Scandalous Heroes Box Set (134 page)

“I’m sorry, things got all screwed up. I couldn’t think straight half the time,” Adam said in a broken voice.

“I was scared out of my mind. Don’t do that…talk to me…tell me... don’t just up and leave like that. You all I got…you’re my brother,” Abe said with a quaver in his voice.

Belinda watched as her sons made peace and renewed their bond.

“Dad,” Abe called to Donnie, who walked over to them. “Are we about done here?”

“I don’t know. It’s up to your mom. Depends on what she wants to do.” Everyone’s gaze fell on her.

She cleared her throat and tried not to see the disappointment in Blaine’s eyes. “I’m pressing charges as soon as the police get here. We can leave after that.”

“Mom…no. Please…just let it go.” Adam turned away from Abe and gave her an imploring look.

Belinda’s head snapped back as if he slapped her. Tamping down the rage over what she and her son had endured over the past few days, she could only stare at him shaking her head. “She had you, my sixteen-year-old son, locked in the ground for I don’t know how long. I asked her where you were and she lied, said you weren’t here. You think I am going to allow her to do that to somebody else’s child?”

“Mom…please?”

She pointed her finger at him. “We have been searching for you for three days, you are not Jesus who rose on the third day, no matter what kind of call she thinks is on your life. Do you have any idea what that means? We chased down every lead, been all over Michigan looking for you. We get here and discover Trinity Jacobs brought you here. And you expect me to be okay with all that?”

“It’s not what you think,” Adam said in a small voice that sent chills of apprehension down her spine.

“You have no idea what I think, so tell me what happened.”

He looked around and then faced her again. “Can we have some privacy?”

She nodded, turned and looked at Red. “Can the three of you step out for a while, we’ll catch up with you up at the house.”

Red nodded and waved the two elder O’Connors out the door.

Belinda turned to face Adam and crossed her arms. The excitement of finding her son had faded somewhat beneath the dread of what he had to say. “Explain, Adam.”

He glanced at Blaine and then at her again.

“No, I am not asking your father or Abe or his father to leave the room. We are a family, deal with it. Now tell us what happened and why I shouldn’t press charges against Trinity Jacobs.”

Adam closed his eyes, released a long sigh and folded his arms across his chest. “I contacted her, she didn’t recruit me or anything like that.”

Hearing his confession hurt. He knew how she felt about Trinity and had still turned to the woman.

“Why?” Abe asked, frowning. “She’s crazy, we know that. You and I joke about it all the time.”

Adam nodded. “I know. Well, I don’t think she’s crazy, crazy…just weird. But she does…well, know a lot about God and the Bible. I had questions.” His gaze slid away from her, sending a shot of pain through her chest. Remembering Trinity’s comments on Belinda’s love life, she had an idea what kind of questions he had.

“Did she answer your questions?” she asked as calmly as possible.

“No, not really. There are a lot of contradictions, too many to fully understand,” Adam said frowning.

“That’s because life isn’t always so clear cut, things aren’t always black or white, some things are in between,” Blaine said, stepping closer to them.

“But that makes it hard to know what’s the right thing to do. It shouldn’t be so hard to understand,” Adam said, meeting Blaine’s gaze for the first time.

Blaine nodded. “Ask us your questions, we’ll try to answer.” Blaine reached out and took Belinda's hand. She squeezed his back

Swallowing hard, Adam looked at their joined hands for a moment. “Okay, is God okay with mom having babies from two different men at the same time?” He threw out his hand to her, meeting her gaze with a tortured one of his own. “I’m sorry Mom, this has been bothering me and I can’t seem to let it go. I don’t want you to…you know… go down there over this.”

The impact of his words slammed into her. He thought she was going to hell for having children? When had his thinking become so twisted?

“Adam?” She called his name softly.

He met her gaze with some hesitation.

“Who gives life?”

He frowned. “Huh?”

Holding Blaine’s hand, she moved closer to Adam. “I asked who gives life? It is a precious gift and I wondered if you knew who the Life Giver is?”

“God,” he said slowly. “He gives life. We learned that in Sunday School a long time ago.”

Abe nodded but remained silent.

