Chapter 6
"Will it hurt?" Zack looked up at his Aunt Kayla who was going to run the DNA test.
"You'll just feel a little prick and then it will be all over with." Kayla ruffled his light brown hair.
"Kayla how long before we get the results?" Hope held on to Zack's hand as Kayla withdrew the blood from his arm.
"There you go big guy." Kayla placed a bandage on his arm. "The test should take about five days, but I'm going to put a rush on it." Kayla took the tube of blood and put it beside Bo, Hope, and Dougie's samples. "I've got to get these down to the lab. Don't worry about it. We already know he's your son." Kayla smiled at Zack and waved goodbye.
"Can we go home now?" Zach looked up at his mother.
"Sure. We just have to stop by the pub and pick up your sister." Hope took Zack's hand and led him to the lounge where Bo was waiting.
"Hey Buddy." Dougie went to hug Zack, but he pushed him away. "I just want to make sure you're okay.""Why wouldn't he be? He's with his parents." Bo told him. "We complied with the courts and had the test done, not that it matters. It's only a matter of time before you learn the truth and this will be over with."
"It's only getting started. Once you learn the truth I'll be taking my son and heading back home to France." Zack's eyes widened in fear.
"I don't think so. You got what you wanted. We had the test, so why don't you back off and leave us alone?" Bo glared at him.
"Dougie, I think it's best for everyone if you leave Zack and us alone until all of this is settled. I hope once you learn the truth we can put this behind us." Hope tried reasoning with him.
"When I get my son back, then maybe I'll think about putting this behind me." Dougie backed off and looked down at Zack. "Jack, stop this little charade. Tell them the truth and we can go home."
"MY NAME IS ZACK!" Zack cried out to him. He grabbed his mother's hand and held on tightly.
"Ready?' Bo asked taking Zack's other hand. "I think it's time to get out of here." Bo stared at Dougie before turning to leave with his family. "Did Kayla say how long it would be?"
"She said it would be about five days, but she's going to put a rush on it. She knows how anxious we are to get the results." Hope squeezed Zack's hand lightly. "You okay baby?"
"Yeah." Zack walked down the hall with his parents looking back at Dougie who stood in the hall staring after him.
……
"Hey Mom." Hope opened her front door to find her son, his wife and child standing on her doorstep.
"Shawn!" Hope grabbed him into a hug, kissing his cheek. "I'm so happy to see you. Come here Belle." She hugged her daughter-in-law.
"Hi Grandma." Claire reached up to hug her.
"Hi Claire." Hope pulled her granddaughter into a tight bear hug. "I missed you so so much." She pulled away to look at her. "Let me see you. I think you've grown three inches since I last saw you. What's your daddy been feeding you?" She jokingly asked.
"Fish." Claire exclaimed. Belle, Shawn, and Hope laughed.
"Where's Zack?" Shawn asked her.
"He's upstairs playing with Ciara. He's going to be so surprised to see you. What am I saying. I'm surprised to see you. Come her my son." Hope pulled Shawn into another hug. "I've missed you all so much."
"We missed you too." Shawn grinned at her. "We had to come straight home after you called to tell us about Zack. I still can't believe he's alive."
"Sometimes when I wake up I have to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I must look in on him ten times a night to make sure he's really in his bed sleeping. Of course if I had it my way, I wouldn't leave his room at all, but your dad thinks I'm smothering him. And I guess I am a little. I just can't help it. He was gone for so long and I never thought I'd ever see him again." Hope's eyes teared up.
"Come here Mom." Shawn hugged her. "Is Dad here?"
"No. He just went to get some take out from the Burger Barn. I should call him and tell him to bring more food." Hope went to get her cell.
"We'll be upstairs. I want to go surprise Zack." Shawn led his family upstairs to find his little brother.
"Hey Buddy." Shawn pushed the door to his old room open and Zack ran to his arms.
"SHAWN!" He grinned at his brother and jumped into his arms hugging him tightly around the neck.
"Zack. It's so good to see you little brother." Shawn held onto him with tears in his eyes. He couldn't believe he was really holding his baby brother and it wasn't a dream.
Ciara watched her two brothers and looked on sadly. Her brother Shawn hadn't even said hi to her. Belle watched her face and went to her to give her a hug. "Hi Ciara. Look who's here." She grabbed Claire's hand and brought her over to Ciara. "Do you remember Claire?" She asked her.
Ciara nodded yes and hugged her niece. "Want to play with us?" She asked her.
"Yeah!" Claire yelled.
"Hey Ciara." Shawn picked his little sister up into his arms. "I missed you baby girl." Shawn kissed her cheek and tickled her belly.
