Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Nodding he said, “Lucky for you that I had a bitch seat put on. Didn’t want to have to deny any rides if I wanted to pick someone up at a bar or somethin’.” Max said bawdily.
Curling my lip, I started to explain what was going on, and what I thought might be going on.
“So let me get this straight, Gabe was seeing someone during his last deployment, he’d gotten her pregnant, and went off to war, only to be dropped like a hot potato and told she’d aborted his baby and ran off with another man. Then she lied, or possibly lied about it all, and actually had Gabe’s baby? Do I have all this straight?” Blaine asked.
“That’s what I’m thinking. I saw that little girl, and she’s the spitting image of Gabe in the looks department. I remember thinking that she could totally pass for his kid. Except that I think that really was his baby. There are just too many coincidences here.” I said.
“Let’s get out of here. I’ll call Luke and see if he can find her last address. We can run a check on her at the shop. Jack, go see if you can find Gabe.” Sam demanded.
I exhaled slowly. Time to find the underlying cause of this monster clusterfuck.
Ω
“I’m coming with you, and I am not arguing with you. If you don’t take me with you, I will just go myself.” I said to Max and Sam.
Sighing in defeat, we all made our way out to Sam’s Suburban and piled in. We were going to go stake out Sidney’s house, and see if we could collect any more information. I’d grabbed my Canon in case I was able to get a photo. I wanted to prove to Gabe that this was his child. I didn’t want there to be any doubt.
Thirty minutes later, we were parked three houses down in one of the nicer subdivisions in Longview. The Moran household looked like one of the nicer ones on the block.
According to the background check, Elliott ran, and the information from Luke, Sidney was now Mrs. Logan Moran. They’d married about a year ago, and had a one and a half year old daughter. Mr. Moran was an engineer at LeTourneau industries. Sidney was a stay at home mom, and didn’t have any record.
We watched the house for over an hour before we got our first break. Sidney pulled up in her Audi and parked outside the garage. She went to the back door and started unbuckling the child that was in the back seat.
Using this excellent opportunity, I leapt out of the car with my camera ready, and started snapping photos of Sidney and the little girl. Sidney set the girl down and walked up to the house, calling out behind her for the girl to follow, and getting upset when the girl stopped to grab a flower that was growing in a flowerbed on the side of the driveway.
I stayed out of sight, but zoomed in as far as I could go, getting some excellent shots of the little girl with the flower up to her face. I took picture after picture, only stopping when Sidney was fed up with the little girl. She hauled her into the house by her arm, slamming the door behind her.
My heart was pounding. That was Gabe’s little girl. I just knew it.
Getting back into the Suburban, I clicked my seatbelt into place, and waited patiently for Sam and Max to get over their shock.
“How could a person do that to a man?” Max asked.
Nobody answered. We didn’t know.
The ride back to the compound was a silent one. Arriving at Free, we all headed into the office where everyone else was still residing. Checks were being run on the Moran family. Cheyenne was on the phone with the hospital setting up a DNA test. Blaine was on the phone with a judge. Elliott was on the phone with a lawyer explaining what was going on. All of these people loved Gabe, and this proved it.
A thundering roar pulled up outside of the shop, and I knew that Jack finally convinced Gabe to come home. I sat and waited, camera still in hand, for him to come through the door. He didn’t disappoint.
He looked ravaged.
Ω
Gabe
“I need to get in contact with a lawyer.” I said to no one in particular.
“We’ve already gotten the ball rolling. All we are waiting on now is paperwork, which can’t be filed until tomorrow morning. Your lawyer will be filing a custody suit at eight AM. She’ll be served with papers shortly after. Blaine here called in some favors and the Judge moved the case to the front of the list, so as soon as they’re served, a trial date will be set. The lawyer recommends not having any contact with the Moran’s until you have him present. He doesn’t want to leave anything to chance.” Elliott said to me.
I was dumbstruck. All this had been done in the two hours since leaving the barbeque joint. A little bit of hope took life in my chest.
Finally making eye contact with Ember, I noticed the camera she had clutched in her fingers.
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
She didn’t answer, but instead showed me.
Picture after picture was of a beautiful black haired, olive skinned girl. The girl was wearing a yellow top with flowered shorts. The shoes she was wearing were bright yellow. Her hair was in pig tales, ringlets flying in the wind. One picture was of Sidney herself taking the little girl out of the car seat. Another was of the little girl bent over picking a flower. Another of her smelling the flower. The final one was of a mean faced Sidney dragging her by the arm.
The last one set my gut back to churning.
“Jesus Christ. What’ve I done?” I said roughly.
“Gabriel, you didn’t do anything. You did what anyone would have done when presented with that situation. Why would you think she would lie about something like that? That’s just not something a good person lies about. Take this in, and then let it go, because you’re about to be in the fight of your life.” Ember said.