“Just try,” Deana said. “It’s Diane’s,” she lilted. “God, I miss her. I think she could’ve cheered you up.”
“She could’ve,” Jim said with a short chuckle. His smile faded. “She’s with Tommy, now.”
We finished dinner, and I served dessert—just a simple yellow sheet cake with chocolate frosting. The kids made the few pieces that were left disappear.
The front door swung open. “Hi, Maddoxes!” Olive said, appearing at the mouth of the hallway with her bright smile. She had a new bronze tan from her trip, making her teeth appear whiter and her freckles blend in. Her hair was even blonder than before, and Falyn beamed the moment she set eyes on her.
“Olive!” Falyn said, rushing over to hug her tight. She held her out at arm’s length. “Holy crap, you look amazing. How was vacation?”
“It was good. Sort of sad. Mom acts like it’s our last one. I keep telling her we’ll have plenty, but she’s a wreck.” Olive pulled at the frayed edges of her shorts. She was wearing a white tank top and a flowing, short-sleeved kimono-esque top. We marveled at what a beautiful young woman she’d grown into. Woe to boys at Eastern who paid any attention to her—the Maddoxes would eat them for lunch. She’d already given up bringing home any boys to Trenton in high school. He was just too scary for any teenage boy to handle.
The twins and their wives had just finished cleaning off the table, and Jessica, James, and Ezra were nearly finished loading the dishwasher when everyone grew silent. The younger kids were just bugging us to play outside in the sprinkler when Wren began looking out the window and speaking in hushed tones into his earpiece.
“Keep the kids inside for now,” Wren said to Shepley.
I helped him herd the kids into the kitchen, away from any window facing the street.
“Has Trenton changed his mind?” Taylor asked, frowning. He checked his phone again, and then set it on the counter.
A car engine grew louder outside, and I pulled Eli and Emerson closer.
“I’ve been instructed to ask you all to remain calm,” Wren said. He glanced at Jessica and James. “We’ve got incoming.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Shepley asked.
“Travis and Liis are in the drive,” Wren said, irritated that he’d had to explain that much.
We all relaxed, waiting for a signal from Wren. None of us knew what was going on, but we were so used to being kept in the dark, it didn’t seem so abnormal anymore to wait for something to happen.
The front door opened, and Travis, Abby, and Liis walked in, followed by Agent Hyde and Val. The door closed, and the moment Travis stepped into the kitchen, he was apologizing.
“Just, please hear me out. This is going to be difficult, and at first, you won’t understand, but you will.”
“What’s going on, Trav—” Shepley began, and then Thomas stepped out from behind Agent Hyde.
A collective gasp filled the room.
Jim immediately began to whimper, and then he hobbled to his son, falling into Thomas’s arms. The kids began to wail, and Hollis ran over, hugging his Papa and Uncle Thomas. Ellie and Falyn both covered their mouths, their cheeks wet with tears.
“You lied?” Shepley cried, consoling his parents.
“Why?” Tyler choked out.
“I don’t care why,” Taylor said, rushing to hug his brother. Tyler did the same, and then we all crowded around Thomas, hugging him and sobbing.
The living room was quiet except for the hushed humming of the ceiling fan and the hiss of the sprinkler outside. We comforted the kids and promised to explain later, sending them upstairs to play. They were hesitant but knew the grown-ups needed to sort it all out.
Olive remained downstairs, standing in the corner bouncing a fussy Stella and patting her back. Falyn stood next to her, trying to help. The rest of us were either on the couch or in dining chairs pulled from the table. Everyone’s eyes were red and puffy from sobbing; Deana was still sniffing and pulling tissues from the box.
Thomas sat in a chair next to his dad, holding his hand. Jim was smiling; his relief permeated the room. The shock and relief from the others had faded, leaving the brothers confused and angry. Thomas looked prepared for anything, and I could tell he was sorry for the pain he’d caused before he’d ever said a word.
“You knew about this?” Shepley asked Travis.
“Yes,” Travis said.
“Who else?” Taylor asked.
“I knew,” Liis said.
The brothers’ faces contorted in anger.
Tyler’s face flashed red, one eye squinting. “You looked my dad straight in the eye, knowing his health, and told him his son had died?”
Liis nodded.
“She didn’t want to,” Travis said. “We didn’t have a choice. There were too many people who could possibly make a mistake, and we were being watched. Closely.”
“There had to be another way,” Ellie said.
“There wasn’t,” Thomas answered. He squeezed Jim’s hand. “I wish there was. I wish I didn’t have to miss the first month of Stella’s life, but we knew if we staged my death and Liis announced she wasn’t going to pursue the case, that coupled with Mick’s disappearance might cause them to back off.”
“You did all of this for a might?” Tyler fumed.
“We had to act quickly. Hitmen were on their way to my house. They had already run Travis off the road thinking it was Abby. We needed to buy time. Maybe if we had more time to form a better plan, we could have thought of something better. Maybe moved you all to a safe house, but we didn’t. They were in position to hit every one of you. Once they caught wind of my death, they backed off.”
“Why didn’t you fake Travis’s death?” I asked.
Abby shot me a look. “Because he killed the men that came after him and walked away in front of a crowd of people.”
“You knew about this, too, didn’t you?” I said, seething. I’d never been so angry at Abby before.
“Yes,” Thomas said. “And the agents we’ve been using for security and the director. That’s it. No one else.”
We all looked at one another, shaking our heads in disbelief. No one seemed sure how to feel—whether to be happy Thomas was alive or angry that they had put us through so much hell.