been a few months since she last visited, so it served as a good distraction to what currently clattered around inside my head.
“Everyone, meet my girlfriend, Leah!”
Helena stepped to the side as Leah lifted a shy hand and waved at the small group, her attention quickly pulled toward the baby deer. She squatted down so she could get a better look at the one closest to her, the typical “awws” and “ohhs” coming from her as she gently scratched the deer’s head. Helena got down with her, and they both cooed at the deer, making Tarrek seem slightly uncomfortable. I noticed him grow tense, his eye contact jumping around the crowd and rarely settling.
“I’m surprised we were even let in,” Helena said, standing back up. “It’s like getting into the Mint to get in here now.”
Mia gave a deprecating chuckle and said, “That’s what we’re aiming for.”
Helena’s eyebrows rose. “No… The Dove?”
Both my moms nodded. The name had a toxic feel to it, tinging the air.
“But I thought they caught him.”
“Yeah, we did, too,” Ashley said, sighing, brushing a strand of hair back from her freckled face. “There was another threat a few weeks ago. They got Tammy.”
Helena’s gasp was audible. Her hands swung up to her lips, covering the scar. “Oh God, is she okay?”
“She is, she is. Shaken but okay. They broke in and shaved a dove symbol into her hair and left a note tied to her leg. Thankfully Benji and Rex found her in time. They were able to pump the poison out.”
“Poison?” She looked around the yard. “Is she around?”
“I don’t know—last time she was in the house. Let me see if she wants to come out and say hi.” Ashley got up, spooking the deer in Tarrek’s lap. He rubbed those big ears and whispered something that did the trick, Isabella calming right down and going back to emptying the bottle of milk.
Mia clapped her thighs, her frown working back into a smile. “How’ve you been, Helena? We’ve missed you here.”
“And I’ve missed you guys. It’s been interesting, scary, fun, exciting. All the things.” She grabbed Leah’s hand, bringing it up to her lips. “But most of all, it’s been a dream come true.”
Helena had left about three years ago, dropping everything and deciding to backpack across the world. She had been dealing with some family issues, which may have caused the idea to blossom in the first place. She did seem much happier now than when I last saw her. Her hair glowed in brown waves down to her shoulders, and her smile only got bigger when Leah’s hand was in hers.
“Where’d you two meet?” I asked. I threw a glance over their shoulders, to the guesthouse with the blinds drawn and door shut tight. A stab of guilt twisted in my back.
I’m going to go knock that door down if he doesn’t come out in the next five minutes.
“We met in a hostel in Amsterdam. Leah’s actually from Georgia—can you believe she went to our same high school, Mia?”
“No freaking way.”
Leah nodded, throwing up the “Hawks fly high” hand signal— thumbs locked together and fingers wiggling. I knew it because I’d gone to the same high school.
“You two even look alike,” I noted, pointing between my mom and Leah, who both had the same dark red hair, almost in the exact same style, with similar smiles and noses, too.
“You know what?” Mia said. “I was going to say something but didn’t want to seem weird.”
Furonda, the volunteer, nodded her head and raised her hand in agreement.
“Wait, so what year did you graduate from Hillstone?”
“Hillstone? Oh, no, I went—” Before Leah could finish, Ashley came back out, looking disappointed. She shrugged.
“I tried getting her out here. Even carried her, but she jumped off and ran back inside. I don’t know what’s up with her.”
“Poor thing’s probably still so shaken up,” Helena said. “And how about River? Is the adoption still getting stalled?”
Damn, has anything good happened to us as a family recently?
River had actually been Helena’s foster child for a long while, but when it was clear she couldn’t care for him and after him spending time with us, it was clear what my moms planned on doing. They’d started the adoption process, and we all hoped to have a new brother before the year’s end. Once the threats started rolling in, that all changed. The Dove hadn’t just threatened the sanctuary, but we later found out that they threatened the adoption agency