Days of Destiny

by Aiden Vaughan

  When they did meet with Dr. Agoura in that group session, it was very productive because the barriers between them were already broken down, and they could discuss their emotions and feelings quite frankly.

  All of that activity, and the demands of school had occupied Robbie’s mind during the week, so he was quite surprised when there was a knock on the apartment door Thursday evening. When he looked through the peephole in the front door, he saw his father, Robert Nelson!

  “What should we do, Mom?” Robbie asked urgently. “It’s my father at the door! I don’t know if I want to let him in or not!”

  “Well, you certainly don’t have to if you don’t want, Robbie,” Camille Nelson replied. “But maybe we should find out what he wants.”

  The door was locked from the outside, and Camille put the chain on the door. She opened the door a crack and demanded to know, “Why are you here, Robert? Do you think you can just walk back into our lives because you finally sent the money you owed for child support?”

  “I understand that you are very angry with me,” Mr. Nelson answered, “and rightly so. But I had to come and try to make amends, especially after the letter Robbie sent me. I know that you have no reason to trust me anymore, or desire to talk to me, but I would like to apologize and tell you a few things.”

  “What do you think, Robbie?” Camille asked. “Should we let him in?”

  Robbie stood there shaking his head and not knowing what to decide.

  “Please, please hear me out,” Robert begged. “I know that my neglect has caused you a lot of pain, Robbie. At least let me apologize for that face to face.”

  Robbie pursed his lips some more, then finally nodded his head yes. “I guess it won’t hurt to hear what he has to say. If things get too uncomfortable we can tell him to leave, right?”

  “Most definitely, Robbie,” Camille said. “This is our place, not his!” She unhooked the chain on the door and let Robert Nelson inside. He was wearing a business suit, but his tie was loose. His facial resemblance to Robbie was striking. Camille directed Robert over to the kitchen table, where she had him sit down. She and Robbie then sat down on the other side of the table.

  “First of all, Robbie,” he began, “I would like to tell you how sorry I am that you went through all that suffering. I had no idea things were that bad. But of course that was my fault for cutting you off the way I did. At the time of your mother’s and my divorce, I thought a clean break was necessary. I had just met Audrey, my current wife, and she had two children from her previous marriage that she was having a lot of difficulty raising. I thought that injecting you into that situation would make things even more difficult. Then two years ago we had our own child. The new child ended up occupying most of our time, and I basically put you on a shelf and forgot about you. I realize now that I was totally negligent in my responsibilities to you, Robbie.”

  “So even though you had a new family with other kids,” Robbie concluded, “you never wanted to include me in your life any more because you were more interested in those other kids than your own son!”

  “Even granting that what you were doing was the right thing,” Camille said, “why did you stop paying child support to Robbie. That money would have made a huge difference in our lives the past four years.”

  “Audrey was the one who handled most of our financial transactions,” Robert went on. “If I started paying out that money, she would have immediately known. I realize that it was cold and heartless of me to stop the payments, but I stupidly rationalized that the two of you would be fine without it.

  “Then out of the blue last week, I was contacted by the Whatever Foundation attorney. He made it very clear that I needed to own up to my legal responsibilities. Although nothing specific regarding penalties for late support payments was spelled out in our divorce settlement, he pointed out to me that by his calculations, I owed at least $30,000 and if I didn’t pay up, he would pursue me in court.

  “I thought about things long and hard, and realized that I needed to come clean — pay up the money I owed and tell Audrey about you and how I had neglected you. So I cashed in a couple of CDs and sent the attorney the check he requested.

  “Then I received your letter, Robbie. When I opened the envelope, it was like a stab in the heart! And sad to say, it was well deserved. I realized that I had totally failed you as a father, and as a result, all these horrible things happened to you. I then showed the letter to my wife, and she agreed that I needed to do something more immediately. She told me that we should have a family meeting about this and explain to our older children, David and Nina, that they had a half brother they never knew about.

  “Needless to say, David and Nina were completely surprised at this turn of events. They said that they felt bad that you had suffered so much while they were living normal lives. They told me that we needed to reach out to you, Robbie, and try to make your feel part of our family. They proposed that we should invite you to a sporting event or something similar that would be fun. ‘We had no idea Robbie existed until you told us!’ they told me. ‘We really want to meet him. Maybe he will not want to, after all that went down, but we had nothing to do with that. Tell Robbie that we are thrilled to find out there is another kid in the family we can hang out with.’ They even wrote letters to you to show their sincerity.” Robert then handed Robbie two letters from his other children that echoed that sentiment.

  “The company I work for has box seats at AT&T Park for the Giant’s games, Robert continued. “I was able to get those tickets for the game Saturday afternoon, April 9th. What I am proposing is that we pick you up in the morning, take you to the game, and then have dinner at our house afterward so you can meet Audrey and our new toddler son, Richie, who is also your half-brother. We really want to make the outreach. Please come, and we will do our best to show you a good time! If Camille wants to come, my daughter will stay at home. Otherwise, it will just be me, David and Nina, and you.”

