We Are Free

Birthdays And Surprises

It is Zane's 3rd birthday today. We all got him a gift. Emily is doing good in karate and she is having fun. I can't believe it is already late July.
    I grab the mail today before the party. I look through it. I got a letter from the owner of the car shop. I get a little nervous. I open it and as I read it I get a huge smile on my face. I finish reading it.
      "HALO!!" I yell.  She comes to me.
      "What?"
      "We are going to Disney!"
      "What do you mean?"
      "Read this letter." I hand it to her and she reads it.
     "We are going to Disney!"
     "Yeah! Kids." They come to us.
     "We are going to Disney!"
     "What?" Emily looks at me like I am crazy.
     "Are you serious?" Andrew asks.
     "Yup the 23rd we get on a plane and we are going to Disney!" They look at each other.
     "Oh my gosh!" Emily nearly screams.
      "We are going to see Disney!" Andrew repeats.
      "Why?" Emily asks me.
      "Boss man is treating us to a trip to Disney because of the work Halo and I do. It's her uncle." I tell her.
      "Wow!"
      "For how long?" Halo asks me.
      "Um until the 30th" I say.
     "Wow! I should call him."
      "Yeah, yeah, and everything is included. The tickets, hotel, air fare, everything."
      "That's amazing!" She calls her uncle. We all thank him. We go to Zac's house. We walk in the house. The only thing that was going on was Blake and Zane were chasing each other. Everyone was quiet, Zac had tears in his face and so did Chloe. Ryker was in a rocker.
     "Uncle Ace! Auntie!" Zane runs to us.
      "Hi!" I say.
      "Hi buddy!" Halo says to him. Halo picks him up and I go to Zac.
     "What happened?" I ask him.
     "Here." It's the only word he seems to be able to say.  He hands me some papers. I look at them. When I finish I look at him. I am shocked. My mouth open but no words come out. I can't find them. "She is going after full custody of Zane. On top of it she is saying I am an unfit parent and so is Chloe. This means that they are coming in for a home search. I need something from you."
      "Anything." I say. He knows this.
      "I need you to take the kids until this is over."
      "Of course."
      "If you need to my mom is there."
      "You will be okay. You are an amazing father and Chloe is an amazing mom. They have nothing on you. You don't have a single speeding ticket."
     "I know."
     "This is bull shit!" Halo yells.  We look at her. We are shocked. She rarely ever does that. "It is, she left Zane on your door step at 3 fricken months old. Didn't have the balls to face you or even tell you she was pregnant. You were 18 and you took him.
    You threw the adoption papers away and took the challenge. His 1st birthday she came back high as all hell. You sent her away and told her she could see him if she got her shit together. Pardon my French but I'm pissed.
    She left for a year. For his 2nd birthday she came back even worse. Now for his 3rd she wants custody. Fuck her, who knows what she has done in her life, were she lives or, what she did when she was pregnant with him.
    She isn't coming near him never. I will be in that damn court house on your damn side. She isn't coming near my nephew he has a mom and it isn't her dumb ass. You guys are good parents and deserve these three kids. Tell me the date and the time and I'm there." She throws the papers down on the table.
      "What she said." I say.  I stand with her. His mom stand next to me. He sister next to Halo. They look at us.
      "It will be a cold day in hell before she comes near him."
      "True that." His sister says.
      "We will all be there." His mom says. Chloe starts crying again. Zac hugs her.
      "Thanks guys."  They come through the house. Zane was laughing.
      "Save me!" He says.  I pick him up and laughs.
      "When does this take affect?"
      "Tonight." Chloe opens her mouth like something is going to come out but it doesn't. Chloe hasn't gone back to work but Ryker is only 2ish months old. "We have to pack them today before you leave."
      "Okay well lets worry about that later, it is Zane's birthday let's have fun." Zac's sister says and she has a point.
      "Yes!"  They get up and I hug him. I hug Chloe.
      "Daddy!" Zane says.
      "What?" Zac says.
      "Open this." He says.
      "You can open that." He opens it. It was some socks and boxers. He is almost potty trained. He has accidents every once and a while. He wears pull ups to bed. Zac wrote the date and time down.
    It was the 19th at 10:00 AM. We will have them for a little bit. We will have 5 kids but that's okay. The more the merrier. Now it is down to two things. They will never see their kids again or she goes to jail.
    I refuse to think about it. We all eat eat pizza when the kids start complaining they are hungry.
      "Daddy." Zane says. It seems to be his favorite word.
      "What?"
      "I love you."
      "I love you to buddy."
      "Mommy." He shakes Chloe's shoulder.
      "Yes?"
      "I love you."
      "I love you to." He smiles and takes another bite of his food. It's like he knows what is going to happen and he wants to tell his parents he loves them just in case. We finish eating.
