Hard Fall by Brenda Rothert

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hadley

I sighed with relief as the plane touched the runway, jolting slightly. Finally, I’d made it to St. Louis.

“Good luck, Hadley,” the woman sitting next to me said, squeezing my hand.

Her name was Netta and she was a very kind mother of five and grandmother of twelve. When she’d noticed I was crying as the flight took off, she’d asked me what was wrong.

I’d spent the next hour telling her everything, starting with meeting Wes seven years ago at Ben and Lauren’s engagement party and ending with returning to New York just over a week ago. Netta had listened to every word, peering at me intently over the rims of her glasses.

“Wait, hold up, Susan said what?” she’d cried when I’d told her about the court hearing. “Aw, hell no. That’s not okay.”

Waiting for the pilot to taxi all the way down to our gate and come to a complete stop was painful. I wanted to jump out of my seat and run for the door. All I could think about was Annalise. Was she safe? Had someone hurt her? Just the thought made my chest tighten and my stomach clench.

I was never leaving the kids again. I’d move to St. Louis to be with them. Maybe I’d end up hurt and whatever Wes and I had been building before I left for New York wouldn’t work out, but I’d risk it. I knew before getting Wes’s frantic phone call that I’d never be happy in New York again. He and the kids were my world now.

What I hadn’t been able to work out, though, was whether I could sacrifice the career I’d worked so hard for. But the moment I found out Annalise was missing my decision had been made. I wanted to be with the kids and Wes, no matter the cost, because no job was worth losing time with them.

“Excuse me!” Netta called to a flight attendant as everyone started unbuckling their seat belts. “We have an emergency here. This young woman needs to be the first person off this plane; she has a missing child.”

The flight attendant looked at me and frowned sympathetically, then gestured for me to get up from my seat.

“Thank you so much,” I said to the flight attendant before looking back at Netta over my shoulder.

“You message me on Facebook and tell me when you’ve got your little girl back,” she said. “I’ll be praying for her.”

I nodded and said, “Thanks, Netta, for everything.”

The flight attendant led me to the airplane door, and as soon as she could open it, I sprinted down the jet bridge and exited into the airport. I had nothing but my purse—I’d gone straight to the airport after getting Wes’s call.

Wes had been able to get the ticket agent to book me on a flight from JKF to O’Hare, and then a connecting flight nearly two hours later from O’Hare to St. Louis. Wes had texted me that his parents got him a direct flight on a private plane some friends of theirs owned; he was already at Ben and Lauren’s house talking to the police.

As I walked to the airport exit, I opened my phone and ordered an Uber. The driver arrived quickly and we got to the house in less than twenty minutes. I yelled out my thanks as I bolted from the car.

I walked through the front door and immediately scanned the entryway and sitting room in search of Wes. A couple of his teammates were there, and several people I didn’t recognize. Nina was holding Benny.

The moment my eyes found Wes’s, I flew across the room and into his arms. His embrace was exactly what I needed. He held me tightly as he spoke in my ear.

“We’ve got lots of people out searching for her. Patrick and Susan are out looking, and a bunch of the guys. Lots of neighbors, too.”

Tears pooled in my eyes as I pulled back and looked at him, holding on to his wrists. “It’s been so long. She’s so little. I can’t stop thinking about—”

“I know.” Wes kissed my forehead. “But we have to focus on searching. Keep your mind on that.”

“I want to go look for her.”

He nodded. “We’ll go together. Just let me finish up with the police officer I was talking to.”

I hesitated for a second before saying, “I shouldn’t have left, Wes.”

His expression softened. “This didn’t happen because you weren’t here. This is all on Susan and Patrick; they were supposed to be keeping the kids safe.”

“No, I know. What I mean is…not because of what’s going on, but…I wish I hadn’t left.”

He held my gaze, searching out if I meant it or not, and said, “It’s okay, Hadley. We’re gonna be okay.”

I nodded, unable to talk past the lump in my throat. I wanted us to be okay so badly, but it couldn’t happen until Annalise was safely home with us again. How had I ever thought any job was more important than being with her and Benny?

“Let’s go,” Wes said, taking my hand and leading me across the room.

He led the way out of the house to the rental car he’d gotten at the airport—a minivan, which was parked on the curb. I gave him a confused look.

“It was all they had so I took it,” he said.

We got in and drove to a neighborhood a few miles away that other searchers hadn’t gotten to yet, my hands clutched together in my lap the whole way.

“I need her to be okay,” I said softly. “She has to be okay.”

