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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Research Subject - by MMB
Chapter 6: The Turn In The Road
I could remember that many years ago, my grandmother had had a saying that went, "It's a very long road that doesn't have a turn in it somewhere." She had always applied that saying to the way the events of life would seem to go along in one mode for a long time, only suddenly to shift and change mode very quickly. As the end of Spring drew close, I found myself hearing my grandmother's voice in the back of my mind - almost as if she was warning me that my life was going to be going through a change soon.
Not that my life hadn't already taken a drastic turn seven and a half months ago. I'd first come to Delaware to be part of a psychological research project having to do with the effects of one twin surviving the other, only to meet and fall in love with Sydney, the psychiatrist running the study. As a result of finding myself pregnant six weeks later, I was no longer a disillusioned divorcee with a grown daughter in med school and few friends to speak of otherwise. Now I was happily married to a wonderful and caring man with a baby on the way and a warm cocoon of grown children and semi-adopted grown children and dear friends around me. I'd moved from the Midwest to a tiny Delaware beach community, and had gone from being disillusioned to actually allowing myself to dream again.
And such dreams I was having now! So often I would dream of happy and loving times with the little dark-haired daughter that was currently finding the confines of my belly increasingly restrictive. And when I didn't dream of my husband and baby, I would dream of the grown family that had coalesced around Sydney and myself - of Rene, my daughter, and of Nicholas, his son. Added to them were the Broots' - both Broots and his teenaged daughter Debbie - and the other “children” Sydney had helped raise and now we treated as our own, Parker and Jarod. Parker had a three-year-old brother, Jacob, whom she now regularly brought over to our house on weekends and whom we adored.
But my fondest dream - the one genuinely I feared would always remain a dream and never become reality - was that all of our family would one day sit around Sydney's dining table AS a family. Within that dream lay my secret wish that one day we'd be able to overcome the obstacles that had obliged us so far to enjoy our family piecemeal with always one member or another missing for one reason or another. Chief among those obstacles stood the poisonous hunt for Jarod that technically had never entirely been abandoned by the Centre despite Jarod's apparently complete disappearance. Because Miss Parker had been in charge of that hunt and was technically still under orders to bring him back to the Centre at all costs, Jarod had never been free to visit us when there was a chance she might show up.
Of late, however, I had cautiously begun acting as go-between, passing simple messages back and forth between Jarod and Miss Parker on those rare occasions that he did come to visit us in the evenings. Despite the present situation, Jarod and Miss Parker had once been fast friends - and neither was really content with the way things stood between them now. Because I had opened my big mouth and, evidently, opened a window between them that had long been shut and locked, they were hesitantly beginning to communicate again. That, in itself, was a big step, according to Sydney.
Finally, my late mid-life pregnancy had been almost a textbook example of health - at least it had been until my latest appointment, when the doctor noted that my blood pressure had climbed significantly. For a change, I was sent on my way with strict instructions to absolutely stay off my feet and not do any physical activity at all other than walk from one resting spot to the next from now on and to avoid stress whenever possible. He'd also issued a stern warning that if my blood pressure didn't quit rising by the next week's exam, it would mean that I'd end my pregnancy flat on my back in a hospital bed.
I didn't tell him that I had been preparing for another houseguest for most of the morning, and that perhaps my raised blood pressure had been due to my excitement at heading for the airport to pick up Nicholas right after my appointment. The look on my husband's face as we left the examination room told me that he was going to see to it that the doctor's orders were followed to the letter, however, and that he wouldn't be hearing any of my arguments otherwise. His hand at my elbow on our way out to the car was very protective, very solicitous.
Still, I didn't let the doctor's warnings keep me from walking into the airport to meet Nicholas' flight. When he caught sight of us past the security gate, his face broke open into a full and even-toothed grin of good humor that was so much like his father's that my heart gave a big thump in my chest. Then he was with us, embracing Sydney tightly and thumping his father heartily on the back, and then giving me a more careful and measured but no less hearty hug of my own. "Looks like I waited about as long as I could have to have my visit. How far along are you again?" he asked in a gently teasing tone as he eyed my expanded waistline.
"Stop that," I chuckled back at him and put my hands on the top of the hard bulge that was our peanut. "I'll have you know that I've still got six weeks or more. So you won't have to worry about competing for my time as yet."
"There isn't going to be a whole lot competing for your time at all anymore," Sydney told me very firmly, surrounding my shoulders with his sheltering arm. "Nicholas, you and I are going to make sure that Cat doesn't need to lift a finger from now on. Her doctor wants her to have complete rest for the rest of the way through this - and that's what she's going to have."
"Fine with me," the young man nodded agreeably. "Why don't you take her to go sit down over there," he pointed to a set of seats, "while I get my luggage? There's no need for her to get tired out on her feet standing around waiting for me."
Sydney nodded and directed our steps toward the seats. I have to admit that by the time we were seated, I was ready to sit down. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern when evidently my face showed my discomfort.
