— “Did they find him?” she asked, her voice a terrified squeak.
— “No, but I found out the truth about you,” Mike roared, his voice shaking with a rage that had been simmering for seven years. “You lied to me. You lied about Jessica, and you lied about Caleb being my son!”
— “How… how did you know?” Brenda whispered, her face draining of all color.
— “It doesn’t matter how. The only question I have is why?”
— “Because I love you, Mike! I wanted you to finally let Jessica go so that we could have a real life together. I didn’t want to raise another woman’s child, I wanted us to have our own baby. But you wouldn’t let him go!”
Mike’s fists trembled at his sides. He wanted to scream, to smash something, to unleash the torrent of fury and grief inside him, but he forced himself to turn away from her.
— “I want you gone by the time I get back,” he said, his voice deadly calm. “And if you ever come near me or my children again, I swear to God I will make you regret it.”
He stormed out and rejoined the search, his heart pounding with a mixture of hope and terror. When he reached the command post at the edge of the forest, he saw people smiling and pointing toward an ambulance. Mike broke into a desperate sprint, his lungs burning. There, sitting inside, wrapped in a thick wool blanket, was Caleb. His face was smudged with dirt, but he was safe. When he saw Mike, his lower lip began to tremble.
— “Dad, I’m so sorry,” Caleb said, his voice impossibly small. “I tried to come home, but I got lost.”
Mike surged forward and swept his son into his arms, holding him so tightly it was a wonder the boy could breathe.
— “No, son. No. I’m the one who’s sorry. I have been a terrible father to you. But that ends right now. I promise you, that is over.”
Tears streamed freely down Mike’s face, more tears than he had shed even at Jessica’s funeral. He clutched Caleb to his chest, making a silent, sacred vow to love this boy—his boy—as fiercely and unconditionally as he loved Lily and Grace, and to finally, after seven long years, become the father he should have been all along.
