A long lane at night

2.15. MIND MAZE Part 2

'I know,' Nate said. 'It will get a bit worse, but the only thing I am at liberty of saying before you sign those is that everything has been done, and will be done, with the intent of restoring Jack to his full family.'

'That includes Alice, right?' Will asked.

'I can't elaborate until those forms are signed, William.'

The usage of Will's full name was what made us all see how seriously Nate was taking everything. We all signed the forms with the pens Nate had handed us and we made to return everything to him, eager for an explanation, some kind of beacon in the darkness, when Nate raised his hand again and we all fell back into that awful silence.

'Keep the pens for now,' Nate said, placing the forms he had collected back in his briefcase and extracting others from it. 'This could actually wait until I've explained everything, but there are two people outside in the cold and I wish to extend to them the warmth of your home and I can't do this until these are also signed.'

Nate handed us another form, this one a little bit longer, but still concise and straightforward.

'Yes,' Nate said before any of us could react to the words in front of our eyes. 'It is a restraining order, again against Jack. Please, believe me,' Nate looked pleadingly at me and Allan. 'I love your son more than anything on this planet and I hate this as much as you all do. I had to sign one of those myself and it broke my heart beyond belief. But it is the best course of action for the time being. Please.'

Allan and I looked at Nate. He was asking us to agree to keep a legal minimum physical distance between Jack and us. That was even more painful than everything that had already happened today.

'We already signed the other form,' Chad said. 'So at least answer this: will signing this, backstabbing my brother like you're asking me to do, will it help him get his daughter back?'

'It will.'

Nate didn't skip a beat.

'Enough for me,' Chad answered and signed the restraining order. His brother, Allan, and I followed suit.

Chad collected all the forms and pens and stood up to give them in Nate's hands.

'Our family in your hands, Nate Wyatt,' he said and even I felt scared. His threat was tangible, but also was his trust.

There was not a single trace of the typically nervous Nate left. He was entirely in his element.

'All right,' he said, storing the forms with the others in his suitcase. 'Now, one second.'

He went back to the front door and opened it. Without a word, a young man, who didn't look a single day older than twenty-one, stepped inside. He was carrying a baby seat on his folded arms and, sleeping peacefully in it, was Alice.

Will, Chad, Allan, and I all held back our cries of relief, because we didn't want to wake her up, or even worse, to startle her. But we couldn't control our tears, though.

'Uncle Allan,' Nate said, taking the baby seat from the young man, 'I believe you will recognise Taylor Sanchez. For those of you who do not know him, he is my secretary and he has been of indescribable help today, assisting me in this time of great personal need. I trust we will all find a proper way to be grateful to Taylor in due course, but right now I believe he has done more than enough. Taylor, I will call a car to take you home. In the meantime, I will put my daughter to sleep in her own bed. Once I come back down, I will sit with you and we will talk. Please refrain from discussing today's events until I come back. Is that all right with everyone?'

After we all agreed, Nate took Alice upstairs. My heart ached for Jack, but it felt relief for having Alice safe back home. We all introduced ourselves (expect Allan, of course) to Taylor while we waited for his car to arrive.

'I will apologise for not meeting you in a better occasion, Taylor,' I said, offering my hand. 'But I believe you already know the day we had.'

'I do, Mr Altridge-Leech,' Taylor said. I could tell he was controlling himself a lot. I knew that behaviour, so his next words were not any kind of a shocker. 'And I am deeply sorry for what you're going through. I wish there was more that I could do to help, Mr Altridge-Leech. If you don't mind me saying, though, forgive me, for I know the timing is indeed bad, but I'm actually honoured to be introduced to you. I have been a huge admirer of your work since I was a little boy, especially the work you did on the fifth instalment of the Castaways saga. Sorry, not the moment. I'm sorry.'

He closed his lips inside his mouth and bounced a bit on the balls of his feet. I could hear Will and Chad giving small laughs behind me.

'Those are very kind words, Taylor, thank you,' I said, tapping his shoulder. 'If you excuse me, I'll be right back. Please don't leave before I return.'

'All right, sir,' he answered, looking confused.

It took me a while to find what I was looking for and Taylor's car was already parking outside the house when I made my way back to the entrance.

'Here, Taylor. Just a rushed "thank you" for tonight. We will meet again under better circumstances.'

I handed him a deluxe edition on vinyl of the soundtrack he had mentioned. It's a good thing to keep multiple copies of all of my work in the house.

'"To Taylor Sanchez, thank you for helping me save my family. Forever your admirer, Brian Altridge-Leech". This is beautiful, sir, thank you so much. I will cherish it forever.'

Good, now everyone who sat foot in this house today had a tearful memory to carry along. At least Taylor's was a happy one.

We saw him out the door, pretending he wasn't awed by Allan's excessive holiday decorations, and safely into the car. When we returned to the couch, Nate had already made himself comfortable on a stuffy armchair to face us all.

We resumed our seats and faced him.

'I thought it would be best if I told you everything I know and then try and answer any questions you might still have. Are you comfortable with this?'

'We are, Nate.'