Finding You Always

Price Tag

Chapter 174: Price Tag

Jacinda parked her car at Henry's apartment complex that morning and Lucy practically flew out of her seat, before rushing in.

"Lucy...wait!" Jacinda called.

"Come on Mom...we gotta check on Henry," she said urgently.

"I know sweetie, but he probably had a rough night. It's still early, so we need to be quiet," she replied, as she carried a bag containing bagels for breakfast and a coffee tray. The night before when Henry failed to show up at Roni's for a promised drink, she had been mad at first about being stood up, until Roni told her that Henry had been abducted. The whole night had been a whirlwind of emotions as the events unfolded and she could only live on what information she was able to get from Roni. Especially since the person that had kidnapped him happened to be her ex and Lucy's father. She hadn't told Lucy what Nick had done yet and had managed to keep her away from the television thus far. But she knew she was going to have to tell her soon. If anything, she was grateful that Lucy was not close to her biological father and he had largely been absent from her life. To think that a murderer was even anywhere near her little girl though made her shudder.

Henry opened the door after the third knock and her heart nearly broke. He looked terrible and like he hadn't slept a wink. And she couldn't help but hug him immediately.

"Oh we were so worried about you when we heard," Jacinda said, as he gently hugged her back.

"Did he hurt you?" she asked.

"Uh...no, I'm okay," he replied. But she wasn't convinced.

"You don't look okay," she said. He looked at her and remembered that blonde from last night that was pleading with him. But it couldn't be...there was no way she could be his mother. And there was no way the Nolans could be his grandparents. It just didn't make any sense. And though the blood test that supposedly proved that Lucy was his daughter was pretty convincing, he knew there were ways to forge tests like that. He just didn't know why anyone would do that or go through such lengths of convince him that his book was real.

"Yeah...last night was pretty insane," he replied.

"Roni told us some of it...I just can't believe he did those things," she said, as there was an awkward pause.

"We brought bagels," Lucy offered, breaking the tension. Henry managed a smile and looked at her. Could it really be true? Could she be his and they just didn't remember? After all, if Detective Nolan was to be believed, he thought his wife and son were dead when they weren't. The story was all over the tabloids. How there was an insane professor obsessed with Margaret Nolan and she was believed to have died after he abducted her and drove his car off a cliff. And apparently, their son had been with her.

But Dr. Samdi and Clayton Stavros had somehow tampered with memories and kept Margaret captive. None of it made any sense and it was insane. Even more so, the story of the insane professor and his obsession with Margaret Nolan was eerily similar to the story in his book about Dr. Jekyll and his obsession with Rose Red and later Snow White. But none of that could be true...it was just too crazy. And seriously, had he been drinking when he wrote that part of his book? Whoever heard of Dr. Jekyll encountering Snow White? It made his head spin and he was seriously questioning what he had been thinking when he wrote that. And why were the Nolans convinced they were the characters in his book and how had they convinced everyone else to go along with them. He wanted to think they were all delusional, but that didn't make much sense either. After all, not everyone could be crazy, but he wasn't about to entertain the possibility that he was the one out of the loop. He needed more aspirin.

"Bagels sound great," he told Lucy and a smile eclipsed her face, as they sat down at the table.

"I brought coffee too," Jacinda offered.