Lost and Found

by Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough

  "I'm sorry guys, but I've got two kids here that are refusing to wait to meet their siblings." We look over and Lucas is trying to hold Gideon and Eden back from the room.

  "It's alright, Lucas. Hey you two, would you like to meet your new little brother and sister?" They both run up to the bed and stare at the babies.

  "Oh wow! That has to be my brother, because he's a lot bigger and looks just like me."

  "You would be right, Gideon. He looks just like you and your dad." Eden looks over at her little sister with a grin on her face.

  "Mommy, she's so pretty and looks just like you!"

  "I see a little bit of you too, Eden, I think she has your chubby cheeks. Are you excited that you got a little sister?" She nods her head and can't seem to quit grinning, while she stares at her.

  "Okay Mr. and Mrs. Kingston, we really need to get you three to the hospital to get checked out, so we need to get going."

  Cash hands the baby to one of the paramedics and goes over and talks to Lucas, while the other two paramedics slide me out and put me on the gurney, which causes me to flash back to the last time I was put on a gurney after the accident and I start panicking. Cash must have noticed, because he's beside me in a flash.

  "Liv, honey? What's wrong? Are you having more contractions?"

  "No, that's not it, it's just that... I'm having a déjàvu moment. When they slid me onto the gurney, it took me back to the accident and a dreaded feeling that something is about to happen." He sighed a sigh of relief and grabbed one of my hands.

  "I see. Okay, Honey. You know how you're all the time telling me to trust you and to have faith that everything is going to be okay? Well, now it's your turn to trust me, okay? I'll be in the ambulance with you and the babies and I promise Sweetie, everything is going to be okay and nothing's going to happen. We need to get you all to the hospital, though, to make sure you're alright."

  "Okay. Please stay by me and the babies." I know it's probably my body releasing extra hormones and I'm probably just in shock from the fast delivery, but I'm not going to be able to take my eyes off of them

  ********************

  "Liv. Honey. Wake up, baby. You have some guests that want to visit their mother, so that they can eat."

  I open my eyes and gaze into my husband’s beautiful eyes. I realize we made it to the hospital in one piece and nothing ended up happening. I had no idea how exhausted I was and fell asleep on the way to the hospital.

  "Hi, Honey. I guess I fell asleep, huh?"

  "Yes, you did and you looked so peaceful, I didn't have the heart to wake you up. The babies are doing great. Our son weighs a whopping 7 pounds even and our little princess weighs just a little less than 6 pounds. They're so perfect, Liv, and healthy. We need to come up with some names, though, because baby boy and baby girl is getting old."

  He reaches into the bassinets and hands me each one, so that I could feed them. They both took to my breast easily and I just stare at my perfect babies in all their glory, trying to put a name to their faces.

  "What do you think about Cassidy Carmen Rose? I know we've pretty much said the final word on Cassidy Rose, but I would like to honor Carmen for all of her help in their delivery. I realize that gives her two middle names, but people do it all of the time, so why not us?"

  "I love it and you're right. Hello there Miss Cassidy Carmen Rose Kingston. Aww... Did you see her arch her eyebrow? She already knows it's her name. A beautiful name, for a beautiful little princess. What about the big guy here? I think he needs a tough name, because I bet he's going to be a big brute!"

  "Hmmmm. How about Henry Claude after my father and his aunt Claudia. We could call him Hank. What do you think?"

  "Oh, I like it! Hank the Tank! I can already see him now, unstoppable on the football field! Look! He just arched his brow! Yep! I like it!"

  "Hank the Tank? That sounds like a name for a bully, Cash. You can't call him that! Maybe we should call him Henry."

  "Oh, Liv. If you think any child of ours with you as their mother is going to turn into a bully, then you must not see yourself the way that I see you. He's not going to be a bully, but I can already picture him being a giant of a man and what better name than Hank! It'll be alright, Honey. You just watch. Okay Cassidy and Hank, what do you two think about life outside of your momma’s belly?"

