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“There is someone who wishes to speak with you.”
Couldn’t be her dad or the mayor. Naomi was dead. Maybe Lana Walsh had decided to stop by on her way to the airport.
The big guy opened the door behind the driver’s door and reached inside.
Sadie kept her right hand on the butt of her weapon just in case.
The first thing she saw was a colorful skirt that reached the ankles of the woman stepping down. Her shoes were gray-leather, well-worn flats.
When she moved beyond the vehicle door, her gaze locked immediately on Sadie.
Old.
Petite—no, tiny.
Long gray hair lay in a thick braid. Wrinkled face as if she were a couple hundred years old.
“Do you remember me,la muchacha?”
Sadie blinked. Her hands fell to her sides. “Yes.” Her pulse started to race. “You’re the healer who took care of me.” Oh shit. Was she hallucinating again? This couldn’t be real ... could it?
The old woman nodded. “I kept you safe and invisible until it was time for you to go.”
Take my hand and you’ll be invisible.
It hadn’t been Isabella behind the mask that last time. Sadie had lost the baby, and all she wanted to do was die ... this woman had saved her life. Even during the months of torture and mind games, this woman, this healer, kept her breathing. She suddenly knew this with the same certainty she knew her own name.
“Thank you.” Sadie wasn’t sure what else to say. Her entire being hummed with some kind of anticipation. Not fear. Something far more intense. Something she couldn’t name.
“When they learned what you had done, you were to die. Eduardo had begged for your life and for the life of the child you carried. He came to tell you he could not save you, and you killed him.” Her thin chest rose with a shuddering breath. “A deal was made. A trade. You were returned to your father, barely alive, but alive.”
The voices and images Sadie could never quite grab on to, never fully see or understand, filtered through her mind now. Her father had talked about a trade. “I can’t remember. What kind of trade?”
She nodded to the driver, and he reached inside the back seat as the old woman turned back to Sadie. “Now there is a new deal.”
Sadie watched, her heart pounding, threatening to rupture.
The driver drew back from the vehicle, a small child in his arms. He stood the child next to the old woman.Boy.The child was a boy. The boy looked up at Sadie. Gray eyes—gray eyes exactly like hers—stared back at her. This wasn’t possible.
Her heart lurched. “But ... but my baby didn’t make it.”
“Another baby was brought to you ... one from the village who did not live past birth.”
Unable to keep her eyes off the child she had believed for years didn’t exist, Sadie shook her head. “Why?”
“You took her son, and she took yours.” The old woman pulled something from a pocket in her skirt and thrust it at Sadie. It was a small photo of her and Eddie. “I did what I could. I have shown himthis picture every day of his life. I have kept him safe from his sister and other threats until this day came. I knew it would come.”
Sadie looked from the child to the woman, long-dormant emotions crowding inside her. “I don’t know what to say.”
The healer smiled and turned to the boy.“Esta es tu madre.”
Sadie’s breath caught. She closed her eyes a moment, certain this had to be a hallucination.
“This is your son,” she said to Sadie.
Sadie forced her eyes open. They were still there, the three of them, including the beautiful boy. It wasn’t another hallucination.
“His name is Edward. He belongs with you now.”
