CHAPTER 61
Thunder was stillin the truck when Kori got back, sitting perfectly still as he watched everything through the thick snow.
Flint had been taken away. Members of The Remnant were being led away in handcuffs, most of them muttering things about tyranny and government overreach.
Kori tuned them out.
Pete was being assessed by a medic who was crouched beside him. Herb had his arm around Billie, and both of them were wrapped in emergency blankets. Another paramedic took Mackenzie’s blood pressure.
When her sister saw her, she excused herself. She took off the cuff and rushed toward her.
Something had shifted in her expression. Relief and guilt mingled together.
Instead of talking, Kori pulled her sister into a hug.
Mackenzie went stiff, and Kori wondered if her sister might reject the embrace.
A moment later, Mackenzie folded and fell into her sister, sobs escaping.
They held each other for a long time.
When Mackenzie pulled away, her eyes were wet with tears. “Kori, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry for everything.”
“You don’t have to do this here,” Kori murmured. “We don’t have to do this right now.”
“I need to.” Mackenzie shook her head. “The thing that happened with Flint . . . it only happened once. Not that that excuses it. But it didn’t mean anything, and I’ve felt terrible about it every single day since.” Her voice broke slightly on the last word. “You’re my sister. Nothing was worth losing you.”
Kori looked at her. At the bruise on her cheekbone and the cut above her eye and the face she’d known her whole life.
“I know,” she murmured. “I feel the same way. But we all mess up sometimes.”
“Not you.”
“Oh, believe me. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes—like holding grudges.” She paused and drew in a shaky breath. “After Mom and Dad died, I actually started going back to church. But there’s a lot I’m still learning. When I met Naomi King?—”
“Who?”
Kori shook her head. “It’s a long story. But it’s a beautiful one of forgiveness and . . . and grace. It made me realize that I’ve been going through life with the same energy I used in the courtroom. I want justice. I want no mercy for those who’ve wronged others. But I can’t live my life like that.”
“Oh, Kori . . .”
“It’s true,” she continued. “I want God’s forgiveness and grace in my life more than anything else. But that means I need to offer it to others as well. Not forgiving the people who’ve hurt me doesn’t protect me. It’s just made me bitter. I don’t want to be bitter anymore.”
Mackenzie wiped the moisture from beneath her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“I think . . . I think a lot of what happened was because of the grief of losing Mom and Dad the way we did. We both handled it badly. We both went looking for things in the wrong places. I looked for comfort in success. You looked for it in other ways.”
Mackenzie wiped her eyes again. “I just wish I could go back and have a do-over.”
“How about we have a do-over now?”
Mackenzie sniffled before nodding. “I’d like that. I’d like that so much.”
“It’s going to take time,” Kori said. “I mean, realistically speaking. But I know we can do it.”
“I know we can too.”
They hugged again, longer this time.
