by Rachel Burns
He was going to make sure that they didn’t talk. Secrets that needed to be kept would be persuaded, and if need be threatened.
Brian kept his head down as he entered the station. He hoped that no one would recognize him. Jake was right at his shoulder. He walked him back and placed him in a room with a glass that looked into another room where the family sat, discussing what they should do.
“We aren’t going to take any crap from them,” Tony Junior was telling the family. “She was at our place so long. We aren’t making her up.”
“What about the baby? Can Amelia take care of the baby by herself, with no roof over their heads?” Angela felt sick with worry.
“We lost our Cindy, we won’t let anything happen to our Amelia. We’ll get her back,” Tony Senior assured his wife.
The door opened, and Jake came in. “Good afternoon, everyone. I hear you are missing someone, but you don’t know her full name, is that right?”
“Yes, we had a young lady living with us, and now she is gone.” Tony Senior answered. His hand reached across the table to his wife. He gave her a squeeze to show her that he would take care of this.
“I see. Is there anything that you can tell us about her.”
“She and her daughter were living with us.”
“Her daughter? A child? That’s a whole different story. How old is she?”
“Not quite two months old. She is a newborn baby,” Angela answered, hoping that this officer would understand their dilemma.
“Almost two months, you say?”
Brian could see that Jake was going in for the kill. He would threaten them, and then everything would be forgotten. He knew that Jake had his men searching their bakery and the apartment above it while they were here. All evidence of Amelia’s stay was being removed.
The whole family moved back and away from Jake. They wanted to keep their distance at the moment. They sat up straight, avoiding his eyes as they feared what he was getting at.
“Carol, I’m sure I read somewhere that you got your insurance card stolen, almost two months ago. I believe someone used it to check into a hospital and have a baby.” He looked her dead in the eyes.
Carol, once again, sat up straighter and looked back at him. “What a coincidence,” she stated, pretending to have no idea what he was talking about.
“Coincidence? Maybe. It’s odd that someone would come in here and report someone as missing who has a two-month-old baby after claiming that their card was stolen from them. And that someone who stole the card had a baby just as old as the someone is who is missing did. I think the insurance company would be very interested in this piece of information.”
“I’m sure that they would want to have everything cleared up. They would want to talk to Amelia and Sarah. I’d bet that they would look for them. Why aren’t the police?” Tony Junior demanded.
“The officer isn’t finished playing games with us, are you?” Tony Senior asked. “I have a feeling you know exactly where Amelia and Sarah are, and that you don’t want us to look for her. I’m getting the feeling that you have more to lose than we do.”
Brian felt his heart sinking. The man was right. He had seen through this charade.
Jake didn’t give anything away as he stared back. “Why don’t you start at the beginning and tell me how a lady with no last name came to live with you.” Jake leaned back to listen, giving them the feeling that he had a lot of time despite this being Christmas Eve.
“She would come to our bakery every day. At first in the mornings, and then she came just before closing. She always wore the same thing.” Tony Senior told him. The family was letting him handle this.
“Really? Like a work uniform, or did she wear the same outfit every day?”
“It was like a school uniform. The exact same one every day.”
“I see. That is odd. How old did you say she was?”
“Nineteen. One Evening I asked her why she always came and asked about our daughter Cindy.”
“Cindy, who is also a missing person?”
“Yes.” Tony didn’t let himself get taken off track. “We aren’t prepared to lose another daughter.” He continued with the story. “I asked her what she wanted from my daughter. Cindy told her she could come to us for help. That is what we gave her. She was afraid of her husband, afraid that he wouldn’t let her keep the baby. She needed our help.”
“I see. Could it be possible that she went back to her husband? They could have reconciled in the meantime. Maybe you weren’t as important to her as she was to you? I fail to see a crime here. She left your life as quickly as she entered it. This seems to be normal for her.”
“I can see that we aren’t going to get any help here. Maybe if we go to the press?” That was exactly what Jake and Brian didn’t want to hear.
“What would it be worth for you not to go to the press?” Jake asked him.
“We aren’t going to back down. Amelia is like my own daughter.”
“But she isn’t your daughter. Your daughter is missing.”
“Yes, that’s correct. We’re leaving.” Tony Senior stood, and his family stood with him.
“I need you to stay here. I’ll be back in a moment. Maybe we can make a deal.” Jake got up and left.
A moment later the door opened. Brian turned to see his friend. “Do they have a picture of her?”
“Yes, a really nice one of her holding Sarah and smiling.”
“Oh damn.” Brian looked at the picture. It was obvious that if this picture were in the press that someone would recognize her.
“Brian, I think we have to throw them a bone. If they could see their daughter, then they would forget about Amelia. They were just using Amelia as a replacement. We need to give them the real thing. Do you think Travis would go along with something like that?”
“I don’t know.” Brian pulled out his cell and dialed. He told Travis what happened and what they wanted to do. Travis told them that he wouldn’t mind her parents visiting them. Cindy was expecting, and he would make sure that she stayed with him. He figured a visit would be good for her.
