The Daughter's Return Read online

  Anna put down the fascinating book she was reading on Katharine Graham of the Washington Post, and stared at the clerk. “Who would want to visit me, Betsy? I don’t know anyone here yet.”

  “These are your Buric relatives.”

  She blinked. “How did they find out I was here? I didn’t want to bother them.”

  “I don’t know, but they’ve come. There are a whole bunch of them.

  Betsy didn’t know the half of it. If they’d all arrived en masse, the hospital wouldn’t have had room to contain them.

  Touched as she was that they’d driven all this way, Anna wished they hadn’t. For the whole of her life, the family had been forced to take care of her. Now that she was on her own, she prided herself on being independent.

  Josef and Milena must have tried to reach her at student housing and found out what had happened from the supervisor.

  “Don’t let them in yet. Will you hand me my crutches? I don’t want to be in bed.”

  Betsy brought the crutches over to Anna. Once she had made it to the chair she said, “Would you roll my hospital table over here? I want to brush my hair and put on some lipstick.”

  She was glad she’d already gotten dressed in her khaki skirt and coffee-toned blouse for her therapy. Until the cast came off, skirts were her salvation.

  “There. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be while I’m in this cast.” I want the family to see that I’m just fine. They didn’t need to worry about her any longer.

  “You look beautiful. If it weren’t for that cast, no one would ever know you’d been in an accident.”

  “Thanks, Betsy.”

  “I mean it,” she said, wheeling the table back to the bed. “Between you and me, you come from an incredibly attractive family.” What? “They all look alike, and they all look like you.”

  Anna frowned. “You think I look like them?”

  “Are you blind, girl? I’ll tell them they can come in.”

  “Wait—will you hand me my book, please?” Anna didn’t want them to think she lay around all day feeling sorry for herself.

  “Here you go. Enjoy your visit.”

  To her surprise, Agent Polk and Agent Davis came in first. “Hi.” They smiled at her.

  “Hi. The clerk didn’t tell me you were out there, too.”

  “We didn’t tell her.”

  Anna checked them out. She supposed they were attractive for men in their fifties, but they certainly didn’t resemble her. What on earth had Betsy been babbling about?

  “I hope you didn’t influence Josef and Milena to stop by to see me.”

  They both drew up a chair and sat down. “Josef and Milena aren’t the ones out in the hall dying to come in.”

  Something about their demeanor raised the hairs on the back of her neck. “You found my birth parents?” Her voice wobbled.

  “Yes.”

  Anna averted her eyes. “I—I don’t know if I want to see them. He’s a criminal. They never once came to see me at the farm.” She shook her head. “My parents abandoned me. Now I’m not ready to see them.”

  “They didn’t abandon you,” Agent Polk replied. “You were stolen from them by Antonin Buric.”

  The blood pounded in her ears. “You mean I was really kidnapped?”

  “For a reason we still don’t know, he took you clear across the country to his grandmother’s house in New York and left you with her. The woman who was with him could have been his wife, but it was probably a girlfriend.”

  Her thoughts were reeling. “When you say clear across the country—”

  “You were born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on April second, twenty-six years ago,” Agent Davis broke in. “You’re the daughter of Reed and Ellen McFarland. You have a brother Ben who’s thirty-five and married with two children. You also have a brother Cord, thirty-three, who just recently married, and you have an unmarried sister, Maggie, who’s four years older than you.”

  Anna started to tremble and couldn’t stop. It was too much to comprehend. “What’s my real name?”

  “Kathryn Cordell McFarland. K-a-t-h-r-y-n.”

  “Kathryn?” she mouthed her name incredulously.

  “Your great-great-great-grandfather John McFarland was Utah’s Copper King, the famous mining magnate. He was one of the wealthiest men in America.

  “Reed McFarland, your father, now holds that distinction. Until recently he was a four-term U.S. senator. You may have heard of him.”

