Homecomings:

Mr. Lytell's Store:

It was early the next morning when Charlie woke Heather & Trixie. Mr. Lytell was already at the store waiting with Brownie*, his horse, for the girls to join him. After they saddled their horses and gathered their belongings, they met him in front of the store, already on Bolo & Levi. Mr. Lytell handed up the bag of newspapers.

"I called your house, Trixie & let your parents know that I was coming up with the newspapers and that I was bringing some friends with me."

"How did they sound Mr. Lytell?"

"As well as anybody under the circumstances. Now before we go, do either of you girls need medical attention? I do see the remnants of bruises on both of you older girls but the wee one hasn't let me see much of her."

"I'm fine Mr. Lytell, but Charlie will need medical attention. The man that took us always wanted her to sleep in the same room as him, though I'm not sure why."

"I'll be fine Mr. Lytell. A doctor can wait on my condition and Heather doesn't have any bruises."

"Alright, well then I'll let it be for now. Let's get going shall we?"

They stopped talking as they headed towards Glen Road. Trixie was jittery. It had been way too long for her to be away from home. Not to mention that she couldn't wait to see her family & friends.

Crabapple Farm:

All the kids were either in the kitchen helping make breakfast or in the living room getting ready for the fundraiser later that morning. The fundraiser was to help the ongoing search for Trixie, Heather 7 Charlotte. Though they didn't know it at the time & the Webster brothers had been told not to say anything to the Belden's about the girls escaping, the Bob-Whites were soon to be reunited with their beloved sister & friend. Tad & Spider had had a hard time not saying anything to the Belden's, Wheeler's or Bob-Whites about what had happened.

It was Mr. Belden who told Honey & Jim that they needn't go to Mr. Lytell's store to get the newspapers as he had closed the store to be at the fundraiser and that he was bringing the newspapers up himself. Mr. Belden didn't say anything about the friends that Mr. Lytell was bringing because he didn't know who Mr. Lytell might be brining.

Because it was such a drizzly morning, Charlie, Trixie & Heather had raincoats on with the hoods up. Mr. Lytell had the hood of his raincoat on as well. They had talked little as Mr. Lytell was sure Trixie would burst from happiness if she started to talk. When the group came around the last bend of the driveway of Crabapple farm, it was Honey's face in the window that Trixie saw through the drizzle. And it was Honey who first stared to speak.

"Say, I didn't know Mr. Lytell knew any young girls with horses. Who do you suppose he's brought with him?" Honey asked.

"What are you talking about Honey?" Diana asked coming into the living room where Honey was standing. And then she also saw what Honey had seen. "Hm, that is curious. Maybe Mr. Lytell got some experts who know what it's like to be kidnapped."

"What are you girls yapping about over here?" Dan asked coming up.

"Just admiring the horses and their riders that are with Mr. Lytell." Honey said.

"Well how about you stop yapping and get to the table. Moms says breakfast is ready." Brian said.

"We're coming."

"Say, it sure was nice of Mr. Lytell to bring the newspapers." Jim said.

"Yes, it was. He told dad that because he was coming to the fundraiser that there was no point in being open and that he and his friends hadn't eaten breakfast, so Mom set four extra places." Mart said.

"New friends…hey, she looks familiar!" Bobby yelled as he ran to the sliding glass door. And it was Bobby who first saw Trixie's face.

Family Reunion:

"Trixie! She's home!" Bobby yelled as he opened the porch door and threw his arms around his older sister's legs. Everyone in the Belden house were too stunned to say anything and it was quiet for a few minutes as Trixie picked Bobby up and walked into the house. Mr. Lytell came in a second later with the newspapers in his arms and Charlie & Heather behind him. And then there was chaos as everyone tried to speak at the same time.

"Trixie?!" Honey questioned.

"How'd you get away?" Jim asked.

"Who are your friends?" Mart asked.

"How'd you find them Mr. Lytell?" Dan & Diana asked at the same time.

"Is it really your, Trixie?" Mrs. Belden asked.

"Why didn't you say anything Mr. Lytell?" Mr. Belden asked.

"Slow down, one at a time, please. Can we get out of our jackets and get things set down first?" Mr. Lytell finished.

"Of course, come in. where are our manners? Please come in, sit down and relax." Mrs. Belden said as she ushered Mr. Lytell and the three girls into the living room.

Trixie, Charlie & Heather took their coats off and set them over a chair. They set the bags beside the chair before sitting in front of the roaring fireplace. It was then that Jim saw the bruises on both Trixie & Charlie and his face grew furious.

"He hit you?" Jim asked, obviously angry.

"It's not what you think, Jim. Okay maybe it is. But Charlie tried to stop him, I swear she did." Trixie said.

