When We Found Home. Susan Mallery
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Keira bend down and pick up something from the street, then turn back toward the safety of the sidewalk. But before she could make it, there was a hideous screech of brakes followed by a horrible thud as a Prius struck Keira, sending her into the air, then back onto the street where she lay lifeless, a tiny kitten cradled in her small hands.
The world went silent. All Delaney heard was the beating of her own heart. Everything moved in slow motion as the driver flung open the car door and ran toward the fallen girl. People emerged from everywhere to surround her. Phones were pulled out as dozens called 9-1-1.
Shock later, action now, Delaney thought, willing her limbs to move. She stumbled to Keira’s side and fell to her knees next to her. Keira’s eyes fluttered open.
“Take care of the kitten,” she murmured, passing the small animal to Delaney before groaning. “I hurt.”
“Just stay still, Keira. It’s okay. An ambulance is coming. I’ll take the kitten.” The tiny creature trembled in her hands. “I’ll stay right here.”
“You know her?” a woman asked.
“She’s a friend of mine. She, ah, goes to the private school. Keira...” Delaney swore. “I don’t know her last name. She has a brother and a grandfather.”
Her brother! Delaney had to call him. Only where was Keira’s phone?
She looked around and realized the girl’s backpack was still next to her chair in the lobby eating area. Before Delaney could figure out what to do, Luzia ran out with Delaney’s purse in one hand and Keira’s backpack in the other.
“Are you going with her to the hospital?”
Delaney hesitated for only a second before nodding. “I’m going to call her brother to meet us there.”
Delaney dug for the phone while a man yelled he would go tell someone at the school that one of their students had been injured. Delaney found the phone just as an ambulance pulled up.
She scrolled through the short contact list, then, despite everything, smiled. Right under the As—Asshole Brother.
As the EMTs began to work on Keira, the girl called out. “Delaney, don’t leave me.” She looked at the guy helping her. “She’s my sister and she has to come with me.”
“Sure. No problem. Now tell me where it hurts. Can you move your toes? Not your legs, just your toes. We’re going to stabilize you, then get you to the hospital.”
“I can move my toes and it hurts everywhere.” Tears seeped out of the corners of Keira’s eyes. “Delaney!”
“I’m right here. I’m calling your brother to let him know what happened.”
“Don’t bother. He won’t care.”
The tears came faster now and she started to sob. “It hurts. It hurts. Make it stop.” The sobs turned into screams.
Delaney’s own eyes burned as she pushed the button on the phone. Pick up, pick up, she thought frantically. The kitten stayed perfectly still, huddled against her chest.
“Hello?”
“Are you Keira’s brother?”
“What? Yes. Who is this?”
“A friend of hers. Look, she’s been hit by a car. She’s conscious but I don’t know how badly she’s hurt. They’re taking her to the hospital. Hold on.” She turned to the EMTs who were loading Keira on a stretcher. “Which hospital?”
She repeated the information to Keira’s brother. “I’m going with her so she won’t be by herself. I have the kitten, too.”
“Kitten. What are you talking about? Who are you?”
“Delaney, don’t leave me!”
She saw that Keira was in the ambulance. She ran toward it. “I have to go. I’ll meet you at the hospital. Hurry.” She ended the call and started to climb in the back. One of the EMTs protested, but Delaney stared him down.
“She’s a kid who was just hit by a car. Give us both a break, okay?”
He nodded and helped her inside. Delaney sat close to Keira.
“It’s going to be okay,” she told the still-crying girl. “I’m right here.”
She shrugged out of her sweater, folded it up and put it in her tote, then settled the kitten on top of it. “Once I know you’re taken care of, I’ll see to our little friend here. Do you trust me to do that?”
Keira nodded, even as she cried. “It hurts so much.”
“I know, sweetie. I’m here.”
The EMT in the back started an IV, then the sirens came on and they were moving. Delaney knew what was next—the hospital, where the sounds and smells would bring everything back. She mentally braced herself for the onslaught, even as she hung on to Keira’s hand. For all she knew, she was all Keira had.
* * *
Malcolm barely glanced in his rearview mirror before performing an illegal U-turn. He’d been on his way to the company’s SoDo warehouse when he’d gotten the call about Keira. As he calculated the best way to get from here to the hospital in morning rush hour traffic, he pushed the button to activate his Mercedes’s voice control.
“Call home.”
“Calling home. Landline. Dialing.”
Seconds later he heard ringing. Carmen picked up. “Hello, Carlesso residence.”
“Carmen, it’s Malcolm. Someone just phoned to tell me Keira was in an accident.” He hesitated before saying she’d been hit by a car. He had no idea how bad things were or what was going to happen. “I’m on my way to the hospital right now. Please call the school and find out what they know. And don’t tell my grandfather until I get to the hospital and figure out what’s going on. He’ll get upset.”
“Keira? At the hospital?” Carmen’s voice was thick with tears. “No. Not that little girl. Is she all right? What happened? She was fine this morning.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I find out what has happened. Can you call the school for me?”
“Yes, of course.” Her voice broke. “I will pray for her. She’s so small. She must be afraid. When you see her, tell her I love her. Tell her I’m praying for her.”
“I will,” he said, wondering if it was physically possible to repeat that Carmen loved her. He’d managed to avoid that particular word for years now. “I’ll call as soon as I know anything.”
“Yes and I’ll let you know what the school says.”
“Thank you.”
He hung up. What had happened? How on earth had Keira been hit by a car? She went over to the building’s coffee stand every morning, but she knew enough to use the crosswalk, didn’t she? They’d never talked about it. He’d just assumed...
Of course she knew, he told himself. She was twelve, practically thirteen. Kids were mature these days. They knew things and understood how the world worked. She would be fine. She always was. She took care of herself and—
He gripped the steering wheel harder, as he silently swore. Powerful, ugly guilt swamped him. He recognized the symptoms because he had a lot to be guilty about. His grandfather and now Keira. She was a kid and while he wanted to be there for her, he honest to God didn’t know what to do with her. So he made sure she had what she needed and did his best to avoid her. Carmen seemed to pick up the slack, but was that enough?
He’d meant to do more, had wanted to get to know her, only he hadn’t known how and he was still so angry with their father. Jerry’s betrayal haunted him like a taunting ghost and in the end it was easier to avoid anyone who looked the least bit like him. It was easier to avoid his half sister, to tell