“I totally understand, you don’t have to explain it to me.”
“Okay, well, I’ll see you in the morning.” I quickly press my lips to his before going to the spare bedroom where Benny is.
~
I wake up and roll over but Benny’s not in bed. As I walk out into the living room I can hear Benny and Isaac’s voices. I peek around the wall to the kitchen and bring my hand to my chest. Benny’s standing on a chair at the counter near the stove. Isaac is beside him instructing on how much vanilla extract to pour into the batter. He lets Benny dump the big tablespoon and then he gives it two quick stirs. He drops three large dollops of batter onto the skillet and hands Benny the spatula.
“You are going to flip the pancakes all on your own, okay?”
“But, I’m scared I will mess up.”
“Don’t be scared, I’m right here to help you.” Isaac puts his hand over Benny’s on the spatula and guides him to flip the pancake. “See! That looks perfect!”
Benny looks up at Isaac with a look I’ve only seen him give me before. For a moment I contemplate this whole thing. I contemplate on never leaving, staying right here in our own little paradise with Isaac. It’s not fair that we can’t have that.
“What are you guys making?” I ask as I walk into the room. Benny drops the spatula and runs to me.
“I made you pancakes!”
“You did? They look delicious!”
“Isaac helped me.”
Benny looks over at Isaac who’s putting the remaining pancakes onto plates.
“He’s a fast learner. I think we may have a little chef here on our hands.” He winks at Benny who is perched up on the high barstool at the counter, waiting for his food. After setting Benny’s plate in front of him he grabs a coffee cup and fills it with freshly brewed coffee. I take it from him and blow on it before taking a sip. “I’m out of eggs, sorry. It’s just pancakes today.”
“It’s fine, really. I can’t wait to try Benny’s special recipe.”
Isaac’s phone rings in the other room. We look at each other and he freezes.
“Go answer it! It may be about the position!”
He nods his head with my encouragement and quickly walks out of the room. Once he answers it he takes the call in his room. A few minutes later he reemerges into the kitchen with a cheesy grin. “I got it! You’re looking at Detective Monroe!”
I scream in excitement as I jump from my stool and run to him, congratulating him with a big kiss. “I knew you would get it!”
Isaac doesn’t respond to me, he just smiles at something over his shoulder. Once I realize what he is smiling at, I slowly turn around. I wasn’t even thinking when I kissed him with Benny sitting right there.
Benny continues to eat his pancakes while smiling at us. It’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him look.
Chapter Seventeen
My shift is almost over when I see Isaac, Gloria, and Benny walk through the front door of the cafe, which puts a big smile on my face. We had a call yesterday requesting thirty guava and coconut pastelitos for a baby shower tomorrow. The woman offered to pay double the amount for the short notice and needed to pick them up by this afternoon. Gloria said she hated the thought of disappointing a pregnant woman, so she made an exception on her Tuesday rule.
Benny runs around the counter to give me a hug. “We got to ride in Isaac’s police car! He even let me turn on the siren before we left,” he says looking up at me with his big dark brown eyes.
“That sounds like so much fun! Mommy is almost done working, how about you take one of these muffins and go sit at a table with Gloria until I’m done.” I take a big blueberry muffin out from the display case and hand it to him on a napkin. “We can walk home together afterwards, okay?”
“Okay,” he tries to say with a mouthful of muffin that he’s already stuffed into his mouth.
Isaac walks behind the counter to set down the box of pastelitos for the shower and leans down to give me a quick peck on the lips. “Hello.”
“Well, hello,” I answer back and stand on my tip toes to give him one more quick kiss.
“I drove past the two of them walking here while trying to carry that big box, so I picked them up. I’m on duty still so I have to go. See you tonight?”
I bite my lip trying to hide the big smile my face wants to make as I shake my head yes. I didn’t think I could ever feel this happy again.
“Good luck on your last day on patrol. Tomorrow, you will officially be Detective Monroe!”
Isaac gives my forehead a quick peck. “Thank you. I’ll see you later.”
Javier walks in for his shift just as Isaac is leaving. Benny’s still sitting at one of the tables eating his muffin as Gloria talks to one of the customers she must know that’s sitting at one table over from them. I don’t want to rush either of them, so I sit down across from Benny as he finishes his muffin. He’s deep in his imagination as he rolls the police car back and forth across the table, taking little breaks to nibble on what is left of the muffin in between. The bell above the door chimes as new customers walk in just as Benny gets a little too excited with his car, accidentally sending it flying off the table and across the floor. I turn around just in time to see it stop as it hits the side of a brown designer leather shoe. The tall man in a tan suit stops in his tracks and slowly looks down at the toy car. My heart stops.
Literally stops beating.
I slowly turn back around so we don’t make eye contact just as Benny hops off of the tall chair to retrieve his car. It happens all so quickly yet my body feels like it’s stuck in slow motion that I don’t have a chance to stop him. I try to sit still so to not draw any attention to my trembling body as I watch everything unfold through the refection in the window.
“Is this your police car young man?” Vincent’s voice is just as firm as I remember it. He’s holding the car up high above Benny’s reach while waiting for a response.
