Chapter 24

George bit into his burger, making ketchup flow from it and down his chin.  With a roll of my eyes, I held out a napkin until he smiled and snatched it from my hand.  I had hoped to have the business part of our talk done by now, but as soon as that waitress came back with our burgers, in record time, his attention didn’t waver from his food.  I slid my eyes towards Gabe and was happy to see that he was staring at his own food with a small bit of distaste on his face.  He had picked it up moments ago before grimacing and setting it back down. 

“Full?” I asked with a laugh as I sunk my teeth into my own burger.

He glanced over at me, wincing as he watched me chew.  “Very full,” he mumbled before glancing away.  “It’s a good thing this place doesn’t have very good burgers.”

George froze, mid-chew to glare at Gabe, and before George could begin chewing again, my cell phone began to ring.  Setting my food down with a sigh, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the pink monstrosity.  Who would want a phone this big with pink diamonds on the outside?  Dorothy.

“Hello,” I snapped.

“Dee?” a hesitant voice whispered.  “Can you come home?”

Holding the phone between my shoulder and cheek, I dug into my pocket before throwing a couple of twenties on the table.  I recognized that voice, but what scared me was the tone.  “I’ll be right there, Kyle,” I soothed while pushing against Gabe.  “What’s wrong, honey?”

Gabe slid out of the booth, and without asking why we were leaving, he nodded at George and began walking towards the door.  When George stared at me with a confused expression, I sent him a reassuring smile before bringing the phone away from my face for a moment.  “Family troubles,” I explained, making George smile at me with amusement.  “Catch you later.”

“I’ll call!” he yelled as I darted from the burger place. 

With the phone pressed back to my ear, I realized that Kyle still wasn’t speaking.  It didn’t matter though.  I could hear the screaming voices in the background, could hear him sniffling, and knew what was happening.  How many times had I been with a new family?  Too many to count.  It was always the same though.  Every time the current parents would begin arguing, all the old fears would resurface.

By the time I got back to the car, my door was already open, Gabe was behind the wheel, and the engine was running.  I slid in with a small smile in his direction, and as soon as I slammed the door shut, he peeled out of the parking lot as if the hounds of hell were on our trail. 

“Listen to me, Kyle.  Everything is going to be fine, alright?”

A loud sniff was my answer, and I knew I was going to have to try harder.  How had I felt every time my foster family fought?  Abandoned, because I already knew they were going to get rid of me.  It was different with Kyle though.  They loved him, and while I was always getting in trouble, trying to get kicked out of the house, Kyle was nothing but good.  The child had sweet written all over him.

“They love you, Kyle,” I whispered as Gabe got closer to Kyle.  “Even if they fight, they would never let you go.”

“No,” he mumbled as he hiccupped.  “They are letting you go.”

My grip tightened on the phone, just as Gabe pulled into the driveway.  “What do you mean, Kyle?  Tell me exactly what is happening.”

I could hear rustling noises and the screaming from the background dimmed.  “Mom wants you to go stay with Aunt Margie for a while, but Dad says he can’t kick you out of your own home.”

“It’s going to be okay,” I mumbled.  How was I supposed to stay close to this family if they planned to kick me out?  Just like all the other families had.  I shook my head, pushing that thought to the back of my mind.  This wasn’t the time for past baggage.  I had to find a way out of this, had to find a way to fix this mess.

My door opened, and a worried Gabe held his hand out for me.  “I got to go, Kyle.”  When I heard him begin to protest, I smiled slightly. “I’m right outside, okay?  I’m going to have a talk to your mom and dad.”

“Promise me you won’t leave me?” he asked with a small sob.

I closed my eyes to keep Gabe from seeing them fill with tears.  How was I supposed to promise Kyle something that I had no control over?  Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes.  “I promise.”

Hearing a click, I knew that Kyle had hung up the phone.  It seemed that as soon as he had my promise, something that he trusted, he was happy.  I wasn’t though, because I knew no matter what, I was keeping that promise.  I didn’t care if I had to blow my cover; I wasn’t leaving that boy, not yet. 

