Girl, Missing

  I smiled. He looked just like Sam, only with grey hair and wrinkles. And he didn’t look ill at all, except for maybe the way his right eye and right side of his mouth drooped down a bit.

  Sam’s dad backed up his chair and wheeled it fast across the big wooden hallway. He burst through the door at the far end.

  ‘Gloria,’ he yelled. ‘They’re here.’

  ‘Thinks he’s driving a racing car.’ Sam shook his head, then walked after his dad.

  I followed more slowly, suddenly shy of meeting his mum. She emerged through the door just as Sam reached it. She hugged him. ‘Sammy,’ she said. ‘Thank you for bringing her.’

  She peered over Sam’s shoulder at me. She was tall, with the same nose as Sam and Madi, and dressed in an elegant, pale-green twin-set.

  I stood in the large hallway while she disentangled herself from Sam. Her heels clacked against the wooden floor as she walked over. She stared at me for a few seconds. I felt this stirring of memory – like when I’d looked at Baby Rabbit. Her eyes were dark brown, deep and intelligent.

  ‘You remember me, don’t you?’ she said.

  She moved closer and pulled me into a hug. It was so quick I didn’t even have time to tense up. And then I breathed in. A deep whiff of a flowery scent. And suddenly I was taken right back to being a little girl again. It was overpowering. Like my memory of the woman on the beach.

  That scent meant being loved.

  My heart beat faster and tears sprang to my eyes. Sam’s mum hugged me tighter.

  ‘It’s OK, it’s OK,’ she whispered, rubbing my back. ‘It’s not surprising you remember me. I looked after you a lot when you were little.’

  To my complete embarrassment tears were now leaking down my face. Sam’s mum held me away from her and smiled. ‘That’s it,’ she said. ‘No shame in crying. Let it out.’ She stroked my hair. ‘Now I guess it’ll feel a little odd to call me Granma straight off, so why don’t you call me Gloria?’

  I sniffed and nodded, wiping my face. It was weird. Though I hadn’t wanted to cry like that, I hadn’t minded her holding me at all. It had felt natural – like when Madison had hugged me.

  Why wasn’t it like that with Annie?

  Gloria winked conspiratorially at me, then turned to Sam. He was staring open-mouthed at us.

  ‘Close your mouth and spare the flies, Sammy.’ She grinned. ‘Lauren and I always did have a special connection. I told Annie it would be OK.’

  She took my arm and led me into the living room – a huge open space with big glass windows right down one side of the room. Sam’s dad had parked his wheelchair beside a long, low coffee table. He grinned at me.

  Gloria sent Sam off to make some coffee. Then she sat me down on the couch beside her. ‘Now,’ she said. ‘Just because we’re related, doesn’t mean we know anything about each other. So I want you to tell me about yourself. Start with the important things. Did you have a boyfriend back in Britain?’

  I blushed.

  Sam’s dad chuckled from his wheelchair. ‘That means yes,’ he said.

  ‘Well, go on,’ Gloria said. ‘Is he a dreamboat? That’s what we used to call them in my day.’

  I blushed more deeply. I couldn’t believe these people were my grandparents. They were talking about boys and stuff like it was the most natural thing in the world. Yet they must be ancient. Sixty at least.

  Gloria let out a peal of laughter. ‘So. A dreamboat boyfriend. I guess you miss him, then?’

  I looked through the long window at the sea. I nodded. Gloria patted my hand. ‘And your mom and dad, from England?’

  I gulped, nodding again.

  ‘Tell me about them,’ she said.

  I looked at her. Her eyes were bright and enquiring. Kind – but not grasping like Annie. Like she wanted to know me. But she was confident it would all come in its own time.

  I liked her.

  I told her about Mum and Dad. She listened, not taking her eyes off me, just nodding every now and then. I talked and talked. About how everything they did used to make me angry. But how much I missed them now.

  I told her things I hadn’t breathed a word of to Annie and Sam. How the case against Mum and Dad was building up fast. How Mr Sanchez had told me that Taylor Tarsen had done some kind of plea bargain, which meant he would get a lighter sentence in court for giving up information on the other people involved in the kidnapping.

