Maryann asked him to come help search
for her daughter because she, the woman he once thought would end up being his
mother-in-law, was dying of cancer. The search for Deborah would die when she
did, and most likely that would be soon.
Jackson didn’t hesitate for a moment,
but Maryann took his silence for reluctance.
“Please Jack?” she begged. “Do it for
your son.”
“My son?” he breathed.
“Yes Jack, you have a son and his name
is Michael. No one knew about him until three years ago when Deb left him on
the doorstep of the rental house I keep here in Anchorage,” she told him. “It
was the middle of the night and I never even got to talk to her.” Maryann was
crying and it broke his heart. “Michael has some minor developmental delays and
she asked me to get him the help he needed because she couldn’t provide it
while living in hiding.”
“How could she just give you her son,
our son?” He would have taken him in a heartbeat, even at twenty-one and about
to graduate college.
“It’s a good thing she did Jack. He’s
thriving! Most of his delays have disappeared and they expect the rest of them
to be gone as he gets older. Thanks to Deb, your son will be able to live a
normal life.”
Tears clouded Jack’s voice. “He’s my
son too, why didn’t she bring him to me? I thought she loved me.”
“I’m so sorry, Jack. She said in the
note, that if I took him anywhere near Nevada or told anyone living there about
him, she would come back and take him away again. I couldn’t risk that.”
“Nothing makes sense,” he whispered.
“Why doesn’t she want him here?”
“I’m not sure, son. She was running
from something there. That’s my only guess.”
“Me?”
“She loved you. She wanted a future
with you. That wouldn’t be my first guess.”
He told her about his family’s cruise
to Alaska and that he would be in
Anchorage as soon as it ended. He had to find Deborah and bring her to see her mother one last time before she passed. He would grant Maryann her wish. And then he would bring Deborah and Michael home for good. Most people would say it was a pipe dream, but he really missed her. She was alive and he was going to see her again come hell or high water.
Anchorage as soon as it ended. He had to find Deborah and bring her to see her mother one last time before she passed. He would grant Maryann her wish. And then he would bring Deborah and Michael home for good. Most people would say it was a pipe dream, but he really missed her. She was alive and he was going to see her again come hell or high water.
No comments:
Post a Comment