Chapter 11
When Sara walked into her apartment, she saw Ian slipping into a shirt. She smiled at him and asked, "How was your first day on the job?"
He had just stepped out of the shower five minutes before, and water was dripping from the ends of his unrestrained hair.
"It was good. It was nice to work with a horse again. I must remember to thank Renee for getting me the job."
"Well, tonight's the wedding rehearsal, so you can tell her there."
"Then, I will thank her tonight."
He went into the bathroom and pulled a brush through his long, dark, curly hair. After he had pulled it up, he walked back into the living room.
*******
Gabriel pulled up in front of the church and shut off the engine. He stepped out of the car, walked to the other side, and opened the door for Renee. They walked inside to wait for everyone else to arrive.
The pastor was already there, and he smiled as the door closed behind them. They walked over to where he was standing and exchanged greetings with him. Five minutes later the door opened; Sara and Ian stepped in. Several minutes later Morgan and one of Renee's sisters, Tammy arrived. They were followed by the rest of the wedding party: Renee's other sister, Molly, Stephen, Nick, and Jake.
"Are we ready to start now?" The pastor asked.
"Yeah."
Once they had figured out where everyone's place was, they practiced for an hour before they were satisfied that everyone knew what they were supposed to do the next day.
"Let's go eat," Renee said. "I'm starved."
They all laughed, and Gabriel slipped his arm around her shoulder. They walked out to the cars. Gabriel opened the door for Renee so she could get in. Then, he walked to the other side, go in, and started the car.
They were almost at the restaurant when Renee let out a gasp. "What's wrong?" Gabriel asked as he glanced over at her. He saw that her face had gone white.
"I think my water just broke."
"What? But the baby's not due for more than a month."
"That's not what it thinks."
He looked ahead and pushed down on the gas pedal. As the car accelerated, he picked up his cell phone and quickly dialed a number. When Sara picked up on the other end, Gabriel hurriedly explained. "We're almost at the hospital now."
"All right, Gabe. We'll meet you there."
He got Renee into the hospital, and a nurse helped her into a room. Soon the doctor arrived. Gabriel stayed right beside her, holding her hand. Five hours later the doctor asked her to push one more time. She did as he said, and he took the small form in his hands as it slid out. After they cut the umbilical cord, the doctor handed him to a nurse. She took him out of the room.
"Congratulations, Mr. Bowman and Ms. Mackenzie," the doctor said. "You have a baby boy."
"I have a son," Gabriel whispered in awe. He looked down at Renee and squeezed her hand. "We have a son."
She smiled weakly at him then closed her eyes, exhausted. A nurse came in a moment later with their son wrapped up in a blanket. She held him out to Gabriel, and he took him carefully in his arms. He couldn't believe how small he was.
Renee opened her eyes, and Gabriel handed him down to her. She held him in her arms and smiled at him. He opened his little eyes and yawned. Then, he let out a wail. She brought him up to her breast, and he latched on.
After he was finished, he fell asleep cradled in her arms. "I dub thee Peter Michael," she said softly smiling down at him then looking up at Gabriel.
A couple of minutes later a nurse poked her head through the door. "You have some visitors, but they can't stay long."
"Send them in," Gabriel told her.
Sara and Ian came in followed by Morgan, Tammy, Molly, Stephen, Nick, and Jake. "So he decided he didn't want to wait another month, huh?" Sara joked.
"Nope. He already takes after his dad," Renee replied with a grin.
"What does that mean?" Gabriel asked with mock indignation.
Renee giggled. "He's impatient and stubborn."
"Then I guess he takes after you, too."
After everyone had congratulated the new parents, the nurse shooed them out of the room saying, "She needs to get some rest."
Once everyone but Gabriel and the nurse were gone, Renee, suddenly curious, asked, "What time was he born?"
The nurse thought for a moment, then remembered. "11:11 p.m."
She left taking Peter to the nursery. Gabriel squeezed Renee's hand before saying, "You should get some sleep now. I'll be out in the waiting room with everyone else."
