“Who called you?” He had to glance at his notes, knowing he had to get the name right the first time or he’d not remember it. “An FBI agent? In the family? My goodness. Whatever are we to think about that?”
“Nothing. The man that is Sarah’s mate—she did say, mate—is an attorney. A good one, too, apparently. He works for the family. And even had she not told me, I know who the Fosters are.” She said she had heard of them as well. Tommy sat down. “Do we tell the others or wait until we know things? I haven’t any idea what that might be, but you tell me, and I’ll call them. Jude will be thrilled beyond words. He’s missed his sister.”
Jude didn’t know who his sister was, but he thought saying it like he had made his wife feel better. Jude had been born with the cord wrapped tightly around his little throat and had suffered brain damage. He was a good boy at thirty-six, and perhaps he did miss Sarah, but not as his sister, Tommy thought. Just someone he’d not seen in a long time.
“We’ll have a hotel room set up for us, she told me. Also that if the others were wanting to come, they’d send their plane for us.” He had to laugh a little. “Their plane. I don’t know if I’ve even been on a domestic flight, much less a private one.”
“Yes, you have. Our honeymoon.” He was joking but again kept it to himself. This was serious business here, and he didn’t want his wife upset. “Should we call the others?”
“Yes. If we don’t tell them, they’ll be upset. Not that they’ll be upset for long, but it might be nice to have them with us when we meet her new family.” He thought of the boys and the pictures he had of them that were almost as old as they were now. “They’d be nine about now. I’ve only seen them the one time, and that wasn’t nearly enough. Grandsons. I need to see them as much as I do our Sarah.”
“Me as well, Tommy. I’ve so missed her.” She stood up, then sat again. “I just want to think about this for a moment longer. The thought of seeing them all, it’s just like a dream, and I don’t think I ever want to wake from it. Are you sure that man is in prison? He should have gone long ago, but we just didn’t have the money to sue him. And Sarah wouldn’t hear of it. Oh, Tommy, I want to have a hug from them so desperately. Did this woman say when we could go?”
“Today if we’ve got a mind to.” He wanted to leave right that moment, but he knew there were things to be planned and such. “She told me that Robby Quarter is there with her. That he’d only just found out about Sarah and the boys. I don’t know why, but I had it in my head that we were told he was dead.”
“Yes, we were told that. But then every other thing coming out of the monster’s mouth has been nothing but bologna. It’s a small wonder he’s been put away. Did she tell you how he was caught?” Tommy said he’d not thought to ask. “Well, I suppose we can get to that when we get there. I’ll call the girls, you call Michael. Tell them…. I guess we should plan on this trip for the morning if they’re really going to send something to go in. It certainly will be much cheaper this way.”
“I agree.”
He didn’t tell her they’d offered to pay for them to be in a hotel if they were all to come. Remembering to do that so she could tell Shelly and April so they’d not be out anything but a couple of days work, he called his son. Michael was about as thrilled as he’d been when he’d heard they could see Sarah.
“I’d have to see about money, Dad. As much as I’d love to go and give her a hug, I can’t afford much right now.” He told him what the Fosters had said. “For all of us? I mean, my wife and child too? Dad, Sarah hasn’t met Belinda or my son yet. We were married after she left home to hide out. I’d love to be able to take them too. You see, and if that can be done, I’m all in for it. I’ll be there whenever they tell us to be.”
After finding out his daughters had said the same thing about having things paid for, he was happy to know they were willing to drop everything to go see their sister. He’d not thought of how she might not have seen some of the kids yet, and that made him cry just a little. Sarah had missed so much. They’d missed so much too.
He made a head count and was sure they’d tell him it was just too many people. Fourteen of them converging on a generous family was a lot to deal with. Not to mention hotel accommodations. So when he called Mrs. Foster back, Tommy was prepared for her to tell him just that. However, she was excited that Sarah would see her entire family and didn’t say a word about how many.
“You tell me how many per room, Mr. Linton, and I’ll work that into the hotel. Also, we’ve rented out a restaurant that was being fixed up to feed us all tomorrow night.” He couldn’t believe people were being this nice to his family and told her that. “You’re going to be our family as well, and we make sure family is all taken care of. You’ll get to meet all of Cass’s family too. I did tell
