The Forgiven

by Amanda Stevens

  When Taryn spoke again, her voice was deeper, older. Stern. “Come on! I’ll take you to your mama, but we have to hurry. She needs you. She sent me to get you! Now, come on before it’s too late!”

  A whimper, then the little girl spoke again. “Mama’s hurt?”

  Her voice deepened. “Not if we hurry. Now, come on!”

  Naomi put her hand to her mouth.

  Taryn grew very still, sniffling.

  “Where are you now?” Naomi finally managed to ask.

  Taryn’s head lifted, as if she were looking around. “In a car.”

  The older voice said, “Keep down! Don’t let anyone see you! If the bad man sees you, he’ll follow us. He’ll find your mama and hurt her. You don’t want that, do you? Then stay down!”

  Naomi’s pulse thundered in her ears. “Who’s in the car with you?”

  “A stranger. Mama’s going to be so mad at me.” The child started to cry.

  Naomi fought back her own tears. She squeezed her eyes closed. “No, she won’t. She’ll understand. She will.”

  That seemed to calm Taryn. She fell silent again.

  After a moment, Naomi said, “Where are you now?”

  “In a house. I can hear the ocean. Mama took me to the beach once. I liked it then, but I don’t like it now. Mama’s not here. I’m cold and hungry and I’m scared. I want my mama.”

  “What is the stranger doing?”

  “She’s cutting my hair.” Taryn’s expression changed rapidly. Her voice deepened. “Hold still, now. Don’t move a muscle. I don’t want to slip and cut off your ear. ‘Course, that’s not half as painful as what the bad man will do to us if he finds us. That’s why we have to change the way you look, and why we can’t use your real name. You have to do exactly as I say.”

  Naomi moistened her lips. “Where are you now?”

  A pause. Taryn’s eyes moved rapidly. “Another house. It’s big. Pretty. But I don’t like it here, either.”

  Her voice changed, deepened, grew coaxing. “Your mama’s here somewhere. I know she is. We just have to find her. I know. Maybe she went outside. Why don’t you go look for her out there?”

  “It’s dark—” the little girl whispered.

  “You’re not afraid of the dark, are you? A big girl like you? Go on. I’ll turn on the light for you.”

  Silence.

  “What do you see?” Naomi prompted.

  Confusion flickered over Taryn’s features. “I see a big swimming pool. Mustn’t go over there. Mama says never to go near water without her.” Another pause. “I don’t like it out here. There something red and sticky all over the ground, like someone’s spilled Kool-Aid—” She broke off. Her chest heaved, and she started to breath very rapidly.

  “What is it?” Naomi asked in a whisper.

  “Someone’s in the pool—” Her face went rigid with fear, and she tried to cover her eyes. “Mama! Mama!”

  Naomi caught both her hands, tried to draw her into her arms, but the child fought her. “No! No! No!”

  “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” Naomi said desperately. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  The older voice grew agitated. “Stop that! You hear me? Stop that! He killed your mama, Sadie. Do you understand? That’s your mama in that pool. Come here and look. Look! That’s what the bad man did to her. See all that blood? He’ll do the same to you if you don’t stop that screaming!”

  Oh, God, Naomi thought. Oh, God, oh, God, oh God.

  “Listen to me! You’ve got to remember everything I told you. Your name is Taryn from now on. You have to remember that. Your mama’s dead, but I’m still here, and I’m going to protect you. I won’t let the bad man hurt you. I’m here and I’m never going to leave you.”

  Naomi closed her eyes briefly. The scenes in her head were so vivid it was like watching a movie. A terrible, terrible movie. “Where are you now?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Floating.”

  That tiny, frightened voice broke Naomi’s heart. She swallowed. “Floating?”

  “She wants me to sleep, but I’m floating instead.”

  “What do you see?”

  “I see me sleeping...except it’s not really me.” She looked puzzled. “It’s the girl she wants me to be. It’s Taryn. But I’m still here, too. I’ve found a place to hide where she can’t find me. Where no one can find me.”

  “Where?”

  She touched a fingertip to her temple. “In here.”

  A clap of thunder caused them both to jump, and Taryn glanced up, blinking, as if she’d suddenly just awakened.

