Lucky Forever - Cee Bowerman Page 0,64

when Sierra chuckled at my joke. “If this wasn’t such a traumatic event, I’d remind her of what she just said the next time they get all screamy.”

“Get the baby out and put Sierra in,” Kale told me. “I’ll take care of the little one and the big ones will feel better when they see your faces.”

Sierra moved off the top of the shelter and stood beside me as Hank opened the big metal door. We heard the baby screaming first and then I saw both of our daughters staring up at us with their eyes wide. Sierra was the first one down the ladder and she took the baby from Lexi and handed her up to Kale’s waiting hands. I went down the ladder next and grabbed all three of my girls up into my arms as I took my first deep breath in what felt like hours.

◆◆◆

“There’s an Amber Alert out on that baby. She was kidnapped from her grandparents’ home in Plainview earlier today. A woman busted in with a gun and pistol-whipped the old man. The grandma was in the backroom when she heard the commotion, so she’s not hurt.” Nick Cardenas, a police officer who was also one of my brothers in the Texas Knights, told our group. “The parents are on their way here to get the baby and I’m sure they’d like to meet your girls to thank them.”

The baby in question was silent in Kale’s arms as he fed her a bottle of formula the paramedics had given him while they checked her over. Luckily, she was just hungry and uncomfortable.

The police had found the car Beverly had driven to town. The stolen vehicle was in a ditch about half a mile from our house. There wasn’t a car seat or baby supplies in the car, but they were sure that it was Beverly’s because her purse and some other things were still in the passenger seat.

“She stole the car, kidnapped some random baby, and then showed up at your house claiming that the baby belonged to the two of you. She was going to ride off into the sunset with her new baby, her grown baby, and you,” Nick took a deep breath and then let it out in a rush. “That’s unhinged fucking crazy if I’ve ever heard it.”

“She was fucked up in the head,” Sierra said from behind me and I turned to face her seconds before she threw her arms around my waist. “She would talk to herself and make these hand gestures like she was trying to make a point or something. And her voice would change when she was muttering like that. Kind of like there were two people inside her or something.”

“We’ll probably never know exactly what was going on in her mind,” Nicole, who had walked up at the same time as Sierra, told our group. “She might have been treated for a mental illness while she was in prison and then got off her meds when she got out. Or she hid it while she was in prison and had a complete break when she got out and realized that you were happily married and weren’t going to take her back.”

“I feel sorry for the little one’s parents,” Shannon said from her spot beside Kale. She was holding onto the baby’s foot and smiling at her every time the baby looked her way. “She was probably feeling the same fear that you two were.”

“Our girls are fucking awesome,” I told the group, as if they didn’t already realize that. “They got away from her and rescued that little girl in the process. They even knew just where to hide so that no one could get to them.”

“And they could call out for help,” Grunt nodded. “Not that it helped since I wasn’t near the radio. Maybe we should install some sort of alarm in each of the shelters that will alert us inside the house if someone is calling. I mean, I’m not sure that it would ever be used, but… ,”

“Yeah,” Nicole agreed. “Let’s do that. I mean, my shelter is in my house, too, and it’s a panic room if I need it. It makes sense that I’d have an alternate way to call out if I’m in there without a phone or something. We realized today that the radios aren’t enough if there’s no one manning the other end.”

“I’ll get on it first thing tomorrow,” Grunt told us. “Right now,