  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't have seen it, but both of them opened their eyes and looked over at their father, as if mesmerized by him already the same way that I am.

  "Well, that got their attention, haha. Are you ready for visitors? We have a ton of them in the waiting room waiting to meet their new grand babies and niece and nephew."

  "Yes. We need to burp these two first. Do you care to help me with that? I know I seem to act like a pro at this, but there are two of them. Oh lord, this is going to be a big adjustment..." He leans down and takes Hank out of my arms and puts him over his shoulder.

  "Oh I'll say. Now, the real work begins, haha. I think we can handle it, though, and we won't be alone, ya know. We will probably have everyone moving in with us just to help out. I may have to start charging rent."

  He's right. Amelia took off from work for six weeks as well. Cash and my mom will already be there, so I definitely shouldn't complain because we will definitely have a lot of help with them. There's a knock on the door and every one in our family, along with Carmen and Lucas, pile into the room and my heart feels so full that everyone is here to welcome the babies into the family.

  "Everyone. I would like to introduce you all to Princess Cassidy Carmen Rose and Prince Henry Claude Kingston, or aka Hank the Tank, because that is what I'll be calling the big guy." Caleb was the first one to say anything.

  "Okay, is it just me or am I the only one that didn't get one of these precious darlings named after me?"

  "Oh shut it, Caleb! Obviously they know who's important around here. You guys! I'm so honored to have a namesake; I think I'm going to cry. Cash! Don't you dare call him that terrible name. I will be calling him Claude, after his favorite Aunt!" She does her famous eye roll at Caleb.

  "Caleb, we'll name the next one after you." I give him a wink and he winks back, but Cash is the one that gets ready for a fight.

  "Olivia! Are you kidding me? I'm sorry, but we are NOT having any more kids! This is it for us!"

  "Honey, you did promise to obey in your vows. Everyone here heard you, remember Darling?" I start batting my eyes at him.

  "Yes. I remember and you said you would obey too so, oh, who am I kidding. You proved today that childbirth is as simple as taking out the trash. We can have ten more for all I care. However many you want is fine with me." Wow! It sounds like I finally got to witness his first white flag of surrender.

  "I'm just kidding anyway. I was just trying to make Caleb feel better about us not naming either of the babies after him. I think four is a good solid number."

  "It looks like you two managed your first fight without me having to ground the both of you, so Elizabeth and I will be over here in the corner doting over our new grand babies."

  Amelia has me chuckling, while she and my mother do exactly what she said she would do and steal my babies to go sit on the couch, with our dads and Gideon and Eden all gushing over them. Cash gets into bed with me and cuddles up with me, while Caleb and Claudia stand on each side of us.

  "I must say you two; I think I've decided on what I'll accept for payment from you for hooking you two up. You have created quite the little family and I've never been happier for anyone in my life than I am right now for you two."

  Leave it to Claudia to turn everything around to her, but I can tell that she's piqued Cash's curiosity and has both him and Caleb laughing their heads off.

  "Oh, Queen Claudia! Shall I bow down at your feet now or later?"

  "Hmm. You can go ahead and do that now since everyone is here if you want, but no, I'm talking money!"

  "Alright. Consider it done. How much do you need?"

 
"Okay, here goes. I quit my job and want to open up my own practice and I don’t need any money, but a building that you own. That's where I want to open up my own practice." Wow! She quit her job,

  "Okay. Consider it done. Just let me know which building it is and it's yours."

  "I'll pay you back. I was just kidding about wanting payment for hooking you two up. I was just trying to be funny."

  "No, Claud. You're family and I'm not using it anyway evidently, so it's yours. Consider it a thank you gift." Claudia is standing there in shock with tears in her eyes, looking around not knowing what to say or do. Caleb walks around to her and gives her a hug.

  "Cash, you keep it up and the ice princess here might cause herself to melt from her tears." Claudia punches him in the shoulder.