  ‘And now he’s saying that Mum and Dad knew about Sonia stealing me,’ I said, the words tumbling out. ‘He says they offered him money to organise all the phoney checks and adoption paperwork for them. But he’s lying and I’m so worr—’

  I caught sight of Sam heading towards us across the hall, a tray of coffee cups in his hands. I looked down.

  Gloria pursed her lips, but said nothing. She squeezed my hand, then gracefully changed the subject to Sam’s boat.

  We drank our coffee, then got up to go. Sam had warned me that however well his dad seemed, he got tired very easily and needed to rest. While I was saying goodbye to him, I noticed Gloria whispering urgently in Sam’s ear.

  On the way home I wanted to ask him if she’d said something about me. But Sam was unusually distant – all wrapped up in his own thoughts. At first I wondered if I’d done anything to annoy him. Still, once we’d got home his mood seemed to pass. And by the end of the day I’d forgotten all about it.

  The following day was a Saturday. It was the middle of November, two-and-a-half weeks since I’d arrived at the Purditts. I was feeling better than I had for days, really looking forward to talking to Jam about meeting my grandparents. It would be good to tell him something positive for once. Since the text from Shelby, we’d been calling each other several times a day and I’d started worrying he would get fed up with me going on and on about how miserable I was at the Purditts.

  Not that he ever said anything. He was always brilliant. ‘Hang in there,’ he’d go. ‘We’ll see each other soon.’

  I couldn’t see how that was going to happen, but I just loved the determined way he always said it.

  On this particular Saturday I was expecting him to call any minute. He usually texted early afternoon, UK time, when he knew I’d have just woken up. It was a beautiful day – the sun shining fiercely in a blue sky, the air all crisp and cold. Sam, Madison and I had come down to the marina – my favourite place in Evanport. Sam was keen to take me and Madison sailing one last time before the weather got too icy.

  He’d stopped off at a store to buy a few things while Madison and I went down to the boat.

  As Madison skipped on ahead, a huge shadow fell across my path. ‘Lauren,’ said a deep, gruff voice.

  I looked up. ‘Glane!’

  He was standing in front of me, arms folded, looking hugely pleased with himself.

  I guess it sounds crazy, seeing as I really hardly knew him, but starved as I was for friendship, I couldn’t stop grinning. I threw my arms round him.

  He hugged me, then held me out by the shoulders. ‘I thought I would visit with you.’ He beamed. ‘So how is it?’

  My lip trembled. I could see Madison ahead of me, looking back at us. I beckoned her over.

  ‘Madi, tell Daddy I’ve gone to get a drink, OK?’

  She nodded and ran off.

  ‘Your sister?’ Glane smiled.

  I nodded and started walking back up to the little coffee stand on the jetty. Glane strode next to me, his legs taking one stride for every two of mine.

  ‘So what is wrong?’ he said.

  I could feel the tears bubbling up behind my eyes. ‘Everything,’ I burst out. ‘I have to live here with a family of people I don’t know. Shelby’s a total cow. Jam’s thousands of miles away. I mean Sam’s OK and his parents are nice but Annie’s awful. And she and Sam won’t even let me see Mum and Dad . . .’

  My words dissolved into sobs just as we reached the little stand on the jetty. There was hardly anyone else about. Just a couple of smartly dressed Evanporters at one of
the little tables a few metres away.

  I took a table as far away from them as possible and waited for Glane. While he bought a black coffee for himself and a Diet Coke for me I remembered all the things he’d said about how hard it was for Jam being without his dad. As Glane set our drinks down I looked up at him, certain I would see sympathy in his eyes.

  But Glane was frowning. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘You have found that you were a missing child. This is what you wanted, no?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, the tears welling up again. ‘But it’s awful. I didn’t want to be taken away from my family.’

  ‘What did you think would happen?’

  I frowned. The truth was that all the time I was trying to find out if I was Martha, I hadn’t looked that far ahead.

  ‘I just wanted to know the truth.’

  Glane blew on his coffee, then took a swig from the styrofoam cup. ‘Well. Now you have it.’

