Chapter 12

The knock on the front door got Sam's attention, and he looked up from the newspaper. He saw two faces trying to peer into the living room through the window beside the door. Putting the paper aside, he rose and opened it to find his neighbors standing before him smiling like matching bookends.

"Hey, Pam, Tom. How are you?"

"We're doing pretty good," Tom answered cheerfully. "Thanks to you and your friends, the Little Lambs Agency is no more and the two people who ran it are in jail."

"Sorry we didn't get your money back."

The couple looked at each other. "What do you mean? Michael and Fiona came over yesterday and brought the eighteen thousand back. He said they did a little snooping around the offices and found it in a safe, along with a lot of other money and records they turned over to the police."

"Why don't you two come in? Eve is out shopping with Samuel, but she'll be back soon." He ushered them into the living room. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh no, thank you. We just wanted to tell you our good news. We got the money back and we heard from the real agency we contracted with. They have an older child, a four year old, that we're going to meet this week," Pam told him with a glow in her eyes. "Her name is Zoe, and she's just a little younger than our Katrina would have been."

"That's great!"

"And what about you and Yvette? How is your search going?"

"We're dancing through the red tape to be foster parents. In the meantime, my dad and I have figured out how we're going to build onto the house, with the help of an old SEAL buddy. He works as an architect now, so he's drawing up some plans for us. Soon as those are ready, we'll get to work."

"Well, before I became a pastor, I worked in construction. I'd be happy to help."

"Thanks, Tom. That means a lot to me."

"Well, it's the least I can do after all you've done for us. You helped us get our family back. Thank you."

Sam let out a breath as he thought about all the families whose children were stolen for the cause of the illegitimate adoption agency. Very soon, they too would have their families back, thanks to the information his father found in the office, and what Michael and Fiona discovered when they broke in before the police got their search warrant. They made sure to leave it all out in plain sight so the police could work to reunite children and parents as soon as possible. Still, his heart ached for the ones who unsuspectingly adopted stolen children. Their homes would be more than a little bit empty after the fallout was cleaned up.

"You're welcome. I'm just really glad it all worked out for the best for you guys."

"Us too." Tom stood and Pam followed. "Before we go, please tell Yvette we'll be honored to attend Samuel's first birthday party. Hopefully we'll have temporary custody of Zoe by then and we'll bring her along."

"That'd be great!" He shook the hand Tom offered. "We'll see you then, or sooner, I'm sure."

After the couple left, he dialed a number on his phone. "Hey Jack, it's Sam. How are those plans coming? Great. Dad and I can't wait to get working on that addition. We're kind of in a hurry to get it done, because we're expecting...no, not like that. Social services said we can probably have a kid to foster in a few months, so we want to be ready in case it comes sooner rather than later." He listened and heard a tapping on the back door. He saw Michael peer through the curtains and let him inside. "Yeah, that'll be great, Jack. Thanks!" He hung up the phone and noted the look on his friend's face. "Mike, what's the matter?"

"You...I really, really want to strangle you right now, Sam." Michael entered the house and closed in on his friend with a firm set to his mouth.

"What? Why?"

"Don't act clueless! Your dad...my mom...this has gotten way out of hand!"

"Mike, come on." Sam moved into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge. "Sounds like you need to settle down. Have a drink."

"Nothing can settle me down right now. You encouraged your dad to propose to my mom, and nothing is going to dull the rage I'm feeling right now."

Sam was glad that Michael wasn't armed at that moment. He swallowed hard and said, "I didn't exactly give him the green light. I just told him that he needed to talk to you."

"Which he did."

"Okay, and what did you say?"

Michael's shoulders slumped and he sat at the kitchen table. "I said it was up to my mom. I didn't seriously think she would say 'yes'." He looked up at Sam, his blue eyes looking forlorn. "She did it. She said 'yes' and nothing I could say would make her change her mind."

"Wow." He'd come to expect that one day his father would ask her, but... "So soon? But I guess they've got to look at the practicality of it. It's not like they're getting any younger. None of us is." Sam put the beers back in the fridge. "What do you say we go to Carlito's, grab a couple of drinks, and just salute them for finding each other, huh? It's a losing battle otherwise, Mikey."

"I suppose fighting this isn't going to do any good."

"Afraid not."

Michael let out his breath in a heavy sigh and stood. "Okay, but you're buying. It's your fault this happened."

"No it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"They've got their own minds. They can make them up themselves."

"Yeah, but if it weren't for your dad coming around..."

"Well that settles it then. My dad is buying because it's his fault!"

"Alright, I'll drink to that."

Sam closed the doors and locked up the house, and the two of them went to their favorite haunt to wrangle a couple of free drinks from Samuel. They found him working the bar and he grinned at the two.

"Sammy, Michael. What can I get you? Is Fiona joining you?"

"Not this time, Dad. The way Mike figures it, you owe him a drink for stealing his mom."

"You do, eh? If anyone owed anyone a drink it would be your mom. She's the one who stole my heart, sonny."

Michael leaned on the bar and glared at Samuel over his sunglasses. Samuel let out a deep breath. "What'll it be, Michael?"

"Just a beer."

"Coming right up. Sam?"

"I think I better skip this time, Dad. Someone's gonna have to drive Mikey home later."

Samuel stifled a chuckle. "You got it." He placed the beer in front of Michael and served Sam an iced tea. "Michael...I'm sorry you don't like this. But your mother has never been happier, if I do say so myself. Are you going to deprive her of that? Just think about it."

Michael took his beer and retreated to the quiet corner of the bar to brood alone. As much as he hated it, he knew that Samuel was right. A few years ago his mom thought about selling the house because, she said, she was ready to move on. As much as Michael hated his father, there was a small piece of him that thought this new union between Samuel and her was wrong because she'd been married to him first. But Frank Westen was dead, he wasn't coming back, and gone were the nightmarish days of drunkenness and abuse. With Samuel, she had a brighter future. He glanced up and watched Sam interact with his dad, laughing about something Samuel said. Maybe he was jealous that he'd never had the same chance to patch things up with his own dad, not that it ever would have happened anyway. He grasped the sweating bottle and rotated it on the coaster. Then he took a long drag on it and decided that it was time for him to grow up and get over the past. There was a new man in his mother's life, and he'd proven himself to be the real deal.

"Oh boy," he muttered to himself. "Sam and I are going to be...brothers?" He drained the bottle in one gulp, raised it up high and yelled, "Another round, please!"