  "Shut up, Caleb! Cash, thank you. I don't know what else to say, but thank you. Now, I'm going to go steal my namesake from his mean grandma over there and I swear if anyone tells her I said that, I'll deny it until my death!" Cash and I watch them walk over to the crowd surrounding the twins and I just sigh with contentment.

  "Sweetheart, you really need to rest while everyone is in here taking care of the babies. I'm sure my little tank over there will want to eat again pretty soon."

  "You have got to quit calling him that. Maybe we should call him Henry instead of Hank. I had no idea you'd end up giving him such a crazy nickname."

  "But you grin every time I say it, so I know you like it. Come on, admit it. It fits him and you know it. Poor little Cassidy is half his size!" I love how he makes me laugh and calms me down.

  "Yeah. It does fit him, I can't lie about that. But Cash? Do you feel the same way I'm feeling right now? I feel like... this feels like... I feel like if everyone in this room were to all live in a hut for the rest of our lives and all that we had to survive was a roof over our head and food to eat, I'd be completely content, because of all of the love that we have for each other."

  "I don't know about just one hut and one roof, but I understand what you mean. If someone were to tell me that all of my money was gone today, I don't think I'd care, because as long as I have you and everyone over in that corner? I wouldn't need anything else. I feel as if we are surrounded by an overabundance of love right now."

  "That's it! An overabundance of love! Before we met? I felt so lost, but somehow we found each other and even though things started out a little bumpy, I'd do it all over again, so that I could be here, in this moment, right now! I remember asking Claudia why everything happened to me the way it did and she told me that she didn't know, but that there had to be a reason and this... Right here, right now, is why we had to go through what we did to get RIGHT HERE. I love you, Cash!" He pulls me closer and kisses me ever so sweetly.

  "I love you too, Liv. Thank you for everything! Thank you for taking the job that I knew you didn't want to take, and for kicking my butt when I was lost in my own grief. For loving my children when you didn't have to. For giving me two more beautiful children that I didn't realize my life wouldn't be complete without. Let's go to sleep, okay Honey? Sweet dreams baby, from now on. Only sweet dreams. No more nightmares for us, my Angel."

  I cuddle up closer to him, absorbing his warmth and I close my eyes, hoping that maybe, just maybe, I will dream of Derek and the kids and Vanessa as well, to thank them for helping us find our way to each other. I knew in my heart of hearts that somehow the five of them had a plan for us all along that involved us finding each other, because we were so lost in the world and alone in our grief.

  Lost and found. That's exactly what we were; lost in a world of loneliness and despair, until we found each other. We will never be lost again.

  THE END

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  First and foremost I want to thank God for answering my prayers in getting my creative juices flowing so that I could finally follow through with my life long goal of writing my first book.

  I owe a million thanks to my husband Ronnie and our three kids; Wyatt, Tristan and McKinlee; for having the patience to leave me alone while I wrote my book. I hope by now you all believe that the dream that I had that led to me writing this book was only inspiration and not something that I want to happen. I love every one of you more than you’ll ever know.

  I want to thank my oldest and dearest friend; Rainy Lewis Garner; who helped keep me sane throughout the whole process of writing this book and was patient with me when she didn’t agree with where I was going with my characters but always ended up agreeing with me on where I went with their story. I can’t forget to thank Robin Starr, my little sister Amanda Johnston, and Angela Gleese as well for listening to me talk about nothing but my book for weeks. The three of you, along with Rainy were my biggest cheerleaders from the very beginning

  A very big thank you goes out to Dylan Buster for fixing my laptop in the midst of my crisis in thinking that I would never be able to publish this book.

  I have so many friends and family that I want to thank but you all know who you are without me having to individually name all of you because I truly have the best friends and family in the world! I have to thank my parents; Robert and Karen Bryan, along with Diana Johnston because the three of you have helped shape and mold me into who I am today and for this I thank you and love you all.

