A Father's Quest Read Online Free PDF Page B

brushed off her sister’s hand. “I’m okay, Jess. Really. It’s Jonas who is in trouble.”
    His back was to her but she could tell he was struggling to regain control over his emotions. She’d never known him to lose control—ever. Even that night when her mother delivered the most gut-wrenching news of their young lives—that she’d had an affair with Jonas’s father nine months before Jessie and Remy were born—Jonas had been a pillar. No tears. No ranting. He’d held Remy’s hand as they walked to his car. He’d told her they should sleep on it, maybe look into some kind of test or something. Of course, his or something turned out to be a trip to Europe with his mother.
    “Everybody has their unique way of mourning,” Jessie had said facetiously when they found out he was gone.
    Remy had taken his leaving as proof that he didn’t love her as much as she’d loved him. Or worse, that he considered her to be her mother’s daughter.
    But that was old news. Water long under the bridge.
    The pain she heard in his voice now told her how much he loved his daughter and feared for her safety.
    “Jonas’s daughter is missing,” she told her sister. “He wants me to help find her.”
    “Because of your gift.” But her tone was softer, less defensive. Remy knew her sister wasn’t as tough as she liked people to think. And Jessie had a real soft spot in her heart for kids.
    “Because she found me,” Jonas said, facing them. His shoulders were straight, his posture erect. She could almost see the invisible outline of his military uniform. She didn’t know what branch he belonged to, but she had seen his photo displayed on his mother’s dresser at the nursing home where she used to work.
    “Everyone in Baylorville knows the story,” he went on. “Remy fell asleep then woke up, crying and carrying on about a little boy in a well. Me.” He hooked his thumb toward his chest. “My mother repeated the story a million times or more. You snapped out of your trance and told the police exactly where to find me.”
    “I never went into a trance.” But she couldn’t bring herself to repeat her doubts as she had earlier with Jessie. She knew how much Jonas hated her mother. The very last words they’d said to each other before he drove away had been about Marlene.
    “I can’t believe that whore is your mother, Rem. I’m sorry. That’s a crappy word, but it’s the truth. Everybody knows she sleeps around. And to get pregnant by her friend’s husband when her friend was also pregnant…that’s too much, man. Too much.” Then he’d left.
    And, now, he was back, asking her to be the very person she didn’t want to be.
    “That happened a long time ago, Jonas. I was a child.”
    “The same age my daughter is,” Jonas said, meaningfully. “She’s lost, like I was. Afraid. If someone like me—an ordinary dad—can sense this, so can you, because you’re special. You are, Rem. You always have been. Please, please say you’ll help.”
    She pressed her fingertips to her temples. No one had ever begged her to find a missing child. Her mother’s friends had always asked for signs, some sort of super natural permission to make choices they probably would have made anyway. This was different. Dangerous. The risk of failure was far too great.
    “Jonas, you don’t understand. Sometimes I have dreams that I can remember when I wake up. And some times the images in my dreams make sense to people who want them to mean something. I’ve never, ever claimed otherwise. And if I told you I saw something in a dream that you thought pertained to your daughter and it turned out to be wrong or it led you on a wild goose chase in the opposite direction, you’d blame me. You’d hate me more than you already do.”
    He stepped closer, ignoring Jessie completely. “I never hated you, Rem. I couldn’t if I wanted to. Your mother? Yes. I’m not sorry Marlene is dead. My only regret is I never told her exactly what I