Back To Real Life:

Back To Normal:

It took Trixie and Charlie another week before they were allowed to leave the sight of their families. Because it was so late in the school year, Charlie wasn't allowed to start school till next year. Since Trixie had only missed one month of school, she only had to make that much of school up.

Her teachers sent Brian and Mart home with all of her missed assignments and tests so that by the time she got back to school, she'd be caught up. And since Charlie had been out of school for so long, any assignments Trixie had, Charlie also did. She got plenty of help from Brian, Jim & Dan as well. They were tutoring her so that she could go to school with them next year and be in the same grade.

True to his word, Adam took Charlie & Heather into the city to see doctors. It turned out that Charlie would give birth to her baby sometime in September either before school started or just after. Heather was a different story. It turned out that Heather was Autistic. When the doctor asked why she hadn't seen a doctor till now, he was told that she was one of the girls the city had been looking for a few weeks prior. He took the answer & didn't push the subject. The doctor did however tell him that Heather would never grow mentally passed her five-year-old mentality. After the siblings got back home, Charlie was allowed to go to the Belden's for her daily tutor session.

Mr. Jackson had accepted the $75 dollars from the fundraiser but nothing else. He'd also moved from him home in the woods to settle in Sleepyside so both Charlie & Trixie could visit whenever they wanted. His daughter moved with him and she would enter Sleepyhigh next year with Charlie. Mr. Jackson's horses, Bolo & Levi, stayed on Crabapple farm as they had grown attached to the two girls that had ridden them to freedom.

All Mr. Jackson required the girls to do was ride them to Mr. Lytell's store every Sunday so he could see that they were in good health, which he knew that they would be. And since it had been Mr. Jackson who had helped the girls escape, both sets of family members want to thank him. And the thank you came in the form of a dinner invite at the Wheeler's Manor House since they had the closest house to Mr. Jackson's and since the dining room was big enough to set everyone.

The dinner was a hit as the kids had kicked the cook out of the kitchen and Charlie shared some the many recipes she'd used over the years. They cooked under her supervision and though the staff at the Wheeler's house tried to help, they got told no; that the kids were going to be cooking & that interruptions were not welcome. Once the dinner was served, Mr. Jackson told all around the table, everyone except Bobby & Heather who were with the Lynch family having fun with Diana's twin brothers and sisters, about the new investigation that the Detectives in New York were taking on. And it turned out that Charlie knew exactly what case it was.

While they had been in the city at the doctors, Charlie had told Adam about the girl Frank had taken before he took Trixie. After the visit to the doctors, Adam had driven to the police station and Charlie had told the Detectives about the girl & what had happened to her. She told them that the name of the girl had been Candace and that was all she knew about her. They had started the investigation almost immediately.

With Frank dead, they didn't know where the girl might have been buried. They did know, thanks to Charlie, the Frank had taken her from Pennsylvania. They had gotten ahold of her family and learned that the girl had been missing for three months. The police had gone back to Frank's property and searched it. They found the girl buried in an old tool box. She had been dismembered because she had refused to follow the rules of the house, though Charlie had tried to tell her what would happen if she didn't listen. The girl's family had opted to having her cremated and then had gone back home to Pennsylvania to mourn the loss of their young daughter.

The following Monday, two weeks after returning home, Trixie went back to school. To her, it felt good to get back to the basics of her life, but it also felt weird. She knew that there was no possible way that Frank was still alive, but she was still scared. She told no one about being scared, but her brothers could see it in her eyes when they got off the bus in front of the high school.

Brian put a supporting arm around her and Mart took her hand as she allowed them to lead her into the school for the first time in nearly two months. Honey & Diana stayed with her, having most of the same classes with her. By the time lunch came around, she was less afraid than when she had been that morning.

When school ended, instead of taking the bus home, Adam and Charlie offered the friends a ride home & they accepted. The siblings had been at the school to register Charlie for school the next year. It would be two more months of school for the Bob-Whites before summer started and every one of them had a lot of work between then & now to make sure they had fun that summer…

A New Bob-White:

Mr. & Mrs. Belden were allowing Trixie, Mart & Brian to meet at the Bob-White's clubhouse as they had a pressing matter to discuss. It was June and school was out in three days. The Bob-White's need to discuss something of great importance and it had to be decided before school let out. As Trixie opened the door to the Clubhouse, it was like finally coming home. She settled into one of the chairs and waited for everyone to get settled. Charlie arrived via Bolo, who had been moved to the barn on the Fowler property. She had dropped Heather off with Regan who promised to show her the horses.

