Lost and Found Pieces 2

the tarp-covered lump in the bed.
Zeke slid down out of the truck, a grin pulling his patchwork face together. Years ago when he was deployed to Iraq, a concrete wall had come down on Zeke and ruined his face, giving him a TBI in the process. It had taken many surgeries and the love of a very determined woman to get him to a point where he was comfortable with himself. The woman, Ember, leaned out behind him and he gripped her waist to lift her down. She gave Zeke a big smooch on the lips, then turned to greet everyone.
From the other side of the truck Chad stepped out, followed by Lora and their beautiful little girl Mercy. The twins squealed when they saw her and tugged to go play, but Angela and Shannon held them tight, just smiling. Mercy came over and knelt down in the snow in front of them to take their attention.
Another truck pulled up and parked perpendicular in front of Zeke’s. Duncan stepped out carefully, mindful of the snow. He didn’t need to use a cane anymore, but he was very careful of how he moved and his footing. He circled the truck and opened the door for his wife Alexandra. Her brilliant auburn hair blew in the wind before she lifted the hood of her gray wool coat. With a final glance into the back seat, she carefully closed the door, then crossed to stand with the crowd. She grinned as she greeted the other women.
“I want to let Chloe sleep as long as possible,” she said.
The women nodded understandingly, then turned to face the final group joining them. Flynn was carrying little Raven through the deeper snow drifts, her cheeks rosy with the cold. She was grinning at the boys, looking like she’d just woken up. Willow followed along behind, her long, dark hair bundled under a knit cap but her eyes dancing with shared knowledge of a secret.
“I think we’re all here, now,” she breathed, leaning in to hug the women. Flynn set Raven down with the other kids.
John looked back and forth between Aiden and the other men, a slight frown on his face. “It’s good to see you guys. Didn’t know you were coming over.”
Duncan grinned. “Sorry to drop in unannounced. Well, not really.”
John looked at him oddly. “What the fuck’s going on?”
Aiden moved to start unstrapping the item, anxious to see how John would react. “We got the boys something.”
Zeke moved to the other side and started unhooking, but left the item covered. Flynn reached into the bed near the tail gate and remove two sleds with long rope handles, one red, one blue, and set them beside John. They were toddler sized and had little seats to sit the kids into, and nylon belts to strap them in. He glanced at them, then back at what the men were doing. Finally, Aiden flung the tarp up and away.

Chapter Three
John’s mouth dropped open, and his eyes began to glitter. “What…the…fuck…”
“Fuc,” Caden said into the silence, grinning.
The adults chuckled, and Caden took it as approval. Funny man that he was, he said it again.
“You all hush up,” Shannon hissed. “Quit laughing or he’ll never stop.”
Obediently the adults turned back to watch John, ignoring the little boy’s antics, even as he continued to repeat the word.
John rolled forward in the driveway, eyes wide. Aiden could see the fascination and outright need in his expression. Zeke climbed up into the bed and Flynn positioning two ramps from the tailgate to the ground. Zeke sat in the chair, touched a couple of things, and the motorized, tracked wheelchair moved forward. It rolled smoothly down the ramps. Zeke turned the small stick at his right hand and the vehicle turned to the left, stopping directly in front of John.
“If i-it will haul my big ass, it will h-h-haul yours.”
Zeke stepped out of the chair, grinning, and moved to wrap an arm around Ember, leaving John looking at the tracked wheelchair. Eventually he looked up at the group around him. “You all got me this?” The fierce man’s voice sounded strained.
“Well, we’ll blame Aiden for getting the ball rolling,” Duncan told him. “Then we all pitched in and got it ordered.”
John looked at Aiden. “Why did you do this?” he whispered.
Aiden gave him a crooked smile, his own eyes filling with tears. “You have to be able to sled with your kids. It’s in the dad rule book.”
John blinked, hard, and looked away. He rubbed at his eyes furiously for a long minute, obviously trying to control tears. They gave him time to control himself and he eventually nodded, glancing around at his assembled friends. “Thank you. Everyone. Did you know about this?” he asked, looking at Shannon.
She grinned, wiping tears from her cheeks. “A little birdy might have told me something about it.”
Shaking his head, John rolled to the new chair, inspecting it. Then he maneuvered his wheelchair around beside it and locked the wheels. It was a bit of a stretch but he shifted over to the seat of the new chair. Zeke stepped forward and started showing him things, like the seat belt and the LED display.
“This th-th-thing will fly through everything here,” he said, making a broad motion at the snow around them. “It has a twenty-five mile range, so you can d-d-d-rive it to work if you want. And if it has enough traction that it can probably pull your truck. It has a lot of strength,” he grinned. “We m-might have tried it out a little, just to see what it would do.”
“Wear the damn seat belt,” Flynn laughed. “We might have learned that the hard way.”
John explored the settings on the LED display and pointedly snapped the seat belt on. Then he took off. Aiden was impressed with how smoothly the tracked vehicle moved. Within just a couple of minutes John was doing donuts around the group and plunging through the snow drifts. The twins giggled