Page 19 of Hurricane's House

“Um, I took her to my house,” Hurricane mumbled. “But before you start thinking the wrong thing. Her aunt agreed to it, and she even moved in with us after a few weeks. It was the only way to show Chasity that she could trust both of us.”

“How long has she been missing?” Williams asked.

Hurricane shrugged, “About an hour,” he admitted. He could tell by the way that the detective rolled his eyes at him that he wasn’t going to help him. Hurricane couldn’t go back to Tina without any leads and Williams didn’t seem too eager to give him any help finding Chasity.

“Listen, I’m not trying to tell you how to handle your business, but I’ve raised a few teenagers myself. She probably just took off to blow off some steam. I bet if you go home andrelax, she’ll be home in no time,” Williams said. Maybe the guy was trying to help, but it sure didn’t feel like it.

“She overheard something that hurt her feelings, Williams. Chasity overheard her aunt and I talking about her not wanting her niece at first. Tina was so young, and she wasn’t sure that she’d be able to take care of a kid. It’s all there,” he said, nodding to the note that Chasity left for him and Tina to find.

Williams sighed, pulling a form from his desk drawer. “I can fill out a missing person’s report, but I’m betting that I’m correct. She just needs some time to come to her senses. They usually do when it starts to get cold and dark around here.”

“I can’t just sit around and wait for Chasity to come home, Williams,” Hurricane insisted.

“How about you give me the details—you know, height, weight, hair color, distinguishing marks, etc. I’ll put something out about her, and we can see what we come up with,” Williams offered. Hurricane had a feeling that was as good as it was going to get from Williams and the rest of the police department.

“Fine,” he grumbled, taking the missing person's paperwork from Williams. “But please don’t put this on the back burner. I don’t know what we’ll do if we can’t find the kid. She’s been through a lot and Tina, and I are the only family she has left.”

“I promise—I’ll make her a priority, but I need for you to stay out of this, Hurricane.” That was the last thing that he planned to do, but there was no way that he’d tell Williams that. He knew that guy well enough to know that if he thought that Hurricane was trying to pull a fast one over on him, he’d find a way to stop him.

“Got it,” he lied. “I’ll wait to hear from you.” He turned to leave before Williams could question him further—or worse, hook him up to a polygraph or some shit like that. “I’ll have the paperwork back to you in about an hour.” He worried that he didn’t know enough about Chasity to fill out all the questions,but he knew that Tina would know everything about her niece. She was the closest thing to a mother that Chasity had left and reuniting them was his top priority.

It had been a few weeks with no word from Williams or any of the guys. They were turning over rocks and finding no leads. Chasity was a smart kid and if she wanted to stay hidden, she’d find a way.

Every day that they had no word from Chasity, Tina seemed to sink deeper into a depression that he was worried might hurt the baby. He insisted that she see a doctor, and after putting up quite a fight, she agreed. Wren offered to give her the name of her OBGYN, and Tina seemed to be okay with taking her new friend’s recommendation.

The car ride to town was a quiet one, and he could feel Tina’s worry. “Honey, you have to relax,” he said, pulling her hand into his own and gently kissing her knuckles.

“I wish that I could, but between the baby and Chasity, I’m a nervous wreck. Why don’t we have any leads yet?” she asked. “Didn’t Williams get back to you with any news?”

He wished that he had an easy answer to give her, but he didn’t. “I wish that I had better news for you, honey,” he admitted. “But Williams claims that he still has no leads on Chasity yet.”

“So, what’s the plan then, Hurricane?” she asked. “Are we just going to sit around and wait for someone, somewhere to find her? What if she never wants to come home? How will I keep my promise to my brother if I can’t even find his daughter?” Hurricane knew how much Tina loved and missed her brother, James, and his wife. Taking care of Chasity was important toher. It was her way of honoring her brother’s memory and keeping a promise to him.

“Your brother would understand that you can’t keep Chasity tied up in the house against her will. She’s a teenager, and I’m betting that James had a taste of raising a teen before he passed away. Cut yourself a break, honey,” he whispered.

“You’re right, but I can’t just turn off my worry. I just want to make sure that the baby is okay, and then, I’ll try to find a way to work through Chasity leaving. But I need you to know that I’ll never give up on her,” she insisted. A small sob escaped her chest, and he hated that she was so upset again.

“I would never ask you to give up on her,” he assured. “I’m not willing to give up on Chasity either, but we need to make sure that you and the baby are safe.”

“I know, and I promise to behave. I don’t want to hurt our baby, and I know that all this stress isn’t good for me,” she admitted.

“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “Do you want to find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” he asked, trying to change the subject to a happier topic.

“I’m not sure,” she admitted, “do you?” Hurricane had never dreamed that he’d ever have a kid, so finding out the sex of his baby wasn’t something that he’d given much thought to.

“I don’t know,” he said. “How about we play it by ear?”

“What does that mean?” Tina asked.

“Well, if he or she decides to give us a sneak peek, then we’ll find out, and if he or she is as stubborn as Mommy, then we won’t,” Hurricane said.

“Hey,” Tina grumbled, “I’m not the stubborn one in this relationship,” she said. “I think that title goes to this kid’s Daddy.” Tina rubbed her barely their bump and he covered her hand with his own.

His heart felt as though it might just burst out of his chest when he heard Tina call him their kid’s Daddy. “That’s the first time you called me that,” he whispered.

“Called you what?” she asked.

“Our kid’s Daddy. I kind of like it,” he breathed.

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