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Maddie could only do things in Maddie’s time. Regardless of how pressured the rest of them felt. Or how serious the emergency.
Maddie’s mind only worked so fast.
“Darin has been watching the roads every day when Grant drives him and he said he knew how to get us to the beach so we could build another sand castle like we did on our first date. And so we did.”
Her pulse thrumming, Lynn exchanged a glance with Darin.
“You two made it to the beach and back.”
“Yes, Lynn, and I’m sorry. I didn’t follow the rules and now I might have to leave here and…” Her voice broke.
“You won’t have to leave, Maddie,” Lynn assured the other woman. She’d take Maddie into her own home and hire a nursemaid if the need arose, but Maddie wasn’t going to lose her home or her family.
She also knew Lila well enough to know that she would not require Maddie to resign her position, although there would be some kind of accountability for having broken the rules.
Grant made a quick turn and another, sending her sideways in her seat as he took a back route to the beach.
“Well, if I do have to move I’ll still save Darin and Kara,” Maddie said now, her voice thick with tears. “Darin said anytime either of us gets in trouble, we should have a safe place to go and he said the place we built the sand castle wasn’t safe because it’s out in the open. He says our safe place would be where we can build sand castles and not be out in the open, and I think he went there.”
“And I know where that is?”
“Uh-huh.”
She tried to be patient, but blurted, “Where is it, Maddie?” managing to keep her tone soft, at least.
“Do you remember when we went on our date and went to the beach and Darin and I built that sand castle and then we got scared because we couldn’t find you to show it to you?”
Grant turned again. And was pulling into the public lot he’d parked in that night.
She looked all around her, hopeful. And saw nothing except an expanse of beach and massive waves that were strong enough to wash a three-year-old out to sea in the space of a blink.
“Yes, I remember,” she said, afraid they’d just wasted more precious time on a goose chase.
“Well, Darin and I said our special place is where you and Grant came from when we found you. Because that was our safe time. You found us because it wasn’t out in the open.”
“The little cove?” she asked, remembering the cliff face jutting out onto the beach. The cove where Grant had first kissed her.
“Yes, Lynn, that’s where they are. I just know it.”
They were out of the truck, striding across the sand. Lynn cursed the thick substance that squished when she walked and slowed them down.
“Have you talked to Darin, Maddie?” she asked.
“No, Lynn. He doesn’t answer his phone.”
Promising Maddie that she would call her back soon and reassuring her that she was very proud of her for telling the truth, Lynn rang off with an “I love you” that came straight from her heart.
Maddie was challenged. And sometimes challenging, but Lynn loved her dearly.
And she understood the pained expression on Grant’s face as they sprayed sand behind them with the swiftness of their gait.
Just as she loved Maddie and Kara, Grant loved his brother.
Would they find them?
And if they did, would they be alive? Uninjured?
She took his hand as they drew near to the cove.
He held on.
And as they rounded the corner, they started to run.
Up ahead, protected by a giant cliff face, sat a tall man and a very small girl, side by side in the sand, their expressions serious as they built the most magnificent sand castle Lynn had ever seen.
* * *
“I’M SORRY, GRANT. I left.”
Taking one hand off the wheel of the truck, Grant gave his brother’s shoulder a squeeze. “You don’t owe anyone an apology, Darin,” he said, swallowing back the emotion he’d been hard-pressed to contain during the long, grueling hours they’d just passed. First, finding out that his brother was missing, then Kara; the helplessness of not being able to do anything; the frantic search.
And finally, spotting Darin and Kara on the beach, calling out to Darin and hearing his brother’s voice say, quite calmly, “See, little Kara, I told you that if we built a very big castle, they would come to see it and take us home. I told you the bad man couldn’t get us here.”
