Coming Home

Ann had just let out a contented sigh, when Dave's cell rang.

He didn't recognize the number so he answered, "Dave Lamers Remodeling."

"Dave it's Kelly."

He hung up and dropped the phone on the table.

"Who was it honey?"

"The bitch."

"Shit. I noticed you hung up on her."

"Yep. Oh look." The phone rang again

"See what she wants. It's okay."

He answered on speakerphone.

"What do you want Kelly?"

"Hello to you too, Dave. I want to see my kids."

"No."

"Don't tell me no, I have visitation rights."

"Oh yeah? Where've you been the last 2 years? You haven't even sent a fucking birthday card you bitch. You left your daughter crying and begging you not to leave her, without saying a god damn word. Bitch I will go to jail for contempt before I let you ever see MY kids again."

"Fine asshole. I'll have a court order tomorrow that grants me full custody. You will be the one to never see your kids again. I have more money than you and money talks loser."

The line went dead and Dave sat there shocked. Ann reassured him, "I will hire the best lawyer I can find for you. They will have a modified agreement written up outlining Kelly's abandonment. She'll never get more than supervised visits, if that. I promise you, she will not get OUR kids."

Dave hugged her and said, "Thank you. I love you so much."

"I love you too baby. This will be okay. Let me make some calls."

They did not see or hear Allie slink back to the kitchen after hearing the exchange between her parents. Allie did not hear what Ann promised him after the call.

**********

The next day was a wet and blustery Sunday. Dave was up and out early to go help Jake at the complex with a plumbing repair, while Ann was making pancakes when the doorbell rang.

There was a Sheriff, a man and 2 women at the door.

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Yes Ma'am, I'm here with a court order enforcing the visitation rights of Mrs. Kelly Hardin formerly Lamers and her children Allison and David Lamers," the sheriff said.

"Bring me my kids, bitch." Kelly shouted.

"Kelly enough," the other lady said, then spoke to Ann. "I'm Sara DeVries, Mrs. Hardin's attorney. Please do not interfere with her visitation. We merely want to take the children to breakfast and reacquaint them with their mother."

"Let me see the order." It looked legitimate so Ann let them in and sat them in the living room. She called Dave and let him know what was going on and as planned Dave called Ann's attorney to meet them at Ann's house.

"Well it looks like Dave didn't fare too badly after we broke up." Kelly said snarkily.

"No, he traded up." Ann said as she walked out of the room to wake the kids.

Ann knocked on Allie's door, but got no answer. She opened it to find the bed made and no Allie.

She opened Davey's door and found the same.

She walked downstairs past the living room and heard Kelly ask, "Well where are they?"

"They aren't in their rooms. They must be in the basement."

She opened the door and saw it was dark. "Allie? Davey? Please come up."

After getting no response she looked out the back window saw nothing and looked in the garage, again nothing. Frantic now, Ann went to her office, dining room, bedrooms, all were empty.

She called Dave, "Dave, do you have the kids with you?"

"No, why? Wait, you don't have them? Shit. Where are they? I'm almost home hang on."

Ann walked into the living room crying and said the kids aren't home. Chaos erupted. Kelly was screaming the sheriff and lawyer were all trying to calm her down. The man sitting there who was Kelly's husband sat quietly with a smirk on his face looking out the window.

Ann sent a group text to her parents and John. "Dave's kids are gone. Please help!"

Ann dropped her phone on the table and ran around the house searching again. Kelly and her entourage did the same. The sheriff called it in and began to search outside after seeing nothing inside.

Ann's phone was constantly ringing with calls from her parents and John. Both lived close and were on their way to help.

Dave pulled in and got out of his car. The sheriff approached and while they were speaking Kelly ran out and smacked Dave. Then she punched him repeatedly screaming at him before the sheriff pulled her back.

Dave shouted, "I want her arrested now. I'm pressing assault and battery charges."

The sheriff said, "Sir, she's upset over her kids, can't..."

Dave cut him off, "No. I want her arrested now."

