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Epilogue: Honeymoon, Ho!... Hopefully

"Oh, Frank, would you please hurry," Vanessa said.

She was inclined to side with her husband – Frank could be a real slow poke behind the wheel.

"We're almost there, Van," Frank said.

Ten minutes later they were parked and walking through the doors of the Glens Falls hospital. Vanessa hurried ahead and held the elevator motioning for Joe, Frank and Nancy to hurry to join her.

Upstairs she rushed to the nurse's station, where a beaming Stephanie greeted her.

"Vanessa! Finally, Lucy was asking for you."

"For me?"

"Yes, you."

"Can I go in?"

Stephanie chuckled, "Well, you can but she's not here. She's been moved upstairs to room 425."

"Thank you, Steph!"

Vanessa was too impatient to wait for the elevator and led the way up the stairs to the fourth floor at a trot.

The door to room 425 was wide open. Lucy was awake, alert, and propped up at the end of the bed. She was wearing a pale pink nightgown that highlighted the warm pink of her cheeks, though her eyes were still a bit sunken with dark smudges under them.

Vanessa smiled warmly at the girl, hurrying to her side and taking her hand.

"Oh, Lucy, it's so wonderful to see you awake, sweetie!"

Smiling tentatively, Lucy said, "You're the one, aren't you? The one who came and read to me?"

"Yes, this is Vanessa," Abe said from his seat on the other side of the bed. "She's been reading Jane Eyre to you."

Vanessa noticed that he held the girl's other hand firmly in one of his.

"You kept me here," Lucy said quietly. "I listened to your voice and it kept me here. You were my angel."

Abe smiled at the girl. "She's not the only angel, Luce. There are four of them. This is Vanessa's husband, Joe. And that's his brother, Frank, and his wife, Nancy."

Vanessa felt Joe's arm slide around her waist and without looking knew that Nancy and Frank were there, too. Her heart swelled with pride knowing what they had been able to do for these two children.

It had been well worth the disruption to their honeymoon.

HHH

"I don't know what I would have done if it weren't for Abe," Lucy said, smiling at him. "He saved my life."

Abe pursed his lips, cheeks hot with embarrassment. Lucy was the best friend he'd ever had and after the last few months they'd come to know each other well. But he still couldn't get used to her tendency to overstate things.

"He has certainly demonstrated amazing bravery," Nancy said.

Abe looked at her in surprise, noticing that Frank and Joe and Vanessa were all nodding their heads in agreement. He felt compelled to protest. They were the ones that had been brave – he'd been a coward. He shook his head adamantly.

"I was terrified of Mack."

Nancy smiled directly at him and Abe felt the warmth in his cheeks spread to his ears and neck.

"Being brave doesn't mean you aren't afraid, Abe," Nancy said. "It means doing the right thing despite your fear."

"Like when you grabbed the front of my shirt," Abe said in realization. "You were just as scared as I was of falling, but you didn't let go. Thank you, by the way."

"It was a group effort," Nancy said. "And you're very welcome."

Joe nodded. "Your uncle was the one that really saved the day and stopped us all from sliding over."

"Thank goodness for little trees and quick thinking," Frank said.

"A little tree saved me, too," Lucy said.

Vanessa leaned on the foot of the bed and asked, "How did you end up in Champion Ferry, Lucy? It's a long way from Toronto."

Lucy's cheeks reddened. "I had run away from an abusive foster home and was living on the streets of Toronto. Mostly I picked pockets to get money, but that's not real lucrative anymore with everyone carrying less cash. Any way, I'd met this girl that told me about… turning tricks. Mack… Mack was the first guy to… hire me for that." She sniffled, twisting her hands in her sheets. "He was very kind, and paid me even though we didn't really – well, you know. Then he offered to take me the States and give me a home. He made it sound so much better than the way that I'd been living that I jumped at the chance. But when I got here, everything changed…"

Tears had started running down Lucy's cheeks, and Abe squeezed her hand. "You don't have to tell them anymore, Luce. I told 'em what Mack was like."

