Silent Run - Barbara Freethy [116]
“She didn’t call me either,” Teresa interjected. “Which also pisses me off. You waited eight years to get back in touch, Jessica. Way too long.”
“You were my family. And you were safe away from me. I wanted to keep it that way.”
“But you let Jake into your life,” Catherine pointed out. “You had to know it was a risk.”
“I did know it. In the beginning I told myself it was a fling, a temporary thing, but he was too great to let go,” she said with a helpless shrug. “I was being selfish hanging on to him. When I got pregnant—oh, my God, I was terrified. It was a complete accident. I had never intended to get that involved with anyone. But I couldn’t get rid of my baby. I couldn’t walk away from Jake. That’s when I started telling myself lies—like, It’s been five years and Victor has probably forgotten about you. And my other favorite—Victor is in jail; he can’t hurt you now. I was an idiot. I never even considered that he could get out on parole after serving a third of his sentence.” She let out a sigh. “I don’t expect either of you to understand or forgive me.”
“I’m not judging you,” Catherine said. “I just wish I could have helped you, Jessica. I always thought of you like my little sister. And I never stopped worrying about you. I saw you in my dreams. For months I could hear your voice calling out to me. I could see you running down this street late at night, and all I could think about was how much you hated the dark.”
“That was after I ran away from the safe house,” Sarah said slowly. She’d forgotten about Catherine’s visions. She had had no idea that Catherine would have spent so much time worrying about her. They hadn’t seen each other in over a year when she’d disappeared from Chicago. She’d just assumed that Catherine would go on with her life.
“I knew you were in danger. I felt terrible that I couldn’t help,” Catherine added.
“Well, you helped me today. If you hadn’t hit Rick over the head with that bat, we could all be dead now. Where did you get it, anyway?”
“Teresa’s hall closet. I was going for an umbrella, but I found something better. Dylan had told me to stay put, to call the cops, but I knew he was walking into a volatile situation. I couldn’t stand by and do nothing.”
“I never thought you had that in you,” Teresa said, amazement in her voice. “You, Catherine, were always such a pacifist, peace, love, joy, harmony. What happened to that?”
“I’m not a pacifist when it comes to people I care about. By the way, what’s with going back to your old name, Tracy?” she asked, turning her attention to Teresa. “You hated that name.”
“I’ve been trying it out, but I think I’m going to stick with Teresa.”
“You two always thought that changing your names, or pretending to be someone else, would make a difference,” Catherine said. “It was a stupid game you played. You can’t hide from yourself. Don’t you get that?”
Sarah glanced over at Teresa and saw the same sheepish expression in her eyes. “We get it,” Sarah said. “It just took us a while.”
“A long while,” Teresa agreed. “So what am I going to call you now?”
She thought for a moment. “Sarah. I’m going to be Sarah, because that’s who I am to Caitlyn and to Jake, and with any luck I can keep them both in my life.”
“You will,” Teresa said with confidence.
“And you’re keeping us, too,” Catherine said firmly. “We’re family. And now that we’re back together it’s going to stay that way. Besides, someone needs to keep you two out of trouble.” Catherine stood up and opened her arms, sending them both an expectant look.
Teresa groaned. “We are not doing a group hug.”
“Yes, we are,” Catherine insisted. She went over to Teresa and threw her arms around her. Teresa squealed in protest.
Sarah moved to join them. For the first time in a long time, everything was right in her world. She wondered how long it would last.
* * *
Sarah’s optimism faltered with