A whole two weeks had gone by since Sully had his meeting with the lawyer and social worker in regard to his options about Zac. To his surprise, he'd still heard nothing from Miss Ilsa or Hank. He was glad that the adoption hadn't been questioned, but that didn't change the fact that he felt like he was on pins and needles all the time. Every time someone he didn't recognize came to the ranch, especially if they were in a suit, made him fear that he was about to be served court papers. Yet, day after day, it didn't happen. Each new person that came to the ranch was just making a business inquiry.
In order to keep his mind off things when he wasn't working, he spent his time painting Michaela's office building while her nurses and office assistants redecorated. When she first moved to town and started working in the office, the walls were a shade of yellowish beige. She wanted the walls freshened up and changed to a cooler light gray. Sully lovingly obliged and painted every room in her space.
She was given her new keys on Friday the thirteenth. A day that is generally thought to be unlucky turned out to be a very lucky day for his girlfriend. Not only did she get her office back early, but she also found out that the hospital administration was willing to amicably allow her out of her contract with them. They agreed to do so as long as she worked until the last day of January so they could finish out the payroll for the month without any complications.
Michaela told him that she suspected that the administration was being so kind because they were making cutbacks all over the place. She was glad that they were able to cut her salary a few weeks early, rather than having to layoff multiple lower paid employees that might not have another job ready and available. Sully didn't care what the reason was, he was happy and relieved that in a week, her life of working the graveyard shift was over.
Sully knew that she was an adult woman. She was very responsible and smart, but his protective nature wanted her home, safe and in bed by a reasonable hour. It wasn't just that, however. They'd now been dating for three months, but they really hadn't been on many dates. They'd consummated their relationship. They'd spent time together, and they did have little dates that they squeezed in at odd times of the day, but they hadn't been on a classic dinner-and-a-movie date, on a Friday night, once. Sully felt that it would be nice to do that with her sometime.
Earlier that morning, after Sully dropped his children off at school, he'd gotten on a horse to help out Olive. They collaborated in an effort to push his cattle to the South side of the ranch. One of the ways that he'd learned to make money over the years was by renting out the North side of his field to other ranchers with larger herds than he had. Being a cattle rancher didn't always turn a good profit, but being a landowner usually did. This time he rented it out to someone from Northern Montana. The man had a lot of cattle, but he didn't have enough land to hold them all.
Once Sully was done helping Olive and the cowboys move his cattle, he went home and took a shower to get the sweat and dirt off of his body. Afterwards, he stretched out on his sectional sofa and shut his eyes to decompress for a few moments. He wanted to relax because he'd had an extra hard workout that morning, and because he'd been having strenuous mental workouts since Christmas.
As he was resting on his couch with his eyes shut, he tried to get comfortable, but somehow, he smashed his face into one of the couch cushions. He kept trying to move his face, but he couldn't. The strangest part about this was that it didn't even feel like a real cushion after a while. It was suddenly warm and a little hard. He kept trying to move his face away from the cushion, but all he did was squish his nose against it.
"Darling," he heard Michaela say with a giggle. Then he felt the palm of her warm hand on his cheek, "Wake-up, Sleepyhead, I think you're dreaming. All good dreams, I hope."
Sully rolled onto his back and looked up. He saw Michaela's smiling face looking down at him.
Michaela caressed his cheek, running her fingers through his stubble, and said, "That's much better. I knew you were dreaming, you kept rubbing your nose against my belly."
Her belly?
Sully sat up. He wasn't in the bungalow living room on his sectional sofa, he was somewhere else entirely. That was not a couch cushion that his face was smashed against, it was Michaela's stomach. She was pregnant, and very pregnant at that. She looked like she could go into labor at any time. He looked around the room and realized what was going on, and he knew he was dreaming.
It had been a while since the spirits sent him another vision. He'd been wondering if he was going to be sent another vision of the future because he hadn't dreamed about Michaela lately. Now that he was in the middle of one, his goal was the same as it was before, to find out the purpose of these visions.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she answered, "While you were asleep, I looked up more baby names. Our new little one is going to be here in a month."
He knew where he was, which was their home in the future. Now he wanted to know when he was. He'd seen her pregnant before. In his last vision/dream, the baby had been born and was a few months old. After that, he had more of a premonition and saw a toddler little girl that he had assumed was the baby that Michaela had carried and given birth to. Did the spirits send him backwards in time to that first pregnancy, or was this a whole new pregnancy?