"I'm curious how you ended up in that little tree," Joe said. "We knew Abe let you go at the cabin…"

Lucy swiped at her face and gave a firm nod. "Yes. Like I said, Abe saved my life that day by letting me go – Mack was so furious with me for taking your wallet… sorry about that, by the way," Lucy looked down, expression tight with guilt.

Joe tugged on the toe of her good leg to get her attention and gave her a crooked grin. "Hey, it's alright. No harm no foul. I'm just glad it all worked out."

Abe was struck again by how kind and forgiving Joe and the others with him were. He wanted to be like that.

With a grateful smile, Lucy continued. "Any way, I knew I had to get away, but I was afraid to go to the resorts where I'd been stealing wallets. Abe suggested Mrs. McClain's, so that was where I headed – but I'd never been there and only had a vague idea where it was. I got turned around a bit, but Abe caught up with me in the meadow –"

"Mack wasn't with him?" Frank asked.

"No," Abe answered. "When we reached the road, Mack lost the trail and had me go one way while he went the other. I convinced him that Lucy was most likely to go toward the resort where there were more people, so he went that direction, while I went toward Alice's."

"Yeah. Thank goodness. And at least I'd learned enough to stick to the hard ground along the road where I wouldn't leave tracks," Lucy said. "But I also knew I had to get off the road. Luckily, Abe was the one that found me. He gave me his knife and pointed me toward the path to Mrs. McClain's. But it wasn't long after Abe left me that I heard him talking to Mack and knew he would be coming. I panicked –"

"Is that when you dropped the knife?" Nancy asked.

"Yes," Lucy said. "I was terrified of Mack seeing me while I crossed the meadow to the path. The woods were closer so I went that direction. But when I reached the gorge there was nowhere to go…"

Abe patted Lucy's hand, trying to calm her obvious distress at reliving the chase. He took up the story.

"I kept trying to throw Mack off Lucy's trail, but once he found it, there was no distracting him. I don't think we were far behind, at that point, and we caught up with her at the edge of the gorge…"

Swallowing, Abe felt his heart start to race. He'd never forget coming out of the woods and seeing Lucy standing there at the ledge. Her eyes, wide with fear, had locked on him for several seconds. And then she had jumped.

Lucy squeezed his hand. "It's alright, Abe, I'm alright – because of you, we survived and we're both going to be ok."

Abe blinked back tears and nodded. Squaring his shoulders, he turned to address the adults in the room. Now that they'd shared their story, he figured it was a good time to bring it up his lingering concern about Lucy.

"My question is, what happens now? Lucy can't go back to living on the streets."

"Absolutely not," Sencha said. "Craig and Becky were meeting with the Canadian representative this morning to work out what needed to happen for Lucy to stay here."

Looking at Sencha in surprise, Abe blurted, "Who's Becky? What are you talking about?"

"Becky is… uh, a good friend of Craig's and she's been helping him research the Canadian adoption laws to see what we could do about keeping Lucy right here with us."

"But how? And why didn't you tell me?

"I didn't want to get your hopes up, Abe," Sencha said gently. "Heaven knows we've disappointed you enough times in your life. But I spoke with Becky a little while ago, and she seemed optimistic that Lucy would be staying – apparently, they can expedite the adoption process for older children. They're working out the details as we speak."

For the first time since his arrival, Abe left Lucy's side and walked up to Sencha. "You've never disappointed me, Sencha. You were my one true friend through all of this. I'm sorry I was so angry with you."

Standing, Sencha gathered Abe in a warm embrace which he returned without hesitation. While he still had lingering anger over what had happened over the last year and a half, he was finally beginning to see a light in the darkness. He was coming to recognize that the source of the light was Sencha and her family – his family.

She kissed his forehead, murmuring, "No more sorries, dear. You're home now."

Abe closed his eyes, fighting back tears again as he came to a profound insight.

He was home.

HHH

Nancy spied Craig and Becky coming down a side hall as they were making their way across the hospital lobby. She raised a hand and called out, "Craig, Becky!"

They met the couple in a corner of the lobby. Craig looked tired, but happy and Becky looked positively blissful holding onto his arm.

"I'm glad we got to see you before you left," Craig said.

