A ripple of emotions moves through Raine’s face as if he doesn’t know whether to be happy, relieved, or both at the same time maybe. I help him up from the floor of Dad’s office where we have been sitting for the past hour. “I have to grab something really quick, then we can go, ok?” I tell him.
I jog down the hallway to my old bedroom and rummage through the closest I haven’t stepped foot inside of for years. I run my fingertips down the soft wool of a yellow cardigan I only wore a couple of times. This is perfect. I grab a small shopping bag and drop the sweater and a couple other items inside before finding Raine near the front door.
“Ready?” he asks, sounding a bit breathless.
“We can take the spare car,” I tell him, grabbing the key from the small hook behind his head.
We arrive at the care facility within a few short minutes and Raine is like a storm as he rushes inside and up to the front desk, demanding release papers for Lauren.
The woman who wasn’t too friendly to us when we were here before is deadpanning while Raine speaks clear and concisely. “I am releasing my sister and she is coming to live with me under my care.”
The woman surprisingly doesn’t ask many questions as she rummages through a filing cabinet. “I’ll be right back,” I whisper into Raine’s ear.
I make my way down the hallways that lead to Lauren’s room and find her sitting on a wooden chair, staring out the smoggy window.
“Lauren,” I call as I tap my knuckles lightly on the door.
She turns to find me, a smile immediately touching her lips. “Haven!” How could she be so excited to see someone she hardly knows, especially if she truly understands who my father is? It somehow makes me feel a little worse.
“Raine has a surprise for you,” I tell her. “But first, I wanted to give you something. I hope that’s okay?” Taking caution, I walk over to her and hand the bag over.
With excitement, she takes the bag and pulls out the sweater, letting it unroll and hang from her fingertips. “It’s yellow, just like the sun,” she beams.
“It should fit and I think it will look beautiful on you,” I tell her, feeling my smile match the greatness of hers. I take the bag back and reach inside, retrieving the hairbrush and a hair elastic I brought. “May I?” I hold them up.
“Mama always did my hair every morning. She said I have a lion’s mane, but people would pay lots of money for hair like this.”
“It’s true. You have incredible hair, and I can try to do it just like your mama if you’d like.”
She turns around in her chair, showing me the back of her head. “Okay,” she says. I run the brush carefully through her thick waves, avoiding snarls and tangles while smoothing each section out so I can pull it into a ponytail. “It feels nice to have my hair brushed.” Her words break my heart, knowing how little they did for her here.
“There, perfect,” I tell her. “Can I help you with the sweater now?”
As she’s slipping her arms into the sleeves, Raine walks in and stops as if he’s taken aback by the sight of Lauren and me together. He doesn’t say a word, though.
“Haven said you have a surprise for me,” Lauren tells Raine.
“I do,” he says quietly. A smile that stretches from ear-to-ear forms over Raine’s lips as he walks in closer to us. “How would you like to go home?”
Lauren looks a bit confused and glances between Raine and me. “We want you to come live with us. We can explain everything on the way out of this place,” I tell her.
Tears trickle from Lauren’s pretty chestnut eyes and her hand shakes as she covers her mouth. “I get to leave?” she cries out through muffled words.
My heart hurts with sadness and gratefulness at the same time. This poor woman has gone through so much and I want to undo everything Dad caused her. I know a lot of it isn’t possible to fix, but I need to do whatever I can to make things better for her from here on out.
“Yeah, sis, we’re getting a second chance,” Raine tells her.
A second chance. We’ve all gotten a second chance now.
