every direction.
And finally, the realization. The village boys.
The ones who came out to watch every day as Lucas’s unit worked on the fence around freshly plowed fields. The ones who spoke in broken English while laughing