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Caleb took her arm and led her through the wreath-decked double doors as the others followed. “We don’t know. We found him unconscious in the backyard, just inside the gate. Looks like he took a severe beating.”
She frowned. It made no sense to her stressed, overwrought mind. Poor Tyler, he must be scared half to death. Then she lifted her gaze to Caleb’s as he opened the passenger door of his car and held it for her. “How bad?” she whispered.
“We don’t know, honey. We just don’t know. Wade took him to the E.R. and I came right over here.”
“Where’s Alex?” Edie asked.
Caleb sent her a look. “With the police out at the house.”
“Police?” Everything in Kara went icy cold as things began clicking into place in her mind. “Police, Caleb?”
He nodded. “Kara—” He drew a breath, closed his eyes. “Kara, we can’t find Tyler.”
Her knees buckled. If Caleb hadn’t been there, she’d have fallen to the ground.
Her mother was quick to come to her aid, as well, pulling Kara’s arm around her shoulders, taking her from Caleb’s strong arms and easing her onto the seat of the car. Then she turned and took charge, and Kara was so very glad Vidalia was the way she was. She needed that right now.
“Mel, get over to that house and get to work on this with your husband. It’s what you two do, after all. Maya, you take the twins home and get on the phone. I want you to phone everyone we know and get them to call everyone they know to help search for that little boy. Selene, go with her. Get a change of clothes for your sister and bring them to the hospital. Edie, you may as well come with us, since Wade’s at the E.R. already.” Then she nodded to Caleb. “Get us to the hospital, son, and don’t dawdle about it.”
Then she got into the front seat beside Kara, closed the door and wrapped her hand around her daughter’s.
Kara looked up at her mother, tears in her eyes. “We have to find Tyler.”
“By the time we get to the hospital, half the town will be out looking for him, honey. And we’ll join them, too. But you have to see Jim first, don’t you think?”
“I... “ She lowered her head, shaking it slowly. “I’m so torn, I don’t know what to do.”
“That’s why I’m here, child. You just do what I tell you until your head stops spinning and you can decide for yourself again. You have to see him—he may be able to tell us something to help us find the boy.”
Kara closed her eyes as Caleb hit the gas. The car lurched forward, spitting gravel in its wake. She saw her sisters behind them, all of them in motion. Maya was explaining things to Reverend Jackson as she gathered the twins in her arms. Kara turned again to her mother, saw the worry in her eyes. “We’ll find him. We will find him,” she whispered, needing to hear someone— her mother, the strongest woman in the world—confirm it for her.
“Damn straight we will,” Vidalia Brand said. “And heaven help any son of a gun who lays a finger on that child until we do.No onemesses with one of Vidalia Brand’s grandchildren.”
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
“Aren’t we almost there?”
“Stop whining, kid,” Vinnie snapped. “We’ll be there when we get mere.”
Vinnie wasn’t real happy with Tyler, Angela thought. But he hadn’t kicked or screamed or cried so far, and she hoped he wouldn’t
“So my dad’s waiting there already? Why did he leave?”
“Like I told you,” Vinnie said, “it was an emergency. We’re supposed to bring you to him.”
“At the church?”
Angela looked at the boy sharply. “That’s where you were going all dressed up, I’ll bet. To the church.”
“Course it is. You gotta get dressed up for a weddin’.”
She shot a look at Vinnie.
“I’m gonna be the ring-bear!” Tyler tugged at his bow tie yet again. He hadn’t stopped chattering or fidgeting since they’d put him in the car. She wished he would quit already. He was giving her a headache.
“Do you guys know Kara? She’s the lady my dad’s gonna marry. And then she’ll be my new mom. Just like I asked Santa for. And it ain’t even Christmas yet!”
Ang winced a little. Hell, it wasn’t as if being a mother was her life’s ambition. Especially not to a disabled kid who never shut up. She’d never wanted him. God, the months of struggling to stay clean while she’d carried him just so he wouldn’t be born messed up. She’d slipped a few times. She was only human. But it hadn’t hurt him any. She tended to think the bastards who told women to stop living during pregnancy were overdramatizing things. No smoking, no drinking, no drugs. Hell, they didn’t even want you taking over-the-counter stuff, aside from those horse-size prenatal vitamins. Her pregnancy had been hell. And in the end, all those months of suffering hadn’t mattered—he ended up all screwed up anyway. But it still jabbed her a little to hear Tyler refer to another woman as his mom.
