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With the authorities having given up, Blaine could relax a bit more. Rosa was still a threat, though, and not long after Blaze's second birthday, she challenged Blaine for the right to see her grandson again. She was shot down once more, and warned not to interfere any further in the lives of Blaine and his son - if she did so, she was told, she faced contempt of court charges, and the further threat of Blaine sueing her for emotional distress. She conceded crossly, and Blaine finally felt as though the last of the big load of two years had come off his shoulders.
Feeling lighter of heart, he celebrated by taking Blaze to the Six Flags White Water Park in Marietta. The little boy was now very mobile, and Blaine was inordinately proud of how far ahead his son was of his peers. He knew it was mainly to do with Blaze's DNA, but even so, the pride was there as he watched his son splash and play in the shallow water of the Captain Kid's Cove. It was, he thought, as he kept a watchful eye on Blaze, worth all the strain and stress of the last few years to see his son running about and playing with other children. For the first time since taking Blaze in, he felt whole and at peace, and he prayed, laughing as Blaze got doused again, that things would stay this way.167Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkwKPwdqtdL
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Life more or less resumed its normal pace, but Blaine still felt as though his heart was in his mouth as he dropped Blaze off at daycare a few months later. He'd given all the staff the heads up regarding the authorities, and while he told them a watered-down version of the truth - knowing that no one would believe him about Blaze being his identical clone - he stressed that his son wasn't to be released to anyone except him, no matter what anyone else might try and claim. The staff assured them they knew what they were about. "We've got vengeful exes and grandmothers coming here all the time trying to take children they've no right to," Emma Miller assured him. Head of the daycare, she was dressed in a smart grey and tan pants-suit, her grey hair done up in a tidy bun, and a very no-nonsense attitude that Blaine liked immediately. "We know all the procedures to deal with unlawful pickups," Miss Miller added. "If you say no one but yourself is to come get your son, well, no one, not even the Lord God Almighty himself and all His angels will get in without your say-so."
Blaine breathed a bit easier at this. "Thank you," he said. "I have to admit, the last two years have been somewhat of a nightmare, what with his grandmother and other undesirables trying to get their hands on him."
"Don't you fret," Miss Miller said, patting him on the arm in a very motherly fashion. "Your boy will be as safe with us as if he were in his mother's arms."
Blaine smiled. "I think you and I are going to get along very well," he said.
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With Blaze safely at daycare, Blaine was able to resume somewhat of the life he'd had before the boy had come into his life. He still worked from home, but he was now able to do half-days in the office, and the daycare offered after-hours programs to keep Blaze occupied until his father could come and collect him.
A few scares still happened, though, enough to keep Blaine on his tones, so much so that his heart was in his mouth every time his phone rang, and until he heard the voice on the other end, he couldn't be sure if it was a genuine call, or the daycare reporting that someone - usually Rosa - had claimed she was picking Blaze up on the request of his father. These calls usually happened at lunchtime, when the daycare was at its busiest, and Blaine thanked God for the staff's vigilance whenever any unlawful pick up was thwarted. It still left him with a very bad taste in his mouth, and his boss, seeing how stressed he was, urged his best worker to move and start life elsewhere to try and put some distance between himself and Rosa. "I can't have you jumping every time the phone rings," Colton told him firmly, but compassionately. "My brother-in-law has a firm in Calexico - I can put in a good word for you if you want to relocate there."
Blaine thought about it. Calexico was over 2000 miles away, and while he balked at the thought of subjecting a three-year-old boy to such a long trip, he knew it was better to be as far away from the authorities and Rosa as possible. To be sure, if Rosa had family in Calexico, she'd have another way to get at Blaine. But Blaine already knew he'd be able to handle it when the time came. "Alright," he said, shaking Colton's hand. "I won't deny, it's going to be hard to leave Glory behind. But if it gets people off my back, well, I'll go to the other side of the world if I have to."
And the journey to Calexico could be done in stages, Blaine reminded himself. And if it stymied peoples' attempts to harass him, well, he really would move to the other side of the world if he had to.
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