by Tara Brent
“I know you’re not going to like this, Chrissy, but I’m taking you to a hotel. I want you to wait there while I deal with this, you hear me?”
“No, Drew, I have to be there,” I snap back at him. “Lucas needs me.”
“You’re not well and you need to rest. I’ll bring him straight back to the hotel,” Drew assures me. “It’s going to be okay, I promise you.”
I don’t feel well enough to argue with him, and resting sounds so tempting, but I want to get to my baby as quick as I can. I'm torn between the two.
“There’s nothing you can do at the trailer. I need to get the police involved and I want to be able to take Lucas away from the scene straight away. If you’re there, Paul won’t be as easy to handle. When he sees you he'll see how upset you are and that will upset him. This needs a firm hand to get him away from there. Please, Chrissy, for Lucas’s sake?”
“You promise you’ll get my boy to me the minute you have him?”
“There’s a woman in the team watching the trailer. As soon as I have Lucas, I'll send him in a car with her to the hotel. I’ll be staying on to sort this mess out. You okay with that plan?”
Again, I nod in silence. To be honest, I don’t have much fight left in me. I trust Drew and I know he’ll only do what’s best for me and my son.
Chapter 29
A Big Hole
Relieved that Chrissy has agreed to stay at the Hotel, I drop her off and see that she’s settled in. It’s best this way because the scene will likely get ugly, once we recover Lucas. My patience is at rock bottom with this guy, Paul. It seems to me that he’s determined to ruin Chrissy’s life and threats don’t stop him either. My initial thoughts are to beat the living shit out of him, but I'd have to do it before the police arrived.
Despite the red mist descending, I'm hoping to keep control of my temper. I'm not a bad guy under normal circumstances. It's like an animalistic instinct when someone threatens your loved ones. No doubt any sign of violence, and Paul will soon revert to his cowardly form and start cowering. My common sense warns me to back off. I’m no bully, but I’m also a guy that won’t be bullied. Nor will I allow anyone to push around the people I love. This idiot has pushed my patience to the limit.
The distance to the trailer park from the hotel is only a few miles, and I mull all these thoughts over on my final part of the journey. Driving into the park, one of my associates steps out of the shadows and waves me down. I pull up beside him and he directs me to the trailer in question. As I get closer, I see others in the team observing the trailer.
“No police on the scene yet?” I ask Marcus, the team leader, as he walks over to greet me.
“Not yet Drew, but I figure they won’t be long now,” he informs me. “You want to go in before they get here?”
“I’ll have a look at what’s going on first. All my instincts tell me to charge in but the laws of this land wouldn’t be pleased if we did that. The others can leave now, other than Stacey. I need her to take the boy to his mother. Have we got a good view?”
He walks me to the viewing point and I put the binoculars to my eyes. They’ve left the main window uncovered and I can see right into the trailer. Whilst I have a good view of Lucas and Trish, I can’t see Paul anywhere. My rage begins to rise again. He’s kidnapped my partner's son. He's frightened my daughter half to death. And, he's stalked my girlfriend. This fucker doesn’t deserve to be treated like a human being.
Trish is sitting next to Lucas who looks like he’s drawing in a book. He looks calm so I won’t do anything stupid. I don’t want Lucas to witness any more trauma, so I decide to wait for the police to arrive.
We don’t have long to wait before a couple of unmarked police vehicles pull up near my car. I go to greet them.
“Are you THE Andrew Gagnon? One of them asks me. “The one who created The Druid series? Man, I love those games.”
I smile as I don’t want to appear rude, but that’s the last thing I want to talk about right now.
“Officer, this guy has my son and I want him out of there as quickly as possible. Do you have the authority to do that?’ I ask.
“Sure do, Sir,” he replies. “That’s why we took longer to get here. We have been waiting on a Search Warrant so we can access the property. We’ll have Lucas with you in no time. This guy’s wanted for a few felonies so we’ll be hanging on to him. Don’t worry, none of them involves weapons. We're expecting him to be unarmed. Though you never can tell these days, so I’d like to ask you all to stand back while we do our job.”