  And then as lightning flashed, they both saw the woman at the window. Saw her lift the knife and start hacking at the French doors.

  Naomi grabbed Taryn’s hand. “Run!” She jerked the girl to her feet and shoved her toward the door. Taryn fumbled with the lock, then drew the door open, glancing back.

  “Go!” Naomi screamed. She turned back just as Louise swung a patio chair through the window. The glass shattered, and she reached inside to turn the latch.

  Naomi jerked up a lamp and threw it across the room. She missed, but Louise had to stop and duck. That was what Naomi wanted. To buy enough time for Taryn to get to safety.

  She grabbed up Taryn’s desk chair and used it as a shield as Louise lunged toward her. When the woman was close enough, Naomi thrust the chair between them, ramming into Louise with all her might. The momentum carried them back through the shattered French doors onto the balcony. The rain had slickened the surface, and Louise lost her footing. She fell into the railing, and Naomi heard the crack of splintering wood. Then the railing gave way, and Louise toppled backward.

  Gasping, half-sobbing, Naomi glanced over the railing. She couldn’t see Louise’s body below. It was possible the thick foliage beneath the balcony had broken her fall.

  And then Naomi saw something that froze her blood. In a flicker of lightning, she saw Taryn running toward the greenhouse.

  Oh, God, Naomi thought. Louise would see her in there!

  Naomi whirled and bolted inside. Within seconds, she was racing downstairs, then out the back door. Outside, the storm had unleashed a torrent of rain and broken tree limbs. Wiping rain from her face, Naomi rushed toward the greenhouse. Inside, she stood dripping, frantically looking around.

  “Taryn?” she called softly.

  No answer. Or at least, Naomi couldn’t hear her over the sound of rain against the glass and the boom of thunder outside.

  She finally found her in the back, crouched beneath a worktable, knees drawn up, arms around her legs. Naomi knelt and touched her arm. “Are you okay?”

  Taryn lifted her terrified gaze. “She’s found me.”

  “I know. We have to get out of here—”

  A draft of wind stole inside, and Naomi put her fingertip to her lips. Then she turned and moved silently away from Taryn.

  “I had to do it!” Louise called out. “Don’t you understand? Just come out and talk to me. Let me explain. Taryn? Where are you, honey?”

  Naomi eased her way toward the front of the greenhouse, using the hanging cages for cover.

  “There was nothing else I could do!” Louise said desperately. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. It was just a terrible accident, but no one was going to believe me. They would have sent me to prison...they would have killed me. Strapped me in a chair and sent so much electricity into my body, I would have caught on fire.”

  Naomi used the sound of Louise’s voice to guide her toward the woman.

  “Maybe if I just explain...maybe if I just tell you what happened, you’ll understand. Taryn? Are you listening? We came back early from the beach that day. Oh, not you. The other Taryn. The real Taryn. I told the police it was Aubree who came back early, but it was us. Aubree wanted to stay another night at the beach because she had someone coming to see her. I didn’t know, but I suspected it was Foley Boudreaux. I guess something went wrong. They must have had a fight because Aubree decided to come back that n
ight, too.”

  “When she got home, Taryn...the other Taryn...had already been in bed for hours. She’d been cranky all afternoon, and I was worn out, so I’d given her a little dose of the medicine I kept on hand to settle her down. After that, she went right to sleep. I took some, too, just to settle my nerves. And I had a drink. Just one, or maybe two. But no more than that. What was the harm? Taryn was asleep upstairs. Nobody else was around. I was always careful to never drink when anyone was around. Except for Taryn, of course, and she didn’t know. I guess I dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Aubree was shaking me awake. ‘Where’s Taryn?’ she yelled. I never saw her so mad.”

  “‘She’s in bed,’ I say. ‘Been asleep for hours.’”

  “‘No, she isn’t. I just looked in on her. She’s not anywhere upstairs. Get up and help me look for her!’”

  * * *

  LOUISE TRIED TO SHAKE OFF the lingering effects of her drug-induced lethargy, but she must have taken more than she meant to. She couldn’t seem to think.

  Aubree stared down at her angrily. “What’s the matter with you? Have you been drinking?”