  Senator McFarland was her father? Anna’s eyes rounded in astonishment.

  “You were born in a French-styled mansion on South Temple John had built for his wife. It was one of four homes he owned in London, Paris and Rome. Today it’s a shelter for homeless women called Renaissance House, which is your brother Cord’s brainchild.”

  Agent Polk leaned forward and handed her a brochure. “If you have any doubt at all that your birth parents haven’t grieved for you, then this should dispel it.”

  She took the brochure from him and began reading.

  Welcome to the Kathryn McFarland

  National Foundation

  Located in the McFarland Plaza on South Temple

  in Salt Lake City, Utah.

  This Web site is updated daily

  May 3 marks the twenty-sixth anniversary of the abduction of our fourth child, Kathryn McFarland, from the McFarland home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Born April 2, she’d only been a month old at the time she was taken.

  Soon after the kidnapping and community search, the Kathryn McFarland Foundation was founded and now honors Kathryn’s memory by finding missing children and preventing others from going missing in the first place.

  When Kathryn was kidnapped, our community and many others joined together to help us find her because there was an immediate recognition that she was everyone’s child and—

  The words started blurring together. Anna couldn’t read for the tears. She wiped them away madly, trying to make out the rest.

  All too often it is only a matter of hours before a kidnapper commits an act of violence against the child. That is why we’re pleased that the U.S. Senate has acted to pass legislation creating a national AMBER Alert system, which galvanizes entire communities to assist law enforcement in the timely search for and safe return of child victims.

  Since its inception, the foundation has assisted approximately 17,000 families, as well as law-enforcement agencies in their searches. We have seen over 85% of those children returned home safely. This is what continues to give us hope.

  Her gaze dropped to the picture. She studied each face hungrily. No wonder Betsy had said what she did.

  Euphoric, Anna cried out, “That’s my family!”

  “Yes.” The agents nodded. Their eyes were wet. “Are you all right?”

  “Y-Yes,” she said between sobs. “It’s just so much to absorb.”

  “That’s why we told your family we’d prepare you first.”

  “I want to see them!”

  “We’re right here, darling girl.”

  Anna’s head swiveled around. Her mother and father came rushing toward her with tears streaming down their faces, just the way she’d always fantasized in her dreams.

  It dawned on her then that what Helen Keller had once said was true. The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

  In Anna’s heart, she’d always known them. Now they had faces and bodies that looked like hers.

  When their arms closed around her, she felt at rest. She knew she’d come home.

  “Our precious baby.” Her mother wept.

  Her father’s arms encircled both of them while he sobbed.

  Anna sobbed with them. With each heave of her body, she felt the years of pain, loneliness…the heartache, wash away.

  “I belong to you. I can’t believe it. I always longed for my mother and father.”

  “You’ve got us forever, honey.” Her father kissed her repeatedly.

&n
bsp; Her mother cupped her face so she could really look at her. “Do you want us to call you Anna?”

  “No—” she blurted without hesitation. “That’s not my name. I want the name you gave me.”

  “Kathryn, darling,” her mother cried. “You’ve come home to us. I’ve ached for you all these years. There’s always been a hole in my heart. My dear little baby. You’ve grown up to be so beautiful.”

  “That’s the truth.”

  Her parents made way for her blond brother to embrace her. “I’m Ben. Welcome home, little sister. Haven’t seen you for a long time.”

  His remark made her laugh in spite of her tears. Soon her brown-haired brother had joined them.

  “I’m Cord, and you’re a sight for sore eyes. How come you had to go and break your leg at a time like this?”

  She laughed and broke down all over again, so happy and excited she couldn’t formulate words.

  “You’ve got a sister, too,” her father said. “Come here, Maggie.”

  The one member of the family who looked the most like Kathryn moved from behind their brothers and reached for her. “Thank God you’re home at last,” Maggie said in a voice full of emotion.

  Anna squeezed her around the neck. “That’s what I’m doing. Thanking Him and thanking Him.”

