Chapter 10 - The Return to the Farm
It was 3:00 a.m. when I finally drove my truck back up the gravel driveway of the farmhouse. The flashing red and blue lights of the state police cruisers were gone, replaced by the quiet, heavy darkness of the Nebraska night.
The house was dark, save for the single porch light I had left burning.
I cut the engine and sat in the cab for a long moment, listening to the ticking of cooling metal under the hood. My body ached with sheer exhaustion, every muscle fiber singing with the delayed shock of trauma and adrenaline. But my mind was hyper-focused.
I picked up my secure satellite phone and dialed County General Hospital.
“Pediatrics nursing station,” a tired voice answered.
“This is Victoria Hawthorne checking in on patient Meadow Hawthorne in room 312.”
“Mrs. Hawthorne! Dr. Vance left specific instructions to call you if her vitals shifted, but she’s been sleeping soundly for the past four hours. The concussion monitor is stable, and her pain management is holding.”
A massive weight lifted off my chest, allowing me to draw a deep, untroubled breath for the first time since my phone had rung in the veterinary clinic twelve hours ago.
“Thank you, Nurse. I’ll be there by 7:00 a.m. to take her home.”
“We’ll be right here, Mrs. Hawthorne.”
I ended the call, opened the truck door, and stepped out onto the gravel driveway. As I walked up the porch steps, I noticed something small and green resting on the wooden bench beside the front door.
I picked it up.
It was General Pickles—Meadow’s stuffed triceratops. One of the state troopers must have recovered it from the living room floor during the search sweep and left it where I would see it.
I pressed the soft, worn fabric against my chest, feeling the familiar weight of my daughter's favorite toy. Dennis and Serena had tried to break our family, destroy our home, and steal our future. They had left us for broken in the dark.
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They had severely underestimated who they were dealing with.
I unlocked the front door, stepped inside our home, and locked it securely behind me.
