life can be distance between us

days even years could pass on

but the love that lies between us

will always be worth holding on

together forever always

from the dawn till the end of each day

no matter how far away you are

we're together forever always

I could try to forget you

but the memories keep lingering on

but the dreams I dream about you

keep me holding on

Leann Rimes - "Together Forever Always"

One day a rookie at the NYPD, aged 21 and named Fenton Hardy, fined a young lady for jaywalking.

"That lady was none other than your mother who, fortunately for me, didn’t notice that she’d been crossing the road where she shouldn’t have. She was in a hurry and was terribly late," Mr. Hardy told Frank, a smile on his face. "She had a date with her fiancй in a local cafй and she was already twenty minutes late, before I delayed her by another hour…"

"You delayed her for an hour?!!" Frank asked in a surprised voice. "For jaywalking??"

His father grinned mischievously, "I wasn’t about to allow her to meet her fiancй. Do you really think I would have allowed your mother to walk away from me, only to marry another man?"

Frank shook his head, "I should have guessed..."

Fenton went on, "She was furious at me. But I stood my ground..."

Two days later she’d dumped her fiancй.

Years later she confessed to being grateful to God that she’d been jaywalking that day. If she hadn’t crossed the street in the wrong place she would never have met that young police officer.

"And I would have married another woman whom I couldn’t have loved as much as I love your mother, and you wouldn’t have been born," Fenton said.

A year later Laura Glenn and Fenton Hardy were married.

"We wanted to have as many kids as possible…. But….

"There was one problem with Laura - she has O-negative blood while I’m A-positive. If a baby were to be positive-blooded, there would have been a greater risk of miscarriage and that’s exactly what happened - I call it cod’s law and you took after me. The doctors did everything medically possible to help Laura carry the baby, she’d been going to the hospital for nine months to be given special injections."

Nine months after their wedding, their son, named after one of the grandfathers, Frank, was born. The happy parents couldn’t ask for more than a healthy child – they’d had little hope the kid would be simply okay, let alone healthy. Laura felt exhausted, her system was greatly weakened, but she was happy because she lived to give birth and see her first child.

"Doctors told us that under no circumstances must we have another child within the next five years, because not only could it kill the baby, but the mother as well. We were determined to follow doctors’ orders and not have another kid. In fact, we didn’t consider having one after you were born, period" Fenton Hardy looked at his son with sadness in his eyes. "Your mother was too weak and there wasn’t a great chance she would be able to carry a child full-term, even after the five years. I didn’t want to risk her life even if it meant having another little me."

There was a minute of silence. Where Mr. Hardy collected his thoughts and Frank wondered where the story was going. He felt uneasy as this was the first time is his life that father had been so open with him. But at the same time he was grateful that there would be no more family secrets, which would cause problems between the three – or maybe some time later – the four of them.

"You were only ten months old," Fenton continued, "when me and Laura decided to take a vacation. Gertrude agreed to stay with you while we were away. So we went to Panama. It was the end of August, the weather was just perfect and we had the greatest week ever. Don’t get me wrong, but to get rid of you for a week was a dream come true," Mr. Hardy smiled. "You were such a hyperactive child, you never gave me or Laura a minute of rest. Of course, we missed you while we were away, but we just needed some time to ourselves."

Frank nodded his understanding and kept listening.

In September Laura suddenly felt ill and within a week she’d grown weaker for some unknown reason.

"I thought she was ill with a dangerous disease – it could have been anything – from flu to a serious infection, I didn’t know what was going on, so I took her to our family doctor. They ran many tests, even though there was only one needed."

Laura was pregnant again.

"The first thought that crossed my mind was that another child would be fantastic. When I was younger I never liked children, thinking they were only a cause of trouble. But after you had been born I changed my mind. Another reason, you see, children learn from each other and if you had a sibling it would be great for both of you. Too bad I was only able to be happy for a matter of seconds, because then I remembered that there was no way we could let the child be born, because it would kill Laura and the baby as well."

The doctor said that Laura had to have an abortion before it was too late. Unwillingly, Fenton agreed with him, knowing that Frank should have a mother.

"But she just said no," Fenton rubbed his forehead. "She said that she was pregnant because it was predestined."

