Dollar Runaways

Chapter 23: Deceptions

I WOKE UP to the sound of the obnoxious peacocks joining in the sounds of my nightmare and found tears streaming down my face. It was a half-hour before I was supposed to wake up, but I couldn't take being alone anymore. I opened my door and walked across the hallway to my mom's room. It was open and so I walked in. Mom was still lying in her bed, sleeping, so I pulled the covers up and slid next to her.

I must have fallen back to sleep because I felt a hug and Mom asked, "And when did you come in here Princess?"

I felt some tears start back up in my eyes. I was really embarrassed about feeling the need to come sleep with my mom. "I had a nightmare..."

"Oh, sweetie, it's okay," She told me and stroked my hair. The alarm started going off and she said, "You ready to get started?"

I nodded.

"Okay then, why don't you go get dressed in one of the outfits you have that's the same as a doll outfit, and dress Kaitlyn in the same one."

I looked at her, but nodded without any questioning. Today was going to be a serious day all day with finishing establishing our cover story. I wasn't looking forward to whatever fake stuff we had to do in Dallas though. I was also kind of nervous about going back there since I had a feeling people were kind of looking for us there.

Mom gave me a hug and I walked back to my room. I settled on my white, pink, and blue plaid dress and found the matching outfit for Kaitlyn. Because I knew we would be walking all over the place today, I chose some white sandals with a back-strap over the blue ones that matched Kaitlyn's. Mom gave me a pink Disney Princess backpack last night before bed that I packed with a few outfits for Kaitlyn, a couple coloring books, and a couple Barbie's just because I thought a normal eight-year-old would probably bring them.

Madison came in and saw how I was dressed and smiled. "Want me to do your hair?"

I nodded, "Please."

She directed me to the chair and worked on my hair for a while, before pronouncing I was done. I looked in the mirror and saw the pretty French Braiding and asked her, "Can you do dolls like that too?"

Madison smiled, "When we get to the airport, we'll do it together, both of our dolls, okay?"

"Okay," I said. It would add to our disguise so I was sure it was a good plan. Mom met us down at breakfast and we had our suitcases sitting in the entranceway. Madison had Mackenzie in her arms most of breakfast too. The whole meal was subdued and both Mom and I received sympathy cards from just about everyone. I noticed some of Mom's had money, which she tried to give back but they wouldn't hear of it.

I knew she must have felt guilty about that.

"You heading home then?" Hank asked.

"Yeah, Mom and Dad..." She sniffled, "were very smart about things. The estate should be taken care of by their lawyer. He said that me getting custody of Ashley is a given in the will, so it's just a matter of appearing in front of a judge..." She sniffled again.

"What are you going to do after this week?" Annie asked kindly.

Mom had a few tears that she wiped away and I didn't hide the ones forming in my eyes either. "Well, last night Aunt Gloria offered to let me stay on for a couple years... Let me get some experience here before moving on." Mom looked at Gloria and said, "I think we're going to take her up on it. At least for a year or so..."

"What about school?" Annie asked her.

"I already have two degrees; the agricultural degree was more of an extra. I'm sure I can find plenty of work out there with my engineering degree."