by Kasey Krane
Clearly, Rosalie knew what she was doing when she decided she would keep me out of it. We were better off that way. I had to hand it to her for being a smart chick. A good mother.
“I’m sorry, kiddo,” I whispered as I shut the door behind me.
If that was the last time I saw my son, he would be better off.
Twenty-Three
Rosalie
I woke up and immediately reached for Brendan in bed. I yearned for his warmth and strength. When I opened my eyes, I saw he wasn’t there. Was he making breakfast for us?
It brought a smile to my face—the thought that he could be in my kitchen right then, cooking up a storm. It was exactly what Davey would have wanted. To have breakfast with his new favorite person.
And I knew it was too soon, but I had gotten used to the idea of having Brendan around. Of us spending more time as a family together.
I had panicked the previous night when he told me about what happened to his brother, and how he took all the responsibility on his own shoulders and blamed himself for years.
I wasn’t sure if Brendan would be ready for the responsibility of being a father. I still wasn’t convinced he would be…but would it be so bad if we tried?
What if Brendan stuck around for a while? If Davey and he grew close and I finally mustered up the courage to tell him the truth?
Maybe all we needed was just some time, and when it was right—I would tell him. I didn’t want to fight that feeling anymore. The feeling of wanting him and needing him, of being so happy to see him and Davey together.
Maybe my mom was right and I was the one who was wrong about Brendan. Maybe he would make a great dad. What did I know about great dads and how to spot them?
I put on my clothes in a hurry. I was excited to go to the kitchen and see him. For him to pull me into his arms and kiss me.
I didn’t even care anymore if Davey saw us. No man had been a part of our lives yet, but it was time that changed.
I had no right to keep father and son apart.
When I rushed out of the room and searched the apartment, Brendan was nowhere to be found. He’d left already.
Then I searched the place for a note but there wasn’t one. Not even one with his phone number.
The realization hit me that I had no way of getting in contact with Brendan. I didn’t know his number, where he lived or worked. Even though we had spent the past few days together, I still knew fuck-all about him.
“Mommy?” Davey came out of his room, dragging his teddy bear with him.
“Good morning, honey,” I said, trying to sound chirpy. I wasn’t sure what to make of Brendan’s disappearance. It was possible he just needed to leave for work, or something came up.
Or he had done a runner, just like he did the first night we met.
Had I been a damned fool for trusting him?
“Where’s Brendan?” Davey asked. I could have slapped myself for involving my son. I should have kept him away.
The facts still remained unchanged. Davey didn’t have a father.
Maybe Davey could sense my bad mood. He was snappy with me from the moment he found out Brendan was gone.
I tried to make up an excuse about how he was busy and had to go to work, but Davey insisted that Brendan had told him they were going to spend the day together.
Brendan may or may not have said that. Davey was three and his imagination ran wild. I only wished I had the energy and the mental capacity to handle it right after I realized Brendan had abandoned us.
It was a struggle getting Davey to brush his teeth. We had a battle while I tried to get him dressed. He said he didn’t want any of the breakfast options I offered him. He refused to leave the kitchen and walk out of the apartment with me.
I was already running late for my shift at the diner and if Davey delayed me any more, I was sure to lose the job. Jim was a fair boss, but he was also looking for excuses to drop the extra employees he couldn’t afford.
“Davey, please! Just this once, will you just listen to me and do what you’re told?” I yelled.
I never yelled at him, and he wasn’t used to this reaction from me. I saw his face turn red and then he burst into tears. I felt like I was close to tears too. It would have been a whole lot comforting if I was able to cry with him. But I didn’t have that luxury. I had to drop him off at kindergarten, and I had to get to work.
So I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the apartment.
“We can talk about it after school, Davey, but right now, I really need you to cooperate with me.”
He wasn’t listening to a word I said. He screeched and threw a fuss as we went down the stairs together. My head felt like it was about to burst. I wished I could just go hide somewhere.
We stepped out of the building just as a big black van pulled up in front of us. I barely even noticed it because of how focused I was on collecting myself. Davey walked ahead of me, still groaning and complaining about how he didn’t want to go to kindergarten.
I didn’t see the men jump out of the van at first. Two men, dressed in black. They came into my line of vision when they blocked Davey’s path. I was confused at first. The wires in my brain felt crossed. They were malfunctioning.
Then they grabbed my son’s arms and I cried out, lunging forward. They dragged Davey into the van while he kicked and screamed. I ran after them but they were already sliding the door shut.
The van screeched to a start and zoomed past me while I threw myself into traffic. I couldn’t hear anything, not even my own voice as I screamed and screamed. Cars honked at me, people shouted. I saw the van swerve in traffic, narrowly missing a few cars in its path.
“No! Davey! No!” I cried, collapsing to my knees.