"Since I feel a lot like I did when I was pregnant with Brian, I still think we're having a boy," Michaela told him, and then started to giggle, "However, Hanna and ***** are both girls, so your female Olympians may be faster swimmers."
"What?" Sully questioned.
"I was talking about your sperm cells, Sweetheart," Michaela explained, smiling at him.
"I understood that part," Sully informed her, and couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "I didn't catch the first part."
"I feel the way that I did when I was pregnant with Brian," she stated clearly.
"After that," he said.
"Hanna and ***** are both girls," she repeated for him.
"I got it now," he explained. The good news was, he figured out that this was a whole new pregnancy for Michaela, the bad news was that these visions were never complete, especially when it came to the children that hadn't been born yet, during their present time period. He hadn't ever been able to see his child's face once during these visions. Now he couldn't hear her name. That could mean that the future can always change if they go down a different path, but he wasn't sure.
"I think we should be prepared for both options," Michaela told him, holding up an iPad, "We already named ***** after both of our mothers…"
That information narrowed down the possible names of his daughter quite a bit for him, Sully thought to himself.
"... and you honored Snowbird with Hanna Aponi Lomasi," she said.
"Right," Sully said with a nod.
"You know that I want to name a child for my father," she stated as if she was trying to get clarification from him that he understood.
"Sure," Sully said. He actually didn't know that, because she hadn't told him that yet.
"I thought the middle name could be either Josef or Josefine," she told him.
"That's fine with me," he said with a shrug. He didn't see anything wrong with Josef or Josefine.
"I thought of something special for the first name," Michaela explained, "I wanted to do something to honor your family for the first name, but you've already vetoed all of those names. So, I decided to come up with a new name that begins with the letter B, like Byron, Brecken, and Bradford. This name will work for either a boy or a girl."
"Go on," Sully said warily. As a general rule, he was not fond of unisex names.
"Bliss!" Michaela cheered, "It will work for a boy or a girl. The name means perfect happiness! That's what our baby is. Perfect Happiness!"
Sully felt like his face had to be contorting. He loved Michaela dearly, but he was not about to name a child of his, Bliss, especially if it was a boy. At the very least, he believed he figured out why he was having this vision. It was to save his child, boy or girl, from years of ridicule.
"Darlin'," Sully said gently, not wanting to hurt her feelings, "...um... well...that's very sweet, but–"
"You hate it, don't you?" Michaela questioned, becoming angry.
"Hate isn't the right word," Sully tried to explain, "Dislike is a better word–"
"Dislike is a better word?" Michaela, clearly irate, began to interrogate him, "BETTER! Are you implying that my word choice isn't good enough for you? "
"What?" Sully questioned, not certain what was going on, but believed he was dealing with the emotional effects of pregnancy, "Honey, I think you need to calm down."
"CALM DOWN?" she screeched, standing up from her spot on the couch, "First you say that I'm not smart enough to string together a simple sentence! Now you are telling me, your poor inarticulate wife, to calm down!"
"Sweetheart–" Sully said softly, trying to approach her.
"DON'T YOU SWEETHEART ME!" she screamed, "All I was trying to do was find a good name…" Michaela's voice then went from angry to weepy, "and my husband said he hated it…" Then she burst into tears and started sobbing.
Yes, her hormones were acting up, Sully concluded in his head. His Cheyenne father would have said that he stuck his hand into a hornet's nest that was hidden, "I didn't say I hated it," Sully attempted to placate his poor wife. He took her into his arms. He held her and then braced himself for the possible backlash he could receive by telling her the truth, "I just don't think that's the best name for our child."
"Sully," she bawled into his chest, "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I love you so much, and I don't deserve you!"
"Shh," he tried to comfort her, "Hush now. I love you; you know that."
"How can you love me like this?" Michaela asked, calming down, but still sniffling, "My emotions have never been this out of control."
"I'm gonna love you forever," Sully said, chuckling when his words made him think of a pretty famous Randy Jackson song. He didn't sing, but he began to recite the lyrics to her, "Forever and ever amen. As long as old men sit and talk about the weather. As long as old women sit and talk about old men," He held her close and placed his lips close to her ear. He started to pick up a little bit of the melody and he finished the song's chorus, "If you wonder how long I'll be faithful, I'll be happy to tell you again, I'm gonna love you forever and ever, forever and ever, amen."