Jake nodded satisfied as he took Brian’s cell from him. The last thing he wanted was to see this in the press or worse yet in court. He went back to the family. “I have an offer. Would you be willing to keep it to yourselves that Amelia stayed with you if I can assure you that she and her daughter are fine.”
“I would have to see that with my own eyes.” Tony Senior wasn’t about to be had as an idiot.
“Would you like to talk to your daughter? Your real daughter?” Jake clarified.
“Again, just seeing is believing.” Tony Senior didn't want to be played a joker card.
“I could have your whole family on a plane this evening. Tomorrow you could spend Christmas with her.”
“We’re not getting on a plane just because of an empty promise.”
Jake pulled out Brian’s cell and hit the recall button. “Hello, mom. Is that you?”
“Cindy,” they all called out at once, surprised to hear her voice.
“Yes, it’s me. Is it true that you are all going to come visit me?”
They all traded looks.
“Travis said that you are worried about me because I’m pregnant. We already know that it’s going to be a boy.”
“Yes, we’re coming.” Angela could hear that a no would have broken her daughter’s heart.
Cindy sighed relieved. “The doctor said that I have to lie down the rest of the pregnancy, and that is so hard to do. Travis is being really great, but still I feel so lonely.”
“We’ll be there tomorrow for Christmas, baby. Is there anything that we should bring along?” Angela asked.
“Daddy, could you bake me some real Italian bread, soft on the inside and crusty on the outside.”
“No problem, Cindy. I’ll make lots for you.”
“I’m just so hungry all the time.”
“That’s completely normal,” Carol cut in.
> “Carol are you there too?” Cindy asked.
“I’m here too,” Tony Junior called out. “Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”
“I’m really looking forward to it. I have a really good feeling about Christmas now. I’ll get the maids cracking on your rooms and inform the cook that mom is going to be teaching her a few things.”
“You do that. I’ll cook you whatever you want.”
Brian watched the family happily chatting with each other until it was time to hang up. They promised not to look for Amelia or mention her again. If someone asked, they would say that her husband came and got her after serving the country. They were only too happy to drop Amelia like a hot potato for their real daughter. Brian felt so sorry for Amelia. He was the only person who really loved her.
Brian was pleased when Tony Senior insisted on a picture of Amelia and Sarah. He wanted a recent picture of both of them.
Brian would see to it that he got one. He wanted to take pictures of his beautiful girls in front of the tree tomorrow anyway.
Chapter 8 – Christmas
I woke up in my own bed. I looked around. Would he continue punishing me? Was it over?
I was alone. I sat up and look straight through to Nanny’s room. All the doors were open. I looked over to my right. His door was open too. That meant that he was in there. Were they both going to pounce on me when I got up?
I quietly got out of bed and hid in the corner. I reached over and grabbed my blanket from my bed and pulled it over my head. It was really hard to breathe this way, but I felt somehow safer. I leaned into the corner.
I felt so broken. My will to fight was gone. My will to run went with it.
I would stay here, because my baby was here.
I was shaking and cold. I didn’t have to go to the bathroom, a first for me. I hadn’t eaten in so long or had anything to drink.
I ran my finger over my lips. They were dry and chapped. I licked over them with my too dry tongue, and that hurt too.
Would he spank me for that? He had in the past.
The shaking got worse. I needed to calm down. I peeked out of my blanket and felt the cool air on my face. I moved quietly back to my bed and grabbed my bear and pulled him under the blanket with me. I held him tightly to my chest as my heart pounded in fear. I was gasping for air.
I lifted up the blanket a little to let in fresh air every once in a while.
I wanted to stay inside of my blanket fort forever.
***
Brian put his book to the side. He had heard something. He looked around in his room.
She wasn’t in here. He peeked under the bed just to make sure. He still heard a faint sound.
Brian went into Amelia’s room. How often had he walked into this room when she was gone? He often slept in her bed so he could feel closer to her. Her bed was empty again. He looked into her bathroom she wasn’t in there either. The door was still open to Nanny’s room.
Nanny was writing something at her desk. He walked in mad. Nanny had her back to him as she worked over her desk. He went to the door and tried it. It was locked.
Nanny was watching him confused when he turned around. He went back into her bathroom and started looking for her. Then he thought about her window. Did she jump? He hurried to it and looked out. Everything was closed up tightly.
Nanny tapped him on his arm. He turned to her, and she pointed to the corner.
He walked around the bed and slowly pulled the blanket away from Amelia’s face. She had been crying. Her face was all red and wet. Her hair was a mess. It had moved with the blanket, hiding her face. She looked so tiny and scared.
He couldn’t believe what she had to all go through lately.
What he would give to go back in time, just one year. He would have told her quite clearly when she asked about children that he would love any child she gave him.
