Bred in the Bone (Widow's Island #4)(20)

Instant friends.

Samantha touched and hugged her son constantly. It’d started in the hospital once some shock had worn off. Mickey had appeared uncomfortable with his mother’s touch at first but quickly warmed to it.

“The commander wouldn’t let me touch him,” Sam had said. “He didn’t want me to baby him. Once he was a toddler, the commander moved him into the house with him, saying he’d make a man out of him. Now I can hug him and not worry about being punished,” she’d said with wonder. “He also had Mickey call him Commander and treated him like a servant or soldier, not a son. He didn’t give him any affection, but Mickey didn’t know any better. He figured everyone’s life was like that.”

Either Cate or Tessa had spent every night with Samantha since she’d been found. She’d had nightmares in the hospital, waking up convinced that Travis was trying to kill her or kidnap Mickey. The only thing that calmed her was the presence of one of her friends, reassuring her she was safe. At Marsha’s house Samantha’s bedroom only had a small twin bed, so Tessa added an air mattress so she or Cate would be close all hours of the night. Marsha’s presence was comforting, but at night Samantha wanted her friends.

Since she’d appeared at the hospital, Marsha Bishop had not shown a moment of confusion. It was as if she’d emerged from a twenty-year fog. After weeping in the arms of her daughter, she’d taken charge of her grandson, ecstatic about the new little man in her life. Mickey had been fascinated that his mother had a mother, and he and Marsha had immediately hit it off. Especially when his grandmother had introduced him to ice cream in the hospital cafeteria.

“I’m not needed to supervise,” Jane had whispered to Cate. “She’s been a different woman since that phone call.”

“But will it last?” Cate had murmured, watching Marsha show Mickey pictures from her phone.

Jane had considered. “It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if it did. Her mind has been on hold for a long time. Sam’s reappearance has released it. It’s like a switch was turned on.”

Samantha had given the police only the bare facts about her abduction, agreeing to provide more details later. “Don’t make me talk about it,” she’d told the investigators. “It’s too much right now.”

Everything had been too much for the woman kept in a shed for twenty years. The sight of traffic, crowds of people, the electronics in the hospital, doctors poking and prodding her, and people asking questions. At first she’d cowered and hidden in her hospital bed, unable to make eye contact. Twenty-four hours of fluids and food had created a huge difference, but the world was still overwhelming. “I remember the outside world. I’ve dreamed nonstop of it,” she had said from her hospital bed. “But I haven’t experienced this. It’s too intense.”

“Sam,” Cate began as they sat in Marsha’s living room. “I know you told the police that Travis smuggled you off the island in the trunk of his car, but how did you get there?” She leaned toward her friend and set a hand on her knee. “You’d asked us to meet you that night. What happened?”

She’d tried to have the conversation with Sam several times but had been shut down. Now in this cozy room with the Christmas music and hot tea, Sam finally seemed enveloped in peace.

Sam took a sip of tea, her eyes focused on the fireplace. “I first met Travis in North Sound the day before . . . it happened. He had just stepped out of Buzz’s Head Shop as I walked by and told me he liked my eyes.” Her throat moved as she swallowed. “He was cute and older, and I was flattered. He flirted, and I flirted back.” A small tremor made her cup twitch in her hands. “Every day I’ve regretted that my fucking vanity made this happen.”

“You didn’t do it, and your vanity didn’t make it happen. Travis did it. He carries full responsibility. He’s the one who acted.”

Sam’s face stayed blank.

For twenty years, she thought it was her fault.

“Separate the actions,” Cate told her. “If only your flirting had happened, would you have ended up in Washington? No. If only Travis’s kidnapping had happened, would you have ended up in Washington? Yes. You didn’t make him grab you. He did it himself.”

A tightening in Sam’s jaw made Cate optimistic that at least she’d listened. The believing could come later. “He flirted with you. Then what?”

“We found a quiet spot away from everyone and talked for an hour. He showed me the pipe he’d bought at the head shop and asked if I’d meet him the following evening at Widow’s Walk to try it out.” The pulse at her neck sped up. “He kissed me. I’d never been kissed like that. I instantly fell in love.” Loathing filled her words.

“An understandable reaction for a fourteen-year-old girl.”

“He was an adult; I was a kid. I chose to ignore my little voice inside that said it was wrong.”

“He knew it was wrong, Sam.”

“The next night I snuck out. He was waiting down the street and told me we were going to meet some friends of his at the old orchard property instead of Widow’s Walk. I said I’d asked my friends to meet at Widow’s, and he said too bad and that they could come next time.”

“Tessa and I told you we couldn’t go.”