A Special Gift

by Alice Brown

  As Stephanie silently watched the scene unfold before her, she knew her father’s heartstrings were being pulled. This little girl was so precious and deserved a much better life than the one she had been dealt.

  Kevin smiled down at the child and replied, “I know, sweetheart. And, do you know what? Your guardian angel is the same one that has helped other kids. There was a little boy who was kidnapped and taken from his parents, and then left in a park late at night about two weeks ago. This same angel named Stephanie helped him also until we could find him. I am glad she was able to help you, but let’s keep that one between you and me, okay?”

  The police sirens were drawing near, and Stephanie was happy to hear at least two different sirens. She didn’t want to see Maria placed in the same police car as her abductor.

  Julietta had been silently standing by the sidelines, but now she stepped up beside Kevin to address the little girl. “Maria, can I help you get out of the trunk? You must be getting stiff and sore from sitting in there.” Julietta made certain she had a friendly smile on her face, hoping the fact she was a woman would help win the little girl’s trust.

  Maria was in fact getting tired of sitting in the trunk, so she took Julietta up on her offer. As the woman lifted the child out of the trunk, Maria whispered in Julietta’s ear, “Stephanie told me she is your friend.”

  Julietta merely smiled at her and nodded her head in confirmation as she placed Maria on her feet on the ground. “Are you able to stand, or are your legs too stiff?” Julietta asked solicitously.

  “I’m okay, thank you, Miss Julietta,” Maria replied.

  “You are very welcome, sweetie,” Julietta responded, and for someone who believed in keeping her emotions to herself at all costs, and had been schooled since childhood not to let them show, she was finding difficulty doing so at the moment. Maria had managed to get around Julietta’s strong shield of armor, which was no easy feat.

  The police arrived on the scene, and within a matter of minutes, had thanked the VCTF team for their help, switched handcuffs on the prisoner, and returned Joshua’s to him, and loaded their suspect into a squad car. A female police officer slowly walked over to Maria, and knelt down beside the little girl to be at eye level before speaking to her.

  The female officer and Maria had just begun chatting when the driver woke up in the back seat of the police cruiser, screaming about a dragon attacking him and throwing him out of his car. Both the police officers and the VCTF team burst into laughter, only Kevin and Julietta knowing his words probably held some truth to them.

  Kevin walked over to the driver’s side of the car and pointed inside. “He’s been drinking. Look at all these beer cans all over the car. He’s probably so drunk he hallucinated.” The police officers nodded in agreement, and the female officer wasted no more time in placing Maria in the front seat of her cruiser.

  With their work completed, the VCTF members mounted their bikes. Stephanie had no further reason to stay, so she projected herself back to her mother’s office, knowing her grandfather was awaiting her.

  As expected, Charles wasted little time in addressing his granddaughter. “That, young lady, was some pretty cool stuff out there!” he stated with a grin, his eyes still glued to the computer monitor. “Does your father know you have the ability to show yourself in a different form?”

  “No, I just tried it today for the first time. I was a little amazed myself that it worked,” Stephanie replied as she stood and began removing the small electrodes from her body.

  “Well, I will need to edit this CD before the police will be able to use it as evidence,” Charles retorted with a frown as he continued to work. Stephanie had been able to send back enough play-by-play information that it was like watching a recording of all the action. But it couldn’t be turned over to the police until Stephanie was removed from the scene completely in all forms. “I think I will do a little digital alteration so this looks like it was shot from a satellite,” Charles continued after contemplating a moment. Nodding his head as if he was agreeing with himself, he stated more to himself than to anyone else listening, “Yes, that will work.”

  As Stephanie stood behind her grandfather, her mind automatically went to the little girl who had pulled at her heartstrings. “Grandpa, what is going to happen to that little girl? And what about her mother? Evidently that man had been horrible to both of them for a long time.”

