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"I overheard Mom and Dad arguing in the office. Turns out, Mom had no idea about the cameras. She was li-vid." I want to relay in vivid detail how she slapped Dad but then refrain from that. "Anyway, when they became cryptic, I confronted them directly." Three sets of eyes look at me expectantly, and I repeat what my parents told me in Dad's office.
"I read about this teddy in the letters." Lilly's eyes light up as some puzzle pieces from her past finally seem to fit back together. Then her brows furrow. "Why would this person take Bobo?" Her excitement turns to confusion.
"They didn’t tell you who the intruder was?" George sits up in his chair.
"No, they just said it was a she. But they know. I’d bet the Defender on it."
"Why wouldn’t they tell us? Why would Tristen keep it from Heather until now? This makes no sense." Lilly searches my eyes.
I wonder if our family would even function if there were no secrets between us. I’m about to tell her that her guess is as good as mine, but Nate beats me to it.
"You got this teddy from our father? What did it look like?"
Lilly’s face falls. "I don't know. I don't remember him. I only read about him in the letters."
"I do," I speak up. "No one could forget this ugly thing. He was ancient. You carried him around everywhere. He was white—well, I assume that was his original color. He was more gray-ish by the time it went AWOL. Very simple, one eye was missing, and he was patched up on the back with some red fabric."
Nate turns chalk-white at the description, but with him sitting slightly behind, the other two haven't noticed.
I lift a finger and point. "Uh, why does he look like he’s about to puke?"
Both heads jerk around, and we wait for Nate to elaborate.
He rubs his hands over his face before looking at his sister. "That teddy used to be mine. It was a gift from my grandfather when I was born."