  “No, I—”

  “You’ve taken something. Your eyes look strange. Louise, I swear, if anything has happened to Taryn while you lay passed out—” She broke off as she strode to the French doors that opened onto the patio and the pool beyond. Her back went stiff, and a low groan erupted from her lips. “No! Oh, God, no! Taryn! Taryn!”

  She ripped open the door and rushed onto the patio. Louise followed slowly behind her. “What is it—”

  Without even taking off her clothing, Aubree dove into the pool. It was only then that Louise saw what was floating on the bottom. Taryn...

  Aubree lifted the child from the pool and lay her on the deck. “Call 911!” she screamed. Frantically, she started CPR, but Louise, watching from above, knew it was hopeless. The child was dead. Had been for hours. There was no bringing her back.

  Aubree finally realized it, too. She glanced up and saw Louise standing exactly where she’d been moments before. “You did this!” she screamed. “You did this to her! You let this happen!”

  Louise took a step back. “No. It was an accident—”

  “You killed her! You killed her!” Aubree was beyond thinking, beyond rationalization. Louise could see that. Grief had left her half-crazed. She needed someone to blame, and she was blaming Louise.

  Fear rose inside Louise. Everyone would blame her. Aubree’s father. The police—

  Oh, God, the police—

  She would go to jail. They’d strap her in that chair! Her clothes would catch on fire and then her hair...

  Aubree rose and, like a wounded tiger, lunged at Louise. She stumbled backward, landing against a wrought-iron table. Her back exploded with pain, and when Aubree came at her again, Louise reacted instinctively. Her hand closed around a heavy urn planter on the table, and she swung it with all her might.

  * * *

  “THERE WAS BLOOD EVERYWHERE,” Louise said. She sounded very distressed. “I never saw so much blood. I knew she was dead, and I just stared down at her and all I could think was that she was the only person who’d ever been kind to me. The only person, other than her father, who had ever taken me in.”

  “But then I knew I had to think of myself. Aubree was gone. Taryn was gone. I couldn’t bring them back. I had to save myself. I had to figure out what to do.”

  “Then I remembered all the people who didn’t like Aubree. I figured, without Taryn’s body, they’d think a jilted lover had killed Aubree. Or a robber. It didn’t matter, so long as I covered my tracks.”

  “I called my brother, Ray, to come help me. The first thing he did was take Aubree’s sapphire ring off her finger, but I didn’t care. I just wanted him to tell me what to do. ‘We got to get rid of the kid,’ he said. So we wrapped Taryn’s body in a blanket and put her in my car. I had in mind just to bury her somewhere, but Ray said, ‘No, idiot, that won’t work. She’ll still be missing, and you’re the last one who saw her. You’ll still get blamed.’”

  “Then I remembered the other girl. The other twin, and I knew what I had to do. While Ray took care of Taryn, I went to get the other one.”

  If her daughter’s life hadn’t been in danger, Naomi would have gone after Louise right then. She would have attacked her just as Aubree had. She would have killed the woman for what she had done to both her daughters. Taryn and Sadie.

  “You want to know how I knew where to find you, Sadie?” Louise paused. “You’ve been wondering about that, too, haven’t you, Naomi? You see, I’m the one who talked Willa into giving one of your babies to Aubree. I was with her that night. We were driving to Memphis when she went into labor. I knew we could never make it that far, but she wouldn’t hear of us turning back. She said she didn’t want to be in town when Alex got home. She wanted to make him worry about her. Make him suffer. ‘It’s just false labor, anyway. I’m not due for another couple of weeks,’ she said. But her contractions started coming so fast, and I thought of Willa. She was a nurse. She could help us.”

  “Then we got caught in those storms. I thought we were both going to die, but somehow we made it to the hospital. The place was in such an uproar, no one paid any attention to me. I just let myself fade into the woodwork. Then when Willa told me Aubree’s baby was dying, I said, ‘No, no, that’s not fair.’ Aubree had been too good to me. And I knew with a baby around, she’d need me. She wouldn’t turn me out.”

  “Willa said, ‘Yes, it is a shame. Especially when the other one has two healthy babies that she can’t take care of.’”