"Just a little tired," I reassured him with a pat on his hand before it went around my shoulders again. "Remember, my love, I'm just pregnant, not broken."
"You may not be broken, but you're definitely going to be out of commission for the time being for your own good and that of our peanut. I think I'll have to ask Broots if Debbie would like to earn some extra money on weekends doing some light housekeeping for you," he held me just a bit tighter. "And you aren't going to be doing a lot of cooking either..." His eyebrows climbed when he saw my look of dismay. "You forget - I'm not exactly untalented in the kitchen myself. I seem to remember a certain pot of stew that went over very well one cold, winter night..."
I smiled and leaned into him, enjoying the feeling of his arms wrapping themselves around me as much as I ever did. He was right - the stew he had made on what had turned out to be our very first night together had been delicious. And if Nicholas showed half as much skill in the kitchen as his father did, we certainly wouldn't be starving anytime soon. "I just hate to have you come home from work all tired and still have to turn around and cook when I'm home all day," I complained, knowing that he was expecting at least a token discussion. The truth was that I wasn't as unhappy at being required to take it easy as he thought. The past few days and that morning had been very wearing - something Sydney didn't need to know. His work was stressful enough that he didn't need to be worrying about me too.
"I did that for years before I found you and let you spoil me, Cat," he reminded me gently, then rose and helped draw me back to my feet as Nicholas began to approach with suitcases in hand. "And I happen to know that there are some very fine places to eat in Blue Cove that do deliver." Then he held out a hand for one of the suitcases while keeping the other wrapped around me. "Let's get you home," he told his son.
Nicholas moved to my other side and settled my other elbow into the palm of his free hand. "That sounds like a plan, Dad." We walked along slowly, both men letting me set the pace. "By the way, Mom sends her greetings."
"How is she?" I wasn't surprised that Sydney would ask this - better than anyone else, I knew how much Michelle had meant to him years ago, and that he still felt some fondness for her. I knew I owned his heart completely and carried his child now, so I didn't begrudge the little bit of fondness this interest indicated.
"She's doing fine - working up at the State Hospital now." I could see Nicholas watching my reaction, so I kept my face very neutral. After all, I couldn't deny that Sydney had had a life before I'd come along that included his mother in a big way - and I didn't want Sydney's son to feel uncomfortable speaking of someone so important to his life in front of me.
"Is she still seeing that lawyer... what was his name... Pat?" Sydney pointed across the parking lot in the direction we had left our car.
"Pete - and yes, she is. As a matter of fact," I saw Nicholas glance at his father assessingly now, "I think it's getting serious between them."
"Does that bother you?" I asked the younger man curiously.
"Not really," he replied. "I'd like to think that Mom wouldn't pull herself into a hole after Da... George died."
"He was your Dad too," Sydney reminded his son in a tone that made it clear that this wasn't an issue for him. "You called him “Dad” all your life - you don't have to trip over it just because I'm around."
"I know," Nicholas actually blushed slightly. "It's just..."
"You do whatever feels right, Nicholas," I told him as we approached the car and I heard the automatic locks being opened and the trunk popped. "Maybe you should consider yourself lucky that you've had two Dads."
I could see in a fleetingly startled glance at me that he'd be thinking about what I said for a while. "Anyway," he continued, handing over his other suitcase to be stowed, "for a while, I was kinda hoping that she and Dad would try again, but Mom just never really did anything to encourage anything between them. I think she was still plenty leery about the Centre and his still working there - and still is leery, for that matter."
"I don't blame her," Sydney remarked tightly, handing me into my place in the passenger seat. "There are times I wonder myself why I'm still working there - especially now."
"Let's talk about something else," Nicholas decided as he settled into the seat behind me. "How's Rene doing in her school, Cathy?"
I smiled, as I always did when talking about my daughter the almost-doctor. "She's doing well, thanks, and almost half-way through her pre-med. courses. She's talking about coming home for a while in August to help me out with the baby when she gets here."
"Really?" he asked, sounding definitely interested. My smile got wider. I remembered that when Rene had been with us a month or so ago, and Nicholas had dropped by unexpectedly for an overnight visit, the two of them had struck up an immediate liking for the other. I glanced at Sydney as he settled himself behind the wheel and found him glancing back at me. Obviously our thoughts had run immediately in the same direction because his smile was as pleased and amused as I figured mine was.
"Really," I replied. "I suppose if you wanted to stop by sometime while she's here..."
Nicholas was a sweet young man, and I should have been ashamed at myself for having made him blush the way I did. I knew better. I knew I knew better. But at seven and a half months pregnant, my options for exercising my mischief were limited.
"I just might do that," he warned with a chuckle when he saw that the both of us were smiling.