Sully opened his eyes. He was still in his living room and on his sectional sofa. He had to admit, he was happy that he'd been invited back into their dreamworld future. Though he still didn't know what the big picture meaning of these dreams was, he did learn about a detail that he had to be prepared for. He was going to start making a list of baby names right now that he could share with Michaela in the future.
Zachary was walking to his fourth period class. On the way there, he had to leave one school building and travel outside along a concrete path to a second school building. The concrete path that he walked on happened to be right next to the faculty parking lot.
"Zac," he heard someone call as he walked. He turned and saw a black SUV drive up to him, stopping parallel next to where he was walking.
"Nana?" Zachary questioned, wondering what she was doing there.
"You like new car?" She asked him, "I trade in old one."
"Yeah, it's nice," Zachary answered with a shrug, he really didn't care about her car.
"You must come with me," Ilsa said, quickly stating the purpose for her randomly showing up at his school. She was trying to pick him up from school and take him somewhere.
Zachary's gut instinct told him that he better not go anywhere with his great-grandmother, "I'm sorry, Nana, but I have to go to class."
"Class more important than sister?" she questioned.
"What's wrong with my sister?" Zachary asked. If Hanna was hurt or in trouble, he wanted to know about it.
"She sick," the old woman explained.
"Sick?" he questioned. Hanna was just fine that morning. She was her happy self, jabbering about what she was going to do in school that day. She was going to go to circle time and sing songs, then she was going to practice counting, then she was going to play with Brian, and so on.
"Yes, she sick," Ilsa insisted, "She have bad cough and she need you."
Zachary stood there not knowing what to do next. He tried to reason this out in his eleven-year-old mind. First of all, if Hanna was sick, how would his nana even know about it? She was not someone that his father typically called. Grandma Snowbird was the one who usually handled sick days. Why would his father call Nana this time instead of his own mother? Then again, if Hanna really was sick and she did need him, he would never forgive himself for not being there to help take care of her.
"My sister is really sick?" he questioned, expecting the truth from his great-grandmother.
"Yes," his great-grandmother told him again, "She sick and she need you. Come, I take you to her."
Zachary didn't think this was a good idea. His brain was telling him that he shouldn't go with her, but his heart was telling him that if Hanna needed him, that he had to be there for her. He decided to listen to his heart. He sighed and got into the SUV with Ilsa.
Sully sat at his kitchen table sketching out the details of the home he'd seen so many times in his dreams. It was a large craftsman style house built with natural wooden planks. They must have decided, or will decide, Sully wasn't sure of anything when it came to these visions, to keep the natural wood color instead of painting the house in another color. It almost looked like a gigantic log cabin, but the planks were flat. The earmarks of what made the house craftsman style, in Sully's opinion, was the exterior window valances and roof trim. Those were painted in a crisp white. Sully assumed that was probably a compromise they agreed on, because if it were up to him alone, he would have left the whole house in the natural wood color.
Before making real blueprints, Sully always sketched out his finished product on a sketch pad. He did that so he could see a clear picture of what he was working towards. He'd made several general sketches of the house already, but he had yet to create a sketch that made him feel like he was done and could move on to blueprints. There were still details he had to hammer out in his mind first.
As he was trying to get the house right, he also had a legal pad next to him. Sully generally used legal pads to jot down notes when he took business calls. This time, however, he was using the legal pad to jot down baby names that he liked. His mind often drifted when he was sketching, so if he thought of a good name, he wanted to record it. He wanted to think up several names that he liked or could at least live with, and eventually, he could present a full list to Michaela when they were ready to make a baby. He was exclusively thinking about boys' names at the moment.
The first name that he wrote down was Josef, figuring that was likely a must. Then he added just a few names that he thought were nice, and above all, reasonable. So far, he'd come up with Jack, John, Sean, Christian, Kristopher, and William.
Returning to his drawing pad, Sully began sketching out the large brick fireplace that could be seen from the exterior left side of the house. That thing was a monster, it was so huge. He figured that he was going to need a lot of help putting that thing up. Sure, he could hire workers to help him, and he planned to do that, but he trusted his brother, Daniel, the most when it came to building features like that large fireplace.
Sully stopped his sketching and sighed. He hadn't spoken to Daniel since before Christmas. Snowbird kept trying to get Sully to call him, so they could make-up, but in Sully's mind, it was Daniel that needed to make amends. Snowbird said she understood that but warned him not to let this argument between them go on for too long. Daniel was in the wrong, but as he well knew, their lives could change in an instant and without a moment's notice.
