Broots couldn't believe it.
"Are you sure ... I mean...it's Mr. Lyle."
Sydney nodded his head in understanding.
"I know...believe me I know...but Angelo says he will help...and he has led not led us wrong yet." Sydney responded.
Broots shook his head.
"If he's wrong...it means our lives...your talking about trusting the right hand of the devil..." Broots began.
Angelo had walked up behind Broots.
"Help daughter. Help children. Help us." Angelo said scaring Broots.
Sydney stared at Broots.
"Aparently, we have to." Sydney said.
Miss Green held on to the Major's hand. She just couldn't believe it. Her whole life she had been told that Jarod was offlimits. That he would be her reason for failing. He had been the complete opposite.
Jarod had become her reason for living.
Here she sat amonst his family...people that should hate her. They now sat with her trying to comfort her over the secret that had been kept from her for 25 years. These people were willing to sacrifice themselves to help her find her children.
"I don't deserve this sort of help...especially not from you...any of you."
"Of course you do." Margaret whispered.
Miss Green looked across the table to Margaret.
"Are grandchildren are part Jarod ...and you...you are now a part of this family...weither you want to be or not. We hold nothing against you...you couldn't have imagined that all the truths you knew...were all lies. But now you know...and you brought me my boy." Margaret spoke in a crying whisper.
Miss Green stared at this incredible woman in front of her. It didn't seem possible that she could be this forgiving this nice. As if reading her thoughts Margaret smiled at her.
"Your mother and I were old friends...and when I look at you...I can't help but feel the love I hold for her...continue to you."
Miss Green couldn't believe what she had just heard.
"You knew my mother?" Miss Green asked.
Margaret smiled at Miss Green.
"Yes. She was friends with my sisters and I since we were little."
Miss Green titled her head at Margaret at the comment.
"Your sisters?" Miss Green inquired.
Margaret's smile became a smirk.
"You knew one of them. She was a nurse at the Centre. She helped you when you had the mumps."
Miss Green suddenly had a flash. A woman calling her by her mother's name. A woman sending her a message on mirage. A woman lying in a bed under Raines as he covered her body with a blanket. A name flashed as bright as day in her mind.
"Edna Raines."
Miss Green could grasp what she had just been told.
"Your telling me that your sister is Raines' wife?" Miss Green asked anxiously.
Margaret sighed with sadness. She looked up with pleading eyes to Miss Green.
"I'm the reason your mother and Mr. Parker met. I'm the reason Jarod was taken." Margaret whimpered out.
At this Major Charles looked to his wife.
"Margaret don't say that, you couldn't have known...none of us could have known what would have happened." He said in an authoritive voice.
Margaret looked at him as if seeing him for the first time that day. She slowly rose still holding his gaze. She slowly walked up to him with her eyes watering, walking up to his seated form. As soon as she reached him it was as though all the energy had left her body...she collapsed as Major Charles grabbed her before she fell to the floor.
Miss Green watched as Jarod's mother crumbled for the second time that day. She knew it wouldn't be the last time either...hadn't see succumbed to all the emotions that enveloped her that day more than twice? She couldn't remember how many...but she knew she would continue to break down every day of her life if this was the reality in which she had brought about.
"Mommy was is grandma crying." Came a voice from the door way.
There stood two children in the doorway. The child who spoke was a little boy, not more than 4 years old. Next to him was a little girl that looked to be two years old. Something struck Miss Green as odd.
Emily quickly rose from the end of the table and went to the children. She quickly grabbed the little girl and hoisted her in her arms.
"Grandma is upset baby. It's ok though, don't worry." She kissed the little girl in her arms on her forehead as she spoke to the boy.
"Is it the bad men momma?" the little boy asked with a tilted head.
Emily's eyes began to water.
"Yes baby...it's the bad men." She said in a trembling voice.
The little girl put one of her hands on Emily's face.
"Noo cry mama...no cry." The little girl begged.