  “So we did it. We made the swap, and the first thing we did was make sure the twins were separated, so no one would figure out what we’d done. Willa arranged for Taryn to be sent to a Memphis hospital. The other one went to County hospital with you, Naomi. It all worked so well.”

  “But it ate at Willa. She became obsessed with you, Naomi. Followed you around everywhere, only you never knew it. I was always afraid she was going to go off the deep end and confess. When she died and I read about all that mess with the other little girl in the paper, I knew it was only a matter of time before you’d come here looking for your daughter. Only you thought it was the baby that was stolen from the hospital. You didn’t know it was Sadie.”

  Naomi could see her now. The woman was standing in the middle of the greenhouse, gazing around, the knife clutched in her hand.

  A clap of thunder rattled the glass panels, and sparks flew outside as lightning struck a nearby tree. The sound was like a gunshot, and then a tree branch fell against the roof of the greenhouse. The glass panels cracked against the weight, and Louise looked up. Her eyes widened.

  The glass was giving beneath the weight of the tree limb. As if in slow motion, the panel shattered, and heavy glass shards rained downward.

  Naomi was paralyzed for a moment, and then she felt herself knocked backward. She thought at first Louise had attacked her, but then she saw that it was Alex. He was lying on top of her, covering her body with his.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” he said. “The limb loosened the braces. The whole roof could collapse.”

  Naomi clutched at his arms as he pulled her up. “Taryn is still in here. She’s in the back—”

  “Get outside,” he said grimly. “Go! I’ll find her.”

  “Alex—”

  “Go!”

  “Louise—”

  But Louise wasn’t going to hurt anyone anymore. She had been directly under the path of the falling glass, and Naomi had to turn her head.

  She heard the other panels cracking, giving way. They wouldn’t hold much longer.

  And then she saw Alex, carrying Taryn. He hurried toward the door as the cracking grew louder. A panel dislodged behind them and crashed to the floor.

  “Hurry!” Naomi screamed. She opened the door and waited until Alex and Taryn had rushed through. Then she ran after them.

  Alex set Taryn down gently
and they all turned as the panels crashed downward one by one, a waterfall of shimmering glass.

  Naomi put her hand to her throat. So close, she thought. So close...

  Beside her, Taryn gave a little cry. “I remember now. I remember what happened. I’m not Taryn. My name is Sadie. My name is Sadie!” And then she collapsed sobbing in Naomi’s arms.

  Naomi held her close, held her as she had wanted to hold her for ten long years. “Sadie,” she whispered. “My Sadie Belle. It’s going to be okay. I love you, Sadie. I love you so, so much.”

  And then she saw Alex’s face. Saw the emotions flash across his features. Shock. Disbelief. Fear. And a terrible, terrible sadness.

  Without a word, he turned and walked back to the house alone.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  A week later, the remains that had been found in Grover County were positively identified as matching DNA with samples taken from Sadie’s.

  They laid Taryn to rest in a crypt next to Aubree’s. Naomi had first thought she wanted to return her child to Eden, but she’d never gotten the chance to know her daughter. Never held her in her arms, never rocked her through a long, sleepless night or nursed her through childhood illnesses. Aubree DeWitt had done that for Taryn. She’d been the only mother Taryn had ever known, and she’d loved her. It comforted Naomi to know that they were together.

  Yesterday, they’d driven to Eden, and Naomi had shown Alex where his and Aubree’s baby had been laid to rest.

  This morning, they’d had a memorial service for Taryn. Abby and Sam Burke had flown in from Virginia. Mary Ellison had driven down from Eden. Joseph Bellamy had come in alone, sat in the back and left alone.

  The past several days had been fraught with so much emotion, and Naomi was exhausted, but she was also at peace. She knew what had happened now and why, and she would always grieve for the baby she never knew, for the child whose life had been cut short, for the years she’d missed in both her daughter’s lives. But Sadie was home. After ten years, Sadie was finally home.

  It wasn’t going to be easy, she knew. Sadie would need therapy. She would need all the help and support Naomi could give her, but somehow they’d get through this. Somehow Sadie would be able to live a normal, happy life. Naomi would do anything to make that happen.