Pushing his thoughts of Daniel away, Sully started jotting down names onto his girls' list. He knew that his mother's name, Kathleen, and her mother's name, Elizabeth, were musts. Under Kathleen, he wrote down a few alternatives such as Katherine, Katie, and just Kate. He thought it was a good idea to write down Josefine as well. Holding his pencil up and rubbing the eraser against his bottom lip, he thought of other names to add. He casually wrote down Jennifer, Alexandra, McKenzie, and Megan.
Nodding at his list, he then returned to his sketch. Another prominent feature that he'd noticed was the front door. It had a large oval window with a delicate looking design, and there was a mix of beveled and textured glass. He figured that that particular door window choice was another one of her touches. He'd never designed a home with a window in the front door before, but his personal choice would likely be different. He would still choose textured glass for privacy, but he could see himself adding more straight lines. Additionally, he would have chosen a rectangular shape, rather than an oval.
As Sully was drawing, his cell phone rang next to him.
Sully scoffed when he saw who was calling. It was the Christian Academy, and he wondered which teacher his son had mouthed off to. Zachary hadn't mouthed off in a long time. Actually, he hadn't mouthed off to anyone since he'd been enrolled at his new school, but Sully was used to getting calls from teachers and principals about his son's behavior, "Hello." he answered by turning on the speaker phone on his cell.
"Hello, this is Mrs. Baker, calling from the Evangelical Christian Academy. I am looking for Mr. Byron Sully, the father of Zachary Sully," the school secretary announced from the opposite line on the phone.
"Speakin'," Sully said as he continued working on his sketch.
"Mr. Sully," she began, "Did you pick up your son from school without checking him out through the front office?"
"No, Ma'am," Sully answered. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and he could feel a pit forming in his stomach. He dropped his pencil and sat up straight.
"Oh dear," Mrs. Baker said. The purpose of her call was to go over proper check-out protocol and now she didn't know what to do.
"Oh dear?" Sully echoed, now becoming frantic. When he heard nothing on the other end of the phone, his heart started racing, "Are ya sayin' that ya can't find my son? HELLO!"
"Mr. Sully, this is Mrs. Peterson, the assistant headmaster at the Evangelical Christian Academy," a new woman announced on the other side of the phone.
"Yes, Ma'am," Sully answered, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Mr. Sully, I'm afraid that Zachary never showed up to his fourth period class," Mrs. Peterson explained, "We did an all-call for him three times, and asked him to report to the front office, but he never came. We found him on our security camera's footage, and we saw him getting into someone's vehicle. We initially assumed it was your vehicle."
"Well, IT AIN'T!" Sully yelled, panicked and irate "Don't ya have security? A school resource officer?" He was standing now, and his chest was heaving, he was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"Sir," the woman said in a stern and steady voice, "Please try to remain calm."
"You lost my kid, and you are telling me to REMAIN CALM?" Sully yelled. Then he took a deep breath. He had to find out what this woman knew. Finding Zachary was now the most important thing on his mind. With a calmer voice, he asked, "What kind of car was it?"
"On the camera, we can see that it was a black SUV," the woman explained, "We could also see that it was a Ford."
A black Ford SUV really didn't narrow down the possible choices for Sully. What year? What make? What was the license plate number? The school likely had no idea.
"I don't know if this makes the situation better or worse, but from the footage, we can see that Zachary willingly got into this person's vehicle. The person didn't even leave their car. That was why we thought it was you." Mrs. Peterson reported.
Sully didn't know anyone who had a Ford, except his old friend, Jake Slicker, but Jake owned a vintage red Mustang. A car like that could never be mistaken for a black SUV. Sully hadn't spoken to Jake in years. The last time he saw him was when he asked him to give Zachary a buzz cut to get rid of the lice that the boy had picked up at school.
Thinking about his old friend made him remember that Jake was a friend that both he and Hank had in common. Did Hank buy himself a black SUV? It was possible, but the woman said that Zachary willingly got into the car. Zachary was afraid of Hank. If Hank had dared to show up, Zachary would have run the other way. Sully honestly didn't think it was Hank.
After a few minutes of silence, the assistant headmaster spoke, "Sir, you are welcome to come to the school and view the camera footage yourself."
"Yes, I'll do that," Sully answered, wanting to see the footage for himself. He thought he would have a better chance of figuring out what was happening if he could see the video for himself.
"Would you like us to call the police?" she asked.
"Yes," Sully said. Then he hung up the phone and immediately prepared to go to the school.