She nodded and closed her eyes, exhausted. Renee fell asleep right away, and Gabriel bent over and planted a kiss on her cheek. Then he left, pulling the door softly behind him.
*******
When Renee woke up, the sun was brightening the room. She pushed herself up in bed and looked around. Gabriel was sitting in a chair across the room with Peter in his arms. He saw that she was awake and walked over to her. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he placed the boy in her arms.
"I guess we will need to find a new date for the wedding," he said after a few minutes.
She shook her head. "No, I still want to get married today."
"But . . ."
She stopped him. "Call the pastor and see if he can come here today. Then get Sara, Ian, Morgan, my sisters, your parents, Nick, Stephen, and Jake here." She smiled at him. "We don't need to be in a church or have a large guest list to get married."
After giving her hand a tight squeeze and kissing her lightly on the forehead, he walked outside and dialed the pastor's number. Five minutes later everyone was on their way. Gabriel walked back up to Renee's room.
When he walked in, she had just finished feeding Peter. "Everyone's coming," he told her.
She nodded. "Good."
Ten minutes later everyone was gathered in the room. Renee handed the baby to Sara and the pastor started the ceremony. Once they had exchanged their vows, and Gabriel had slipped the ring on her finger, he leaned over and kissed her.
Sara handed Peter back to his mother as he started to cry. She murmured something to him, and he quieted down. Gabriel sat on the bed beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. Their friends and family filed past them; each stopping to congratulate them. Gabriel's mother and father lingered.
"You two must be blessed. A birth and marriage in two days."
"I'm a lucky man," Gabriel said with sincerity.
After making sure that both the mother and baby were healthy, the doctor said that they were fine to go home. A nurse wheeled them to the front doors where Gabriel was waiting with the car. They put Peter into the car seat in the back, then started home.
*******
Just as Sara stepped inside, her phone rang. "Pezzeni," she said when she picked it up.
"This is Frank Donovan," the voice on the other end answered.
"What do you want?" She asked, curious as to why he was calling.
"We learned something about your friend, Gabriel Bowman, and Kenneth Irons."
She was surprised to hear that they had found something about Gabriel. "Go on."
"He was abducted from his family when he was just a few months old."
"I know. We found that out when his brother was killed."
"We have learned that Kenneth Irons is the one who had him abducted."
Sara's mouth fell open. After a moment the shock wore off, and she regained her composure. "Why haven't you gone after him then?"
"We don't have enough proof. We can't make a case yet."
"Then why did you even tell me?"
"So you could decide whether or not to tell your friend." He paused a moment, then added, "I heard they got married and had a son."
"Yes, they did. A month ago."
"Give them my congratulations."
"I will."
She hung up the phone and turned around running right into Ian. "Who was that?" He asked.
"Frank Donovan." She started to tell him what Donovan had said, then stopped. "I have to get over to Renee and Gabe's."
"But you just came from there."
Sara didn't hear him because she was already out the door. She got on her bike and started toward their place. Weaving in and out of traffic, she made it there in a little more than five minutes. She left her helmet with her bike and bounded up the stairs two at a time. Gabriel opened the door after her second knock.
Renee was coming out of Peter's room as Sara stepped inside. "Back already?" She asked with a smile. Then, she noticed the worried look on her face. "What's wrong?"
They sat down and Sara explained. As soon as she had finished, Gabriel said, "That was a long time ago. Does it really matter now?" He wasn't really surprised that Irons had been behind it. It angered him, but he wasn't going to do anything reckless now that he had a family to worry about.
"What if he were to have little Peter taken?"
"Why would he do that?" Gabriel hadn't thought of that.
"Why did he do it to you?"
He didn't know what to say to that. Renee went into her son's room and came back out a minute later with him in her arms. "He'll never get you, Mic." She had started calling him by this shortened version of his middle name soon after he was born so that there wasn't any confusion between him and his grandfather.
"I'll stay here to make sure nothing happens."
"No, Sara. You can't," Gabriel told her. "We can't live under your protection for the rest of our lives."
