Missing Child (32 page)

‘Does that make your brother a victim, too?’ Noah asked.

‘No,’ said Caitlin. ‘I can’t say that.’

They sat silently for a moment.

‘Poor Em,’ said Noah with a heavy sigh. Caitlin had told him everything that Travis confided in her, but he was still having trouble coming to terms with it. ‘What a horror . . . to walk in on that. Her own father assaulting Travis.’ Noah shuddered. ‘She loved her Dad. She always liked to say that she was a “daddy’s girl.” What a shock it must have been to her. She must have felt . . . destroyed. It makes me sick just to think about it.’

‘But she was brave,’ Caitlin reminded him. ‘Emily did the right thing. She took Travis away from there. Travis told me that she was yelling at Westy, threatening to have him arrested. I really think it meant the world to Travis that she stood up for him that way.’

‘It cost her everything,’ said Noah gravely. ‘It cost Geordie his mother.’

It pained Caitlin to hear him say that, even though she knew it was true. Emily was Geordie’s mother, and her last act had been to try and save another child from a predator. Someday, Geordie would be proud when he heard that story. She would make sure that he heard it. That he understood what his mother had done. That she had defied her own father and tried to do what was right.

‘There’s the sign for arrivals,’ she said.

Noah took the left fork that led to the airport and they headed for the parking garage. They had talked to Geordie three times in the last two days as the flight home was arranged, and they promised to meet him.

‘Did you bring Bandit?’ Noah asked.

‘Of course,’ said Caitlin. ‘God, I’m so excited, I feel like a kid at Christmas!’

The arrivals terminal was almost empty. They made their way to the gate where the plane would be landing. Then, they sat and waited. The plane was scheduled to arrive on time, but every moment felt like an hour.

They were able to see it land, and taxi to the gate. It seemed to take forever. Finally, it was anchored to the flyway and the doors were opened.

‘Can’t we run down there and meet him?’ she asked.

‘I think we better wait here. It won’t be long now,’ he said.

‘When I think how afraid I have been,’ she said.

Noah shook his head. ‘I know. Sometimes I thought that I couldn’t get through another day of it,’ he said. They were speaking to one another and holding hands, but their gazes were riveted to the arrival door for the flight from San Juan.

All of a sudden there was movement at the door. A ticket agent went and opened it, and then they saw three people coming through the door. Two burly men in suits and one small boy between them.

What does your heart say? Caitlin thought. How do you greet the child of your heart whom you feared was lost forever? Geordie was wearing baggy shorts and a San Juan T-shirt, and his school backpack was on his back. His glasses were sliding down his nose. When he saw them, his face glowed with delight.

‘There’s my parents,’ he said to the men who flanked him.

One of them nodded and said, ‘OK.’

Then Geordie was running up the ramp, and Noah made it to the top of the ramp in two steps. He scooped the boy up in his arms and buried his face against Geordie’s shoulder. Geordie hugged him back, hard.

After a minute, he squirmed. ‘Put me down, Dad,’ he said.

Watching them, Caitlin felt suddenly weak. She knelt down on the carpet so she would be at his eye level. She held up the stuffed dog as he came toward her.

‘Bandit,’ Geordie cried and grinned, showing the spaces of his missing teeth. ‘I thought I lost him.’

Caitlin handed it to him and Geordie held the animal close. Then he looked into Caitlin’s eyes eagerly. ‘It was fun, Mom,’ he said. ‘The house was right on the beach. And they were so nice. Can I go again, sometime?’

‘We’ll see,’ she said softly, drinking in the sight of his face.

‘I missed you, though,’ he said gravely.

Caitlin put her arms around him gently, like he was a butterfly, alighting for a moment on a flower. His skin was tanned and smelled like bubble gum and soap. His little frame felt tender, breakable, in her arms. She closed her eyes and tried not to hold him too tight. ‘I missed you, too,’ she said.