ELIZABETH
Dalton drove me home from the elementary school with Katie in the backseat. It was a somber drive home without Eva in the car with us. During the short drive, I kept looking in the backseat, expecting to see her, but she wasn’t there. The pain of being in my apartment without her was unbearable, so I just kept my hand in Dalton’s and didn’t fuss when he walked up to his apartment. Katie wasn’t doing much better. She was carrying so much guilt and I wanted to tell her that it was okay, but I also didn’t want to lie.
I’m not sure what my dad said to Eva to convince her to keep their meetings a secret. I had done my due diligence her entire life about stranger danger. We had plans in place if she ever was separated from me in public. She knew my phone number and our new address, it was the first thing we did when we moved. I couldn’t remember if she even knew my dad’s name or what he looked like. He was in prison her entire life and I hated talking about him. My mother never wanted to be Eva’s grandmother, so she had only ever seen her a handful of times. It had just been the two of us for the last five years or so.
Maybe he had a picture of us together or was able to tell her about my mother. There had to be something personal that he told her to get her attention and believe his story. Once she was back and we dealt with the trauma of this event we were going to go back to the basics to make sure she never kept a secret like this from me again.
“Do you need anything?” Dalton gently put his arm around my waist and kissed the side of my head.
I shook my head and started crying again, “The only thing I need is the one thing you can’t give to me, Dalton.”
“I know, baby. If I could, you know I would.”
“Daddy,” Katie said in her meek voice, “Can I go watch a movie?”
“Yeah, sweet girl, you can do that.” Dalton and Katie disappeared down the hallway while he set up the tv in her room for a movie. I moved from the foyer to the living room area, taking a seat on the couch. I grabbed the blue plaid blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped myself in it. The events of the last few hours had taken such an emotional toll that once I found a comfortable place, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
“We’re on our way.” I heard Dalton’s voice and once the words he said permeated my groggy brain, I shot to my feet. Dalton was just hanging up the phone and he quickly pulled me in for a hug against his chest. “They found him, Liz. The police are getting ready to enter his room at the motel.”
“And Eva?” I begged for more information.
Dalton shook his head, “They don’t know for sure, but Nathan said they had reason to believe she was in the room with him. They don’t have eyes on them and they aren’t moving in until we get there, so let’s go.”
I looked over my shoulder and down the hallway, “What about Katie?”
Hayes is on his way over, he should be in the parking lot right now. Grab your coat and let’s go get our girl.”
Our girl…the way he has kept saying that with such ease did something to my heart that was unexpected. Dalton had me swooning for him from almost day one, but when he referred to Eva as his, it was just another level of swooning that I didn’t know existed. Dalton was genuine, something that had been missing in all my past relationships. Even with the sorrow of Eva’s disappearance taking place front and center in my brain, I realized that I loved Dalton more than I ever thought I could love a man.
While I was getting my coat on, Dalton went down the hall and told Katie that we were leaving. There was a knock at the door and when I answered it Hayes walked into the apartment, “Hi, Ms. Elizabeth.”
“You can just call me Elizabeth, Hayes, you’re an adult too.”
He smiled, “Just trying to respect the adults so my mom doesn’t make me scrub toilets with a toothbrush again.”
“I’ll make sure she knows you’re always respectful. Thank you for coming over so quickly.”
“Of course. When Dalton text me I came right over.”
Dalton comes out of the bedroom and shakes Hayes’s hand, “Thanks again, I’ll let you know what’s going on.”
“Good luck, both of you.”
As quickly as possible, Dalton and I get into his car and drive across town to the parking lot where we meet with the police chief, Nathan, once again. He informs us that they have two officers in rooms on either side of where my dad’s room is and that nobody has been in or out since they had confirmation that he was in the room. They still don’t know if Eva is in the room with them. This is the best hope we have in finding her though. I hate to put all my chickens in one basket, but she has to be in there.
Dalton and I embrace each other as the city police officers and the county sheriffs begin their movement to the door. They knock on the door with a heavy fist that can be heard from all the way back at our location. After they announce themselves, they wait a few seconds before knocking once again. After announcing themselves a second time, one of the officers announced over the radio, “We can hear the voice of a child in the room, we’re preparing to enter.”
Dalton held me closer and I sobbed watching the officers knock down the door and file into the room. I couldn’t hear anything in particular, just a bunch of noise. It felt like hours of chaos, although in reality it was just a couple of minutes, before people began to emerge from the room. After a half dozen officers, I saw my dad being walked out in handcuffs. Even though I hadn’t seen him in years, he still looks almost exactly the same. The only difference was the shaved head that he was sporting instead of his normal combover that I remember.
He was about halfway down the flight of stairs when the door opened again and my sweet Eva was left the room in the arms of the police chief. We may have been given strict orders to stay where we were, but I didn’t care about rules anymore. I bolted across the parking lot, Dalton right behind me. I passed my dad, hardly giving him a look. I refused to acknowledge his existence at all. If I wasn’t completely done with my family before today, I was now. The only people I needed to consider my family are those that I’ve found here in Strawberry.
“Mommy!” The sweet voice of my baby girl was music to my ears. Nathan set her down on the ground once she reached the bottom step and she ran into my arms. I held her close, so tightly that I might have cut off her circulation, but I couldn’t help myself. There were plenty of moments today that I thought I may never get to hug my daughter again. “I’m so sorry, Mommy, I…I…”
“Shh, sweet girl,” I comfort her, “We don’t need to talk about any of that now. I’m just so happy to have you back.”
From behind us, a new raucous had begun. Nathan got between us and the chaos, making sure that we were safe. Fear coursed through my veins thinking my dad was making an escape attempt of some kind, but once I was able to move around Nathan’s shoulders, I saw Dalton being held back by officers and my dad bleeding from the mouth.
“Dalton!” I cried for him. As much as I appreciated his display of protection over Eva, I needed him with me, not in a jail cell somewhere. The officers released their hold on Dalton and he ran over to us, wrapping his arms around Eva and me.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth, I just couldn’t let him get away with it.”
“It’s okay,” I took his hand to check it for injuries. I surely didn’t want him out of work any longer for a hand injury now, “You could have hurt yourself.”
“You should see the other guy,” he smirked back. “Are you injured at all, Eva?” He turned his attention to my daughter, moving around to check her hands and arms, the same way that I had just checked him over.
“I’m not hurt,” she sobbed. “I just missed you and Mommy.”
He kissed her on the top of the head and held her in his arms, “We missed you too, Eva. I’m so happy you’re back safe and sound.”
“Dalton, Elizabeth,” Nathan interrupted their hug after a bit, “We’re going to need Eva to speak with officers so she can give her statement.”
“Do we have to do that right now? I just want to take her home,” I pleaded.
“It can wait until tomorrow, but the sooner the better. We don’t want her forgetting any details.”
“What’s going to happen to him?” Dalton asked, referring to my dad.
“He’s under arrest for the abduction of a minor. The DA will determine the formal charges. That is another thing that will need to be discussed, but it can wait.”
I threw my arms around Nathan’s neck, “Thank you for finding my little girl, Nathan. Thank you so much.”
“Of course, Elizabeth. I’m just glad we had a happy ending today.”
“Me too,” I agreed. “Me too.”
Nathan made sure that we both had his information before we left the scene. While I knew the entire ordeal wasn’t behind us just yet, having Eva back in my arms was the first step to my recovery from this event. All I wanted to do was get her to our home and hold her in my arms. She was going to be lucky if I ever let her out of my sight again.