No kind of talking helped, Laura didn’t care if she felt sick, she didn’t care if she was going to die, she just knew that she couldn’t let doctors kill her unborn child even if it meant saving her life.

"She spent most of the time in hospital, connected to wires and tubes. She grew thin and she could barely talk, but still, she was determined it was for the better. I couldn’t stand seeing her like that, but she was stubborn."

It was the 24th of March when it happened. Gertrude was sitting with little Frank while his father was patrolling the streets of Brooklyn, knowing he shouldn’t be leaving his pregnant wife in hospital but at the same time knowing they needed the money. So it was Gertrude that answered that fateful call from the hospital.

Mr. Hardy rubbed his forehead, "I forgot about work, gave up everything and rushed to that hospital where Gertrude was waiting with you in her arms. Laura was only in her eighth month."

"That was the longest night ever," Mr. Hardy sighed. "Yet, no news was good news because it meant that neither one of them was dead."

Five o’clock on the morning, the 25th of March. Doctor Edward Brunton walked into the waiting room where he found only three people – two of them looking pleadingly at them, wanting him to say only a few words, and the remaining one was still sleeping in his father’s arms.

Laura Hardy was critical and the baby was so weak that none of the doctors thought he would live.

After Dr. Brunton told him the news, the overjoyed father just burst into tears, he put his arms around the doctor and gave him a hug, "Thank you, I owe you a lot," was all he could whisper.

"That was the first time I ever felt like a father. I felt that I was responsible for everything that was happening to you, your mother and your brother."

Later that day Mr. Hardy was allowed to see his second son who was placed in incubator and connected to several machines – they were helping him to live.

"He was unbelievably small, I could see very little of him. All I saw was something that looked like a tiny human being rolled into a ball who wasn’t moving at all. He had all those little wires and tubes attached to his small body…." Fenton shook his head. "I just didn’t want to believe that he could die, I wanted him to live no matter what, but I could do nothing to help him."

Laura spent four days in a coma. When she woke up she was told that she was infertile, because her womb had had to be removed, it had been done to avoid any possible complications.

"You know what? She didn’t mind," Fenton smiled at those words. "She was satisfied, having two kids. Somehow she knew that our second son would live."

And she was right. Joseph Hardy, named after their other grandfather, was discharged two months later.

"Edward said it was a miracle he survived and grew stronger. And I said it was his great job." Fenton said.

Everything was perfect back then. Mr. Hardy still worked for the NYPD, but was already thinking about becoming a private investigator and Laura was recovering from the childbirth and looking after two restless boys.

Mr. Hardy stopped and looked into his son’s eyes, "But you can’t be happy forever. That’s how we knew that we were happy then – when that happiness slipped away…."

One winters night, on the 7th of December, Fenton Hardy was patrolling Brooklyn when he spotted a child of about four years sitting on the curb of the road, begging. The child’s clothes were shabby and very dirty, his face was bruised and he was shivering with cold.

"That poor kid was Nick Antoneskou. When I took him to the nearest police station, he begged me not to let his father take him back home, because the father, named Luis Antoneskou, beat him if he didn’t bring at least 20 dollars every day. As you can guess, Luis made his own son beg while he himself was robbing small shops in New York," Fenton explained.

"Oh my God…" Frank replied, knitting his eyebrows in shock. How could a parent be so cruel to his own child? How could such a man be called ‘a parent’?

"Back then I was as shocked as you are now. I’ll never understand such people. Anyway, we had only Nick’s words that his father was a robber, we had no proof. Also, we couldn’t prove that it was his father who beat him."

"No!" Frank’s eyes grew wide, "Don’t tell me he got away with it?"

Mr. Hardy shook his head, "No, of course, not. It was decided that Luis Antoneskou couldn’t take care of his child, anyway. Nick had been extremely thin for his age which meant he was malnourished, he couldn’t read or write which meant that his father hadn’t even tried to bring him up properly and there were a lot of other things that showed up that proved Nick just couldn’t stay with his father. So Luis Antoneskou was deprived of his parental rights."

Luis Antoneskou never did show up to try to get his child back, so a month later Nick was adopted by a normal childless family.

