“Dad, I’m really sorry. This was all my fault. I called Mom. I found her and I told her I wanted to see her. It was so stupid, but I thought maybe I could do more things with her than I could with you. I didn’t know she was coming here and I didn’t know what she planned to do.” Little Chris put up his hand as though he was swearing an oath, but Chris didn’t need that gesture to know his son was telling the truth.
“I should be the one apologizing. I should have told you more about your mother so you could understand why she wasn’t a part of your life anymore. I’m sorry being my son has made you have to go through all this.”
“I don’t think being your kid has made this stuff happen. I think being your kid is what kept me alive when it did. Everything you’ve ever told me or taught me made complete sense today. And you found Sydney and married her. She’s the other reason I made it out.”
“He’s right,” Sydney smiled as she leaned in and brushed the boy’s hair out of his eyes affectionately. “I crossed my arms when Bo duct-taped me and that thing you taught us actually worked. It’s how I got free so fast. And there were a hundred other things going through my head that you instilled in us that worked today.”
They stepped out of the ambulance and into two waiting wheelchairs. Chris walked between them, holding their hands. When they hit the lobby they were split in two different directions. “Stay with Little Chris,” Sydney insisted as she waved them off and disappeared down a different hall.
Jason walked in close behind them and tapped Chris on the shoulder. “I’ve got some good news. Sean is awake. He’s got some cuts and burns, but the dose of pain medication they gave him was not lethal. It might have been their intention but it didn’t work. He’ll be treated and kept for monitoring overnight. He’s asking about all of you, and I told him you were fine. Bo and Diana are being charged with a whole host of things that will keep them locked up for a long time. You’re going to be able to put this all behind you soon.”
“We’ll have to put everything behind us, won’t we?” Chris asked as the doctor began to look over his son. “Staying here won’t be an option. We’ll need to start over again.”
“I wish I had a different answer for you,” Jason apologized as he stared down at his shoes. “You know the drill. Give me your cell phones, don’t tell any of your new friends you’re leaving, and gather up a few things from your house to take with you. You’ll need to leave as soon as Sydney, Sean, and Little Chris get the all-clear from the doctors.”
“He’s going to hate me.” Chris looked over at his son who was entertaining the doctor with knock-knock jokes. “We were finally settling in. He had friends, and he was starting baseball soon. I can’t believe I’m going to do this to him again.”
“You’re doing this for him, not to him,” Jason reminded. Chris assumed the witness protection handbook had that in it somewhere.
“Who knows where we’ll end up this time? I thought coming to the middle of nowhere out here would be terrible, but I’ve actually adjusted to the quiet.”
“Illinois is pretty big and we were able to contain the commotion pretty well. I can’t keep you in this zip code but I might be able to keep you in the state. That’s about the only thing I’ll be able to do to make this easier.”
“How do I tell him?”
“He may not realize it now, but someday he’ll be grateful for the lengths you’ve gone to keep him safe.” Jason patted his back and left the room, most likely to go get their new identities squared away.
Chris looked at his phone, the one he’d be turning over soon and never getting back. He scrolled through the numbers and groaned at all the people he’d be leaving behind. Were they his best friends? No, but they were people he enjoyed knowing.
When he came to Bobby’s number he stepped to the corner of the room and dialed.
“Hey Chris, how’s it going?” Bobby’s friendly voice gave Chris a little comfort, though he knew there was nothing his friend could actually do for him to change what the next few days would hold.
“Hey Bobby, a little bit of commotion out here but everyone is fine. It’s a long story. I’ll fill you in another time. I just wanted to check in and ask if you could keep your ear to the ground and let me know if you hear any chatter about me or my ex-wife in Edenville. If you do just give Jason a call and fill him in.”
“I can’t call you and fill you in if I hear anything?” Bobby’s voice was thick with worry.
“We’ll be on the move again, probably tonight. Hopefully we aren’t going very far. Maybe still in this state. I won’t have this phone anymore. You might not hear from me for a while.”
“What about our wedding? Piper and I are getting married. I thought maybe you guys could come out for that. It’ll be out on the coast. Something quiet. I’ll send you the information now, before you hand over your phone.”
