The Child Thief 6: Zero Hour

by Forrest, Bella

  But there was also a lot of heartbreak in the work. Like when people found relatives only to realize that they had already died (like Ant and Abe’s mother) or were alive but didn’t want to reconnect, or when parents found their children but couldn’t immediately get them back.

  “Things are fine,” I said. “But they’ll be a lot better when we have an actual president.”

  Nathan’s lip curled into a half-smile. “I said I’d think about it.”

  Jace stood, and I did the same. We had done all that we could do here, and Nathan was still recovering from his wounds. We needed to let him rest.

  Jace stepped forward and stuck out his hand toward Nathan. Nathan grasped it and shook.

  “It was good to see you two,” he said.

  He reached his hand toward me next, but I bypassed it and enveloped Nathan in a big hug instead.

  Nathan let out a surprise oof, but then he brought his arms down around me as well and patted me paternally on the back.

  “Good to see you, too,” I replied. Then I pulled back.

  “And we look forward to seeing you in Chanley,” Jace added.

  It was time for us to make the long flight back to the capital city and our families and friends. We still had lots of work to do, helping the poorest in our nation find the people they had been missing. And we had work to do rebuilding our own families as well.

  Hopefully Nathan would make the choice to join us. Not on the sidelines anymore but out in the open, as our nation’s leader.

  Before we walked out of the room, I turned back to look at Nathan once more and waved a final goodbye.

  But to my surprise, Nathan didn’t wave back. Instead, he lifted his arm up, touched the side of his hand to his forehead, and saluted me.

  “That’s a good look for you,” I said with a smile.

  And then I stepped out of the room and followed Jace down the hallway.

  Epilogue

  “She’s home!” Juno called out from beside the kitchen window. I looked up to see a yellow school bus stopping at the end of our driveway, its doors opening slowly.

  “The cake is still too hot to frost!” Rhea cried out in a panic.

  “Someone needs to go stall her,” Jace added, looking over at me.

  I put the finishing touches on a bow that I had wrapped over a small gift and then waddled over to the dining room table beside Jace, supporting my round belly with one hand as I walked. I looked down at the uneven and crumbly layers of pink-colored cake that Jace and Rhea had been slaving over for a good part of the day, while Juno made dinner and I wrapped gifts.

  “I don’t know if frosting will fix this,” I said.

  Jace shot me a sharp look. He had taken time off work to make the day perfect, and I could tell he was anxious about the result.

  “I’m kidding!” I replied with a smile. “She’s going to love it. I’ll keep her busy for a while, but hurry up!”

  “She’s getting off the bus!” Rhea said, looking out the kitchen window. “Get out there already!”

  “I’m going!” I replied, grabbing a paper bag from the kitchen table and stuffing a few carrots from our garden into it. I also grabbed a wrapped parcel from the fridge.

  Jace eyed the package suspiciously. “Be careful,” he warned.

  “We’ll be fine,” I replied with a smile. Jace had been fiercely protective, even more so, ever since we found out that we were expecting.

  With the paper bag in hand, I walked to the front door and stepped outside. It was a bright afternoon, and the scent of our garden carried to the porch. It smelled like sweet blossoms, ripe tomatoes, and pungent earth. I breathed deeply.

  “Hey, Mom!” Hope said cheerfully as she walked up, swinging her backpack in one hand.

  “How was school, honey?” I asked her, trying to mask my excitement.

  “I got into a fight,” she replied casually.

  “Hope!” I admonished. “What happened?”

  Hope walked up to the porch and threw her backpack into a rocking chair. “It’s not my fault!” she cried. “It was Paul! I told him that the president was coming to my house for dinner tonight and he called me a liar! So I punched him.”

  “You know better,” I scolded. “You’re lucky that it’s your birthday, or you’d be so grounded.”

  Though, I wasn’t too surprised by her behavior. She was one of the most headstrong people I had ever met, much to her schoolteacher’s chagrin.

  “At lunch Rylo said she and her mom were coming tonight, too,” Hope continued.

  “Well, six is a big number,” I told her. “So we need a big party.”

  All of Team Hood was coming over for the party, and while Jace saw them all frequently at the Department of Reunifications, where we all worked, I had been out on maternity leave for the past two weeks. I couldn’t wait to see everyone again. Especially Jackie and Ant, who had just had their first baby: a girl. I was due in just a few short weeks myself, so I was excited to be able to set up playdates soon.

  For the first time Hope seemed to notice that I was blocking the door. “Don’t you want to go inside?” she asked.

  “I thought we’d go feed the animals first,” I replied.

  Hope eyed me suspiciously, the sun playing on her smattering of freckles and lighting up her hazel eyes, but then she nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, but we get to feed all the animals, right?” she asked.

  “Right,” I replied. And I held up the paper bag, which I had been hiding behind my back.

  Hope smiled, and we began to walk together around our cozy cottage and toward the paddock in the back. The horses whinnied in excitement as we approached, and I pulled the carrots out of the paper sack and handed a few to Hope.

  She held out a carrot in her small hand, and one of our horses, a fat dun gelding, walked up and gently plucked it out of her fingers. Hope scratched his forehead as he munched.

