—TWENTY-FOUR—

 

It wasn't an hour later that Deputy Collins ushered the family into Sheriff Montgomery's office, arranging them in the small space carefully. The Sheriff was nowhere in sight so Ren could only assume, hopefully, this was a safety precaution and they were bringing Anita in. Though they'd displayed an exponential amount of restraint, she was certain the Baylors were not the type to let themselves be done wrong, especially this badly, without a little bit of bad blood.

She could hear a commotion in the hallway outside and winced, causing Dane to tighten his grip on her hand.

"They must have them, sugar. They're just fine."

Banks entered his office not long after, removed his hat and took up a spot not behind the desk but sitting on the edge of it.

"We've got them..." His face clearly showed he had some conflict.

"Can we see them?" Ren's heart thundered in her chest with anticipation. All she really needed to do was lay her hands on her sister and make sure she was okay physically. Any mental damage her mother had done to her could be repaired later.

"Of course. But I need you to stay, Ren, afterward. We need to have a talk."

Ren could hardly think straight, but Dane nodded to his friend and helped her to her feet. The family filed out of the office to find Kerri in the hall with Gage clinging tightly to her hand.

"Ren!" Kerri's voice broke in a sob as the pair of them ran toward her. She pulled Kerri into her arms tightly and Gage wound his arms around her leg tearfully. The Baylor family moved in on them, surrounding them in a tight, loving circle. Moving from one to the other, Ren pushed first Kerri's, then Gage's hair back from their faces and gave each one a kiss before Dane swept Gage up into one arm and drew Kerri and Ren into the other. Relief, the rush of tension leaving her heart, left Ren feeling weak and she was glad to have the little family they had become over the summer so close to her.

"You guys are okay? You're all in one piece?" Ren was breathless with gratitude to see they seemed generally unharmed. Kerri swallowed tears and nodded solemnly before Ren crushed her against her chest again, her lips close to her sister's ears. "Did she say anything to you? Did she hurt you? Did she hurt Gage?"

Kerri shook her head.

"She told us she was taking us on a trip. Gage wasn't even scared until the cops showed up. She yelled a lot, then. I...I'm sorry, Ren. I thought it was a boy texting me and he was gonna come over and visit."

"It's okay, Kerri. It doesn't matter." Ren didn't even know how to begin to probe for the emotional scarring her mother could have inflicted. She could deal with that later. For now, holding her sister in her arms was the sweetest thing she'd felt. "I'm so sorry. I will find a way to make sure this can never happen again."

Banks stood back for about ten minutes, giving them some time to reconnect before he summoned Ren again. When Dane tried to follow, he shook his head at his friend, suggesting instead that Dane get everyone organized to head home. There would be child protective services and psychological exams to deal with, he told them, but they could wait until the family had a chance to absorb the children back into their unit.

Sitting again on the edge of his desk, Ren looked up at Banks Montgomery and wondered if he ever sat behind it. He was a personable enough man and Dane and the Baylors trusted him so she felt she could, too.

"Ren, we can detain your mother for the abduction of Gage Baylor, but...there is an issue of custody here that we need to address."

Ren's heart dropped nearly to her toes. She had known this day would come—when someone would question why her sister, a minor, lived with her when she didn't have legal custody. Kerri had been moved around enough that the schools didn't question when Ren signed homework or attended parent teacher interviews in the lieu of their 'very busy, entrepreneurial mother'. In the beginning, she had feared if she didn't move quickly enough, spiriting Kerri away, her sister would slip through the cracks into the broken foster system if the abuse was reported and she sought custody. Not that she would have ever been able to afford the lawyers and advisers necessary. Not that she could now.

She anxiously twisted her hands in her lap, considering her next words. She had to be careful.

"What did she tell you?"

"She told me you kidnapped Kerri four years ago and she's been searching for you ever since."

None of that was a lie. It was hard to say if her mother was in her right mind or not, considering that she'd not only taken Kerri, but a second child she didn't even know from the Baylor ranch. Anita had cut straight to the bone here.

