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My heart raced, and all my thoughts jumbled as I waited for Liam to fill me in.
Was this a one of the boys was sick to their stomach kind of call, or a they jumped off the roof kind of call? I needed to know.
He pulled the phone away from his ear. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, but there was no hiding the swirl of fear in his eyes.
My stomach sank and a wave of nausea washed over me. Without a word, I knew something was terribly wrong.
“The boys are missing.”
My hands shook against the steering wheel. Whether from fear or anger, I couldn’t tell.
How do two ten-year-old boys up and vanish in a matter of an hour? I saw them sixty minutes ago. Hugged them goodbye and watched as they slipped into the backyard with my dad on their heels. My mind raced to the hundreds of stories I’d heard of children going missing. Then I sent up a fervent silent prayer that they’d wandered a little too far in the woods and were making their way back.
Marigold and I had both called their phones no less than fifteen times. Every time their prepubescent voicemails played through the Bluetooth in my car, my heart rate sped up, as did the car itself. We’d gotten them the phones for emergencies. If they weren’t answering now, then—
“Liam.” Marigold’s voice was wobbly and full of tears. “They like that park down the road from your mom’s. What if they—what if—” She choked on her words, and my heart cracked a little more.
I had to be strong for her. If I showed any sign of fear, it would only cause her to freak out further. By the tears brimming in her eyes and the way she gnawed on her nails, it was obvious she was already assuming the worst in her mind. It was my job to stop it. To be her solace, her protector and provider.
I grasped her left wrist, pulling her hand away from her face, and laced our fingers. Then I squeezed hard enough to stop the trembling in both our limbs. I lifted her hand to my lips and pressed a tender but firm kiss along her knuckles.
“They’re fine.” The reassurance was just as much for me as for her. I kept my attention fixed on the road, veering past slow traffic. I squeezed her hand every few minutes, willing her to feel the comfort I was telegraphing to her. “They’re probably playing down by the creek and lost track of time. We’ll get there and find them.”
And I’ll kill them when we do.
She sniffed and nodded. Her other hand, still in the wrist brace, landed on top of our entwined fingers, garnering my attention. When I tore my focus from the road to glance at her, she was watching me, her eyes red rimmed and tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. The look she was giving me was one of a longing mother who just wanted to squeeze her boys. And I’d move heaven and earth to make that happen.
I gave her a confident nod, a silent promise. She mimicked the movement, although hers was a little more wobbly.
I didn’t know where we stood in most aspects of our lives right now. We were caught between an undeniable chemistry and a dark past. But I knew one thing for certain. We loved our boys more than anything. And right now, all that tension tugging between us had faded, and we were left with what truly mattered. With the most important connection at this moment. We were co-parents. Not business partners, as she liked to refer to us. But a mom and a dad who would lay it all down for their kids.
I pulled into the driveway of my childhood home, and before the car came to a stop, Marigold was ripping off her seat belt and flying toward the gate to the backyard. I didn’t protest, because I would’ve done the same if I hadn’t been driving.
As we bolted toward the back patio, we found my parents wringing their hands. Mom spoke first, more to Marigold than me. Her eyes were red rimmed too, and her shoulders were up near her ears. “I promise we were watching them. They were outside tossing a ball with Jerry. He only came in to help me pull down a box from the attic. He couldn’t have been inside for more than three minutes. When he came back out, they were gone. We figured they’d gone to play in the shop, but they weren’t there either. I swear we would never let—”
Marigold scooped my mom into a hug, wrapped her up tight, and squeezed. She didn’t speak. Maybe she couldn’t, or maybe she didn’t feel the need. She was a mom. She knew not every problem could be avoided. No words would reassure Mama B, but that one embrace did. A bit of the trepidation etched on my mom’s face melted away as she pulled back.
Marigold turned to me. “Should we check the creek? Maybe they went to the old bridge down there?”
“Creek?” Dad asked.
“Long story,” I supplied. My parents had never been privy to our visits to the creek in the woods on the neighbors’ property. Probably because, like our sons, we weren’t supposed to wander that far.
“I’ll get flashlights, then we can head down that way. Mom and Dad, stay here in case they come back and we miss them.” I turned for the back door, and Marigold followed.
“What if they’re stuck down there? It’s so dark, and the air is cooling pretty quickly. They probably didn’t bring their jackets—”
I stopped in my tracks and spun. She was so close she nearly collided with me. I grasped her shoulders to steady her, then slid my hands up to cup her jaw. “What did I say earlier? They’re fine. I meant it. We’re going to find them. They’re just out playing and lost track of time.”
She watched me so intently, like she was hanging on my every word. Like I was keeping her together. God, I hoped she’d let me hold her up and support her like this again.
Not ready to let go, I brushed my thumbs over her cheeks, taking in her blotchy skin and her trembling lip. With a long breath in, I silently cursed. When I found my boys, I swore I’d kill them for upsetting her like this.
Marigold sniffed and dipped her chin, and I took the opportunity to plant a reassuring kiss on her forehead. We were both too frantic to analyze it, but a warmth I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time unfurled in my chest at the contact.
“Let’s go.” I laced our fingers together and pulled her upstairs toward the guest room. Dad kept extra flashlights in the closet in case the power went out. “Let’s grab flashlights for the boys too. That way we can all have one on our way back.” Future plans felt like the way to go. I’d keep her thinking about the moment we found them in hopes of distracting her from her fear.
She nodded. “I’ll text the group chat and ask them to come help us look.” She pulled out her phone and tapped at the screen as we hurried down the hall.
