Family is Forever (Sequel to Running on Insulin)

Chapter 40

Jenna and I watched Samantha breathe. At this point we weren't sure if she was still unconscious or sleeping. But we sat, well, I sat, while Jenna lay, holding her. 

Not too long after, Samantha's eyes fluttered open.  She looked around the room, looked at me, and at Jenna, who was smiling down at her.  Tears formed in her eyes and she burst into sobs. 

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "I'm so sorry!"

"Shh, shhh, baby," Jenna soothed her. "It's okay, sweet girl. It's okay."

"I was stupid. I shouldn't have run away," Samantha cried. 

"It's okay, sweetheart. Really, it's okay. We got you, you're safe. You're okay,"  I said, rubbing her hand. "We can talk about it when you're feeling better.  Right now, let's just concentrate on getting you better and getting you home."

"I was so mad at you," Samantha said. "And I did something stupid, but I was so mad."

"We understand. We thought we were doing the right thing. We didn't want to worry you. We didn't think Stanley would have known that that you had switched schools and we thought you'd be safer at school.  We are so, so sorry," Jenna said. "We couldn't have known that he'd have found out about you switching schools. Or that he would have had an accomplice."

"Is he really dead?" Samantha asked. "I mean, really? Because I was afraid maybe that was a lie."

"He's really dead, sweetheart," I said. "I know you might have trouble trusting and believing us, and I hope you do, and that you will forgive us in time, for thinking sending you to school that morning was a good idea."

"I do," she said. "I thought about it on the bus, before I got sick. But by then, it was too late. I was already in Indiana, and then, everything went black."

"Honey," I asked. "Where were you going? Do you remember?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking down at her feet. 

"It's okay, sweetheart," I said to her, squeezing her hand. "We're just happy to have you back, and safe."

"I was," tears formed in her eyes again. "I was going to see if I could live with Uncle Brendon and Aunt Sarah."

Jenna hugged Samantha tightly to her, tears forming in her own eyes. 

"I thought, maybe they'd let me live with them. Because they lost Jess, and I was mad at you and thought you were lying to me."

"Oh, baby," Jenna said, kissing Samantha's head. 

"I called Uncle Brendon," she said. "From the bus. Before I blacked out."

"We know. Uncle Brendon called us when he heard from you. And we are so glad you trusted him enough to reach out, so he could tell us you were okay. Well, somewhat okay. The bus driver told us what was happening to you."

"You're really not mad at me?" she said, looking up at Jenna.

"We were way too worried about you to be mad at you. But sweetheart, if you're ever mad at us, you need to talk to us, okay? Being mad is okay. It's normal and it's natural. But running away, it's not a way to deal with things. We care about you, we love you, and we want to keep you safe.  We promised we'd be honest with you, and we messed up by not telling you about Stanley escaping. But, I promise you, we did think we were doing the right thing, letting you go to school. We didn't want to worry you, and like I said, we thought you'd be safe at school."

Samantha stayed quiet. Then, with those piercing blue eyes, she looked into my eyes.

"But I wasn't," she whispered. Tears slipped down her face. "You promised to protect me, and Stanley got to me anyway."

"I know," I said, tears falling down my own cheeks. "I know baby. I know we promised. And I know that promise got broken. We didn't think he knew which school you were at. We didn't think."

She broke away from Jenna and wrapped her arms around me. 

"I'm sorry I got mad, and I'm sorry I ran away. I'm sorry I'm so stupid," she cried. 

"You're not stupid sweetheart," I said, hugging her tight to me. "You're not stupid.  You were hurt, you were upset and you were doing what you thought was right for you. You didn't think how hurt we would be, because you were so hurt yourself. And we don't blame you for that. Not in the least. Whenever something happens, especially to you, we don't think of ourselves, we think only of what's best for you.  But we dropped the ball. And we are so, so sorry. We promise. Both of us, one hundred percent honesty. From now on. Especially if it affects you."

"I'm sorry Dad. I'm sorry Mom. I'm sorry I ran away," Samantha said. "I want to go home."

"We know, baby," Jenna said. "We have to wait to see what the doctor says. Your blood sugar was really, really low, and they had a hard time getting it come back up last night. But they did, finally."

"Am I in trouble?" Samantha asked, pulling away and looking at me. 

"Not from us," I said. "And not from the police. But honey, can I ask you a question, and can you please be one hundred percent honest with us?"

Samantha nodded. 

"Where did you get the money for a bus ticket?"

Samantha looked at me, and then at Jenna. 

"I went back to my old house," she said. 

"We know. The police saw you'd been there. But honey, where did all the money come from?" Jenna asked. 

"When my mom was still alive, she was saving money whenever she could get some. Change from going to get groceries, the allowance my - Stanley - would sometimes give her to buy stuff. He never let her have a credit card or anything. So she'd buy me clothes at a thrift store or a second hand store, and put the money she saved away. She could usually find name brand stuff, so Stanley thought she was spending the money at the big name stores. Like Old Navy or whatever. That way it looked like he was treating me okay, and he thought he looked like he was providing and people had no idea. Sure, sometimes they looked a little more worn than new, but Stanley didn't care too much about that. He just cared that I looked like he cared."

"What was she saving for?" I asked. 

"For us to leave. She wanted to leave Stanley, but..." she trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes again. 

"But he killed her before you had the chance to leave," I said, rubbing her back. 

She nodded. 

I hugged her tight to me. She was my daughter now. And I was going to do a much better job of protecting her than I had been.