My hand snapped out, and I allowed Gabe to help me to my feet.  He didn’t ask questions, and I knew that he wouldn’t.  He’d wait for me to tell him what happened; he’d wait until I was ready to talk.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t ready to have this conversation with him, not when I needed to have it with the Herring family.   My high heels, something that I was starting to enjoy wearing, clicked against the stone walkway as I reached the front door.

I didn’t hesitate to throw it open, and as soon as I did, screaming reached my ears.  Following the noise, I knew that this was going to be the end for me.  Even if I wanted to stay with this family after the conversation I was about to have, it wouldn’t happen.  I was too emotionally invested.  Any decision I made wouldn’t be the right one, not when I cared so much about this family. 

Rounding the corner, I stopped in the dining room.  The once immaculate people who I had known as Dorothy’s parents were at each other’s throats.  They were yelling in one another’s face, Lisa was poking Roger in the chest, while Roger waved his hands around as he spoke.  If it hadn’t been for the fact that I was about to blow my cover, I would have laughed at the picture they made.  Even as they were yelling at one another, the love on their faces was still there.  How can someone do that?  Be so angry with someone, but still want them?

Clearing my throat, I smiled as they both snapped their mouths shut and glanced at me with a shocked expression.  “You’re scaring Kyle.”

With those words, the fight left both of them.  Roger glanced towards Lisa, a slightly pleading expression on his face, before turning back towards me.  “How was your hair appointment, honey?”

Lisa groaned, while covering her face with one hand.  “Dammit, Roger.  For once, you need to put your foot down,” she snapped as she dropped her hand and pointed towards me.  “I know you feel guilty for not spending time with her after your first wife died, I know you blame yourself for the woman’s death, but don’t you see that you babying her is only making things worse?”

“Lisa,” Roger started, but before he could say another word, I interrupted.

“You are making things worse.”

Once again, they turned shock faces towards me, and I had to fight the large grin that wanted to form on my lips.  If they knew I wasn’t the real Dorothy, would they have reacted the same?  Probably not.

“Dorothy,” Lisa said, her eyes filling with tears.  She took as step towards me before hesitating.  “I love you.  You know I do, and it is the reason why I want you to grow up.  You’re old enough to start acting like a woman, like the person your mom would want you to be.”

“It’s why we have to send you away,” Roger continued, shocking Lisa, but not me.  I knew the man would have to eventually give in.  I knew that one day he would realize that allowing Dorothy to make their lives a living hell wasn’t a way to live.  I had just hoped it would take him longer to actually give in, like when Dorothy returned and I was long gone.

My head began to nod, but before I could say another word, an arm wrapped around my shoulder.  By the heavy breathing, I knew that he had run to get here.  “Hey, Cole.”

“Sis,” he replied while giving me a side hug and smiling widely at his parents, who once again had a shocked expression on his face.  “Did I make it in time for supper?  I know you called and said to be here at twelve, but traffic was hell.”

“You asked him to come for supper?”  Lisa asked as she glanced between the genuine smile on Cole’s face and the small smile on my own. When I nodded, she glanced towards Roger with a frown.  “Honey, she called him for supper.”

“I heard,” Roger mumbled, “but that doesn’t change anything.”

A dragging noise scraped the ground behind me, and when I glanced back, I saw Kyle pulling a large backpack.  He smiled at me before turning innocent eyes towards Lisa.  Lisa simply frowned at him as he stopped at my side and let go of the backpack with a huff.

“What’s in there?” she asked, suspicion clear in her voice.

Kyle’s eyes widened, making him appear clueless, but I knew he was anything but.  “I thought Dee and I were going to Aunt Margie’s.  Isn’t that what you said?”

“Aunt Margie’s?”  Cole interrupted before Lisa or Roger could say a word.  “I didn’t know we were going to visit Aunt Margie.”

A large smile turned the corner of Lisa’s mouth as her shoulders sagged in what looked like relief.  As her eyes began to fill with tears, Roger glanced between all of us with an uncertain expression on his face.  “When did this happen?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. 

He looked at Cole, glanced at Kyle, before staring at me in between them.  “When did the three of you become so close?”

“The night of the party,” Cole blurted, making me want to roll my eyes.  The man was a horrible liar, and I knew that if Roger didn’t want to believe so badly, the man would have called Cole out.  “Dee opened up about a couple things, and we got to talking.  We realized that the things we didn’t like each other for were trivial.”