Wes parked the car and we split up, him on one side of the street and me on the other. I tried not to think about how close we were getting to sunset as I called out Annalise’s name and walked up random driveways to look in people’s backyards.

I said a silent prayer that Annalise was safe. Everything I’d ever considered a problem paled in comparison to this. Why had I been so stupid about things with me and Wes? We were happy. We were doing well with the kids. Whether we told the judge it was me or him raising the kids, we could still do it our way. We just needed a chance.

“Hadley!”

I turned at the sound of Wes calling my name, my heart pounding in hopeful anticipation. He wouldn’t yell for me so urgently unless…

“You found her?” I cried as I ran toward him.

He moved his phone away from his mouth. “Not me. Nash did, though.” I dropped to my knees on the sidewalk, sobbing with relief as Wes went back to the phone call. “Yeah, text me the address and call that police officer. Stay with her. Thank you so much, man.”

Wes helped me up and we both ran to the minivan.

“She’s okay?” I asked him as he started the car and pulled away from the curb.

“Yeah, she’s good. Nash found her at a park about three miles from the house. She was sitting on a bench with an older guy, petting his dog.”

“Oh my god.” I shook my head. “Three miles? How did she even make it that far? I’m never leaving the kids with Patrick and Susan, Wes. Never again. They can have me arrested if they want.”

He patted my knee. “Let’s get to Annalise. We’ll deal with them later.”

We got to the park and Wes dropped me off by the playground, where Nash said he and Annalise would be waiting. I spotted them sitting at a picnic table, eating snow cones, and I rushed toward them.

“Aunt Hadley!” Annalise cried as I got close.

She passed her snow cone to Nash and got up from the table, running to greet me. I swept her into my arms and held her tightly, crying with relief.

“I got lost,” she said in a tiny voice. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, baby.” I pulled back and cupped her face in my hands. “You’re not in any trouble. I’m just so glad you’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

“Uncle Wes!” she cried, looking behind me.

Wes came up and hugged her, her feet leaving the ground as he picked her up and held her close.

“Thank God,” he said.

The police officer that had been at the house pulled up in a police cruiser and got out of the driver’s seat. Patrick and Susan exited the back seat of the car and ran over to us.

I glared at them, silently daring Susan to say a single word to Annalise about this being her fault. I was done being nice to Susan. When I thought about the horrible things that could have happened to Annalise because of their negligence, I wanted to rage.

“Wes and I will be staying at the house until the next hearing,” I said coldly.

Susan narrowed her eyes at me. “I never meant for this to happen. We love our grandchildren.”

Wes approached and put an arm around my shoulders, addressing Patrick and Susan.

“We aren’t leaving until the case is settled.”

Patrick nodded, silencing his wife with a look. “You’re both welcome at the house, of course.”

“Aunt Hadley, I’m hungry,” Annalise said from a few feet away. “Can we go to the place with the chickens?”

“Chick-fil-A?” I asked her.

She grinned. “Yeah, I like those chickens.”

“Of course we can, baby.” I looked at Susan. “Why don’t we take her to get some food and then we’ll meet you guys back at the house?”

“Okay, we’ll see you there. I’ll feed Benny if he’s hungry.”

She wasn’t snarly and combative now, but I knew she wasn’t giving up on getting custody of the kids. Losing Annalise was going to hurt their case considerably, though. I was sorry it had happened, but hoping that it would lead to the judge doing the right thing and returning custody of the kids to Wes and me.

Annalise asked to ride on Wes’s shoulders, and as he swung her up there, she said, “That was two weeks, right? You guys are coming back home now?”

I smiled up at her. “That’s right.”

“Yay!” She threw her arms in the air and cheered.

Wes put her down when we got to the minivan and he fished the keys from his pocket.

“Uncle Wes has a new car,” Annalise said, clapping. “It’s beautiful!”

Wes gave me a look, shaking his head.

“I’m never buying a minivan,” he said under his breath.

“You so are,” I told him, laughing. “Might as well get some white knee socks and white sneakers, too.”

“Shit,” he said softly, looking at me. “There’s no car seat in the rental.”

“Can we have one of the guys at the house bring us Ben’s car?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’ll ask Lars,” he said, taking out his phone.

“His name is Thor,” Annalise said, giving Wes an admonishing look.

I bent down and hugged her again, then kissed each of her cheeks several times. Lauren had told me so many times that she loved her kids so much she sometimes thought she’d burst—that it was a love like no other.

And now, I knew what she meant. I felt it, too. And I was never, ever going back to a life without this love.