  “Yes, you are right about that. Thanks to the data you sent back, I was able to retrieve his information once the facial recognition software system gave me something to go on.” Charles paused for a moment and beamed up at his granddaughter with a rare show of pride. “And I know you are my granddaughter and all that, but I still think it is damn cool how you can send information back through your body like that for us to retrieve. Anyway, the guy’s name is Enrico Valdez, and he already has a rap sheet a mile long. Thank goodness the U.S. government is cracking down on illegal immigrants; his butt should be shipped back to Mexico as soon as he serves his prison time for this kidnapping. Mind you, that won’t be for quite some time. As far as the little girl and her mother, I suspect that social services will get involved. Unfortunately, I have seen that do more harm than good at times,” he said, frowning.

  Stephanie came around to stand at his side, so she could see his face. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, if Social Services decides Maria’s mother is unable to take care of her, they will remove the child from her care and place her in the state’s protective custody in a foster home. Now, mind you, there are some good ones out there. There are also some really bad ones, too. I just don’t like seeing families torn apart. Seems to me the humans could come up with a better way of helping those in trouble and keep their families together at the same time,” Charles grumbled as he continued his work without even glancing over to his granddaughter.

  Stephanie was struck with an idea, and acted impulsively. She quickly leaned over and kissed her grandfather’s cheek. “I’ll be back soon,” she stated as she all but ran out of her mother’s office, heading for the front door of her house.

  Her grandfather’s booming voice hit her before she reached the front door.

  “Stephanie, where are you going?”

  “I’m going down to the police station to check on Dad,” Stephanie replied in what she hoped was a light, carefree voice.

  Her grandfather’s reply of, “Sure you are,” could be heard as the grumble that it was; she knew she was not fooling him for a minute, but neither did he make any attempt to stop her.

  She took off for the police station, and found her father standing at the front door waiting for her arrival. She guessed her grandfather had placed a call after she left him.

  “Stephanie, I am surprised to see you here. Is everything okay?” Kevin asked as he greeted his daughter.

  “Yes, Dad, I just want to check on Maria,” Stephanie replied in hushed to her father, assuring no one would overhear their conversation.

  “Grandpa mentioned DSS getting involved. Dad, I really need to see that little girl.” Stephanie looked up at her father through her eyelashes, giving him a slightly pouty expression on her face. She had a good track record of bringing her father around to her point of view most of the time, and she was banking on being able to add to that tally one more time today.

  Kevin leaned back against the wall behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, that depends on you, little one. Are you planning on telling me what exactly you did out there today?” he asked quietly. “Or are you going to make me go to your grandfather to find the information?” Stephanie knew he would find whatever information he wanted, and also knew he would be easier to deal with if she just came clean herself.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you everything. But not here,” Stephanie replied, giving a meaningful glance at all the humans mingling around the police station. “You have my word, as soon as we get home, I’ll tell you everything that happened.”

  Kevin smil
ed at his daughter as he pushed off the wall he was leaning on and gave her a short embrace. “By the way, you did a good job out there, although I am still trying to figure out exactly what the hell you did. Come on, let’s go check on Maria.”

  Maria was waiting for her mother to arrive in a private office. The moment Kevin and Stephanie entered the room, her eyes became large as saucers, and her mouth dropped open in a gasp.

  “Maria, I want you to meet my daughter. Her name is Stephanie,” Kevin started by way of introduction, even though he was fairly certain Maria had recognized his daughter immediately. Stephanie smiled over to the child and gave her a conspicuous wink. Maria managed to shut her gaping mouth and turned her eyes to Kevin for a quick second. He, too, gave her a wink that told her he was in on their little secret.

  “I know you’ve been through a lot today, Maria. I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were okay. Is your mom on her way?” Stephanie inquired solicitously.

  The child just barely had time to nod her head before the door burst open behind them. Maria’s mother rushed into the room, scooping her daughter up for a fierce hug as she trembled and cried tears of joy for the safe return of her daughter. The female officer who had brought Maria to the station had followed the mother into the office, and now introduced Kevin to Maria’s mother as the one who had found her missing child.

