“Thank you Officer Palmer.” Sawyer took his first full breath in fuck knew how many hours. “Thank you.”
“Talk soon,” the officer said. Sawyer hung up and sat there for a moment, breathing in and out to get his heart rate down. He closed his eyes and muttered, “Thank you. The nightmare is finally over.”
Sawyer was out of the office, and hurrying down the hallway and practically ran into their bedroom, “We have to go.”
Ford looked up. He was on the phone, but Sawyer continued to motion for Ford to hurry up. They didn’t have a second he wanted to waste.
“I need to call you back,” Ford was on his feet as he spoke, and Sawyer could tell he was five seconds away from hanging up on whoever was on the phone, “Okay… I’ll call you no later than tomorrow, bye. Bye.” He pulled the phone from his ear and hit the end button before looking up at him with wide eyes “What happened? Is it Callum? Please tell me they’ve heard something.”
“I just got off the phone with Officer Palmer, and it’s more than just hearing something. They found Callum and arrested Cynthia and Larry. We need to get out there.” He held his hand out for Ford. The station was a couple of counties over, and they had over an hour to travel. but knowing where Callum was made everything feel right.
Ford rushed over to him, throwing his phone on the bed before winding his arms around Sawyer’s neck so tightly, he had trouble breathing.
“Oh my god, Sawyer. Oh my god.”
Sawyer could feel the wetness against his throat.
Ford sniffled. “We’re going to get our boy back. We have to leave now.”
When Ford started rushing around the room trying to get ready but looking more lost like a man whose wife has just gone into labor, at least from what he’d seen in the movies Sawyer reached out and stopped him.
“Babe, why don’t you call your mom and ask her if she can watch Savie and Gavin while I go and get them ready.
Ford blew out a breath, nodded, and went to grab his phone, but not before reaching up and kissing Sawyer. As Ford started to call his mom, he went down the hall to get his other siblings ready.
Sawyer pulled into the parking lot of the police station. He should have asked more questions from Officer Palmer, but all he’d cared about was that Callum was found and he was safe.
Ford whipped his door open before Sawyer even turned the car off and was out on the pavement. Sawyer barely had the shifter in park before he, too, jumped out and hurried into the station right behind Ford. They approached a long desk where a woman was sitting in a chair, lounged back, and filing her nails. The population of this county was smaller than the one they lived in and clearly not nearly as busy.
She looked up when they entered, then back to her nails. “May I help you?” You would think it was a complex project she was dealing with and was being inconvenienced by their presence.
“Hi, we are here to pick up our son.” Fuck that was the first time he’d called Callum his son, and Sawyer realized that was truly how he saw him. “His name is Callum. I called about an hour ago to let you know we would be coming.”
She looked up at that, finally giving them her full attention, then picked up the phone, all the while staring at them. Sawyer almost felt like a bug under a microscope. By the time she looked away, he wasn’t sure if they weren’t found wanting.
“The people are here that are supposed to pick up the little boy.” With the phone clutched to her ear with her shoulder she looked at them. “You Sawyer and Ford?”
“I’m Sawyer, and this is my partner, Ford.” He squeezed Ford’s hand. Sawyer wasn’t sure if it was to stop Ford from hopping over the table and running around looking for Callum or to keep himself from screaming, “Just hurry up and hand me my son!”
She focused back to her conversation. “They’re both here.” Then she nodded. “Will do,” before hanging up, and getting to her feet. “First I need some identification from both of you.”
Sawyer and Ford both pulled out their driver licenses, which she took with an almost bored demeanor.
She grunted, looked between them and their licenses several times before handing them back, and said, “Follow me.”
She finally dropped her emery board on the counter and waited for them to come around before leading the way. Sawyer looked around nervously, his heart pounding hard in his chest. She stepped back and pushed a door open and then motioned for them to enter. Ford went in first and made a squeaking noise when his eyes landed on Callum.
Sawyer stopped and looked to where his brother was sitting on the floor playing with some blocks someone must have found for him. first thought was he hoped they’d washed them first. Callum looked up and grinned, and they both ran to him, kneeling down. Ford sat on the floor and lifted Callum into his lap, and Sawyer kissed the top of his head.
Even though Officer Palmer said he’d been found, there was still a little bit of fear that it wasn’t quite real.
The officer that was sitting at the desk cleared his throat. Sawyer broke off from the embrace and turned to look at him. “Sorry,” Sawyer said, before getting back on his feet, then he helped Ford up.
The man nodded. “I’m