Ciara hugged him back, but said nothing. She could tell her brother was happier to see Zack than he was her. Shawn put her down and went back to Zack. "I can't believe how much you've grown buddy." Shawn ruffled the top of Zack's hair.
"Want to go play catch with me?" Zack beamed up at him. "Daddy bought me a new ball and mitt."
"I'd love to. Let's go." Shawn and Zack went to grab their gear out of Zack's closet.
Belle watched Ciara's face sadden as she watched her two brother's playing together. "Hey Ciara. You know your brother missed you so much. He talked about you every day that we were gone. He loved the pictures you sent him and we hung them up all over the boat." Ciara looked on as her brothers grabbed a ball and some mitts and left the room. Belle held onto her. "Ciara. Shawn loves you. He just missed Zack so much and it's been so very long since he's seen him. Even longer than you've been alive." Ciara looked up at her with glazed eyes. "Come here baby." Belle held her close. "He loves you just as much. I promise." She kissed her head and rocked her in her arms as Ciara cried.
……
"Sailor man. When did you get back?" Bo grabbed his son in a hug.
"We just got here a little while ago. Didn't Mom call you?" Shawn asked him.
"She called to tell me to bring some more food because we had company, but she didn't mention who." Bo ducked as Zack through a ball his way. "I see you two are catching up. I'll go bring the food in and call you when everything is set up." Bo hugged Shawn again. "It's good to see you son."
"Bo did you see Shawn out back?" Hope asked as he came in through the kitchen door. She was grinning from ear to ear. Both her boys were home. She couldn't be happier.
Bo kissed her and placed the food on the table. "That was sneaky of you calling to tell me we had company without saying who it was." Hope slapped his behind playfully and then wrapped her arms around him. "Come here." He turned around to face her and kissed her again. "We have all our kids here. Isn't it great?" Bo was grinning as much as Hope was. He continued to kiss her as Belle walked into the kitchen.
"I see not much has changed since I left." Belle laughed.
"Hey Belle." Bo went to hug his daughter-in-law. "Where's Claire?" He asked looking around to see her.
"She's upstairs playing with Ciara. I think we should leave them alone right now. Ciara needs someone her own age to take her mind off things." Belle told him.
"What do you mean?" Bo and Hope both asked at once.
"Ciara watched the reuniting scene between her two brothers and felt a little left out. I think having Claire here to play with right now will help. She looked really hurt that Shawn went to Zack first and didn't even notice her right away. It's understandable that he would, because it's been so long since he saw Zack and thinking he was dead all these years. Ciara's so young, she doesn't understand what's going on and it's hurting her."
"We've been doing our best to make sure she knows she hasn't lost her place in the family. Zack too for that matter. It's just as hard on him to come home and find out he has a little sister. They're both fighting each other for our love and attention and really we love them both the same." Hope and Belle chatted about the situation and soon changed the subject to Belle and Shawn's travels. Bo set up the table and called out to the boys to come in and eat. "I'm going to go get the girls." He went up to Ciara's room and gently pushed open the door and watched the two girls playing. Ciara was playing with Claire, but her heart wasn't in it. Bo could see how sad she looked. He walked into the room and picked both girls up into his arms. "How are my girls doing?" Ciara's face brightened when she saw her father. She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "How's my Sugar Bear?" Bo asked put her head down on his shoulder and said nothing.
"Hey Claire. Look at you. You're getting to be a big girl now." Bo smiled at his granddaughter.
"I'm six now Grandpa." Claire held up her fingers to emphasize the fact. Bo laughed. "Are you girls hungry? I brought back a ton of food and I need you two to help me eat it all. Think you can do that?" Bo asked as he carried the two girls downstairs.
Claire laughed. "You're funny Grandpa. We're little. We can't eat a ton of food." She said as seriously as she could manage.
Bo laughed at the look she gave him. "How about you Ciara? Think you can eat a ton of food?" Bo walked into the kitchen still holding both girls and set them down into their seats. Ciara didn't answer him. "Hey Sugar Bear. You have a smile in there for me." He caressed the side of her cheek. Ciara looked up at him sadly and cracked a half smile for him. "You call that a smile. You can do better than that." Bo tickled her belly until she squealed with laughter. "Much better. Give me a kiss." Ciara wrapped her arms around her father's neck and kissed him.
"Hey Ciara, guess what?" Shawn asked her. "I have a bunch of presents I brought back for you. Every time we stopped somewhere we bought you something. You should see how many gifts we have. There's a whole suitcase full of them."
"Can I have them now?" Ciara asked Shawn.
