Page 71 of Summer Ride

It took less than a second to realize what the man was saying. How he was accusing Kara, his own daughter, of being part of Abigail Johnson’s kidnapping and the little girl’s torture. Then he spoke of Axel’s murder and hinted that his daughter, who had been led down the road of evil at a very young age, had probably killed the man for the sole purpose of leading the police away from her evil trail.

“That man is crazy,” his mother said softly as she held onto Kara’s hand.

Tears streamed down Kara’s cheeks, and he pulled her into his arms.

“Turn it off,” he said quickly.

“No,” Kara jumped in. “My tears aren’t for him.” She straightened. “They are only for Abigail. I want to hear what the pious man has to say.”

Several reporters were shouting questions at him. One asked for more details, which he supplied in full, including her new name, her location, and to her horror, where she worked.

Just hearing the camp’s name come out of her father’s mouth pissed him off.

But what really pissed him off was the man’s last statement.

“My dear wife, Heather, passed away last month and, to my shock, I found out that somehow Mary Ester managed to steal away all of our life savings. That evil girl has taken everything from our family. She’s dragged our good name through the mud for the last time.”

Kara shut off the television and tossed the remote down on the sofa before walking to the back door and stepping out into the night air.

“Hey,” Carter said, wrapping his arms around her.

“I didn’t even want the money. The check is still in the drawer with my mother’s letter,” she said, closing her eyes.

“You don’t have to explain anything. I was there, remember?” He held onto her. “So was your brother.”

“Which is funny, because he was standing directly behind my father, smirking.”

He realized that she was right. He had been so preoccupied with wanting to pull her father through the screen and pummel him that he hadn’t really noticed.

“You should cash the check,” his mother said from the doorway. “I mean, if they’re accusing you of stealing the money, the least you can do is commit the sin.”

“I don’t want it. She was never a mother to me. Just because on her deathbed she finally felt guilt about being a terrible mother doesn’t mean she owed me anything,” Kara said.

“Then put it in an account for your little one,” his father suggested. He too had come to the door. “Use it to help your children to become what they want. Or donate it to help other kids who had parents like yours. Either way, if she left you a letter, then legally, the money is yours.”

“You’re right,” Kara agreed. “At least for now, I won’t rip the check into pieces.” She smiled. “Thank you. From the first moment I met you two, you’ve treated me more like a daughter than my parents ever did.”

“Oh, honey.” His mother rushed over to her. “Don’t go making me cry again,” she said with a sniffle.

“I love you, both.” Kara held out her arms for Carter and his dad as well.

Carter smiled at her when the group hug was over. He knew that she was where she belonged.

Chapter Twenty-One

When Carter dropped her at the camp the following day, it was to cheers and a ton of hugs from all of her friends.

Since she couldn’t give massages with her broken arm, she was placed at the main reception desk to lend Beth a hand in Julie’s absence. She figured she could answer phone calls and deal with customers while she waited for her arm to heal.

A few hours into working behind the main desk, she was very thankful it wasn’t her full-time job.

“You’re going stir crazy,” Beth said, breaking into her thoughts.

The phone hadn’t rung in over an hour and, for almost as long, not one customer had walked through the front doors. Kara was currently spinning in the chair, enjoying the way it made her head dizzy.

“How do you do it?” she asked Beth. “There’s nothing going on up here.”

“Today.” Beth chuckled. “You happened to start on a very slow day. Wait until we have a busy one. You’ll be thankful for some downtime like this.” She shrugged and turned back to her computer screen.