by Alison Bliss
“I know. I’m going to go get him and bring him back to you, I promise. You need to trust me. I won’t let anything happen to Austin.”
Our eyes met and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. The last boy he tried to rescue never saw his parents again. But I needed to believe that the same wouldn’t happen to my son. Maybe we both did.
I closed my eyes. “Hurry back.”
The moment he disappeared into the trees, I said a quick prayer and then headed back to where Emily and Anna were waiting, hoping for good news. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any. So I did the only thing I could. I pulled up recent pictures of Austin on my phone to share with the volunteers, helped pass out flashlights as they headed out in groups, and tried to stay as busy as possible while waiting impatiently for my child to be found.
Though I wanted to be out there looking for him, I knew it made more sense for me to stay put. Everyone was trying to find my baby. But as minutes crept into hours, I began to lose all hope of finding my son safe and sound.
It was close to midnight when Anna gasped so loud that it shook my bones. My head lifted automatically, and my eyes landed on Seth emerging from the woods carrying my son on his shoulders while they sang one of Austin’s favorite songs. I inhaled a breath, the deepest one I’d taken since I realized he had been in danger.
Relief swept through so fast and furiously that, when I stood, my knees almost buckled out from under me. But the last thing I wanted to do was worry my little boy. So I forced the tears of joy back and tried to make light of the scary situation, as Seth was clearly doing.
Seth swept Austin off his shoulders and placed him in my arms, I rained kisses all over his face and hugged him so tight that I thought I’d never let him go. He was covered in dirt from head to toe, and he was missing one shoe. But I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to me was that my little boy was alive and safe and back in my arms where he belonged.
Thank God.
…
At the hospital, Austin sat on the gurney in a child’s hospital gown while I cleaned most of the dirt from his face, arms, and legs with paper towels I’d wet down using the tiny handwashing sink.
Seth leaned against the far wall in silence. Though I appreciated him rescuing my son and bringing Austin back to me, I couldn’t help but feel a disconnection between us at the moment. And he must’ve interpreted my chilly remoteness toward him for what it was, since he was keeping a slight distance.
Not that we’d had much of a chance to talk since he’d returned from the woods. The EMTs had checked Austin over and then we had taken a short ambulance ride to the hospital, while Seth followed behind the ambulance in my truck. Even now, the waiting room was filled with my family and friends, all who were patiently taking turns visiting my son to make sure he was okay.
And he was. Beyond some scratches, a skinned knee, and a suspected poison ivy rash on his arm, Austin was doing remarkably well. But the doctor still wanted to observe him a while longer and said he would be sending a nurse in to give my child a dose of antihistamine to keep him from itching.
After the doctor exited the room, Austin continued telling me his stories about his ordeal in the woods, although I was pretty sure some of them were a little embellished. “And I saw a wolf, Momma. A big, scary one. He was on his way to Grandma’s house.”
I smiled. “Well, Grandma’s out of town at the moment, so he won’t find her there. But when I talked to her on the phone before the doctor came in, she told me to tell you that she loves you and to give you a big hug from her.”
Without hesitation, Austin leaned forward and wrapped his arms around my neck. It was the best feeling in the world.
“I’ll take one of those,” Jake said, coming through the door with Emily right behind him.
“Uncle Jake!” Austin released me and launched himself into his arms.
Jake gave him a big hug. “Hey, buddy. Don’t you ever go out in the woods by yourself again, okay? You scared the hell…I mean, heck out of us.”
Austin giggled as Jake passed him to Emily for another hug. He smiled at her. “Uncle Jake said a bad word.”
Emily grinned back at my son. “I know. He needs his mouth washed out with soap.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “Look who’s talking.”
Unfazed by their banter, Austin squirmed out of Emily’s arms and crawled back to his spot on the bed. “Where’s Lily?”
Emily pulled up a chair next to Austin’s bed. “Lily is in the waiting room with Floss. Unfortunately, kids aren’t allowed in here.”
Austin thought about that for a minute and then glanced up at me. “Do I have to go to the waiting room, too?”
Everyone laughed as I shook my head. “No, baby. You’re a patient, so it’s okay for you to be in here.”
A young nurse finally came in to give Austin the oral liquid dose of antihistamine the doctor had ordered, but the moment Austin tasted the bad-tasting medicine, he refused to drink the rest of it by pursuing his lips together and shaking his head.
The nurse huffed, clearly irritated by his behavior. “You have to take this. The doctor said so.”
Austin covered his mouth. “I don’t wanna.”
“Here, let me help,” I offered, rising to my feet.
But the nurse declined by shaking her head. “No, it’s okay. I can get him to take it. I’ve dealt with children like him before.”
I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, but I didn’t like her tone. “Excuse me?”
“Ma’am, can you just let me do my job?” Before I could respond, she pushed Austin’s hand away from his mouth, grasped both sides of his cheeks to force his mouth open, and poured the medicine down his throat as he gasped and choked on it. It happened so fast that I hadn’t expected it. “There. All done.”
