Lost and Found Pieces

by J. M. Madden

  John grabbed the box of powdered rice cereal from the cupboard in the corner and a plastic bowl, yawning. As he passed the sink he turned on the hot water to warm for the cereal, then headed for the fridge. They already had a couple of bottles made up, so all he had to do was warm them .

  When Caden powered into the kitchen, fussing, John was ready. Everything was arrayed on the table beside him. He finished mashing banana into the cereal and held out a spoonful. “Here you go, buddy .”

  Caden didn’t even hesitate, just engulfed the spoon into his mouth. He barely had the first spoonful down and he demanded another. Wyatt came in and took his position beside Caden, demanding his own breakfast as he danced on his toes and waved his arms. For a while, John kept a handle on things. Then, in a perfect act of timing while he was looking at Wyatt, Caden decided to grab at the bowl. His little fingers caught the side enough to flip the bowl up and into the air .

  Carmella was always ready for a handout from the boys, but she didn’t expect to be hit in the head with a flying container of rice cereal. John could only cringe as the bowl landed almost perfectly on her head, though she tried to duck, then slid slowly down her face. A trail of cereal was left in her buttery blond hair, and she wagged her tail as she licked up what she could .

  Wyatt, the little punk, was giggling his ass off as Carmella cleaned the goopy mess from the floor. That didn’t get what was on her head, though .

  “Fuck,” John growled, reaching for a dishtowel .

  He wiped the dog down and avoided her hopeful licks, then he sent the dishtowel sailing toward the laundry room. Caden giggled and smacked his tray as he watched it fly through the air .

  Moving to the kitchen pantry he opened the door, looking for the Swiffer thing. He was startled when Pickle streaked out, all tail and claws, and disappeared toward the living room. Had she been trapped in there? He glanced inside and winced. The panicked cat had obviously been in here for a while. How had they not heard her knocking things from the shelves ?

  “Mommy is going to be mad at me .”

  All of Caden’s attention swung to him, then jerked around the kitchen. John realized his mistake as soon as the baby’s face began to darken. He’d mentioned mommy. The mop forgotten he turned back to the oncoming explosion .

  Caden let out a squal. Hitting the lights on the toys on the walker, John tried to sidetrack the boy, but it didn’t work. John searched the area, looking for a toy or something to distract the boy. Nothing. Even the bear had disappeared. Seriously? Any other time he couldn’t move two feet without his wheels binding into something. Wyatt let out a little whimper, as if he were getting ready to unravel as well, if only to be in solidarity with his brother. Praying he had remembered to grab his cellphone, John felt his sweat pants pockets. Yes! Dragging it out he paged through screens, cursed, then swiped back to the video he wanted .

  Shannon filled the screen, smiling with such a contented look. It was obvious this had been in the middle of the night, because her hair was a dark mussed cloud around her bare face and she wore one of his old t-shirts. Her eyes were half-closed as she rocked Wyatt back and forth in the glider rocker in their room, the end of a bottle in his mouth. John had stopped in the doorway to watch her, loving the complete serenity and love of the moment. It had actually brought tears to his hard-ass Marine eyes .

  Must be getting soft in his old age .

  John just stood there and stared as she’d told Wyatt about all of the great things he was going to do in his life. The little man stared up at her, his almost-black hair fuzzing around his head, hanging on her every word. He beat his hand at her breast, and clutched at the soft cloth of the shirt, his lips moving occasionally. His bright eyes blinked rapidly, as if his life depended upon the words and the hope she was giving him. Then she began to sing a lullaby .

  They’d been together for years, but it hadn’t been until they’d had the boys that he’d realized what a beautiful singing voice Shannon had. When he’d asked her about it, she’d given him a quizzical smile. “I don’t think I do, but I just feel like I need to sing to them, sometimes .”

  It lulled them into sleep almost immediately, so he was ecstatic she felt moved to do it .

  He hadn’t had that when he was little, and he doubted Jaime had either .