"Look, I'm sorry Trixie was taken but then again I'm also not sorry. If Trixie hadn't been taken then there would still be a good chance that Heather & I would still be in the cabin with Frank. I was outside chopping wood for the stove I cooked on when Frank went into the room Trixie, Heather & I shared. When I heard Heather screaming, I ran into the cabin as fast as I could and pulled Frank away from her. Her bruises have already started to fade, but I can't take back what happened."

"Okay, we get that part and we thank you for protecting our sister, but who are you?" Brian asked.

"My name is Charlie…well actually it is Charlotte Fowler and this is my sister Heather. We showed up at Mr. Lytell's store last night before the power went out. Mr. Lytell was kind enough to let us sleep at the house behind his store for the night. We put the horses in the garage so they wouldn't get spooked."

"Oh, so that must mean that you are Adam's sisters?" Mart asked.

"You know Adam? But how? I don't remember us living out here. I don't even remember having neighbors."

"Yeah, you guys live behind my house. Before Adam had the cops reopen your guys' case, we never saw him at all. He was either away with the military or away on business. Now, he's always at the Wheeler's house or down here talking to Trixie's parents." Diana finished.

"But that means that he didn't move away after all. Trixie, I have…we have family here. We'll have to write Mr. Jackson at once and tell him that we have finally arrived safely at home."

"Won't he be surprised to learn that we are actually neighbors? And that means he won't have to travel very far to come get his horses." Trixie said.

"I was wondering where you girls got them horses from. Was it Mr. Jackson that helped you get away?" Both girls nodded their heads before Charlie answered.

"Mr. Jackson is the nicest man I've ever known, except my father and now Mr. Lytell. Frank made friends with him last summer when he decided I had been brainwashed enough not to say anything. I made friends with his daughter Jennifer when we rode horses together. Heather was always with us but because she doesn't remember our parents, she always thought Frank was our father. Mr. Jackson got suspicious of Frank over Christmas when he kidnapped that other girl. But because that other girl wouldn't follow the rules at all, he got rid of her."

"How do you mean, Charlie?" Mr. Belden asked. The breakfast that had been made had been brought into the living room and was being eaten as everyone talked.

"It's best that little ears don't hear the details." Charlie motioned towards Bobby and Heather who were busy playing with the wolf pup & Reddy.

"Of course, maybe some other time. Right now, we need to get ready for the fundraiser."

"Moms, what's the fundraiser for?" Trixie asked.

"It was going to go towards another search for you Charlie & Heather, but now I don't know where it's going to go."

"I have an idea," Charlie began, "we could give it to Mr. Jackson since he loaned the three of us money so we could buy food on our way home. He said we could pay him back when we got home/ he also said that he would get Bolo & Levi after we wrote to him to tell him we were home safely. Bolo was Mr. Jackson's horse when he was a cop with the Mounted Patrol in the city and Levi was his late wife's horse before she got sick and died."

"That's a good idea. But we don't owe Mr. Jackson that much money, only like $75 dollars all together. What if we make more than that at the fundraiser?"

"Then we donate the rest of the money to an organization that helps families of kidnapped or missing children. Do you have any idea how many kids go missing every year? When Frank would take me to the library, I would read up on children that had been kidnapped or just plain went missing. He would always leave me there for a few hours while he did something in town. The people at the library let me copy and print pages for free. When they asked why I was so interested in that subject I told them it was for a class project. They never pushed the subject and as far as I knew, never asked Frank about it. Hundreds of thousands of kids worldwide go missing every year. Half are never seen again; some are found in a city morgue; and then there are the ones that were sold into slavery. If those ones are ever rescued, they can never go home for fear they'll be found again or their parents are the ones that sold them in the first place. And if, while they are still in captivity, they try to run away because they want to go home, the people that own them track down every single member of their families and kill them all. There are rules to being a slave."

"Dang, that's one long explanation. Have you thought about what you want to do when you graduate?" Jim asked.

"I'm going to be a Social Worker. Besides, the three of us have entered a club that the rest of you aren't allowed to join."

"Who says we can't join?" Diana asked.

"Because it's a club for the survivors of kidnappings and I highly doubt the rest of you have been kidnapped."

"Well, there was that one time that Trixie and Mart were almost kidnapped in my dad's red trailer." Diana said.

"And then there was the one time that Honey & Trixie were kidnapped while working on a mystery in Mississippi. Do those count?" Brian asked.

"Only if they lasted more than two weeks; Trixie was kidnapped over a month ago. Heather and I were kidnapped ten years ago. Get the picture?"

Everyone agreed with that statement and helped clean the living room. Heather had fallen asleep with the wolf pup in her arms at Charlie's feet and Bobby was asleep with Reddy leaning up against Trixie's legs, so the girls were forced to let everyone else clean up.

*Brownie: Don't remember if this is the name of Mr. Lytell's horse, but I think it might be.

More to come in next chapter…

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