“You don’t have to do this now. You probably had a very long trip. You should go try and rest…” Dad smiled and put his hands on either side of Vicki’s face.
“You’re beautiful. I don’t ever want you to have to go through what Alex’s mother did. No woman should ever have her babies taken away… it’s not natural. My wife was taken from me the day that Christopher was.”
I could see that both he and Vicki had tears in their eyes. I suddenly got a chill. Whatever he is talking about really happened. Oh my God. “Dad, Vicki’s right, if this is too hard we don’t have to do this now, but I do want to know what happened, eventually.”
He shook his head. “I’ve put it off for over twenty-five years because it was too hard. I need to do this now.” He smiled at Vicki and patted the side of her face and then he said, “That phone call came from the police. Christopher was reported missing from his crib by the nanny at 2 p.m. They waited over an hour before they called me. That day there were twelve workers there that weren’t regular staff according to the security logs. Those people were all questioned and cleared. The nanny was questioned and cleared, all of the regular staff and even security were questioned and cleared.”
“Did you get a demand for ransom?” I asked him.
He nodded. “It was almost two whole days later when they called. The person that called used one of those machines that scrambles and changes your voice. They said they wanted two million dollars in cash. I wasn’t the kind of wealthy that you are son. Much of my wealth in those days was in assets… stocks, real estate, and business ventures. I told them I would get the money but I would have to have a day or two to get it together. They told me I had twenty-four hours or they were going to bury Christopher alive and we would never see him again. Your mother and I began scrambling to sell anything and everything we had that we could sell, the cars, boats… we pulled out every extended line of credit that we could, all of our savings, your savings… everything. By the twenty-second hour with help from some very good friends, we were able to make the two-million. We sat by the phone and waited. Twenty-four hours went by and nothing happened, and then forty-eight and seventy-two. They never called back and we never saw our son again.”
“Oh my God!” Vicki had her hand over her mouth like she was going to be sick. She was no doubt thinking about our son. I was trying to wrap my head around something that happened to alter the course of my entire life and I didn’t know anything about it. It was surreal, but it explained so much.
“Did you look for him?”
“Of course. We never stopped. I’ve had a staff of private investigators doing nothing but looking for him. Every male child’s remains around the age that he was are DNA tested and my investigators make sure that Christopher’s DNA is on file with every state agency…. we’ve never found a trace of him, anywhere.”
We all sat silently for the longest time. What was there to say? I had a brother and then I didn’t. My parents had two sons and then they didn’t. People or a person thought that they could put a price on a child’s life and the end result was the destruction of a family.
Vicki finally broke the silence by saying, “If you’ll both excuse me, I’m going to check on Michael.”
“Are you okay?” I hated the thought of her having this in her head now, worrying about our son every minute of every day.
She came over and bent down next to me. She kissed my cheek and pressed her mouth to my ear and said, “I’m okay. We’re all going to be okay. Take care of your father.” I nodded, but when she was gone I had no idea what to say to the broken man in front of me. I suddenly felt like I didn’t know him. Before, I was frightened of him, but I at least knew how to feel. Now I am at a complete loss.
“Do you want to go into the study and have a drink, Dad?”
He shook his head slowly. Finally he looked up at me and he said, “Your mother and I know that we were wrong. We know that we cheated you… we just didn’t know how else to deal with it. It was a protective mechanism, I suppose. I threw myself into work and your mother withdrew and you were left out there to flutter in the wind all alone. We were terrible parents and nothing I can say now can make that better.”
I got up and went over to the chair next to him. I sat down and said, “We can’t change the past, you’re right, but now that I know about Christopher I can at least understand what happened. I feel so bad for you and Mom. I’m sorry, Dad.”
My father did something then that I can’t ever remember him doing before. He reached out and hugged me. He pulled me in so tightly that he cut off my air, but that was okay, for the first time in my life I felt safe and loved in my father’s arms.
VICTORIA
When I left the dining room, I really thought that I was going to be sick. I couldn’t even imagine going through what Alex’s parents have been through and surviving it. I went up to Michael’s room and even though I had the monitor in my pocket and I could hear his even, unlabored breaths, I was still in panic mode until I saw him. He looked so peaceful and perfect and I was tempted to pick him up and hold him. I wanted to feel him in my arms, make sure that he’s real. I knew that was me being selfish, so I pet his soft little head and sat down next to the crib instead. I sat there and watched him sleep and I wondered what my life would be like if he was taken away from me now. I shivered and realized that was the only thing that could ever possibly convince me to take my own life. I sat there for close to an hour with those depressing thoughts running through my head and by the time Alex found me there, the sun had gone down around us and the room was dark.
He did the same thing I had done first; he put his hand gently on Michael’s back to feel the rise and fall of his chest and then he pet his soft hair. He knelt down next to me and laid his head in my lap. I stroked his hair gently wondering what he must feel like to find all of this out after so long.
“Are you okay?” he asked me after a while.
“I’m good baby. How about you?”
“I’m okay. It’s hard to mourn someone that you never knew. I feel so bad for my parents, and really guilty for all of the things I thought about them in the interim.”
“But like you said, you didn’t know. So, their behavior rightly felt strange to you, and wrong. But I keep looking at our little angel and trying to imagine their pain and I can’t even come close.”