I was pleased they seemed to have a plan. They clearly know exactly what’s happened.
“We’re gonna go in there and get your child. We’ll want a statement from everyone though. We’ve got you down as staying at the Marble Arch Hotel, is that right, Sir?”
I nod in agreement and explain we’ll be staying overnight but leaving tomorrow. I want to get this family back together as soon as I can.
The other officer is a female and she’s now knocking on the door of the trailer. It’s Trish who answers and I’m sure I see a look of relief in her expression. It could be that she wasn’t in on this crazy idea after all. Anyway, she invites the officer in so I'm hopeful this will all pass without any major interference.
A male police officer follows her in and within moments the woman’s walking out again, with Lucas in her arms. She hands him over to me but he doesn’t look any worse for the experience.
“Daddy,” he says to my delight. “I forgot my coloring book that Auntie Trish gave me.”
That one sentence says it all to me. He’s not in the least bit upset and Trish has told him she was his auntie. My estimation of her has just risen considerably.
“That’s okay, we can get you a new one. Now listen to me, Lucas, will you go with Stacey here so she can to take you to mommy at the hotel?”
“I missed mommy,” he replies. “Auntie Trish whispered a secret to me that I wasn’t to tell Uncle Paul.”
“Oh, a secret huh?” I say, emphasizing the point for him. “Can you tell daddy the secret?”
He thought about it for a moment and then nodded his agreement.
Putting his face to my ear he whispers, “She told me that mommy would be here soon because she gave mommy the address.”
“Wow, so you knew all along and you kept it to yourself?” I say to show him how proud I feel. “You are my big man,” I say, hugging him tight and then putting him down, to stand on the floor. “Stacey’s going to make sure you get to mommy now.”
“You coming too, daddy?” He asks looking up at me as he holds Stacey’s hand.
“I’ve got to stay and talk to Auntie Trish but I’ll be back soon. Now off you go, mommy needs you.”
Watching the car pull away, I turn to the trailer where I hear a sudden commotion. There's crashing and banging and a lot of shouting and swearing. I walk over to the trailer in time to see the dickhead being grappled to the ground. His arms are behind his back as one of the officers handcuff him. He’s screaming about his rights but it’s not doing him any good. Taking my time I wait patiently while they sort him out and put him in the back of a police car. While the officers are busy speaking to Trish, I go over to speak with him. Luckily, the window's down to give him some air after the brawl.
He leans away from me but I smile at him as I bend down.
“The next time you do anything like that against my family, ever again, I’ll personally find you and kill you myself. Then, I’ll make sure that you’re buried in a big hole where no one can ever find you. I hope I’ve made myself clear to you this time.”
He nods and the blood runs out of his split nose and into his open mouth. I’ve got an urge to punch him through the window and add to his injuries, but my will power holds me back. It’s enough that he thinks I’m going to do it, and for now that will have to suffice.
Walking over to Trish, I ask if I can speak with her. They allow us to communicate, with the female officer listening in.
“So, you helped us in the end?” I ask. “That took some guts against a dickhead like that.”
“I knew what he was going to do and I begged him not to,” she tells me. “Tell Chrissy it’s true that he did threaten to beat me up, and I did want to get away from him. I couldn’t tell her what was going to happen, I bottled out in the end. So I hoped I’d given her enough details to find us.”
“You did, and I thank you for that.”
“Look after my son,” she begins to cry. “He’s growing up into a handsome little dude.”
With that, she’s led away with her hands handcuffed behind her back. They put her in a different car. I’ll make sure she gets some help to sort her life out and get away from men like that.
Time to go back to my family and think of a way of putting this incident behind us.