  This was John’s favorite video, hands down. Even sitting at the doorway where he recorded, he could see Wyatt’s eyelids begin to sag down, as if every note she sang placed a tiny weight on them. He rallied once, beating his fist as if he hated to go to sleep because he would lose sight of the most precious thing in his little world, but tiredness pulled him under .

  Shannon continued to sing for a few more minutes, running her fingers over Wyatt’s smooth little brow. Then she’d glanced up at him and smiled. He didn’t know how long she’d known he was there, but it didn’t matter. He would treasure that moment as one of the most amazing of his life .

  The boys stilled at the first note of her voice, as entranced as if they were there with her now. They watched the entire video, rapt. John didn’t dare leave the phone with them while he cleaned up, so he just sat there and held it, hoping that they would stay calm when it ended .

  They did. Once the video ended, John wheeled across the kitchen to grab the can of banana-flavored puff treats. He scattered a few on each of the walker trays and gathered the rest of the breakfast dishes. He would do his best not to leave Shannon with a mess to clean .

  Gray Cat meowed plaintively. She sat just inside the garage door waiting to go out to her food .

  As soon as the kids became even partially mobile, they’d moved the cat’s food and litter box out to the semi-heated garage. The dog’s food was out there as well, though it was inconvenient as hell. The ramp into the garage was steep and he didn’t like to use it if he didn’t have to. Shannon had read somewhere that kids eating animal food could get intestinal parasites. John personally thought that sounded a little far-fetched, but she’d been firm about it .

  Whatever. It made her happy .

  Reaching out, he opened the door and let Gray Cat out. Pickle streaked from somewhere and darted out too, making him laugh. That poor cat was having a rough week. Just yesterday Wyatt had parked his walker on her tail, then giggled as she jumped around trying to escape. When she had she’d hissed mightily with displeasure and disappeared. Letting her out of the closet was the first time John had seen her since then .

  He was just about to close the door when he saw something odd sitting on the workbench he used for building his surveillance toys. There was a brightly stuffed Christmas bag sitting on the bench. Nothing strange about that, but it hadn’t been there last night when he’d gone to bed .

  With a glance behind him he looked at the kids in the kitchen. They seemed distracted by the dog. He could roll out, grab the bag and come back .

  When he grabbed the bag, it wasn’t especially heavy. Hanging it from the back of his chair he pushed himself back up into the kitchen .

  He closed the door behind him and turned back to the kids. Kid. Caden was gone. Fuck! John glanced under the table and around the corner of the counter, but there was no sight of the blue-framed walker. Wyatt watched him wide-eyed as he pushed the wheels of his chair and steered toward the living room, dropping the Christmas bag to the kitchen table as he passed. Ah, there he was, staring at the blinking Christmas tree .

  The tree had been a bit of a debate. Shannon had campaigned for it long and hard, which had kind of surprised him. She’d always been the one for safety and security around the babies, and the tree seemed like a buttload of risk. She’d been adamant though, explaining that the kids would love seeing the lights and the sparkles. It would be their first Christmas, after all .

  Sighing, he rolled up to park beside Caden. The little man beat the tray of his walker, as if he wanted to grab something from the tree. In a brilliant stroke of inspiration, Shannon had circled the tree with the two-foot puppy fence they’d used to potty train Carmella. Now the
kids could look, but they couldn’t touch .

  Caden looked at John, then back at the tree, as if telling him what he wanted. His grubby little hands tightened on the tray .

  “Oh, no, little bear. You’re not getting any closer than right there. Do you take me for a turnip ?”

  Caden moved his walker, bumping into the fence. They’d lined the inside of the fence with logs from the fireplace. It wasn’t ideal, but it was what they’d improvised .

  Wyatt rolled up beside them and the three just looked at the tree for a moment. John had to admit, Shannon had done a phenomenal job. Colored lights twinkled merrily all the way around, and she’d layered glittering rope tinsel on every limb. An angel in a gauzy glowing dress sat atop everything, looking down at them benevolently .

