REprisal - Kathy Coopmans Page 0,60

Now remember those vaccination shots she received this morning may make her a little cranky and irritable, so don’t panic and think something is wrong. And please, take advantage of Dr. Jollup’s expertise and go talk to her. That goes for the both of you,” he says sternly, rotating his stance to look at me.

“We will,” I assure him. “Now shall we sign this little gem and make this official?”

I hold up a piece of paper with Journey’s little footprints on the bottom. I feel a tightness squeeze my chest, in a good way this time, knowing I am about to put my name on her birth certificate.

For one fleeting moment, all the bullshit that surrounds us and that we have yet waiting for us disappears, as I scratch my name next to Clove’s on that piece of paper. It’s the only God-given right that those monsters didn’t take away from the two of us. I don’t miss the flash of Zack’s phone out of my peripheral vision.

“Make sure you get that developed for me, yeah?” I say as I scribble my name on the discharge papers.

“Planning on it. Along with all the others I took of her.”

“You’re the best brother ever,” Clove says, wrapping her arms around her brother.

He kisses the top of her head.

“Here, take Nolan,” Krista pipes up. “Let’s take a picture of the four of you.”

This is what it’s all about, as we stand and exchange kids, snapping pictures with our phones. I can finally take my family to our new home, where we can start making new memories together. I just wish the old memoires were much more distant. To be honest, I wish they didn’t exist at all.

************

“My God, I almost forgot how hot it is here.”

Clove fans herself as we step out into the Georgia heat, shielding Journey’s face from the sun as she is pushed out of the sliding doors at the rear of the hospital, where the car has been parked for the past few days. It’s still a fucking media circus all around the front. Even though it has died down some since the chief gave his statement, there are still a shit ton of those assholes just hoping to be able to catch one of us.

“Thank you. I can take them from here,” I say to the man pushing her in the wheelchair.

“Good luck to all of you,” he replies, lifting the flaps at the bottom of the chair and then guiding Clove out.

I place my hand on her back and walk her out to our car.

“Let me get the car seat out of my truck,” Zack says and jogs up ahead of us.

“Oh,” says Clove, taken aback momentarily. “We kind of forgot about all of that, didn’t we?”

“Maybe you did, but I didn’t,” I joke.

“Ha! Did you remember diapers, and baby wipes, and-”

I silence her with a swat on her ass.

“I promise you, I have it all covered.”

“You liar! My wife covered your ass!” Zack hollers while pulling the car seat from the back of his truck.

Clove stops and places a gentle kiss on my cheek.

“I knew it all along. Nice try, though.”

Krista takes hold of the seat, passing Nolan over to Zack and saunters over to the car.

“Here, let me strap this in.”

“This is your mom’s car. Where’s ours?” Clove asks, looking somewhat bothered.

“Um.” I scratch my head. “It’s in storage.”

“Oh. Along with everything else, right?” she asks, her temper getting riled up.

“I guess you could say that,” I soothe, wiping beads of sweat off my forehead. “Listen, do we have to stand out here and talk about this right now? Can’t we talk about it on the way home?”

“Sure, Turner. And where is home, exactly?”

Her put out expression does nothing to still the thud in my chest from the humiliated look she gives me before spinning on her feet and storming over to help Krista. Zack places his hand on my shoulder, giving me a kind squeeze.

“Give her time, man. She’ll come around. Just take her to the new place and try and enjoy your anniversary.”

“Fifteen minutes ago she was fine. I just want my life back, goddamn it. Is that too much to ask for? Fuck!”

“No, it’s not, but she’s been gone for a year. She has no clue what to expect.”

“And you think I do? I don’t expect everything to be back to normal with a snap of my fingers, or for us to just jump right back into the perfect little life we