was getting to her.
At the bottom of the stairs, Dad was standing in the foyer checking his watch impatiently. He looked ready to go, warmly clad in an overcoat, a fur cap, a scarf, and gloves. Mom was putting on her own coat.
“So is Lois coming?” Dad asked.
“She says no,” Tiffany said, lying a little. Dad might get mad if Tiffany said that Lois wouldn’t even answer her knock on the door.
“Well, I’m not surprised,” Mom said, putting on her gloves. “I heard her car pull in late last night. I’m not sure what time it was.”
Tiffany felt another pang of envy at the mention of her sister’s car. Lois had so much freedom now that she was in college! Best of all, nobody cared very much what time she came home at night. Tiffany hadn’t even heard her come in at all last night.
I guess I was fast asleep, she thought.
As Tiffany started putting on her own coat, Dad grumbled, “The two of you are taking forever. We’re going to be late for the service.”
“We’ll be there in plenty of time,” Mom said calmly.
“I’ll go out and get the car started,” Dad said.
He opened the front door and stomped outside. Tiffany and her mother quickly got bundled up and followed him.
The cold air hit Tiffany hard. There was still snow on the ground from a few days ago. She wished she were still in her warm bed. It was a lousy day to have to go anywhere.
Suddenly, she heard her mom gasp.
“Lester, what is it?” Mom called out to Dad.
Tiffany saw Dad standing in front of the open garage door. He was staring into the garage, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. He looked stunned and horrified.
“What’s going on?” Mom called out again.
Dad turned to see her. He seemed to be having trouble saying anything.
Finally, he blurted, “Call nine-one-one.”
“Why?” Mom replied.
Dad didn’t explain. He headed into the garage. Mom darted forward, and when she reached the open door, she let out a scream that paralyzed Tiffany with fear.
Mom rushed inside the garage.
For a long moment, Tiffany stood frozen in her tracks.
“What is it?” Tiffany called out.
She heard Mom’s sobbing voice call out from the garage, “Go back inside, Tiffany.”
“Why?” Tiffany yelled back.
Mom came running out of the garage. She grabbed Tiffany’s arm and tried to turn her around to go back to the house.
“Don’t look,” she said. “Go back inside.”
Tiffany wrestled loose from Mom and rushed into the garage.
It took her a moment to take everything in. All three cars were parked there. In the back corner to the left, Dad was wrestling clumsily with a ladder.
Something was hanging there by a rope tied to a roof beam.
It was a person.
It was her sister.
CHAPTER ONE
Riley Paige had just sat down to dinner when her daughter said something that really startled her.
“Aren’t we just the picture-perfect family?”
Riley stared at April, whose face reddened with embarrassment.
“Wow, did I just say that aloud?” April said sheepishly. “Was that corny or what?”
Riley laughed and looked around the table. Her ex-husband, Ryan, was sitting at the far end of the table from her. To her left, her fifteen-year-old daughter, April, was sitting next to their housekeeper, Gabriela. To her right was thirteen-year-old Jilly, a newcomer to the household.
April and Jilly had just made hamburgers for Sunday’s dinner, giving Gabriela a break from cooking.
Ryan took a bite of his hamburger, then said, “Well, we are a family, aren’t we? I mean, just look at us.”
Riley didn’t say anything.
A family, she thought. Is that what we are really?
The idea took her just a little bit by surprise. After all, she and Ryan had separated almost two years ago, and had been divorced for six months now. Although they were spending time together again, Riley had avoided giving much thought to where that might lead. She had put aside years of hurt and betrayal in order to enjoy a peaceful present.
Then there was April, whose adolescence had been anything but easy. Would her desire for togetherness last?
Riley felt even more uncertain about Jilly. She’d found Jilly in a truck stop in Phoenix, trying to sell her own body to truck drivers. Riley had rescued Jilly from a terrible life and an abusive father, and now she hoped to adopt her. But Jilly was still a troubled girl, and things were touch-and-go with her.
The one person at the table Riley felt surest about was Gabriela. The stout Guatemalan woman had been working for the family since long before the divorce. Gabriela had never been anything other than responsible, grounded, and loving.
“What do you think, Gabriela?” Riley asked.
Gabriela smiled.
“A family can be chosen, not just inherited,” she said. “Blood isn’t everything. Love is what matters.”
Riley suddenly felt warm inside. She could always count on Gabriela to say what needed to be said. She gazed with a new sense of satisfaction at the people around her.
After being on leave from BAU for a month, she was enjoying just being here at home in her townhouse.
And enjoying my family, she thought.
Then April said something else that surprised her.
“Daddy, when are you going to move in with us?”
Ryan looked quite startled. As she often did, Riley wondered whether his newfound commitment was too good to last.
“That’s kind of a big topic to take on right now,” Ryan said.
“How come?” April asked her father. “You might as well live here. I mean, you and Mom are sleeping together again and you’re here almost every day.”
Riley felt her face redden. Shocked, Gabriela gave April a sharp poke with her elbow.
“¡Chica! ¡Silencio!” she said.
Jilly looked around with a grin.
“Hey, that’s a great idea,” she said.
