I headed straight for the building with the kitchen. I figured Taylor would be inside helping to get things ready for dinner. Even though I felt like a scared child, I knew I needed to be strong for my wife. I had to offer her some comfort and reassurance that everything was going to be okay. She could not see the fear I actually felt right now. I pulled open the door to the second building, stepped inside, and spotted Taylor in the large kitchen, working along with Esther and several other house moms. They were all busy sorting dishes and setting three long tables.
Taylor wore a light-blue hoodie, even though it was nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside. My wife got cold at the slightest breeze. She glanced over at me standing by the door and gave me the same smile that had first slayed me when we were sixteen and back in high school together. We had both been involved in sports in those days. I excelled on the gridiron. She ran track. I flirted for a few months before finding the courage to ask her out. She said she’d only go out with me if I could beat her in a quarter-mile race—which was one full lap around the track. Ever cocky, I accepted the challenge. Our friends caught wind of it, and a dozen of them showed up after school. I barely stretched and kept cracking wise-ass jokes. But Taylor had on her “focus face,” as I grew to call it, the whole time. Eyes narrow, brow bunched, lips pursed. One of Taylor’s girlfriends sent us off at the starting line, and I quickly raced way out ahead. I kept glancing over my shoulder at her with an arrogant smile. But my legs started to feel rubbery around the final turn. She passed me thirty meters from the finish line while her girlfriends all whooped it up. I’ll never forget the way she turned back to me and said, “Come on, slowpoke.”
Fortunately, she agreed to go out with me anyway.
I loved her smile so much and wondered if this would be the last time it carried this much genuine joy. I couldn’t smile back, no matter how hard I tried to force it. My lips just wouldn’t move. Again, I felt the weight of the moment. She wiped her hands on a towel and walked over to me.
“Hey, where are the groceries?” she asked.
“I need to talk to you.”
She tilted her head. “Okay.”
“In private. Can we go out back?”
Her forehead bunched. “What’s wrong?”
I could tell she already saw it on my face. I’d never been good at hiding anything from her. “Let’s go outside.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Just tell me, Alex. You’re scaring me.”
“Please, Taylor.”
I reached out my hand for hers. She hesitantly placed her palm in mine. I walked her out the front of the building and circled around to the back, where we were alone and away from the chaos of the children playing. I turned to her, again tried to figure out where to start. But she beat me to it.
“Where’s my dad?” she asked me.
I swallowed.
Her eyes widened. “What, Alex? What happened?”
“We were in the marketplace when some men jumped out of a van and grabbed your dad. I tried to stop them, but they pulled him into the van and drove away before I could do anything.”
Taylor’s whole body tightened. “What . . . ?”
“I spoke to the police. The officer told me this kind of thing has happened before around here, and everything usually turns out okay. They just want money. The police are going to do everything they can to find him.”
My wife was not prone to outbursts of emotion. I was the one who cried while watching sappy movies. Taylor was more like her dad. Steady. But I could see tears quickly forming in her eyes. I kept talking because I knew giving her as much information as possible would help her to hold things together.
“The officer I spoke with suspects these men may have spotted us in the village earlier this week. Maybe even followed us back here. They probably saw my nicer vehicle and put it together that we might be wealthy Americans. He thinks we’ll likely get a ransom note at some point tonight. The officer called it a quick money trick.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“I know. I’m so sorry, Taylor. I just didn’t think—”
“What do I . . . How do I tell my mom?”
“We’ll do it together. But I wanted to tell you first.”
“Did they hurt him?”
I shook my head. “No, they just grabbed him and took off.”
I left out the part about the black hood being pulled over his head. I thought that detail would only freak her out even more. I could see the wheels beginning to turn in my wife’s mind. Taylor liked to be in control. She was immediately putting together a plan of action.