What Did I Do?
Chapter 3

Copyright© 2013 by Barneyr

It was several hours later that I awoke, according to the clock on the wall by the bathroom door. Dad was sitting in the chair, and he was smiling.

"They found the kids and Gail, right, Dad? I can see it in your smile."

"They haven't found them yet; but they know where she's headed and where she was yesterday. She went looking for you a little after you left, saw the police with you slumped over the wheel, and she thought the worst. She thought that you had killed yourself or had a heart attack like her father had, and that you were dead. She panicked and left with the children. She went to a co-worker's home. They stayed there overnight, and then left for Shreveport. Her uncle, Russell Navarre, said that she left for Springfield yesterday. You were right, Son. You knew where she would go."

"That's great news, Dad; but how were the kids?"

"Mr. Navarre said that the kids thought it was a great trip. Jeremy was worried about you, but Gail said that you had gone to heaven and that was why they were traveling. She had to try to get them used to doing things without you. They cried a lot the first couple of days they got to Shreveport, but he said that they were better before they left yesterday. Gail said she was going to see Colleen. The FBI said that they would have people there to intercept her and bring her and the children back home. She would be in custody, but no handcuffs or stuff like that in front of the children. Your mother flew up there right after we found out. She should be there just about now. We figured that the children would go to her before me, so she willingly went. They're going to call me when they get her and the kids."

"Oh, that is such good news, Dad." I had a couple of catches in my throat, but I was soon okay again. "I do hope that there is nothing mentally wrong with Gail. I do hope and pray that this is some kind of hormonal thing that can be controlled with the proper medicine and not something wrong with her mind."

"We all pray that that's the case, Son. We should hear in the next few hours, so why don't you get some more rest. I'm sure that this emotional roller coaster you're on is hard on you after all that you've been through, with the seizure and all. I talked to the doctor. He thought that they can take the monitoring wires off you and take the IV out once we know everyone is safe, and that you're calm. You'll be on liquids for a day or so, and then soft food until your system gets back to normal."

"Did anyone call Frank, my boss, about all this?"

"Oh, yes, Gerry. I called Frank the next morning. I actually got Susan, your PA, but she transferred me to Frank. We had a long talk and he said that you deserved a rest, but he didn't think that this was the way to do it. He said that you had at least a couple of weeks off coming after that last project. By the way, they sold the project for almost twice what you projected. Frank said that your bonus and promotion were in the works."

"What promotion? I just made Manager of Engineering Services less than a year ago. This project was my first one as manager."

"Frank hinted that Director of Engineering was up for grabs, and you had it locked up."

"But that's his job, what's he going to do?"

"I don't know, but he did mention that Fred Dwyer was retiring in two months, so maybe that means something to you."

"Yeah, it means something to me; Fred is Frank's boss. Fred is the Director of Operations. Wow, I have a lot to look forward to! That also means no more travel for me, and I know just who I want in my old job, too. That's some news that will put spring in one's step. Thanks for calling Frank for me, Dad. I need to call and congratulate him later."

Dad received a phone call about two hours later. I was handed the phone after some conversation, and said "Hello?"

"Daddy, is that really you?"

"Yes, Jeremy, it's me. I'm alive. I'm in the hospital, but I'm alright. I'm just missing my big man. How's your sister? Is she doing okay?"

"Yeah, Dad, she's doing okay. She is still pretty mad at Mom right now; but she's real happy that you're alright. We were both so worried about you. We think that Mommy went a little crazy when she thought that you were dead. She sat us down and really apologized for slapping you and yelling at you that night. She said that she was kind of sick, and she needed to get away to think. We had a nice trip to Uncle Russell's, and I got to go fishing with him." There was a long pause then he said, "Can we come home now, Dad? I'm tired of traveling in the car so much. I just want to get back to school, and be at home with you and Mommy."

"Of course you can, Jeremy! Can I talk to Beth for a minute? Then you guys can come home."

"Sure, Dad. Grandma said we were going to fly home on an airplane. Here's Beth."

"Daddy, are you really okay?"

"Yes, Sweetheart. I'm fine, now that I know that my Princess is alright. I'll be out of the hospital and at home with you, real soon. I'm still a little sick, but not so sick that you can't come and see me when you get home."

"Oh, goody, Daddy! I love you! Don't get sick and die on me anymore, okay?"

"I promise, Princess. Can I talk to Mommy now?"

"I'll see if the nice man will let her talk to you."

I heard the phone being put down with a lot of banging then my mother came on the line.