Emily had begun to cry again. The torrent of tears and emotions caused her to clutch at the little girl in her arms close to her body. The little girl responded by placing her head on her mother's shoulder at her mother rocked them both. The little boy went up to his mother and wrapped his arms around her leg restind his head on her hip.
Miss Green looked on in fascination. Emily had children?
The little boy turned toward's Miss Green and smiled.
Miss Green was caught off guard...but oddly she smiled back at the little boy that intrigued her. Something about the little boy struck her funny...she couldn't put her finger on it.
The boy looked nothing like his mother...neither did the little girl really...but the little boy reminded her of someone. She couldn't put her finger on it though.
The little boy had short dirty blonde hair and sky blue eyes, while the little girl had reddish blonde hair and sky blue eyes.
The voices then began to speak up slowly. She couldn't make out what they were saying...but she listened closely...and slowly she heard what they were trying to say.
She looked at the boy as if someone had hit her. And then she knew why the little boy struck her.
He looked just like his father. She then voiced her opinion.
"You look just like Lyle."
Sydney paced inside the shack as if he was an awaiting father to be.
"Syd, we have to come up with something else...I mean its not like we can walk up to him and just be like...So um...Mr. Lyle...can you help us kidnap 29 children from the Centre while there might be the possibility of getting killed in the process...let alone get killed by him for even mentioning the children."
Sydney turned to Broots who sat in front of the computer.
"First we must prepare for the hiding of these children Broots. We need to find someplace where we can hide them. A house a..a..a farm. Someplace safe. We're going to need money. Food. Clothes. Diapers. Medicine. Beds. Do you understand me Broots? One way or another those children will be set free. And we need to prepare for it." Sydney spoke angrily.
Broots shrunk back.
"I got it Syd. Don't get angry. I'm just saying we might need a Plan B...encase something goes wrong...that's all." Broots spoke appologetically.
Sydney nodded his head in understanding. Then stared at Broots eye to eye again.
"I'm sorry Broots. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."
Broots shook his head.
"No Syd...your just anxious and scared...all of us are...you have a right to let it out...just like all of us." Broots spoke.
Sydney smiled at Broots.
"Your a good friend Broots. A true friend." Sydney spoke proudly
Broots smiled.
" So are you Syd...now I need to get to work...so we can save those kids." He said while turning in his chair.
After the words left her mouth she looked to Emily for conformation. Emily's eyes showed love at the mention of the name. She quickly looked down at the little boy.
"It's frightening at times how much he looks like Lyle. You have no idea what it's like to have to wake up to a reminder of him every day. To not be able to even talk to the person you love and have to look at what that love has produced...without him."
Miss Green just looked at the boy the entire time Emily spoke. The little boy hadn't stopped smiling at her. She just couldn't believe it.
Her brother had children.
With Emily.
She was an aunt.
" This is Alex." Emily stated while touching the little boy's head.
"And this little one...she's Zoe." Emily said while kissing the little girls cheek.
Miss Green looked at the little girl. She had curly reddish blonde hair. And she had Lyle's smile.
"Lyle named them...he said it was his form of redemption. For what he never told me...but he said our chlidren signify the redemption of past deeds...and the reason for the future." Emily said turning to look directly into Miss Green's Eyes.
"We both will do everything to protect them Miss Green. My husband sold his soul and future with them...so he could protect them."
Miss Green looked at both children. She just couldn't believe it. But as she looked at the family minus one...she couldn't help but think that she would soon be like Emily. She would be a mother with children...without a father to raise them with her. She just couldn't believe that Lyle was actually helping the Charles family. How could Lyle be...pretending?
She closed her eyes. Jesus...Lyle had been pretending...all of this time. Her eyes popped open.
"I need to call Syd." Miss Green said looking into Emily's eyes.
Emily nodded her head, not breaking Miss Green's stare.
Broots sat at the computer typing away. His hands and eyes were the only things that moved rapidly. His body remained as rigid as wood.
