Part 164
It was less than a week before they were to leave for LA when the day came that Howie had been waiting for ever since getting the letter from Sarah’s mother. The phone woke him that morning and when he realized Sarah wasn’t going to answer it, he reached for it, mumbling sleepily, "Hello."
"Mr. Dorough?"
"Yeah."
"This is Rick Floyd, the private detective you hired."
"What do you have?" asked Howie wide-awake now.
"I found your wife’s daughter and made the necessary arrangements for you to meet them at the cemetery in Fernandina today at noon."
Howie looked at the clock and realized he didn’t have much time to spare.
"Send the bill to my accountant."
"It’s been a pleasure, Mr. Dorough."
Howie hung up and called for Sarah but didn’t get an answer. He got up to go look for her but quickly realized she wasn’t there. ‘Damn! That woman is gonna drive me nuts!’ he thought lovingly as he headed to the shower.
Howie knew where Sarah was and what she was attempting to do. Today was Jesse’s birthday and Sarah was trying hard to stay as busy as possible so that she wouldn’t have to think about it. He was excited that his plans had worked out so well…he’d be able to reunite mother and daughter today. He loved the look in Sarah’s eyes when she was happy and this would definitely make her happy.
Thirty minutes later, Howie was dressed and headed out the door. As he went, he grabbed a bag from the closet and his keys. On his way to the youth center, he made a phone call to Dusty, Sarah’s brother, and arrangements were made for him to fly to Orlando that night.
At the youth center, Howie made his way across the gym floor and was met by Rachel and two other directors. They were laughing and when they saw him, they greeted him warmly.
"Hey, Howie! You here to help Sarah?" asked Rachel.
"No. Actually, I’m here to take her away for the day. She left before I could tell her I had plans for us."
"I knew it was too good to be true," grumbled Tara.
"What’s that?" asked Howie.
Rachel explained, "Sarah gave us the day off."
"Oh…tell you what. I’ll see to it that you get overtime for today then. Where is my wife anyway?"
Rachel pointed to the daycare center as Sarah was coming out the door with an armful of stuff. She didn’t see the four talking so Howie was able to surprise her.
Wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, Howie kissed her on the neck. "Hey beautiful!"
Sarah laughed and turned her head to kiss him. "Hey, D! What are you doing here?"
"Came to take my wife away for the day."
"I can’t go, D. I gave Rachel, Tara, and Lee the day off."
"Nope…I cancelled your decision. Now go get your stuff."
"Howard, why did you do that?" asked Sarah angrily.
"Sarah, I AM the owner."
"PART owner. Just because you want me to do something doesn’t give you the right to waltz in here and CHANGE my decisions."
Howie knew Sarah was reacting this way because she was upset so he let it slide and said calmly, "Yeah, it does. Besides, you no longer work here. You’re fired."
"WHAT?"
"You’re fired. Get your stuff and let’s go."
"YOU CAN’T DO THAT!"
"Yeah…I can. Sarah, go get your things…NOW," said Howie sternly.
Sarah looked at him in disbelief before storming off to get her things.
Howie managed to keep a straight face until she was gone and then started laughing.
Rachel had heard the whole thing and went over to Howie. "Sarah REALLY isn’t fired, is she?"
"No…she’s right. I can’t fire her without the others agreement but I knew she wouldn’t back down. See, she’s using this place today because it’s Jesse’s birthday and she doesn’t want to face it. I have a surprise for her and I didn’t have time to waste arguing with her about staying here. Look, do me a favor? I want you to plan for a little girl’s birthday. Get a cake, balloons, the whole works. Take a check from the center and get her a ton of gifts, dolls, stuffed animals…whatever a little girl would want and I’ll replace the money. Call Kevin and tell him to have everyone, my family included, here by four for a birthday party and a surprise."
"Okay. How old is this little girl?"
"Five. I want the kids from the center here too," said Howie as he looked at his watch. Mumbling to himself, "Damnit, Sarah come on."
"I’ll go…"
Sarah slammed her office door and headed across the gym towards the door steaming. "LET’S GO, HOWARD."
Howie winked at Rachel and ran to catch up with his wife. He caught her just outside the door where he took her in his arms and kissed her firmly. "Angel, you aren’t mad at me, are you?" said Howie giving his best hurt puppy look.
He knew what that look did to her and she melted in his arms. "I can’t stay mad at you….especially when you look at me like that."
"Like what, Angel?" cooed Howie.
"Like THAT! Stop it," pouted Sarah.
Howie laughed, "Okay. Come on. I wanted to take you somewhere today. Let’s go."
The two walked to the truck arm in arm where Howie opened the door for her. Helping her in, Howie gave her a kiss. "I love you."
On the road, Howie headed north and they rode in silence until they were almost out of the Orlando area. That’s when Howie reached over to take Sarah’s hand and realized that she was crying. He gently reached up to wipe the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.
"Today’s her birthday," cried Sarah softly.
"I know. We’re headed to Fernandina."
"You remembered?"
"Of course, I remembered."
"Thank you, D," whispered Sarah as she leaned to kiss him on the cheek.
The rest of the trip was quiet with Sarah resting her head on Howie’s shoulder. He let go of her hand after a while so that he could play with Sarah’s hair and he sang to her as well. His thoughts were of how their lives were about to change and he was nervous. He’d always wondered what it would have been like if Jesse had lived. Now he was going to find out.
At the cemetery, Howie helped Sarah out and started to walk with her to the grave but Sarah stopped him. She wanted some time alone first and he agreed.
Watching her walk to the headstone, Howie’s heart was in his throat. He looked at his watch and then started looking around the cemetery. That’s when he spotted the couple with the little girl. There was no mistaking who she was. She had the same soft brown hair as Sarah and the same smile. The couple joined him and Howie saw that Jesse also had the same blue eyes as Sarah and he instantly fell in love with her.