He loved his little Sarah so much. She was the most beautiful baby he had ever seen. And he had seen lots. None were as cute as she was. She looked like Amelia with a bit of dark fluff on top of her head and her blue eyes. Eyes that looked a lot smarter than what they should at that age. He would take time to hold her every day.
He could hardly believe that he had a child of his own.
Brian thought about his poor Amelia having to deliver Sarah all by herself. He should have been there to hold her hand.
She thought that she had to protect the child from him. He thought that she had been very brave.
Brian also suspected that she had gone to her father. The way he looked when Nanny came in had given him away. He was surprised to hear that she was here. He wondered what he had said to her when she showed up. Did he actually call the police to get rid of her? He hoped not.
She needed so much love. He was happy that everything was over with. They could be happy like they were before.
He turned to Nanny and moved his eyes, so that she would know that she had to leave now.
She went slowly, as always. She was pushing his buttons again. Didn’t she realize that he just tolerated her for Amelia’s sake?
After Nanny was gone and the door was locked, he picked his tiny wife up and held her close to his heart. She clung to her bear. Amelia had gone very still in his lap. She was probably afraid of more punishments.
“Hush, sweetheart. It’s over now. You took your spanking so well. It’s over now. Daddy is here.”
His words had opened her floodgates. She cried and apologized to him several times. She seemed to be in a state of shock because she’d had to go through all of that for nothing, sleeping at the playground and then having to live with complete strangers. Amelia was so small, and she’d had to go through so much already in her young life.
It was always so hard for her to believe that he really wanted her. She had misconstrued his words. He would have to be a lot clearer with her.
She often twisted things and thought the worst. He thought back to how bitterly she had cried when she thought he wouldn’t miss her when he went to Europe.
Brian just couldn’t tease her or be unclear about these things. She needed to hear that he loved her every day. That was part of his job with her. It was part of her care. He would see to it that everything worked out in his little family.
Brian laid a hand on her shoulder. He felt the chain under his fingertips and traced it. It led to her locket. He opened it and looked at the pictures inside, one of him and one of Nanny.
Perhaps, he should have Nanny’s picture taken out and put in one of the baby. Amelia would like that. They were the two most important people in his little sweetheart’s life.
He followed the chain again and opened the clasp. Her head hung even lower as he did that. He laid the necklace on her nightstand. It was something she could have sold for food, but she hadn’t. That had to mean something.
“I’ll give it back to you, but I want to exchange Nanny’s picture for Sarah’s. Is that alright with you?”
“Yes, thank you,” she whispered.
“Daddy, would do anything for his little girl.” He stroked her hair out of her face. She snuggled into his chest.
“You aren’t going to fall asleep again are you?”
She looked up at him.
“Because I want to wash you up and get you dressed. It’s Christmas Eve, sweetheart.”
He wasn’t sure why, but that set off her tears again. “Hush Amelia, why are you crying?” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in really close.
“Am I healed enough?” she asked without looking up at him.
He remembered his words. His little girl would be heartbroken if she didn’t get to see her baby soon. The baby had been well cared for. He wondered if Amelia had done that, or if it had been Cindy’s mother.
He never would have guessed that he himself had made that connection possible for her. Cindy seemed to have really hated his Amelia. She had hurt her feelings and had tried to get Amelia hit. She was a terrible little girl, but that was how it was wit
h little girls. You took what you got and loved them.
He would have loved his Amelia even if she had been bratty too. He would just have had to punish her more often, or as in Travis’ case he wouldn’t be able to let her out ever.
Brian had left the house with Amelia every couple of weeks for this or that. He wouldn’t do that for a long time now.
He had gotten a call from Heather’s Daddy earlier saying that because everything had been a misunderstanding Amelia was allowed back at school, and that it would probably be of great benefit for the other little girls to see that running away just won’t work.
Brian had said that he would think about it.
“Yes, you slept like such a good girl for Daddy. You were so good in fact that I thought that I would read The Night Before Christmas to both of you tonight. But if you don’t behave when it is time for her to go, you won’t get to see her again. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Daddy,” she answered him.
“I’m so glad you aren’t still trying to pick a fight with me. That made Daddy so sad. Never talk of killing yourself again.”
He realized that he made a mistake again. He had told her not to talk about it. If she ever had ideas like that again, he wanted to know.
“Forget what Daddy just said. If you ever have feelings like that, I want you to come to me, sweetheart. Daddy won’t punish you. I promise. We need to talk with each other a lot more than what we did before. If we had, you would have been spared so much. Daddy loves our baby so much. He would never hurt her.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. How could I when our little angel looks just like you?”
“What if I get pregnant again?”
“Then come to me. I will give you special vitamins and rub your feet. It would be a happy time. I’m sorry I said something that made you think I would react otherwise.”
Amelia cried again.
“Was it that bad without Daddy?”
She nodded against his chest.
***
Daddy had me packed into bed with warm pajamas on. He took down the book he wanted from the shelf and laid it on my desk.
