Wedding Bells

"Mary, the police will find them, you know that."
"But this isn't the first time that girls have disappeared!"
"I know that, but ..."
"But what Frank? What!?"
"You know I'm considered a suspect?"
"WHAT!?!?!"
"Remember when I was accused of stealing Alice's car? And when one of the LaRosse kids were born the police thought I was the John Doe they were looking for?"
"Yes..."
"Apparently they like to pin everything on me."
"Mhmm...."

Frank leaned against the fridge. Since his stepdaughter had disappeared driving to the mall, his features have become strained. He had been quick to laugh, a cheery glint in his eye, but now his personality has been sapped. The wedding was only last month, he knew how having a new guy in the house was affecting Courtney. She still avoided him if they were in the living room, showing obvious dislike when he sat in her fathers chair.
"Charlie had left three years ago. He was Courtney's father, her real father. I know where Charlie went, where all guys went when they've had enough with their family. All the men in the town go to the Pub to drink everything away. But Charlie didn't go home that night after drinking. He never came home at all. His things are in the attic now, haphazardly thrown in boxes. Mary had done it all in a rage, her children didn't help. Once there was a box in the attic, they took it down and put his things back. When Charlie left, it left a strain on everyone in the family. I can still feel it when sometimes.
About three months after Charlie left I met Mary at the Winter Carnival. She was selling Snow Cones. I had to buy one, when else can you get a snow cone in the middle of the winter?"

Mary felt around in her bathrobe for a cigarette. She had quit after she met Frank, it was still hard to break a habit like that. Not finding one, she resorted to spinning her coffee cup on the table. Courtney was her only daughter, she had an older son, Chuck, but he was off in Europe studying abroad. He had no idea what was going on. With his luck he wouldn't even know anything had happened unless if the town told him. He was moving houses this week from host house to host house in different countries, trying to get a hold of him over there would be difficult.
"Frank and I have been married for almost a month, we didn't have enough to save up for a honeymoon, but we'll have one eventually. Maybe when the kids are out of the house. Charlie, my ex-husband, was a jerk. He left me and the kids alone when I didn't even have a job and I couldn't support the kids. Chuck was a senior at Honey Oak High School, Court was a sophomore, best kids a parent could have. They both had jobs then, Chuck at the vet's Court at the Ice Cream Parlour Plus down the street. When they realized finally that their father left us, they both pitched in their savings to save the house. I found a job right after that, I work at the bank, I know the manager, she lets me work it all off.
Frank has been an angel, he didn't know about anything until about two years that we had been dating. We met three months after Charlie left, down at the Winter Carnival. What he sees in me I'll never know. But he saved us. He paid off our mortgage, and said since he was living with us now, he needed to put in his bit. But he didn't move in until we were married, and I appreciate that. It was hard enough for the kids to see a new man in my life in the first place. Six months into meeting him we decided to break it to the kids, but we only told them that we had been dating for three months. Court's smart, she knew better.
I pray that she's alright, I'm worried. We left her room just like it is, but every day a little bit more dust appears, covering up her pictures. She loves ... to take pictures. Cats dogs, flowers, humans, anything at all. Beautiful things, she gives them out as gifts in cards if she knows the subject.
I wish I had my baby back, I hope she and Rachel are alright.
Rachel is like my other daughter, just a little older than Court, but she's such a dear.
I hope you girls are alright, I wish we can find you before...."