Katherine Claire O'Connor: Sorry about the confusion! The chapters are a little out of order-because there are a couple of 'flashback' chapters, where Sharpay is remembering a time before Gracie's accident, so their ages will vary. At the time of the accident, Bryce is 7, Matt is 6, Gracie is 3, and Lily is still just an infant, so she doesn't have a specific age. In some 'flashback' chapters, Lily probably won't even be in it, but if she is, she's very little and won't have any parts until I get to the later chapters. In real life time, like in the first chapter, Bryce is 14, Matt is 13, Gracie would be 10, Lily is around 6 or 7, and the Gracie Bryce was talking about is actually the newest baby of the family after the accident and she's an infant in the first chapter. I hope that clears things up. If not, you'll probably get it better once the story is finished!

Chapter 3

"Mommy, I go to Papa's house," Gracie said.

"What for?" I asked, laying Lily in her bassinet.

"I go get my bwanket."

"Okay. Be careful and come back when you're done."

"Otay, bye."

No sooner than those words left her mouth, she was out the door. I couldn't help but smile a little. At least one kid would be out of the way for a while.

"Shar, Can you run to the post office later?" Troy asked as he walked into the kitchen. "I forgot to pick up my package."

"Sure. I'll do it after I get the last load of laundry in."

"Thanks. Where's Gracie?"

"Jack's. She forgot her blankie."

"Okay. I'm gonna do some yard work. I'll keep an eye out for her."

"Alright. Bryce, Matt! Come do your homework and do it now, you have to turn it in tomorrow!" I called upstairs.

"Mine's done," Bryce said. "But I'll help Matt with his," he said, walking into the kitchen.

"Alright. Thank you. Matthew Chad! Now!"

"I'm coming, jeez," Matt said, walking into the room.

"Don't 'jeez' me, just do your homework. Bryce is gonna help you. If he can't help, then ask me, but do not skip anything this time. You got an F on your last paper and that is unacceptable in this house."

"That means if you get another F, you have to move out and live with Grandma and Grandpa Evans," Bryce said.

Matt's eyes widened. "Mommy, I don't wanna live with them."

The look on his face was priceless. I hid a grin and shrugged. "Well then I guess you better not get another F, huh? Get to work. Do one page and you can have a snack and then you're finishing the rest. If you don't have it all done by bedtime, we're getting up early in the morning."

"I don't wanna get up early."

"Then you'll get it done tonight."

"Okay..."

"Keep an eye on Lily, Bryce. I'm gonna take a shower and I'll be back down, okay? Her bottle is in the fridge."

"Okay," Bryce said.

While I was in the shower, I completely lost myself. I thought about everything good in life. My kids, my job - I'm a daycare manager, my husband, my life and how it's gotten better since we had Bryce. When I finally came back to reality, I hopped out and got dressed before going back downstairs. I looked at the clock and looked around for a few seconds.

"Has Gracie come back inside?" I asked.

"I don't think so," Bryce said.

"Stay with them, I'll go look for her."

I walked outside and waved to Troy to get his attention so I wouldn't have to yell over the lawn mower. When he saw me, he turned it off.

"What?" Troy asked.

"Where's Gracie? She come back yet?" I asked.

"Not that I know of. She's probably still at Dad's."

I walked across our lawn and across Jack's before walking into my father-in-law's house. "Dad? Is Gracie still here?"

Jack walked out of the living room. "No. She went back home."

"No she didn't."

"She told me she was going home."

"She didn't... Gracie!" I shouted, going back outside.

"She's not over there?" Troy asked as I walked back to our lawn.

"No. Dad says she came back here."

"I never noticed her. She might be in the house."

I ran back into the house and looked everywhere. Her room, Bryce's room, Matt's room, Lily's room, our room. The basement, the bathroom, the attic, the backyard. Everywhere. She just wasn't there. When I went back downstairs, I put Lily in her playpen and told Matt to stay with her, while Bryce went outside with me. I was already in tears.

"Troy, she's not anywhere around here," I said with a small sob. "Where is she?"

"I don't know babe, but we'll find her."

"Grace Charlotte Bolton! If you're hiding, come out right now! Mommy is not in the mood for games!"

"I'll check the garage, maybe she was trying to get her car out," Troy said, walking into the house. He came back out less than a minute later and shook his head. "Not in there."

"Mommy," Bryce said.

"What do we do? Do we call the police? Do we issue an Amber Alert, what?" I asked as Troy hugged me.

"We'll find her, babe, it'll be fine."

"Mommy," Bryce repeated.

"What, Bryce?" I asked.

"The van's window is cracked. We don't leave the windows open."

I looked over to the van. The window of the driver's side was cracked. That meant someone had been inside of it. I moved out of Troy's embrace and ran to the van.

There she was.

In the driver's seat.

Asleep.

Barely breathing.

Letting out a rack of sobs, I tried to open the door, but she must have locked it. I forgot all about the keys in my pocket, so I took off my heels and hit the heel of my shoe against the glass as hard as I could, before pulling my sweet little Gracie out of the seat, hugging her close to me.

