Finding Home (13 page)

“Shh, it’s OK, baby,” he soothed,
holding her tight to him.  “It’s gonna be OK.”

“I can’t read it.  Will you read
it to me?” she asked.

He gathered her onto his lap then
picked up the letter.

“
You see, Sarah, your Daddy and I,
we had a daughter.  Her name was Sherry.  She had this boyfriend who
was…well, honey, he was not a good man.  He worked for these really
wealthy people who had just had their third baby, you, and he decided to kidnap
you and hold you for ransom.  Sherry’s job was to watch you until the
ransom was paid.  She overheard her boyfriend and some of the others
talking and they were saying how they were going to do something bad to you if
your family didn’t pay.  Sherry got scared and brought you to us.  We
never saw her again.  We couldn’t go to the police because we didn’t want
our baby to end up in jail, although we came to realize that something awful
must have happened to her, but by then, we’d grown so attached to you that we
just couldn’t give you up.  So, we packed up and left, and never went
back.  We didn’t have any other family, as you know.  No one missed
us.  We stayed quiet and kept to ourselves and well, that’s why we never
could let you be in your yearbooks or do anything that might draw attention to
us.  We’d lost our Sherry.  We couldn’t stand the thought of losing
you, too.  But, now with your Daddy gone and me only having a few months
left, I thought you should know the truth.  I don’t know what your real
name is, honey.  Sherry didn’t tell us the name of the family you were
taken from.  All I know is that they owned a ranch in Wyoming and that
they were very wealthy.  I wish I could tell you more.  I’m sure in
this day and age of computers that you could probably look up kidnappings in
1987 and figure out who you belonged to.  If I knew how all that worked, I
would do it for you, but you know me and computers don’t exactly get
along.  Now, baby, please don’t hate us.  We loved you so very, very
much.  After losing our own girl, you were the light of our lives. 
Please don’t ever forget that.  Love you always, your Momma.”

Several quiet moments ticked
by.  Sarah was shocked down to her core.  She’d been kidnapped! 
It didn’t even seem real!  Colt’s arms closed tighter around her and he
began to gently rock her, his lips on her brow.  She wondered if he even
realized he was rocking her; not that she minded. 

“It’s like something out of a movie,”
she said, breaking the silence.

“I can find your birth family,” he
told her.  “Just a matter of plugging in the information: three month old
baby kidnapped in Wyoming.  Shouldn’t be that hard to find something with
that info.”

She swallowed hard at the lump that
had formed in her throat. 

“I’m not sure if I want to know,” she
admitted.

“Don’t you think your family has a
right to know that you’re alive?”

“I’m scared,” she said after a
moment’s pause.

He leaned back and cupped her face in
his hands, looking deep into her eyes.

“I know you are…but I’m here with
you.  Every step of the way.”

“Thank you…what else is in the box?”

He pulled a picture album out and
handed it to her.  She opened it and saw a picture of her labeled, Sarah,
3 months with a newspaper from Torrington, Wyoming showing the date.  The
next few pictures were of her each year on the anniversary of that date, the
date her parents celebrated as her birthday, and always with a newspaper.

She shook her head.  “Every
year, on what I thought was my birthday, my mom took a picture of me holding
that day’s newspaper.”

“They’re Proof of Life pictures,” he
noted.  “Her letter says she and your dad weren’t involved in the
kidnapping, but yet she continued to take Proof of Life pictures every year.”

“My parents…well, they weren’t very
smart.  Neither one graduated high school.  It was clear that I was
smarter than them when I was just a little kid.  My mother homeschooled me
for several years but in all honesty, once I learned to read, I pretty much
schooled myself.  She filled out all the proper forms and had all the
proper curriculum the state required, but I followed along with the lessons on
my own.  She didn’t want to send me to school in junior high, but I
begged.  I wanted to learn properly and be around other kids.  They
must have been terrified, since they didn’t have my birth certificate or a
proper social security number.”

Colt was pulling a folder containing
her school records and the birth certificate they apparently forged in order to
get her enrolled in school from the box. 

“You know, back when we were kids,
public schools didn’t require a social security number to enroll you.  And
small schools like yours probably didn’t make too much of a fuss about birth
certificates, especially if you weren’t an athlete or the like.   A
kid like you, who flew under the radar, they probably didn’t look too closely
at the documents in your file.”

“Probably not,” she agreed. 

“There’s really not much else in
here.  Looks like the baby clothes you were probably wearing when Sherry
brought you to them,” he said, showing her the little dress. 

