“Harry, it’s David!” I point out ecstatically. “Tell Randall we found him! We found him!”
Aftermath
Randall
We found him.
When Sabrina woke me up and first told me that David was missing, I thought I was having a nightmare. And for a moment back there when we were searching, I was afraid we would never find him, that I’d lost him forever.
Now, thank goodness, he’s right in front of me again, eating his fries and his burger.
After Sabrina and Harry told me they found him, I went to get him then decided to spend some time with him. Now, we’re having lunch, and I’ve decided it’s time to talk to him about my marriage to Sabrina.
“David, you have to understand that my marriage to Sabrina wasn’t planned,” I tell him, touching his shoulder. “And we definitely didn’t do it to make you sad. We did it because it was the best thing to do for all of us.”
“How is it the best for me?” David asks, pouting as he grabs a potato wedge from the basket. “I didn’t want this. And now, I’m left out again.”
“You’re not left out, and you haven’t lost anything. You gained something.”
“You mean a mother? I don’t want Sabrina to be my mother.”
“Then let her be your friend. Play that video game with her and give her the chance to be your friend.”
“Why should I?” David takes a bite from his burger. “She doesn’t care about me. All she cares about is you.”
“Do you really think that’s true?” I ask my son. “In the past week, hasn’t Sabrina been knocking at your bedroom door trying to talk to you? And when she found you earlier, wasn’t she almost crying tears of joy? Didn’t she hug you tight?”
“If she cared about me, she would have asked me first if she could marry you,” David says.
Now there’s something. Maybe things would have been better if Sabrina was the one who had told him about the marriage. She gave that job to me because she was afraid David would end up getting mad at her, but it made no difference. David is still mad.
“Would you have said yes?” I ask curiously.
David shrugs, taking another bite of his burger.
“What if I told you that this marriage was more of an agreement?”
He gives me a confused look.
“What if I told you that we married so that I could protect Sabrina because there’s a bad guy who wants to get her?”
“What bad guy?”
“Someone Sabrina met in the past. She trusted him, but he did bad things to her.”
“What bad things?” David reaches for his glass of juice.
“Bad things,” I repeat. “Things that could have happened again, and I didn’t want them to. Sabrina’s our friend, right?”
“So you married her because she’s your friend?”
I shrug. “That’s one way of looking at it.”
“And she married you back because you’re her friend, too?”
“Yes. And so she can continue watching over you.”
David says nothing.
I reach for his hand. “We keep her safe, and she takes care of us. That’s the way it is.”
“Is that why you married my mother, too? Because she was your friend?”
I pause, not expecting the question.
David has barely asked about his mother before.
“Yes, she was my friend, too,” I answer truthfully.
“I see.” David eats another potato wedge.
“Do you? Do you understand now, David?”
“A bit.”
“So you’re not mad at me anymore?”
“You’re my Dad. I can’t stay mad at you.”
That’s good to hear.
“What about Sabrina? Can you let her be your friend? Can you give her another chance?”
David shrugs. “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay.”
It’s not quite the answer I’m hoping for but I’ll take it. At least, David doesn’t seem mad anymore.
“And one more thing,” I say to him. “Do you promise me that you’ll never run away again?”
He looks at me.
“Promise me,” I urge.
“Fine. I promise.”
“Good.” I ruffle his hair.
Things may not be okay yet, but this is a vast improvement. I can’t wait to tell Sabrina.
***
“I can’t do this anymore,” Sabrina says moments after I walk in through the door of our bedroom, finding her sitting on a chair near the window, her hands on her head.
As I approach her, I see the bunched-up wads of Kleenex in the trash can and I frown.
She’s been crying this whole time?
“Hey.” I kneel in front of her. “What’s wrong?”
“You know what’s wrong,” she mumbles, grabbing another wad of Kleenex to blow her nose.
“No, I don’t.” I reach for her hand. “Nothing’s wrong. David is home now. He fell asleep in the car on the way home, and now he’s sleeping in his bed, safe and sound. I’ve talked to him, too, and he said he’ll think about giving you another chance.” I squeeze her hand. “See? Everything’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.” Sabrina pulls her hand away as she stands up. “David could have been lost out there. He could have been hurt. He could have been hit by a car. Someone could have kidnapped him. Vince could have kidnapped him and hurt him. Vince could have killed him!”
I stand. “Well, that didn’t happen. And it’s not going to happen.”
“It’s all my fault.” Sabrina paces, apparently not having heard what I said. “I shouldn’t have married you. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of your kindness.”
“You didn’t do any such thing.”
“I should have just left. If I had, none of this would have happened. If I ran away, David would not have run away.”
“Well, I was the one who stopped you,” I remind her. “So sue me.”
“I should have just refused your offer.” She drops her hands to her side as she stops walking. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into this mess.”
“You didn’t drag anyone, Sabrina.”
“It’s all my fault,” she says again.
She isn’t listening again, running her hands through her hair exasperatedly.
I shake my head, my hands on my hips. “None of this is your fault.”
“I should never have come here in the first place. I should have known there was no way for me to run away from Vince or hide from him.”
I frown. “There is a way, okay? You’re safe now.”
“But at what cost? Look at what happened to David.”
“Nothing happened to David.”
“But what if something did?” She looks at me, her eyes brimming with tears. “I would never have been able to forgive myself if something had happened to him.”
I sigh. “And I’m telling you nothing happened to him so you should stop beating yourself up over this. There’s no reason for you to.”
Why on Earth can’t she see that? Why isn’t she listening to me?
She shakes her head. “I’m selfish. A part of me wanted to stay, wanted you to stop me, even though it meant putting you and David in danger.”
“Sabrina…”
“I don’t deserve your kindness, Randall. I don’t deserve your protection.”
Now I’m the one who’s frustrated.
“Why not?” I grab her by the shoulders. “Why don’t you deserve kindness or happiness? What did you do, huh?”