“Hello?” He sounds sleepy.
“Dad?” I burst into tears as soon as I hear my dad’s voice.
“Luci? Darling what’s going on?” I hear my mum’s voice as well.
“Dad they’ve kidnapped the twins, someone took them from nursery today.”
“What, how long have they been missing for?”
“They’ve been gone for eight hours now dad, some crazy woman took them, I’m so scared dad.”
“Oh my god where’s Kenni?”
“It’s all his fault dad, some woman that’s obsessed with him has taken them.”
“Where is he Luci?” He is starting to get angry now.
“He’s taking his frustration out on one of the barns, I said a few things to him.”
“Do you want us to come over? We can be on the next plane over sweetheart.”
“I don’t know dad, I just wanted you to know, let’s leave it till morning there and we’ll see if there is any news.”
“Ok Darling, we won’t sleep now so keep us posted, call us if you need us. Go and see Kenni he’s probably beating himself up, try and keep it together.”
“Ok dad I’ll speak to you soon, I love you all.”
“Love you too darling.” He hangs up and Jessica wraps me in yet another hug, I realise that whilst she’s here she’s neglecting her own children, she assures me they are with Jake’s mum and she isn’t going anywhere.
When I go back downstairs the men are all out, I guess Kenni is still taking it out on the barn, his mum and sister give me pleading looks and we all go back to sitting there in silence. It’s now 9 hours since they’ve been gone, I bet they are so scared now.
Since I brought them home from hospital I have only had one night away from them.
Emmett walks in followed by Jed and Kenni a while later, looking down at Kenni I see his hands are ripped to shreds, blood is pouring out of them. I shake my head at him and look at the hurt in his eyes, he is tearing himself up over this.
I still don’t acknowledge him, I just keep my eyes on the clock. He keeps his distance and eventually agrees to let his mum dress his hands.
At midnight Matt Kennedy knocks on the door, he offers his apology and Kenni shakes his hand, I know none of it is his fault but I can’t even look at him, I take the opportunity to head back upstairs to see to Betsy. Laying down for a little bit, still awake though, just with Betsy lying next to me. I hear the bedroom door go and I know it’s him.
“Kenni I haven’t got anything nice to say to you, so I suggest you leave me alone before I say something I won’t be able to take back.” He takes a deep breath and speaks to me anyway.
“I’m hurting too you know, they’re my boys as well.” He stalks back out of the room leaving me alone with Betsy and my thoughts. I must have drifted off for a while because Jessica comes into the room checking on me, she places Betsy into her cot before leaving me alone again.
I wake up a little later to Kenni sat in my nursing chair holding Betsy close to him crying his heart out. There is something about seeing your usually big, strong man break down that pulls on your heartstrings and I run over to him. I sit in his lap and smoother his face with kisses.
“I’m so sorry babe, I never thought she would do something like this, I have known her since she was little, I always thought she was harmless, I would never have let her here if I thought any different, you don’t think I would intentionally put my kids at risk do you?” I know he’s right and I believe us to be stronger if we put on a united front, I hug him tighter and tell him everything will be ok.
By morning there is still no news, nothing, not one thing, the story was already being covered on the local news but the sheriff told us to prepare for a press conference.
The only recent photos of them was the ones on the horse with their father, seeing their picture on the T.V was an experience, the presenters were talking about high profile kidnappings and when they announced the reported net worth of Kenni’s family I choked on my coffee.
I had woken up to a message from Ruby saying they were just getting on a plane now and told me the time they were getting in.
Jessica had left some time in the night to check on her own children promising to be back soon, all we could do was wait around for updates from the sheriff.
They had said that Matt had left a message on Christie’s phone threatening to revoke her trust fund if she didn’t come back with the children, it surprised me how people could be so money orientated.
I also struggled to come to terms with Marco’s part in the whole thing, he had sat around the dining table with us every day and was essentially a part of the family and I couldn’t wrap my head around him doing that to us.
When it got to the 24-hour milestone we had to go to the station and do a press conference, the story had now been picked up by national news stations and journalists and camera crews were descending on the town.
We both cried through the whole thing, Betsy was asleep in my arms and unaware of all the camera’s around her, the police released pictures of both Christie and Marco and we were asked a lot of questions, some of them were quite intrusive especially when they asked about mine and Kenni’s relationship.
I understood it was necessary but it didn’t make it any less awkward. As soon as the reporters heard my English accent I knew I had piqued their interest.
Afterwards we headed back to the ranch, my family were due to get in soon and Jed volunteered to go and pick them up from the airport, again we played the waiting game. When my mum walked in through the door I broke down, my mum and dad both wrapped me up in their arms.
I eventually calmed down and made the introductions, Caleb pulled me into his arms and kissed me on the top of my head.
Jed was consoling Ruby as my parents talked to Kenni’s parents, my dad walked over to Kenni and pulled him into a hug, this obviously meant a lot to everyone. The house was pretty chaotic now. Betsy was just happy to see her grandma and grandpa.
At 9 o’clock, 31 hours after they were taken we received word that two young boys had been taken to a police station in Houston, that’s all the information we had come through, we didn’t know if they were ok, just that two small boys had been brought into a police station.
An hour after hearing that the sheriff arrived to inform us they had been positively identified as Teddy and Junior and that they were both fine, scared, but fine.
We were told that they were on the way home, apparently Marco had handed himself in to the local police and had wised up to Christie’s motives, he didn’t realise that she was in love with Kenni until he started watching the new reports.
When Christie went out to get shopping he left with the twins and handed himself in, apparently the police were waiting for Christie when she got back and both she and Marco were now in police custody. I have never felt so much relief in my whole life.
Two hours later we were all waiting impatiently on the porch when an out of area sheriffs car came down the drive, I stood immediately and together me and Kenni walked down the step hand in hand, the rest of our families stayed back, two officers got out when the car stopped and opened the back doors and both my boys jumped out of either door.
They took in their surroundings, both smiled and then they spotted me and Kenni and they both ran for us, we were both down on our knees in nanoseconds wrapping them in our arms, I had Junior and I physically couldn’t release him from my grasp.