Benny looks up at him with his big innocent dark brown eyes and smiles as he shakes his head up and down as a yes. Vincent stands completely still as he stares at Benny not saying a word as if he is in deep thought. “How old are you?” he questions him.
“I’m three and a half,” Benny proudly answers, sticking his three little fingers up in the air.
Gloria grabs my wrist as soon as she notices the terror on my face. She immediately walks over to Benny, placing her hands on both of his shoulders. “Now, Benny, apologize to this nice man for hitting him with your car.”
Benny guiltily looks down at his feet. “I’m sorry.”
“I am terribly sorry, Sir. My grandson got just a little too excited with his new toy,” Gloria confidently explains to him.
Vincent stares down at Benny, then up at Gloria, then back down at Benny again. He hands him back his car, never saying another word to either of them. He walks up to the register where a woman in her mid-fifties that’s wearing a business skirt and blouse is already ordering their drinks to-go. Benny and Gloria sit back down at the table across from me. I don’t dare turnaround from where I’m sitting, but I never take my eyes off of Vincent through the window reflection. When they walk away to leave, Vincent looks back over at Benny and stares him down until they’re out the door.
Once the Cadillac pulls away, the tremors I was holding in violently begin to escape. I cup my mouth with my left hand in attempt to hold back the panic attack wanting to escape. Gloria grabs my hand, urging me to walk with her. “Come on Benny, we are going to go sit in the office with your mommy for a bit.” I walk in a trance to the office at the back of the cafe. Gloria has me sit in the desk chair as I continue to tremble, clutching Benny in my arms.
Tears stream down my cheeks as I whisper. “He’s found us.”
She walks over and shuts the office door, locking it behind. “Vada, was that the New York businessman, Vincent Rossi? The one who was in the news a few years ago after the murder of his son and missing daughter in law?”
I mechanic
ally shake my head yes. “Benny and I have to leave,” I murmur.
Gloria takes both of my hands in between hers while looking me in the eyes. “You’re Adaline Rossi.” Recognition builds on her face.
“I’m innocent, Gloria. I loved Dominic with every beat my heart made and every breath that I took. We were supposed to leave together. Vincent found him before we could leave. You have to believe me that I didn’t kill my husband,” I cry.
Gloria smoothes my hair in a calming motion. “I know you could never do such a thing.” But she also knows now that there is no way for me to prove it. Her face shows it. “Let’s get back home. I will keep Benny while you pack your stuff and I’ll walk you to the bus station.”
“You can’t tell Isaac,” I plead.
Her eyes grow weary. “I know, dear. Let’s hurry.”
~
I’m frantically throwing what’s only necessary into bags. Just as I zip up the suitcase that is sitting on my bed, I hear Isaac’s voice from behind me.
“Are you leaving?” he asks in disbelief.
I turn around to look at him. He’s standing in the doorway to my bedroom, both hands tightly gripping the top of the doorframe as he clenches his jaw. He’s not hiding the betrayal that is showing through his eyes.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t do this right now.” I try to make my way around him as he grabs my wrists, stopping me from making another move.
“It’s just like that?” he asks in disbelief.
“I warned you from the very beginning that when it came time for us to leave, we HAD to leave. You said you understood.”
“That was before everything that happened between us. I thought things had changed.”
“You don’t understand. I don’t have time for this Isaac. I really need to leave.” I shrug my arms out of his grip.
“You promised a goodbye!” he yells. “You weren’t even going to have the decency to tell me good bye? To let me see Benny one last time?” The look on his face crushes my soul. A single tear escapes his eye. “I love you, Vada! I love the both of you!” he shouts at me. “I can handle whatever it is that keeps making you run. We can fix this together. Please stay,” he ask softly, now that he has calmed his voice.
“No one can fix this, don’t you get it?” I scream at him angrily. “Do you think that I like running? Do you think I enjoy uprooting my son every single time we start to finally feel at home somewhere? If there were a way around this, I would have done it already.” Isaac gently grabs my face with both of his hands as his eyes plead with me. “Letting you love me, allowing myself to love you, that only makes this more difficult. If you really do love me like you say, then you need to let Benny and I go. If you don’t, you will end up losing us both regardless, and under much worse circumstances than you could ever imagine.”
He brings my face close to his and I close my eyes the moment our noses touch. “Okay.” The softness of his breath as the words escape makes me crumble inside. His lips tenderly kiss me goodbye. All of the memories we made together flash across my eyes, as do all of the what could be’s, if our love would have ever been allowed to be. But, my story does not have a happy ending. Even though I have known this since the day Dominic was killed, it doesn’t mean this is not possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Leaving Isaac will always haunt me.
He grabs the handle to the big suitcase as I swing Dominic’s backpack that is filled with Benny’s belongings around my shoulders. Isaac follows me as we walk in silence to Gloria’s apartment to get Benny.
I feel as if I’m in déjà vu when we see the door to Gloria’s apartment is left ajar. We run in and discover Gloria lying on the living room floor with a gash on her forehead.
“Gloria, where is Benny?” I scream in a panic as Isaac slowly sits her up and calls for an ambulance into his police radio that is still attached to his uniform he’s wearing. He must have come straight to my apartment from work.
