Snatched

Part 75 - Winter Gardens, Downtown Los Angeles

'Maya honey, how the hell do I get onto this camera call or whatever they call it?'
Maya leaned over Cynthias shoulder to press some buttons on the laptop in front of her.
'It's called a video call..' she chuckled 'and here'. She pressed a button which meant that Cynthia was dialing into the call.

'Ok, thanks for that, honey' Cynthia said. 'Can you just keep an eye on the kids for half hour while I..'
Maya put her hands on her hips and sighed.
'What is it honey?' Cynthia asked, placing a hand on Mayas arm.
'Cynthia...' Maya said, rolling her eyes, 'they can all hear you!'.
Cynthia turned around and was shocked to see three faces looking at her and giggling. Nervously, she supposed.

The first person on the call to speak was Wendy. 'Maya, did you manage to get her on?' she asked.
Maya looked down the camera and replied, 'you know what these old people are like!'
Cynthia laughed and ushered Maya out of the room.

When Maya had left and shut the door firmly behind her, Cynthia turned around to look at the faces on the screen.
'Cynthia!' Wendy called, 'how're you getting along?'
'Good', Cynthia replied nervously, staring down into the glass of lemonade that was in front of her.
'And how're all the kids?' she heard Wendy ask.
'Oh, they're all cool as well' Cynthia still didn't look up from her glass.

'And Rory, Logan, I can see you guys in the corner of my screen'. Cynthias head shot up as she heard Wendy speak the words she'd been dreading. She looked up to the corner of the screen, to see the two people she'd turned away from her house, both sat bolt upright on what looked like a brown leather couch.

Logan was the first one to speak. 'Yeah we're cool as well', he said. He appeared to rub Rorys leg, which caused her to chime in, 'we're not too bad thanks. And how are you Wendy?'

'I'm doing pretty good thanks', Wendy said. 'I'm even more excited by this paperwork I have in front of me and the prospect that we now have of reuniting little Daniel, or Dylan, back with his biological parents'.

At hearing this, Cynthias heart sank. She'd really come to love this little boy and it would break her heart to let him go. Cynthia continued to look down into her drink, moving the glass around in circles so that some lemonade sloshed out onto the table. It took her a while to realise that Wendy was still talking.

'So we now just have to find the best way possible to get Daniel reunited with you guys.' Wendy gestured towards the corner of the screen that Rory and Logan were in. 'Now with all that Daniels been through this is gonna be a bit of a tricky process, so we gotta be careful about how we do this. Now, the biggest problem we have here is that he's not been around Rory and Logan during a time that he'd remember. He's also formed quite a tight bond with you, hasn't he Cynthia?'

Cynthia looked up from her cup and at the screen. 'Um yeah', she said. Cynthia was conscious that the more she said, the more likely she would be to start welling up.

'And how do you think this will affect his transition into the care of Rory and Logan?' Wendy asked. 'Do you think the bond he has with you will make it more difficult?'

Cynthia looked up at the corner of the screen, to where Rory and Logan sat, nervously awaiting her reply. She looked back down into her hands and started playing with her rings as she spoke. She didn't want any of them to see her face.
'Yeah, I think he's gonna be fine. I mean we have a good relationship, but he needs to be back with his mom and dad'. Even as she said this, Cynthia could feel a lump forming in her throat.

'I totally agree!' Wendy said, no matter how  challenging the process might be, it's certainly important that Daniel be reunited with...'

Wendy was interrupted by her phone ringing, but she silenced it and carried on. 'It's important for Daniel to be reunited with Rory and Logan as soon as possible. So we need to make a bit of a plan for this...' Wendys phone started ringing again.

'I'm so sorry' she said. 'I gotta just take this quickly. This is my work phone, its an unknown number and it could be an emergency'.

Cynthia could see Wendys lips moving as she held the phone to her ear, but she couldn't hear anything she was saying. This must be what the kids called 'on mute'.