  Another woman walked into the crowded office, and although Stephanie had never seen her before, one look at her no-nonsense business suit shouted she was from DSS. The woman introduced herself to the female officer as Barbara, and wasted no time as she glanced down at the clipboard in her hand and started reciting her complaints, ignoring all others in the room. “This woman has no income, no job, and the house she and her daughter lived in was rented in her boyfriend’s name, which rent has not been paid in several months. They will not be allowed to leave together,” she finished in a voice just short of snarling.

  Barbara turned and addressed the mother. “Do you speak English? Do you understand that your child is being placed in the foster care program until you can prove you are able to provide for her?”

  Stephanie found herself with her hands closed into fists. She glanced over to her father and sent a quick telepathic message. “This just sucks. Isn’t there anything else that can be done? Hasn’t this little girl gone through enough?” She knew he had received her message loud and clear when he shot an eyebrow up at her. She was sure to hear about her little tirade later, but if it helped Maria, it would be worth it.

  Kevin cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Barbara, I’m Kevin O’Rourke. I run the Victims Crime Task Force, and we often get involved in cases such as these. I would like to try to keep this family together, if possible.” He glanced over to Maria’s mother, Deloris. “Do you have any family around here?” he asked her.

  “No, Maria is all that I have. Please don’t take my baby away from me.” Deloris spoke clear English with only hints of her Latin American background. She was sobbing softly and holding Maria tight, stroking the little girl’s hair in a comforting gesture.

  Kevin turned from Deloris back to Barbara. “What if Maria and Deloris come live with my family until we can get them on their feet? I have two small apartments set up on the third floor of my house. They would have their own space, and I think my wife can help Deloris obtain a job. Meanwhile, this family will get to stay together, and Maria can stay at her same school.” Although he had originally started the conversation with a request, he finished with a pose of crossing his arms over his chest with his feet about shoulder width apart. Stephanie knew from long experience that when he took that particular stance, only the extremely foolish would dare argue with him. This was his stand that clearly stated he would get his way on whatever subject was being debated at that time, because once his mind was made up, it was a done deal as far as he was concerned.

  Barbara started stammering a bit. “Well, um, this is quite unusual. These two, um, don’t even know your family. How do you know everyone will, um, get along?” she inquired, eyes narrowed.

  “So, are you standing here telling me that you know for a fact Maria will get along fine in whatever foster home you throw her into?” Kevin immediately shot back at her. Stephanie worked hard to suppress the smile that wanted to peek through; you simply didn’t mess with her dad when he took his stance. It was a total waste of time.

  “Well, no, but we do have a, um, system in place to, um, keep track of everyone involved,” Barbara stammered back.

  Deloris and Maria had both went perfectly still and silent as Kevin and Barbara started their battle of wills. Stephanie decided to step into the situation, hoping to put both mother and daughter at ease. “Maria, would you like to stay at my house for a little while? Just until your mom finds a job and can find some place to live. Maybe the two of you can find a cute little apartment. In the meantime, you and your mom can stay with us.” She smiled to reassure the child and in return was rewarded with a beaming smile from the child.

  “Could we, Mommy?” Maria requested as she glanced up at her mother with pleading eyes. “Stephanie and her father are really nice and helped me today.”

  Deloris looked over to Kevin, and even though her embarrassment was evident in her every move, she knew she had been handed a small miracle, one that she refused to turn down and lose her child in the process. “You are most kind, sir, and I will do whatever I need to do to keep my little girl with me. I promise you we won’t be in the way of your family, and as soon as I can find a job, we will be back out on our own.”

