Chapter 44

Another smile tugged at the corners of Sara’s lips. “You’re going to have to ask them a lot slower than that and give me time to answer each question. I might forget one before I answer the next. So we’ll have to take it slow. We have time. So the first thing you asked was why we kidnapped you.”

Amanda nodded. “Yeah. That one is kind of important to me.”

Once again, Sara’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. “Yes, I’m sure it is. You see, I knew your mother and father.” Sara lifted a hand before Amanda could erupt into another tirade of questions. “No, not Kevin and Martha. Your birth parents, Jacob and Cara.”

Amanda’s face immediately clouded at the mention of her birth parents and her features grew stony with the force of her emotion. “I don’t want to talk about them.” She snapped.

Sara opened her mouth and Amanda’s eyes narrowed warningly. A soft sort of choked sound escaped Sara and she looked down until her chin touched her chest. “They loved you, Amanda.” She whispered, sounding for all the world like a young child expecting to be beaten for her insolence.

Amanda closed her eyes and took a slow, calming breath. “I’m sure they did. They left me on the doorstep of a total stranger. I could have frozen to death or been kidnapped, or worse. Sounds like they really loved me a lot.”

Another soft little sound escaped Sara’s lips and she forced her chin up. Her throat worked silently for a long moment before she dared to speak again, looking directly into Amanda’s eyes. “You have just seen me turn into a wolf before your very eyes, Amanda. Please at least acknowledge that there are some things in this world that are so far beyond your knowledge and understanding that you would never believe it unless you saw it with your own two eyes. Please at least keep an open mind long enough for me to tell you the story of where you came from and who you are?”

Amanda could hear from the sound of Sara’s voice that speaking up like that had really cost her something. It had been hard for her to look her in the eyes and say those things. In the face of courage like that, how could she do anything but agree? She nodded once in acceptance. “Alright. I’ll listen.” She still couldn’t make sense of the other woman’s strange shift in demeanor. It both perplexed and bothered her that the woman now seemed almost afraid of her.

Sara smiled and seemed to relax when Amanda gave in and agreed to listen. Sara began to tell the story of the hunters that had come that night so many years before. As Sara spoke, Daniel came in with an ice pack for Amanda as well as drinks for them both. He remained as silent as a church mouse as he moved around the house, waiting on the women hand and foot while they spoke. He brought them food just as Sara finished the story.

Daniel sat one plate down in front of Amanda and stood there holding the other two.

Amanda looked in askance at Sara. “What?” Then to Daniel. “Why don’t you sit and eat?”

Daniel glanced at Sara and then sat down on the floor across from the two of them, but still, he held the two plates. “You should try a bite first, Amanda. Make sure you like it. If you don’t, I’ll get you something else.”

Amanda frowned between the two of them and then shrugged her shoulders. These two were going to be impossible to figure out. They made no sense to her at all, but to please the two of them she leaned forward and tried a bite of the food laid out before her. Daniel, it seemed, was quite the cook. It had been a long time since she’d had anything like the pork steak that he served her.