Sarah ran her hand over the little
pink dress, then pushed it all back toward him.  She didn’t need to see
anything else anyway.  The letter had been enough. 

“This explains so much,” she said,
getting up to pace before him.  “Why they kept us so low profile. 
They were terrified of being caught and of having me taken away from them.”

“In their minds, they were protecting
their daughter by not going to the authorities, and by the time they realized
something must have happened to her, as she said in the letter, you were too
far into their hearts; they couldn’t give you up.”

Sarah nodded, then stopped her
pacing.

“I could really use that drink now.”

Lewis Dalton slammed the phone
down.  Heaven save him from having to work with idiots such as Sammy
Rendowski, he thought.  Wayne had sent Sammy to Texas on a simple mission:
find the Bainbridge girl, take a few pictures to make sure that was indeed who
this Sarah Sauter was, and report back.  Simple, but the idiot managed to
screw that up.  Wayne was furious.  Lewis wasn’t too pleased, either,
but he’d managed, finally to get into the Texas database and was able to pull
up the girl’s driver’s license photo.  He had no doubt in his mind now
that Sarah Sauter was indeed, Christine Bainbridge: she was the spitting image
of her birth mother, Charlotte Taggert-Bainbridge.

Wayne seemed to think there might be
a way for them to once again snatch the girl, young woman now, and still
collect a ransom from the family.  Lewis wasn’t so sure.  The
Bainbridges closed ranks after the kidnapping.  He knew they never gave up
looking for their lost baby girl and never bowed down to suggestions of
authorities to have the baby declared dead.  But, he also knew that after
what happened and the large reward that had been put out there for the safe
return of Baby Christine, that the Bainbridges had become suspicious of anyone
who came forth with information about the whereabouts of their daughter. 
Lewis was beginning to think the way to go would be to snap pictures of the
girl and present them to Buck Bainbridge, which would allow the Bainbridge
family to find the girl on their own, with his help, thus making it possible
for him to claim the reward.  It wasn’t as much money as Wayne had been
asking for in the ransom, but it also would be all his, instead of having to
split it four ways.  The problem with that was that Wayne and the others
would be pissed and come after him for betraying them…unless he could collect
the money and arrange to disappear, so to speak.  He had to admit, if he could
work out the logistics, that was awfully tempting.

After Sarah finally fell asleep, Colt
went into his office and fired up his computers.  Now that he had more
information to work with, he was certain that finding her birth family wouldn’t
take long.  Just knowing she’d indeed been kidnapped and that it was in a
small state like Wyoming, he knew it would just be a matter of time.  Sure
enough, plugging in the year, Wyoming and 3-month old kidnap victim served up
one and only one case…the kidnapping of Baby Christine Bainbridge, straight
from her crib in the middle of the night. 

He pulled up an archived newspaper
article and stared at the picture of her family.  She was the spitting
image of her mother, Charlotte Bainbridge.  The picture was a family
portrait when Sarah/Christine had been just six weeks old.  She had an
older brother and an older sister, identified as Taggert and Vivian
Bainbridge.  Her father’s name was James “Buck” Bainbridge and he was a
large rancher just outside of Cheyenne.  He did further searches of the
family, found current pictures of them.  There was no mistaking that Sarah
was related to them all.  Same eyes.  Same smile.  Same
coloring. 

Further research showed that there
was a Baby Christine Foundation to help families of children who have gone
missing.  It was a huge organization.  There were pictures of the
family at the White House with various presidents.  The foundation was
headed up by Sarah’s mother and sister.  Her brother, Tag Bainbridge,
headed another branch; a private investigations service specializing in finding
missing children.  Their whole family had been shaped by Sarah’s
disappearance.  Dear God, he thought, how in the world had Sarah remained
undiscovered all these years?  Especially in this day and age of computers
and the Internet?

He clicked on the link on the website
that was titled,
The Search for Baby Christine.
  Again, he was
slammed with thoughts of how the heck Sarah could have gone undetected all
these years.  Was it really that Wyoming and Texas were so far apart that
no one in Texas was really familiar with the case?  There were dozens upon
dozens of links to news reports about the kidnapping and ransom request. 
What held his attention, though, were the parents’ initial reports of what
transpired that cold snowy night in December 1987.

