Sarah Comes Home
Chapter 12 - Sarah Comes Home
The charges against Sarah collapsed when pharmacy security footage showed Grant entering the medication room with an employee’s stolen access card.
Sarah was released after six days in jail.
Mack brought Eli to meet her outside.
The moment Sarah appeared, Eli ran.
She dropped her bag and fell to her knees as he reached her.
For a long time, mother and son held each other without speaking.
Mack stood several yards away.
He felt like an intruder.
Sarah eventually rose and looked at him over Eli’s shoulder.
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
It was not forgiveness, but it was a beginning.
They returned to the apartment above the garage.
Sarah stopped when she saw Daniel’s photograph and Eli’s drawing on the wall.
“You kept that picture all these years?” she asked.
“It was the last one where he looked happy with me.”
“He was happy more often than you think.”
Mack made coffee while Sarah explained what had happened.
She discovered the forged loans after a bank notice arrived. When she confronted Grant, he admitted he needed the land sale to save his company.
Sarah refused.
Grant threatened to have her declared unstable and take Eli.
She began gathering documents, but Grant found them.
The night before her arrest, she hid the note inside Daniel’s wooden motorcycle and told Eli how to find Mack.
“I was afraid you’d turn him away,” she admitted.
“I nearly turned Daniel away.”
“That isn’t what I said.”
“It’s what happened.”
Sarah looked at him.
For nine years, both of them had protected themselves with anger.
Now there was nowhere left to hide.
“I hated you,” she said. “It was easier than admitting I gave Grant the letters.”
“I hated you because it was easier than admitting Daniel died believing I didn’t want him.”
Eli sat between them at the table.
“Can you both stop hating each other?”
Sarah laughed through her tears.
Mack lowered his head.
“We can try.”
A knock sounded downstairs.
Bear entered holding Daniel’s damaged leather jacket.
He looked at Sarah.
“I owe you the truth.”
Before he could continue, Lena called Mack.
Police had found Grant’s truck abandoned near the highway.
His passport was gone.
So was Eli’s trust file.
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But Grant had left one thing behind.
A photograph of Sarah and Eli with a red circle drawn around Eli’s face.