“It’s gotten kind of crazy here. I’m not sure I can work it out, though I’d like to see you guys finally get married. I don’t know if it’ll be possible.”
“You know us, we’re dealing with stuff here too. Never a dull moment. But I hope you can make it somehow. You’ve done a lot for us and we wouldn’t even be here to get married without you.”
“I’ll do what I can to make it. Tell everyone we said hi and not to worry too much about us. I don’t want Betty thinking we’re falling apart out here. We hit a bump in the road, but we’re okay now. We’re going to be fine.”
“Just do what we do here. Stick together. You can get through a lot if you don’t try doing it all on your own. Call me whenever you can and I’ll keep an ear out for any noise here about you. Hopefully whatever you’re dealing with blows over.”
“Thanks, Bobby. Good advice and good luck with the wedding planning. I’m sure Betty has everything all worked out for you.”
“She does. Oh no.”
“What is it?”
“Chris, is that you?” Betty’s stern but lovely voice came over the line. “I know that’s you, I could hear you talking about me.”
“You caught me.” Chris laughed, choking back some emotion. Betty was one of his favorite people. She reminded him of his mother and grandmother.
“I haven’t heard from you since your wedding. How is everyone? My little guy doing good?” Betty asked with her familiar twang.
“He is. He’s missing you a bunch. No matter where we go we never meet anyone like you.”
“And you never will, which is the perfect reason for me to come out and see you all soon. I hear he’s in karate now and I bet he’s tougher than a one-eared alley cat by now. Can I talk to him for a bit?” Betty asked hopefully.
Chris looked over as his son who was now flipping the channels on the small television in the corner of the hospital room. “He’s out right now. I’ll have him give you a call later. Sydney and I cook what we can, but he’s missing your special meals.”
“I’ll put a care package together for him with some treats that keep well. That’ll hold him over until I can hold him.”
On the tip of Chris’s tongue was the truth. No, Betty don’t bother sending a box because we won’t be there to receive it. And I don’t know when we’ll see each other again after this ordeal. But he swallowed that back. There was nothing Betty could do to fix this even though that’s exactly what she’d want to do. So why break her heart if it could be avoided?
“He’ll love that. We’ll be in touch soon. Thank you for everything.”
“Chris,” Betty sang, quieting her voice a little. “You don’t sound quite like yourself right now. I doubt you’ll tell me why, but know if you find yourself looking for a friend, you’ve got a boatload of them here. You call, we’ll come.”
“I know, Betty.” Chris smiled as the line disconnected. He walked over to his son and sat beside him on the edge of the bed.
“It’s okay we have to move again, Dad. It will work out. At least we’ll still be together.” Little Chris rested his head on his father’s shoulder. “I’m s
orry I was being so dumb about everything.”
“I’m so glad you’re home,” Chris said as he breathed in the familiar scent of his son’s shampoo. “I never want to let you go again.”
As a young red-headed nurse entered the room, Little Chris morphed back into the familiar tween Chris had gotten used to. “Daaad,” he groaned as he shrugged his father’s arm off his shoulder and tried to act cool.
That was how it was going to be from now on, Chris assumed. He’d have to save his tight hugs and hair tussles for private times. It broke his heart, but he knew it was inevitable. You couldn’t hold on to them forever. Someday your baby had to be a toddler, then a kindergartener, then a middle schooler, and so on until one day he was taller than you or too busy to pick up the phone. It was sad, but even though he knew his days were numbered with his boy, he was still glad after a day like today with so many close calls, he still had the chance to enjoy what he had left.
“Sorry CJ,” Chris finally relented giving his son the one small thing he’d asked for. In his eyes his boy would always be Little Chris, but in his heart he knew some day that name would have to change. He hoped it wouldn’t be for a long while but it seemed a small price to pay to see the enormous smile lighting his sons face.
Chapter Fourteen
“He’s finally asleep,” Chris said as he peeked into Sydney’s room to check on her. “Sorry I couldn’t come sooner. I didn’t want him to feel alone.”