“Do you believe God would give life and then send me to hell for bringing forth that life? I mean, if you think about it, He didn’t have to allow me to get pregnant. Women have sex all the time and don’t have babies. But I did. I considered my ability to get pregnant and have two awesome sons a gift from the Life Giver.”

Adam stared at her for a few moments and then nodded slowly. “Every good and perfect gift comes from above. But sex outside marriage is a sin.”

She nodded. “Okay. Is that what’s bothering you? The fact I had sex outside of marriage and got pregnant? God has forgiven me for that. Is that why you ran away?”

Adam released a long sigh. “No. I ran away because of him.” He pointed at Blaine.

“Why?” Blaine asked.

“I… you…you wanted to be my dad.”

“I am your dad.”

“How do you know that?” Adam snapped.

Blaine squeezed her hand when she started to intervene. “Because I believe your mother. She said you’re my son and that settles it for me.”

“But what if you’re not and you find out later…and then leave, or everything changes again. That would be…no…it would be the worst.”

Belinda’s heart bled at the fear and longing she heard in Adam’s voice. Once again tears filled her eyes as she wrapped him in her arms. Blaine came behind her and wrapped them both in his arms.

“I’m not going anywhere, Son. I would do anything for you, Abe, and your mom, except leave you alone. We’re family, different but still family,” Blaine said in a gruff voice full of emotion.

“You have to give him a chance, Adam. Stop fighting and hiding behind religion and everything else. Take a chance and get to know your father, open your heart just a bit,” she said softly. Adam’s eyes flicked over her shoulder before nodding.

Blaine’s arms tightened around them again.

“Ah…” she said, pushing her way out, wanting the two men to find their own way. She stepped closer to Abe and Donnie, who were watching from the sidelines. “You okay?” She ran her hand over the top of Abe’s head.

He ducked when she went to do it again. “Yeah, I’m much better now. I didn’t realize I had all that inside. I was really mad at him for leaving me.”

She nodded. “Glad you were able to release it.” Looking at her watch she called out. “It’s getting late and I am not convinced about not pressing charges. So give me a reason not to file a complaint.”

Adam ran his hand through his hair as if he were being harassed.
Tough.
“I contacted Ms. Trinity. I got her phone number off one of those cards she sends you, asked her to meet me. We talked. She reminded me of my pledge to god-mama to serve God. I didn’t think I could do it. She suggested I fast and pray to seek God’s vision for my life, and that’s what I’ve been doing. When I heard you were here looking for me, I wanted to go home.”

“So you can continue to fast and pray?” Belinda asked, wanting to slap him upside his head. She had been out of her mind worrying about him and he was taking some sort of religious hiatus.

“Huh? Um no. I pretty much got my answer. I will always be a Christian, hopefully a good one, but all this fasting and praying…that’s not for me. Ms. Trinity gave me lots of scriptures that talk about doing those things, she said that’s how I get closer to God. But I'm so hungry I can’t focus on praying for anything but something to eat.”

Abe and Donnie laughed.

She tried to remain serious but smiled.

Blaine hugged Adam. “I know a place not far from here with some pretty good food. We can stop on the way home. But your mom’s right, Trinity should’ve told your mom where you were after we got here. If she’d been checking on you, she would’ve known the fasting thing wasn’t working.”

“Well, she really doesn’t like you. That could be a part of it,” Adam said slowly.

Hearing him admit that she and the woman he had turned to were at odds, pushed the dagger deeper into her heart. “And I am pressing charges. Nothing you’ve said has made me change my mind.” Belinda turned and left the shed.

“But Mom, it wasn’t her fault. I was the one who asked her to let me hang out for a while.”

Bristling with anger, Belinda spun around, pointed at him, and stomped closer. “For all this time? In a hole? To get closer to God?” She leaned forward so he could see how serious she was. “You are sixteen, she’s twice your age and knows better. At the very least, she should have told me.” She slapped her chest. “What was going on when I asked. This playing God stops today. You are the last child she will stow away for their own good.”

“But . . . ”

“Not another word.” She took another step closer. He stepped back. “Not another word from you. That man is your father, and that one is your uncle, and in case you aren’t sure, I’m your Mama.”

“Mom...”