Ren wished then that Dane had been allowed to come into the office with her. She'd been strong for four damn years and now he'd made her need him. She'd given him some of her heavy burden to bear but suddenly she was on her own again.

"I did take her."

"Why?"

Ren's jaw tightened, her eyes dropping. She'd always told the truth to the law, that was how her daddy had raised her—that truth was the most important thing. She'd lied by omission more than a couple times since she'd taken Kerri and she'd fudged the truth when it came to schools and work experience by necessity but when it mattered, she told the truth. But here, the truth hurt. It meant opening up wounds that wouldn't only be visible to someone she didn't know, but they would be investigated, probed, ripped open wider than they were before. Nonetheless, she opted for the truth.

"She was hurting my sister, like she hurt me for years."

Banks raised a brow, inclining his head toward Ren. This was a new development for him.

"Is there any record of abuse?"

Ren shook her head resolutely. There were a lot of reasons she hadn't told, ranging from worrying about foster care to not wanting anyone's pity.

Crossing his arms over his chest, the sheriff leaned back on his desk and let out a tight, pent up breath.

"That would have made this whole process a hell of a lot easier."

"I was always afraid we'd end up in a group home or the foster system..." Ren shrugged. She felt like a helium balloon with most of the air let out of it, floating just inches off the floor, but much too weak to maintain equilibrium.

"That's often the way. Fear. And it's a damn shame." He rose, moving toward the door. "For now, Anita said Kerri can stay with you. It is likely, because of everything with Gage, she will be incarcerated for a period of time...but technically, she still has legal custody of your sister, Ren. I think you would be wise to lawyer up. Right now. Or this will happen again, and I don't think anybody here wants that to happen."

Ren could barely contain the wash of relief that came over her when Banks finally walked past her and opened the door, signaling she could go. Dane stood just outside of the door, as if he'd been poised there the whole time, waiting for her.

He drew her up in his arms as if the fact that they had been apart had been the only thing that had mattered. His lips against her hair comforted her. She was exhausted, as if she'd run a marathon.

"I need a lawyer..."

"I know," he murmured fiercely. "But let's get you home, first."

*

Even Dane had to admit the short drive home from the station was agonizing. He drove as quickly as he dared, his hand resting on Ren's knee as a gesture of support, moving it only to shift gears. His mind darted over the day's events and compiled a list of things yet to be done; the sun was setting quickly. He'd need to call the family's lawyer right away, and he was sure, since Finn and Noah had both been at the sheriff's office with him all afternoon, the chores were yet to be done. But most of all, he wanted to get them both back to the ranch so he could put the girls and Gage together in his arms again. This was his family. He hadn't felt so complete in ages.

Beside him, Ren was almost catatonic. He could hardly stand it.

"What's on your mind, sugar?" He knew it was the wrong question as soon as it crossed his lips. What wasn't on her mind? It was a loaded question at best, cruel at worst. He had no idea what they'd talked about in Banks' office, but he suspected it was what had sapped the life right out of her eyes.

Ren pursed her lips, her hands resting twisted up in her lap. Her body so still it was unnerving, as if her whole being was in physical pain and moving would be excruciating.

"I need to talk to her."

"Kerri?"

"Anita."

"Do you think…"

"I need to know why. Why would she want Kerri so badly now when I caught her trying to kill her four years ago? If she hated us so much, how sadistic is she to follow us for the last four years instead of just saying good riddance and being thankful she didn't have to give two shits about us anymore? She doesn't want to be Kerri's mother and she hasn't been mine for a long time so what the hell is wrong with her?"

Dane couldn't answer that question, couldn't even begin to understand what would drive Anita to follow the girls across the country if she hated them so much after Ren's father had passed away. He didn't understand families harbored ill will against one another, held grudges and intentionally harmed others to whom they were tied by blood—but then, he'd never been a part of a family like that. The Baylors were a tight-knit clan that worked together as much like a community as a family. When one needed help, the rest rallied around them without question, knowing if the roles reversed, the same would be done for them. He wanted Ren to feel that support structure, alien as it was. She needed his family just as badly as he needed her.