“Trivial,” Kyle agreed with a serious nod.

Roger shook his head at the three of us before a loud sigh escaped his mouth.  Holding up a finger, he pointed at me.  “One more chance, do you understand me?  If I hear that you’ve done one more thing like what you pulled last night, I’m sending you to your Aunt Margie’s.”

“What did I do?” I asked, feeling confusion hit and all amusement fall away.  Last night, I had done nothing but happily sleep in my own bed, which was once all the mishap of the night before was over.  He couldn’t know about that, could he?

By the glare on his face, I wasn’t so sure that he couldn’t.  “I’ve seen the pictures, Dorothy,” he muttered with disappointment, and my heart beat hard against my chest.  “A night club,” he said while shaking his head and walking towards the doorway.  “If you were smart, you’d do inappropriate things further away from the public.”

With those words, he left the room, leaving me confused.  I glance towards Lisa and saw a matching expression on her face.  “You really don’t know what he’s talking about, do you?”

“No,” I said slowly.  “I know exactly what he’s talking about; I was just wondering who sold me out,” I lied.

To my surprise, her smile just widened as she shook her head at me.  Walking after her husband, she paused beside me and patted my shoulder.  “I don’t know who you are, but thank you for bringing my family back together.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but she was already walking out the door.  As she did, Kyle let out a groan and glanced down at his backpack.  “That’s going to take forever to bring back up.”

Cole let out a laugh while dropping his arm from my shoulder.  “Come on, little guy.  I’ll carry it up for you.”  He swooped down and easily threw the bag over his shoulder.  Kyle darted out of the room in front of him, but Cole hesitated.  “You’ll be okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, a smile in his direction.  “How did you know?”

“Kyle called me,” he said with a laugh.  “The boy always takes care of his family.”

He stepped out of the dining room, but I wasn’t alone for long as Gabe entered with a worried expression on his face.  “Did they find you out?”

“Everyone but the Dad.”

Reaching towards me, he ran a thumb over my cheekbone.  “Why do you look so worried, Dee?  Are they making you leave?  I can hide you in my car during the day.  They usually stay in their rooms at night.  So, you’d be fine to roam the halls then.”

I laughed, something that I was sure he was hoping for, but that laugh quickly died down.  “She’s not in protective custody, Gabe.”

“How do you know?”

“They have pictures,” I explained as I leaned forward and rested my forehead on his shoulder.  “If she does one more thing, one more stupid thing, I’m gone.  Roger won’t know that it wasn’t me in that picture.”

His arms wrapped around me, and he pressed a kiss to the side of my head.  “It’s going to be okay, Dee.  We’ll find her.  We’ll make sure she doesn’t blow your cover any more than it already is, okay?”  I nodded against his shoulder as a yawn escaped my mouth.  With a laugh, he drew away from me.  “We’ll start tomorrow.”  I opened my mouth to protest, but he sent me a mock glare to silence me.  “You’ve had a very long day.  Go upstairs, sleep the rest of the night away, and when you wake up, we’ll find her.”

“The first thing that we need to do is—”

“Dee,” he interrupted with a caring smile.  “Go to sleep.”

“But—”

“Sleep,” he said in a firm tone while pointing towards the stairs.

With a sigh, I nodded.  “What are you going to do while I sleep?”

“Talk to George, get him updated, and then find out who took those pictures of Dorothy.”

“You’re doing my work for me,” I complained as he grabbed my hand and began easing me towards the stairs.  “It’s not fair.”

We continued up the stairs, without him saying a word, and as we walked onto my floor, he turned to smile at me.  “Life isn’t fair, but we live it.” 

He tried to drop my hand, but I held on.  Kicking my shoes off, I dragged him towards the bed.  “Lay down with me,” I mumbled, feeling my eyes already start to close, “and this time, it better be your arms I wake up in.”

With a laugh, he eased me onto the bed and slid in behind me.  As his arms wrapped around me, he mumbled something in my ear.  I started to open my mouth to ask him what he said, but sleep dragged me down, making my eyes close and darkness take over.