“Yeah. The younger two don’t remember their birth families at all. Sydney—she’s twelve—remembers best. She was the oldest when they took her and I guess they learned from that, because they started picking younger kids. Johnny—my older brother—he was five, like me. He barely remembers his birth family. It’s why they’ve been able to mold him so much. It’s why he shot at you. To protect the family.”
Kensie swallowed back her instant response. Johnny wasn’t her older brother. Flynn was her older brother. And she and Flynn and their parents weren’t Alanna’s birth family. They were simply her family.
Colter pulled her hand into his lap, stroking her palm gently, like he could read her mind. Across from them, Alanna sighed.
“I guess it’s hard to understand,” she said. “But I lived with the Altiers for fourteen years, most of my life. They picked kids who looked like them. They wanted a family and couldn’t have one, so they kidnapped kids. They treated us well, never hurt any of us. They wanted us to be happy, but the way we lived—it was like kids probably did a long time ago. We worked hard, all of us. We lived off the land. We were all homeschooled. And we moved around. A lot. Especially at the beginning. Until eventually we came here. I guess they felt Alaska was safe, because we built the cabin. We finally stayed in one place.”
“You were happy?” The question was hard to get out, because she hoped her sister would say yes, but some part of her felt like it was wrong for Alanna to have been happy with her kidnappers.
Alanna’s gaze dropped to her lap and she fiddled with a worn gold and garnet ring on her right hand. It looked like an antique, something that would get passed down in families. But it hadn’t come from the Morgans.
“Mostly.” She met Kensie’s gaze again, her eyes imploring Kensie to understand. “I never forgot you, Kensie. I never forgot any of you. I wanted to come home. I tried not to let them know, but I always wanted to come home.”
“And at that store, you finally had a chance to write a note without being seen?” Kensie asked, trying to contain her emotions. There were so many. Happiness at having Alanna back, regret at missing most of her childhood, anger that the people who’d stolen her had pretended they were her family, relief that Alanna hadn’t been hurt or abused.
Alanna bit her lip. “Sort of. I—”
When Alanna looked like she might cry, Kensie assured her, “It’s okay. Whatever it is, you can tell me. We’re sisters.”
Alanna smiled. It trembled on her lips, her eyes still watery, but it was fueled by happiness. Kensie knew because it looked just like her own smile.
Happiness burst inside of her at sharing that with her sister. In that moment, she knew whatever Alanna had been through, whatever Alanna needed to help her move forward, they could do it together. They could rebuild their family. Finally.
“I had chances before. I was allowed to go places. I mean, they watched me, but they trusted me, too, once I’d been with them for a while. It’s just that...”
“What?” Kensie whispered.
“I love them.”
The words made Kensie’s chest hurt, made her whole body tense up. But she tried not to show it.
“I’m sorry,” Alanna said. “I know that has to be hard to hear. But they raised me. I knew they’d kidnapped me, but they treated me well. They took care of me and over the years, I just—”
“It’s okay,” Kensie assured her. It was hard to hear, but she understood. And although she didn’t want to owe the Altiers anything, she was grateful they’d given Alanna a good childhood.
“But last month, Johnny started talking about wanting to get married. He’d met this girl and he was so excited about adding to our family and I just... I realized if I didn’t try, I’d never get any milestones like that with you, Flynn, Mom or Dad.”
“Were they mad when they learned what you’d done?” Kensie asked, not wanting to think about what the rest of her life might have been like if Alanna hadn’t taken that risk.
“Yeah. They thought we’d lucked out when the FBI called it a hoax, but then they said you’d come to town. They were talking about leaving. I convinced them to let me go into town, to just see it one more time. It was the only place I’d lived for more than a year—except back in Illinois with you. Da—Mr. Altier took me into town late at night, figuring not many people would be around.”
The day she’d followed Henry. He must have gone the other way, down the alley and back toward town, instead of into the storage units, like she’d thought. But without knowing it, he’d led her right to Alanna.
Alanna burst into tears. “When that man attacked you in the parking lot, I thought I’d gotten you killed.”
Kensie shoved to her feet, her leg screaming as she put weight on it, and folded her sister into a hug. Hopefully just one of many, many hugs to come. “No. You saved me. You and Colter and Rebel. You saved me.”
“Alanna Altier?”
Kensie’s head swiveled at the question and she saw a doctor waiting in the doorway. She wanted to correct him about her sister’s name, but kept quiet. There would be time for that. Right now was a time to reunite.
“I need you to come with me so we can make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” Alanna said, her arms still looped loosely around Kensie.
“I’m sure you are, but this won’t take long,” the doctor insisted.
Alanna looked at Kensie and she nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you,” Kensie promised.
As the doctor led her sister into another room, Kensie sank onto the bed Alanna had just vacated, staring at Colter as disbelief and