“You’ll never have to feel that kind of pain… I’m going to make sure of it.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
VICTORIA
When I woke up the next morning, Alex was gone and there was a note on his pillow. It said, “I have to work for a few hours and then meetings with lawyers. Call me if you need ANYTHING and take one of the security men with you if you go anywhere. I love you!”
“I love you too,” I said aloud to the room. I missed him already. I got up and picked up the baby monitor. There was no noise coming from Michael’s room at all. I grabbed my robe and when I pulled open the bedroom door, Karen was there talking to the new upstairs maid.
“Good morning, Victoria.”
“Good morning,” I said quickly, turning towards Michael’s room.
“He’s not in there.”
“What? Oh my God! Where is he?” That quickly I could feel my blood pressure go up and my heart race.
Karen’s face fell and she said, “Oh dear, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Mr. Reigns has him down in the sunroom.”
“Alex?”
“No, James.” I had to take several deep breaths to get my heart rate down. Karen watched me with wide eyes and then she said, “I’m so very sorry.”
I managed a smile and said, “Don’t be, Karen. I overreacted. Thank you for letting me know.” I smiled at them both and went down the stairs. James and Michael were indeed in the sunroom. James had his back to me but I could see Michael’s little face looking up at his grandfather as he held him out in front and sang to him. He was singing, “You are my Sunshine” and Michael looked enthralled. I waited un
til he finished and then I said, “Good morning.”
James turned towards me and looking abashed he said, “Oh, you caught me. Good morning.”
“It was a beautiful rendition, wasn’t it Michael?” My baby was craning his neck and his beautiful eyes were trying to track my voice. It’s the little things like that when you’re a parent that makes your whole day. James noticed too. He smiled at the baby.
“You hear your mama, don’t you handsome boy. Here you go, there’s your mama.” He handed him to me and said, “Thank you for him.”
I laughed. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you like him because there’s a definitive no return policy.”
He looked sad and I realized that probably wasn’t the smartest statement in lieu of what he’d told us the night before. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me.”
He shook his head. “Please don’t apologize; I know that you didn’t mean anything. You know something Victoria?”
“What sir?”
“First of all, stop calling me sir. It’s James. Anyways, I absolutely cannot stand Cassandra. I never could. I didn’t care that she was from the same social class as Alex, she was just rotten to the core and I knew it the first time I met her. I don’t know if Alex told you or not, but I’m a pretty good judge of people.”
“He did tell me and I agree with you about Cassie, I’ve always thought the same thing.”
“Well what I wanted to tell you is that I think my son did about one hundred percent better this time. I read all the crap the tabloids printed and I could care less about any of it. Anyone with half a brain knows they don’t print the actual truth in those rags. If Alex loses a customer or two because of it, that’s their loss. I honestly don’t think anybody in this day and age is going to care anyways. My point is I hope you’re not letting any of it bother you. I know that all of this unwanted attention is probably new to you.”
“It definitely is… and I was really worried about it at first. I wasn’t worried about how it made me look; I honestly could care less about that. I was worried about Alex’s business and I am worried about my son reading it someday. You know with the internet now, nothing ever goes away.”
He nodded and then looked at the baby who had snuggled against my chest and went back to sleep. “He’s a Reigns, so he will have to be taught about the press and the paparazzi at a young age unfortunately, but I don’t think they’ll be able to tell him anything that’ll make him think poorly of his Mama.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded. “I’m going to see what Cook has cooking in there. I’ll let you two get on with your morning routine.”
He left and I sat in the rocking chair next to the window. The sun was streaming in and I leaned back and closed my eyes. After a minute Michael started fussing and when he did, I opened my eyes just in time to catch the flash of a shadow at the window. I screamed causing the baby to cry. I didn’t realize there was security inside the house, but a huge bald guy came running in.
“What is it Miss?”
“There was someone at the window.” He called on his radio for back-up as he ran out. I took Michael and went out of the glass-enclosed room. I was suddenly afraid to stand next to a window; what was happening?
“Victoria, are you okay?” James and Cook ran out from the kitchen.
“Yeah, there was someone at the window. Security went after him.” Cook put his arm around me. James looked torn as if he was thinking about going after them himself. Before he decided to do that, the big guy came back in. He was talking on his radio and carrying Jason by the scruff of his neck. I lost it as soon as I saw him. I pushed my poor baby into a shocked James's arms and while the security officer still held him, I slapped him hard across the face. “You son of a bitch!”
The security officer’s lips twitched. Cook was laughing outright and poor James still looked shocked. “You know this guy?” Mr. Security asked me.
“Yes, unfortunately. This is Jason Bowers, my ex-boyfriend.”
The security officer whose name badge I can see now says “Joe,” tossed Jason into a chair. I could see then that his hands were cuffed together at the back with a pair of plastic cuffs. “Don’t move,” he said, threateningly. He got back on the radio and gave his superiors Jason’s name. They told him the police were on their way.
“What were you doing here, Jason? How did you even get on the property?” I wanted to slug him again. The coward wouldn’t even look up at me.
“He’s not talking to me either,” Joe said. “Of course as soon as I got ahold of him I shoved his face into the pavement and cuffed him. I guess he’s not fond of foreplay.” Jason was still looking at the floor.
I looked at Joe and asked, “Did someone call Mr. Reigns or should I do that?”