"You aren't getting rid of us right away," Joe said. "We're extending our stay into next week."

"Oh, how wonderful," Becky said. "We'll have to plan dinner sometime in the next few days – once things settle down."

"That would be great," Vanessa said. "I'd really like to keep up with what's happening with Lucy. Did you have any luck with the Canadian children's services representative?"

"It looks promising," Craig said. "We've been on the phone with their main office most of the morning, and I hired a Canadian lawyer to help with the legal aspects. MJ was a sleeze, but the money he set aside for me is sure coming in handy to grease the wheels so Lucy can stay here."

"Who will be the official guardian?"

The sheepish smile Craig directed at Becky was sweet, and Nancy had to stifle a girly sigh as he wrapped an arm around the librarian.

"That was one of the hang ups, but Becky has agreed to marry me, and we're going to sign the adoption papers as the legal guardians for both Abe and Lucy. Both the US and Canadian authorities were hesitant to allow a single man to adopt two teenagers. I can't say I blame them after everything we've learned about Mack. It's going to take some time, but the authorities have agreed to allow both kids to stay here on a temporary basis until we can work out the permanent solution. Your dad has been a huge help, Nancy. He and that therapist he brought to evaluate Abe have been instrumental in convincing the authorities that it's the right thing to do for Abe and Lucy."

"That's such a relief," Vanessa said. "It's been a rough week for all of you, but it sounds like everything is going to turn out ok."

"Yeah," Craig said. "I do wish I'd listened to Nancy the beginning of the week, though. If we'd just faced what happened head on we could have avoided what happened yesterday. I can't tell you how sorry I am about your arm, Nan."

"It's not my first injury and will probably not be my last… despite Frank's most valiant efforts." Nancy nudged her husband and gave him a wink. Frank groaned in response.

"I wish you all the luck in the world, Frank!" Craig said with a laugh.

"Craig," Nancy said, choosing her next words with care, "I did have one thing I was wondering if you could clear up for me."

"Sure."

"What made you go to the meadow the night Mack died?"

Craig pursed his lips for a few seconds and then took a deep breath before plunging into his story.

"After we found Lucy at the gorge, I felt like I… I had to figure out what was going on with Mack. I went to see Aunt Sencha and she told me she was worried about Abe, too and said that Mack had been acting strangely. Her worry rubbed off on me. That was when I decided to confront the issue head on, and go talk to Mack."

"When was that?" Frank asked.

"Tuesday, after I left you and Nan up at the meadow. I didn't go home, I went to Mack's house. Mack was in one hell of a good mood when I arrived and invited me in. To be honest, it was one of the strangest encounters I'd ever had with him. He gave me a beer and sat down with me like we were best friends."

"Is that when he told you he was your half-brother?" Nancy asked. Fern had mentioned that Mack was the one to reveal that secret to Craig.

"Yeah. And that's not all he told me. The whole thing was so surreal. He told me that he, Abe and I were family, and we needed to stick together. I was so shocked that I didn't know what to say or do. Mack was my brother? Abe was my nephew? And they'd both been involved in what happened to Lucy. And through the whole thing, Mack was… cheerful. Then Abe came down. Mack left us alone and I asked Abe if it was true and all he could do was nod. I didn't know what to do…"

Nancy could feel Craig's frustration at the dilemma he'd been handed with Mack's confession. "I think Mack knew that if he told you the truth you'd be hesitant to turn him in. One thing I think we can all agree on is that Mack was a master manipulator."

"Definitely," Becky murmured, blue eyes wide and moist with tears.

"Yeah, and I played right into his hands," Craig said with a self-accusing frown. "I should have gone straight to the sheriff, but instead I tried to figure out a way to get Abe out of the picture, finally deciding I was just going to go get him and take him away from Mack – by force if necessary. But by the time I made my decision and went back that night, Mack and Abe were both gone. Then I remembered that Mack had said something about Abe losing his knife in the meadow and needing to go look for it. So I took a chance, and that's where I found them."

"So when you got to the meadow, Abe and Mack had already been there looking for the knife," Nancy said.

