Finding My Normal

Ch 67: A Mother and her Bird

Lily's POV

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MY HUSBANDS!?!?!?!

I stare at my four husbands in our family office.  I'm in shock at first at what they just confessed and now I'm angry.  So angry I want to smack all of them up-side the head, but if I do that they might not have enough wits left (of the very few they had) to save Sang!  I take a deep breath to calm the raging storm inside me and repeat the information I just heard hoping I got it all wrong, "First this man pulls a fake kidnapping without mine or Sang's knowledge, then she actually gets kidnapped!?!?!  And why was this Owen person following her?"

"She needed someone to look after her when we couldn't be there." Henry tells me. As if he knows what's best for everyone! That's always been his problem. Taking team lead too seriously. I've tried over and over to warn him not to confuse his role in the Academy with his role as a parent.  

I look around at my husbands. "You kept this from me? All of you?"

"You would have never allowed it. It was necessary and we didn't want her to be hurt." Liam speaks up cautiously from the corner.

"I don't want her hurt either, but I wanted her to accomplish this on her own. That's what she wanted!!"  I yell at them.  It's hard for me because I've never yelled at my husbands, but I'm so mad right now.  And scared for Sang.  Yelling is the only thing holding me together.

"She could have gotten hurt." Henry repeats.

"Of course she could have, but that's how kids learn! We teach them how to be safe and if they make a mistake they learn from it! You can't keep her in a bubble forever! She already did that to herself and you continued it when she finally had the courage to break free! Do you realize what this is going to do to her? All that progress down the drain. Now what? She can't even trust her parents?!?!"

"She can trust us!" William insists.

I turn to him with an exasperated look on my face. "You had some strange man following her around!!"

"He's Academy." William offers. Like that makes it okay!

"I don't care if he's the President she didn't know about it nor give her permission."

"I'm her father! I get to decide. I'm team lead." Henry yells over me.

Now I'm even more angry my blood boils even hotter, "No. We. We are her parents! All five of us and this isn't the Academy! This is a real family. There are no team leads in real families."

"Family is a choice." Henry says quietly, "We live by the Academy rules, that's all I meant."

"The Academy rules are there to guide us, not control us. You know that! You're just using it as an excuse for your behavior. You made those choices and now you're going to have to live with the consequences. One of which may be Sang never talking to you again. That is if we find her!"

"We will find her, and she will talk to me. She'll forgive me."  He insists firmly.

I stare at Henry and the rest of my husbands with pity. As I shake my head back and forth I tell them, "Of course she will, but not because you deserve it, but because she is the kindest person alive. Her heart is too big for her, she has so much love that she'll forgive anything you do just so she can see a smile on your face again."

All four of my dogs are frozen in fear and sadness. They know what happened could have been prevented if they had just been open and honest. Silence fills the room. They just stare at me, not knowing what to say. They know they are in trouble. Not just with me, but with Sang. The two loves of their lives are in limbo and my Academy husbands don't have a clue as to how to fix it. The first assignment they may not be able to complete.

The dam I'd been holding my sadness in breaks, "Get me my baby back!!" I choke out through the tears already rushing down my face.

I leave the room quietly as I make my way upstairs to Sang's room. She is the perfect child. Her room is immaculate. Everything in its place, not once have I seen the room messy or her bed unmade. I was so happy when I got to adopt her. I worried about her fears of leaving the house, but it gave us more time to spend with her. Her lessons were my favorite part of each day. She is so smart, so curious. At one point I ran out of material to teach her and just started going over material covered in college level courses.

I crawl into Sang's bed and pull her pink covers up to my chin. I pull out my cell phone and call one of only three people in the Academy I know will help.

It rings a few times before he picks up and I hear his hello on the other end.

"Uncle? How have you been?" I ask him.

"I'm good, Lily Bird. It's been too long since I've seen you.  How come you haven't stopped by the diner? I know you moved out here at the beginning of the school year."

"It's been hard. You know my daughter is going to school here and with no one knowing about my four husbands I can't really get out much. Which husband do I take and if I show up with a different one next time what will they say? You know how it goes."

"You guys don't care about that stuff though."

"We don't, but our daughter is new to this. I didn't want people to make fun of her or give her a hard time at school so we were just keeping to ourselves."

"Why do you sound so sad? Are you crying, Lily Bird?"

"Yes, she's gone." I tell him on a choked whisper.

"Who?"  Uncle questions.

"My baby, she's been kidnapped. I called to see if you could help in any way. She was taken from in front of your diner."

"What!? When did this happen?"

"Almost two hours ago."  I inform him.

"I was running errands, I'm just getting back now, I can do anything you need. Let me shut down the diner. How come no one notified me?"

"I thought Luke would have."

"Why would Luke? He's been with me this whole time, until about twenty minutes ago North picked him up to go get their friend Sang."

"Yes, Sang. That's her."  I say as I wipe some tears from my cheek.

"Sang is your daughter?"  Uncle asks.

"Yes. I can forward you pictures so you can ask around. Would that be okay?"

"Wait. Short little bird with blonde hair and green eyes?"

"Yes." I tell him

"Sang is the little girl you adopted five years ago?"

"Yes, yes. Uncle, why do you keep repeating?"

"Shit.  I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Wait. Uncle? Hello?"

All I hear is the dial tone as Uncle hangs up.  He knows Sang?  Does he know where she is?  I can only hope when he gets here that he somehow has the missing piece to this puzzle.

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A/N

Volto will be revealed tomorrow :)