  I leaned forward, trying to make him understand. ‘But Mum and Dad might go to prison.’

  Glane nodded. ‘It is terrible, of course, that they are accused of this dreadful crime. But I met them – they are such good people. I am sure they will be cleared. It is just a matter of time.’

  I could feel my temper rising. ‘And meanwhile what about me? I have to live here with—’

  ‘With your family,’ Glane interrupted. ‘The family you sought out, who lost you for eleven years. What do you think that was like for them?’

  I glared at him. Why didn’t he understand?

  ‘But they don’t know me. I don’t know them. They even think my parents are guilty of stealing me when I was a baby. They expect me just to fit in, but I don’t. I don’t belong here. I want to go home.’

  Glane glugged down the rest of his coffee. He stared at my Coke, which stood untouched in the middle of the table. He ran his large forefinger down the condensation on the side of the can.

  ‘You are not seeing what is there, Lauren.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ I snapped. ‘I see perfectly. They wanted a toddler back and they got me.’

  The people at the other table were staring at me. So was the man at the coffee stand. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Madison and Sam hurrying up the jetty towards us.

  ‘Lauren.’ Glane’s hand was warm and rough over mine. ‘I know it is hard. I do not say it is easy to be without your parents and your boyfriend like this. But it is hard for the family you have come into as well. Shelby – she is this other sister, no?’

  I nodded curtly.

  ‘It must be difficult for her too – a pretty, older sister coming along just as she’s growing up herself.’

  ‘Believe me, she is a Class A—’

  ‘You have an opportunity here. To be part of another family. That is a rare blessing.’

  I stared at him, not trusting myself to speak.

  ‘You have four parents who love you.’ Glane said. ‘For that, maybe it is possible to belong in two places.’

  ‘You OK, Lauren?’ Sam called out. He was pacing towards our table, an anxious look on his face.

  Madison trotted up to me. She nestled against my arm, staring up at Glane with her big eyes. He smiled at her.

  ‘I just bumped into Glane,’ I said. ‘I’m ready to go now.’

  And without looking at Glane again, I stood up and walked away.

  32

  The visitor

  Normally I loved sailing. Standing in the bow with Madison, letting the salty wind tear past my face. But today it was all spoiled. I was deeply stung by Glane’s words. How dare he suggest I was being selfish? I was in an impossible position, couldn’t he see that?

  To make matters worse, Jam didn’t call. I couldn’t get a signal out at sea, but once we got back home I tried to reach him several times. The phone only went to voice mail, and he didn’t respond to any of my texts.

  By the end of the afternoon I was cross. After what had happened with Glane I needed to speak to Jam more than ever. Why did he have his phone switched off?

  But as the evening went on, I became more and more miserable. Maybe he’d got a new phone. But then why hadn’t he let me know the number?

  Maybe he’d got a new girlfriend.

  My heart twisted with jealousy.

  Shelby didn’t help any by glaring at me all night either. I got another of her texts.

  KEEP QUIET OR DIE BITCH

  Another time this would have upset me a lot. But frankly, after the initial shock, I felt nothing but contempt for her. I wanted to phone Glane up and tell him, though.

  See what she’s like?

  But I was too proud to do that. So instead I sent a text back to Shelby. It was a pretty short text – two words in fact. The second word was ‘OFF’.

  It didn’t make me feel any better.

  I couldn’t sleep. Worry about Mum and Dad mingled with frustration at Glane and misery about Jam.

  After two hours of tossing and turning I decided to make myself a cup of hot chocolate. I knew just how Annie did it. Two heaped spoonfuls of this delicious Chocolate Crème powder mixed with a bit of water, poured into a mugful of hot, frothy milk.

  I padded down to the kitchen. I’d just whizzed up the milk with this little hand-held electric mixer thing, when I heard a noise outside the back door.

  My blood ran cold.

  The kitchen was a square room with windows down both sides and wide sliding doors out to the back yard at the far end. I looked towards the spot where I thought the noise had come from. I could make out nothing except the waving silhouette of trees against the night sky.