  “I’ve missed you, Kathryn. When I was little and had tea parties, I’d always save a place for you.”

  Kathryn hugged her harder. “I used to pretend I had a younger sister, and I would read her stories for hours and hours.”

  They laughed and cried once more until Maggie said, “The rest of the family is waiting to meet you.” She kissed Kathryn’s cheek before backing away.

  Another lovely blond woman took Maggie’s place. “I’m Julie, Ben’s wife.” She put her arms around her and whispered, “He was nine when you were taken, just old enough to feel guilty he didn’t hear anyone come in the mansion and take you from your crib.

  “You have no idea what this day means to him—to all of us. I’ve never been so happy in my life, either.” She sniffed. “Brock? Katy? Come here. Meet your aunt Kathryn.”

  Kathryn watched her blond niece and nephew move closer. They were darling. “The clerk told me my family looked like each other, and that I looked like them. It’s really true. Can I have a hug?”

  Without hesitation, their young arms went around her neck.

  “Does your leg hurt?” Katy asked.

  “It did at first, but not now.”

  Brock studied her intently. “Did you know you were kidnapped?”

  “Not until a few minutes ago.”

  “Whoa. Do you feel funny?”

  “I should, but I don’t.”

  “That’s what Aunt Kit said.”

  “Kit?”

  “I’m Kit, Cord’s wife,” said the attractive brunette woman standing behind the children. “Twenty-six years ago, I was kidnapped by the same men who kidnapped you. I know how you’re feeling right now, because I was only united with my birth parents two months ago.”

  “You, too?” she whispered.

  The children nodded.

  Kathryn looked at Katy. “All my life I’ve dreamed that I had this fabulous, wonderful family out there somewhere who missed me and loved me. But for some reason they didn’t know where I was. I prayed and prayed they’d find me.”

  Tears choked her up once more. “Today my prayers came true.” She put her hand over her heart. “In here, it all feels right.”

  Katy held on to Kathryn’s hand. “You’re pretty like Aunt Maggie.”

  “And you’re beautiful just like your mom.”

  Her little face broke out in a huge smile. “Have you got a boyfriend?”

  “Not yet.”

  “How soon can you come home with us?”

  “Today!” her father declared. “Just as soon as we can find the doctor to release her.”

  “You’ll love living with Grandma and Grandpa,” Brock confided. “They have a pool. When you get your cast off, we’ll come over and swim with you.”

  “I’d love that.”

  Katy cocked her head. “Do you like ant farms?”

  Kathryn chuckled. “I lived on a giant one.”

  Both children’s eyes rounded. “You did?”

  Maggie’s amused glance met Kathryn’s. “Your aunt was raised on a fruit farm near here.”

  “What kind of fruit?”

  “Apples, pears, cherries, peaches, strawberries. People from all over Wisconsin come there to buy produce. A lot of families pick their own.”

  Katy looked at her mother. “I wish we could do that.”

  “Could you eat all you wanted?” Brock asked.

  Kathryn couldn’t help laughing. “I could, but I wouldn’t have felt very well. You see my job on the farm was to cook fruit pastry we sold at the bakery.”

  “You worked in a bakery?” Brock cried. “So did Aunt Kit! She used to bake cakes in hotels and decorate them.”

  Kathryn glanced at Kit. “Sounds like you and I have a lot in common already.”

  Her sister-in-law smiled. “Probably more than we know. Some day when we have time, we’ll have to compare notes.”

  “Will you make that pastry for us?” Katy asked.

  “I’d love to.”

  “Can we help?” Brock wanted to know.

  “When Kathryn’s cast comes off, we’ll all help,” Kathryn’s mother chimed in. She bent over and kissed her again. “Until then, we’re going to wait on her.”

  “Is it pie? My daddy loves pie.” Katy’s thoughts were still on food. She was adorable.