Ilsa parked in front of a house that Zachary had never seen before, leaving him wondering why Hanna would be in there.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"At my house," Ilsa said, gesturing to her old tract home that was built in the '70s, and smiling. The house was a sturdy home that was made of red brick, but it was in desperate need of a new roof. It looked almost identical to all of the other houses in the neighborhood, but most of the other houses did have new roofs.
"My sister is in your house?" he questioned, finding that very odd, "You drove her here?"
"Yes," she answered.
Why would his father have allowed this? His great-grandmother didn't even have a car seat. He'd never driven a car himself, but he could tell that Ilsa was a bad driver. She drove so slowly that people were passing on both sides of her car to get around her. Sometimes she swerved into the wrong lane and into oncoming traffic. He watched quite a few cars swerve to get out of the way, and then he heard them honk.
The young boy shook his head and followed her inside the house. Once they were inside, Zachary started coughing. The house reeked of cigarette smoke and cat pee. He was going to give his father a piece of his mind when he got home. How could he let Hanna inside that house? What was he thinking?
Zachary looked around and he didn't see Hanna, but he did see that little girl, Mia, that he'd met on Christmas. She was sitting in the middle of a dated couch that had floral upholstery and she was petting a fat old cat. Around her were several throw pillows that had different colored crocheted designs on them. The couch itself had rips down the sides of its cloth covered arms. That told Zachary that the cat, who was currently purring very loudly while Mia was petting it, obviously wasn't trained, and had sharpened its claws on his great-grandmother's couch.
"Are there any other adults here?" Zachary asked. He thought his father had lost his mind for allowing Hanna to go there in the first place, but he was sure that Sully would still be pretty angry if he found out that Hanna had been left alone with just a six-year-old babysitter. He would probably get mad if he learned that Mia was left home alone too.
"No, just Mia," Ilsa told him.
Zachary was glad he got there when he did, "Where's Hanna?" he asked her next.
"How I know where Hanna is?" she responded, sounding a little upset that Zachary asked about her.
"You mean, she's not here?" Zachary questioned, feeling tricked.
"Why Hanna be here?" Ilsa asked in return, as if she didn't know what he was talking about.
"You lied to me!" The young boy accused, pointing at Ilsa.
"I not lie," Ilsa said, her eyes darkening.
"You said Hanna was sick and you were taking me to her! That was a big lie!" Zachary insisted, raising his voice.
"I say sister!" Ilsa argued, not liking being called a liar, "I say sister sick and have cough. Mia is sister and she have cough. I take you to her. She need help too. Whole world not revolve around Hanna!"
"Are you sick?" Zachary asked Mia, he was growing exhausted from arguing with his great-grandmother. Zachary felt that she knew exactly what she did, and she deliberately deceived him. He barely knew Mia, so by using the words "your sister" he would naturally think of Hanna first, and she knew it. Moreover, he didn't know if Mia was his sister or not. Nana said she was his sister, but his father said that may not be true. Whoever she was, Zachary knew in his heart that she deserved more than what she was living in, an old stinky house. Sizing up her appearance, he could see that she was wearing mismatched clothes and the same worn-out shoes that she was wearing at Christmas, and it made him feel very sad.
"No," Mia said in a small, shy voice, "I started coughing because Smelly was smoking this morning."
"Mia!" Ilsa scolded, "No call Daddy Smelly!"
"But he is smelly, Nana," The little girl insisted and then started giggling when she saw a smile form on Zachary's face.
"It no funny," Ilsa scolded them both for laughing.
"Why can't you make him smoke outside?" Mia complained, and Zachary could see her shyness melting away, "When I go to school, I'm all smelly too, and the other kids are starting to talk."
Zachary cringed. He remembered what it was like living with Hank. He didn't remember Hank's personality so much, but the young boy couldn't forget how Hank and his mother used to fight. He wondered if he used to go to school smelling like cigarette smoke too. Zachary couldn't remember that part. Nevertheless, he was feeling a kinship forming with Mia.
Sully arrived at his son's school as fast as he could and viewed the security footage. He saw his son get into a strange vehicle, but he couldn't make out the driver. He could tell that it was a black Ford Explorer that his son got into.
Now he was talking with local law enforcement. He was being questioned by two officers. Sully was so worried about Zachary, that he couldn't remember their names. He was certain that they'd introduced themselves though.
"Have you and your son argued about anything lately?" the first and more senior officer asked.
"No, Sir," Sully answered.
"Do you have any enemies that may want to hurt you?" he continued to question, taking a few notes on a small notepad as he did so.
