A day I dreamed about for twenty-five years.
Rowan must sense my reluctance, so she asks a different question. “Malcolm, why didn’t you come before now?”
I take a deep breath. “I couldn’t escape until today.”
I swear the air is sucked from the room. The silence is deafening.
“You were held captive all that time?” my father asks, his voice tight.
I can’t look him in the eye, but I nod.
“That’s why you didn’t know your age.” My mother sobs, burying her face in her hands.
“Who kept you?” Rowan asks.
My pulse pounds in my head, and I’m suddenly dizzy, but I force myself to look at her and decide to tell the truth. “There were two of them, Rowan,” I whisper. “Two men played those torture games with us. Jerry and Liam. Only one of them got caught.”
“Take his cuffs off,” Rowan says in a teary voice, looking at the deputy. The deputy glances at the man she called Evan, and he gives a small nod. I can tell there is something between Evan and Rowan. They look at each other as if they can read each other’s thoughts.
The cuffs click a few times, and my arms are stiff as I rub my wrists.
“You are safe and home now,” Dad tells me. “You will always have a place here.”
I’m touched and tears well in my eyes.
How many times have I dreamed of this moment?
Home. Real family. Safety.
Thor comes and shoves his nose in my hand. I’m surprised, and I hesitantly touch the dog’s head.
“He likes you,” Rowan says. “He’s very gentle.”
The dog sets his head on my leg, and I run my hands over Thor’s back, sinking my hands into the fur. I can’t hold back my smile. I slide off the sofa onto the floor, and Thor tries to sit in my lap.
I wrap my arms around the dog, close my eyes, and I finally can relax.
“Wow,” Rowan said. “I’ve only seen Thor do that with kids.”
“I know he’s a search dog,” I tell her. “I read it in the newspaper. There was a picture of you and Thor. That’s how I discovered you weren’t dead and decided to escape.”
Her mouth hangs open in a large O.
“Knowing you were alive gave me a reason to leave. I hated it there.”
“I know,” she whispers. “It was hell on earth.”
“You have no idea.”
42
Hours later the twins had gone home, Evan and the deputies had left, and Rowan’s parents had gone to bed. Everyone was exhausted both mentally and emotionally. She and Malcolm had continued to talk as the people disappeared one by one.
“Do you want me to leave so you can go to bed?” she asked him, worried she was keeping him from getting much-needed rest. Thor had fallen asleep, curled up at their feet.
Malcolm glanced in the direction of the stairs. “Can you come up with me for a few minutes?”
“Of course.”
Upstairs he hesitantly walked down the hall, pausing at a bathroom and nodding as if acknowledging that was where it should be. He moved past the bedroom that had belonged to the girls and stopped at his old room, pushing the door fully open. Thor entered ahead of them, sniffing at the floor.
Rowan bit her lip, wondering what was going through Malcolm’s head. “It’s a guest room now. Mom and Dad put all your things in storage.” She gave a nervous laugh. “They did the same with our stuff when me and the twins moved out. Our room is full of exercise equipment, though.” She spotted a small pile of men’s clothing on the bed that her mother must have left for him.
The room was decorated in relaxing green and blue shades. A queen-size bed with a quilt a friend of their mom’s had sewn. A few nature prints on the wall. A tall dresser and a chair.
The colorful boy’s room with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles posters and sheets was long gone.
“Want me to go now?” Rowan asked.
“No. Stay for a bit, please.” Malcolm sat on the bed, looking haunted as he gazed about the room. “It’s changed a lot. So many times I thought about how much I missed my bed.”
Her heart cracking, Rowan sat beside her brother and wrapped both arms around him, leaning heavily into his side, her head on his shoulder.
How many times did we sit like this in the shed to keep warm and fight off our fears?
He set a hand gently on her arm that was clasped across his chest, and she felt a faint quake go through his body.
“It’s over, Malcolm. You’re safe.”
“I was remembering how we sat like this . . . there . . .” His voice was almost too quiet for her to hear. He’d been stiff when she first hugged him, but now he relaxed. “It was so weird seeing the twins,” he said. “I’ve never been able to imagine them as grown. In my dreams they were faceless adults or still toddlers.”