Saving Her

Chapter 28. Saving Her

After conversing with his son; everything he told his sister and what Betty told him in the morning, FP touched base and made sure they were on the right track about telling Alice that their son was alive and getting her away from The Farm once and for all.

"Where is she now?" Charles wondered.

"She's at work---" he assured. "I guess you see a lot more of your mom than you'd ask," he sort of chuckled.

"No, it's fascinating to see her," he leaned back in his chair and he averted his eye gaze to the ground as he thought about having a mother.

"She's gonna be very happy to see you," FP commented. "To know you're alive---she's so guilty over the fact that you're dead because she thinks it's her fault."

He looked up immediately. "Did you tell her otherwise?"

"Of course. Time after time, but she doesn't believe it..."

"I have to ask you and it may be the wrong person to ask; did she really want me?" he paused. "I know she was young and I understand that, but did she want me or was something else shoving her in that direction?"

"These are things you should ask her once you get close enough to, but yes, if she could have, she would have kept you. Her then boyfriend tried to get her to have an abortion so instead she checked herself in to the Sisters. Things didn't go as she planned. If you ask my opinion, I think she would have kept you and she probably would have told me and we would have at least tried to stick it out together to raise you. As I said, we were more of a friendly fling in high school."

He nodded. "But you guys wouldn't have Betty, Jughead, Jellybean or Polly if not for her decision... This was meant to be. I think my brother and sister are great, I'd love to meet my other sisters."

"Soon," he assured. "Polly's in deep with the Farm and so are her kids, your niece and nephew..."

Charles then hunched forward, putting his head to rest in his hands as his elbows dug into the tops of his knees. "This is so stressful. I thought I was doing this alone and now all of the sudden my whole family is involved," he stood to pace around. "I can't even meet my mother the proper way because Edgar has some edge over her."

In that moment, all FP could think was; he sounded just like Betty---the stress and hate she had for Edgar taking her mother over like nothing. Standing tall, "We'll fix this soon, okay? Everything will be alright," he placed his hand on his shoulder.

He nodded.

"Between the four of us, I'm sure all of the bad will come to an end. Even with just Betty and Jug, it's like having a whole army at command," he smirked.

"I believe it."

···

Later that evening, FP and Charles made their way back to the house, hoping to see Alice or even Jellybean, but they arrived to an empty home.

"Hm, let me call Alice," FP stated, "Have a seat, kiddo."

"Thanks."

In dialing Alice, he received her voicemail.

"That's weird, she should have been home by now."

"Didn't she change her schedule?" Charles asked.

"Yeah, but she still should be home..." he paused. "Let me call Betty."

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, Betty, I just got home with Charles... Your mom's not here nor is she answering. Can you try and get ahold of her and see where she is?"

"Sure, Mr. Jones, I'm on it."