Cactus Wren

Chapter Twelve - Forming a New Plan

Matt holds my hand and listens as I tell him my past. I continued to watch my daughter jump and play in the park as I told him about how she came to be.

"So, your parents kicked you out and you came here?" Matt asks.

"I was actually headed to San Diego but got stranded here when my ticket was stolen." I tell him with a smile. "I got a job at a diner and found a motel to stay at. Miranda found me months later and wanted to help." I tear my gaze away from my daughter and look at Matt. "She found me a safer place to live, she helped me get medical care and found a loving couple when I had finally decided to put her up for adoption. The husband is an Academy doctor, the wife was an elementary school teacher. I couldn't ask for better people to raise her."

"Whatever happen to her biological father?" Matt asks. I scoff at the thought.

"No idea. When I left, I left everything behind. I haven't seen or spoke to my parents in five and a half years. Rocky couldn't care less about his kid, he made that very clear when I told him I was pregnant. I was just some dumb slut he bagged, he wasn't going to care what happened to me."

"Don't talk about yourself that way, please. That's not who you are, Rebbie." Matt squeezed my hand. I give him a small smile. Isn't it though?

"We should get back to the others." I say, changing the subject.

"Why did we come here, Rebbie? Why did you need to see her?" Matt asks. I stare out the window a while, thinking of my response before dropping my eyes to my hands in my lap.

"The girl..." I start and then clear my throat. "The girl in the picture. The one I found in Harris' office. She looked a lot like me when I was a kid. It made me think of her," I look up and nod to my daughter. "I needed to reassure myself that she was alright. She's the whole reason I joined the Academy. I wanted to make her world a better place." I tell him. "I should be able to make it a better place for more than just her though. That little girl in the picture was scared and alone, getting ready to be sold to the highest bidder. I should be able to keep things like that from happening to girls like her. It could easily be my daughter in that picture in a few years."

"That won't happen, you can't think like that." Matt says. I nod silently in agreement. I know what he's saying is true, I can't think that everything that could go wrong, will go wrong. But that doesn't mean I could just sit by either.

"I couldn't sit in that conference room and talk about these girls like they're just evidence. I had to actually, physically, do something, even if it was as simple as checking on her."

Matt sits quietly for a moment as we both watch her play and squeal and giggle. A comfortable silence surrounded us until his low voice broke through once more. "What's her name?" He asks. My mouth turns up in a small smile and look back to him.

"Maddie," I tell him, "Madeline Rebecca."

"They named her after you?" He asks with a smile. I nod.

"They said they wanted her to carry a piece of me with her wherever she went." I recall their words and joyful tears sting at my eyes.

"Thank you for sharing this with me, Rebbie." he tells me. I smile at him and nod. Matt's phone buzzes and he reaches into his pocket to read the text. "Let's head back, the others keep texting me. They're worried about you." I feel a pang in my heart knowing that they were concerned about me. It's been so long since anyone other than Miranda cared about me.

"Tell them to meet us at my house." I tell him. "We can stop and pick up lunch for all of us on the way."

Matt agrees and sends a quick text back to the others before he turns on the car and pulls out of the parking lot.