She was boiling hot. Almost too hot to touch. Her hair was soaked with sweat. I tried going in the house, but I kind of lost my balance so I just knelt to the ground, holding my precious baby girl close to me, rocking her back and forth and begging her to wake up.

"Gracie, please wake up, it's Mommy, wake up," I sobbed.

"Calm down, Shar, she'll be okay. Bryce, call 9-1-1. Now," Troy said, tossing his phone to Bryce.

Bryce fumbled with the phone before it finally went to his ear and he put it on speaker to hear better.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" the dispatcher asked.

"My little sister was stuck in our car and she's asleep," Bryce said quickly.

"Okay, what's your address?"

"1754 Mockingbird Drive, Albuquerque, New Mexico."

"Okay honey, we've got an ambulance coming right now. Stay on the line with me until they get there, okay?"

"Okay."

"Is your sister breathing?"

"Mommy, is she breathing?"

"Barely," Troy said.

"My daddy says she's barely breathing."

"Okay, tell your daddy to lay her down on a flat surface for me, okay?" the dispatcher said.

"She says lay Gracie down on a flat surface."

"Once she's laid down, tell your daddy to get something to fan her with. Get a fan or a book to fan her with to try and cool her down."

"She says get a fan and fan her off so she'll cool down."

"What about water?" Troy asked.

"Can we use water?"

"No water sweetie, just a fan," the dispatcher said.

"No water, just a fan."

"You're doing really good sweetheart. Listen for sirens, do you hear any sirens yet?"

Bryce stayed quiet for a few seconds to listen. "It's really quiet but I hear it."

"Okay, let me know when they're in front of your house and I'll let you know when you can hang up."

"Okay."

"What's your name?"

"Bryce."

"That's a very nice name, Bryce. My name is Grace."

"That's my sister's name."

"That's pretty cool, huh? What's your favorite color?"

"Blue. No, green. I like green."

"Green is a nice color. What about movies? What's your favorite movie?"

"The Secret of Nimh."

"I've never seen that one, what's it about?"

"I don't remember, but there's mice or squirrels in it. I haven't seen it in a long time but it's my favorite."

"Sounds like a fun movie. What's your favorite song?"

"Life Is A Highway."

"I love that song. Is the ambulance there yet, Bryce?"

Bryce looked to the street and nodded. "Yeah, they're coming right now, they just now stopped."

"Okay, Bryce, stay on the line with me. Is someone fanning Grace off?"

"Yeah, my daddy is."

"Where's your mommy?"

"She's by Gracie, she's crying a lot."

"Okay. Are the people from the ambulance helping?"

"They're getting out of their truck right now and getting a bed out of the back."

"Okay. You're doing a really good job, Bryce. How old are you?"

"Seven but I'll be eight on Christmas."

"That's fun. I wish my birthday was on Christmas."

"I don't, I don't get as many presents."

Grace laughed. "Presents are fun to get, huh? What did you get on your last birthday?"

"I got a remote control helicopter, it was like the hospital ones."

"That sounds really cool. Did you like it?"

"Yeah, but I accidentally ran it into a wall and it broke so Mommy said I could get another one this year."

"That sounds like a good deal. Are you on the nice list?"

"I think so."

"Who's on the phone, little guy?" A paramedic asked.

"It's 9-1-1," Bryce said.

"Alright. Grace, we're here, we're taking care of the little girl."

"Alright," Grace said. "Bryce, you can hang up with me now. You did a really good job, I'm sure your mommy and daddy are very proud of you. I hope your sister is okay."

"Okay," Bryce said.

"Bye, Bryce."

"Bye," he said, hanging up.

"Good job, little man," the paramedic said. "You did really good. You know what little boys get when they do a good job talking to the police and giving them information?"

"What?"

The paramedic took a badge out of his pocket. "They get this really cool badge that tells everyone that they're a hero," he said, pinning it to Bryce's shirt.

"I'm a hero?"

"Sure you are. You called 9-1-1 and you told them your address, and you did everything right in a situation like this. Your little sister's going to thank you for this when she gets bigger and understands what you did for her."

"I saw the window was open on the van."

"That means you found her. You did a really good job, buddy. Go show your mommy your badge."

I saw Bryce turn from the paramedic and run towards me. I could hardly keep my eyes off of Gracie, but I tried my best to stay calm for Bryce at least.

"Mommy, look what I got!" Bryce said, pointing to his badge. "The ambulance guy said I got this cause I'm a hero and did a good job telling Grace what happened."

"You did do a good job, honey," I said, hugging him. I didn't want to let go. If I couldn't hold Gracie, I wanted to at least hold one of my babies. "I'm so proud of you, Brycey... If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have found Gracie," my voice cracked.

"Are you okay, Mommy?"

"I'll be okay, sweetheart. I'm just scared."

"Don't be scared. Gracie will be okay. She's just tired."

"I know, honey. She'll be fine. She'll come home in a few days."

Even though I didn't know if that was true or not, I wasn't going to make him scared. The truth is, Bryce really is a hero. I can't thank him enough for all the love and support he gave us that day. He was only seven, but he did a terrific job. He's Gracie's hero. He's my hero.