The Stillwater Girls(37)

“You said you would help us, but you’re forcing us to stay here.” Wren’s words are rushed as she pulls her sister to the door.

Dr. Corinne rises, but Sharon places a gentle grip on the doctor’s shoulders.

A moment later the girls run out the exam room door, disappearing down the hall. Up until now, it was easy to lose myself in the moment, to become a fly on the wall, a passive observer quietly trying to wrap my head around how this could’ve happened.

But I can’t let them get away.

They won’t survive out there on their own.

They need someone. Someone like me. Someone they can trust.

Then again, if they survived in the wilderness, maybe I’m not giving them enough credit.

“Wren, Sage,” I call as I trail behind them. “Please, wait.”

The girls squeeze between nurses and crash carts and portable computer stations and stop when they reach a door at the end of a hall that can only be accessed with a bar-coded badge. When they turn to face me, they’re breathless, with eyes like frightened, wild animals that’ve been cornered.

I keep my distance, placing my palms up. “It’s okay. I promise you’re safe here.”

Wren’s face is pinched, like she doubts me. “You said we’d be safe. You didn’t say we’d be kept here against our will.”

Pulling in a deep breath, I nod. I can’t begin to relate to how they’re feeling, but I can understand it, respect it.

“I know this is confusing to you,” I say, “but you need to trust that these people have your best interests in mind. They want to make sure you’re healthy and that you’re feeling well enough to answer the questions the police are going to ask so they can find your family. And once we get through that, they’ll find you a place to stay.”

“A place to stay?” Sage asks.

“It’s not like we can go home. He’ll find us there. And he’ll probably kill us after what we did,” Wren adds.

My heart gallops as I try to piece this together. “If someone wants to hurt you, he won’t hurt you if you’re here. There are guards here. And doctors and nurses. Locks on every door. Cameras.”

It sounds like I’m describing a prison, though I’m not even sure if these girls know what that is if they’ve never left the confines of their little house in the woods until now.

The girls’ silence almost makes me lose hope, but then Wren whispers into Sage’s ear before turning to me.

“Only one night?” Wren asks.

“Yes. And then we’re going to find you a place to stay,” I say, hoping I’m not overstepping my boundaries. I don’t know what the exact protocol is here.

“Where?” Wren asks.

“There are foster homes . . . places that volunteer to take in young people who need help,” I say. “How old are you?”

“I’m nineteen,” Wren says. “Sage is eighteen.”

I begin to say something, but I stop myself from expressing an ounce of disbelief at their ages. I thought they were young teenagers at the most, maybe fourteen or fifteen. I didn’t know they were adults.

Wincing, I massage my lips together, contemplating whether or not I should say something. It isn’t my job to let them know that they’re too old to be placed in a foster home . . . and even if the state makes an exception for Sage, more than likely they’ll be separated, and Wren will be on her own. With no help or resources, there’s a chance she would wind up in a homeless shelter somewhere.

“Everything okay?”

I turn to find Sharon standing halfway down the hall, just past the exam room.

“You ready to go back?” I ask the girls.

They take each other’s hand and start walking back, and I follow, a wild hair of an idea filling my mind.

I’m going to take them in.

Then they won’t have to be separated; they won’t have to meet yet another stranger or spend night after night sleeping on cots in youth and women’s shelters. After the trauma they’ve been through and the uphill battle they’re facing, this is the best solution for them. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I turned my back on them.

I’m happy to open my home to these sweet girls even if the timing isn’t exactly convenient given the current questionable state of my marriage.

Heading back into the room, I make a mental note to call Brant about this later. I can’t imagine he’ll be upset with me for doing the right thing.

And if he is?

It’s the least of my concerns.





CHAPTER 23

WREN

“Here you go.” Nicolette appears in the doorway of the room she’s just put us in, an armful of clothes and extra blankets in her arms. My sister has hardly moved from the edge of the large bed that sticks out from the wall by the giant window. Nicolette offered to give us each our own room with our own private bathroom, but I insisted that we stay together.

I haven’t told Sage this, but I’m just as scared as she is.

There’s a book Mama used to read to us when we were little. These kids walked through the back of this wardrobe and into this whole other land with all these mythical creatures and things and people they’d never seen before.

That’s what this is like, only this is real life, and there are no mythical creatures—only dozens of faces I’ve never seen, introducing themselves with names I’ll never remember and spouting out titles I’ve never heard of as if it makes them more trustworthy.