Homebound (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 4

The door to the room that my sisters and I are relaxing in opens softly to not wake Sammy and Millie up. I look up at Detective Heath to see her waving me over, so I make sure that my sisters are comfortable and okay before quietly sneaking out of the room. Heath closes the door again softly before looking at me with a small smile.

"The paternity results are back," she tells me before holding out a paper that's folded up. I go to take it, but my chest aching stops me from doing it. I stand there for a few minutes, staring at the paper that has the results that we've been waiting a full day for. A whole day spent in uncertainty, not knowing who I belong to. The questions have been wandering in my mind for the past 24 hours. Is this Lukas Ferguson really my dad? Are Millie and Sammy's fathers actually here? Will we actually go home with strangers today?

I clear my throat, folding my arms over my chest to hold myself together. "Tell me."

Detective Heath hesitates for a second before nodding. "Uh, well, Lukas Ferguson is your biological father. Edwin Holland is Millie's biological father and Bradley Rees is Sammy's biological father."

My heart drops. It's true. It's really true. Andrew Marsh is not my father and never has been. At this point, it doesn't even seem that they legally adopted me or anything. It seems that they kidnapped all four of us and were able to hide it for 15 years. I don't know how they did it and I never, ever want to think about it.

"So that... that means-" I start before cutting myself off when a lump in my throat builds, making it hard for me to do anything.

"Millie and Sammy will be going home with their biological families. You... well, you have a choice, but you know that," Heath whispers, sounding truly heartbroken about what she's telling me.

My eyes flutter closed as I try and compose myself. I've held myself together for the past 24 hours, even when we were in that hotel room. All alone as they asked me questions about what's going to happen. Even when we were picked up from the hotel this morning and transported here, stuck in some room while we continued to wait for the results. Even when a social services lady came and took Evie from us.

"I want to be there when they meet them," I blurt out, pushing past the nasty lump in my throat that keeps threatening to force me to cry.

"When they meet their families?"

"Yeah, it'll make them feel better if I'm there. Millie doesn't do well with strangers and Sammy can be pretty stubborn with random people, so I think it'll be best. Just... please, let me. I know I can make it easier for them," I try to persuade her in the most convincing voice I can muster up.

I'm not able to help Evie adjust to her life since she's going to a foster home with no way of me contacting her until everything gets worked out. I can't help her, but I know that I can help Sammy and Millie and that's what I have to do. That's my job now.

Detective Heath and I had a long conversation about me fostering Evie since that was one of the first things I said when I found out that she didn't have any living biological relatives. She explained to me that to be eligible to foster a child, you would need a home and a good-paying job, which I obviously don't have, so she'll have to go into the foster care system, no matter what.

Even though I'm so scared of her going through the system, I have faith that she'll be alright. I hate thinking this, but she's young. She's only three and our story is about to be big, so someone will pull through and want her. All I can do is hope that the people that get her will treat her just as good as I ever could. That's the only thing I can think of right now.

"Okay," Detective Heath whispers with a simple nod of the head. "that's fine. And... I know that you said that you want to go with your biological family yesterday, but if things have changed, all you have to do is tell me and-"