Page 102 of Sutton's Shadow

“Thank God. She’s still in the air.”

“Yeah, but she’s too low. Her engine is definitely in distress.”

He watched as she flew over him, getting lower until her wheels were kissing the treetops. The engine coughed, then nothing but silence. He kept his eye on her until she was too far away to see anymore, but not before he witnessed the trees ripping the wheels off. He hoped she was an expert pilot and knew how to land an aircraft on its belly.

“I’ve lost sight of her. It may take me a couple of hours to reach her.”

“Do it. Find her.”

“Copy.”

He hung up and threw his dinner into the brush before setting off in the direction he’d last seen the little plane. He’d do this favor for his friends, then get back to his solitude.

Wyattthrewhisarmaround Sutton’s shoulders and kissed the little beauty mark at her temple as she clapped for Logan and Finch. Nothing gave him more joy than watching her eyes light up as she laughed. The pure glee in the sound filled him with peace.

Bethany clapped on the other side of her, giggling with Lia and Kaitlyn. A sense of complete contentment swept through him. His little family was safe and whole. He had everything he wanted with his two girls sitting beside him.

He sent up a silent prayer to his friend, wanting to believe that Liam was smiling down on them. He figured as long as he kept the light shining on Sutton and banished any more shadows that threatened to creep back in, the lovable idiot would be happy. And that’s what he intended to do.

The shadows may have brought them together, but it was the light that would bind them for all time. He couldn’t hate the shadows, even if they had poisoned Sutton for far too long. Nothing had given him more joy than watching her emerge from those shadows. Like the dawn chased away the shadows of night, Sutton enfolded the light into her and dispelled the darkness.

A few weeks had passed since that scary day when he thought he’d lost both his girls forever. Since then, they’d seen the end of a child trafficking ring, spread the picture of Daniella, who was still unaccounted for, to all the major news outlets, and had passed the information about the missing girls to people who could help.

The teenager who’d attacked his girls, Melanie, was back in juvenile detention and undergoing intense therapy sessions. Bethany hoped it would help her, but Wyatt wasn’t convinced. Some people were born bad, but others, like Melanie, had the bad drilled into them starting at a young age. Only time would tell what would become of the girl who’d lived through far too much abuse in her young life.

Putting everything that happened behind them, he, Bethany, and Sutton had traveled to North Carolina to allow Sutton to finally say goodbye to Liam. On a balmy September day, as the warm breezes swept across the cemetery, the three of them had laughed and cried while sharing their favorite stories about his old friend. It had been just what Sutton needed to freely move on.

As was meeting with Liam’s parents. Sutton lived for years thinking they blamed her for his death when nothing could have been further from the truth. They embraced her as a daughter-in-law. More laughter and tears were shared.

By the time they’d left, Bethany had been adopted by a set of surrogate grandparents who were planning to visit Lake Haven for Thanksgiving. His little sister couldn’t wait to be spoiled by them further.

But the change in Sutton had been the best thing to come out of all the adversity. His pride in her for what she’d overcome knew no bounds. She was a wonder. Especially when he was shocked to discover she’d done the same for him. She brought light to the shadows he didn’t realize he carried. His lips tilted upward at the sentimentality of his thoughts. Love, apparently, made him sappy.

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his musings. Lucy, the little girl they’d once rescued when she and her brother went missing a few years ago, stood smiling behind him.

“Lucy,” Sutton said with a big smile for the little spitfire. “How are you?”

“You know each other?” Wyatt asked, surprised he didn’t know the pair were acquainted.

“We met one day at the beach, right, Lucy?”

“You were sad,” Lucy replied, then turned to him. “But you... you had lost your heart.”

Wyatt stared at the girl; his brows furrowed as he tried to understand her cryptic sentence.

Sutton, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what Lucy was talking about. “That’s right. You had captured it perfectly in the drawing you showed me.”

“It looks like your plan worked,” Lucy giggled. “Better than you expected from the way it looks. You’re no longer sad.”

Sutton laughed. “You are one smart cookie.”

“And you helped the Tin Man find his heart.” Lucy handed over a large piece of paper, then skipped away back to her parents’ table. Wyatt stared after her in bewilderment. That whole conversation was strange.

Sutton’s gasp pulled his attention back to her. She had her hand over her mouth and tears building in her eyes.

“Sutton?”

“Oh my God. It’s perfect. The Tin Man found his heart.”

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