  “No one believes me that the president comes over sometimes,” she said. “So tonight I’m going to ask Nathan to come up to school to tell them himself!”

  I thought about Nathan. Even after our trip to visit him in the hospital, it still took some convincing to get him on the ballot. But he finally agreed and won by a landslide. And he was proving himself to be a remarkable president, in spite of his initial doubts.

  I smiled. “I think Nathan is a little busy running the country, Hope.”

  “Well, I’m going to ask him anyway,” she replied confidently.

  “You sure are stubborn,” I told her playfully.

  “Dad says I get it from you,” Hope said.

  I chuckled, thinking of how close Jace and Hope had gotten. I loved hearing her call him Dad. But I never wanted her to forget that there was someone else she was very similar to, from her strong-willed nature to her dark, curly hair.

  “You got it from your other dad, too,” I replied. We talked about Henry often.

  I pulled her against me in a one-armed hug. She smiled and hugged back, careful not to jostle my baby bump.

  “What else happened at school today?” I asked. “What did you learn about?”

  “We learned about the fall of the Burchard Regime today,” Hope said. “You were there, weren’t you?”

  I nodded and held a carrot out for the horses. Hope knew some of that story already.

  “Is it true that Burchard wasn’t even in Chanley?” Hope continued.

  “Well, he wasn’t really in power anymore. His executives held all the power,” I replied. “He was hiding out somewhere and enjoying his riches.”

  “And they caught him?” Hope asked.

  “They caught all of them,” I told her. “They were arrested or extradited back here to face trials for their crimes. Some of them got prison time, and some of them were pardoned.”

  Robert, specifically, had been pardoned. Because he had confessed and seemed genuinely remorseful, the jurors showed leniency.

  Not all of the Burchard executives had gotten so lucky.r />
  I remembered seeing the news coverage after Burchard had been captured. Team Hood was still living together back then, in the apartments outside of Chanley, and we had all stood around with tears flowing freely while we watched Burchard give a canned apology for his crimes before he started his life sentence. It was a watershed moment for the country. And we—a ragtag group of rogues, defectors, cavemen, and factory workers—had played a part in how things turned out.

  “But they didn’t catch all of them,” Hope said softly.

  I looked down at her as she fed another carrot to a fuzzy foal. I knew whom she was thinking of.

  “No,” I replied. “You’re right. Some were lost in the battle.”

  “What was she like?” Hope asked.

  I was taken aback by the question. Hope had queried for a couple of years, asking small questions here and there about Mavis. But she had never asked so directly before.

  She knew that she’d had an adoptive family for a while, and she knew that her adoptive mother had died, but she was still only six years old. She didn’t know the whole story yet, even if I was certain that one day it would have to be told.

  That day was not today. Not on her birthday.

  “Well,” I said. “I think that she loved you very much. But she was torn between what she loved most. And she chose the regime.”

  A span of silence fell between us.

  “Do you ever think of your adopted family?” Hope finally asked.

  I paused. I was simultaneously pained and optimistic about what had happened with the Sylvones. I found them through the public records, while we worked to reunite family members. Mrs. Sylvone couldn’t forgive me for what I had done. She told me not to contact her again. Some of my siblings felt the same way, which was even more painful for me. But some of them understood and were even grateful for the role I had played in Little John that led to the end of the Burchard reign, and I was slowly rebuilding my relationship with those siblings.

  It was that way for most of the country. We were all trying to find out where we stood in this new era and who we really were. It would take decades to heal all of the rifts that Burchard had caused.

  But it was worth it.

  “I do,” I told Hope, wrapping up my thoughts succinctly. “And sometimes I miss them, too.”

  Hope went quiet again, and we stood together at the paddocks as I tried to think of something else to say.

  Then, Hope piped up, “You said we were feeding all of the animals.”

  I stuck my hand into the sack and pulled out a parcel wrapped up with butcher’s twine. Hope smiled.

  We walked past the paddock to the edge of the thick woods that our yard spilled into, where I started to untie the parchment-paper-wrapped package. Once we reached the edge of the woods, we stopped. Birdsong drifted gently out from the trees, and squirrels flitted about the uppermost branches of the pines.

  “So what else did you learn about today, honey?” I continued.

  “Well, I asked my teacher if we would learn more about the CRAS. But she said not until we’re older,” Hope answered.

  I nodded as she spoke.

  “But you’d tell me about it now, right?” Hope asked.

  “I’d tell you about most everything,” I replied. “But your teacher is right. Some of those things are best explained when you’re a little older.”

  The CRAS, Burchard, and Operation Guidance . . . those were dark times for the country. And I was glad that the truth was finally being taught in schools, so that we could learn from our mistakes and never elect another tyrant again. But Hope was too young to know about all of it yet.

  I wanted to protect her innocence while I still could.

  Hope made a discontented little grunt but then seemed to forget about it quickly.

  “When will they come?” she asked as she looked out into the woods.

  “I’m sure they know we’re here by now. But they don’t operate on our schedule. They’re free and they’re wild,” I told her.