I settled back into my seat with a happy sigh, and I could see the contentment on my husband's face as he drove us back to Blue Cove. This was the first time his son had actually come to Delaware to stay with him for any uninterrupted length of time since the two had found each other, with another visit possibly in the offing already. For Sydney, this would be a precious opportunity to finally connect with and get to know his son better. For me, it would be a time to stand back and watch my beloved husband work to become a father to another of his children, knowing that our peanut couldn't help but benefit from the experience.
~~~~~~~~
I think I surprised my husband when I didn't argue with him at all when he informed me that I needed to take a rest on the couch before dinner - and that he and Nicholas would be taking over my kitchen for the time being. I walked into the living room and moved the pillows on the couch around so that I'd be comfortable while he escorted his son up to the office/spare bedroom. I was just settling down when he came back down the stairs and over to me immediately, sitting down next to me. "You look pale, Cat. Are you alright?"
"Don't fuss so, Sydney," I soothed, catching a hand between my own. "I'm fine - just more tired than I thought I'd be."
He bent forward and kissed my lips very softly. "Then you sleep. I know exactly what you were intending to prepare for supper, and I think I have the job covered."
"I'm sorry I'm not more help to you tonight," I caressed his soft cheek.
"Hush," he told me gently in that voice that could turn my knees to water sometimes. "The time has come for us to do for you for a change. Don't apologize. You just take good care of yourself and our peanut - that's all I want you to do from now on." He smoothed my hair back with one of those huge and gentle hands of his. "Close your eyes now."
How could I refuse him when his stroking my hair was like a natural sedative? He stayed next to me for a while, I'm sure, because I don't remember him getting up and leaving me to sleep while he fixed the supper I'd managed to get half-prepared before leaving for Dover much earlier. I must have been more tired than I had given myself credit for, because I didn't rouse again until Nicholas was gently shaking my shoulder and telling me that supper was served. He came around the end of the couch and offered a hand to help me get myself in an upright position and then pull myself to my feet.
"I hope my visit isn't going to tire you out too much," he worried into my ear as his hand found my elbow again.
"Nonsense," I reassured him, "I just did a little more than I should have this morning. I'll be back to my own feisty self in the morning - you'll see."
"Yeah? Well you'll be a very quiet feisty, if you please," he smiled down at me with Sydney's wide smile. "Dad has made me responsible for “making you behave,” as he put it, when he's not here."
"Did he now?" I smiled back. I'd have to have a word with my husband - he knew I'd have very little defense against a personable and gentle young man that looked so much like he had when he was younger, and he was taking advantage of that knowledge.
"There you are," Sydney beamed at me as I came into the kitchen and sniffed the air appreciatively. "Hungry, I hope."
"Our peanut's the glutton," I told him as I patted the tight and huge bulge in my middle that was our child and then slipped into my place at the table. "But this does smell very good. It's nice to have a man cook a nice meal for me for a change." I gave him a mischievous grin. "I could get very used to this."
And with that auspicious beginning, the men sat down to join me at a very tasty and filling meal during which the conversation was light and amicable. Sydney got Nicholas talking about his current teaching job at a small community college in upstate New York. I kept my mouth shut and listened as the two men discussed teaching techniques and approaches to take with problem students. I did ask a couple of questions when the discussion moved in a direction I wasn't familiar with, so that I could at least understand what they were talking about.
Sydney and I had discussed psychiatry and his current projects at the Centre often and in depth and occasionally chemistry the same way. But it wasn't until I listened to him talk teaching with his son that I could appreciate just how dedicated he must have been as a mentor to Jarod years ago. I could tell that he was striving to give Nicholas the benefit of his experience in working with Jarod - processes that had worked and those that had bombed spectacularly, as well as his assessment of why one had worked and the others hadn't. Nicholas had evidently been working at the college long enough to be able to respond with experiences and assessments of his own.
I have to admit that over that dinner table I heard teaching techniques discussed in the kind of detail that few people outside the profession ever did. I was also listening very closely at times when I would begin to hear methods and approaches to teaching that might benefit Debbie and her friends when they would come to me for Chemistry tutoring.
All too soon, as far as I was concerned, I knew that I'd used up all the energy I had gained back during my nap. "Now you two don't worry about me," I told them as Sydney immediately rose as if to escort me up the stairs. "I've been navigating this house just fine by myself for months now. You stay and talk with Nicholas - I'll just say my goodnight's now."
"Goodnight, Cathy," Nicholas rose as I did and then bent to deposit a very sweet kiss on my cheek. "Sleep well."
"You too," I returned the gesture and smiled up at my husband's very handsome son. "Sydney," I stretched up to kiss him on the lips and was rewarded by a warm and protective hug.
"I'll be up in a while, then," he told me. "You sure you're OK?"
"Yes!" I exclaimed and kissed him again. "I didn't have you pegged as such a worrier, my love."
"Only when it comes to you and our daughter," he replied as he put a gentle hand on the taut bulge and then looked at me with eyebrows raised as he could feel his child tumbling madly. "Has she been this active all day?"
I nodded. "I think she's just about worn me out."