Sara recognized the stubborn set to his jaw, and she knew that there was no point in arguing with him. "You're right," she replied, her shoulders slumped in defeat. "And I hope I'm wrong. How's he doing?" She asked trying to change the subject.
"Good. Doesn't wake up much during the night. He doesn't cry much either."
"He's quiet like his mom," Gabriel said with an affectionate grin.
She playfully hit him, then told Sara, "My dad's coming up to see him tomorrow."
"That's good. So he'll finally get to see his other grandfather?"
"Yeah."
Sara stayed for a little bit longer, then left. Gabriel took Peter from Renee while she made dinner. He sat at the table and stood the boy on his knee. Peter smiled at him and started making soft cooing noises. Gabriel straightened one of his soft, brown curls, then let it coil back up.
Renee looked at them and smiled to herself. Gabriel was a natural parent. He had seemed to know exactly what to do from the day his son was born and wasn't uncomfortable holding him like some new fathers would be. She turned the stove off and said, "Dinner's ready."
*******
"Glad you could make it, Dad."
Michael cringed at the hard, bitter note in her voice. He knew he had hurt her, but didn't know how to fix things. He didn't think she would forgive him now. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to make it up to her. "Can I come in?"
She nodded and stepped out of the doorway. Her father walked inside and looked around.
"Nice place," he told her.
"Thanks," Renee replied picking Peter up out of his playpen. She handed him to Michael who didn't seem comfortable with holding him. Peter sensed this and let out a scream. He continued crying until Renee took him back. As soon as he was back in her arms, he calmed down.
Renee sat down on the couch. Michael sank down beside her. "Renee," he started then seemed to lose his words.
She realized he was trying to apologize. The wall of ice around her heart melted, and she said, "It's okay, Dad. Don't worry about it."
He put his large hand over her smaller one and smiled at her. Then, he told her, "I should be getting home now."
He started to stand up, but Renee stopped him. "I'm going to meet Gabe in town for lunch. Why don't you come too? He'd like to see you again."
He considered this for a moment then shook his head. "No, I need to be leaving."
She sighed. "Of course you do. I'll talk to you sometime then."
He left, and she started getting Peter ready to go out.
*******
While they were waiting for their meal to arrive, Gabriel asked, "How did your visit with your dad go? Did you talk?" He knew that she didn't like to talk about what was bothering her.
"If you want to say that." She told him what they had said. "I just wish he'd realize."
"Realize what?"
"That it doesn't matter what he does. It doesn't matter how much I hate him. I'm still always going to love him. I have a hate-love relationship with him. I hate to love him, but I still do. And it breaks my heart every time."
"I'm sure he knows. He just doesn't know how to tell you."
Their food arrived, and they ate in a comfortable silence. Once they were finished, Gabriel paid for lunch and they left. Renee put Peter in his car seat then slid into the front seat. She thought someone was watching them, but shrugged the feeling off as Gabriel pulled out into the street.
Gabriel was just starting to slide into bed next to Renee when he thought he heard a noise coming from Peter's room. He got up and walked down the hall. Renee was right behind him. When he stepped into the room, he saw a very large man leaning over his son's crib. "Hey!" He cried. "Get away from my son."
Gabriel started toward him as the man turned around. The man threw a fist into his stomach doubling him over in pain. Then he brought the butt of the gun crashing down on the back of Gabriel's head. He fell to the floor and laid still. Renee ran over to the man, grabbed his arm, and tried to pull him away from the crib. He was a lot stronger than her, however. He swung his arm and sent her flying to the floor. She hit her head on the floor and was stunned.
When she came to her senses, he was climbing out the window with a screaming baby over his shoulder. Renee ran over to the window, but the man had already reached the ground. She sank to her knees as the waterfall of tears started to flow.
Gabriel struggled to his knees and blinked several times until the room remained still. He saw Renee crying by the window and crawled over to her. He wrapped his arms around her and held her until her crying had subsided. Then, he helped her to her feet, and they walked into the kitchen. He picked up the phone and called Sara.
