The Family (31 page)

“Twig, I do, honey. I believe you. I believe everything you just told me. But this is my choice. I have a purpose here. Rose needs me. Please, just stop. Really. I am okay.”

Twig looked at him with tears in her eyes. If she could ever get out, he wouldn’t want to come with her. He was staying. Until he saw things with his own eyes, experienced them for himself, he would not be convinced.

There was a knock at the door.

Avery went to answer it. Doc followed her back into the living room.

“Looks as if we’re having a little slumber party this evening, ladies,” Doc said in his crooked way. He looked at Ryan. “Ryan, you can go home now.”

Ryan clutched Twig’s hand. She looked down at their entwined fingers.

“We’ll get through this,” he whispered. He stood up from the couch and walked out of the cottage.

Twig went into her room, and Avery followed her. They left Doc sitting in the living room.

A little later, Maya came with dinner for the three of them. She greeted Twig coolly, her usual kindness gone. Twig noticed she was careful not to touch her. She wondered how Adam planned to undo all of this hatred. He was marrying an outcast.

Avery and Twig ate in their bedroom. Doc sat guard at the kitchen table, reading a book, brewing pot after pot of coffee. No one had said a word after Maya left.

The desperation and fear she’d seen in Thomas’ face kept haunting Twig. Maybe he could get back to the main road and hitch a ride to Turrialba. Maybe someone would take pity on him and help him, if he let them. If he could just find his way back to the main road. He didn’t even have shoes.

Twig started to run a bath. She signaled for Avery to come in.

“I’m going back to Gran’s,” Twig whispered as the water poured into the tub.

“Honey—” Avery started.

“I have a plan.”

Twig signaled for Avery to follow her back to the bedroom. She stuck her arm beneath her mattress where she kept the Nano. She had to bend down to reach back far enough.

Twig produced the little orange plastic bottle of pills Doc had given her. “For Doc…”

Avery frowned.

They walked back into the bathroom together.

“I’m going to get Daniel to find Thomas and take him to Turrialba, and I have to write to Leo.”

Avery seemed to turn Twig’s words over in her head for a moment.

“I think Thomas is a trap, Twig,” Avery’s voice was barely audible.

“What do you mean?” Twig whispered back.

“I think they are watching you and watching him. If you interfere, it will give Adam an excuse to unleash even more of his madness on you. On
us
.” Avery took the bottle of pills in her hand and turned them around. She squinted to read Doc’s small handwriting.

“This part of the plan, I like,” Avery said thoughtfully. “Giving that old bastard a taste of his own medicine.” Avery paused, thinking. “If we put two in that coffee of his, it should give you enough time. He’ll have a clean enough wake up. This stuff isn’t that strong. He shouldn’t feel like he was drugged. You’ll have to ride out in the dark by yourself. Do you think you can do that? I’ll stay here and watch to make sure he doesn’t wake up before you’re back.”

“Yes, I can do it.” She was determined.

“You promise you’ll just contact Leo. No Thomas?”

Twig frowned.

“I’ve known Adam a long time, Twig.”

Twig nodded. She would figure something out.

“Why don’t you take that bath? Try to relax a little bit.”

Twig nodded and began to unbutton her jeans. She slipped them off and lovingly folded them into a neat pile beside the tub. She’d have to wear her dress—now her wedding dress—when she rode out. She might not have time to change when she got back.

42

Timing was everything. Avery said they needed to wait until later in the night when Doc would naturally begin to struggle to stay awake. Twig would need to be back by 4 a.m. at the latest. Any later and things might start to stir in the compound.

There was a wedding happening, after all.

Avery and Twig nearly laughed out loud as they used the heel of Avery’s boot to crush the pills into a powder to slip into Doc’s coffee. Avery said she would pretend she was going for a cup of water and then offer him a fresh cup of coffee. She would watch him drink it before returning to their room.

Twig sat under her covers in the dark with her eyes plastered open. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins. She kept checking the clock on the Nano. The time seemed to be crawling by.

Finally.

Avery had fallen asleep. Twig nudged her lightly, and she woke up instantly. Avery hopped out of bed and walked out of the room. Twig’s boots were at Gran’s. She’d have to wear one of her old pairs. She’d put them on when she got outside.

