Lucky Forever - Cee Bowerman Page 0,65
we need to get back to our kiddos. I called them earlier and told them everything was okay, but they worry.”
I smiled, remembering Grunt before he and Shannon got together. He was morose and surly on a good day then, but after he got a family of his own, he became just a guy who was happy he had his family around him.
I turned and watched our girls in the corral with their horses. They had both calmed down when Sierra went down into the shelter with them and convinced us that they would squeeze their eyes tight if we would just let them outside in the fresh air with their horses.
I knew the value of horse therapy and how it could soothe your soul when you were troubled. I hoped that was happening now for both of them.
“I would imagine that’s the parents,” Nick said when he spotted the plume of dust in the wake of a vehicle that was fast approaching my drive. “They must have broken a few records to get here this quickly.”
“I’d run that fast if it got me to my girls,” I told Nick, knowing he’d do the same for his baby girl, Esme.
Sierra and I walked to the driveway beside Kale and waited for the car to stop. Nick greeted the man when he got out, but the woman ran past him directly to Kale.
“Mandy!” the woman whispered as she took her little girl out of Kale’s arms. “Oh, my God, thank you!”
“I didn’t do it, ma’am - their daughters did,” Kale gestured toward us and I got my first good look at the woman’s face.
I almost went to my knees, the shock hit me so hard. I knew the second she recognized me because I saw it hit her, too.
“Rowdy?” she asked, confused.
“Susan,” I nodded. “I’m glad your daughter is okay.”
“Who took her?” Susan asked softly as she glanced over at her husband who was still talking to Nick beside the car. Her husband looked at his wife and slowly shook his head before focusing on Nick again. “It was my mother, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “She took her and then came here to take my daughter, too. Is your dad okay?”
“Yeah,” Susan’s eyes shot over to the corral when the girls’ laughter floated our way. She stared at them for a few minutes before she looked at me again. “Is one of them her?”
“My daughter? Yeah,” I smiled. “She’s your sister, you know?”
“Yeah,” Susan whispered and put her head down to kiss her sleeping baby again. “I guess she is.”
“You know what happened wasn’t Rowdy’s fault, don’t you?” Sierra asked Susan. “It’s not Leia’s fault either.”
“Her name is Leia?” Susan asked as she looked over at the girls. “Like from Star Wars?”
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “I didn’t have much to go on when it came to naming babies, so I named her after the coolest chick in the movies.”
“Which one is your daughter?”
“They’re both mine now, but Leia is the one on the gray mare. Lexi, our other girl, is on the black.”
“Can I meet her? Meet them? I want to say thank you,” Susan asked. “I won’t tell her who I am if you don’t want me to. I don’t want to confuse her.”
“She wouldn’t be confused. She knows all about you guys,” I smiled at Susan. “I didn’t have any reason to keep y’all a secret.”
“Yeah,” Susan whispered as she walked toward Nick and her husband.
“She kidnapped her own granddaughter and was going to call it hers?” Kale shook his head. “Crazy fucking woman. I’m glad she’s dead. If she wasn’t already, I’d be inclined to help her get there.”
“I went ahead and took care of that,” Sierra laughed, but then she sobbed. The reality of what had happened was still too fresh for her to joke about and she was still in a little bit of shock.
The girls had bounced back easily. Almost too easily. I knew there would be lasting fears that stemmed from what happened today. Sierra had mentioned that she would like to take the girls to see the counselor at Kari’s place and I agreed that both of them should go. I also told Sierra I’d like her to talk to the lady at least once or twice, too.
But my Leia, she might need the counselor more than ever now when she found out that the little baby she had rescued was really her niece.
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I walked with Susan toward the corral in silence. I didn’t