Richard's hands were shaking as he ran them over her arms, looking for wounds, for proof that she really was okay. "Let me see, let me check," he said."Dad, stop, I'm fine," Jems said, but her voice broke on the words because seeing him like this, so scared, so desperate, so much like the father she remembered before everything fell apart, it broke something loose inside her chest.Richard finally stopped his frantic inspection and just looked at her, and he saw tears streaming down her face."Oh, baby," he whispered, pulling her close again. "My baby girl."And then Jems was crying in earnest, wrapping her arms around her father and holding on like she might drown if she let go. All the anger, all the hurt, all the months of separation, it all melted away in the face of how terrified she'd been, how close she'd come to dying, and how much she needed her dad."I missed you," she sobbed into his chest. "I missed you so much, Dad. I missed us being a family. I missed everything about h
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