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“I want to help you, Michelle. How can I make sure you get your family back together?” Cooper steps forward, inching closer to them.
“I need you all to leave so that I can take my brother and sister away from this place. It’s filled with people who pretend to care.” Michelle’s eyes bore into me, her point obvious.
“Okay, we’ll back away and let you go.”
I bite my lip so I don’t scream outno. Cooper won’t let them get away, I know that, but it doesn’t make hearing those words any easier.
“First, I need you to lower the knife, okay? You don’t want to hurt your sister before you can leave, right?” Cooper takes another step forward, positioning himself right in front of the two women.
Michelle starts to lower the knife, and the minute it’s pulled away, Sara drops her body, swinging her leg out to take Michelle’s weight out from under her. Michelle drops like a rock as Cooper jumps forward, flipping her over to slap cuffs on her wrist.
“Michelle’s brother, Gabe. He’s here, too.” Sara frantically looks around as if he’s also going to pop out of the woods.
“We got him. He’s in the back seat of one of the cruisers,” a deputy tells her.
She nods her head, watching as a couple of officers pick up Michelle and walk her across the highway. Cooper pops the cuffs off Sara’s wrists, then follows behind his officers.
When he’s gone, a paramedic guides Sara to sit down on the pavement and starts checking her out.
I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s safe. She’s here. It doesn’t feel real.
The minute the paramedic walks away, Sara turns toward me and barrels across the grass. She slams into me, her arms wrapping around my waist as I tighten mine around her shoulders. I’ve never felt anything better.
“You’re safe. I’ve got you.” I continue whispering more words of safety to her until her body begins to relax against me. She pulls back, her hazel eyes filled with tears. I take her mouth with mine, unable to hold back anymore. I need to ensure she’s truly here. That I’m not making this up in my head only to wake up and realize it was all a dream.
Our kiss is healing, filled with the longing we’ve separately shared this whole night. It’s everything we need to reconnect with each other.
Adam clears his throat, reminding us both he’s still standing there.
Sara pulls back, a grin on her face as she looks over at her brother. I set her on the ground, and she steps toward Adam as he wraps his arms around her. “It’s good to have you back, sis,” he whispers into her hair.
“Thanks for coming for me.” She pulls away from him, her gaze meeting mine.
“We always will,” Adam responds, since I can’t. Too many emotions are clogging my throat as I stare at my beautiful girl.
Seeming to understand my needs, she steps back to me and leans against my chest.
“When Cooper comes back, we can figure out what to do next. Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?” Adam asks, already going into analytical mode.
“I’m fine. The paramedic cleared me to go home.”
Cooper comes walking back across the highway as two of the three cruisers parked in the driveway leave the house.
Sara steps toward Cooper and wraps her arms around him in a tight hug. He takes a deep breath as he holds her, seeming to finally relax. “Glad you’re okay,” he says as they separate.
“Glad you found me,” Sara responds.
“Michelle and Gabe are on their way to the station. We’ll put them in cells until we can get them transferred to the county jail.” Cooper puts his hands on his hips, looking every bit the police chief.
“Cooper, please be kind to Gabe. I don’t think he truly understands what’s going on or that what he did was wrong. I think he has a mental disorder of some sort.”
Cooper nods. “I’ll ask for an evaluation when we get to the station.”
“Thanks.”
“We’ll need to get your statement for the report. Are you up for that right now?”
“Yes. I want to get it all done and out of the way so I can move on.”
