Oakdale, Illinois, Snyder Farm, 2019
Leo had experienced some pretty strange dreams before, but this one took the cake!
He felt disconnected somehow, as if he was floating above his body; suspended in a thick sticky liquid. He was immobilized, too. The more he tried to move the more his head and side hurt.
It was so much easier to just stay still.
Time seemed endless and deep. He knew he'd been this way for a while. There were always people around him. He sensed their presence; heard their whispers. He supposed he should fear them, but oddly he didn't. He was reassured by them. They smelt like…
"Pop?" he hopefully asked. But he knew that was crazy because... He tried to remember; suffered the burn through the neurons in his brain screaming at him to calm and rest. His eyes flew open and he gasped for breath.
I'm alone!
Completely disoriented, he sat up in a large king-sized bed. It was softer than any bed he'd ever known; with comfortable feather pillows and a brightly-colored quilt. The room was simply furnished with antique wooden cupboards and drawers. A framed cross-stitched sampler on the wall opposite the bed read, 'Home is where the heart is'.
The floral drapes over the windows were drawn with the sun sneaking in a few rays through the gaps. Leo could tell it was morning. He could hear birds singing; chickens clucking; and, occasionally, the excited neighing and puff of a horse.
I remember.
He must have passed out on the ride to the farm. The last thing he remembered was watching endless fields of corn pass by, as Holden's truck drove them out of the town. Now he was bathed and dressed in freshly laundered Star Wars pajamas that smelt like jasmine.
He groaned with both embarrassment and irritation.
Way to make an ass of yourself!
A shuffling startled Leo from his thoughts and he glanced to the right. A boy around his age sat frozen in an armchair in the corner. In one hand, he held an opened paperback; his hazel eyes were fixed with interest on Leo.
"Hi," the boy shyly greeted; still without moving.
Leo relaxed. "Hi."
"Sorry," the boy apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you or… I mean… You woke so fast, I didn't know what to say."
A strip of light brown hair fell across one of the boy's eyes and the gap between them furrowed in a way that made Leo's heart sour in its familiarity. "Are you Ethan?"
When the boy smiled, he knew for sure. Ethan had the same dimples as his pop. "Yeah!"
Both boys happily laughed.
"Hi, Ethan," Leo said. "I'm Leo."
"I know. My dad told me. It's nice to meet you."
A nervous Leo nodded, spreading his hands over the quilt's delicate stitches; tracing the patterns with his forefinger. A silence fell between them until Leo declared, "This is pretty weird, ha?"
"Yeah," Ethan quietly agreed. "We thought they were dead, you know?"
Leo lifted his head to peer over at Ethan's hand. He wasn't ready to have that conversation so he changed the subject to fill the awkward silence. "What you reading?"
"Harry Potter."
"Oh I love those books!" he excitedly replied, glad to find something they could talk about. "I've read them all like a gazillion times. Which one you on?"
"Half Blood Prince. I'm pretty bummed about Dumbledore…"
"Yeah, I was too," Leo agreed. "But wait until you get to the last book and you'll be amazed! Seriously!"
Half an hour later, Leo had forgotten about his sore head. He was leaning up against the headboard; Ethan sprawled out comfortably at the bottom of the bed. The two of them talked and joked non-stop about books and baseball and animals.
Leo found he liked Luke's half-brother a lot. Not only was Leo put at ease by how much the other boy reminded him of Luke. But they also genuinely seemed to share a lot of common interests.
They side-stepped the issue of Leo's parents for quite some time until eventually Ethan seemed to drum up the courage he needed to ask, "Does he ever talk about me?"
It took Leo a moment to understand the question, since it come so left field during a discussion about CSI.
"Are you kidding?" Leo smiled. "Like… all the time! He's always told me stories about the farm and your family. That's how I knew who you were so quickly."
That seemed to make Ethan extra happy.
"I was angry with him for a long time," Ethan admitted. "I didn't understand… I still don't understand…"
"They didn't want to hide from you guys," Leo tried to assure Ethan. "They just… I guess they wanted to keep you safe."
Ethan nodded, staring down at his hands.
"Did you really get shot?" Ethan asked wide-eyed.
Leo nodded.
Ethan studied him for a moment and then grinned. "That's so cool, man!"
"I know! Right?" Leo agreed. "Hurts bad though! I don't recommend it!"
As they laughed, the door to the room flung open and a pretty woman stood there with her mouth agape.
"Lily!" Leo heard Holden chastise. He sounded out of breath, like he'd had to run to keep up with her. "Give the boy some time to settle in first, will you?"
But he was too late; for her eyes were already filling with tears. "You look just like him!"
Ethan rolled his eyes at his mother's dramatics and Leo couldn't help it. He grinned.
That was all the invitation she needed. Leo found himself pressed against her in a tight embrace. He could barely get any air.
He heard Holden chuckle. "Lily, let the poor boy breathe!"
She ignored her husband but pulled back to examine Leo closely, the same way his pop had done in the hospital.
Now I know where Pop gets it from!
"How are you feeling?" she asked him, holding the back of her hands to his cheek. "You feel really warm. Are you sick still?" She looked back behind her. "Meg?"
Leo realized that another woman with vibrant eyes and crazy curly dark hair had entered the room. She carried a medical aid kit with her and smiled kindly at Leo.
"Hi, Honey," she said, sitting on the bed across from Lily; and pulling a thermometer from her bag. "I'm your Aunt Meg. I'm also a registered nurse. You weren't doing too good when you arrived here last night. I had to give you a mild sedative. But you do look like you've got some color back."
"I'm fine." Leo replied, a little shell-shocked by all the attention.
Lily laughed. "Noah always used to say that! And it was never true!"
Leo smiled. "But I am. Honest!"
"That may be the case," Meg stated. "But just to be sure I'm going to stick this under your tongue, so we can check your temperature."
Leo nodded, since he couldn't speak with the cold glass balanced between his lips.
They were all watching him expectantly. He felt a little like he was on show. He blushed and shifted uncomfortably.
Holden noticed. "Hey everyone. What do you say we give Meg and Leo some room?"
"Ah, Dad!" Ethan moaned.
Holden rested his arms on Lily's shoulders; and she reached up to touch him. He looked directly at Leo. "If you feel like you're up to it… Will you join us all downstairs? I think we should talk about what's happening here."
Leo nodded.
But suddenly a young woman burst through the door; eyes like saucers. "Mom! Dad! You gotta come quick!"
She noticed Leo sitting up. Her eyes flashed over him in recognition she dismissed, when her father asked, "What is it Nat?"
She shook her head with distress. "Oh, Daddy! It's Luke!"
Leo's nerve endings tingled. "Pop?"
The thermometer slipped from his lips to the comforter but nobody cared.
"You gotta come…" Nat begged. "Quick!"
All six of them stumbled down a small narrow staircase, through a large kitchen and into a family sitting room.
Seated on the sofa was a rounded old lady with grey tips to the brown curls styled neatly upon her head. She held an embroidered handkerchief to her red nose and sniffed; her breath hitching in tiny squeaks.
Leo knew she must be his Grandma Emma. But he didn't have the time to process that relationship, because a police mug shot of Luke was on the television screen.
His pop looked so tired and alone that a broken sob escaped Leo's lips.
"…apprehended early this morning in a motel room outside St Louis. This is Dalia Smith, reporting for CNN."
Oh no!
Leo wobbled on his legs but felt an arm wrap round his chest from behind and hold him steady. He looked up at Holden Snyder and wept at the pained look he saw there.
"Where's my dad?" he asked nobody in particular.