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I frowned as I studied the little patio area complete with a wave sculpture and table and chairs. No signs of the original sala or the room where I’d slept.
What happened?
Did they tear it down because of me?
Stepping onto the back deck where a few planks needed replacing, I glanced through the sliding doors to the kitchen beyond.
The smash of a pan and the yelp of surprise was the only warning I had before Anna tripped through the doors and stood gaping at me.
Jack stumbled after her, his white t-shirt and cargo shorts covered in red sauce from whatever he’d been cooking for dinner.
No one spoke.
I didn’t think words were possible.
My heart skipped and squeezed as I drank in my surrogate parents. Parents who’d protected me, encouraged me, doubted me, hurt me, and ultimately given me a life I wouldn’t have had with their daughter who was always meant to be mine.
Anna had more silver glittering through her sun-lightened hair, and Jack had deeper crow’s feet spearing around his eyes. His belly had spread a little, and Anna’s lips looked pinched as if the past few years had given her more reasons to cry instead of laugh.
But beneath the mark of age and time, they were still the two marine biologists who’d risked imprisonment and fines for me.
That affected me.
That knowledge slammed into my chest because my own father had used me, yet these people had loved me.
I forgave Jack for ever doubting me.
I swore fresh loyalty to Anna.
And I couldn’t stop my quaking, shaking, absolute shattering relief at finally being home.
“Hello,” I said quietly, trading the five years of Turkish for English that was slightly rusty on my tongue.
Anna let out a moan.
Jack slapped his hands over his mouth.
Tears shot to both their eyes.
“I-Is this real?” Anna gasped. Stumbling forward, she reached for my freshly shaven cheek and ripped her fingers back at the barest touch, almost as if she thought she’d touched a ghost. “H-How is this real?”
I held out my hand and didn’t miss that her gaze flickered to my cane before darting back to mine. “I’m real.”
“But...I don’t understand.” Droplets ran down her cheeks. “How? We...we thought you were dead.”
“I technically was for a very long time. But I’m back now.” I bowed my head. “I’m sorry it took me so long to return.”
“How?” Jack dropped his hands, wringing his fingers. “I thought you were banished from ever stepping foot in Australia again?”
“Things are different now,” I said, swallowing secrets and giving only bare essentials. I would tell them my story, but for now...I only wanted one thing.
Is she here?
“I’m legal. I flew here, just like everyone else.” They didn’t need to know I’d flown first class or had an escort or been personally welcomed by the chief of federal police.
That would come later.
Once I’d settled into who I was. Once I accepted the deal that I’d struck.
Jack didn’t speak for the longest moment.
His tears welled and flowed, and then, with a guttural groan, he threw himself at me.
He tackled me and embraced me, and if I’d been wearing the other leg, I would’ve tumbled beneath his onslaught. It took every strength in my core to stay upright. It took faith in my new prosthetic to keep me balanced. I rocked backward on my two heels—one flesh and bone and the other carbon and steel—and hugged him back.
He buried his face into my neck and sobbed.
Fucking sobbed.
Anna broke into wet wails and threw herself at me too.
I clung to both of them.
My own eyes grew wet as I kissed Anna’s hair as she hugged me so damn hard.
I lost track of time as they squeezed me.
I did my best to hide my impatience that the one person I was desperate to see hadn’t come out to join us.
The longer the embrace went on, the more my heart skipped, and it took all my self-control to hold my desperation at bay and extract myself kindly and slowly.
“Where’s Nerida?” I asked, my eyes searching the shadowy kitchen.
Jack stepped back, mopping up his tears with the back of his hands. Anna pulled a tissue from her shorts pocket and blew her nose.
They both shared a look.
A look I didn’t like.
“She’s not here...is she?” My voice slipped into despair. My heart threatened to stop beating altogether. “She...she found someone else?” The question was barely audible.
Of course, she did.
It’s been five years, you idiot!
Five years.
Of course, she wouldn’t live at home anymore.
Of course, she wouldn’t wait for a dead man.
My back prickled.
Grief smothered.
Stepping backward, I clutched my cane. “I-It’s okay. Eh, don’t tell her I’m back, alright? In fact, I’ll go. I don’t want to upset her. If she’s found happiness, then I don’t want to do anything to destroy that.”
Anna sniffed and grabbed my hand. “We’ll take you to her.”
“No, not if she’s—”