His hand smoothed over my swollen belly and caressed his daughter and, as it never seemed to fail, the baby ceased her random acrobatics and calmed right down to push into her father's hand. I saw Nicholas watch the two of us with eyebrows raised in interest, and then he stepped closer. "Do... Do you think I could...?" he asked shyly.
"Of course you can. She's your half-sister, after all," I told him, taking his hand in mine and guiding it to where Sydney's hand had been before. The little imp evidently had decided she liked her big brother almost as much as her father, because although she twitched mischievously into my bladder once just to let me know that she wasn't done with me yet, she pushed a few times gently into Nicholas' hand too. Nicholas' eyes widened, and his smile at the sensation reminded me so much of the expression his father had worn the first time he'd felt his child move.
"I..." he began, obviously moved, then looked at me with glowing dark honeyed eyes that were so much like his father's that the resemblance was uncanny. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."
"It means a lot to the both of us that you're here," I told him with as much feeling as I could. "The house always feels happier when more of the family is home." It was true. While Sydney and I were very contented when it was just the two and a half of us, having any part of the rest of the family around us was a treat that neither of us could resist.
Nicholas smiled and actually blushed a little bit as he moved aside to let me through. "Goodnight, again."
"Goodnight," I waved to the both of them and made my way slowly down the hallway to the stairs. I was so tired that I didn't even bother to listen to them resume their discussion. It was enough for me to do to put one foot in front of the other and drag myself up those stairs to our bedroom.
~~~~~~~~
I was so soundly asleep that I barely heard the telephone ring late that night. Sydney let go of me and rolled away from my back to turn on the night lamp and answer it. Rolling to my back and squinting against the abrupt explosion of light in such a dark room, I heard him mumble his habitual, "This is Sydney..." obviously still half-asleep. But then I heard him draw in a sharp breath and struggle to wake up quickly as he propped himself up on an elbow and demanded in a concerned tone, "Who is this?" He paused, listening for a moment, then drew in his breath sharply again. "Rene? Calm down, cheri, I can't understand you..."
Rene? I rolled up onto my elbow against his back behind him. "Sydney?" I asked, now worried. I reached across his shoulder for the phone, but he shook his head at my gesture.
"Rene? What? Who is this?" he paused. "This is Dr. Sydney Greene... What?" He listened again. "No, I'm her step-father. What's happened?" His voice was brisk, professional - deeply worried. He listened again for a long time, then pushed himself up and rolled his feet off the edge of the bed as he continued to listen and nod. "I understand. I can be there in about five hours," he was saying suddenly. "Let me get my arrangements in order, and I'll be on my way."
"Sydney!" Something must be very wrong for him to be leaving to go to Rene's side in the middle of the night. "What's happened?" I reached for the phone again. "Rene..."
"Thank you, doctor. I'll see you in a few hours." He hung up the phone and then turned to me. "Sweetheart, Rene's been hurt. She was calling from the hospital."
I think my heart stopped for a moment. "My baby!"
I struggled to sit up too, but he twisted on the bed and put his arms around my front and pushed me back into my pillows. "No! You need to stay here, Cat. I'll go - and I'll bring her back with me."
"What's happened to her?" I demanded, propping myself up on my elbows again the moment he turned to stand up.
He turned to me, and those dark honey eyes were the most awful mixture of rage and worry that I'd ever seen from him. "From the sounds of it, someone tried to use her as a punching bag."
I fell back into my pillows, shocked, and I think my heart skipped another beat or two. "Oh my God! Jake!"
Sydney was moving quickly and efficiently, throwing on clothing and then reaching for the telephone again. He dialed, then waited. "No, Parker, it's Sydney and it's an emergency. I need you to order the Centre jet for me - I need to get to Rochester, Minnesota right away. It's Rene - she's been attacked and is in the hospital." He listened, then nodded. "Three sweepers ought to do it. I'll call Joe myself and get him over here now - and Nicholas is here, so..." He nodded again. "Thanks, Parker. We both owe you."
He pushed the button so that he could get the dial tone again and dialed another number. "Joe? Sydney. Look, I'm sorry to awaken you at this horrible hour, but we've had a bit of emergency here. I need you to come over right away and be with Cathy - I have to leave immediately to meet the jet at the airstrip." He listened, then nodded again. "Good. I think I can hold off until you get here. Thanks!"
"Sydney!" I'd never seen him behave quite like this before - very take-charge and dynamically moving aside all obstacles. He was always so soft-spoken, gentle - I had forgotten somehow that he could also be a powerful man, and one perfectly capable of steamrollering any person who unwisely got in the way.
He walked around the end of the bed, slipping his suspenders over his shoulders, then sat down next to me and took my hands in his. "Listen to me now, Cat. I'm going to Rochester to get Rene and bring her home to us," he told me gently. "She's hurt and she's going to need some taking care of for a while. While I'm gone, I want you to do your best not to worry - she's at a hospital right now, and they're treating her injuries and will keep her safe for us until I get there. Miss Parker is going with me - and we're meeting enough sweepers from the St. Paul office to handle any situations we encounter." His voice tightened into barely restrained fury on the last sentence.
