Page 63 of Dying to Meet You

Keir is breaking away to speak with the sheriff deputy when an alert is given on the radio that the suspect’s rental is occupied, and the vehicle she had driven here isn’t onsite. There is an ambulance staging in the area. They aren’t sure who might be inside.

With haste Caleb, Keir, and I pile into his vehicle. We follow the deputy running lights and sirens to the rundown boxy-looking house tucked into a grouping of scrubby pines ten miles away. This is where the fruitcake has been staying? It looks abandoned.

God and I aren’t on speaking terms like my magnificent bastard of a brother; Caleb and the big guy in the clouds are, but I fucking try. My heartfelt appeal goes out that we find our kids…alive, unhurt, and fucking hell, not traumatized.

Even when I know damn well that’s not likely.

Keir has me message Eden and Steve to tell them where we’re heading, hoping they’ll meet us there, but we get no response.

“Are we worrying about that?” I ask Keir as he flies down the highway behind the deputy.

“Not yet. Harrison said the questioning could take a while. Maybe she’s trying to help Matt. I’ll get worried if an hour from now they still aren’t responding.”

Caleb says glumly, “Eden has been watching her phone constantly for an update on Wes. I think we should be worried.”

We’re not allowed any closer to the house than the main highway running past it. We listen to radio traffic as their SWAT team positions out of sight while surrounding the house. Commands are issued to the person in the house. When no movement is seen, and no one comes to the door an order is given to kick it in.

Excited shouts come over the radio to send in the ambulance crew for a found child. Without a word to each other we take off at a run for the house. It may not be any of our children, but that spark of hope…

It’s a lifeline.

We’re held back by a line of officers but it’s easy to push through when one of the SWAT members walks out carrying a dark-haired little boy in a blue-lined sweatshirt. When we see our son.

He wants down when he catches sight of us. “Daddies!” His little voice rings out as he sprints toward us, having escaped the officer’s grasp. We envelop him in a hug. The three of us hold him, reassuring him we’re here.

As Keir speaks to the commander, I pick our son up, thanking God endlessly we have him back. He’s right here…in my arms. “Are you okay?” My voice is choked up with tears. “Did anyone hurt you?”

He tilts his head at me. “I punched the lady in the eye and scratched her. Then she tied me up. But the good guys came to save me with my daddies.”

I kiss him on the side of his head.That’s right buddy, we’re here.

“Honey, are Waverly or Zinnea here with you?”

“Nuh-uh, just the mean lady.”

Not since Eden was hurt have I wanted to rip someone’s limbs off. How fucking dare she touch him?

Officers clear the rental house and find no sign of the girls or anything to identify the woman. Weston is eating up the attention he’s getting asking if they want to see his karate kicks, until he loses steam and falls asleep in Caleb’s arms. His face is smeared with chocolate from the candy bar one of the officers gave him from his squad car after paramedics looked him over.

On the way back to Keir’s vehicle, Wes’s eyes flicker open as he yawns. “I want to be a police officer instead of a ninja now.”

Caleb’s smile spreads wide, as he whispers, “Finally, a new phase.”

I sit in the back of the SUV, next to Caleb who has Weston tucked against his chest with a blanket given to him by the ambulance crew. He is shoeless, at some point losing the one he had. Once his face was cleaned off, we could see some bruising and scrapes. It could’ve been worse…so much worse.

“Still no answer on Eden’s phone,” Caleb says in a worried tone. “Does she know about the girls yet? This is going to break her.”

“You know what? I think what I appreciate most about Eden, beyond the surface stuff, is her resilience. It’s that quiet, unwavering ability to push through life’s challenges with grace, even when the weight of the world seems unbearable. She has this way of seeing the world differently, of nurturing something within it, making it better, even when she herself is going through storms. That ability to care, to hold things together when everything’s falling apart-that’s powerful. It’s deeper than any moment, Big Gulp. It’s a strength that keeps everything moving forward. It’s fucking beautiful.” I hold tight to our son, cherishing each breath. She’ll show us how to get through this. The strongest damn woman I’ve ever known.

“I couldn’t have said it better, B,” Keir says, meeting my eyes in the rearview mirror.

My wife also has the capacity to withstand an unfair amount of tragedy. When I tell her about my lapse in judgement, my fucking relapse, she’s not going to cast me aside. We were made for each other, and I’m not built for anybody who’s soft- I talk back, I don’t listen, and sarcasm is ingrained in me.

“Caleb, keep trying Eden,” Keir says. “Wes needs his mom, and she needs him.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Nothing to lose but everything

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