Chapter 30
Family Night
It's been a horrendous few days, but thanks to Drew, we’ve all managed to survive more or less unscathed. As I watch Lucas play with Annie, he seems happy and relaxed and has shrugged the incident off. I’m sure that's, in part, because of my sister, Trish, who made the whole incident as normal as possible for him. Some part of me hates her for even being a part of what happened. Even if she was an unwilling participant. I know though that if she hadn’t told me about the trailer park, my son might still be missing.
I can’t ever thank Drew enough for what he's done for us. Well, there are ways I want to thank him but most of those are in the bedroom. Trouble is I’ve been feeling so ill recently, that sex doesn't appeal right now. I suppose it's all down to the stress of the last few days.
There's still a sense of anxiety in the air. If anything, the kidnapping has made me an over-protective mother. I can't let Lucas or Annie out of my sight when we go out. It’s a relief that they’re both home taught so we can keep them wrapped up in cozy cotton wool for a little bit longer. I'm hoping that this paranoia will lessen in time. Parenthood isn’t only about responsibility, it’s also about love and protection. In some ways, overprotectiveness can be a terrible weakness. Most parents have so much love for their children that when danger raises its ugly head, they become like wild animals to protect them. I guess it will be a while before those wild instincts calm down again.
Drew hasn’t been on any business trips since the kidnapping, so I’m guessing he feels the same way too. Not that he’d admit it, but since we returned that night, he’s been very attentive. It’s early days and we're all still very sensitive, so we don’t discuss it too much at the moment. As time eases, so too will our vivid memories of the event. Then the anxiety will disappear too.
That night, when Drew left me in the hotel room, I actually managed to fall asleep. The next thing I knew was Stacey knocking at my door with Lucas in her arms. I’m grateful, but feel a little guilty at sleeping: how could I do that when my son was in danger? Lucas was happy to see me, but he wasn’t traumatized at all. He believed it all to be a game with his Auntie Trish. Trish played a big role in that. When next I see her, I'll thank her for it. She protected Lucas from the reality of Paul’s behavior, even though she was partly to blame.
Once Annie saw Lucas, she was quick to forget the turn of events. Both the children have pulled through without too much upset. My poor mom, and Rita too, supported one another through the turmoil. I do believe they’ve bonded quite strongly for it.
We live our lives every day, and never know when tragedy will strike, or even how we’ll cope when it does. Most of us scrape through major events and even learn from such experiences. Not that I’d ever want to meet anyone like Paul ever again. Drew tells me that he’s learned Paul was undergoing a psychiatric assessment. It was a voluntary admittance to a mental health clinic, which he'd agreed to attend to avoid a prison sentence. Goodness knows how Drew knows this. Paul has been diagnosed as a pathological narcissist with an aggressive personality disorder. Since he left the clinic he hadn’t been taking the medication he needed. That's why he became more aggressive. It's a concern that he won’t go to prison because he’s mentally unstable, even though he committed a terrible crime. Drew assures me that the man will never be in our lives ever again, and I trust his word.
Right now, I’m busy getting ready for a family night out. Drew informs me he has an announcement to make but he won’t give me any insight into what it is. Rita's doing Annie’s hair in some French braids that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I’m not used to having a little girl around, but I’m looking forward to learning about bringing up a daughter. Annie cares very much about her looks, even at such a young age. Whereas Lucas couldn’t care less, so long as he can wear his superhero pajamas for bed, then he’s happy with life.
“Oh, my! Annie, you look adorable, baby,” I tell her when I see her lacy blue dress and amazing hairstyle. “I’m such a lucky mommy to have someone to teach me about French fashion,” I say.
“My mamma told me that I must always look my best,” she says, in a grown-up little voice. “Rita can teach you how to do my hair, so you can do it next time, mommy.”
With that order, she turns and runs off to find Lucas. Rita and I smile at each other, both proud of our little girl.
“I hope I’m a quick learner,” I say to her.
“Not to worry, Chrissy,” Rita says. “I will be always here.”
At that point, I realize how lucky I am. With two adorable children, my mom, Rita and the most handsome man in all the world, I don’t want for anything else. We are a happy content family unit and for that I’m grateful.
