The End Of The Road | HEROPHINE

Chapter 23

Hero's Pov:
'Clever boy!' I praise my baby son as he shakes his adorable little rattle in his hand. Eventually he shakes it so hard it flies out of his hand and I catch it, laughing at how lively he is today.
Mum was right, I haven't been giving him much of my attention lately and that is going to change.
'Give yourself a clap, come on then!' I encourage him by clapping my hands together and he initially looks confused but then smiles and claps his tiny hands together, clearly proud of himself.
'Yeah, good boy.' I scoop him onto my lap and amuse him by pushing toy cars around in front of him on the carpet. To my surprise, he picks up a car and rolls it over my leg. I turn him to face me and tickle under his chin, allowing me to hear that little giggle of his. My son means the world to me and I know that I need to put him first. Of course, I'm still worried sick about Jo, and I will continue to search until I find her. But right now, John needs his Dad. I only hope I can bring his Mum back to him.
'Right, be quiet a minute so Daddy can make a phone call.' I tell him, standing up and picking up my phone in my spare hand. I find the right number and ring it, waiting for an answer.
'Hero?'
'Hi Mum. Can we talk?'
'Of course, dear.' She says, sounding a little uncertain.
'I'm so sorry for the way I talked to you. You were right. John has to be my priority.'
'No, I'm sorry. I should have been more sensitive. I know you miss Jo.' She replies, surprising me a little.
'Don't even worry about that. You got through to me like you always do.' I say, meaning it.
'I only snapped because I was hurt that as soon as you got here you just asked me to babysit. I was looking forward to catching up with you, Hero.' She says, and I finally make sense of her feelings in this argument.
'I understand. I promise, when I can, we'll go and get lunch together or something.'
'I would love that.' Mum says.
Suddenly the call is interrupted by a beeping sound and I check the screen quickly before returning it to my ear.
'Mum, Elizabeth is calling me. It might be important.'
'Go! Answer it. We'll talk later.'
'Thanks Mum.' I say, switching to the incoming call from Jo's mother.
'Hello?'
'Hero, Jo's been sighted.'
'What?' My voice raises this time, my heart racing.
'In some woods, a few miles away from here. I can text you the exact area.'
'What.. why would she be there? Who told you, the police?' I struggle to get the words out. I'm in shock.
'No, the woman rung me. She got my number from the missing posters we put up. Should we let the police know?'
'No! No.. I think this is something I need to do alone. Having them there is too risky. And it's not like they're the ones who got half the information so far. That was me.' I tell her.
'Okay. Bring John here.' She replies, and I say a very quick goodbye before pocketing my phone, grabbing my keys and heading for the door.

...

'Come on my lovely.' Elizabeth says, taking John out of my arms and securing him against her chest. He's so close to both his grandparents on Jo's side and some day when he's a bit older I'm taking him to London- with Jo, of course- and he's going to be just as close to my parents.
'Okay, I'll call you when I find her.' I say, zipping my jacket up.
'Hero.'
'Yeah?'
'Be careful.' She says.
'I will be.'
I lean forward and kiss John's forehead, before heading back to my car.

...

I knock on the door, hard, and take a step back for caution.
'What the fuck are you doing here?' Roger asks me, anger present in his tone.
'Look, I know I'm the last person you wanna see. But I know where to find Jo.'
He just looks at me blankly, not responding.
'Rog, both girls are in danger and it's likely wherever they are, they're together. This is our chance to find them!'
With that, he only nods, and follows me to my car. As he's about to open the passenger door, he stops in his tracks.
'I'll be right back.'
I get in the drivers seat and wait for his return.
I know we're not mates but we both want our wives back, so we need to work together.
'Okay, let's go.' Roger says, closing his door.
'Right, let's—' I forget my words as I look down to see a gun in his hand.
'What the..?'
'Look, we might need it. Who knows what this fucker is armed with? It's for our safety.' He explains.
'But how did you get a gun?'
'I borrowed it from a mate after Clara went missing. I was.. worried. Worried that they'd maybe come for me next so I wanted some self defence.'
And no matter how much I question this story, I push my doubt aside.
The important thing here is finding my wife.
Yeah, and his too.