"Yeah, and from the sounds of it, they'd been looking for a while. Mack was furious, and was kicking the shit out of Abe when I got there. I pulled him off, and that's when he turned on me. I barely even managed to land a punch. Mack was vicious and got me pinned to the ground pretty quickly. That's when Abe hit him over the head with the flashlight. He was out cold, and I had a hard time even pushing him off so I could get up. I swear the guy was built of solid muscle – he weighed a ton."

"So you pushed him off… was he face up at that point?" Frank asked.

"He was, but he came around while I was catching my breath. He muttered something about making Abe pay for hitting him. I shoved him back to the ground every time he tried to get up. Honestly, I was just afraid that if he managed to get to his feet I'd lose my advantage. I told him that if he didn't leave Abe alone I was going to turn him in. The last time I pushed him down I think he may have hit his head again. That was when Abe and I left."

"Did he follow?"

Craig grimaced. "I was focused on getting Abe the hell outta there. I was relieved when Aunt Sencha showed up. I told her to take Abe back to Alice's and lock the doors. Then I went to make sure Mack understood that I was serious about turning him in if he didn't leave Abe alone."

"That was when you realized he was dead," Nancy said.

Nodding, Craig swallowed and cleared his throat. "I think Mack tried to follow us, but the knock on the head had taken its toll. He ended up crawling after us and must have blacked out…"

"Face down in the water," Frank said, shaking his head. "Mack was the only one to blame for his own death."

"By the time I got back to him he was already dead," Craig said. "I left him and went back to the house, got my car, and went home. By that time I hadn't slept in over 24 hours, and I wasn't thinking straight. I passed out at home and when I woke up the next morning I hoped it was all just a bad dream. But it turned out it wasn't."

"But it's over now," Nancy said, and gave Craig an encouraging pat on the arm.

"Thanks to all of you," Craig said. "I can't tell you how grateful I am to you for everything you've done for me and my family."

"We're happy to help," Frank said.

Nancy nodded in agreement, and looking at Joe and Vanessa, she was sure he spoke for all of them. It hadn't been the most restful honeymoon in the world, but it felt like it was the right start to the rest of their life together.

Helping others was what it was all about.

HHH

Frank laughed as Nancy took his hand and dragged him toward the car.

"You promised," she said with a cute little pout.

Frank planted his feet and pulled her back into his arms, locking them around her even as she struggled to break free.

"Hey, watch where you're swinging that cast! You could knock a guy out with that thing!"

"Sorry." Nancy gave him a sultry smile, gently setting her cast on one shoulder while she kneaded his other with her good hand. Reaching up she gave him a lingering kiss before adding, "But you did promise."

"I promised before we got so wrapped up in this case, Nan. I'm tired. And I need a vacation from our honeymoon!"

Meanwhile, Joe and Vanessa strolled by. Vanessa smacked Frank on the back of the head.

"Stop teasing her, already," Van said. "Cranberry Lake is only a couple hours away and I've heard the drive is lovely. It can't hurt to at least stop by and see if Detective Flannery is home."

"It's a good thing Dad said we could have another ten days off," Joe said.

Nancy flashed him an impish grin. "That should be more than enough time to look into my uncle's disappearance and get some honeymooning in!"

Frank chuckled at the long-suffering look his brother directed at him.

Joe whined, "And they say we're the ones looking for trouble, eh, bro?

Looking down into his wife's beguiling blue eyes, Frank shrugged and smiled.

"I fell in love with trouble."

THE END

A/N: It's always bittersweet to reach the end of the story. I apologize if you found any typos – I made some pretty sweeping changes to the Epilogue post-betaing, so all errors are my own. I hope I sufficiently wrapped up the loose ends for everyone.

As always, many, many thanks to those who reviewed: liferscove2118, MinecraftDanny, Nineveh, bhar, SnowPrincess88, fairytaleprincess03, cameron1812, max2013, j, SC15, and Guest (reading it again? That is high praise indeed :). Those reviews make the work of crafting the story so worth the effort!

As I said last chapter, I am only in the planning stages of the next story but am hoping to wrap up the mystery of Nan's uncle then, as I allude to in the epilogue. Any suggestions for a title will be entertained as I begin writing.

Until next time!