Maybe it was the momma bear in me protecting her cub, but I lunged for the nurse. She was lucky that Jake had been standing nearby because he managed to grab me before I got a hold of her. “Don’t you ever touch my child like that again!”
The nurse put a hand to her chest as if she was shocked by my reaction. “I only did what I was supposed to. He needed to take the medicine, and he was being uncooperative.”
I couldn’t believe the nerve of this woman. “He’s only five, you idiot. If you don’t have the patience to deal with children, then you’re in the wrong damn line of work.”
“Oooh, my momma said a bad word,” Austin told Emily.
“Uh, yeah, and she might say another one. Close your ears, Austin.”
I glanced at my son who immediately clasped his hands over his ears and was staring at me with wide eyes. He’d never seen me talk to someone like that before, and I felt bad that he had to witness it now. Even if the nurse had deserved it.
The nurse gave me a disapproving look. “Ms. Weston, would you like me to call security and have you removed?”
The challenging look I gave her right back dared her to try it.
“Don’t bother,” Jake said, releasing me so he could flash his FBI badge in her face. “I’m Special Agent Jake Ward.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re here. You witnessed her trying to attack me and then threaten to assault me.”
Jake shook his head. “No. What I saw was you physically assault a minor patient and his mother coming to his defense. You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t press charges and have you arrested. Now, I suggest that you go get a different nurse to take your place before Ms. Weston does just that. And rest assured, I will be speaking to your superiors about this incident as well.”
Without another word, the young nurse quickly left the room. Once she was gone, I inspected my son’s face up close for so much as a scratch but found nothing. “Austin, that nurse didn’t hurt you, did she?”
“No,” he said and then pretended to be driving his gurney as if it were a race car.
Jake put his hand on my shoulder. “Bobbie, you’ve had a rough day. Why don’t you go step outside for a few minutes and get some fresh air?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I told him.
“Come on, Bobbie,” Emily said. “Jake’s right. Go take a breather. We won’t let anyone that works here touch Austin until you get back. Just take a moment to calm your nerves and catch your breath. You seem a little wound up. He’ll be fine with us.”
Reluctant to leave, I stood my ground. I had no doubt that Jake and Emily would keep Austin safe, but after the earlier events, the last thing I wanted to do was let my son out of my sight again. That only made me realize how traumatic today had truly been for me.
But maybe they were right. The blind terror and devastation that had coursed through me when I realized my son was in danger and missing had definitely taken a toll on me. The knowledge that the evening very easily could’ve been marred by tragedy had crippled me in the worst way possible. I wasn’t thinking clearly, and some fresh night air would probably do me some good.
“All right,” I said, caving to their whim. I leaned over and kissed my son on the head. “Austin, I’m going to step out for just a minute, but I’ll be right back. Okay?”
“Okay, Momma.”
Jake nodded to Seth in order to make sure I didn’t go outside alone. Not that he would’ve let me, anyway. Not with a psychopath on the loose. But I felt safe at the moment, since Jake had brought in the FBI to help locate Bishop and had Junior patrolling the hospital grounds. If anyone could get by him and live to tell about it, then nothing was going to stop them.
Seth followed me out of the room and down the hall toward the elevators. We rode to the first floor in complete silence and then exited through a side door to avoid the crowd in the waiting room. Once we got outside into the parking lot, he finally spoke. “You okay?”
I waved my hand through the air. “I’m fine. But if that nurse touches my son again, I’m going to shove an IV pole up her ass…sideways.”
He grinned. “That’s not quite what I meant. I was talking about the scare with Austin tonight.”
“Oh.” My initial reaction toward Seth when he’d carried Austin out of those woods and placed him into my arms had been sheer gratitude. But now that some time had passed, I’d had time to think long and hard about it. And I’d realized that there was a much bigger picture to the story. “Why didn’t you tell me that someone from your past was looking for you?”
“Because I didn’t know who it was at the time.”
“What does that matter? Given your line of work, surely you must’ve considered the possibility that whoever it was asking about you might not have the best intentions toward you. It’s almost like you chose to turn a blind eye on it.”
He shook his head adamantly. “You’re wrong. I didn’t just ignore it. In fact, I took it very seriously. That phone call from my old commander was why I broke things off with you. It reminded me that the life I’ve led up to this point was way too dangerous to involve a woman and her child in it. So I pushed you away in order to protect you and Austin.”
I understood that. I really did. But knowing that I could’ve lost my son tonight all because Seth hadn’t mentioned one little important detail was not sitting well with me. “Well, seeing how your past is currently affecting our future, it appears you didn’t push hard enough.”
“I tried to stay away from you. But when I saw you with that other guy I couldn’t do it anymore. I hated myself for hurting you like that.”
“But even after you confessed everything to me about your past, you still didn’t mention that someone was looking for you. And you were staying in my home. Don’t you think I deserved to know that you were putting both me and my son at risk?”
“Like you just said, I was there. I wouldn’t have let anything happen to either of you.”
“You were around Austin most of the time, since my babysitter comes to the house, but you weren’t around him the times he was at my mom’s. That put both of them in danger. And you weren’t always around me, either. When I went to work—”
He raised his hand to stop me. “Not only were you in a public place, but my uncle was there. Junior wouldn’t have let anything happen to you.”
