AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Emotion as big as the ocean plows through me. I leap on Kieran, my arms around his neck, before I can stop myself. His cheek is wet from my tear-streaked kisses. “He’s safe? Please tell me he’s safe. Oh, thank the angels we found him.”
“Aye. Declan has him.”
When I climb back to my seat, I’m confused. “Declan? I didn’t know he was looking—”
His hands tighten in the steering wheel.
“He wasn’t. Finn showed up at your father’s front gate. There’s more to this, but we need to hear it from Declan when we get there.”
The tone of Kieran’s final words set me on edge.
Nineteen minutes have passed by the time we get to the estate. The gate slides open just as Kieran hurls us into the driveway on two wheels.
“An ambulance?!” I shriek.
“For your father, not Finn.”
I’m scrambling out of the car, toward a crowd of guards, a paramedic, and Declan. Only, I’m jerked backward by my jacket. My breath leaves in an angry whoosh.
Kieran wraps a hand around the back of my neck, pulls me toward him, he drops his mouth to my ear, and whispers, “Your father doesn’t know about Finn.”
Declan glances our way and holds up his index finger. After a brief conversation, the paramedic rounds the ambulance and climbs into the passenger side. The driver shifts into drive a second later. Red lights flash across us as it moves down the driveway and beyond the gate.
Kieran lets me go. I trot to Declan. I have to see my baby. I need to know he is okay. God, please, let him be okay.
Breathless, still on the verge of hysteria, I ask, “Where is Finn?”
“In the guard shack. A couple of guys are with him. They’re having a snack.”
I grab Declan for a hug, which seems to shock him. He pats my back carefully. Releasing him, I sprint toward the building, not stopping as I pass Kieran.
Finn’s laughter coming out of the break room almost makes me collapse in relief. The first thing I see is his bright blue eyes full of pleasure. My heart explodes and a violent shake releases all the pent-up energy in my body.
I want to hug him, kiss him, shake him, scream at him for scaring me like that. I want to hold him forever and never, ever let go. I want to make him understand that we were all scared to death that he was gone. I want...
There is so much going on at once inside of me that I’m unable to deal with it, so I stay back for a second and just take in the fact that my baby boy is here. He is really here. Right in front of me. Safe. Laughing. Eating. Oblivious to the chaos he turned our lives into for the past few hours.
I love this little guy so much I can’t hold back anymore.
I’m laughing through tears, when I ask, “Two chocolate popsicles at once?”
He whips around, eyes rounding in disbelief. A second later, he’s in my arms, smearing one of the popsicles on my cheek.
We laugh together, as he breathes my nickname into my hair. “Cha-cha.”
“How are you, kiddo?”
“Better now. I need to talk to you.”
I drop to my knees in front of him, doing my best not to crush him. “Yes. I need to talk to you as well. I was so worried about you. You scared me so bad I’m an old woman now.”
As he licks the chocolate on his fingers, he eyes me with seven-year-old consternation. “You’re not old.”
“Inside, I am. When I thought you were gone, I turned to dried up weeds inside.”
He laughs, but whispers, “I’m sorry.”
I hug him again, kiss his smooth cheek. “Why did you come here?”