"Not that I know of," Sully replied.
"Has anything out of the ordinary happened recently?" the second officer inquired.
"His biological father was just released from jail. He's on parole," Sully informed them, "That's been hard on us. His biological grandmother insists that my son should go live with that man, his name is Hank Lawson, but Zachary doesn't want to. Knowin' Zac's wishes hasn't stopped his grandmother from tryin' to talk him into it. On Christmas she surprised us by bringin' a little girl over that she said was Zac's sister. Zac and I didn't know anything about this child."
The two officers looked at each other; both rolling their eyes.
"We hear a lot of things in our line of work," the second officer said, "Unfortunately, we hear, all the time, about children being used by adults to do their dirty work."
"We better put an APB out for the biological father and his mother, along with a description of the boy," the first officer told his partner.
"It's actually the biological father's grandmother," Sully corrected him, "She's my son's great-grandmother, but I don't think that it's them. Hank drives a Harley and Zachary wouldn't just go with him, he's afraid of him."
"Would he just go with his great-grandmother?" asked the first officer.
"He ain't afraid of her," Sully explained, "but she drives…I don't know what she drives exactly, but it's a beat-up white minivan, not a black SUV."
"They could have sent someone else to pick up the boy," the second officer suggested.
"Zachary wouldn't go with a complete stranger willingly," Sully insisted, "I don't know if I would label it as being street smart or not, but he's aware of the world around him."
"Can you think of anyone else who would want to kidnap your boy?" The second officer inquired, and when Sully remained silent, he told him a few more things, "Mr. Sully, children are easily manipulated and exploited, despite how street smart they are. If the biological father or great-grandmother used the right words, either one could've persuaded him to get in the vehicle. We can't hear what's going on, but we know he conversed with the driver before he got into the SUV. What if the driver threatened your life if he didn't go with them? The driver could've told your son anything."
Sully exhaled loudly. He hadn't thought about it that way and was now feeling even more hopeless and scared, "No, I don't know of anyone else that would want to kidnap my son."
"We will put out an APB on everyone that could be involved," the first officer said, "That includes the biological father, the great-grandmother, and your son. Mr. Sully, you must return home and stay there just in case they decide to drop your son off or attempt to contact you."
"I have to pick-up my daughter from school," Sully informed them. He could have asked someone else to do that for him, but in light of what was happening, he felt he needed to do it himself. He had to know that Hanna was safe.
"You will need to pick her up and then go straight home and stay there," The first officer said, "Please keep your phone on and near you at all times. Does your son have a cell phone? We can track him using that, if he has it with him and it's turned on."
"No," Sully answered. Zachary didn't have one, but he was probably going to buy him one after this.
"We need the names of the possible suspects. The biological father is on parole, so we can find him in our database. We will be able to look up the grandmother's driver's license photo and description in the DMV database," The first officer informed Sully.
"Hans Lawson," Sully said, "He goes by Hank, but his name is Hans. Ilsa Lawson is the name of his grandmother."
"Go straight home after you've picked up your daughter," the second officer directed him. He wrote down two phone numbers on his pad of paper and then ripped out the sheet, he'd just written on, and handed it to Sully, "These are our cell phone numbers. Call at least one of us as soon as you arrive home. Keep us updated on any changes, and we will do the same."
"Yes, Sir," Sully said, accepting the piece of paper, "If he's been kidnapped, is it truly possible for the kidnapper to change his mind and drop him off at home?"
"It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes they do," the second officer replied, "They get an attack of conscience, or they may fear the consequences and decide that it's just not worth it. The biological father is on parole. If he did this, he's goin' right back to jail. You can press charges against him, and he could get life in prison without any possibility of parole in the future. If this was him, that's a huge risk to take."
"Okay," Sully answered, "Thank you."
Hank walked into his grandmother's house and took a seat on the couch. He was going to light up a cigarette, but then he looked up and saw both Zachary and Mia staring at him.
"Oh, jeez! What the hell is this?" Hank questioned aloud. Then he let out a loud yell and brought down his closed fist hard on the coffee table in front of him. The loud sound made both Mia and Zachary jump, and made Ilsa, who'd been in the kitchen, come back to the living room to see what was going on. When Hank saw his grandmother, he immediately asked, "Are ya tryin' to send me back to jail?"
"Why you think that?" Ilsa asked, feeling hurt.
"Nana," Hank said with a sigh, "How many times do I have to explain this to ya? We can't just take Zac," then he gestured to Mia, "and why isn't this little pain in the ass in school?"