The sheriff shook his head and placed Kelly under arrest. Just then bedlam broke out in the neighborhood. 3 more police cruisers pulled up along with Jack and Alice Reilly who are Ann's parents, and John and Lori who are Ann's ex and his wife.

Neighbors were pouring out of their homes and search parties were organized. Ann began calling the kid's friends to see if they turned up there while they drove around frantically.

Ann lives in a big suburban subdivision. There are no strip malls or restaurants close to her that would be open where the kids could hold up. All the parks were empty.

About 4 miles away there is a big church. It was between masses, but John and Lori pulled in to search. They walked into the mega church and found a big foyer and lobby. Not seeing anyone, they walked around. Most doors were locked, but had windows. It was basically set up like a school. As they walked they came up to the large auditorium where the masses were held. It looked like a concert hall, it even had a balcony. John saw some techs working on the PA system preparing for the next mass and then he saw Allie and Davey sitting in the farthest corner of the balcony. He pointed them out to Lori and searched for the stairs.

Making their way up, Allie was suddenly aware of them and grabbed Davey to try to run.

"Allie wait! It's me Mr. John, I'm here with Miss Lori. We want to talk with you."

Allie stopped and sat back down. Davey was silent, going with his big sister's flow.

"Allie, you have a lot of people scared right now, did you know that?"

"No, Sir."

"Why did you run away? Did someone hurt you?"

Allie gasped, "God no. I heard my old mom tell my daddy that she was going to take us away from him and we would never see him again. I figured if we left, she couldn't take us and we could buy some time for daddy to find a way to protect us."

John nodded and said, "You didn't know that Ann had lawyers working on just that all day yesterday for you?"

She looked down and said, "No Sir."

"Oh yeah, Ann loves you very much and there was no way that she would let your mother take you from your dad. You'll probably have to see your mom sometimes, but she won't ever take you away. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Can we take you home now?"

"Okay."

Lori had already texted Ann and told her where they were. By the time they got outside, Ann and Dave were pulling up to the door. Dave barely had the car in park when Ann jumped out and ran to the children. Grabbing them both in a hug she sobbed uncontrollably.

Dave got down and pulled them all into a hug. John and Lori smiled and started walking away when Ann yelled for them to wait. She walked up to John and hugged him so hard, it hurt him.

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I would have done..." Ann cried before John cut her off.

"It okay, Ann. You've got them back. It will all be okay now." John said softly.

She looked at him then to Dave and the kids crying in each other's arms, "Yeah John. I think it will."

***Epilogue***

Kelly only got community service and a fine for her battery of Dave. Dave was successfully able to get the original visitation agreement amended due to Kelly's abandonment of the children for 2 years. She was given supervised visits twice a month. After two visits of neither child speaking to her for the duration of their time together, she stopped trying.

Ann and Dave got married. JR and Davey were handsome in their suits as ring bearers and Allie was beautiful as maid of honor. Allie and Davey call Ann mom and Ann was able to adopt them and is their real mother on paper as well as in their hearts.

Dave never spoke to Kelly again. He didn't care why she did what she did, nor why she tried to come back into their lives.

Many years later both Allie and Dave Jr, would tell their father, they thought they saw their birth mother in the back pew of the church at their weddings. Neither ever spoke to her.

Ann was involved in JR's life completely and JR loved to play his big brother role to the little sister Dave and Ann gave him.

None of the kids ever used the term step when referring to their brothers and sisters after Allie corrected JR the first time he introduced her as his step-sister, she scolded him, "Hey little brother. The only steps I have are on my fit bit."

Ann and Dave lived a long happy life together with their extended family. John and Lori became their very good friends.

**************************

Author's note.

Who Wants To Be Lonely and I Finally Found My Way are the other 2 stories in what I suppose could be called my Ann and John trilogy. I'm not sure there is anywhere else to take those characters so I'm walking away from them.

I may do a "Loving Wives" category story on Kelly and Dave but it would be a pretty cliche trading up story, which has been done to death.

Thank you for your comments, ratings and emails. I love the feedback.