“I can imagine. Some children’s parents might not even know that their kids are still alive. I don’t envy you the task of making sure everyone is looked after.”
“We’ll do everything to reunite children and families and make sure they have the resources to deal with the trauma the children have experienced.”
“That’s good to know. Thank you.”
Even though I’m not sure whether I am as positive about the children’s future as the social worker is, I can’t take them all home.
Rena at my side yawns. I hold her tight.
“You’re tired, sweetie. Let’s go home.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Elise: 24 March, Dusk, Wright’s Homestead
The strangest thing happened on our way back to the homestead. A plucky southern breeze had chased away the storm clouds from earlier today. I roll down the window on my side. The air is crisp and clean after the great downpour from this afternoon. Since then the clouds lifted and everything is lighter and brighter. As if nature needed to mimic the massive cleanup at Gateway.
Just as Scott drives along the gravel road to the house, the last sun-rays of the day are kissing the tips of the trees and setting the sky on fire with orange, gold, and tangerine hues. Even though the light drains away and greens and purple of the foliage begin to melt into the grey tones of the approaching night, everything glows. This is a new beginning.
Branches sway in the wind as the forest breathes and the bush comes alive again. As if it had to duck down to weather the storm, nature rises again and stretches ready for another phase of mysteries and miracles.
My house, my home, is waiting for us. I open the door and a fresh breeze with a hint of lemon brushes tantalizingly past my nose. It feels as if a lifetime has passed since I’ve left the house with Scott and Simon Barker to check out Gateways. Just as Sleeping Beauty who wakes up after a hundred years, I step inside and appreciate my home as if I see it for the very first time.
I shake off the thought. I have to stop thinking as if I’m in fairy tales and stories. This is my life now. I lean against Scott to my left and smile down at the child on my other side. He is real and Rena is real. They are not figments of my imagination. Fate has allowed me to have a family and be a mother, a hope and desire I had given up many years ago.
Rena looks up to me with her beautiful blue eyes that remind me of the clear summer sky. She smiles.
“I like your house. It looks like a doll’s house.”
She doesn’t know how right she is. For a long time that’s what it was. For decades Raymond had manipulated the people living in this place like puppets on a string. With them he acted out his macabre desire, playing with their lives as if they meant nothing. And to him, they hadn’t.
I can’t comprehend how his mind became mangled into the ugly twists and turns it fell into. Maddie would have a clue. And yet, Maddie is the example that even if bad things happen to you, you don’t have to become a bad person. We always come to crossroads and have a choice on which path we take.
I’m so proud of my little girl who didn’t allow herself to fall into the cesspit of badness. I’m proud of myself because it was me. I was there, even if the memory of that time is encapsulated in Maddie. I wear the scars from that time on my body, and I will carry them proudly like badges of honor. Evil has not been able to conquer my soul.
Now I understand the smirk on Sebastian Feldman’s face when he stood in the dock and was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. He knew then his efforts had not been not in vain. He’d left a legacy Raymond would continue.
“Mum?” Rena blushed and looked to the floor. “May I call you Mum?”
“Of course you may. I would love nothing more.”
I catch Scott’s smile as I look over to him and for a moment I feel my heart overflowing with happiness.
“Mum, where is my room?”
“Let’s see, hm, your room …”
“I don’t need a room if you don’t have a spare one.” She appears anxious as if she asks for too much.
“Of course we have space for you. It’s just not quite ready yet because we didn’t know we would find you. But we were hoping for a little peanut like you for a long time. How about we make up my room for you and I push Scottie to the outer side of his bed and snuggle in with him?”
Rena clapped her hands. “That’s wonderful.” She skipped up the stairs and disappeared into my bedroom. “There is a doll laying on my bed. Is that doll for me?”
She found Madeline. A tiny twitch in the vicinity of my heart tells me that there is still a connection between the doll and the Tribe. I don’t want to take the doll away from Maddie and listen inside for an objection. My mind is made up when I don’t hear anything. It’s time a child gets to play again with the doll.
“Sure, darling. Her name is Madeline and I know for sure that she’s been waiting for you to come and play with her. She needs a friend who loves her and gives her lots of cuddles.”
My bedroom has been my sanctuary for over a year. It’s strange to make the conscious decision to give it up and to let someone else take ownership of