"She have cough!" Ilsa argued.
"She ain't coughin' right now, so it ain't that bad!" Hank growled, "You know they're gonna throw me back in jail for kidnappin' right?"
"How you go to jail for kidnapping?" Ilsa questioned, "He your son!"
"Not legally," Hank insisted as he looked at Zachary and shook his head, "and if they don't get me for the kidnappin', they'll get me for the truancy!"
"Mia your daughter," Ilsa said, "But I guardian. You not get in trouble for truancy."
Hank was going to answer that he didn't want her to get in trouble for truancy either, but decided it was a waste of time. Hank looked in Mia's direction and the little girl stuck her tongue out at him. Hank then picked up one of his grandmother's crocheted throw pillows and chucked it hard across the room, hitting the little girl in the face, and causing his grandmother to gasp.
Zachary was stunned and about to come to her defense, but he didn't have to. Mia yelled at him first, "I don't want you! You're mean and stupid and smelly!"
"Mia," Ilsa scolded.
"Well, that's just too damn bad, ain't it?" Hank mocked, "I'm all YA GOT, little girl!"
"What's your problem?" Zachary questioned, getting Hank's attention, "My dad wouldn't talk to a little kid like that."
"Oh yes he would," Hank countered, his voice both annoyed and sarcastic, "'Cause I'm your dad and that's how I talk to pain in the ass, smartass, little kids!"
Zachary didn't reply, he just looked down.
"That's right, Zachary HANS LAWSON! Your mama named ya after me, 'cause I'M YOUR DAD!" Hank taunted, "It's MY BLOOD goin' through your veins, NOT SULLY'S!"
Zachary still didn't respond. He continued to stand there looking down.
Hank leaned back on the sofa seething and watched how little Mia walked over to Zachary and hugged him. Then she looked at Hank again and stuck her tongue out at him for a second time. Instead of getting angry and finding something else to throw at the child, he started laughing, "You protectin' him? So, you ain't scared of nothin' or you just ain't scared of me?"
Mia didn't know how to respond, she just held on to Zachary and said, "You're mean and stupid–"
"And I'm smelly. Got it!" Hank finished her sentence. Then he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, selected one, and lit it up, "Zac, Son, you don't gotta be afraid of me. Mia ain't scared of me. She tells me every day what she thinks of me, she's constantly breakin' my balls, and I haven't killed her yet." Then he looked at the little girl, "Where in the hell did you learn to be such a nag? Your mama never nagged me the way you do."
Zachary remained silent, but hugged Mia back. Mia said nothing but stuck her tongue out at Hank a third time.
"What are ya afraid of, Zac?" Hank asked, ignoring Mia, and taking a few puffs of his cigarette and blowing the smoke out of his mouth and nose, "I was pissed off when I saw ya at the cemetery. I wasn't pissed at you, Son, I was pissed at me–"
"Hans!" Ilsa interrupted, "Use better words."
Hank growled and then continued, "I was mad at the cemetery because I never got to make things right with Mommy. I don't know what she told ya 'bout me before she died, but I loved her very much. I wasn't the best husband in the world, but my heart was hers. You don't need to be scared of me."
"I wanna live with my dad and with Hanna," Zachary finally said, but still avoided eye contact.
"He's NOT…" Hank said and then stopped. There was no point in saying again that Sully wasn't his father. If he was going to get anywhere with Zachary, then he needed to change his approach. He took another puff of his cigarette and continued talking, "He's been good to ya, hasn't he? I guess I should be grateful. I seen pictures of your little sister; Nana showed me...um... She's a pretty little girl. I can see Mommy in her. Is she a pain in the a…um…butt… like the one that's huggin' ya?"
"She's going through the terrible twos!" Zachary explained, a smile forming on his face. He was able to let down his walls and tell Hank all about Hanna, "She's sweet, though. She loves dolls, animals, and coloring. Sometimes she likes to sit next to me and watch me draw or play video games."
"She must love ya," Hank responded, and it was clear to him that Zachary loved her too. Nana had told him that he loved his little sister very much, and it was true. Then Hank thought for a moment; Mia could benefit from that kind of love too. He pushed that thought aside, however, and then made the point that he wanted to get across to Zachary, "I ain't gonna take ya away from your perfect life. Even if I wanted to, I can't. Someday, I wanna tell ya what happened. I want you to know what happened between your mom and me. I think you're a little too young to hear it right now."