My son was gone. Someone had taken him and I didn’t know where, or why. This was every mother’s worst nightmare and it was actually happening to me.
Twenty-Four
Brendan
I knocked on Tristian’s door furiously. When he opened he looked like he’d just woken up.
“What the fuck are you doing? More importantly, what the fuck are you doing here?” he groaned. My brother wasn’t an early riser.
I shoved past him into the apartment.
I’d been riding my bike around the city for hours since I left Rosalie’s apartment. I hadn’t been able to make peace with what I figured out. Nothing made sense anymore.
I had unknowingly been father to a boy for the past three years. It sounded like a joke to my ears.
“Something going on with you?” Tristian asked as he started to make coffee.
I hadn’t said a word since I came in. Just been pacing, looking wildly around like I saw ghosts.
“I have a son,” I blurted.
My brother turned to me, stopping midway with a big spoon of ground coffee in his hand.
“What did you just say?”
“What you heard. I have a kid.”
“And I’m Princess fuckin’ Diana,” he said with a laugh, turning away.
I strode up to him, stopping right up close behind him, forcing him to look at me again.
“I know it sounds like a fuckin’ joke, but it’s not. I have a kid who is three years old. That is the reason she pushed me away.”
“She? Who? What are you talking about?”
“Rosalie.”
“The chick from the bar? The one you’ve been running round in circles chasing after?”
We glared at each other while Tristian tried to connect the dots.
“You know how it works, right? Knocking up a chick. Pregnancy. All that. You met her like three days ago.”
I wanted to punch him in the face for being an idiot, but I didn’t. Tristian was smirking because he was still convinced I was pranking him.
“We had a one night stand four years ago. I was too drunk to remember it clearly. I mean, I remember it now. She seemed familiar when we met that night at the bar.”
“That was why you were obsessively chasing afte
r her?” Tristian said. I said nothing.
“And she had the kid and kept it a secret?”
I nodded. “Green eyes, freckles, the whole Doherty shebang.”
Tristian gulped like there was a lump stuck in his throat. He knew I was being serious now. There was no denying it.
“What did you do? What did you say?” he finally asked.
“I left. That’s what I did. And I’m not going to say anything. She doesn’t know I know and maybe I should keep it that way.”
Tristian let me have my silence while I sat at his breakfast bar, staring at the mug of coffee in my hands. We were both thinking, but I had a feeling we weren’t both thinking the same thing.
Eventually, he cleared his throat, warning me that he was going to say something.
“You know, Aidan didn’t know about his kid. Now he’s doing whatever it takes to find that kid and have a relationship with him,” he said.
I glared at him. “Aidan can do whatever the fuck he wants.”
“I’m just trying to give you an alternative option.”
“What alternative?”
“You could try and have a relationship with your kid too.”
“She doesn’t want me to know. I’ve been spending time with them. We’ve been sitting together at the breakfast table, eating. I walked that kid to kindergarten yesterday. Shit got real, and still, she hasn’t said a word.”
Tristian brushed a hand through his hair.
“You could ask her what’s going on.”
“I know what’s going on. She thinks they’re better off without me, and she’s right.”
“You would make a great dad,” Tristian tried and I growled at him.
“I would make a shit dad. I wouldn’t make any kind of dad at all.”
“You don’t know that until you’ve tried.”
I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. I tried hard to think of other things, but Davey’s face was the only one I kept seeing.
“And you said you’ve been spending time with them. You’ve never spent any time with any kid before. In fact, you actively avoid them. Clearly, you like this kid. You like her?”
I opened my eyes. Tristian stared at me expectantly, searching my eyes to see if he could find a clue.
“I thought I did,” I replied.
“So what’s changed? The fact that she’s the mother of your child?”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel.”
Tristian stood up. He went over to the sink and emptied his coffee mug. Mine had gone cold too.
“I don’t think there’s a rule book for something like this, Brendan. You feel what you feel, there ain’t nothing you can do about it. All that really matters is what you do next.”
My brother spouted some bullshit in the hopes of appearing to be wise. I chuckled bitterly, expecting him to join in the laughter, but he didn’t.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
He shrugged. “If you choose to never see that kid again, you think you’ll be able to justify it when you’re sixty? And what if this chick is the one? You’ve been acting like a lovesick teenager since you met her. You think you won’t regret your decision when you’re drawing your last breath?”
“What the fuck are you talking about, man?” I growled, even though I knew exactly what he meant.
If I left Rosalie now and never saw her or Davey again, I would spend the rest of my life like a headless chicken. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to admit it yet.
My phone rang just as Tristian was about to say something else.
It was for the best we were interrupted since I didn’t want to hear it.
I’d hoped he would give me a pat on the back and tell me I did the right thing by walking away.
“Yeah,” I said, answering the call.
