Page 70 of Rescued Faith

“He really loved her, huh?”

“We all did.” Her voice wobbled. “She was everything. The glue that held us together. She was amazing.”

“And your dad didn’t handle the loss well, I take it?”

“He just wasn’t there.” There was a sharp edge to her words. “Ever. When he was physically with us, he always seemed like he wanted to be somewhere else. I can’t tell you how many times we went to bed hungry because he was too out of it to realize we hadn’t had dinner or there was no food.”

“He didn’t feed you?”

“I think he was so wrapped up in his pain he simply forgot about those basic necessities. I understand it more now, but back then I didn’t. And I was an angry kid. Angry that my mom was gone. Angry that my dad didn’t seem to care about us girls. Angry that it was up to me most of the time to get what we needed.”

He kissed the top of her head, wishing with all his heart he could take away her pain. “So you stepped up and took care of your sisters. Are you the oldest?”

“No, I’m the middle sister. Libby is oldest. Tori is younger than me. But we pretty much raised ourselves.”

“So your dad didn’t know what to do with three grieving daughters.”

He almost felt bad for the guy.

“That’s one way of putting it. And it all came to a head that one night.”

“What happened?”

Penny scooted in closer to him. “I needed to make a papier-mâché project for school and needed flour. Dad kept saying he’d get it, then wouldn’t. Libby tried to tell me not to bother him, but he was supposed to be taking care of us, you know? So when he came home from work late…again without the flour, I went off on him. And he just looked at me and said, ‘Buck up, Pen. If you need something, go figure out how to get it yourself. Don’t ever depend on anyone else. Including me.’ So I did. I went next door to borrow some flour. I knocked on the door and thought I heard the old lady inside. She didn’t hear very well, so I walked into the house like I’d done before. In the kitchen, the basement door was open. I went downstairs, and there on the floor was the old lady. Dead. A couple of spiders crawling on her. I ran back up the stairs, but someone locked the door behind me. Later we found out the lady had been robbed by her own son. He’d pushed her down the stairs and locked me in with her.”

Bryce held her tighter. “You were trapped? With a dead body? How long until you were rescued?”

“Not until the next afternoon.”

“You were trappedall night?” He was ready to go toe to toe with Penny’s father himself until he remembered he’d already passed away. What kind of dad didn’t realize his daughter was missing all night?

“When I wasn’t there to get on the bus for school, Libby realized something had happened to me. She’s the one that called the police. They couldn’t get ahold of my father because, surprise, surprise, he’d lost his job and never told us, so theydidn’t know where to find him. They tried looking for me at school and other places. It wasn’t until they knocked on the old lady’s door to get the neighbors involved in the search that they finally heard my screaming and found me.”

“No wonder basements freak you out.”

“And spiders.”

“I’m so sorry. But we will get out of here. I promise.”

“I know.” She squeezed his arm.

“So can I ask…what did your dad do after all this?”

“CPS got involved. Threatened to take us away. Dad got his life back on track. Sorta. Found a job. He made sure we had food and clothing. But”—she lifted her chin and sat up, pulling away from Bryce a bit, almost as if in defiance—“that trust was broken. He was supposed to be there for us. Protect us. He didn’t even know I was gone. He was that…broken. And I decided then and there if that was what true love did to people, I didn’t want anything to do with it.”

Seeing that resolve in her big green eyes, it became clear. “Is that why you ran away from here last year?”

She scooted away further. “Bryce…you have to understand. Before Mom, my dad was a good man. I had no doubt when Mom was alive that he’d fight to the death for us, that he loved us, cared for us. And he was so fun. But when she died, he became a completely different person. Loving her destroyed the man I’d grown up with. And the last man I let myself get involved with wasn’t any better.”

“Are you still not over the Ashlee thing?”

“I’m not talking about you.”

So therehadbeen someone.

“What did he do?” And who was he? Bryce was ready to take him down.

“Someone I had no business falling for. He’s the reason I left the ATF.”

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