Is Love Enough

Chapter 27

"Alright Mr. Nicholas, are you ready for some breakfast?" Randall asked as he sat him in the booster seat, "Aunt Trudy made you some pancakes"

Nicholas smiled as he played with the spoon, "eat, eat" he chanted.

"Wow, your mommy wasn't lying, I think I've heard your daddy do that at Molly's" he laughed.

Trudy cut the pancakes up and set them on the table in front of him, "I'm not complaining but it's kind of odd that they haven't picked him up yet" it was after ten, "I was expecting Kim to be on the doorstep as the sun was rising"

Randall stole a piece of Nicholas' food and popped it in his mouth, "maybe they're a little busy" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Trudy cut her eyes at him, "Don't talk with your mouth full, and that's just gross" she shook her head, "Don't listen to Uncle Randall, he's a gross old man sometimes"

Adam sat on the pier watching the lake as it hit the shoreline, he was struggling to come to terms with the news he had been given. He had to stop reading the report once it talked about the burns his in laws sustained, and how he needed to provide dental records to receive final confirmation. He ran his hand through his hair and decided against picking Nicholas up.

"Honey can you answer that?" She asked washing Nicholas' hands "this little guy is super sticky"

"Got it" he grabbed the phone "Hello?"

"Hey Mouch, it's Adam"

"Your boy is great, we've had a blast" Randall told him.

Adam smiled, "he's a good boy. Can he stay a little longer, I was just given some horrible news and I need to tell Kim"

"Oh, are you okay?" He asked, catching Trudy's attention, "he can stay as long as you need Adam"

"Thanks" He replied, "Kim's gonna be crushed, her parents are dead" his gut churning, "and I don't know how to tell her"

"Wow, I'm sorry. We'll take care of Nick, you take care of Kim" he told him, he hung up and sat at the table, "Jesus this is horrible"

Trudy put Nicholas in the playpen, "What did Adam say?"

"Kim's parents are dead"

He could hear the shower running, thankful he had a few more minutes before he would have to break her heart, he sat on the bed a picture of his in laws on the nightstand. He picked the frame up and stared at their smiling faces, Nicky in their arms. It was taken just a few months after Nicky's birth.

Kim came out into the bedroom, "hey baby, where's my baby?" She asked him.

Adam shifted his weight on the bed, "I didn't pick him up"

"Why not?"

He got up from the bed and took her hands in his, "Darlin', I need you to sit down" he guided her towards the window seat.

"Adam?" She sat down, "you're scaring me just a little bit" she watched as he kneeled in front of her, she was positive he had been crying, "have you been crying?"

"I went to talk to Hank this morning" he ignored her question, "I was going to ask him about looking into your parents, but he said he needed to talk to me" he was fighting to hold it together.

"About?" Kim asked.

He opened his mouth to tell her, when he saw it flash across her face "No Adam, I don't want you to tell me" she had made the connection, "don't tell me" she jumped up from the seat and went into the bathroom and locked the door.

Adam knocked on the door, "Kim, let me in"

When she failed to respond he picked the lock, he found her sitting on the floor, "Kim, I'm so sorry" he sat on the edge of the tub and pulled her into his arms, "their RV went off the road"

He could feel her sobbing in his arms, "I know it's awful" he told her as she cried.

She pushed him off her, "Where?" Suddenly composed, frightening Adam, "where did it happen?"

Adam was nervous of her sudden change, "Oregon, the pacific coast highway"

"We need to pack" she wiped her eyes and left the bathroom, "call Trudy see if she can keep the baby while we're gone, if not we can bring him"

Adam grabbed her arm, "We don't need to go out there, they are sending their bodies here once they've confirmed their identities" he told her.

"What do you mean?"

Regret filling him, "The RV caught on fire" he didn't want to tell her anything more.

The color draining from Kim's face, "they were burned?"

Adam nodded, "they died on impact Kim, they didn't suffer"

She sat down, "my god Adam, I knew they shouldn't have gone on that trip" she cried, "what do we need to do?"

Adam sat beside her "Hank is taking care of it, I've taken some furlough I can make all the arrangements for you"

PRESENT DAY

"Erin wishes she could help her" Jay told him.

"So do I Jay, so do I" Adam filled his coffee mug, "it's even harder with Nick's birthday all" his little boy having turned one a few weeks ago.

"What's the private investigator say?" Jay asked.

"Nothing, it's like they fell off the face of the earth" Adam told him.

FLASHBACK

"Ruzek" Adam answered, "what? That's impossible" he said, "I know, it just doesn't make sense" he hung up, it had been three weeks since this nightmare had started and this just made it that much worse.

"Who was that?" Kim asked.

"The coroner" he told her, "they can't release the bodies to us" he explained.

"Why the hell not?" She was furious, "let me call him"

"No Kim, you don't understand" he told her, "the dental records don't match, I don't know who those people were, but they weren't your parents" he told her.

"How can that be?"

"I don't know" he hated that this would give her hope, he still didn't think her parents were alive. He knew they would have contacted her.

She smiled, "Adam, my parents are still out there somewhere, we need to find them" she wrapped her arms around him, "my god Adam, this is wonderful news"

"Darlin', please don't do this. I don't think they're alive, they would have contacted you"

She glared at him, "Don't! They're alive Adam, I know it.