“We’ll see how it goes. The most important thing right now is you. That you’re with your father and feel safe.”
“But I don’t want to lose you,” Leo confessed. “You’re my uncle.”
“And I always will be,” Mike promised.
Finally, they reached Main Street. The Oak Tree Diner was a classic spot with big windows. Pacing anxiously by the entrance was a man. David Miller looked exhausted. The forty-year-old man had aged during the days of searching. His eyes were sunken, his face was drawn, and his clothes were rumpled. He clearly hadn’t slept in nights.
When he saw Leo getting out of the truck, he froze for a second, not believing his eyes. Then he rushed toward his son.
“Leo! Son!”
“Dad!”
Leo ran to meet him. They embraced in the middle of the sidewalk, oblivious to the passersby. David held his son tightly, as if afraid he would disappear again.
“Son, where have you been?” he said through tears. “I was going out of my mind. I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“Dad, she kicked me out,” Leo cried. “She said you died on your business trip. She showed me a death certificate.”
“Who said that?” David pulled back to look his son in the eyes. “Brenda?”
“Yes. And then she left me in the woods.”
David looked up and saw Mike standing beside them. A middle-aged man in simple clothes, with a kind but serious face.
“And you are?” he asked.
“Mike Thompson,” the ranger introduced himself, extending a hand. “Your late wife’s brother.”
David stared at him, stunned.
“Ellie had a brother? She never told me.”
“We had a falling out many years ago,” Mike explained briefly. “We lost touch.”
Leo took his father’s hand.
“Dad, Uncle Mike saved me. I was lost in the woods, freezing, and he found me and took me in.”
David turned to Mike with deep gratitude.
“Thank you. Thank you for saving my son. I can never repay you for this.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for,” Mike replied. “He’s my nephew. Now, tell me what was going on at your house. Why would Brenda do something like this?”
David’s face darkened.
“I’m afraid there was a lot I didn’t know. I worked too much, trusted my wife too much.”
David began to explain, and with every word, the picture became clearer.
“When I got back from my trip, Brenda told me Leo had run away to a friend’s house. She showed me a note from him: ‘I hate you, Dad, I don’t want to live here anymore.’”
“I never wrote that!” Leo exclaimed. “Never!”
“She had blocked your number on my phone,” David continued. “She said you smashed your phone in a rage. She showed me the pieces of some old junker.”
Mike shook his head.
“She wanted to separate you. But why?”
“Brenda was always jealous of my relationship with Leo,” David admitted. “She said I loved my son more than her and Kyle. And also… I have a large house, a successful business. My God,” David whispered, covering his face with his hands. “How could I have been so blind? She wanted to get rid of Leo so everything would go to her son.”
Leo hugged his father.
“The important thing is that we’re together now, Dad. And Uncle Mike is with us, too.”
David looked at Mike gratefully.
“If you’re open to it, I’d like for us to be a family. A real family.”
The three of them drove to David’s house in tense silence. Each was steeling himself for the coming confrontation with Brenda. David gripped the steering wheel, preparing for an ugly conversation with his wife. Leo sat between his father and his uncle, feeling their support but still nervous.
On the way, David began to realize how Brenda had been systematically tormenting Leo.
“Now I understand why you’ve been so withdrawn these past few months,” he said to his son. “And I was working so much, I didn’t see what was happening. I thought it was just the normal challenges of adjusting to a new family.”
“She waited for you to be out of town,” Mike noted grimly. “She timed it so no one would see how she was treating the boy.”
When they pulled up to David’s upscale home, they were stunned by the scene. A large moving truck was parked in the driveway, and several workers were carrying out furniture, boxes of belongings, even kitchen appliances.
“What is going on here?” David shouted, jumping out of the car.
Leo recognized his own furniture, his computer, among the items being loaded. Brenda was erasing every trace of his existence from the house. Brenda emerged from the house holding a folder of documents. She was dressed up, as if celebrating a special occasion. When she saw David and Leo, her face twisted with shock and anger.
“How did you get here?” she hissed, glaring at Leo.
David stepped forward, shielding his son.
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