"Gerry, Honey, she's talking with a doctor right now. You don't have to worry about her seeing a doctor. She is going to be involuntarily placed under observation for fourteen days, then we'll see. They are also going to check her out physically, to see if something might be wrong there. She will be in good hands. My question to you is do you really want to press charges on the kidnapping?"

"No, Mom. I just wanted the kids found and to be safe. If we can do that without a big fuss, then no. I don't want to hurt her that much if she's sick like I think, and that's the cause of it. I would say we go for it if it's something else, but I want to hold off for now. I know that that there will be something that comes of it with the FBI involved, but I'm not going to press it just yet. Tell the doctor all about what Gail has been doing lately, and tell him she has been squinting when she is trying to read her books. I noticed the last book she had from the library was one of those large print books."

"I think that's the situation Jack was talking about. They are going to take a wait and see attitude until the test and evaluation results come back. We should be home tomorrow. We'll come see you very soon after that. I'll make sure I tell the doctor everything about her recent behavior."

"Thanks, Mom. You and Dad are the greatest parents a guy could ever have. I love you two so much! Now hurry home so that my children can see that I'm okay."

"We all love you too, Son. See you soon, bye."

I gave the phone back to my father and just wept tears of joy. My children were alright, and my wife was getting proper care. I was pretty much out of the woods too, as far as sickness was concerned. It seemed that I was getting kicked upstairs to the top floor and I had a rosy future ahead of me. It all depends on what we find out about Gail. I laid back and slept in relieved exhaustion.

They had found my children, unharmed!


My children's homecoming was a very tearful time. I hugged and kissed them both, as well as receiving many deep hugs and kisses. I was released from the hospital a week after their homecoming. Gail still had another six days of observation. She was at a local mental facility in Austin. They did try a few things to make her angry; they told her I was divorcing her, and they said that I had taken off with the kids several times.

I finally did get to see her one time, and I said, "I know that you're sick, Gail. I'm just not sure if it's in your mind, that your hormones are somehow out of sync, or something else; but I will find it out, whatever it is. You will probably not want to be around me for a while when I do. You have built up an awful lot of anger in me. You know I take martial arts classes to defend myself and I probably know fifty ways to make you hurt like I've been hurt by what happened that Tuesday night.

"I've wanted to hurt you for what I went through that night and the next four days, and if I ever find out that this was some kind of ploy by you to get rid of me, then some day, when you least expect it, you will get payback for what you did to me that night tenfold. You may not be not be able to live through that payback, so just remember that it can come at any time.

"I still have some love in my heart for you, but my trust in you is gone, Honey. I may at some time in the future be able to forgive you, but I'll never forget. For your sake, I hope that you can get well from whatever is wrong with you and you learn from your mistakes."

"I'm so very sorry for what I have done to you and our family, Gerry. I have scared the children almost half to death, but I was so afraid that you were dead when I saw you slumped over that steering wheel. When I saw that the police were there too, I just panicked, left, and spent the night with Colleen and Steve. I left for my uncle's place in Shreveport the next morning. I guess you know the rest of my ill fated journey to hide.

"The doctor says that yes, I am sick, Gerry. But the sickness in my mind is not all that is wrong with me. I also have problems with my body. I have a brain tumor. I apparently have had it for some time. I may even have had it when we met. They don't think that it's malignant since it has taken so long to manifest itself, so they want to operate after I get out of here. They will then bring me back for observation again. I really want this to be done. I can't authorize it, since I'm in here. You'll have to do that as my next of kin. I hope and pray that you can forgive me enough to let me have the operation. I'll be back to my old self if all goes well, and we can get on with our lives. If not, then I may not be around to kiss my angels again. I need to see them before the surgery so I can tell them how much I love them.

"I love you more than I can ever hope to express, Gerry, but there have been times I didn't like you very much. The doctors say that is when the tumor was putting pressure on a certain area of my brain that controls emotions. It would trigger a response in my brain when I got really upset over something in my life. That would aggravate the tumor, and that in turn would mess with my emotions. It was a never ending cycle that I had to try to break. I could look at our children, or you, and that would calm me down most of the time.

"But Tom Forrest and Ray Woods at work have been hitting on me this last time. I finally had enough and complained to HR. I filed a sexual harassment complaint against them on that Monday. When I came in on Tuesday, Tom told me that I would be fired if I pressed the complaint. I went back to HR and said I wanted to file another complaint; however the creep at HR blew me off. I got much angrier, and went to his boss, who said he would handle it. I got written up with a poor performance review by Ray instead. I took off and found a woman lawyer to sue the company, Tom, Ray, and Dale Givens for sexual harassment, and threats of firing me if I didn't back off.

 
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