“You told Junior?” When he nodded, I crossed my arms and let another round of indignation blaze through me. “So you thought about it enough to mention it to Junior, but not to me?”
“I didn’t want to scare you. But, since I couldn’t be at two places at once, I needed Junior’s help to cover both of you. That’s why I told him.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“It has nothing to do with trust, Bobbie.”
“Are you kidding me? It has everything to do with it! You had the nerve to ask me to trust you, but you’ve never once given me the same benefit. This need of yours to control everything around you keeps you from trusting anyone and letting go of your past.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it? You won’t let anyone in, including me. Not fully. Because of that, you put me in danger. And even worse, you put my son in jeopardy.”
“I never meant to—”
“Maybe not. But you still put your own needs above ours. You had the chance to tell me everything, but you sanitized the facts and filtered out any information that you didn’t want to discuss. Damn it, Seth. You left out significant details.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, hanging his head. “Look, I know I messed up in epic proportions. I should’ve told you about the call and that someone was looking for me.”
“You’re right, you should have. How do you think I feel knowing that a deranged psychopath was watching my child? Or possibly even us when we had sex in the barn. Or on the picnic table. God, Seth. Do you know how fucking creepy all of that is?”
“I don’t think Bishop was watching us or Austin back then. Only more recently. As far as I knew, Bishop was dead. Bobbie, you know that. Your friends are overprotective, and I just thought it was them checking up on me to make sure you were safe. If I had known…”
Maybe it was the scared mom inside of me still reeling from my child being placed in harm’s way, but I couldn’t let it go. “He could’ve gotten to my son tonight.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He reached for my hand.
I pulled away from him. “Sorry doesn’t cut it, Seth. The damage is already done.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’ve had it with selfish men who don’t put me or my son first. I know I asked you to stay, but maybe I shouldn’t have.” My nerves were wreaking havoc on my emotions, but I didn’t want to shrivel to a blubbering mess. I’d done enough of that tonight already. So I swallowed hard before I looked him in the eyes and said plainly, “This thing between us. It’s over.”
He shook his head. “Look, I know you’re scared and upset right now, but I’m going to fix this. If you want to be mad at me, fine. But I don’t want to lose you.”
I closed my eyes. I hated to do it, but I didn’t have a choice. “I don’t want to see you anymore. You need to leave.” Maybe then, Austin would be safe.
“No. Now is not a good time for you to ask me to leave. I can’t protect either of you if I’m not here.”
Feelings of frustration and resentment cascaded through me, severely distorting my view of the situation and profoundly affecting my ability to forgive. “You’ve been here this whole time and we’re in more danger now than ever.”
“Damn it, Bobbie. If you think for one second that I’m going to leave you and Austin unprotected, you clearly don’t know me very well. Until I find Bishop and end this once and for all, I’m not going anywhere.”
I crossed my arms. “This is the last time I’m going to say this, Seth. Get your shit and get the fuck out of my house.”
Then I turned and walked away.
Chapter Twenty
I made it back to Austin’s hospital room just as Jake stepped out to take a phone call. But Emily still sat beside the gurney listening intently as my son rambled out another story about how he was raised by lions––in three hours––an
d in Texas of all places. The kid sure had an imagination on him.
“Hey, monster. The nurse gave me some green Jell-O for you,” I said, holding up a sealed cup and a plastic spoon. “It’s your favorite.”
Austin’s eyes lit up and he reached for it. “I can open it by myself.”
“Okay,” I said, handing it over before I settled in the chair next to Emily.
She glanced over at me and lowered her voice, though it was unnecessary, since Austin was preoccupied trying to open his snack. “Where’s Seth?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Everything okay with you two?”
I shrugged. “Not really. I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I don’t really have the energy to deal with that right now. I just want to focus on my son.” More like wrap Austin in Bubble Wrap so nothing bad could ever touch him again.
Including Seth’s past.
She nodded. “It’ll be okay. Your emotions are all over the place right now because of everything that happened today. Once things calm down, I’m sure you two will work it out.”
I wasn’t so sure she was right, but thankfully, I didn’t have to respond. The hospital room door opened and a different nurse from earlier came in carrying Austin’s discharge papers. Once I signed the documents, she said, “Once Austin gets dressed, you’re free to go.”
“Thank you,” I replied as she vacated the room.
Austin peered up at me. “No more medicine, Momma?”
“No more,” I assured him. “At least not tonight.” I lifted a bag that contained a change of clothing that Cowboy and Anna had run to the farmhouse to pick up for Austin. I set it on the bed and pulled Austin toward the edge before helping him to remove his gown.
“Momma, do I have to see that bad man again?”
Bad man? He’d seen Bishop? My heart hammered against the walls of my chest, but I tried to remain calm. “What bad man, honey? Who did you see?”
“You know, the one with you.”
I cocked my head, not understanding. “Seth?” I asked.
Austin giggled. “No, Momma. Seth isn’t the bad man. It’s the other one.”