"Charlie, I'm glad you could come."

"Thanks Trixie. Adam thought we could use some time with friends. He called your parents earlier and I'm to spend the night. He has to go into the city with Heather, to her doctor & I told him I didn't want to go."

"That sounds great. I wonder why Moms and dad didn't say anything before we left the house."

"Maybe because they knew she was going to be here; I now proclaim this meeting to be in session." Jim stated.

"So why are you guys meeting? I'm not part of your club."

"But that's why we're meeting Charlie. We agreed to allow you into our club after the Benefit; we just haven't gotten around to asking you until now. We've been too busy helping Trixie get caught up with her school work so she'll be able to move on to the ninth grade." Mart said.

"So how about it; will you join our club? We'll be even again if you join." Honey said.

"I'd love to, thank you. Now all I need is a jacket to match you guys."

"You'll have it when school lets out. Honey's making it for you and it'll be done soon." Diana said.

"This is just perfect. Adam was just saying that I needed to find something to do this summer since he and Heather will be in the city most weekends working with her doctor."
"Well, see, now you have something to do. Come on, we promised Moms and dad that we'd be back before it got dark." Brian stated, standing up and helping Charlie up.

"Thank you Brian."

"You're welcome."

They headed out in different directions. Charlie had gotten onto Bolo and then helped Trixie up. The two girls had become almost inseparable…

Summer Vacation:

Three days later, school was out and all the kids hurried to Crabapple farm. Mr. Belden had planned a small party to commemorate the end of a long school year, too long for the Belden's and Bob-White's.

Charlie was already at the Belden home when the Bob-White's arrived. She had ridden Bolo over and was helping take care of Bobby, whose school had gotten out at the beginning of the week. Bobby was on Bolo, 'practicing his riding' when the kids walked into the yard. The wolf pup Heather had adopted was playing with Reddy & Patch, who had been brought down earlier by Miss Trask who was helping Mrs. Belden in the house.

"Nice to see you here Charlie," Brian said walking up.

"Thank you. Adam and Heather are in the city but should be back in time for the party, or I hope so. Heather's doctor is putting her on some medication that's supposed to help her communicate better. I honestly don't think she needs it since I can always understand her. She's perfect to me and we've survived this long without doctors that I personally don't see the need for them at all."

"Well maybe Adam is just trying to be thorough." Mart said.
"Maybe, but I wish he'd stop trying so hard. It's as if he's trying to make up for something that's not his fault at all."

"I think we know what you're saying. But Adam just got you back. Let him fuss for a while." Dan said.

"I guess you're right. Okay, come on Bobby, time to go inside."

"But I wanna go on 'nother trail ride."

"Not right now. We have to get ready for the party. Down you go Bobby." Trixie said stepping into the conversation. Bobby reluctantly let Trixie remove him from the horse, then ran inside the house.

"Let me put Bolo in the barn and then I'll be inside."

"I'll help." Brian offered and the other kids got scarce. It was if Brian was falling in love. He had that look about him.

"Thank you Brian."

"You're welcome. So let me ask you something, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all, shoot."

"Are you keeping the baby?"

"As much as I would like to, no I'm not. I'm going to put it up for adoption, but I'll make sure the agency and the adoptive parents know that I don't mind being contacted when the kid gets older."

"Well, that's nice of you."

"Yeah, I'm not ready to be a mother again. I mean I raised Heather because if I didn't, Frank would have killed her and she's my sister. But I don't want to be a mother till I get married and have a career."

"Yeah, that's understandable. Does Adam know about your decision? He may want to keep as much of his family around as possible."

"He knows. I told him last night and honestly I think he's relieved. I don't think he wanted a reminder around of how and what Frank did to me. I will let the people who adopt the child name it; I don't have any names picked out anyways."

"That's understandable."

"Come on, we better head inside. Best not keep your family wondering where we've gotten to." As Charlie made to move out of the barn, Brian grabbed her arm, turned her back towards him and kissed her square on the lips. The shock didn't last long. Charlie kissed right back. It was a good five minutes before they came up for some air and at that, they both had smiles on their faces. They left the barn, hand in hand.

When the couple arrived at the house, everyone inside could tell that they were together. The parents and siblings knew that Brian would take care of Charlie, but how would Adam react to it all?

More to come in next chapter…

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