Sweepers? One look into his face told me exactly what sweepers were and why they would be present. "Don't go after him..." I began, worried now not only for Rene's health, but Sydney's well being. "Don't hurt him," I clung to his hands tightly. "He isn't worth it. Just leave him be and bring my baby home."
"Cat, I intend to make sure he leaves her alone from now on - one way or another." He was determined, inflexible. "I will not stand aside while a member of my family gets hurt time after time. I'm calling the police if Rene hasn't already - and one way or the other, that man will NOT be hitting his daughter ever again."
"Just don't jeopardize yourself in the process!" I cried, then pulled his hand to my stomach. "I need you; Rene needs you - and our peanut needs you too. And we all need you HERE. So don't give anybody any excuse to..."
His face softened as his hand spread across my belly and caressed his unborn daughter lovingly, and then he bent over me and kissed me ever so gently on the lips to still my stammering. "I'll be careful," he promised, "and I'll be back before you know it with Rene." His huge hand cradled the side of my head. "I have to go wake Nicholas and tell him what's going on now - and you'll need to do the introductions with Joe in the morning - so you just lay back and rest as best you can. I'll call you from Rochester General the moment I know anything, I promise." He kissed me again. "Promise me you'll stay quiet and not do anything, for God's sake!"
I reached up to him, framing his face with my hands. "I'll try, but with you gone and Rene hurt, it's going to be hard until I heard from you."
"I know, Cat." He kissed the insides of my hands and then pushed away from me and rose. "I love you so much. Take care of yourself until I get back." He grabbed his wallet and keys from the nightstand and shoved them into pockets as he headed for the door.
"I love you too," I said to his retreating back. He had to be kidding - there was no way in the world I was going to remain complacently in bed while he prepared to go charging off to my daughter's rescue. I slipped my feet over the edge of the bed and into my slippers, and went to the closet to grab my bathrobe.
By the time I got to the door and had it open, he was on his way out of the office/guest room - and he gave me a disgruntled look. "You aren't going to be able to relax, are you?" he asked, understanding suddenly dawning.
"Would you?" I returned, tying my bathrobe sash where it now fit at the top of my stomach.
"No, I suppose not," he admitted, bending to give me another quick kiss on the cheek, then turned and went down the stairs two at a time when the doorbell rang. I stood at the head of the stairs and watched him let a rather ragged and unshaven Joe into the house. His instructions were brief and to the point: under no circumstances was Lyle to get into the house while he and Miss Parker were gone - and to use force, if necessary, to make sure. Joe nodded somberly, his eyes flitting up the stairs to meet mine, and then nodded again.
I felt Nicholas come up behind me and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. Sydney cast one last look up the stairs and nodded. "Take care of her for me, Nicholas. She means the world to me."
"I will, Dad, don't worry," Nicholas reassured him. "Have a safe trip."
With a last, fond look, Sydney moved past Joe and out the front door. Joe stared up at Nicholas with a slight frown on his face. "This is Nicholas Stamatis," I told my friendly bodyguard, "Sydney's son. Nicholas, this is Joe." The two men acknowledged each other stiffly.
"I think I'll find a soft spot on the couch for the rest of the evening, Cathy," Joe told me with a barely stifled yawn.
"We all need to get our rest," Nicholas agreed and took my arm. "You too, Cathy. Dad wants you to take it easy."
"I'm not going to be able to sleep now," I argued in frustration.
"Maybe not," he pulled at me, "but you could do whatever fussing you intend to in the comfort of your bed, couldn't you?"
"You need your rest, Cathy," Joe added his voice to Nicholas' unexpectedly. "If I know Dr. Sydney at all, he'll have our guts for garters if you wear yourself to a frazzle while he's gone and then something happens to that baby."
"Joe's right," Nicholas fussed at me, actually putting an arm around me and steering me back in the direction of my bedroom. "There isn't much you can do tonight anyway. Dad will call when he gets to Rochester, but that's not going to be for a while now. Until he does, why don't you just lie down and take care of my little sister."
I couldn't glare at my husband's son - the pleading in his eyes was far too much like it would be in his father's. I knew better than to even try - and I knew I knew better. So I sighed defeat. "OK, OK. I give in."
And the smile of triumph that spread across that young man's features was no less his father's either. He let go of me the moment I was past the threshold of my bedroom. "Goodnight, Cathy. Sleep well - if you can."
"You too," I told him before closing the door. I genuinely toyed with the idea of lying down again, but I was now far too awake and alert. I went to Sydney's side of the bed, put out the lamp, then settled myself in the easy chair by the window to stare out into the darkness instead. All I could do was wonder what in the world must have happened to have Jake actually batter Rene badly enough that she'd ended up in a hospital. I must have dozed eventually after one of several bouts of tears of anger and anguish for my oldest daughter. In my dream, the dark-haired daughter I had yet to meet held my hand and did all she could to comfort me, whispering to me that everything would be all right.