Then my two handsome men walk into the room, both dressed up in casual suits.
“Wow!” I exclaim, never having seen Lucas look so smart. “How did you talk him into wearing that?”
“He wants to be like his daddy, so I got him some grown-up clothing. Shall we go ladies?”
Annie dashes to hold her daddy’s hand, and I'm overwhelmed with the love surrounding me. Drew is so very handsome, but then again, so is my little Lucas. I grab my son’s hand and we set off for the car, all looking forward to our family night out.
Chapter 31
Man of the House
It’s taken a few weeks for us to get over the incident, but everyone's going in the right direction. The event with Lucas helped Annie to put the loss of her mother behind her, so some good came out of it. Lucas seems to have suffered the least, thanks to his Aunt Trish. She made sure Lucas hadn’t been afraid whilst in the hands of psycho Paul.
I’m worried about Chrissy. She hasn’t been well for a while. I'm hoping the suggestion I plan to announce at the dinner table tonight, will help her get back on her feet. She seems to have lost some of that inner strength she had as a young girl. That’s because she’s had to fight for everything. I want to change that for her. It’s time she relaxed more in life and if money can’t buy safety, I don’t know what can. Chrissy has to come to terms with the fact that she doesn’t need to work. Although she can home educate our children for as long as she wants, seeing as it’s her profession. But, she can also take time out for herself and I need to make her see this.
For many years she’s been out from under my protective wing. Now she’s back again and I want to keep her safe, along with our children. Whilst she's not Lucas's biological mother, there's no doubt that he's her son. That makes him my son too, and Annie her daughter. We’ve grown as a family, which also includes Lisa and Rita. That’s the way this unit will be from now on. I intend on protecting all that is mine, fiercely.
When Chrissy and I met again after all those years separated, it didn’t take long before we felt like we had never parted. We were instantly compatible and she is still the beautiful person I remember her to be. But, I've noticed a nervousness in her that she never had before. Her life hasn't been terrible, what with the lovely Lisa as her mom. But, it's been hard nonetheless. Having to struggle with her finances, and then bring up a child that wasn't even from her own womb. I wish she'd never left my sight but at least
now I have her back.
Everyone's gathering in the living room. We're all dressed up to the nines, ready to go to our family dinner at a top restaurant in Victoria BC. We'll stay the evening in a hotel I have part ownership in. Chrissy's in the dark about my real financial position. She knows I'm rich, but she doesn’t yet know how wealthy I am. That needs to change and I want my money to enhance her life. We should never have parted, but then I wouldn’t have Annie, who I could never be without. Fate deals us the cards, and we must follow our paths. I’m happy that fate has also brought us back together, as we are supposed to be.
“Papa, come on, we are all ready," Annie shouts to me. "You take too long!”
“Okay, let’s get to the limo, our driver awaits,” I say, finishing off my cufflinks.
“Did you say, limo? As in classy limousine?” Chrissy asks on the way to the elevator.
I nod my head in response and can’t help grinning at her surprise.
“Don’t you think that’s overdoing this occasion a little? We’re only going for a family meal together.”
“That’s what you think,” I tell her, smiling as Annie takes hold of my hand in the elevator.
“What are you up to?” Chrissy can’t help herself, she hates it when I keep secrets.
“Nothing devious,” I tell her so she won’t worry. “You'll know when I make my family announcement.”
She says no more as we walk to the car where the driver is already waiting with the rear doors open.
“Good evening, Mr. Gagnon," he greets me. "I hope you and your family are well?”
“Yes, thank you, Joseph. How about you and Margaret?” I ask my driver. When I’m in town, it's much easier to concentrate on business with a professional driver, so I use Joseph a lot.
“We’re both well sir. Getting on in years, but no real complaints.”
I smile back at him. He also used to drive my parents around and he never seems to age. When I was a boy, he seemed old, and now he still seems the same age, old.