  Kevin glanced over to see mother and daughter hugging each other and gave them a reassuring smile. They’d had a rough go of things, and for whatever reason, his daughter was very drawn to them. He felt very strongly about women or children being abused. The two in front of him deserved a second chance in life, and deserved to live without fear of being beaten, or worse. His mind was made up; besides, the state system was overloaded anyhow. He was just contributing to society by keeping one more family out of the system. “You and Maria are welcome to stay just as long as you need to. I know you and my wife, Erica, will get along great, and it looks like the girls are already becoming friends. I can have my team get your belongings packed up and moved out of the house, that way you don’t even need to go back there if you don’t want to.”

  Barbara’s irritation over the entire matter being taken out of her hands was almost palpable. It was obvious she didn’t like it when things didn’t go her way. “Well, Mr. O’Rourke, if you take these two, you will be responsible for them. The state cannot provide you help in any way,” she stated gruffly and threw her nose up in the air for effect.

  “Believe me, lady, I don’t need this state’s help; it needs mine,” Kevin growled in reply as he glared at the obstinate social worker.

  Kevin and Barbara glared at one another for a moment before she spoke. “Well, it seems you have made up your mind, Mr. O’Rourke.” She turned to face Deloris and Maria. “Here is my card, if you find yourself in need of me, call me. Good luck,” she huffed, and then walked out stiffly.

  It felt like everyone had held their breath until the door slammed shut behind her. Then, a palpable sigh could be heard throughout the room. “I think you threw her for a bit of a loop. She wasn’t expecting that one.” The female officer chuckled as she glanced over to Kevin, and then continued, “These two are free to go at any time. Can I offer anyone a ride?”

  “I need to make a quick phone call before I answer that one,” Kevin replied. He walked out the door and turned the opposite way from the one Barbara had taken when she left. He returned within two minutes with a grin on his face. “Our ride is waiting for us at the front door, ladies.” Then, glancing over to Maria and Deloris, and making sure he used his softest voice, asked, “Are you two ready to go?”

  Deloris stood and unexpectedly launched herself straight for him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, which was no easy feat due to the height difference. Mari
a came over to Stephanie, who wrapped an arm around her shoulder for support. Watching her dad try to calm down a hysterical woman, Stephanie chuckled under her breath. Her dad had always been a sucker for teary-eyed women; Stephanie had learned that trick years ago. He stood motionless except for his hand gently rubbing the top of her back in an effort to calm her down. He leaned down to the woman’s ear, and Stephanie heard him whisper, “Hey, it’s okay. You and Maria are safe, and I promise you that you are going to stay safe.”

  Deloris sniffled a few of times and nodded as she attempted to pull herself back together. “Thank you for everything. I don’t even know where to begin.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get the two of you out of here and settled into your new home,” Kevin replied, as he led everyone out of the small office.

  As they walked out of the office, Stephanie wondered if her Grandpa had warned her mother about what was happening. Erica was accustomed to her daughter bringing home strays; it wasn’t unusual for Stephanie to have numerous animals follow her home if she went out for a walk. She chuckled under her breath. This was a first: bringing home human strays! As they neared the front door to the police station, she spotted Marshall standing just inside the door. Her feet picked up the pace on their own, easily walking ahead of the others, and wrapped her arms around his neck the moment she reached him.

  “Hey, sweetie,” he greeted with a hug of his own. “I hear you are going to have some company.” Stephanie heard her father, Maria, and Deloris stopping just behind her, cutting off her reply.

  Marshall glanced over to Kevin, but kept his arm securely wrapped around Stephanie’s waist. “Are we heading to your house?”

  “Yes, I brought the bike, so I need for you to take the women with you. I’ll meet you at the house.” Then, turning to Deloris, Kevin addressed her. “I drove my motorcycle here, so Marshall is going to drive you to our house. Stephanie will be going with you, and Marshall is my second-in-command, and also my daughter’s fiancé; you can trust him.” His words were spoken gently, attempting to calm her nerves, which he knew would be running wild. Marshall, Kevin, and Stephanie could all hear her heart beating way too fast due to her anxiety.