  “Kind of. In the Czech Republic it’s served at wedding feasts.”

  “Where’s that?”

  The whole family chuckled

  “That’s a country in Europe. The people who raised me are called Czechs.”

  Brock’s mind was working it out. “What language do they speak?”

  “Czech.”

  “What’s their name?”

  “The immigrant who started the farm was called Jainos Skwars.”

  Both children frowned at the odd sound of it.

  “Marie Skwars, his sister, was the one who took me to the farm after I was kidnapped by her grandson. Her last name was Buric.”

  “Do you speak that language?”

  “Yes.”

  “Say something.”

  Maggie put her hands on their shoulders. “If you children want to hear a conversation in Czech, then we need Jake to jump in here.” Kathryn watched her glance at the rugged, dark-haired male standing in the background.

  “Kathryn? Meet Jake Halsey, the man who found you,” her voice trembled. “Without him, this day might never have happened. Come here, Jake.”

  Kathryn studied both of them. They had the look of a couple deeply in love, like Nelly and Miki. The signs were unmistakable.

  “Dobre den, Jake.”

  “Dobre jitro. Tesi me, Kathryn. Vitame vas.”

  “Dekuji.”

  Continuing in Czech, Jake said, “I guess you don’t have to be told how overjoyed your family is to have you restored to them.”

  “I’m the one who’s overjoyed. How can I ever thank you for making all our dreams come true?”

  “You already have with your smiling eyes and face. Though you’re going to hear this from the others, I’m going to tell you something now. It was Maggie who came to the genealogical firm where I work for help in solving your case. Like the rest of the family, her whole life has been devoted to finding you.

  “I’m in awe of their great strength and unwavering faith. They always believed you were alive. Now that I’ve met you and learned a little about your courage and determination, I can see that you’re made from the same great McFarland mold. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to meet you at last. Do you mind if I give you a hug?”

  “If it weren’t for this leg, I’d have hugged you first.”

  He bent down and put his arms around her. “As you’re going to find out
, you belong to the greatest family there is.”

  “Whoa, Jake. What were you and Aunt Kathryn saying? That sounded cool.”

  He stood up and ruffled Brock’s hair. “Stuff.”

  Kathryn took pity on her nephew. “It takes longer to say things in Czech,” she teased. “What Jake told me was that I’m the luckiest person in the world to belong to this family, but I already know that.”

  “Great news,” her father said, breezing back in the room with an illuminating smile. “You’ve been released to our care, Kathryn. We can go home.” He rushed to her side. “How does that sound to you, honey?”

  She looked from her dad to her mom, who’d taken hold of her hand. “I’ve been ready to go back for twenty-six years. Can we get a plane reservation this fast?”

  “We have our own plane,” Katy piped up.

  Their own plane…

  She belonged to a family who had their own plane? None of it had sunk in yet. Not really.

  “I’ve never been on one before.”

  “You’re kidding!” the children exclaimed.

  “Nope. I’ve never done a lot of things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Go to the ocean.”

  “You’ve never seen it?” Brock was incredulous.

  “It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I only took my first ferry ride across Lake Michigan a week ago.”

  “I’ve never done that,” he said quietly.

  “What do you want to do the very mostest?”

  She hugged Katy around the waist. “Learn how to ski.”

  Ben flashed her a grin. “You’re our sister, all right.”

  “Uncle Cord will teach you,” Brock informed her. “His house is in Alta.”

  Kathryn’s gaze flew to her brother’s in shock. “You live in Alta?” Her voice came out more like a squeak.

  He eyed her curiously. “That’s right. At the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Albion Basin, the most beautiful spot in the world. Our great-great-great-grandfather must have thought so, too, because he bought the land the second he saw it.”

  An anxious look crossed over her mother’s face. “Darling—what’s wrong? I felt you shiver just now.”

  Suddenly the whole family was staring at Kathryn with concern.

  “You’re not going to believe me when I tell you.”