  Shannon had done her best to wear away at his aversion to Christmas. In amongst the limbs were a couple of Marine and military ornaments. He glanced across the room at the stockings hung on the mantle of the fireplace. It had been decorated like crazy too, lights blinking along its length with a stretch of evergreen. There, on the end of the wooden mantle was his military grade camo stocking. He’d laughed when she’d given it to him last year, but he was actually very fond of it. She’d tucked little chargers and micro-tools into the pockets. They were nothing he didn’t already have, but the mere fact that she’d thought about what to buy him had choked him up. He wondered what she’d put in it this year .

  The boys each had a bright red stocking. She’d printed their names on them with some glittery glue. Shannon’s stocking was a royal purple velvet, with stones glittering around the fur opening. John had been proud of himself when he’d found it at a specialty shop. It had Shannon written all over it. Not literally, like the boys’, but …

  John jerked to attention, realizing he’d been half dozing looking at the fireplace. It was taking him a while to wake up. He glanced left and right. No boys. “What the hell,” he growled. “I’ve got little black-ops babies in training .”

  They hadn’t gone far, but they’d been gone long enough to wreak havoc. Both walkers were crammed into the small powder room off the living room. John didn’t know how they’d even gotten in there because he didn’t think their inner compasses were working right yet. The door had been shut, he could have sworn .

  It had been enough time to unspool a roll of toilet paper and jerk the towels from the rod. Those grasping little fists were dangerous .

  There was no room to maneuver so John dragged Wyatt out backwards, pushing him into the living room, then grabbed Caden’s ride. It was hard to back up in a wheelchair while dragging a walker, but he managed to do it somehow. Once he’d pushed both boys away from the bathroom, making them giggle, he rolled inside to try to pick up the mess, or re-roll it. It was a no go. Bundling everything up he stuffed it into the small trashcan beside the commode. This was not ideal, but he had to get back out there before they tore the house down .

  Shutting the door firmly behind him as he wheeled out, John looked around for the kids. They were in front of the fireplace. There was no fire— the grate was cold—so he wasn’t worried about them burning themselves, but Wyatt, the taller by half an inch was leaning as far out of his chair as possible, and the fireplace screen was moving. Even as John watched, it flexed a tiny bit more. Just enough for Wyatt to get his tiny, chubby little fingers on the trailing end of the evergreen bough, hanging from the near end of the mantle. Before John could even open his mouth to yell no, Wyatt had pulled the evergreen bough, and its attached blinking lights, to him. One by one, every Christmas item lined on the top of the mantle tumbled to the floor, as well as the stockings and their holders .

  For a moment, no one moved, then the kids broke into gasping giggles. John smirked, because it had been pretty epic, but then he cursed. He needed to get that mess cleaned up. And it had been loud enough that it may have woken Shannon. Glancing at the bedroom door, he waited to hear the distinctive squeak of the hinges. But it didn’t happen .

  “You little hellions are not making this easy on me. Give your old dad a break, why don’t you ?”

  They grinned up at him as he rolled close and he wondered how he was going to clean the mess up. If he could control the boys it would be a hell of a lot easier. He glanced around, looking for inspiration .

  Chapter Three

  S hannon knew something was up as soon as she opened her eyes. It was too quiet. Rolling out of bed, feeling rested for the first time in a long time, she padded to the bathroom. After doing her business and running a brush through her hair she opened the bedroom door .

  John looked up rather guiltily, pushing something out of her line of sight, toward the fireplace. “Oh, hey babe. You have time to take a shower or something, if you’d like .”

  Feeling even more concerned, Shannon stepped into the living room and glanced around. Her mouth dropped open .

  The fireplace decorations had been ripped off the mantle and scattered below. She was glad they’d let the fire go out last night otherwise some of them would have been burnt. Wyatt’s stocking still hung on its hook on the mantle but everyone else’s was on the floor or in the ash that they had planned to clean out that day .

  The fireplace screen was sitting at an odd angle. That was what John had been pushing out of the way. He couldn’t get his wheelchair close enough to clean without making space .