  Other Titles by the Author

  FOUND BY LOVE

  Prologue

  2003

  The doctor has just left the room and informed me that I wasn't any closer to delivering the baby from when I first got here almost 24 hours ago. He doesn't understand why I won't allow him to move things along or let him give me anything for pain. I asked him if the baby was okay and he said that he was so as long as he’s fine then he will stay put until he is ready to come out. This is an excruciating pain that I never want to forget and the kind of pain that I want to remember for the rest of my life so that I will learn from this hard, hard lesson.

  "Claudia? Why won't you let the doctor help you? I can't handle seeing you in so much pain and for what? What are you trying to prove?" My best friend has held my hand throughout this whole pregnancy and has helped me keep it a secret from everyone. She has been pleading with me to let the doctors give me something to ease the pain for hours. I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head for the hundredth time.

  "Vanessa, you can leave anytime you feel like it. I've already told you why I am doing what I'm doing, so if you can't handle it? Well... The door is right over there." I waved my hand towards the door and I see my brother Derek standing there with a hesitant grin on his face.

  "Derek? What are you doing here? I told you I didn't want you here for this." The thought of him dropping everything for me has me crying and I hate crying, especially in front of people. He rushes over to me and wraps me in his arms and I finally fall apart.

  "I told you that I've been trying to make sure that I had jobs on the west coast for when you got closer to deliver so that I could be here for you since you refused to tell Olivia about... Well-” He waved his hand at me and the monitors that were hooked up to me. “About this... When you called me yesterday I had assumed that you had already had the baby by now but it looks like my nephew is as stubborn as his cousin Jordan. Do you need me to do anything for you?" I know that he meant well but his words hurt me worse than he could ever imagine.

  "Other than not calling the baby your nephew, no, I haven't changed my mind Derek. I'm still putting him up for adoption." He took his baseball cap off and slapped himself on the leg with it and proceeded to run his fingers through his hair. I got ready for whatever he planned to say to try to change my mind.

  "I can't talk you into letting Olivia and I raise him as our own? Or how about you keep him and move back home and finish college there and we help you while you're going to school? You know we will." I vehemently shook my head at him and pleaded with him with my eyes to drop it

  "Derek, Olivia just found out that she is pregnant again so you already have a houseful. No! I'm not changing my mind. If it'll
make you feel better, I'll let you meet the adoptive parents when they come in tonight from California. I promise you, I’m not handing him over to devil worshippers or crazy people. They've tried for years to have a baby and they found out years ago that they're infertile so he will be their first and maybe only baby. Please trust me in this because I'm doing the right thing for my s.... this baby." I almost said son and he knew it but thank God he didn't try to guilt trip me like he has been.

  "Alright Claud... I'm sorry... I just figured I'd give it another shot. Don't feel like I'm disappointed in ya or anything. I just wanted you to know that I love you and that I'm here for ya in case you changed your mind."

  Wow! I can't remember him ever telling me that he loved me because it's a word that my family doesn't know how to say out loud. His declaration has me crying again and I’m sure it has to do with my stupid hormones and labor pains that seem to be getting worse.

  I look over at Vanessa and forgot that she was in the room because of Derek's grand entrance and she has an uncomfortable look on her face and keeps looking at Derek and then to me which makes me realize that I haven't introduced them to each other.

  "I'm kind of busy here... You guys can introduce yourselves... Geez..." Vanessa stood up and grinned and offered her hand to Derek that he reached over for and shook.

  "Hi Derek... I'm Vanessa Hernandez. I guess you could say I'm Claud's best friend out here because I know that your wife Olivia is her oldest and dearest friend from back home." Vanessa is so genuinely sweet and gorgeous to boot and I couldn't help but notice how my brother blushed every time he looked into her big brown beautiful eyes.

  "Hello Vanessa... It's very nice to meet you, too. I've heard so many good things about you and funny stories from time to time that include your fiancé. Cash isn’t it? I'd like to meet him one day... I hear he gives my little sister here a hard time like I do haha." Every time Derek and I talk on the phone he always asks me what kind of hell I'm giving Cash because he loves to hear about it and gets a good laugh out of how bad I terrorize him.