Twig felt nauseated from the combination of nerves and the lack of sleep. She heard Avery and Doc’s voices erupt into the silence of the night. Quiet, but there. Doc laughed quietly. Twig heard him say thank you.

Avery walked back into the room and nodded at Twig.

Twig let out a sigh of relief. He had taken the coffee.

She was supposed to wait twenty minutes to make sure the drugs had taken their effect and then go. She waited thirty to be sure and then gave Avery a hug. She tiptoed into the living room in her socks.

Doc was out like a light, his head cradled in his arms on the kitchen table. As she left the cottage, she wondered what sort of conversations about her had passed between Doc and Adam.

Twig ducked through the compound, sure to avoid exposure from the front porch lights of the cottages. She wouldn’t have a problem getting to the stables without light, and she was pretty sure she could get to Gran’s in the dark.

Pretty sure. If she had Sapphire, it would be a sure thing.

Bill Evans was glad to see her when she arrived. She chose him because she knew he knew the way. He shoved his muzzle at Twig, which Twig gladly embraced. She saddled him and climbed on in the dark. She had done it so many times, the movements were a part of her.

They started out slowly. Carefully. For a moment, Twig thought she heard someone following them. She stopped and pulled the horse behind a tight cluster of trees. They waited for a moment.

Nothing.

The moon was benevolently bright, and soon they established a steady pace.

It felt good to be in motion, even if it was a fleeting feeling.

They reached Gran’s before long. The smell of smoke was still strong in the air. Twig felt a twinge of pain thinking of her paintings, but on the list of things to worry about, they were nothing. They were merely an insult.

Twig put Bill Evans in the pen and ran to Gran’s door. She knocked as hard as she could and rapped on the window, but no one came. She worried for a second that Gran had left, had gone back to the States.

She grabbed a shovel from the garden and pounded on the door.

“Who is it?” Gran’s voice finally came. It was laced with apprehension.

“It’s Twig.”

Gran opened the door immediately.

“Come in, dear.” Gran beckoned Twig inside and then stuck her head outside the door to make sure no one had followed her.

“Do you have a computer?” Twig asked immediately.

“Of course, dear, but—”

“I just need a computer.”

“Can we talk for a moment?” Gran pressed.

“He’s moved the wedding up to the morning.”

Gran put her hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry, darling. I never thought—”

Twig put her hand on Gran’s arm. “I don’t know why you didn’t tell me you were his mother, but right now, none of that matters. I owe a lot to you. I’m so sorry, but I really don’t have much time.”

“Of course,” Gran pulled her bathrobe closer to her body. “It’s in here.”

Gran lead Twig to an alcove in the back of the house that served as Gran’s office. A thin, silver computer sat on the desk with a big apple on it. Gran popped it open.

“Do you have the Internet here?”

“We have to dial up because we are so far out. It will just take a moment to get online,” Gran explained. “Can I get you a cup of tea while you wait? Do you want to be alone?”

“No, no tea. Alone would be good. I’ll be fast. Thank you.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

Twig didn’t answer, she was staring so intently at the screen. Gran slipped away quietly.

Twig pecked at the keys, finally spelling out the webmail address.

She typed in “Leosgirl” for the username and “Sapphire” when it asked for the password.

Four messages. One from the email host, welcoming her to the site.

Three from Leo.

The first email said
I Miss You Already
in the subject heading. He had written it right after they’d said goodbye and sent it from his iPhone. The subject heading pretty much said it all.

He’d written the second one from the airport. It was longer. He said he was going to find her dad for her. He had thought about it, and it was the right thing to do. He was sorry if he was putting his nose where he shouldn’t, but he would get her the information, and together they could decide what to do with it.

Twig smiled.

She opened the last email.

He couldn’t possibly wait until spring break and would have to come back much, much sooner. He loved her. Hang tight. He couldn’t wait to see her again. They’d talk Wednesday. P.S. She looked really hot in her bathing suit. Had he mentioned that?

The last part made Twig laugh. She sat in the blue light of the screen, tears making their way down her cheeks.

