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“I am.”
“I’d better go upstairs and check on the kids,” Lucy said, sighing.
“I guess we’d better think about getting home,” Danny said, standing from the club chair where she’d been viewing the TV. “We have a sitter at the house taking care of Ben tonight. He was kind of tired after your party yesterday.”
“I’ll talk with you tomorrow, Danny,” Lucy said.
“Bye, everyone,” Jake called out. “I’ll keep in touch.” He looked at Gabe. “I forgot to give them the phones I want them to use. They’re still out in the car.”
“Great. I’ll grab them before you go,” Gabe answered. “I’m glad you had a chance to think about that. It’s been a hectic day, and I was going to ask you earlier when we were on the phone what you’d recommend for communication in case there’s trouble.”
“I’m also sending a security team here tomorrow to update your system. They’ll be here at eight sharp.”
“I appreciate that,” Gabe said.
Gabe stood, walking to the door with Jake and Danny and then holding it open before following them outside.
As Lucy left the room to check on the kids, Izzy glanced at Zane first and then at Lex. “I’m sorry, guys.”
“I can’t believe we finally got this close, and we couldn’t do anything to save the other kids that were still there,” Harry said hoarsely. “It’s haunted me for years, because there weren’t enough landmarks that I could remember well enough to be able to tell anyone where the place was. And then there was the year that Amy and I spent with our new foster parents. It made me forget a lot of things I probably would have remembered when I finally got the chance to talk about the past with Jake and Gabe.”
“It was the drugs too, clouding your mind, Harry. They always made sure we were knocked out good before they took us…,” Zane glanced at Izzy uncomfortably, “uh…anywhere.”
“If Zane hadn’t thought so hard about the fact that we weren’t getting injections anymore, and the water was probably being drugged instead, we never would have been able to escape,” Lex observed.
Eve stood. “Mom and Dad are probably waiting at the car. I’m sure I’ll be seeing all of you again soon. As crazy as the circumstances are, these kinds of strange situations seem to happen quite a lot with our families.”
Harry stood, reaching for Eve’s hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you outside.”
Izzy made a loud smacking noise with her lips.
“Now that’s the Izzy I grew up with,” Harry said gruffly as everyone laughed. “I wasn’t too sure what to think about your quick switch into adulthood these past few days.”
Izzy snorted. “It’s that twelve going on thirty kind of thing that Dad always freaks out about lately.”
As Harry tugged her hand and started to pull her toward the door, Eve bent over and whispered in Izzy’s ear, “What would any of us do without you, Izzy? Don’t you dare ever change.”
Izzy blinked before tears filled her eyes.
Lex was watching Eve as she walked outside with Harry. “Harry’s sure lucky to have a girl like that.”
Appearing thoughtful, Zane was looking at Izzy when he answered, “Yes, he is.”
“Everyone’s talking to us like we’re just regular guys,” Lex said, swallowing hard. “I never thought…”
“That we could be accepted by anyone—especially if they heard about our past?”
Lex nodded.
“Are you guys getting tired? I was thinking about going upstairs and checking on Caleb and Amy too to see how they’re doing.” Izzy grinned. “I think Harry might have taken Eve home himself in the truck. They usually go out on Saturday night. He probably won’t be gone too long though because of the circumstances.”
“Sure. Let’s go see how he’s doing,” Zane answered.
“He might not want to go to sleep upstairs without anyone with him in the bedroom,” Lex observed. “Maybe I’ll get ready for bed when he’s finished. I’m feeling pretty burned out too. I think it might be all the medications that I’m taking.”
Zane grinned. “That, and all the food we’ve eaten today.”
They all stood, getting ready to go upstairs.
