Take My Hand

Eight

Published: January 25, 2017

"Having someone to love is family. Having somewhere to go is home. Having both is a blessing." -Unknown

Carter leads me down the stairs and into the sitting room with long couches. There, a man like Carter, Janet, and a new man are sitting and talking.

"Go wait in the kitchen." He whispers to me gently nudging me toward the kitchen. I nod and walk into the kitchen and stand by the door. I can easily hear them through the door and I flinch at the new voices.

"Carter. You said you had something of mine?" One of the voices that barged into the room asks.

"Yes. I do." Carter replies.

"Well.....what is it?" The same one asks.

"Alphonso I need you to be completely honest with us." Carter says calmly.

"Kid. I just flew 14 hours out of my day when I could be working. If you aren't gonna tell me what you called me here for, then I'll be on my way." Alphonso's voice is calm but stern.

"You'd die before you left this behind again." Carter says.

"Go get it mom." Carter's voice is quiet but anyone could hear it.

"Listen Carter. Couldn't you have just sent me the trinket back." He asks.

"It's not that easy Alphonso. And I'm pretty sure human trafficking is illegal in the US." Carter responds.

"What? Human trafficking?" He asks confused. Janet opens the door and waves me forward. I slowly follow her down the hall and into the sitting room. I hesitantly look at the two new men before focusing on Carter. I can feel my heart slow back down and my hands slowly stop shaking.

"Alphonso, meet your daughter." Janet says beside me and I peel my eyes away to look at the man. He looks almost exactly like the man in my heart. My hand instantly goes to the heart around my neck and his eyes flicked down to my hand around the heart.

"What did she just cover." He asks.

"Chloe." Carter steps forward and I look at him. He gently grabs my hand and pulls it away from the heart.

"Linda's locket." He whispers and looks at me. He steps a small step forward and I take three steps back. Carter holds my hand tighter so I can't go any farther and he gently pulls me back up to stand next to him.

"Chloe. This is Alphonso." He says and I nod.

"I know." I whisper softly.

"He's in my heart." I whisper to him and clutch my heart again.

"You took her?" Alphonso asks like he was betrayed or hurt.

"No. We found her." Carter replies and nudges me forward.

"In Northern Germany." He says and I shuffle small steps forward. When I'm almost in front of Alphonso. I slowly reach my hand forward and place it on his black shirt right above his heart. More memories come back. Him leaving after a woman tried to take me. Him fighting for me and finding me every time I was taken. He was in every single memory.

"Daddy." I test the new word on my tongue. It sounded weird and different. Like I wasn't even a real word.

"Oh. Baby girl." He looks to be sorta melting and he slouches. His arms wrap around my waist and he hugs me tight making me wince. He snaps me at arms length.

"What did you do?" He asks looking at Carter and pulls me against him. He pulls the dress away from my back and his gaze hardens.

"Why is she injured." He is angry. What if he's angry at me.

"Alphonso. You can't expect her to be kidnapped for 18 years and not have a scratch on her." Carter says softly and I wiggle out of Alphonso's arms. I scurry behind Carter and rest my forehead on his back.

"Carter." I mumble.

"It's hot." I whisper. He turns around and gently wraps his arms around my shoulders. His lips press against my forehead and he sighs.

"Your body hasn't won yet." He whispers.

"Won what?" I ask softly.

"Its battle." He says and lifts me into his arms.

"Would you like to come?" Carter asks turning to face Alphonso.

"Where?" He asks.

"She is still sick. I'm gonna go get her in bed. Would you like to come?" He asks.

"I-I guess." He stutters still slightly confused. Alphonso follows Carter up to his room and Carter lays me down.

"You ok Chloe?" He asks. I look at him and nod. I briefly look at Alphonso, then quickly back to Carter. Carter smiles at me and he stand up from the edge of the bed.

"I'll be right back." He announces and leaves before
I can get a chance to say anything.

"C-can you.....um......can you lay with me?" I ask looking up at Alphonso. He nods and walks around the bed. I bounce a little when he sits down and I tense when he lays behind me.

I slowly turn over and lay against him for comfort and I feel three again.

"Daddy?" I whisper.

"Yes baby girl?" He asks. I tilt my head to look at him and he smiles softly at me.

"Did you let them take me?" I ask. His face grows tense and angry.

"I would have rather died before I willingly let them take you." His voice is angry and he gently wraps his arm around my shoulder.

"I didn't let them take you. If you remember a little more of the situation, you'll remember that these people came to take you from me. I got really worked up about it and when they left, I was mad. I left to get lunch and to give myself some time to calm down and they took you then." He explains. I could see small tears in his eyes and he hugs me.

"Your my little girl. I could never let someone take you from me just because I had lost my temper when you got kidnapped." He whispers.

"Where's mommy?" I ask softly and he pulls away quite stunned.

"Clara? She's at home." He says and smiles at me.

"You have a little brother." He smiles.

"I do?" I question.

"Yes. I remember when you walked into our room, just to tell us you wanted a brother and a sister. Clara was so embarrassed and red that we were talking about it like it was nothing." He chuckles and I giggle softly. I yawn and he smiles and brushes the hair out of my face.

There is a knock in the door before it slowly opens and Carter steps in with a tray of food.

"I brought soup." He smiles and I look at him.

"Thanks Carter." I whisper and sit up. He sets the tray on the desk and I climb out of bed to go eat. I drag my feet on the floor too tired to lift them. When I sit down Carter presses his lips to my forehead for a second and we hear Alphonso make a weird sound of disagreement.

"Hey. I'm still here ya know." He calls and Carter laughs.

"You have a weird dad." Carter whispers loudly.

"I know." I actually whisper unlike him.

"Again, still here." Alphonso whispers right behind Carter and Carter jumps. I softly laugh and turn to eat my soup.

"Thanks for the soup, Carter." I whisper and he nods.

"When your done, get back in bed ok?" He asks and I nod.

"I'll pick out some clothes for you to wear." He says and walks into his closet. He returns with a large shirt of his and he and Alphonso leave. After eating the soup, I struggle with undressing and removing the difficult bra. Once I manage to remove it, I slip into Carter's shirt and climb into bed. It doesn't take long before I start to fall asleep. Not much later, I'm out like a light.