"How far along are we Broots?" Sydney asked while pacing behind Broots.
Broots still did not move to answer Sydney, but continued to type and stare at the computer screen.
"So far I was able to extract approximately 15 million dollars from Centre funds. I've ordered the necessities such as food, clothes of all sizes, medicine, baby equiptment, toys, furniture, computers, security systems, cellphones..."
At that Sydney's back straightened and he stopped Broots in his tracks.
"Miss Parker has her cellphone still on her Broots. They could track us..." Sydney began panicing. Broots shook his head during the last part.
"Already thought of that Syd. While Miss P..Green was passed out...I installed a microchip in her phone that bounces the signal." He said grining.
"Simply put...it would take them a week to discover we're no where in the vasinity of New York."
Sydney smilled at the intelligence of his friend. He had thought of something like that...when things were hectic for him and his neice...Broots was level headed enough to think of a scrambler for Miss Greens cellphone. Sydney looked to the side and smirked.
His neice.
If only she knew.
"Hey Syd did you hear me?"
Sydney shook himself and looked at Broots.
"I found a place to live for all of us and the kids...but in the mean time I found a way to hide them while we rescue them."
Sydney looked at the computer screen confused.
"We hide them in plane sight." Broots stated.
Miss Green rose from the table. The Major rose along with her.
"You can call your uncle Miss Green...but first we need to take care of Jarod first."
Miss Green stared with shocked eyes at the Major.
"You knew?" she asked on a whisper.
The Major smirked at her.
"Margaret might be the reason why your mother met Mr. Parker...but I'm the reason she met your father."
Miss Green smiked at the comment. The Major smirked back, but then his face turned serious. He looked quickly to the ground then back at Miss Green.
"We need to give Jarod the proper burial he deserves."
At that statement Miss Green closed her eyes and let out a shuddering sigh...this was the reason she had kidnapped his body, to give him a proper burial...but the reality of it still couldn't be accepted. He opened her eyes and looked at the Major.
"Jarod deserves his name." She stated.
The Major nodded.
She stared down at the open casket that held Jarod's body.
The Major and his family had prepared Jarod's body. The Major had built the coffin, while Margaret and Emily had dressed Jarod's body with clean clothes. The Major had carried his son outside craddled in his arms...and had placed him in the coffin. He had dug a whole in the back of the farm...away from prying eyes...beside the barn and a white oak tree. And here she stood.
About to burry the man that she never got the chance to be with.
A man that symbolized everything she wanted.
The man that had sacrificed himself...for her freedom.
The Major and his family were to one side of the hole, and she on the other. The children had been left inside. They didn't need to see this horror. They had been kept away from such horrors their entire lives...she preferred they not know this one.
The lid to the casket had been left open. Jarod's still face lay unmoving with onlooking eyes staring at him. She knew he hating people staring at him. But she couldn't help but stare.
The Major was speaking. About Jarod she was sure. She was sure that they were beautiful words. About Jarod's life, about what he did for other's, about how he was loved...but all she didn't hear a word.
All she could do was stare.
That's why she had missed the fact that the Major had stopped talking. And that was why he was closing the lid on Jarod's coffin. What she did next was on instinct.
"NNNOOO." She screamed.
She ran toward's the coffin before the lid closed. She opened it and stared down at Jarod. She began to cry and talk to him.
The Major and his family watched as Green talked and kissed the dead body of at one time was there son. They watched as she said her goodbye to a love that had never had the chance to be.
The Major snapped out of his revere. He slowly approached the woman that lay on the ground covered with dirt and face wet with tears. He put his arms around Miss Green.
"Let him go honey. It's time to give him the peace he deserves. At least we can give him this." He whispered to her.
Miss Green turned in his hold and buried her face into the Major's chest. The Major grabbed her and the lid to the casket.
He looked down to his sons face.
He breathed a shaky breath...and slowly lowered the lid.