She looked at the time stamp on Gran’s computer. She had to hurry. If only she could have banked all of the time she’d spent waiting for Doc to pass out.

Her typing was slow, but she managed. She told Leo about Thomas, the wedding, and mostly about Adam’s threats. She thought about leaving all of that out, just saying goodbye, but he would never buy that. He would know something had happened and would be tortured with worry if she didn’t tell him the truth. She told him she worried about finding her father because Avery would be prosecuted. She told him she didn’t have any answers right now. She did know she loved him, and she needed to keep him and everyone else she knew safe. Right now, that was the most important thing.

For now, the only way to do that was to go through with the wedding.

She started to write more, but stopped. Her feelings for him ran deeper than she could ever manage to type in a rushed email.

It was hard to press send. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She didn’t know if she’d ever speak to him again.

Feeling paralyzed, she just sat there like that, frozen for a moment. And then she heard voices drifting in from Gran’s kitchen. She left the email on the screen, unsent, and began to creep quietly toward the kitchen.

It was Avery.

“Mom?” Twig was confused. “Did he wake up? What’s happened?”

It took Twig a minute to see what was going on. Avery was talking on Gran’s phone. She was crying.

“Mom, what’s happened? Are you okay?” Twig ran to her. She looked at Gran for answers.

“She’s here,” Avery said into the phone.

Avery handed Twig the phone. Twig looked at it and then at her mother. She was completely confused.

“Is it Leo?” she asked. She put the phone to her ear awkwardly. She had never spoken on a phone before.

“Hello?” she said into it.

“Livvy.”

Her body went rigid. She froze as chills ran up and down her spine, crawled over her skull.

“Daddy.” She knew him. The recognition was visceral; it ran through her bones and winding neural pathways.

“Oh my God,” her father said. He drew in a long breath on the other end of the line.

“
Daddy
.” Twig looked at Avery. Avery was smiling through her tears.

“Listen to me, darling, I’ve prayed for this moment for the last fourteen years, but your mother has explained everything to me. I know you are in danger there and don’t have much time. You listen to me now, okay?”

“Yes, yes, of course.” Twig had begun to cry.

“I’m coming for you, baby.”

“But Daddy, he’s crazy. What if he finds out? There are guards—he could hurt you, he—” Twig needed him to understand. She could barely think through all the possible repercussions.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a second. She heard her father take another deep breath. She imagined his anger, his feelings of helplessness.

“That’s what he wants you to think, Olivia. That’s what these people do. They scare you into thinking there is no way you can get away. I’m coming, Livvy. I will handle him.”

“But what about Mom?”

“All I care about is getting you both home safe. Nothing is going to happen to her.”

“She won’t go to prison?”

“No. Honey, I don’t want you to worry like that. Please.”

“He’s making me marry him. This morning. He’s making me marry him this morning.”

Silence again. Twig could feel her father’s rage.

“I’m getting on a plane, but I’ll send a private security team ahead of me. They can get there faster, and we don’t have time to deal with the local authorities. I’m sorry to ask this, Livvy, but it will help. Do you know if there are guns there?”

“I think so,” Twig said. “I think the guards have guns. I’ve never seen them, but I’ve heard them.”

“Do you know how many men he has?”

“There are almost two hundred people here, but I don’t know how many have guns or—I mean, many of those are women and children. I’m sorry, I don’t—”

“It’s okay, honey. That’s fine. That’s very helpful. Listen, there will be a helicopter and armed men coming. Do not be afraid of them. They will get you and your mother. They will bring you somewhere safe, and I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

Avery signaled to Twig that she needed to say goodbye.

“I have to go,” Twig said breathlessly. “But I’m scared to get off. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“You won’t. You will never lose me again. You just keep yourself safe, baby. I’ll be there as fast as I can.” His voice cracked. “And Livvy—it’s not a real marriage. You’re still a citizen of the United States, and you’re not of age to be married without parental consent.” Her father paused, getting control of his emotions. “Just do what you need to do to stay safe for the next twelve hours. This will all be over soon. You’re getting out. Promise me you’ll stay safe?”