"We're going to have to take your brother down to the station for questioning and you three as well," the sheriff told Hope, Joy, and Lily.
Later that day at the station
Hope, JOy, and Lily waited patiently behind the glass listening to what happened at Mr. Sam's.
"Mr. Gilbert, why exactly were you at MR. Sam's house? Dont you know how dangerous that man is?" Sheriff Larson asked Austin.
"Yes, Sir, I do. HE was helping me with a research project I'm doing. I'm trying to learn more about my family. I was asking friends of the family first," Austin answered.
"And what exactly did you think Mr. Sam could tell you?" Sheriff Larson asked.
"Well, before Mr. Sam's first arrest 15 years ago, Mr.Sam, my parents, Lily's parents, Sean's parents and Mr. Sam's ex-wife were all good friends. Sean told me I should ask Mr. Sam if he could tell me anything about their friendship or about my family. So i went and asked him, then it started raining really hard when I was about to leave, so he said I could stay and he'd be able to tel me more," Austin explained.
"Did you find out any information about your family? How come you didnt call your sisters and let them know where you were? Sheriff asked.
"I left Hope a note, but I guess she never got it. I didnt call because I couldnt believe what he told me..." Austin paused and looked at the floor.
Austin continued telling the sheriff what Mr. Sam told him, then looked at the mirror with tears filling his eyes knowing his sisters were behind the glass.
Hope and Joy looked at each other with tears running down their cheeks. Their feelings the day before had been right, but how would they explain this to Jason, or Sean, or LUke? How could they understand it themselves? The three girls hugged and waited for Austin to come out of the interrogation room.
When Austin finally came out, they ran and huggeed him.
"i'm sorry. Hope, JOy, I'm sorry I didnt call and tell you. I didnt know how to explain or how you would feel," Austin said hugging them.
"Its ok. We're just glad youre okay," JOy whispered.
The four of them just stood and hugged for a long time before someone spoke.
"How are we going to bring this up to mom and dad?" Hope wondered.
"Well, when they ask where we've been, we can tell them everything that happened. Austin can explain like he did to the sheriff. Maybe they can explain all this. Why would they not tell us this?" Joy answered her sister.
Austin and Lily agreed and they all walked to Lily's car to go back home and wait for Hope, JOy, and Austin's parents to get home.
Three hours later, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert got home and found Austin, Hope, Lily, and JOy waiting for them. They could sesne something was up.
"What's going on guys?" Mrs. Gilbert asked.
"Mom. Dad. We need toi talk. PLease sit down," JOy firmly said.
"Ok. What's going on?" Jim said having a seat.
Joy, Lily and Hope looked at Austin, waiting for him to answer.
"Well, Mom, Dand, last night i ended up spending the night at Mr. Sam's house," he started, "Now, before you get mad, let me finish. I was doing some of my own research and found out that you two, and mr. Sam used to be friends. So, looking for information, I went over there. When I got there, I asked if he had any family secrets he could tell me and he told me something from 15 years ago. He said that before your baby shower for Hope and Joy, you told him, Sean's parents, Lily's parents and Mr. Sam's ex-wife, you were having triplets. We want to know what happened to the third baby and why this made Mr. Sam go crazy, causing him to get arrested," Austin explained.
Jim and Lucy looked at eachother and Lucy got tears in her eyes.
Finally, JIm spoke up, "Girls, we planned on telling you after your birthday, but I guess now's the best time since you already know the majority of it. When your mother was pregnant with, well the three of you, I got caught by some criminals I'd been tracking and they threatened us. They forced us toi give up our first born child. Fortunately, for your mother and I, we were blessed with triplets; giving us the option to give away one instead of three. The criminals said after the drop, we'd never see them or your sister again. Just know we necer wanted to do this. We loved all three of you before you were even born. well.....Now you know the truth."
Everyone was speechless. They couldnt believe what they had heard.
"What's her name? What does she look lik?" Austin asked.
Lucy smiled. "Her name's Faith. Faith Mary Gilbert. She was beautiful. She looked just like Hope and Joy except her eyes were hazel," she said.
"Mom? Dad? I dont think you have to worry if she's ok. Jason saw her at the mall yesterday. He thought it was Hope. He saw her from a distance, but if she's out in public, I think she's ok," JOy told her parents.
Jim and Lucy smiled. They were so happy to know that at least someone had witnesses her being ok. At that moment Lily decided it was time for her to leave. It had been a long day for everyone.
After Lily left, nobofy had any words. Austin couldnt believe he had another sister. Hope and JOy were shocked that they didnt figure it out before. Their parents couldnt believe Faith was well.
After half an hour later, Austin and the girls decided to go upstaris thinking some sleep will help them process what had happened that day.
The next morning, Joy sprang up with an idea. She quickly woke up hope and ran to get ready.
Once she was ready, she reawakened her sister. "I have an idea, but first I want to tell Sean, Jason, and Luke about Faith," she told her.
Hope agreed and went to get ready. Joy called Sean and Liily and told them where to meet and told Lily to invite Luke.
When Hope finished getting ready, Lily picked them up and they all drove to the mall while Hope called Jason and told him to meet her there.
"What exactly are we going to tell them?" Hope asked.
"Well first, we explain to Jason that it wasnt you or Julie he saw at the mall; it was Faith. Then we explain who Faith is. Finally, I explain my plan and how they can help out," Joy explained.
"But what are we going to explain? We dont know much as it is," Hope pointed out.