  “Like us,” Hope mused.

  I looked over at her and smiled. And then a tiny twig snapped somewhere within the woods, very close to us. Hope and I peered into the thickness of foliage until the first large wolf stepped gracefully out into the dappled light coming through the thick treetops.

  I pulled back the parchment paper to reveal several large cuts of meat. I handed one to Hope, and she quickly tossed it to the gray female wolf before us.

  “I think I’m going to call this one Shadow,” Hope said cheerfully.

  “That’s a good name,” I replied with a smile.

  Several more wolves stepped out before us to receive their share of the bounty.

  “You guys ready to come inside yet?” Jace suddenly asked behind us.

  “Shh, Dad!” Hope said. “You’ll scare the wolves!”

  The wolves simply stared up at Jace with unafraid eyes. They weren’t scared of anything. Hope was a lot like them in that way.

  “I think the wolves are more likely to scare your dad than the other way around,” I quipped.

  Jace walked up behind me and placed his large, comforting hand over my belly. We were having a boy, and we had already named him: Kory.

  “Well, if you’re ready, I want three of my favorite people to come inside for a special treat,” Jace said.

  I reached down and squeezed his hand as it rested over our son. It was still hard to imagine that we were about to be a family of four. But I couldn’t be happier about it.

  “Come on, Hope,” I said. “Let’s go inside. We need to get ready for company tonight.”

  Hope nodded and tossed the last of the meat to the wolves. They watched us for a few seconds before gracefully grabbing their food in their mouths and retreating back into the woods.

  We turned and walked back to the cottage together, Hope between Jace and me, holding our hands.

  “I hope Uncle Cloyd remembered that he said he was getting me a bike for my birthday!” Hope said as we walked.

  “Oh, I bet he remembered,” Jace replied, winking at me. “Besides, I need to teach you how to ride. I’m not too bad on a bike myself.”

  When we opened the front door, Juno and Rhea were inside with the cake.

  “Happy birthday!” we all said in unison.

  Hope’s eyes lit up when she saw the leaning, dripping cake being held up by Juno and Rhea. None of us were very good bakers. After all, we had spent the last few years as outlaws, refugees, prisoners, and soldiers. We were still getting used to this life of normalcy, safety, and family. And maybe we would spend the rest of our lives trying to figure it out.

  But Hope looked right past all of the flaws.

  “It’s beautiful!” she cried.

  And it was.

  * * *

  The End.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for following Robin through to the end of her journey. I truly hope you enjoyed the conclusion. I’m sure going to miss these characters, but at the same time, I’m happy with where I left them.

  I’m also excited about my next project, which is called A Love that Endures—my first ever contemporary romance novel (releasing April 29th 2019)! If you’re curious and would like to check it out—keep turning the pages. I’ve included an exclusive sneak peek of the first three chapters at the end of this ebook.

  A Love that Endures

  A Love that Endures: Chapter 1

  Chapter 1: David

  London, Embankment

  From the shadows of a stone underpass, a man stepped out into a yellowing pool of old-fashioned lamp light. He glanced down at the murky waters rushing beneath Westminster Bridge, then up at the slowly blackening night, and tightened his grip around the old wooden clock in his hands.

  A clap of thunder echoed across the sky, and David struck out along the pavement, his eyes fixed straight ahead. He had traveled this path so many times, his feet knew the way, from every bench and bin and every bump in the cement. He could have walked
there blindfolded. He stopped only once on his journey, when he passed a bus shelter scattered with discarded newspapers, to collect a few and tuck them within the folds of his coat.

  As he neared the end of his route, the familiar sight of makeshift homes emerged in an empty parking area—a dark swathe of cardboard, dim torchlight, and hunched figures. Cradling the clock to his chest, he vaulted the low wall surrounding the area and strode toward the far corner, where a group of four was huddled.

  “Whoa. It’s Clock Man.” A wiry, plastic-swaddled male rose from where he’d been crouched in front of a tin-foil firepit, his pale, grime-streaked face stretching into a broad grin.

  “Shut up,” David muttered, heading for the row of bushes behind the man.

  “Hey, isn’t that for me?” Charles asked as David passed, his ginger eyebrows raised in offense.

  “Not tonight,” David replied. “Didn’t you hear the thunder?” He placed the large clock on the ground and thrust his hands into one of the bushes, where he had hidden the materials for his own shelter.

  Charles groaned. “Don’t care, mate. When it’s this bloody cold, it’ll be worth burning even if we only get five minutes from it.”

  “Don’t be daft,” a coarse female voice reprimanded. “That thing’ll last us a few hours. We’re not risking ruining it in the rain! Here, hand it to me, David, love—I’ll keep it with me. My box is always dry.”

  “I’ll bet it is...” Charles replied.

  “Oh shut it.”

  David sighed as he turned back around, his arms loaded with materials. “Help yourself, then, Tina,” he addressed the thirty-something-year-old woman. He nodded at the clock, before proceeding toward the patch of empty ground next to Giles’s shelter. He was the third man in this corner of the carpark, and the neighbor David felt closest to in spite of their age difference.