I so wanted to believe her...
~~~~~~~~
Our next surprise was the knock on the door bright and early - around eight-thirty in the morning. I didn't recognize the man, so only cracked the door a little when I felt the comforting strength of Joe behind me. "Yes? Can I help you?"
"Miss Parker sent me," he announced with no fanfare. "My name's Sam."
"Let him in," Joe said quietly over my shoulder. "Sam's Miss Parker's personal sweeper. She must have felt we needed an extra helping of security this morning."
I unhitched the security chain and opened the door wide to let a perfectly enormous dark-haired man slip gracefully past me into the house. "Joe," he greeted my bodyguard with the familiarity of long acquaintance. Then his sparkling eyes looked me up and down, his brows rising a bit in what I think was surprise when the gaze landed on my stomach. "So you're the mystery wife that Sydney refuses to even discuss at work," he commented in a soft but approving voice.
My lips twitched; my husband must be really determined to keep me and his home life completely separated from the Centre. "Guess so," I replied.
Nicholas descended the stairs toward the sound of our voices, frowning a bit. "What's going on?" he asked in a tone that told me clearly that he'd assumed the “man of the house” position in his father's absence and took his responsibility very seriously.
"Hello, Nicholas," Sam greeted my husband's son with a nod and a smile. "I remember you from a few years back - when you were taken hostage."
Nicholas nodded after thinking for a moment. "I remember your face," he confirmed. "Didn't get a name at the time..."
"Sam," the huge man supplied easily. "Miss Parker sent me along to help keep the home fires secure today. She said she didn't trust that Lyle wouldn't decide to take advantage of both her and Sydney's absence and try to get at Cathy again."
"Maybe you know," I began as I made my way back into the living room and my comfortable spot on the couch with three men trailing behind curiously, "just what it is that Lyle wants with me so badly?"
Sam and Joe exchanged knowing glances, and the newcomer shifted on his feet slightly in discomfort. "Lyle... isn't the kind of person that can be easily understood. He has his own agendas sometimes - and they AREN'T the kinds of things that I'd imagine Sydney would want you mixed up in at all. Even Nicholas here found out the hard way that Lyle isn't exactly the best person to be around."
I looked at my husband's son. "What?"
Nicholas came around the end of the couch and sat down at my feet after I made room for him. "When I was working in the Appalachians, a militia stormed my school and took me and a few other teachers hostage. Lyle found out about it, supposedly “rescued” us and then killed most of the militia. Then he used me as bait for a trap for Jarod, because he'd intercepted a message from my father to Jarod about the kidnapping." He saw my brows furrow. "Of course, Jarod got away - after rescuing me and then scaring the crap out of Lyle."
I gave a dry barking chuckle. "That sounds like Jarod."
"You know Jarod?" Sam asked immediately, his tone concerned.
I shrugged quickly, knowing this to be something that needed a quick and logical explanation to prevent questions later. "Sydney's told me so much about him since we were married, I feel like I know him myself." That much was true, of course. Sam just didn't have to know that I knew Jarod quite well myself. Even Joe didn't know that yet, and I trusted Joe about as far as I could trust any Centre employee not part of my family.
I caught myself thinking those thoughts and cringed inside. In a very small way, by having had to successfully learn to lie by omission, I'd let the Centre begin to exert a subtle influence on even me. That didn't make me happy at all. I was even less happy thinking that this would be the moral example that I'd be setting for my new daughter. This would be something Sydney and I would have to discuss, because I couldn't see myself teaching a child that it was permissible to do such a thing with any regularity.
"So you don't know why Lyle would want me?" I changed the subject back to where it had been.
"It could be a way of trying to get a hook into Sydney - to get him to do something that he so far has been able to avoid doing. He's good at being able to do that unless he feels threatened," Sam suggested with a shrug. "Then again, from what Miss Parker has let slip, it could just be a continuation of the way they've always been keeping Sydney from having anything in his life to care about other than the Centre." He cast a quick glance down at Nicholas. "After all, that's why he didn't know about you for all that time."
"Tell me something?" I looked up at both of the sweepers, who then nodded. "Why do each of YOU still work there, if you both know that such things go on?"
The glance that passed between Sam and Joe was priceless. I don't know that either of them had ever analyzed their careers before that closely. Sam answered first. "I work for Miss Parker - it's just that the Centre issues my paychecks. If it came down to a choice between..." He glanced around the room, and I got the vaguest impression he was worried that he'd be overheard. "If I had to choose the Centre or Miss Parker, I'm Miss Parker's man."
I looked over at Joe - a man who had become like a friend over the months that he'd been at my side during daylight hours. "What about you?" I asked him.
