Free Second Child by John Saul Page A

deep inside she still thought of it as her real home, the place where she truly belonged.
    And now she was going home again.
    If only her mother could be going with her. Then everything would be the way it had been when she was a baby. Everything would be perfect.…
    She determinedly put the thought out of her mind, refusing to dwell on the impossible.
    She rolled over and tried to go to sleep, but sleep would not come. Finally, she reached out and turned on the lamp on the nightstand. Leaving the bed, she padded over to the closet and reached into the pocket of her bathrobe. When she went back to bed, she was carrying the only thing she had taken with her when she’d fled the blazing house.
    She held it in her hand, studying it carefully.
    It was a string of perfectly matched pink pearls.
    She stared at them for a long time, fingering their smooth surfaces, rubbing them gently against her face. When she finally went to sleep an hour later, the pearl necklace was still in her hand.

CHAPTER 5
    “Teri? We’ll be landing in twenty minutes.”
    Teri blinked, then opened her eyes and stretched awkwardly in the first-class seat of the DC-9. Her mouth felt dry, and though she knew she’d fallen asleep for a while after they’d changed planes in Chicago, she felt as if she’d been awake all night. Her eyes stung and every joint in her body seemed to be aching. Her father smiled at her as if he knew exactly how she felt. “I hate night flights,” Charles Holloway said ruefully. “Especially going east in summer. You get on when it’s still light, and then it’s morning when you arrive, but you don’t feel as if there was any night. Why don’t you go up and wash your face? You’ll feel better.”
    Still not trusting her voice, Teri nodded and stepped across her father to the aisle, then went forward to the tiny lavatory, carrying the purse her father had bought her two days ago. She splashed cold water on her face and tried to comb her hair. She winced as she looked at her image in the mirror—her eyes looked puffy, and it seemed as if she’d somehow lost her tan overnight. The person whogazed back at her had a sallow look, as if she’d been sick for a long time. She fumbled with the clasp on the leather bag and groped inside for her lipstick. Washing her face once more, she applied some color to her lips, then looked at her image once again.
    A little of the puffiness had disappeared, and she didn’t look quite as bad as she had a few minutes ago. Deciding she’d done the best she could, she returned to her seat and gratefully took a sip of the orange juice her father had ordered while she was gone. Then she raised the blind on the plane’s window and looked out.
    They were descending rapidly. As the plane banked for its final approach, Teri had a startling view of the Maine coastline, a series of rugged cliffs broken here and there with coves cut into the mainland, and an occasional strip of beach. She searched her memory, trying to recall any feeling at all of having been here before.
    But there was nothing—it was all totally unfamiliar to her. “I keep thinking I should remember it,” she said, turning back to her father.
    Charles offered her a wry smile. “It would be pretty surprising if you did,” he observed. “When you left, you weren’t even three years old, and you went in a car.”
    Teri shook her head. “But there are things I remember. Not much, but a couple. I remember a big lawn, and a beach.”
    Charles chuckled. “Well, there’s plenty of big lawns in Secret Cove, and we certainly have a beach,” Then, as he saw Teri nervously take a small mirror out of her purse to study her face one more time, he was certain he knew what was on her mind. “Stop worrying—no one looks her best after flying all night.”
    “B-But what if Phyllis and Melissa don’t like me?”
    Charles took her hand in his and squeezed it affectionately. “How many times do I have to tell you that you aren’t