  “We burned our bridges long ago, Robert,” Camille said, “so I have no desire to go with you on that Saturday. However, Robbie is free to make up his own mind on this. I won’t stand in his way if he would like to go.”

  “What do you say, Robbie?” Robert pressed. “David and Nina really want to meet you, and I’m sure will be pleasant company for you. And I would like to do something nice for you to start making up for the past four years!”

  Robbie thought things over for a little while then said, “I am also surprised to find out there are other kids my age who seem to care about me. For so long, the only family I have had is Mom. I still don’t know if I can or want to trust you, Father, because being part of a family isn’t just something you can turn on or off when you feel like it.”

  “I totally understand your reluctance, Robbie, and that you still feel very hurt inside. Only time can heal those wounds; good intentions can’t. Things have been tough for you but now your life has changed for the better. But don’t make your decision just based on your feelings about me. Why not start by seeing if you can connect with David and Nina? They were not responsible for anything I did, and they sincerely want to reach out to you. If nothing else can persuade you, think of this outing I am proposing as meeting some new friends who want to show you a good time. There is nothing wrong with that. Besides, seeing a live ballgame at a nice stadium in very good seats is a lot of fun.”

  “You make everything sound so promising,” Robbie replied. “I have always wanted to see a ball game at AT&T Park. Yet at the same time I know that I don’t want to be hurt any more.”

  “In your letter, you said how painful it was to go through life with no father to do things with. That part of the letter really got to me, Robbie. I know the suffering you went through was largely my fault, because of my negligence of you. That is why I came here tonight, to see if I could somehow start to turn things around, and slowly begin to make you realize how important you are to me. I know it will take a long time, but isn’t that what you want in
the long run?”

  “What are you intentions for the long run, Robert?” Camille interjected. “The last thing he needs is for you to show up, promise him a new family life, and then discover that it was just for show, to get off the hook from your family’s shock at how you treated your own son!”

  “I understand your bitterness at me, Camille, and your reluctance to take anything I say to you at face value,” Robert went on. “Our divorce was not amicable, and I made the mistake of thinking that giving you full time custody of Robbie was the best thing to do for him. Cutting off contact with him was stupidity on my part, something I will regret for the rest of my life. No matter what happened between us, Robbie is still my son, and I should have never abandoned him the way I did.”

  “So what are your true feelings for me?” Robbie asked.

  “I love you, Robbie,” Robert said. “I want to regain your trust, and hope that someday you will feel that you can call me Dad again. That’s a lot to hope for, given everything that you have been through lately. All I can ask you for, at this time, is to try to take some small steps in that direction. That’s what my proposed outing to the ballpark is, a small step in the right direction. I really hope that you will join us!”

  “All right,” Robbie decided. “I will take you up on your offer. And I will look forward to meeting David and Nina.”

  “That is so great to hear,” Robert answered. “I sure we will have a fantastic time at the ballpark. David and Nina will be pleased to hear that you are coming. They are super kids, and I think you will enjoy meeting them.” Robert then got up to leave. “We will pick you up around ten thirty on the ninth,” he said. “Can we at least shake on it?”

  As Robbie went over to his father to shake hands, Robert grabbed him in an embrace. “I love you, Robbie. Never forget that! And someday, I look forward to showing you and David about guy things like cars and tools!”

  After his father left, Robbie talked to his mother about what just had happened. “I hope you don’t think I am abandoning you in any way, Mom. You have always been there for me since day one!”

  “I know, Robbie. You are the best kid any mom could ask for! I love you with all of my heart! Just understand that this meeting with your father and his family is a kind of test. Sure they are curious about you, but if they somehow think that you are some sort of down and out loser without a lot of potential, their desire for new family relationships will soon die.”

  “So you don’t think I should trust him?” Robbie asked.

  “I think you need to take a very careful look at everything he says and does!” Camille replied. “After all, he had no trouble walking out on you once! What makes you think that he wouldn’t do it again if he thought it was in his best interests to do so?”

  “I don’t know, Mom, it’s just a feeling that I have that he wants to make up for what he did. After all he did send the money and come down here acting very sorry for what he did. And those letters from David and Nina seem genuine!”

  “That was one of his most persuasive arguments, Robbie,” his mother went on. “Until you meet them and see how they respond to you, you won’t know for sure!”

  “So you think that somehow this meeting is meant to find out if I am worthy to be a part of their family?” Robbie said with uncertainty in his voice.

  “Perhaps. But I have a great idea on how to get you ready.”

  “What’s that, Mom?”

  “I propose that we take some of the money he sent you and have a shopping spree this weekend. We will get you some Giants fan gear — a baseball cap and tee shirt, a new laptop computer so you can go online and visit their website, and a new high definition television so you can watch a few of their games and see how the team is doing. That will help you to be on an equal footing when you meet David and Nina and go to the game. Of course there are many other uses for the computer and television set!”

  “Sounds like a great plan, Mom!” Robbie said excitedly. “I can’t wait to finally join the modern age!”