"How about we eat first and then I'll go get them for you." Shawn told her. "I'm so glad I'm home so I can see how much you've grown. You're catching up to Claire." Shawn tickled her side playfully. Ciara smiled up at him giggling. They finished eating and Shawn suggested he and Belle take the kids out for ice cream.
……
For the next few days, Bo and Hope enjoyed the time they had with their family. Shawn and Zack played catch almost daily and Claire and Ciara stayed secluded in Ciara's room playing with her new toys from Shawn. She was having so much fun with Claire, she hardly noticed her brother Zack and didn't seem to mind the attention Shawn was lavishing on him. They spent their evenings gathered in the living room talking about Shawn and Belle's travels and how things had changed from when Shawn had traveled around the world with his parents. Some nights they spent playing games and watching TV. It wasn't until the fifth day of Shawn and his family being home, that things changed.
Hope paced around the living room waiting for the phone to ring. She kept glancing at the clock every five minutes and repeatedly checked her cell for missed messages.
"Mom would you relax! If Aunt Kayla said she'd have the results today, I'm sure she'll call as soon as they're in. What are you so worried about anyway? We already know he's Zack so what's the problem?" Shawn asked her.
"I just want this to be over with so we can get on with our lives." Hope went back to pacing glancing down at her watch and back at her cell phone.
"Mom would you sit down and relax. You're starting to make me nervous. He's really Zack." Shawn went over to his mother and led her to the couch to sit beside him and Belle.
"I know he's Zack. I just don't know what my brother is going to do once we get the results of the test." Hope glanced at her watch again.
"How can you call him your brother after everything he's putting this family through?" Shawn was mortified. "He was raised by someone else. It's not like he's been here as part of this family.""Shawn regardless of what he's done, he's still my brother. He's been through a lot and grief can do things to a person to change them. I'm sure once he knows that his son is dead and this is Zack, he'll back off." Hope glanced over at Zack who was playing Chutes and Ladders with Ciara and Claire. He looked up at her with a worried look in his eyes. The tension was getting to him as well. Hope smiled at him hoping if he saw she was okay, he wouldn't be so anxious about the test too. "I'm going to call Kayla and see if she has any news."
"I still don't see how you can consider that jerk family. He doesn't deserve to have you in his life." Shawn grabbed a pillow gripping it in his hands trying to control his anger.
"Shawn can we just drop this for now? Why don't we wait to see what happens before you write my brother off for good." Hope grabbed her cell and went into the kitchen to call Kayla. "Hey Kay it's Hope. Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you heard anything yet?""Hope I know how anxious you are to have the results. I'm doing everything I can to get them for you. It won't be much longer. I promise. I'll call you as soon as I hear anything." Kayla told her.
"Maybe I should come down there and wait for them." Hope thought the sooner this was over the better.
"Hope I'll call as soon as I get them. Don't worry so much. Everything will be fine." Kayla tried to reassure her, but Hope had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She felt even when Dougie knew the truth, it would still be far from over. She went back to the living room to wait for Kayla's call.
Bo burst through the front door and went over to Hope. "Is there any news yet?"
"No. Kayla said she'd call as soon as she got the results." Hope went into Bo's embrace. "I hope we hear something soon.""You're not having any doubts are you?" Bo pulled her slightly away from him looking at her questioningly.
"Of course I don't. I just want this to be over with so we can all breathe a little easier." Hope pulled Bo closer to her. "I want our lives to go back to normal again." Hope jumped when she heard the phone ring. "Hello?" She yelled into the phone as she picked it up."Hope I have the results. Zack is 99.9% yours and Bo's. I wanted you to be the first to know. I'm going to call Dougie now." "Thanks Kay." Hope hung up the phone and turned to Bo with a smile. "She's calling Dougie to tell him the news.""I told you everything would work out just fine. See, we have nothing to worry about." Bo hugged her. "Come here Tiny Man." Bo called to Zack. "Guess what?"
Zack ran to his father. "What Daddy?"
"You're home. No one can ever take you away." Bo hugged his son feeling a sense of relief. Dougie couldn't do anything to come between his family again.
The celebration was to be short lived. After hearing the news that he was a 47.1% match, Dougie called his lawyers and pressed forward with the custody battle. "There's obviously a slight chance he could be mine and I want him back. I have legal custody of him. How soon can I get an injunction to return him to me?" He asked his lawyer. Kayla had explained to him since he and Hope were biological sister and brother, he would have a biological match to Zack because he was his uncle but not his father. Dougie didn't want to hear anything after he learned there was a slight match. He wanted his son back. He was all he had left in his life now.