Chapter 7: Age Progression Software
My life was in a current state of bliss. I woke up with her lying in my arms, I showered with her in my arms, and I lived with her in my arms. She was the sun that my life revolved around, as cheesy as I know that is. It also happened that all of my "life" was happening beneath my family's noses. They were more alert after the Talya incident, but I think they just thought that I considered Callie as one of my siblings… I didn't have the balls to break that façade. The betrayal that my Mom's would feel, Jude might even stop trusting me. I was most scared of Mariana. The one thing that she hated more than anything in the world was being left out of a secret, but there was a reason that we didn't tell her… she was never one for digression. A grade-A example would be her drunk self blurting out about Jesus' and Lexi's extracurricular activities… on front of Lexi's parents.
Even with all of that, I still couldn't believe my luck.
What were the chances that I would manage to uphold a relationship with the girl I loved for two weeks, without anybody else finding out, or anything dramatic happening.
True, there was always the whole 'Liam' thing, but that was being dealt with. Callie had told me that the very most they could do was charge him, have the charges put on his permanent record, and get a restraining order. I still thought that the bastard should be put behind bars for the rest of his life because of what he had done, but apparently the word of a foster girl that was recently put in Juvie wasn't valid grounds for putting him in the slammer.
I couldn't wait for Callie and me to be 18, then I would finally be of age, and we could finally be together without any risks. She wouldn't have to move to another foster home, she wouldn't get any red flags on the foster care folder. We would finally be free to be ourselves. No more games of hide and seek.
But for now, everything was going well.
Until I decided that I should go downstairs to have some breakfast.
Callie was still in Marianas room, she had woken up early to move there after spending the night in my bed, and I decided to wander down to the kitchen. I checked on Callie quickly, poking my head through the door, and I checked on Jude. They were both snoring lightly with the dame innocent faces; they looked even more alike when they were asleep.
The sound of my bare feet thumping was muffled by the carpet as I rocketed down the stairs, smelling Lena's world famous bacon and eggs; I had hoped that Jesus hadn't eaten them all already.
Instead, I found the Mom's, Jesus and Mariana, and my dad, all crowded around the TV.
Mom was holding Lena upright, Mariana and Jesus were hugging each other, and my dad looked like he was about to faint. I remembered that this was March 25th, the day that my parents started their first unsolved case together. The case had haunted them every year, and on this day they always came together to pray for the family, even though we weren't religious.
I stayed silent and listened to the news reporter on TV.
"Today is the 11 year anniversary of the kidnapping of Emily Lovett and her brother, Jacob. The two kids were abducted from their Beverly Hills home at 2am on March 25th. Their parents were downstairs when the kidnapper snuck in and knocked them unconscious." The newscaster remained solemn, "the mother was taken along with the kids, and none of them have been seen since. Bradley Lovett is making another plea to find his children and his wife. Emily was 4 years old at the time of the kidnapping, and Jacob was two months old."
A man appeared on the screen, the video was shaky, and you could tell that it had been filmed with some type of handheld device.
"My wife and children were taken from me 11 years ago, and ever since I have fallen asleep every night wondering if they were safe, or if they were even alive." A tear rolled down the man's cheek, "if you know where my family is, please tell me. I promise that no charges will be pressed. I just want my family back"
The video clip ended and a picture of a 30-odd year old woman appeared on screen. They announced her as Darla Lovett, then two other pictures appeared on the screen, one was of a 4 year old little girl with light brown hair and one was of a newborn baby with the darkest brown eyes that I had ever seen on a newborn. They announced them as Emily and Jacob, and then they showed pictures of them using "age progression software" which we all knew was probably just a police sketch artist left with these two pictures and his imagination.
But the result of the "software's" work shocked me, and everyone else I suspected, considering the gasps that everyone sucked in.
There was no mistaking it, even though the girls' hair was darker and the boys' eyes were a lighter color. The odds were next to nothing, and for a split second I thought I was seeing things, but my eyes definitely weren't deceiving me.
It was Callie and Jude.
