“No, it couldn’t have been,” Kyle agreed.
“Did they….” She broke off as she gulped downthe lump in her throat. She didn’t want to ask the next question,but she had to. “Did they find my father?”
“Yes, and Delilah. They never made it out ofthe compound. I saw the pictures and confirmed it was them.”
“They’re dead.”
It wasn’t a question, but he respondedanyway. “Yes.”
Despite everything her father had put herthrough, she couldn’t suppress a small sob. Kyle pulled her intohis arms as that sob turned into unexpected tears streaming downher face.
If someone had asked her three days ago ifshe would cry over the loss of her father, she would have told themprobably not. But here she was, weeping like a baby.
“He caused so much suffering over the yearsto me and countless others, but he was still my father, and hewasn’t always such a monster,” she whispered when her tearssubsided a little.
“I know.” Kyle hugged her closer as sheburrowed into his chest. “And I’m sorry.”
Melanie wasn’t sure why his loss was hittingher so hard. Her father stopped loving her years ago, or at leasthe stopped loving her in the way he once did and the way shedeserved.
If she hadn’t escaped that place, he wouldhave experimented on her too, and he would have tortured Kyle if hecaught him again. Despite knowing that, she couldn’t stopcrying.
Her father had become a monster over theyears, but she didn’t remember that now. Instead, she recalled herhazy memories of a man who once hugged her and laughed with her.He’d also played Barbies and sipped tea made from air.
She sobbed for a man who loved her mother somuch that, to understand the monsters who killed her, he became onetoo.
Gradually, her tears subsided, and after awhile, she simply lay there, holding Kyle until she fell asleepagain. When she woke the next time, it was to a knock on the door.She blinked against the sun creeping around the edges of thecurtains.
“Dad’s awake!” Cassidy yelled through thedoor.
“I’ll be right out,” Kyle called back. Hekissed her forehead and shifted on the bed. “I have to go.”
She grasped his wrist before he could climbout of bed. “I’m coming with you.”
“Okay.”
Melanie crawled from the bed before realizingshe didn’t have any clothes and that, at some point, Kyle hadstripped her ruined clothes from her. Thankfully, she realized itbefore she walked out the door.
He grinned at her before strolling over to achair in the corner and lifting some clothes from it. “Abby broughtsome clothes by for you. She’s taller than you, but they shouldfit.”
“She might be my favorite,” Melanie said asshe took the jeans and T-shirt from him.
Kyle laughed. “Don’t tell any of the othersthat.”
“Never.” She pulled the clothes on and rolledthe bottom of the jeans up. She would kill for a shower, but he wasimpatient to see his dad. “Does Lucy have clothes?”
“My sister-in-law Emma brought some clothesby for her. She’s about the same size as Lucy.”
“Good.”
Once she finished dressing, she followed himout of the room, through the house, and into the day. After theystepped off the porch, she stopped in the middle of the rollinggreen lawn and tilted her face back. The sun’s warm rays eased thecoldness in her soul, and for the first time since all thisstarted, she was certain everything would be okay.
The briny scent of the ocean filled the airand she smiled at the beautiful simplicity of this world. Somewherein the distance, waves crashed against the shore as the seagullssoaring overhead cawed loudly.
She loved the action of Boston, but standinghere, in this place, she felt at peace for the first time in years.And with the way his family had saved her and welcomed her on theirjourney here, she knew, with complete certainty, she’d comehome.
When Kyle held his hand out to her, shegrinned at him as she took it and walked with him to the beautifulhome across the way.
CHAPTER 53