"Well just tell them what we know until we know more," JOy countered back.
The girls arrived at the mall and parked the car. They walked inside with huge smiles and looked for their friends.
When they found Jason, Sean and Luke they all hugged and sat down.
Sean, Luke and Jason all stared in confusion as Joy, Hope and Lily had huge smiles.
"What's going on?" Sean asked.
"Well, Jason, do you remember when you and Joy were at the mall and you saw this girl that looked like me and thought I was cheating?" Hope asked.
"I told you i was sorry..." Jason cried.
"I know you did and I forgave you. We were just going to clarify what happened," Hope told him.
"What are you talking about?" Luke whined.
"So yesterday, Lily, Joy and I found out a family secret. JAson, the girl you saw did look exactly like me, but there is one difference you wouldnt have noticed from your distance. Her eyes were hazel, mine are green and Joy's are blue," Hope said.
"Ok? What are you getting at?" Sean asked.
"You didnt let me finish. Guys, JOy and I arent twins. We are two girls out of a set of three. We were supposed to be triplets!" Hope smiled.
"So, where is she?" Luke asked.
"Well, we dont know. When we were born, our parents had to give her away to some bad people, but her name is Faith Mary. Also, I wanted you guys to help us with my plan. Some how i want to get in touch with this girl. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email. Somehow. I just want to get in touch with her and possibly meet her," Joy explained.
Everyone looked at her in confusion. Then they all agreed they wanted to help.
JOy smiled. "Good! Thank you! Oh, and one morer thing, I want to try and find her before my birthday.
"How are we going to do that?" Sean asked.
"We'll if ALL of us work hard, then maybe, just maybe, it'll work," JOy answered.
Everyone agreed and decided to go back to Joy and Hope's house to start looking for Faith.
When they got to the house, they all rushed upstairs to get started on looking for Faith.
Everyone was on a phone, laptop, or any electronic they ha dto try and find her.
Finally, three hours later, Luke found her. He found her Twitter account. Everyone went over to Luke and fell into an awe over Faith.
"She looks just like you girls," Luke said.
"OH!MY!GOSH! Luke! Thank you!! Thank you for finding her," JOy exclaimed hugging him.
"You're welcome. Now, how do we get her to meet you two?" he questioned.
"We send her a private tweet," JOy said a-matter-of-facty.
Joy took the laptop from Luke and logged onto her Twitter account. She thought for a moment then started typing.
From: @Joyyy_Giilbert To: @HaveALittle_Faith
Faith, I know you have absolutely no clue who I am. This may come as a shocl, but I'm your twin sister. Also, we are not just twins but triplets. Our sister, Hope, and I just found out about you yesterday. We would really like to meet you. If you dont feel the same we understand, but if you do we would like to meet you at the Mall of Nashville, Saturday at 3:30pm.
JOy hit send and her heart was racing. "Now we just have to9 wait to see if she responds," JOy told them.
They all smiled.
"Well, we have to go. It's getting late," Jason said.
"It's only 7:30," Luke complained.
"Yes, but i have to be home by 8:30 and I still have to take you losers home. We have a game tomorrow," Jason reminded him, "You girls are coming tomorrow right?"
"we'll be there," Hope smiled.
"What about you?" Luke asked Lily.
"Can I sleep over and the two of you take me to the game?" Lily asked Joy.
"Well DUH! You're our ride!" JOy answered.
The boys hugged the girls and left.
Shortly after, the girls went downstaris to get something to eat.
As they walked, they heard JIm on the phone with someone. The girls stood on the stairs and listened.
".....So he's in Nashville....Apparently, my daughter's boyfriend saw Faith at the mall.She's been withthe guys for 15 years, never seen them. Now, they're in Nashville....My girls said she looks fine, unharmed..."They heard Jim say.
The next thing they heard hurt them.
"They must never meet Faith.You must never meet Faith. They could kill you," the man on the phone said.
Jim hung up and sat at the table. The room was dead silent. The girls thought on the stairs for a moment, and then they quietly crept up the stairs to Joy and Hope's room.
"We'll that ruined Saturday," Lily sighed.
"I was really looking forward to seeing my other sister," Hope agreed.
"You guys arent really going to miss Saturday are you? After all our hard work looking for her?" Joy asked.
"Joy, we dont even know if shes coming. You heard what the man said, they could kill us. It's too risky. We're not going"Hope told her sister.
"Lily?" JOy asked, hopeing her best friend would stand by her.
"Joy, I'm sorry. I want to go, but Hope's right, It's too risky," Lily said.
Joy was crushed. She wanted to meet Faith so bad. Just then, her phone vibrated. She had a message from Twitter. Faith had replied!
From:@HaveALittle_Faith HI,Joy! Wow, so we're triplets? This is a huge shock. I would LOVE to come meet you and Hope :) I'm going to have to come with friends because my dad would never let me come meet strangers. And I dont think you want him meeting you. LOL :)
Joy's face lit up and she smiled up at Hope and Lily.
"What?" Lily questioned.
"She answered!" Joy exclaimed.
Joy showed them the message.
"well, you better tell her you're not coming," Hope whisper-sighed.
"But she said yes. I cant cancel now," JOy cried.
"JOy you hvae to." Hope said. "Yoiu heard what the man said."
"Fine," Joy huffed.
Joy thought for a moment. "Fine I'll go without you," she thought to herself.
Then JOy replied,
To: @HaveALittle_Faith
From; @Joyyy_Giilbert
Cant wait!!!XOXO