  Reaching behind me, I turned off the light switch. As the room plunged into darkness, a low, hunched figure scurried past the back door. My heart thudded. It looked too low to be human. But too bulky to be a cat or a fox. Maybe it was a bear. A small bear. Could bears get this far into a town? I had no idea.

  The figure stood up. It was human. Hooded. I sucked in my breath, too shocked for a second even to cry out. And then, just as I opened my mouth to yell, the figure drew back his hood.

  And smiled at me.

  It was Jam.

  The mug of frothy milk nearly slipped through my fingers. I set it down, then rushed over to the door. He was miming at me to get the keys and open the door.

  I looked around. Mum always kept house keys hanging from marked hooks inside one of the kitchen cupboards. I didn’t expect Annie to be that organised.

  I pulled open drawer after drawer, trying not to make a noise, rummaging desperately among the lists and bills and catalogues that Annie clearly couldn’t bear to throw away.

  Nothing.

  I looked round the room. Where would they be?

  There. I saw them, lying on the edge of a bookshelf near the door.

  My hands trembled as I fitted the three separate keys into the five different locks on the door. Jam was standing back, watching me. My hair was a mess. And I wasn’t wearing any make-up. And had I even cleaned my teeth before I got into bed earlier?

  At last I wrenched open the door. A gust of sharp, cold air. And then he was there, pulling me towards him. His hands cold on my face. His mouth warm on my lips.

  Everything else fell away. He was here. He was with me. He was mine.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ I whispered.

  He stepped inside and closed the door quietly.

  ‘I couldn’t stand it,’ he said. ‘You being so miserable and us being apart. I had to come back. So we could be together.’

  I blinked at him. But . . . but . . .

  Questions were flooding my head.

  ‘How did you even get here?’ I stammered.

  ‘Two days ago Mum cancelled my phone. Said the bills were too expensive. It was kind of the last straw.’ Jam shrugged. ‘I bought the plane tickets using her online account. Then I nicked some money out of her purse, after she’d seen some clients that pay cash. I’ve saved most of it, though. The bus down from Boston was really cheap.’ His face
flushed. ‘I know it was wrong, but I’ll pay her back when I can.’

  ‘Why didn’t you call me?’ I wound my arms round him. The sweetest feeling was sweeping through me. He had done all that to be with me.

  Jam grinned – his cutest look. My heart skipped a beat.

  ‘Thought I’d surprise you,’ he said. Then his smile faded. ‘This is what you want isn’t it?’

  I stared at him. ‘Is what what I want?’

  Footsteps creaked on the landing upstairs. I rushed to the kitchen door and peered round towards the stairs, motioning Jam to keep quiet.

  We listened hard for a few moments. Then a toilet flushed and footsteps padded back across the landing.

  Jam crept over to me. ‘If we go now, we’ll be miles away before anyone realises,’ he whispered.

  I blinked at him. A vortex of fear and excitement whirled up through my head.

  ‘Jam,’ I said, nervously. ‘Tell me exactly what you want us to do.’

  Jam frowned. ‘Run away together, of course. Run away.’

  33

  On the marina

  ‘But where will we go?’ I said.

  ‘I’ve got it all sorted out.’ Jam ran his fingers through his hair. ‘We’ll head across towards the west coast. America’s massive. We’ll get lost in it. Find jobs. Rent an apartment.’

  ‘But we’re too young,’ I stammered. ‘And we don’t have any money.’

  Jam waved my objections away with a hand movement that reminded me forcibly of Carla. ‘People have done it before. We can make it work, Lauren. If we’ve got each other, we can.’

  I turned away and started locking up the door again.

  Jam came up behind me and put his arms round my waist.

  ‘You hate being here. And there’s nothing for me at home. I mean, my dad isn’t …’ His voice cracked. ‘And … and Mum doesn’t care about me. She’s more interested in her bloody spirit-flame candles.’ He pulled me round to face him. ‘If we leave tonight we can be miles away before anyone realises.’

  My stomach churned. I wanted to go with him. But now was too soon. ‘Not tonight,’ I said.

  ‘Why not?’ I could hear the surprise, the suspicion in Jam’s voice. ‘Don’t you want to get out of here?’