Page 122 of Truck Stop Tempest

I smiled, unable to contain my joy. “I found my mom.”

A rush of air blew my hair. His hands dropped to my hips, rendering me weightless before I landed on the hood of his car. “Baby. That’s…” He dropped his head. Laughed. Lifted his eyes to mine. “I know. I knew the whole time. I’m so proud of you.”

He knew. He’d kept tabs. I expected nothing less. “Thank you for not coming after me.”

“You have no idea how hard it was for me to stay here, waiting.”

I had a very good idea. Every day I was gone, I struggled not to hop in his car and hightail it back to Whisper Springs. “I needed to go alone, Tito. My mom and I…we needed that time.”

He nodded, eyes darting from my eyes to my lips, and back up again. “Is she okay? Are you okay?”

“I took her home, Tito. To her family. Her real family. I met them. Both of my grandparents are alive. They’re still married. They’re wonderful people. I have aunts and cousins. We cried a lot. Mom was overwhelmed. She’s going to stay. We found her a good doctor to help her work through all of this.”

He dropped his forehead to mine. “God. I could’ve helped, too.”

“I know. But my mom, she’s been through so much. Worse than I have. It would’ve been hard having you there. Having any man there.”

His chest rose and fell. “I want to hear everything. When you’re ready.”

“Erik’s parents took her from the hotel where she worked with her boyfriend.” A shiver tore through me. “My father.”

“Michael Foster,” he added. He’d read every file he could find on my mother’s disappearance. “Did you meet him?”

“No. But he knows we’re alive. He’s been in contact with the Feds, and he knows how to find me when he’s ready. He blames himself for what happened. Thinks he should’ve been there to protect her.”

“What happened? How’d they snatch her from a busy hotel?” Tito brushed soothing strokes up and down my arms.

“The day they checked out, Erik’s mother said she lost her wedding ring and asked if my mom could help her find it. Of course, Mom goes into their room to help. Next thing she knows, she wakes up in a strange bed in another state.”

“She must’ve been terrified.”

“They threatened her life, her parents. After I was born, they used me to keep her quiet. Said I’d suffer at the hands of every member of The Brotherhood if she ever tried to leave or told anyone who she was.”

Tito cleared his throat, his restraint evident in the tight set of his jaw. “Your mom isn’t the first girl they’d abducted, I suspect.”

I shook my head, my gut tightening. “Jonas’s mother was their first. She’d tried to leave. When they caught her, each male member of The Brotherhood was allowed to punish her however they saw fit. Then she disappeared.” I pinched my eyes shut, halting the tears. “Jeremy showed my mom pictures of what they’d done to Jonas’s mom. He reminded her every day of what would happen if she tried to leave.”

“So, your mom raised Jonas as her own.”

“They gave her no choice. Sixteen years old, forced to raise another woman’s child. Scared for her own life.”

I continued to fill Tito in on the past weeks. He listened. He wiped my tears when I cried. I clung to him, grateful for those solid arms.

“I’m sorry I stole your car,” I said, wiping the last tear with the back of my hand.

“You didn’t steal it. I gave you the keys, remember?” He flashed his playful grin. “Now, can we stop talking and get to the kissing?”

I hooked my fingers around his neck and pulled him down, meeting him halfway with a clumsy, hungry kiss. A kiss I felt from the roots of my hair to the tips of my toes.

“Toodaloo!” Rocky bellowed from the front door, interrupting our reunion. “You’re here. Did you see the swing?”

“Swing?” I pushed Tito away and stretched to see around his massive chest.

“Yeah!” Rocky took off at a sprint toward the beach, squealing, “I helped build it!”

I followed the little man’s trajectory. Sure enough, hanging from the willow tree was a simple, yet beautiful, handmade swing. Tito gripped my hips and buried his face in my neck. “I wasn’t done with the kissing.”

“Get off, you beast. There’s a swing!” I shoved a groaning Tito away and hopped down to run, my inner child breaking free.

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