“Hello, Brendan. You must be tired after the long night you had.” For a few moments I didn’t recognize the voice. I was about to ask who it was until I knew exactly who was calling.
“Hello, Aldo,” I growled.
Tristian heard the words and stood up from his chair.
“Good. I’m glad we’re on the same page. I wouldn’t have liked it if you’d forgotten about me,” he said.
“Well, I’ve forgotten what you look like since you’ve been hiding your mug for so long.”
He laughed, but he was being sarcastic.
“I’d love to catch up, but I’m only calling to tell you that your kid is cute. Very chatty. Sounds like he doesn’t know who his daddy is, but maybe I’ll tell him. I haven’t decided yet.”
My blood rushed straight to my head.
“You stay the fuck away from him,” I shouted. It only made Aldo laugh harder.
“That would be pretty difficult given that we are the only two people in the room,” he said.
“I’m going to find you and kill you. If you touch him, you’re dead,” I snarled.
“It’s sweet to see you being so protective of a kid you don’t even know, who doesn’t know you. But for my purposes, this works out great.”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“Nothing. That’s the beauty of it, son. I don’t want anything. I just wanted you motherfuckers to realize that I am coming for you. None of you are safe. None of your kids are safe, and your women…they better fuckin’ hide.”
Aldo ended the call before I could say anything more.
Tristian followed me to the door as I went charging after it.
“He has Davey. He took Davey,” I shouted.
“What the fuck?”
“Last night, some guy roughed them up outside their apartment. Rosalie thought he was some creepy stalker, it clearly wasn’t. Aldo has been keeping an eye on her. He knows everything. I should have been there to protect her. I should have been there to keep my son safe.”
Tristian followed me out but I stopped him from coming with me.
“Get the others, we need to find them. I’m going to go find Rosalie. If he does anything to Davey I’m going to burn down everything he owns. I’m going to hunt down and kill all his men.”
Tristian clenched his jaws, staring at me, believing every word I said.
“And then I’ll skin him alive,” I added.
Twenty-Five
Rosalie
“Are you people even listening to me?” I screamed.
I was sitting at a desk, while police officers walked around the room, taking notes and making phone calls.
“Yes ma’am, we’ve heard every word of what you said,” one of them replied.
“Then why aren’t you going out there? Why aren’t you looking for him? My son has been abducted. You have to find him!” I could barely make sense of my own words. It was like there was a constant buzzing sound in my ears. It drove me crazy.
“Where would we go looking for him, ma’am?” another guy asked.
I stared at him, with tears streaming down my cheeks.
“We are doing everything we can to find him. There are officers out there questioning witnesses. We’re going to keep an eye out for all black vans, other than that, we just have to wait and see if we can come up with any leads.”
While the officer talked, I sat in the chair motionless, losing track of his voice. All I could think about was Davey and what was happening to him. How did I let this happen? Why wasn’t I holding his hand? Why did I shout at him?
I started sobbing again and someone handed me a plastic cup of water.
“Right now our best advice would be for you to go home and stay there by the phone. Davey might be returned or they might try and call you.”
I stood up like a zombie. Unseeing, unthinking…I just wanted Brendan. If he was here…if I could just talk to him. He would know what to do.
I had never felt more alone in my life. I didn’t even want to call my mother because her hysteria and panic would only make things worse.
One of the officers led me out of the station.
“We’ll kee
p in touch, Ms. Turner, we’re all going to do our best to get your son back. Right now, you need to be with your family. That’s the best you can do.” Those were his parting words.
I couldn’t say anything. I could barely even move. I was falling apart with grief and pain. I would have done anything to keep Davey safe. I would have given my life. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But now the chance was gone.
When I looked up I thought I saw Brendan across the street. He was standing, leaning against a bike with his arms crossed over his chest. I blinked severely, expecting the vision to pass, but it didn’t.
It was actually him.
Instead of going to him, I broke into another volley of sobs, covering my face with my hands. Within moments, he was right there in front of me. He must have run over.
He jumped at me, pulling me into his arms, pushing his face and nose into my hair while I sobbed on his chest.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, stroking my hair.
Then I looked up at him, confused and amazed.
“What are you doing here? How did you find me?” I asked.
“Why don’t we take you home first.”
I felt pathetic crying so much, but I just couldn’t stop. Brendan and I walked back to my apartment and he held me the whole time.
“I went looking for you everywhere and then I figured you would be at the police station,” he said when we walked into the apartment.
“But how did you find out what happened? You were gone this morning and I didn’t know how to get in touch with you.”
He was still holding my arm as he led me to the couch. Then he crouched down in front of me so our faces were aligned.
“The guy who you thought has been stalking you, he’s been stalking me.”
I shook my head, still confused.
“But Davey…”
