“Do you need anything else from us?” Geoff asks.
“Not at this time,” Kade replies. “Just your continued patience and cooperation. We will be in touch as soon as we have news.”
When the room falls into a hush, the eyes of all the men at the table slide over to me. Sabrina is openly crying, but it’s Geoff who stares at me so fiercely, I worry he’s seeing more than he should ever know about what we endured.
“You have questions for me,” I say simply.
“We do, Ember.” He attempts a crooked smile. “If that’s okay with you.”
“I’ll do my best to answer.”
“We’re so glad you were found safe. How have you settled back in?”
Rather than traumatise the poor man with an hour-long recap of seizures, deadly raids, exhausting training and a pile of medication larger than the leaning tower of Pisa, I settle on a neutral response.
“As well as can be expected.”
“We were surprised to hear you’d joined the investigation. Thank you for fighting for our daughter.” He wells up, brushing beneath his eyes. “It means a lot to us.”
I don’t trust myself to speak, so I merely shrug.
“Please.” At the sound of Sabrina’s voice, I shift my attention to her. “I just… I need to know how she was the last time you saw her. Tell me what happened to my little girl.”
“Mrs Livingstone, I begin.
“I miss her so much.” She buries her face in her hands.
A searing ball swirls in my oesophagus. “Gracie missed you too. Her sisters as well.”
Sabrina hiccups then breaks down into uncontrolled sobs. Her husband reaches over to wrap an arm around his wife’s shoulders, tugging her into his side so she can cry.
“Um… Gracie talked about her sisters.” I blink several times, trying to hold my own tears at bay. “Annie and Gabby.”
“That’s right.” Geoff drags in a breath.
“She missed her mum’s homemade baking. I remember her talking about cookies… Oatmeal ones, I think. Gracie just wanted to be home with her family again.”
His lip trembles. “She did?”
“She loved you so much.”
His features promptly crumble, joining his wife in crying for their lost little girl. I stare down at the table, too emotionally wrung out to feel much at all. Not after pouring my soul out for Doctor Richards.
“I promised her that she’d taste your cookies again and hug her sisters tight.” The table swims in front of me. “We held each other between our cages. Gracie kept me strong. She made me smile and laugh when I thought we were already dead.”
“That’s our girl,” Geoff cries.
“She’s amazing, sir.”
“She is. Our sweet baby girl.”
“Remember her like that. That’s all you need to know.”
“Thank y-you, Ember. I’m glad she wasn’t alone.”
Their raw grief is agonising to observe. What hurts more is the look on Hyland’s face as he watches them break apart in each other’s arms. His own loss is splattered across his expression, dripping pain too vast to ever overcome.
Geoff kisses the side of his wife’s head, cradling her close. There’s nothing else I can offer them now. Looking at the directors, I catch Kade’s sympathetic stare first.
