Page 26 of Charming But Reckless

Now wasn’t the time.

I needed to lay eyes on my son. I needed to see that he was truly alive and okay, as everyone was saying. Because part of me feared that this might be just another dead end. That I would have come all this way and something else changed to keep him from me.

That I will just be one step too short.

As we pulled apart, I went to ask him to go inside when the sound of the screen door opening drew all our eyes. I'm thankful that the weapons were turned to the ground and the men were no longer in defensive stances because the sight of the little boys coming outside held us all at attention.

“What's going on, Papa?” A little boy with a blanket in his hand asked.

One of the men from the porch handed his gun to another and bent down to lift the boy.

“Nothing Dakota. We just had some unexpected friends show up. Had to make sure everything was safe.”

I dragged my eyes from that boy to look at the other one who was there. I already knew who it was, and I needed him to see me. I needed him to know that I had come for him, that I had not given up.

I stepped around Orion, moving further into the light.

“Dad,” Sol shouted as he launched himself off the porch and ran at me.

A choking sound came from behind me, but I didn't dare look. Whoever it was must have been touched by the obvious affection.

As he ran to me, I thought back to the few times I allowed myself to take a breather from my search. I would scroll through social media just in hopes that maybe I'd come across something, some hint at where he could be.

It was during the searches that I would come across those videos of families reuniting from long trips, such as deployments or extended hospital stays. The kids running to see their dads always ripped my heart wide open. I’d start blubbering the minute their arms wrapped around their loved one.

And now I was getting my own moment. My boy launched himself directly at me, flying through the air after getting a running start.

As I always would, I caught him. Then I held on tight. With my arms wrapped around him, I finally broke down, sobbing against his shoulder.

He cried too. I could feel the wetness on my shirt. I could sense the relief in the way his body melted into mine.

We were together again. Our little family. We had found each other despite everything working against us.

I felt an arm move around my back, and then another around Sol. I raised my head to see Orion joining in our moment. There were tears in his eyes and a sad smile on his face.

Sol turned his head, not once letting our connection slip as he looked at Orion.

“You found him,” he said.

Orion shook his head. “No kiddo. Your dad found us. He's the hero here.”

Sol snuggled deeper into my chest. I could have kissed Orion for the way he worded that just now. How he claimed I was the one that handled all this.

Technically, that might have been true, but there was so much more to it. I got lucky with my break in figuring out Detective Stabler might be the man to help me. More than that,the stars all aligned to get me to convince him for a meeting. He got us to Nightshade. The fact that Nightshade even knew of Sol was a miracle in and of itself.

They took one look and knew.

No matter what came next, I understood just how powerful that connection was. How my making one right decision turned into me finding my son again.

It wasn't being a hero. It was my resilience and my tenacity. It was me never giving up.

There was no life to be had without my son in it. And now, not only had I gotten him back, but I had found the one person in this world who I missed the most. The one person that I thought of so often yet had no hope of ever finding.

It was by far the best day I think I'd ever had aside from the day Sol was born. It started out helpless, but it ended in the highest of highs.

“Why don't we move this inside?” One of the men from the porch said.

Another added, “It's a little cold out here to be doing all this.”

---