The Homecoming Read Online Free PDF Page A

anticipated. “How are you?”
    â€œGood,” he said cautiously. “How are you?”
    Trent laughed. “I’m fine. You sound like you think I’m coming through the phone to bite you.”
    â€œWell, you don’t usually call unless there’s something urgent,” Danny pointed out. “What’s up?”
    Trent hesitated.
    Danny felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. A shiver rippled down his spine. He had no idea what his brother was about to say but something in the constrained quality of that momentary silence raised every alarm he possessed. “What is it?” he demanded.
    â€œSit down,” Trent suggested. “I have some news that is going to weaken your knees.”
    Danny sat. “All right. Tell me.” His mouth was so dry he had to try twice before the words came out. They found Noah’s body. He knew before Trent spoke again what his brother was going to say. His son was dead, just as he’d feared for the past four endless years.
    â€œRobbie Logan is alive.” Trent’s voice was hushed.
    The words didn’t register for a long moment. Uncomprehending, Danny said, “It’s not about Noah?”
    â€œGod, no!” Trent was suddenly more animated. “I’m sorry, Danny, I should have realized what you were thinking.” More gently, he said, “There’s still no news of Noah. This is about Robbie. Your friend Robbie’s been found.”
    Robbie. Found. “But Robbie’s dead.” He still couldn’t grasp it. “He can’t be alive. He was buried a long time ago.”
    â€œRobbie Logan is alive,” Trent repeated. “He’s already had testing done that proves it. And, Danny, there’s more. He was arrested in Portland under the name Everett Baker.”
    â€œArrested?” He felt as if he’d followed Alice down the rabbit hole.
    â€œYes. Apparently he’s been involved with a scheme to kidnap babies for resale to wealthy families. He worked for Children’s Connection and used his contacts there to set up the snatches.”
    â€œMy God.” Danny was horrified. Kidnapping babies. How could he? He was a kidnapped child. Andeven worse, the Logans were ardent supporters of Children’s Connection. Had he known who he was all along? Had Robbie deliberately set out to sabotage his parents’ project? If he hadn’t, it sure was a huge coincidence.
    The talk of kidnapping and baby-snatching inevitably led to an image of his son, Noah, bald as a billiard ball, waving his little arms and squealing with pleasure as Danny lifted him high in the air. Drool glistened on his chin and several tiny white teeth were plainly visible through his grin.
    True, this story was different from his own situation in that the babies were being provided to the wealthy instead of taken from them, but still… Where had Robbie gotten those babies in the first place? Somewhere, some parents’ lives had been changed forever when their child was stolen. The similarities made his stomach churn.
    â€œWhere has he been all these years and why didn’t he ever come home?” Anger was beginning to curl around the edges of the shock. “How could he let them—all of us—think he was dead?”
    â€œFrom what little I know, I don’t think he knew he wasn’t Everett Baker until the woman he thought was his mother passed away a few years ago. He must have been treated pretty badly by the people who had him, and by the time he learned who he really was, he believed the Logans didn’t care about him.”
    â€œBut he was six years old when he was taken!” Danny protested. “How could he not remember his family?”
    â€œWe don’t know what he went through, Danny.” Trent was quietly reproving. “And you know firsthand the living hell an adult can put a kid through. Maybe he had to forget to survive.”
    Danny fell