"So now he is okay?" Frank asked.

Fenton shrugged his shoulders; "I think so, when I met the family they seemed like kind people. I'm sure that they treat Nick like every child should be treated."

Mr. Hardy stopped and rubbed his forehead; he closed his eyes, trying to prepare himself for the next and the saddest part of the story. He slowly stood up and walked to the window, turning his back to Frank - he couldn’t look him in the eyes now.

"Everything was fine until one day. It was the 14th of January; you got sick with measles, so Laura took you to a hospital while I stayed with Joe. You were two years and four months old, Joe was nine months old…."

Fenton sighed and rubbed his forehead, "I was shot in the chest. My condition wasn’t grave, but I spent two days in a coma…and when I woke up…. Joe was gone…."

For the first time in his entire life Frank saw tears in his father’s eyes. He instantly felt bad for him. "Dad…" he whispered as he stood up, walked to Fenton and put his arm on his shoulder. "Dad, please…."

Fenton quickly wiped the tears from his eyes, "It still hurts…even years later, and it’ll never stop eating at me from the inside…." He composed himself and managed a weak smile for his son, "Don’t worry, I'm fine…. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I think yes, but I….."

They heard the door open and close. "Hello? Anybody home?" Laura’s voice came from the corridor a second later.

"We’re in the study," Fenton replied in a loud voice.

Moments later Mrs. Hardy appeared, "Hello, boys. Why is it so quiet?" she asked.

Fenton and Frank looked at each other; no one knew what to say. Frank thought he needed time to think about it all and he wanted to be alone, that was what he wanted to tell his father when Mrs. Hardy interrupted him in his mid sentence.

"I… I’ll be out for a little while, okay?" he said. "I need time to think about it…alone."

He walked past his surprised mother and disappeared into the corridor. A second later Mr. And Mrs. Hardy heard the door shut.

Laura looked at her husband, "You told him about Joe, haven’t you?" she quietly asked.

Fenton nodded, "Yes. I didn’t plan on doing it, but he somehow remembered and asked me about him…. I was taken aback and couldn’t do anything to stop it."

"I see… How is he?" Mrs. Hardy worriedly asked, coming to him.

"I think he’s gonna be fine, he just sat and listened to me," Mr. Hardy replied. "You know, I think it was for the better. I don’t know much longer we could have hidden it from him."

Laura leaned against Fenton’s chest, "Let’s hope he’ll be able to accept it."

Fenton gently patted her on her back. "Don’t worry about that. He’ll be shocked at first and then he’ll have to accept it. It’ll be easier for him that it was for us. He doesn’t remember him, so it shouldn’t hurt as much as when we lost Joe."

"Where’s he gone?"

"No clue…don’t worry, he’s a big boy. You heard him, he needs some time to think about it."

They both went silent.

"I still wonder how we managed to overcome our loss," Laura finally said moments later. "Sometimes I feel ashamed because I catch myself and realize I’ve not been thinking about my younger son every day. And I blame myself for that. What kind of mother am I?"

"You’re the best mother ever," Fenton tenderly kissed her forehead. "And it’s okay not to think about him every day, sometimes I don’t, too. So much time has passed since that day…. But we’re still his parents after all."

Laura bitterly smiled, "What would he be like now?"

"I wish I knew. Just think about it, somewhere in the world there is a guy who doesn’t know we’re here, waiting for him to come back to us."

"Who knows, maybe he’s looking for us too and we just can’t find each other…." Laura shook her head. "This is so unfair, isn’t it? Why did we have to get separated? And when will it end?…. Any ray of hope in your case?" she changed the subject. If she kept talking about her younger son it would only bring tears to her eyes.

Mr. Hardy shook his head, "No, not yet." What he wouldn’t give away just to know where to look for his lost son and to tell his wife that their child would be back with them soon!

"Don’t worry, just keep on searching. Please, do it for me and for Frank," she looked up into his eyes.

Fenton didn’t reply. He couldn’t make promises any more, he’d sworn to find his lost son and he hadn’t been able to, yet, with no certainty he’d be able to keep the promise.

He leaned down and kissed his wife on her lips.