He was quiet for a moment, gave her knee a squeeze.

"I don't know, Ren. I suspect she's the only one who knows any of that stuff. I'll talk to Banks and see if we can make it happen. I suppose you're her next of kin so that may grant you some visiting rights." He could feel Ren's body relax minutely under his hand and breathed a prayer of thanks. They had a long battle ahead of them no matter which way you sliced it, but she'd been wound tight as a spring and it was late—they both needed some sleep.

Pulling into the drive, Dane could see both the house and barn were lit up in the waning daylight. His father's pickup and Noah's Jeep both added to the collection of vehicles in the yard. The family had activated just the way he thought they would, circling the wagons to help and support those in need. He hoped Ren would learn to accept the help that was sure to come.

*

When she'd found the kids missing, Ren's first instinct was to track Kerri down, hit the road running and not look back with her sister in tow. When it came down to fight or flight for the last four years, she'd picked flight every time. It was old habit. With Dane's warm hand closed around her knee, his steady presence riding in the driver's seat next to her, she had made up her mind that she could fight—with him beside her, she knew she could try.

As they pulled up to the big house, she could see Kerri on the front steps, in the same shorts and tee she'd been wearing this morning. Rex was pacing around her feet and much to his dismay, Kerri was ignoring him. She was anxiously jiggling her legs and got to her feet the second Dane put the car in park, racing across the yard to hug her sister again.

"Are you okay?" Kerri's voice was frantic.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Ren could almost feel a laugh rise up in her and she again held her sister at arm's length and did another quick inventory that all of her parts were there.

"When the sheriff kept you, I thought they were going to put you in jail, too. I would have been all alone."

Dane put a hand on Ren's shoulder.

"We aren't going to let that happen."

Ren hoped he was telling the truth, because that was the story she was going with. She hated to tell Kerri everything would be okay when it wouldn't; she had always been straight with her sister and she didn't want to stop now.

"No, we're not going to let it happen. We'll get things straightened out tomorrow, I promise. Did you eat anything?" She turned the younger girl back toward the house.

"Ella is making spaghetti."

"Sounds good to me."

*

Several hours later, with Kerri and Gage in bed and their bellies full, Ren and Dane sat across from Ella Baylor in the big house's living room. Noah and Finn had returned to their own homes and Caine had gone back into town to secure the shop for the night. Ella and Caine would be spending the night at the ranch, she had told Ren, so everybody could breathe a little easier. Considering all the trouble Ren had brought them, she wondered why the older woman didn't just kick them to the curb. Maybe she was about to deliver the blow.

She sat close to Dane, nestled against his side like it was the most natural thing in the world. It felt the safest, that was for sure. They still hadn't addressed the relationship that had developed between them with his family and the Baylors seemed to understand it was probably the least important thing happening right now.

"Tell me." Ella's voice was gentle but firm, and made Ren think the quiet guidance she saw in Dane every day when he worked with the horses came from his mother. She wanted to tell Ella because it was the easiest, most right-feeling thing to do, not because the woman demanded it.

It took the better part of an hour for Ren to lay the whole story out, from her father's passing to their arrival in Three Rivers, and then Ella knew the rest, because she'd been a part of it. All but the part where Ren had fallen in love with Ella's son.

The older woman's eyes had glazed over with tears on more than one occasion, but she'd recomposed herself by the time the story ended up in the laundromat where Ren had seen Dane's ad looking for a homemaker. With a hand clasped to her throat, the matriarch of the Baylor family deferred to her eldest son.

"So you're calling the lawyer." It wasn't so much a question as a statement.

"First thing in the morning. And Myrna Pierce. I thought with her having worked with social services for so long, she might be able to give us a little extra insight to this custody thing."

"Neighbor and long-time friend," Ella advised Ren, recognizing her slightly confused expression.

"Any little bit helps," Ren nodded.

"The most important part in all of this is making sure this family," Ella's next gesture indicated the household, including Ren and Kerri, "stays together."