  Chapter 35

  A Time To Celebrate?

  (April 1)

  It was lunch time at Merriam High School. Jason was about to meet Laura to have lunch together and find out the final details about a party she had planned for that evening to celebrate the all the successes of the past month: the Merriam High basketball championship and preventing the gamblers from forcing Chauncey to throw the game, solving the sexting case at school, bringing the human traffickers to justice, and now the announcement of Daniel’s band getting their first major break.

  Students were not permitted to have their cell phones out during class, so Jason always made a habit of checking his phone at lunch time, when cell phones were permitted, in case something had come up at the Whatever Foundation offices, or there were any messages or texts from his friends or parents. When he checked his phone, he saw that there was an urgent message from Jaime Orlando, the news reporter from the local television station. At the time of the boot camp scandal involving Tim, they had set up an information sharing arrangement.

  Jason returned Jaime’s call. “What’s up?” he asked when Jaime answered.

  “Jason, on tonight’s news I am reporting about how you and Daniel were the ones who broke open the Brandon Jacobs kidnapping case. Now that the traffickers are caught and indicted, the whole story is starting to come out. I know now that there were other young boys involved in the case that you also rescued. Would you be willing to come on camera this afternoon for a quick interview to confirm the details and make sure that your side of the story is presented correctly?”

  “Only if you agree not to reveal the names of the other two victims on the news. I think it would be very difficult for both of them, if you did. Besides, they are minors and their privacy needs to be respected.”

  “No problem with that, Jason,” Jaime replied. “The only reason the name of a minor crime victim becomes public knowledge is when the parents release the name as part of a public appeal, like what was done in the Brandon Jacobs case. You know that I respect what you are doing, and would never do anything intentionally that would be detrimental to you and Daniel or any young kid harmed by a criminal! Are you willing to do the interview? Can you come down to the KHHT studios after school?”

  Jason agreed to do the interview. He told Jaime that he would arrive around 3:30. When he arrived, he was quickly ushered into a studio that Jaime had set up for the interview.

  After the cameras were rolling, Jason told Jaime how a trip to see the Chinese New Year festivities in San Francisco started the case against the human traffickers. He explained how he and his friends discovered “Anthony” (Jason’s interview name for Jian-heng) held captive in the closet, were able to rescue him and bring him back to the Silicon Valley before a predator was able to get him.

  Jason: This is one time I think I am grateful for congested traffic and street closures! I’m sure lack of access to where Anthony had been stashed saved him from a horrible life in the control of child pornographers! The boy told us his story (through translation) about how he had stowed away with his older sisters to seek a better life but instead his welcome to America was being kidnapped and separated from his sisters who were taken to become domestic slaves. After hearing that, Daniel and I were determined to help out this brave and gutsy orphaned kid.

  Jason next narrated how he and Daniel searched for the traffickers based on slim clues Jian-heng had provided on a sheet of paper where he had been practicing writing English letters.

  Jason: We finally discovered where they were, but somehow they were alerted before Captain Garcia’s SWAT team raided the house.

  Jason described how Daniel’s discovery of a boy’s sneaker in the basement of that house led them to find “Tommy” (Robbie’s pseudonym) in a locked utility closet, unconscious and bound and gagged with tape.

  Jason: We then realized that we were dealing with some really evil traffickers, who were running a side business selling young kids to predators
! We had to stop them somehow, but we had no more clues after they abandoned the house.

  Jaime: How did you come to find Brandon Jacobs?

  Jason: Daniel and I were getting lunch at a sandwich shop, and happened to notice the story of his kidnapping on the television set there. The details were remarkably similar to what happened to Tommy. We decided to check it out but had no specific information to go on. Then Daniel remembered that there might be more lettering on the paper we had used before. I had a photo of it on my laptop. Daniel was able to decipher enough letters that gave us a possible location in Tracy. It was very much a long shot, but checking it out beat sitting around. We were able to find an address that matched what was on the paper. When we arrived we looked around for some visual confirmation. Luck was on our side.

  Just like Tommy, we found Brandon tied up and gagged in a locked room, this time in the loft of their barn. As soon as we broke into the room and found Brandon, we released him and called in the FBI. Then we got out of there as fast as we could. It was just in the nick of time, because one of the traffickers spotted us and fired at my SUV. But he was too late, and soon we had Brandon reunited with his parents!

  Jaime: This is another amazing case for Hunter & Holmes. How do you manage to keep finding these young people in trouble?

  Jason: Maybe it is luck or fate, I don’t know. All I know is that I am dedicated to fighting against these abusive criminals who want to harm kids. Whenever I get a chance, I try to do something about it. I encourage everyone to join me in this fight. Keep a watchful eye and report anything suspicious you see to the authorities!”

  Jaime: Thank you for sharing another extraordinary adventure with us, Jason. This is Jaime Orlando reporting for KHHT news where I have been talking with Jason Hunter, Silicon Valley’s ‘predator shredder’!”