Unknown (The Secret Life of Cassie Martin #1)(29)

“Oh, my God! There’s no way!” I’m talking to myself out loud. The boys talk over themselves asking what’s wrong. “I didn’t end up staying with that family much longer. I complained enough about their treatment, so I was moved back to the orphanage for a short time. I was one of the few girls there at the time. They don’t like to keep kids there. Most of the time they have foster families available, but not for me.” I can’t believe I didn’t think about all this before, now.

“Anyway, I did the same thing there I did at the house. I spent time at the school, park, and Rec Center. I was paranoid about where I walked, though, because I didn’t want anyone to grab me again. One rainy day, I ended up back in the dorm room. I was by myself in there, doing my homework, when I heard a noise. Because of my paranoia, which I still have today, I ran into the bathroom. There was a window I could climb out of in there. After the man grabbed me, I made sure I always knew how to escape.” I shake a little, remembering the noises.

Jay and Parker each take one of my hands as I continue. “Even though I was scared, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overreacting. I poked my head out of the bathroom quickly and saw two men I didn’t recognize. They were going to each room and checking them. I ran back into the bathroom and climbed out the window. I hid in the closest tree until I saw some of the caretakers return.”

“Did you say anything to anyone?” Lucca asks me. He’s been so quiet I almost forgot he was over there.

“No. I just thought it was my paranoia. It’s not normal to see people that don’t belong in there. I’m only remembering it now because I told you the story of the man I bit. Do you think he was talking about those men?” I worry I might have missed something, which I don’t normally do.

“I doubt it,” Noah says. “Do you remember anyone else trying to get you? I think the man was just trying to scare you into running back to him.”

“Maybe. I guess we’ll never know.” I sigh, trying not to worry about things I can’t change now.

“Okay, who’s next? I have to go sit over there now.” I climb over Parker and our hammock almost tips over before I stumble free and run over to the other one that holds Lucca and Noah.

“I’ll go,” Lucca says. He seems pretty quiet.

His story is going to make me cry, too. As I snuggle between Noah and Lucca, the hammock swings gently.

Lucca drags his hand across the grass as he starts. “After my parents retired from their first professions, they both started their own companies. I was four and rarely saw them. We lived in Naples in a beautiful home on the coast. I used to walk down by the Tyrrhenian Sea daily. No one paid much attention to me because I was so quiet.

“We had nannies and maids, cooks and gardeners, but everyone assumed I was with someone else. By the time I was five, I had become creative about where I went and what I would do. There was an old widower who lived near us, and I used to go over there several times a week to help him with his garden, lawn, and any other tasks he needed help doing.”

He smiles as he remembers the old man. “I was curious about everything. He was patient with me and would explain each thing. One day when I was over there, his lawn mower stopped working. He and I sat on the ground with the lawn mower tilted on its side trying to figure out how to fix it. He wouldn’t let me touch it, though, because he didn’t want me to cut my hand on one of the blades. He tinkered with several things, but nothing worked. He left to go get some tools from inside his garage. While he was gone, I played with a few things that looked wrong to me, then I turned the lawn mower upright, pulled the cord, and it started. The man came running out to see I had fixed the mower for him.”

Lucca’s eyes unfocus as if he’s seeing the story unfold before him. “The old man was so excited by what I’d done without him that he started showing me how to fix other things. We would change the oil and tires on his car. We built cabinets for his kitchen. When his water heater went out, I helped him change it. I felt there was nothing I couldn’t do when I was with him.

“I spent every day for the next year at his house. No one at home even realized I wasn’t around. As long as I showed up for dinner, no one thought anything about it. That winter, we spent two months at my maternal grandmother’s home in Brazil. She played with me while we were there. She showed me how to cook. I fixed her sewing machine for her, and she made me some clothes. She told me I could be a model like my madre.”

He still smiles, so this was a happy time. I hope it stays that way.

“When we went home to Naples, I went the next day to see the old man. I knocked and there was no one home. I went every day, and still, no one was home. His grass started getting long and weeds were taking over his garden. I straightened everything up for him. The old man wouldn’t like his yard overgrown. After about two weeks, there was still no sign of him, but another man showed up. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him the old man who lived there was my friend and wouldn’t like his yard to become ugly. The other man started to cry and said, ‘I’m sorry, son, but my father passed away. He was very ill. He talked about you a lot, though. He said you were a good helper. I can see that was true.’ I cried because I lost the only friend that I ever had.”

Lucca eyes well up with tears. “I went home and tried to tell my padre what happened, but he just patted me on the head and said he was sorry. I felt even more alone then I had before.”