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APRIL GLANCED SIDEWAYS at Lizzie. The older woman gripped the steering wheel with fuzzy mittens as she squinted past the thwack-thwack of the windshield wipers.
“Buckle your seatbelt, April. Safety first.”
She obediently secured the restraint. The irony wasn’t lost on her. Steven wasn’t safe. Not by a long shot.
“Tell me where to turn. We’ll start at the park and go door to door.” Lizzie’s sympathetic smile crinkled the corners of her eyes behind her granny glasses. “We’ll find Steven, don’t you worry. And we’ll get him over to the Legacy Center with time to spare, just like Dr. Pottinger explained. He’ll be fine.”
“Turn here.” She prayed Lizzie was right. The car swerved around the corner, the tires spinning before they caught traction. April grabbed the door to steady herself, admitting that more than the car was out of control.
The day had gone south so quickly. Dr. Pottinger’s horrible revelation. The blood. Steven lost. At least he’d eaten before he left the house. After she had poured orange juice into the dog’s bowl—the silly dog loved the stuff—Steven sipped his own juice. He rocked, shared dry cereal with the dog, and she called Lizzie to clean up the mess.
Oh God, what a mess.
She watched Lizzie, comforted by her confidence and care. Not like her own mother, for whom appearance ranked highest of all. September had not been able to handle the pressure, and fled to Chicago to escape Mom’s unrealistic expectations. But April had stayed and not only met them, but exceeded them. The divorce from Doug had been a setback, but she’d make it up to Mom—and it would be worth the heartache—once Steven was cured.
“Thanks for sending help. I didn’t know who else to call this morning.” April rubbed her bare hands against her coat. They still felt sticky from the blood, although she’d scrubbed for what seemed like hours.
Lizzie shifted the car into a lower gear. “Tragic, just a tragic loss, but there’s no going back.” She smiled. “The children come first, right? Can’t let such an unfortunate accident derail our plans.”
Yes, it was an accident. “I can’t lose Steven now. He’s come so far. Did I tell you, this morning he called me ‘Mommy?’” Her heart swelled at that first-ever experience.
Lizzie beamed. “Honey, that’s marvelous.” Her mittened hand squeezed April’s with encouragement. “See, didn’t I tell you? Steven will be the child he was born to be. Just trust me, stay on track.” She polished fog from the window that the defroster hadn’t yet cleared.
April shivered, remembering the morning’s heated revelations. “That wasn’t true, was it? What Dr. Pottinger said? Steven will be okay if his medicine is a little late. He was exaggerating for effect.” Steven had already been off his meds for nearly a day, but Lizzie didn’t need to know that. It could have been the argument, not the missed medicine that triggered his stimming.
But Lizzie’s tone was stern. “Dear, there’s no fudge factor in the twenty-four hours.”
“Nobody told me it mattered that much.” April couldn’t hide her resentment. She should have been told. Now they just had to find Steven. He couldn’t have gone far. She rubbed clear a spot on her own window, and watched for the splash of yellow of his coat.
Lizzie shifted the car as they climbed a gentle but slick incline. “Dr. Pottinger cared deeply about you and Steven. He didn’t want any back-sliding. That can get ugly, as you discovered.” She sighed. “But Pottinger got ahead of himself. The Rebirth Gathering is the right time and place for explanations and persuasions and a careful glimpse into consequences. We’ve revised the program, so such things won’t happen again. But he took matters into his own hands sharing the flash drive. And you can see what it got him.”
April stared out the window. It wasn’t fair. September didn’t need the money. She didn’t have a child that needed special care. She ran away from her mistakes. September had only come home to Heartland to hide from her past.
Not like April, who dealt with problems head-on; dealt with September’s troubles, too, and transformed what could have been a tragedy into joy. By God, she’d do the same with Steven’s treatment. But this time it was September’s turn to be the grown up. Funding Steven’s treatment was only a start.
Lizzie adjusted the heater. “Any further thoughts on the whereabouts of the flash drive?”
“Maybe it’s in Dr. Pottinger’s car?”
“Gerald looked. He’s very thorough, you know.” Lizzie turned on her headlights and set the low beams to help see through the thick snow. “Didn’t you say Steven was with his babysitter when he got lost? Where were you?”
“My office.” April rubbed her face when she caught a glimpse of her reflection. She needed a total do-over. “I had to change clothes. I couldn’t leave those dirty ones in my house, and I keep fresh clothes at work.” Burn them, yes, that’s what she’d do. Once they found Steven she’d clean up the loose ends. “I told September I had to change the answering machine, and leave a note for clients.”
“Well now, that’s good to know. I’m sure September will check your office, just in case the flash drive found its way there. Besides, there’s still the issue of that email, am I right?”
“Sorry.” She emailed everything to herself at work, where she kept all important records. “I can delete it once the Internet server comes back up. Or September can, from my laptop at work. I can call her—”
“The information on that flash drive is proprietary. Only other parents understand. Critics will say what happened today was Steven’s fault.” She focused on the road “We know different, don’t we?”
She’d only been out of the room for thirty seconds. “It’s my fault. I’m his mother. But it was an accident.” He was a little boy. Steven had no notion of consequences.
Lizzie smiled. “Outsiders could shut down the program. September is still an outsider. Do you really think she’d understand?” She took off her glasses and polished them with a mitten. “It’s vital we recover that information.”
“Don’t worry. September doesn’t have to understand.” She smiled grimly. “She owes me.”
“That’s a relief, because the price for Steven’s Rebirth Gathering just went up.”
“What?” April’s stomach flip-flopped. “I said that I’ll get my sister to pay—”
“Money doesn’t matter. The whole program goes away if that flash drive falls into unsympathetic hands. So Steven’s treatment only happens if September returns the flash drive—without looking at what’s on it.” Lizzie adjusted the glasses back onto her button nose. “It’s not just about your son. All those other children need the treatment, too.”
Her mouth suddenly dry, April understood that if Steven’s cure went away she’d lose her little boy all over again. It was all in September’s hands, a woman who had spent her fortune on a fairytale fortress against a boogeyman left behind in Chicago.
“For now, just worry about Steven.” Lizzie’s tone became soothing. “You’ve done a good job with him, April. A mother’s love is a beautiful thing.”
April squared her shoulders. She was a good mother. The best. She’d fought Doug’s notions, and when he’d balked, she had enlisted Mom and even persuaded September to help Steven become all he was meant to be.
Yes, she’d let September worry about the flash drive. She’d take care of Steven, the way she’d always taken care of him. “There.” April pointed up ahead. “That’s Gentry Park. We can start with the houses on the same side of the street.” Maybe Steven’s safe and warm in somebody’s house. Her knuckles whitened on the car door handle, eager to begin the search.
“Great, you run up to the door and check. I’ve got to make a call.” Lizzie pulled the car next to the curb in front of the first house, and April unbuckled her seatbelt.
Two blocks away, the yellow HART-line bus backed off the curb, and drove away.