“No. You don’t have the right to speak. The time to talk was when you were thinking about leaving, a conversation would’ve been nice then. What about, ‘
Mom I'm concerned that if I develop a relationship with my dad he might disappear again and I don’t think I can handle that
.’ ” She tapped his chest with her finger. “That would've opened the door for this conversation we're now having… too many days later,” she yelled, overcome with turbulent emotions. “I thought…we didn’t know what to think. We saw kids who were bruised, battered, some left for dead. They called us each time because you're on the missing person’s list. Each time we looked into the face of someone else’s child we were so grateful it wasn’t you. Do you have any idea how that felt?”

Tears rolled down his face, but she was undeterred. This kind of selfish behavior could never be repeated.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted….”

“What? What Adam? You want a guarantee that life is going to be good? That your dad won’t disappoint you? Leave you? What do you want? Tell us now, because if you ever pull a stunt like this again I’ll beat your ass till it’s black and blue, dammit,” she yelled as tears streaked her face.

“I’m scared. What if he realizes what a screw up I am and doesn’t want me. I mean look at this. I thought it was the right thing to do. Seek God’s plan for my life and it turned into a mess. You’re angry with me. Uncle Red and everybody else stopped what they were doing to look for me. It never occurred to me that they would do that.”

“You mean you never thought I would look for you,” Blaine said softly behind him.

Adam nodded.

Blaine took Adam by the shoulders and turned him around to face him. “Look at me son.”

Emotionally exhausted, Belinda wiped her face with the back of her hand and hoped Blaine was able to get through to her stubborn son. She stood nearby ready to assist, but this was one time she preferred to let someone else deal with the boy.

“You left with no word.”

“But . . .”

Blaine raised a hand. “Let me finish. Knowing you had been targeted by a gang for membership, and that you were still healing from an injury and not able to defend yourself fully.” He shook his head. His deep voice sounded like a wounded animal begging for mercy. “I hurt in every part of my being not knowing what was happening to you. How could I rest? How could I not look for you? You’re my son, a part of me. I needed to see you again, alive and healthy. You prayed?” His lips curled in a wry grin. “We prayed that you were okay. It seems we all got closer to God through this.”

Belinda applauded Blaine’s efforts at making the situation lighter. “Yeah, that’s true.”

Blaine and Adam faced each other for a few moments, watching. “I’m sorry,” Adam said and hugged his father. Belinda blinked back her tears.

Understanding the enormity of the breakthrough occurring, no one spoke. Belinda turned to leave.

“Mom?” Abe called out

“Yeah?” She stopped again, wondering if she would ever leave the shed.

“Can we go back to Pennsylvania with dad and stay until school starts?”

If she had been walking she would have stumbled. The thought of the twins leaving, both sets, sent a shaft of pain through her chest, weakening her. Inhaling deeply to steady her nerves, she pasted a smile and looked over her shoulder.

“Sure, if it’s okay with your dad. I need to go speak to the police and press charges.” She moved quickly to reach the front of the building before she invited herself along.

Blue flashing lights met her gaze as she turned the corner. Veronique and Trinity stood in front of the police officer. Whereas Trinity’s arms were making wild gestures as she spoke, Veronique was a contrast in dignity and class. She stood slightly apart with an air of cool calm that conveyed authority. Belinda was glad the woman was on her side.

“Here is my client,” Veronique said, interrupting Trinity mid-sentence. “Belinda, I’ve informed this officer that you found your son locked in an underground bunker on this property. Ms. Jacobs is saying she has no knowledge how he got there. She wants us to believe he’s a stowaway on her property and that he pulled the iron door over himself.” Sarcasm dripped from every word she spoke.

“Adam is no stowaway, she hid him there.” Belinda wrestled with her conscience for a second. “He says he asked her for help and that was her solution to his problem.”

“His problem?” The officer took a step in her direction. “What’s wrong with him? What kind of problem requires being locked underground for days?”

“That’s what I wanted to know,” she said before she thought better. Exhaling, she cleared her throat. “He wanted to seek God’s plan for his life.”

No one spoke.

“I told you I didn’t do anything to him,” Trinity said, not realizing the number of incredulous stares turned in her direction.