"I don't know anymore," he answered with surprising honesty. "When I first started there, I was just doing bodyguard work - like now. That's how we all start. But I'd hear stories of the kinds of things that others were doing - people like Raines' sweeper Willy - and I'd ask myself if I'd be willing to do some of that if I got orders to. Then I got lucky and got assigned as part of the security staff for the Sim Lab, and that's where I met your husband." He looked down at his hands. "I like Dr. Sydney - he never asked me to do anything questionable, or treated me like a dumb muscleman like so many of the others do. That's why, when he asked me if I'd be willing to come here instead of to the Sim Lab..." He looked me straight in the eye. "I work for your husband, Cathy - and I feel honored that he actually trust me with YOUR safety. As for the Centre, they just give me my paycheck - like Sam. If I had to choose, I'm Dr. Sydney's man."
Oddly enough, I felt even safer now than I had before, knowing that these men were more loyal to my family than they were to their mutual employer. I didn't know that I would ever understand the thinking that would allow all of these people to continue to work for a corporation all of them seemed to detest so much, but I was at least able to feel comfortable under their protection. I reached for my mug of tea that I'd brought with me when Nicholas had insisted that I find a spot on the couch to relax. "Nicholas, maybe Joe and Sam could do with some coffee. Do you mind?"
The young man patted my feet and got to his. "I'm on it," he replied and waved to both men to follow him into the kitchen - Joe for a refill and Sam for a first cup. At least I knew the coffee was palatable, it was the ONLY thing Nicholas had allowed me to make before pointing me into a chair at the table and taking over breakfast.
The telephone began ringing, making me nearly jump out of my skin, and I scrabbled for the cordless handset I'd brought with me to the living room. "Hello?" I answered breathlessly.
"Cat? You didn't run..." Sydney's warm voice answered me immediately.
"No, my love, the phone just startled me. What news of Rene?"
"She's being discharged and getting dressed while we speak. We need to make a side-trip to the police station to file a formal complaint, but then we'll be on the way home again. With luck, we'll be home long before suppertime." I could hear the restrained emotion in his voice - worry for Rene and me, and anger at Jake.
"Where's Jake?" I demanded.
"We don't know yet," he answered tersely. "Miss Parker and her team are currently working on that. I'll wait until I hear from her before actually filing the complaint and demanding an arrest warrant."
"What about Rene? What did he..." I was unable to continue. I looked up and saw that Nicholas had rejoined me and was listening to my end of the conversation closely.
Sydney's sigh spoke volumes. "Two broken ribs, bruises on her arms and face, another black eye and a mild concussion from being slammed into a wall." He was furious, I could tell. "How she managed to drive herself here is beyond me. She's pretty battered and bruised, Cat." Yes, he was furious, but he was also hurting for my daughter who had become a part of his life too. "How are you?"
"Sam is here," I told him gently. "Miss Parker evidently wanted to make sure that things stayed secure on this end while you were gone."
"She told me she'd called him when I met her at the jet," Sydney said, sounding suddenly somewhat distracted. "I have to go, sweetheart - time for me to get the car around for Rene's release. I just wanted to tell you..."
"I love you too, Sydney. Thank you for taking care of Rene for me." I was almost in tears. I felt Nicholas move next to me and put a gentle hand on my shoulder to comfort me.
"I love you too, Cat. We'll be home as soon as we can." He paused as if he wanted to say more, then added. "I love you. Talk to you later."
"Good bye," I said as I heard the line go dead in my ear. I looked over at Nicholas, patiently waiting with an anguished look of his own. "Broken ribs, bruises, a black eye and a concussion..." I told him with fingers to my lips, my whole body beginning to shake.
"Geez," he whispered, shocked, and then moved to sit on the edge of the couch next to me when I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I cried into his shoulder for my daughter who'd had her father beat her so badly that she'd landed in the hospital. I cried for myself, for having been so foolish as to have actually loved Jake once. The only good thing that man had ever done for me was to give me Rene. I cried because I was in no shape to be there and face the bastard and take my own revenge for all the pain and misery he'd ever done to me and to her. And I cried because, as much as Nicholas was doing his best to comfort me, the arms that I wanted around me were Sydney's, not his son's.
~~~~~~~~
About three o'clock, I roused from yet another nap to the sound of car doors slamming. Behind me, I heard Joe rise from his easy chair and go to the front window, probably to peek out and see whom it was. "Stay put!" he ordered me brusquely. "It's Lyle!"
"Shit!" I heard Sam explode quietly from the other easy chair. "Nicholas - do you know where your father keeps his gun?"
"Yes," the young man said and was heading up the stairs two at a time as the doorbell began to ring.
"You don't move!" Joe ordered me again and put himself between the front door and me.
"Go away, Lyle," Sam said through the wood loudly enough that the man outside could hear him. "You've been told you aren't welcome here - nothing's changed."
I reached out a shaking hand for the telephone handset and dialed 911. I had two husky bodyguards, but I wasn't taking any chances at all. I was in no shape to fight back.
