Borrowed Hearts

September 2015

Sebastian stared out the window of his tenth-floor law office contemplating which direction he needed to go to find his daughter. Three weeks had gone by since she had vanished without a trace. Three weeks since he had received that mysterious letter. Three weeks and law enforcement had no leads, no evidence, and no idea where to look.

His ex-wife, Maria had been cleared as had Jessicas friend, Amy. Sebastian still had his suspicions, but without evidence nothing could be done. He clenched his fists in frustration. He should have fought harder for her in the divorce. He should have visited her more often without worrying about what her mother would say. He stood there bathing in regret while missing his only daughter. ”Where are you, Baby Girl? Help me find you. ” He sobbed to himself.

The office intercom jarred him from his thoughts. ”Sir? ” he heard his assistants voice say. ”Mr. Jeffries is here. ”

He wiped away his tears and fixed his appearance quickly. ”Send him in. ” he answered as he stood near his desk. ”Mr. Jeffries, welcome. Thank you for coming. ” He offered his hand to the tall, slender, middle-aged stranger.

Mr. Jeffries shook his hand in greeting with a slight bow. ”Ive looked forward to meeting the great Mr. Kinsford for quite some time. Though I do wish our meeting was under better circumstances. ”

”Yes, well… I pray you are able to help me. You have come highly recommended. ”

”I will do my best, sir. I already have everything the police have, and I must say their investigation thus far is severely lacking. As far as I can tell from just glancing things over, they haven interviewed anyone other than the mother and the one friend. Her social media accounts haven been notated; her personal property hasn been logged as being viewed. They didn even pull phone records. ”

”Thus, my need for a private investigator. ”

”Indeed. The only snag I may have is the mother. You said she has full custody? ”

”Yes, she did at the time. I was granted full custody and I was to get Jessica on September first. She disappeared the night before. ”

”Yes, well as such. I will need her cooperation and permission to search through your daughters room at her house. Unless of course, we can get a judge to grant us a search warrant. ”

”We can try for that. There wasn any runaway note mentioned and with the strange letter I had received, it shouldn be too difficult to get a search warrant. ”

”That would make things a bit easier. ” Mr. Jeffries ran his fingers through his thin blonde hair before pushing his wire rimmed glasses back up his nose. He retrieved a paper from his briefcase and slipped it across the desk. His icy blue eyes made contact with Sebastians coal black eyes as he spoke. ”This is my fee schedule. I trust there won be a problem. ”

Sebastian quickly read the document and sighed internally. Private investigators sure know how fleece the pockets of the desperate. He thought. ”As long as the results are worth it. ” He forced a smile. ”After all, how can one put a price on the life of their child. ” He pulled a check from his desk drawer and placed it in front of Mr. Jeffries. ”Just find her. Preferably alive. ”

The man smiled as he put the check in his briefcase. ”Ill do my best, Mr. Kinsford. ”

*

Today

I laid awake for the last three nights trying to wrap my head around my situation. Ive tried really hard to avoid making Jason life more difficult than I already have with my presence. Neither of us knew why I was here in the first place let alone how long Id be around. Am I supposed to be doing something? Should I be telling my parents Im no longer alive? Well, that would be a weird thing for Jason. Like Hi, you don know me, but your daughters heart beats in my chest. Yeah, right. I don want to imagine what theyd do to him. But still… Aren they at least looking for me? God, I miss them. Im sorry for making you crazy, Jason.

Well, if youd let me make love to my wife, Id forgive you.

You
e awake?!!

Not by choice. You
e thinking rather loudly tonight.

Sorry.

Im getting used to it.

You know, youve been pretty chill with this since the get go. Aren you at least a little bit weirded out?

More like a lot weirded out. But I gotta believe the good Lord has a reason for this so Im trying not to freak out.

Oh.

But I miss my wife.

Shes right next to you.

But I haven made love to her in…

Okay, stop! I don want the visual. Im sorry, okay? Im just… you know… Ive never… and shes a… she. I never imagined being with a girl before. You? Yes. Ive had many dreams about you…

Thats enough, I get it. He rolled onto his side to face his wife. She… is my wife. And Im a guy so…

Ill try. He reached over to brush a few strands of hair from her face. What are you doing? Don wake her up! She opened her eyes and smiled sweetly. Shit! I mean, shoot! I didn mean right now!

”You
e so beautiful, ” he whispered to her softly.

That was true. She was drop-dead gorgeous with her steel grey eyes and long ebony hair. Her milk chocolate skin was flawless and there wasn a curve out place. Super model quality which just made me feel sorely inadequate. I hated girls like her in school because I envied their perfection. ”Howd you get to be so lucky? ” I wondered.

Her eyes widened. ”What do you mean? ” she asked.

Shit! Howd you do that, Jessica? Jason growled internally.

Do what?

”Um… I-I was asking m-myself that question. ” He stammered. ”Howd I get to be so lucky to be married to such a beautiful woman? ”

OH! My last thought came out of your mouth.

”Nice save, Mister. ” She propped herself up on her elbow. ”But you
e right, I am lucky to have you by side Jason Montgomery. I love you. ” She leaned down to kiss him, but he turned his head before their lips could meet. She kissed his cheek then rubbed her thumb over the spot. ”When are you going to tell me whats going on? ”

You can tell her anything! Shell think you
e crazy!

She already thinks Im crazy! You won even let me kiss her! How do you do that, anyway?

I don know!

He sighed in frustration. I could feel the sadness weighing him down as he stared into her pleading eyes. Im not going to keep this from her forever.

”Fine. Don tell me. But tell someone. You
e not right, Jason. Youve been off since the surgery and its starting to scare me. ”

”Im sorry. ” See the trouble you
e causing me, Jessica?

”Me too. ” She got up from the bed and grabbed her robe. ”Its almost time to get up anyway. Im going to visit Mom for the day. Ill be back before dinner. ”

”Okay, Sarah. ” He said as got up to catch her. Taking her in arms he whispered. ”Im sorry. You
e right. Im not myself these days. Ill call the doctor, okay? I promise. ” Before I could react, he placed a chaste kiss upon her lips. It shocked me so bad that I slapped my hand over my mouth. Well, his hand over his mouth, and stared at her with owl eyes.

”See? This is what I mean. ” She explained. ”Whats with this shocked reaction to a kiss you initiated? You
e acting like a scared little girl. ”

If she only knew. He thought. ”Im sorry. ”

”I hope so. ” She kissed his forehead and turned to leave. As she stepped through the door she called, ”By the way, your manager called last night. He said he needs to discuss the recording schedule with you now that your doctor has released you to go back to work. ”

”Ill call him after breakfast. Have a good visit with your mother. ”

Im sorry, Jason. I really am. I don how I keep interfering. Im not really trying to.

I think its about time we talk to someone about whats going on. I can live like this.

You can tell your wife yet!

He did a quick internet search on his phone. Not my wife. But maybe someone else is having the same experience. I looked at the search results he was scrolling through, and we came across a support group called Transplant Survivors that was meeting that very morning. The description included the topic of learning how to cope with your new life with a new organ. Yes? he asked me. Okay.