“No problem,” Sydney answered as he caught her wiping away a rogue tear, trailing down her cheek.
“What’s wrong? Are you in pain? Because the nurse can come in if you want me to call her,” Chris asked nervously.
“No, she was just in here with the doctor.”
“Is everything okay? Did the tests come back for your CT scan? The bump on your head is nothing, right?”
“The bump on my head is nothing. They were more interested in the bump I’m going to get in my stomach.”
“What do you mean? You have a tumor or something? I knew something else was going to go wrong.” Chris ran his hand through his hair anxiously at the thought of their world crashing in again.
“Stop,” Sydney said with a little laugh. “You’re going to give yourself high blood pressure. I don’t have a tumor. I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a father again. We’re going to have a baby.”
Blame it on the exhaustion from being up for hours on end or the fried nerves from everything that happened early in the day, but the news sent the room into a carnival-ride spin. And within a few seconds his legs gave way and he was tumbling toward the ground. He wasn’t sure if it was thirty seconds or ten minutes, but he’d been down long enough for a herd of nurses and doctors to be standing over him chatting away about his condition.
“I don’t know if he’s eaten anything today. He might be dehydrated or something.” He could hear Sydney calling over the shoulder of one of the doctors.
“I’m fine,” Chris groaned as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. “It’s not dehydration or low blood sugar.”
“I told him I was pregnant,” Sydney said through a sniffling cry. “And he passed out. That can’t be a good sign can it?”
The doctors and nurses all erupted in laughter as a few of them lifted Chris to his feet and guided him toward a chair in the corner of the room. “It’s a perfectly normal sign. It happens more often than you’d think,” a heavy nurse with a sweet smile assured him as she patted him on the shoulder. “Now drink this juice and tell your wife you fainted out of sheer joy so she can stop crying.”
Chris took a swig of the juice and pushed aside every worry of lack of sleep, teething, and dirty diapers. Instead he filled his mind with every cuddle and kiss and squeeze he’d be able to give a new baby. A baby that wouldn’t be too embarrassed to accept them, at least for now.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Chris said, leaning around the crowd of people to lock eyes with his wife. “This is the best way to end the worst day.” The doctors and nurses dispersed, and as the door to the hospital room closed, the noise of the hallway was shut out.
Sydney walked over to Chris, and he patted his lap for her to sit. When she did he placed a hand on her stomach and drew in a deep breath. “Thank you so much for standing by me, Sydney. I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life proving I deserve you and our children. This is the life I want and not a minute will go by that I won’t show you I mean it. Today you protected our son, you gave me the gift of another child, and when I almost destroyed it, you saved our love.”
“I believe you really have changed enough to be the man your family needs. There was a moment I wasn’t sure. Maybe I’ll have more of those moments along the way, but I promise to give you a chance every time to show me you have. This world is full of change—if it wasn’t there wouldn’t be butterflies and I love butterflies.” Sydney leaned in and pressed her soft lips to Chris’s as she brushed her fingers through his hair the way she always did. He was glad for all the changes—both in him and in the world around him. The fact that Sydney could embrace it made their love work. But as he held her in his arms and breathed her in, he knew there were things he hoped would never change and this feeling was one of them.
The End
Books by Danielle Stewart
Piper Anderson Series:
Book 1: Chasing Justice
Book 2: Cutting Ties
Book 3: Changing Fate
Book 4: Finding Freedom
Book 5: Settling Scores
Book 6: Battling Destiny
Piper Anderson Extras:
Choosing Christmas - Holiday Novella - Chris & Sydney's Story
Betty's Journal - Bonus Material(suggested to be read after Book 4 to avoid spoilers)
Saving Love – Piper Anderson Novella
The Clover Series:
Hearts of Clover - Novella & Book 2: (Half My Heart & Change My Heart)
Book 3: All My Heart
Book 4: Facing Home
Sign up for Danielle Stewart’s Mailing List
By Clicking Here
One random newsletter subscriber will be chosen every month in 2014. The chosen subscriber will receive a $25 eGift Card! Sign up today by clicking the link above.
Saving Love (The Piper Anderson Series Book 8) Page 7