Harper & Lee Plus Three

Explosions

It was another holiday in our house. All nine of the kids were in the backyard, some walking, some crawling, but all of them were happy. We scored an amazing water toy at a yard sale down the street. It looked like a flower that would wiggle and shoot water all over the kids. Apparently it was an old toy from the early 2000s called the "Crazy Daisy." The kids loved it.

    Lee was watching them while I mixed together some pasta salad. I checked my phone really quickly and sent another text to my mom, since I didn't know when she was getting here. I know she already started at her new job and she was really busy, but she could at least have the courtesy to let me know when she was getting to our Fourth of July party.

    I finished mixing up the pasta salad and brought it out to the covered tent we had in the backyard. John was over at the barbeque grilling up hamburgers, hotdogs, and chicken for Hazel, who decided she was going to stop eating beef recently.

    I heard the doorbell ring and ran back inside. I opened the door and let in Stanley and Talia, who, as usual, came with presents for the kids. They always had treats for all nine of them. They made their way outside and I grabbed some bottles of soda from the kitchen, then brought them outside and put them on the giant folding table.

    "Hey Harper! Burger or hotdog?" John asked.

    "Can I have one of each?" I asked.

    "You got it!" he said.

    "And make sure you save some for my mom when she gets here!" I said.

    "Don't worry, we will sweetheart," Sophia said, taking a seat at the table.

    I looked over at Lee and the kids. He seemed like he was handling it okay. That meant I was good to sit down, at least for a little while. I reached into my back pocket and checked my phone again. Still nothing.

    "You still haven't heard from her, huh?" Sophia asked.

    "It's...not like that. She's busy at her new job," I said.

    "I'm sure she gets a break. I don't see why she can't get back to you over the course of three days."

    "I called the halfway house again this morning. She told the front desk she was going to work and would be back at the end of her shift, like she was this past week," I said.

    "Why don't you call her job, then? Just to make sure she's there and not...somewhere else?"

    "Are you implying that she's using again? She wouldn't do that, Sophia! She knows better!"

    "Harper, please. That's not what I'm saying. I know how much she means to you. I just want her to be safe," Sophia said.

I sighed. "I know. I...I get it."

"Then how about you call her job?"

"I can't. I don't know where she works. The halfway house won't tell me. They said they can't give out that info. It's so dumb. I just wanna know where my mom is!" 

"Don't stress too much, little lady," John said, putting my plate of food in front of me. "It's a beautiful day and we're all here together. You'll always have us."

"Thanks," I said, reaching for the bottle of ketchup.

When Lee and his parents saw that the food was ready, they started getting all of the kids over. I helped him get all of the high chairs around the table. We worked together to cut up little pieces of hotdogs and burgers for the babies to feed themselves. Then I could sit back down and finally enjoy my now-cold hotdog and burger. I was used to cold food at this point. It came with the "I have nine kids" package.

"It is so good to be hanging around with you guys without the camera crew around. It was getting kinda annoying wearing a mic all the time," Hazel said.

"She's just upset because she knows the camera doesn't add ten pounds, but she tells people that anyway because of how she looks," Blake said.

Hazel pushed him so hard that he fell out of his chair, which caused all the rest of the kids to laugh. I chuckled too. Even now at almost eighteen, my little brother was still a cocky pain in the ass.

"Mom, she pushed me!" Blake said.

"And? You deserved it for calling her fat," Sophia said, taking a bite of my pasta salad. "This is really good stuff, Harper!"

"Thanks. Found the recipe on Food Network," I said.

I spent the rest of the night having fun with my kids and the rest of my family. It was actually pretty nice for once to now have the crew around, even though they felt like a part of my family at this point. We'd see them again in the fall when it was time to film the next season of the show.

When it got dark, we all sat in the backyard like we did last year to see the fireworks going off in the park behind our neighborhood. The babies were a little scared at first, but the triplets were loving it.

But right when we were in the middle of the fireworks, I heard police sirens. I turned and saw the car coming down the block, then stopping in front of our house. Lee and I looked at each other.

"I'll go check it out," I said, having an eerie feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I walked over to the car and saw an officer getting out, but he wasn't wearing a uniform.

"Harper Collinsworth?" he asked. I nodded. He held out a badge. "Detective Jones, narcotics unit. Mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Uh...go ahead," I said.

"Is your mother Claire Collinsworth?"

"Yes. She is. What happened?"

He held the door of the car open. "I'll give you a ride. She's at the hospital."

***

Have you ever ridden in the back of a police car? I haven't. If you have, what was it like?