Just five days before Christmas in
1987, Buck and Charlotte Bainbridge tucked their young children in bed after
spending a long day with family in Cheyenne.  As was his habit, 8-year old
Tag Bainbridge woke up on December 21
^st
and went into his baby
sister’s room, only to find her crib empty and her window wide open.  He
thought it odd that the window was open when it was so cold outside but didn’t
think anything of his sister not being in the crib; he guessed that she was
with his mother.  When he left his baby sister’s room and headed to the
kitchen, he saw his mother making breakfast.  After initial good mornings
were exchanged, he looked around the room and asked where the baby was. 
His mother told him she was still in her bed asleep.  Tag immediately told
his mother that he’d just left his sister’s room and that she wasn’t in her bed
and that the window had been left open.  So began every parent’s worst
nightmare…

Colt felt sick.  What that
family had gone through was horrible.  He couldn’t even begin to imagine
their pain.  And now, he had the means to bring some joy to a family who
had been through so much and had obviously used their pain to help
others.  But, how would Sarah feel about all of this?  After the way
she reacted when he’d initiated this investigation, he knew he couldn’t proceed
without first discussing it with her.  As much as he wanted to contact the
Bainbridges and let them know that their baby girl was alive and well, he knew
the next step had to be initiated by Sarah.

He wasn’t sure what his next step
should be.  Should he show all of this to Sarah, should he wait until she
asked him to look for her family?  How would he know…

“Colt?” Sarah called, walking into
his office.  He minimized the screen he was on then looked up at her.

“Hey…did I wake you somehow?”

She shook her head.  “Woke up in
a big bed, alone.  Took me a minute to remember where I was.  Didn’t
I fall asleep on the couch?”

“No way was I leaving you there,
babe,” he said with a huge grin.

“So, what are you working on in
here?” she asked, sitting on the edge of his desk.

“Security system for Presley
Preston’s house,” he said, nodding to a monitor on his back credenza.

Her eyes bugged just a little.  “The
actress?”

“That would be her.”

“Wow.  Have you met her?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Uh oh.  That doesn’t sound
good.”

“She’s a little too touchy feely for
my likes.”

“You didn’t care to have the one time
America’s Sweetheart’s hands all over you?”

“Not so much, no.  She’s always
looking for her next victim.  That’s not me.”

“She always seems so nice.”

“She’s likeable enough.  But
I’ve heard plenty of horror stories from guys she’s targeted.  False
pregnancy claims and the like.  Not to mention that I’ve heard stories
from a lot of guys, if you get what I’m saying.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah.”

A few silent moments passed.  He
could tell she was struggling with something but wanted to give her time to
work through it.  The last thing he wanted to do was something that would
send her running again.

“So…you think I should try to find my
family?”

He took a deep breath.  “All
that matters is what you think and what you are comfortable with.”

She offered him a small smile. 
“I’m not comfortable with any of it.  My stomach is in knots just thinking
about it.  What if they aren’t even looking for me anymore?  I mean,
I’m almost twenty-seven years old.  Surely they’ve given up by now.” 
He didn’t say anything, just kept his eyes on her.  “And, even if we were
to connect...what would we be to each other?  I wouldn’t want them to
think I want anything from them.”

His heart ached for her.  No,
she didn’t want anything material from them; but finding her family would be
huge for her.

“Come here, baby,” he said, coaxing
her off the desk and into his lap.  She hesitated only a moment before
snuggling against him.  He kissed her brow and then rested his chin on the
top of her head. 

“You could find them, couldn’t you?”
she asked, her voice small.

“Yeah, baby, I could.”

Her hand tightened on his forearm. 
She wasn’t sure she was ready to take that step yet.  It was hard enough
to process what her parents had done.  No, they weren’t the ones who took
her, but they didn’t return her, either.  They’d kept her in hiding to
protect their real daughter, then, after she’d disappeared, they kept her
because they’d grown attached to her.  Yes, they’d said they loved her but
their fear of losing her and being caught had limited her in so many
ways.  What would her life have been if they had done the right thing and
given her back to her real family?  Her mother had said they were wealthy
in the letter.  She could have gone to college. 

“Talk to me,” he coaxed.  “What
are you thinking?”

“How different my life could have
been.  I could have gone to college.  I probably wouldn’t be quite so
timid…but then…I love my parents.  I never felt neglected.  And if
not for them, I wouldn’t know Janine and Grant and Evan.  Or Ester and
Bernice and Terry.  And without what they did, I’d never have met you.”

He kissed her brow and continued
rocking her, holding her tight.  With her ear pressed to his chest, she
could hear the steady beat of his heart and it was a huge comfort to her. 
Just to be held, to have that connection to a strong, healthy man was a
comfort. 