    Zane opens presents as he pleases. He got spoiled once again. We have cake and ice cream. The party comes to a close and it's almost time for him to pack up his kids. I can see it pains him.
    He is such an amazing dad and an amazing person all around. Chloe is to. For them, doing this is so hard. They know that they will be taken care of but they are scared of the worst.
    I don't blame them. How can you pack up your three kids and send them away, even if it is for their own good? How can you live with the thought of never seeing them again? It's impossible yet they have to face it.
    When Zane was left in the door step he looked at the adoption papers. That night when he was feeding Zane he picked them up and threw them in the garbage. He looked into Zane's eyes and couldn't let him go.
    He knew it would be hard but he didn't care. He just wanted it to be him and his son. Now he has so much more and he may have to give it all up. One by one each person leaves.
    His mom, his sister, some friends, we are left.
     "Chloe and I will pack them." Zac says.  I take Ryker and feed him his bottle. We sit there and play with the kids. I place Ryker in his car seat and put a blanket over him. He doesn't know what's going on and doesn't care.
    Blake doesn't either but Zane now being three, he understands that there is trouble. I think he knows something is wrong. They come back and hour later. They can all stay in the guest room.
    There were a lot of things. We mange to fit it all in the car. I put Ryker in the car. Halo took her car thankfully today. Between the two we will get it done. We take Blake's and Zane's car seat. Blake hugs Zac.
      "Bye baby girl." Zac says hugging his daughter tightly.
      "Bye daddy." She says.  He kisses her cheek and she kisses his. She gives Chloe a hug and a kiss. I place her in the car. They each kiss Ryker. Zac holds Zane.
      "Daddy." Zane says softly.
      "What?" He says.
      "I wanna stay!" Zane just breaks down.  He starts crying. So does Zac.
      "I know baby I know. You are going to stay with uncle Jace and uncle Andrew. You are going to stay with aunties."
      "NO!"
      "Don't make this harder please." Chloe gives him a kiss and he hugs her. He hugs Zac and hangs on him. I grab him.
      "NO DADDY! NO!"
      "It's okay." Zac tries to calm him as he screams.
      "NO NO DADDY NO!"
      "It's okay."
      "I love you daddy!"
      "I love you to buddy but you have to go." He starts fighting me. I hold him so he can't kick me and hit me. He screams and cries. I place him in the car. I put him in his car seat. He screams and Blake starts crying. Ryker starts crying.
     Zac has tears running down his face. I have never seen him cry like this. I hug him tears coming to my eyes.
      "It will all be okay." I tell him though I hardly believe myself.
      "I know, it's hard."
      "I know we will take care of them I promise."
      "It's not that I'm scared about."
      "Get her on child abandonment and child endangerment. That is enough to put her away and Chloe can adopt him. Then she can't come near him."
      "That's what is next."
      "Good do it. It will all be okay." I give Chloe a hug. She was crying. I have known Zac for years and I have seen him cry. I saw him cry when he broke his ankle. I saw him cry when a girl he liked broke up with him.
    I saw him cry when his dad died. I saw him cry at his wedding and I saw it in his face after his daughter was born. I saw it when Ryker was born. I have never seen him bawl like that before though. I can't say I blame him.
    I have cried like that many times. People say that a man never shows his emotions, the truth is that a real man will show his emotions. He shows his, he will be strong in front of his kids. Now though he don't have to.
    They go inside. It kills me to have to take them from Zac and Chloe. It kills me to hear them crying. It was like my mom's death all over again. Everything comes back. I push it out and start driving.
    With the motion of the car they all stop crying. Ryker falls asleep. We get to my house and they are all asleep. We bring the kids in. We lay Blake and Zane on the couch.
    We leave Ryker in his car seat. We set up the guest room. We put two play pens up and a bassinet. We put their toys in a tote. We make it like home. Zane wakes up and I show him the room.
      "Just like home?" I say to him.
      "No." He shakes his head.
      "You will be okay."
      "I want daddy."
      "I know buddy. I want my daddy to."
      "Where your daddy?"
      "My daddy is in jail."
      "Why?"
      "He was in a lot of trouble and he got caught in the wrong things."
      "Daddy in jail?"
      "No your daddy isn't going to jail."
      "I want daddy. I want mommy."
      "You will see them soon."
      "No."
      "Yes, hang in there." He lays his head on my shoulder. I can't say how much this kills me. Every time he says I want daddy or I want mommy I try not to break down all over again.
    It brings me back to when Emily did that. It broke my heart and to see my nephew going through it now hurts just as bad. It's just a nightmare it will be over soon.
      I can tell myself that all I want. The truth is this is real life and no matter how hard I pinch myself, I am awake. I wish this was all a bad dream. It's not and that's the scary part.