Chapters (97)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Eighty-Eight
- Eighty-Nine
- Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
- Excerpt
“Doctor Hirsch said it’s possible your struggle to accept Emma is because you feel that by doing so you would be disloyal to Mom. So you portray her as an unacceptable replacement, an imposter. But it’s a normal response. And I understand that—it’s okay to have those feelings.”
Kayla was shaking her head. “Dad, listen to me. Emma told me her mother died when she was working at a restaurant called Tony’s Diner in Beltsville, Maryland—”
“Kayla—”
“Do you know this? She said it caught fire, that it happened about twenty years ago, but I checked, Dad, and there is nothing—”
“Stop, Kayla, please. I know this is difficult. I know you ache for Mom. God, there are days when I miss her so much. But Emma’s helped me to heal, not to forget but to heal, sweetheart. There’s a difference. She loves you and can help you, if you let her.”
“Dad, are you so blinded by your love for her that you aren’t hearing me?” Kayla bit her bottom lip. “Dad I think she’s got…the other day I found—”
Kayla’s seat belt cut into her as Ben slammed the brakes and tires screeched. A little girl, pink helmet aglow, on a wobbling two-wheeler had sailed from a driveway directly into their path. Ben had stopped the SUV in time as she made it safely across the street, dismounted, sat down and sobbed.
A frantic woman holding a palm to Ben blurred by them to comfort the girl. Amid the wisps of smoke and acrid burning rubber, Ben got out, checked on and consoled the woman and the girl, with Kayla standing over them, shaken and hugging herself.
Tragedy averted.
“Thank heaven, thank heaven!” The mother said over and over as she and her daughter, eyes filled with tears, returned to their home.
The incident had pierced them with gut-churning memories of their own tragedy years ago.
Some minutes later Ben and Kayla, rattled by the close call, drove home in silence—their differences unresolved.
Fifty-Eight
Cielo Valle, Orange County, California
Present day
Night.
Alone in the dark and they came.
Paralyzed with terror, Emma was helpless to stop the scenes as the horror unfolded and…
…screaming rakes the air. The knife is raised, poised to strike. But a hand grips the wrist, in a wild furious fight to stop the knife. Amid hysterical screaming and cursing, the resisting grip reaches the attacker’s fingers, the knife’s spine is slipping. The knife is winning, the blade flashing, slashing, plunging, blood spurting, the knife rising and descending, tearing and ripping. The Tullocks. Their eyes are screaming as life spills from them, their blood splattering. Their dead open eyes accusing. New screams rising, her screams rising…stop, OH GOD, PLEASE STOP!