"Can I go home?" Zachary requested.
"Yeah," Hank said, "I'll take ya home. I think we better make that happen soon before the cops show up."
Sully sat on his front porch with his phone in his hands. All he did when he left Zachary's school was pick-up Hanna early and go straight home. His stomach was in knots, and he sat there feeling so helpless. He hadn't called anyone yet, not even Michaela. She was still working nights, and he didn't want to worry her. Unfortunately, she was the only person he felt comfortable talking to about this situation, at least right now. He couldn't tell anyone other than Michaela, because any of the people that he could see himself reaching out to for comfort, would likely call and tell Loren, including his mother. Snowbird and his father-in-law weren't exactly best friends, but Sully could see her calling him if she got angry enough. He wasn't ready for Loren to know yet. If he found out that Zachary was missing, he was liable to find Hank and shoot him without actually knowing, for sure, what happened first.
Where was Zachary? Who was he with? Why would he get into that person's car? Was he alive?
Don't think like that! Sully inwardly scolded himself. He couldn't fathom Zachary not being alive. He didn't need to have that thought in his head unless he had a reason to think it. Right now, there was no reason for that.
He watched Hanna as she was singing to herself and drawing with sidewalk chalk on the concrete path that stretched the distance between his porch to where he parked his truck. It was winter and cold so she needed long sleeves, but it was warm enough for her to be outside without gloves on, so she could draw with chalk. He envied his daughter right then. She was oblivious to the danger that Zachary was in, and at the exact same moment, his nerves were eating him up inside. He wished he could be as carefree as his little girl was as she sang and scribbled away. His heart and insides needed a break, even if it were only for five minutes or so.
"Dad!" Sully heard Zachary's voice calling from afar. Sully initially believed he'd heard his son's voice in his head, but then Hanna reacted.
"Zac-we! Zac-we!" The little girl stood up, leaving her artwork behind, and cheered.
"Zachary!" Sully shouted and then he saw the boy walking toward him. Sully's body was flooded with a sense of relief. He wanted to run to him and pull him into the biggest hug he'd ever given him, but Hanna beat him to it.
"Zac Zac!" Hanna dropped her chalk and hugged her older brother.
"Hi, Hanna," Zachary answered and hugged her back.
Sully said nothing, but he approached the two children and bear-hugged them both. Then Sully soon had to get back to business. He got on the phone and called the school and informed the assistant headmaster that Zachary was found. Then he called the police and informed them as well.
Once he was done with his phone calls, he turned to Zachary. He wanted to yell, scream and interrogate him about why he got into a stranger's car. Most importantly, Sully wanted to get to the bottom of what exactly had happened that day. Yet, when his attention was focused on his young son again, and it hit him that Zac was safe, Sully couldn't help himself, he threw his arms around him for a second time. He was so relieved that the boy was home and there didn't appear to be a scratch on him.
"What happened today?" Sully finally asked.
"It's kind of a long story, Dad," Zachary said. He wanted to tell his father everything, eventually, but he'd been through a lot of emotional turmoil that day and he wanted a nap.
"You better give me the short version then!" Sully demanded to know. He didn't know what Zachary meant by his statement, but Sully was having none of it. Zachary telling him that it's a long story was not going to suffice. Not after he'd been so worried and sick to his stomach. Not after Zachary had done something so dangerous, "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I had the police lookin' for ya! You know better than the go anywhere without tellin' me first. What were ya doin'?"
"It ain't his fault," Hank said, getting Sully's attention for the first time since he'd arrived.
Sully said nothing, but anger washed over him as soon as he saw Hank. Right behind Hank, was that little girl that Miss Ilsa brought over on Christmas, Mia.
"My grandmother tricked him," Hank informed him, "Zachary was actually lookin' out for your pretty little princess," Then Hank reached out and patted Hanna's head.
Sully composed himself, he wanted to break the hand that just touched his daughter's head, but he couldn't. Well, he supposed he could, but not in front of the children.
"Son," Sully said, "Take your sister inside. Take Mia in too and show her around."
"Hanna," Zachary said in response, then he took hold of her hand and motioned for Mia to follow him.
"I'm gonna kill you," Sully told Hank as soon as the children were in the house and the door was shut behind them, "I am gonna tear you apart with my bare hands!"
"Fine," Hank said with a shrug, "But before I die, you might be interested in what I have to say."
To be continued. Please review =)
I hope you enjoyed the description of the house. I tried to come up with a modern design that also kept the important features from their house on the show.