The rest of their conversation was lost to Eve because she was crying again, but Piper and Sadie were at her side, hugging her, telling her everything was all right.
“The rescue team is here.” Hayden sounded grim, having refocused his words toward Eve. “Gran refused a medical exam, of course. They’re going to drive them home. It’ll be quicker.”
“I’m so glad. Thank you, Hayden. Thank everyone for me.” Eve hung up and hugged the twins. “They found them. Can you believe it?”
“Yep,” Piper said, nonplussed. “Our daddy and uncle can find anyone.”
Sadie nodded. “Katie and Gran are lucky. They didn’t fall off their horses, and they didn’t get bitten by snakes.”
“Katie said there were spiders,” Piper noted.
Sadie shrugged, grinning. “But they didn’t get bitten by spiders, did they?”
Smiling, Eve left the girls to their breakfast. She busied herself changing the sheets on the two wanderers’ beds, being a firm believer in the healing power of fresh, crisp sheets. When her baby girl got home, she was going to hug Katie and promise never to let her out of her sight again.
Thirty minutes later, Eve’s phone rang once more. It was Steven this time, returning her call.
Eve walked out to the front porch to answer. “They found her, Steven. She’s fine. The sheriff is due here any minute. I’m sure Katie would love to talk to you.”
Steven was silent for a moment. And then shouted, “You lost my daughter?” Such anger. Such venom.
“She’s safe,” Eve repeated, as fearful of the legal consequences of the situation now as when she’d first realized Katie was gone. But she knew she couldn’t lose her temper with Steven. “Let’s focus on the positive.”
“My daughter isn’t safe living with that dotty old woman on a ranch in the middle of nowhere!” Steven was on a roll now. “I’m contacting Judge McKee today and challenging your custody. That man you married can’t protect my daughter.”
All her fears… All her efforts to keep Katie safe and happy…
Eve’s stomach dropped to her toes.
“You don’t need to see the judge, Steven. Wait until Katie gets here. Please.” Eve hated that she sounded vulnerable. But she felt vulnerable. She should have taken better care of Katie. She should have made her sit quietly in the house while she took her nursing test. This was all her fault. And now Steven was making her pay for it.
Eve sagged onto the porch railing, devastated.
“You insisted on taking my daughter to the country, Eve. And look how that turned out.” Steven was barreling through his argument, volume lowering to the range of deadly. “Katie needs to be in Missoula, where she’ll be safe and can thrive. I’ll be making sure of that when I talk to Judge McKee today.”
“She’s fine.” Eve could barely breathe. Reality was crashing around her, harder than Katie’s disappearance ever had. It was all her fault. The decision to get married. Moving here. Thinking she could be a full-time student, a part-time nurse, and care for a curious toddler and a fuzzy-minded woman recovering from a stroke.
A sheriff’s black-and-white SUV came over the rise and down the drive.
I can’t lose Katie. Not to him.
Steven would steal her baby’s joy. He’d squelch her light.
I have to do something.
Mothers sacrificed for their children. That was a parenting rule.
An unappealing idea took shape. The worst of ideas, if her heart was any judge.
But she clung to that idea. And as she did, something changed inside her. Hardening. Strengthening. She stood up, ignoring the bitterness in her throat and the pain in her chest. “Yes, Steven. It’s my fault.”
But Steven was past listening. “I’m coming to get her, Eve. Just as soon as I’ve seen the judge. This is the last straw. Katie isn’t safe on that ranch.”
“Agreed,” Eve said in a firm voice that didn’t sound like her. She didn’t know how she sounded so in control when inside her heart was breaking. “Something has to change.”
That finally broke through. “What?”
The sheriff’s SUV pulled up in front of the porch steps. Katie pressed her little face against the rear window, smiling meekly.