“Baby…I did a search a few minutes
ago.  I’ve found your family.  You don’t have to look at it now and I
won’t do anything with the information until and unless you want me to. 
Just know that I’ve got it whenever you’re ready for it.”

“You know their names?” she asked,
her voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah.”

She pressed closer into him, wanting
nothing more than the warmth of his body to ward off the chill that his words
caused.  He found her family and knew their names.  All she had to do
was ask and he would tell her and then she would know, too.

“Do you know anything else about
them?  Have they been looking for me?”

“They head up a foundation for
missing and exploited children.  It’s in your name, your birth name.”

“Oh, God,” she cried softly, turning
her face into his chest.  His arms tightened around her while she cried
and she clung to him, drawing from his strength.  After what seemed like
hours, she finally stopped crying and just sat in his arms. 

“You’re gonna be OK, Sarah,” he said
to her, kissing her brow.

She nodded, taking several deep,
cleansing breaths.  She would be all right; she knew that as sure as she
knew the sun would rise in the morning…because Colt was there with her. 
In spite of how scary all this was, she wasn’t going to have to face it
alone.  Colt would be there with her every step of the way…and she loved
him all the more for it.

“Can you show me what you found?” she
asked, looking up at him.

“Are you sure?”

“No,” she answered honestly. 
“But if I don’t face this now, I’m not going to be able to eat or sleep.”

“OK,” he said, shifting her in his
lap so he could reach for the mouse, bringing the screen to life.  “Your
name was Christine Bainbridge.  You were stolen from your crib on December
20, 1987.  You were born September 28, 1987.  Your parents’ names are
James and Charlotte Bainbridge.  Your father goes by Buck.  You have
an older brother named Taggert, named for your mother’s maiden name; he goes by
Tag, and an older sister named Vivian.  Buck Bainbridge is a cattle and
horse rancher.  Charlotte and Vivian run the Baby Christine Foundation and
Tag heads up a private investigations service specializing in finding missing
children.”

He showed her the most recent family
picture that was posted on the Foundation’s website.  Sarah gasped at
seeing it.  She reached out a shaky hand to touch her mother’s face on the
screen.

“I look just like her,” she
whispered.

“Yeah, you do.  Even more than
Vivian does.”

“I can’t believe they’ve had this
foundation and they’ve been looking for me all these years.  How…” 
She’d been about to ask how she had not been found, but then, she already knew
the answer to that.  Her parents’ low-key lifestyle kept her out of the
spotlight and off any potential radars out there.  And Texas was a world
away from Wyoming.

“I don’t believe that if this were to
have happened today, that you would have been successfully hidden all these
years.  Not with social media and 24-hour news channels the way they
are.  But back in 1987…and with the way that you lived, so private…there
was no reason for law enforcement to even begin to look for your parents.”

She leaned forward and took over the
mouse, navigating her way through the Baby Christine Foundation website. 
She read the article detailing her kidnapping and the subsequent search. 
How a ransom demand came through, then the kidnappers cut off all contact and
just seemed to disappear.  She read how her parents never gave up hope,
even after police and the FBI told them chances of her still being alive were
slim.  They started the Foundation a year after her disappearance and have
tracked and followed through on every lead they received regarding her. 
The most heartbreaking thing she saw, was that every year on December 20
^th
,
they held a candlelight vigil for her.  It began at their ranch, but as
the Foundation grew, they began to hold it on the grounds of the State Capitol
building, in honor of all missing children. 

“How is it that I’ve never heard of
this foundation?  It’s huge.  There are links to articles from all
the major news outlets.”

“Well, how often do you watch the
news?”

“Not often,” she admitted. 
“So…now what?  It says that they get hundreds sometimes thousands of leads
per year concerning me.  How do I contact them and let them know I am
really theirs?  How do they take me seriously?”

“Baby, all they’d have to do is look
at you.  You said yourself, you look exactly like your mother, like
Charlotte Bainbridge.”

“I know but still.”

He nodded.  “I get what you’re
saying.  I think we have Tessa use her FBI connections and have them
contact your brother.  He is the one who checks out all leads.  And
if he’s like me, he’ll want to meet you first before getting his mother’s hopes
up.”

Sarah took a deep breath. 
Everything in her life was about to change.  She might be terrified of
contacting her long lost family, but after reading about them and about the
pain they’d been enduring for the last nearly twenty-seven years, she knew she
couldn’t stay hidden any longer.

“OK.  Call Tessa.  Do what
we need to let them know that I’m here.”