  Something jingled to her left. Carmella jogged to her with a red glass ornament clasped between her jaws. With a gasp, Shannon took the gift from the dog, thankful that Golden Retrievers were so gentle. For some reason the dog’s hair seemed spiked with something. Then she realized that this was a tree ornament in her hand .

  “This is not a ball, Carmella,” she scolded .

  Alarmed, she looked at the tree, but it seemed fine. The fence was gone, though. That was how Carmella had gotten the ornament .

  There was a squeal to her right. Shannon walked further into the room and found the babies in their walkers, inside the puppy fence near the front doorway. The fence itself had been tied to the doorknob with a red bow she thought had been on the mantle. The boys pushing on one side had made it into a teardrop shape, but the bow held fast. Each baby had a stuffed bear in their walker with them .

  Both boys screamed when they saw her and bounced in their seats, waving their arms. Shannon laughed as she walked over to give them attention, setting the glass ornament on a high, safe shelf. She picked Caden up first and the baby cooed at her, drooling. He shoved his fist into his mouth and looked at her adoringly, fisting her hair in his other hand. After a moment she handed Caden to John, then picked up Wyatt .

  When both babies had been appeased, she gave John a look. “What happened to my house ?”

  John put Caden into the chest harness, facing out so that he could see everything. Then he rolled over and took her spare hand. Shannon smiled, wondering what the hell was going on .

  “You are the most incredible person I know,” John told her softly, dark gaze firm. “You’re definitely the strongest woman I know. I had these kids for less than an hour and I’m as wrecked as the house. The bathroom has issues, the cats are pissed and the dog is gooey. I know it sounds like I’m buttering you up for something, but you walked out looking all warm and cuddly and sexable and I forget about all the little stuff .”

  She laughed, rocking her hips from side to side for the baby. “I don’t care about the house. It can be picked up. The dog can be washed. And the cats will get over their hissy fit eventually. I appreciated the long morning. And the night. It might have made me feel a little more sexable, too. Not sure the house would still be standing if we disappeared now, though .”

  They grinned at each other, understanding between them. “So, why are the cats mad?” she asked, turning toward the kitchen .

  “Um, mostly just Pickle,” John hedged. “Might have something to do with being locked in the pantry all night .”

  Shannon’s eyes rounded with surprise. “No wonder! Oh, the poor thi
ng !”

  She wasn’t feeling as bad for the cat when she saw what she’d done to the pantry. “That darn thing. Why couldn’t she have just sat there and waited for one of us to release her? Did she really have to knock everything off the shelf ?”

  John flinched as he looked inside the pantry. Shannon felt bad because she wasn’t blaming him for the mess. The cat had done it. Just cleaning up the flour was going to be a bitch, though, let alone everything else. She shut the door firmly. “I’ll deal with it later. Thank you for letting me sleep in .”

  His dark brows lowered and he tried to give her a smile. “I did have the best of intentions in taking the kids over for the morning, but it kind of all went to hell .”

  She laughed, jiggling the baby on her hip. “Everyone is happy and healthy. That’s all that matters. I love you, John .”

  “I love you, Shannon. Even more so now that I know what you deal with every morning alone .”

  “Morning, noon and night,” she corrected. The kids laughed together and gripped hands as their parents leaned in for a kiss .

  Shannon spied the gift bag on the table. “Where did that come from ?”

  John gave her a narrow-eyed look. “You don’t recognize it ?”

  She shook her head .

  “It was on the workbench when I let the cats out earlier. I know for a fact it wasn’t there last night .”

  John rolled over and looked for a tag on the ribbon handles. He found the folded piece of card and opened it up. “For my nephews and their overworked parents,” he read .

  Shannon’s brows disappeared into her bangs. The bag was from Jaime .

  John pulled the tissue paper from the bag, dropping it to the side. Digging into the bag he pulled out a piece of cardboard wrapped in red fabric .

  “What is that?” she asked .

  John stared for a long moment then laughed and shook his head, turning the cardboard to her. “It’s a baby leash .”

  Shannon laughed as she took the item from him. It was padded fabric, so it would be gentle, and had an eight-foot line on it. Shannon bet John would come up with a bunch of uses for it .