“The man from the café today took him. I tried to fight him off but he threw me into the coffee table and I hit my head,” she cries as I fall to my knees beside her. “I’m so sorry, Vada. I tried to protect, Benny!”
Isaac takes his eyes from Gloria to look at me. “Who was at the café today?” he hesitantly asks.
“Vincent Rossi,” I sob as I outstretch my arms and lay my face down to the floor. “I have to find Benny!” I wail as I lean back up on my knees.
“Vincent Rossi?” he asks in recognition of the name and stares at me for a long moment. “You’re Adaline,” he says under his breath. “It all makes sense now.”
The paramedic crew barge through the front door and head straight to Gloria, I’m assuming since she’s the one bleeding. One tries to take a hold of me to see if I’m okay and I shove him away. “I have to find my son!” I get to my feet and run out the door only to stop in my tracks as I look up at the clear blue sky. I have no idea where to even begin to look for him. Isaac grabs me into a tight embrace from behind as I fall apart in his arms. “He is going to hurt him, Isaac. We have to find him!”
“I promise you we’ll find him. We need to go to the police station. I will put out at Missing Child Alert immediately. We can figure it out from there.”
I spin around out of his arms to face him. “No!” I scream. “We can’t go to the police station. I have to find him on my own.”
“Because they’ll arrest you for murder,” he says, understanding what I mean.
“I didn’t kill Dominic,” I adamantly dispute. Isaac looks at me with sympathetic eyes.
“I never thought she did. I always speculated that Vincent had something to do with it. All of the evidence stacked against Adaline never seemed to add up to me. It just seemed too easy, too good to be true. You need to tell me everything you know that could possibly clue us on to where he might have taken Benny. I promise you I won’t let anything happen to him. I love him just as much as I love you.”
Isaac guides me to his police car as I finally fall into shock. He leans over and buckles me in. “I’m going to check on Gloria really fast, and then we’ll go to my house to figure out our next move.”
I can’t answer him over my sudden hyperventilation. He brushes his knuckles across my cheekbone. “You’re not alone. I’m not leaving you and promise we’ll find Benny. I’ll be right back.” He kisses my forehead and shuts the door.
~
We’ve been sitting in the same spot in Isaac’s living room for three hours now. I’m emotionally drained after telling him every detail I can remember from the moment I entered the Rossi home at just eight years old. I finally make my way to a lying down position with my head propped in Isaac’s lap. He runs his fingers through my hair as I question myself out loud at what Vincent’s motive may be. I can’t quit thinking about Benny and what he’s doing right now. If he’s scared, if he thinks he’ll never see me again. The more I think of all the ifs, the more I become enraged. A mother’s love is not something to mess with.
I sit up on the couch and look at Isaac. He looks drained as well. I know he loves Benny like he was his own. This has to be killing him too, especially knowing that he wasn’t there to protect him.
“Will you stay with me tonight? I don’t want to be alone, but I feel like I need to be home in case for some crazy reason Vincent returns with Benny.”
Isaac quickly stands up. “Of course, that’s actually a really good idea. Kidnappers often return when the reason is personal. Let me grab some clothes and we can go.”
Chapter Eighteen
I unlock my front door and am instantly hit with grief over not knowing where my baby is. The tears return with a vengeance. My body becomes numb and my feet refuse to move any further into the apartment. Isaac cups my knees with one arm and cradles my back with the other to carry me through the doorway, shutting the door with his foot behind him. He carries me to my bedroom and lays me down on my bed.
“I thought you had your phone?” he asks as he picks something up off of
my nightstand.
I slowly sit up and cross my legs Indian style as I look at Isaac with confusion. “I do, it’s in my purse.”
I immediately recognize the phone when he holds it up at me. It’s Dominic’s old phone. His old phone that was left behind the day I fled Manhattan. I rip the phone from his hands and slide the button to turn it on and type in his pass code. I hurriedly scroll through text messages, the call log, pictures, but nothing is new. Everything is still the same as it was when it was frozen in time a little over four years ago.
“If that is not your phone, then whose is it?” Isaac’s voice is cautious.
I’m still so entranced in searching the phone I don’t look up at him.
“He left it here for a reason. There has to be a reason,” I say to myself, determined to find something left behind from Vincent. I can’t help but slowly scroll through the many pictures on his phone that seem like a lifetime ago.
“Wow. Benny could be his twin, Isaac says from over my shoulder. I hadn’t realized that he was now leaning over me, staring at each special memory of mine and Dominic’s life together.
“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?” I laugh in between crying, trying to find some amusement out of this. “I carried him for nine long months, and he gets every single feature of his father. Not one ounce of him looks like me.”
Isaac pulls me into his arms. “He has your heart.”
I stop on the last picture he took with his phone before we switched to our burner phones. It’s of the two of us standing at the altar. He looks dashing in his black suit. I’m wearing a knee length white lace dress. My long hair cascades downward in curls, with a white veil perched on top of my head. We are both holding up our ring fingers with the cheesiest, happiest grins.
“I can’t believe how different you look with that long, dark red hair. You’re gorgeous, even with another man by your side.”
Forever, For Always Page 13
