Page 134 of I Am Salvation

But now more than ever, I am staying sober. For my sister. For my niece. For Diana.

Most of all?

For myself.

To be the person I was meant to be. Griffin has a second chance now, and so do I.

It’s nearly ten p.m. by the time we get back to Taos, but Griffin insists on going by the house she shared with Sir. She wants to get her belongings. Then she’ll stay at the hotel with Diana and me, and tomorrow morning, we’ll go see about getting Bridget back.

Diana and I go with Griffin into the house. It’s run-down, as I expected. Old papers scattered all over in messy stacks. It reminds me of that television show about hoarders.

Griffin scrapes a few things together into a reusable grocery bag. “This is all I need,” she says.

“What about some extra clothes?” Diana asks.

She bites her lip. “I don’t have any extra clothes. All he ever gave me was sweats.” She swallows. “Except for the lingerie, and I don’t want that.”

I hold back puke again as I glance into the bag. On top is a pair of pink flannel pajamas with rainbows. There’s a heart cut out of the fabric.

“You kept them,” I say.

“They’re the pajamas I was wearing the night he took me.” She frowns. “I’m not sure why there’s a heart shape cut out of them.”

“He sent that piece of heart-shaped fabric to me,” I tell her. “That’s how I knew he had you. Or at least that he knew something.”

She looks down at the bag. “I could never bear to part with them. They were the only thing that reminded me of where I came from.” Her face twists, and she wipes a tear from her cheek. “I feel bad, Dragon. All these years… Sometimes the memories get so blurry.”

“You were a kid,” I tell her. “Only five years old. It’s amazing that you have any memories at all.”

She meets my gaze, cracks a small smile. “I remember you. You and your drum. Honestly, I remember you more than I remember Mom and Dad. I remember you went away, and that I was so sad.”

I open my mouth to tell her what happened, but then I close it. I don’t need to lay anything more on her. It can wait for another day. She doesn’t need to know that our parents sent me away because they thought I was the one who hurt her.

“Do you want to see Mom?” I ask.

She scratches the side of her head. “I don’t know. Should I?”

“She’s a mess,” I say. “But I think it might help her to see you. But you don’t have to do that right away. You can get cleaned up, get some rest. We’ll get Bridget back. Get the two of you settled somewhere. You’ll have to talk to the cops again because we’re going to have to find Mack. He can’t get away with this.”

She squeezes her eyes shut, rubs her hands over her temples. “He got away with it, Dragon. We were here the whole time.”

“I’m sure Mom and Dad did everything they could to find you.”

Actually, I’m not sure at all, but I don’t want to say that to my sister.

“You think?”

I blink. “Probably. I’m sure there was an investigation. But Mom and Dad didn’t have a huge amount of money. I’m sure they did all they could with the resources they had.”

That seems to satisfy her for now.

“What about the dog?” she asks.

“He’s at a kennel with our mother’s dog,” I say. “I guess they’re our dogs now. Diana’s and mine.”

She cocks her head. “So you two are…”

Diana nods. “We are. And I’m so glad we found you.”

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