Stolen Child (Coastal Fury Book 13) Matt Lincoln (chrysanthemum read aloud .txt) 📖

gum balls…” Mikey started to say, his lip starting to tremble. “And then that man took me. He never told me his name, so I just called him Mister. I didn’t want to be rude.”

“I’m sure you weren’t rude,” I said, glancing up at Nina and stifling a laugh at the notion that Mikey wouldn’t want to be rude to the man who had just abducted him at gunpoint.

“What happened next, Mikey?” Nina asked. “Were there any other men?”

“Well, they took me through the game store, the two who were in the mall, and then there was a third one outside,” Mikey said, his story immediately lining up with Justin’s. “Then the men were fighting a lot. I didn’t really understand what they were talking about. I think it might’ve been about me.”

The boy almost pouted at this revelation.

“Mikey, I want you to know that none of this was your fault,” I told him, squeezing his little hand in my much larger one. “None of it at all. Those men, they did a very bad thing taking you from your parents, and they’re going to pay a high price for that if they haven’t already. We’ve already caught the other two men, so none of them are ever going to hurt you again, I promise.”

I didn’t bother to tell him that one of the men was already dead, and the other might be at the hands of other goons. I figured that might be a little much for him to handle right now.

“Okay,” the little boy sniffled, though he still didn’t cry.

“Alright, Mikey, what happened next?” Nina asked, giving him a gentle squeeze.

“Well, then there was the boat,” Mikey said, taking a deep breath as he moved on to the next part of his story, the one we didn’t know much about yet. “I don’t know where it came from. They argued about it some more, and then the other two went away. I don’t know where they went.”

“That’s alright, we found them,” I reminded him. “And then we found you. What happened when you went out on the water?”

“Well, we went way far out at first, but then Mister got really upset, and the boat started making funny sounds,” Mikey said, his lip starting to tremble again. “It was really late, and I couldn’t see any land anymore. He said something about going to another country. I didn’t want to go to another country. I wanted to go home.”

“I know, Mikey, and you aren’t going anywhere other than home,” I promised him, squeezing his hand again. “What happened after the boat started making the funny noises?”

“Well, then Mister started looking through some stuff on the boat, and that’s when he found the food. I was glad about that because I hadn’t eaten all day. Mom said that we couldn’t have breakfast until after we got my new swimsuit at the mall, and, well…”

Mikey looked like he understandably might actually cry now at the mention of his mother, and Nina smiled down at him.

“Don’t worry, you’re going to see your mom really soon,” she assured him. “We’re going to see her right now, actually. And your dad.”

We exchanged a look, knowing that Mikey actually had two dads, but he didn’t know that yet. Whatever happened next, or however they chose to tell him, there was no doubt that cat was coming out of the bag very soon if it hadn’t already. Even so, it wasn’t our place to break that particular news to the boy. The parents were going to have to figure out how to do that themselves, maybe with some help from Dr. Osborne.

“Promise?” Mikey asked, staring back up at her.

“Promise,” she said, breaking into a smile and giving him another squeeze around the shoulders.

“So what happened when the man you were with realized there was something wrong with the boat?” I asked the boy.

“Well, he got really angry, and he started stomping around, and I was scared we were going to fall off ‘cause the boat was shaking so much,” Mikey explained, his eyes wide with fear again at the unpleasant memory.

“Did he ever hurt you?” Nina asked, furrowing her brow together in concern as she asked the question. “Did he ever touch you at all or make you uncomfortable?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Mikey said, shaking his head. “He grabbed my shoulder once when he was mad, and the boat was making all those noises. For a minute, I thought he was going to hit me, but he didn’t.”

Nina and I exchanged a look as relief no doubt washed through us both. If the worst Charlie had done to Mikey was grab his shoulder a little too hard once, I would take that as a big win.

“He gave you something to eat, then?” Nina asked. “I remember you saying in the cave that you were hungry.”

“And thirsty,” Mikey said, nodding knowingly. “There was some food and water in those weird packets on the boat, and he let me have some of them when we stopped in a cave after the boat stopped making those noises. I wanted more, though, but he wouldn’t let me. He ate one and then gave me two, and we shared a water bottle, but he said he didn’t want to run out of food in case we were out there for a while. But then you came!”

Mikey smiled at both of us brightly, and another wave of relief crashed over me. Charlie had tried to take care of the kid, at least, even giving him more food than he ate himself. Mikey would surely be traumatized by this experience, but it could’ve been so, so much worse, even with finding him.

“That’s good, Mikey, really good,” I told the boy. “And we’ll get you some food very soon. We just have to get you back to your parents first.”

“I’d like that, thanks,” Mikey said, and Nina and I both laughed.

“Did the man ever say anything to you?” Nina asked. “Anything at all