"Sam? Is that you?" I heard Lyle ask in his apparently customary oily tone. "C'mon. All I want to do is talk to her for a bit."
"She doesn't want to talk to you," Sam told the man curtly. "You're trespassing."
"911. State the nature of your emergency," sounded in my ear.
"A man is trying to break into my house. He's been stalking me for months," I told the operator quickly and as quietly as I could. "My name is Cathy Green, I'm at 125 Washington Ave. PLEASE hurry!"
"Just stay on the phone Ms. Green. I'm dispatching a patrol car to you right now."
I heard a crash from the kitchen - the sound of glass shattering - and Joe waved at me to lie flat so that I couldn't be seen on the couch as he took up a protective position against the wall where he could surprise anybody trying to come at me. "Somebody just broke in through my patio door," I told the operator, my voice a little higher in fright.
"Drop your gun, Sam," I heard an unfamiliar voice demand in a lazy and arrogant tone, "and then unlock the front door."
"Willy," I heard Sam say caustically, after which I heard something drop to the floor that was heavy - Sam's gun? "Still terrorizing those who can't fight back, I see."
"Shut up and unlock that door," the unpleasant voice demanded again, moving closer, until I could almost imagine him at the front door himself.
"I don't think so," Joe said softly, and I heard a soft metallic snicking sound that made me catch my breath. I'd never heard a gun actually made ready to fire before - and I knew it would be a sound I'd never forget for as long as I lived. "Your piece," Joe demanded in the most deadly tone I'd ever heard from the man.
In the distance I could hear the wail of a siren. The police were on their way at last.
"Come on, Willy, get this damned door open!" Lyle demanded angrily. "We need to get the woman and get the hell outta here before the cops get here."
I heard the front door open. "I don't think you'll be going anywhere," Sam stated in a cold tone. "I'll take your gun."
At last I felt safe enough to raise my head and look over the back of the couch. The man Sam called Willy was a tall and handsome black man who was now on his knees with his hands laced behind his skull with Joe's gun pressed against the side of his head. Sam had dragged Lyle into the house, leaving the front door wide open, and shoved the angry Parker man to his knees too.
Within minutes, my home was chaos manifest. Two squad cars wailed to a halt in front of the house, the officers approaching the house with their revolvers drawn. I was afraid that they were going to arrest Sam and Joe too until both Nicholas and I made clear that they had been hired as bodyguards for me. Lyle tried to laugh things off and schmooze his way out of trouble until I rose to my feet and pointed at him. "I think he was trying to kidnap me this time."
"Not a great idea, buddy," the officer said as he snapped handcuffs on Lyle and hauled him roughly to his feet. "I take it you'll be in to file a complaint?" he asked me over his shoulder.
"Absolutely," I said, nodding my head vigorously, then clutching at my middle as my entire belly tightened painfully and I started to feel my heart pounding in my ears.
"Cathy?" Nicholas saw my movement and came over to me immediately.
"I've GOT to lie down," I told him, grabbing onto his hand for support, "now!"
"Ma'am? Do you need to go to the hospital?" another officer asked in concern.
I shook my head at him. What I needed was for Lyle and his henchman to be taken out of my home - and for my husband to get home with my daughter. Nicholas put his arm around me and helped me lie down again. Joe muttered something about getting me some water and headed toward the kitchen. Sam crooked his finger at a third officer to follow him back into the kitchen - probably to show him where the arcadia door had been shattered. Nicholas remained at my side, smoothing my hair back and talking softly and gently to me. I closed my eyes and took several very deep breaths and tried to focus on slowing my racing heartbeat down and smoothed my hands over my belly in an effort to let my cartwheeling unborn child know that she needed to ease up a bit on her internal pummeling. Her mom needed a break!
The police were hauling Lyle and Willy out the front door when I heard the one thing I'd been dying to hear all day. "What the hell is going on here?" Sydney bellowed from outside the house, and another set of car doors began to slam.
Nicholas caught me back when I would have flown off the couch. "Don't even think it," he warned me with a worried look. "Let him come to you." He raised his head. "Dad! We're in here."
"Let me sit up!" I demanded and pushed Nicholas back. I twisted myself around so that I could be looking into the hallway when Sydney carefully escorted Rene through the front door. Both Nicholas and I caught our breaths when we saw her face - the damage to her eye had almost swollen the organ shut, and the shiner wasn't the only visible bruise. "Rene!" I whispered and held my hand out to her.
"Mom!" Nicholas moved quickly out of the way so that my baby girl could be brought to me and seated next to me so that I could hold her in my arms. I didn't dare hold her too tightly as I could feel the bindings on her ribs through her blouse.
"You're safe now, poppet," I murmured over and over into her hair as she clung to me and just sobbed. I looked over her shoulder at Sydney, only to see a unified team of Nicholas, Sam and Joe had diverted his attention. They were taking turns filling him in on the excitement that he'd only just missed. By the time they were finished with their disjointed narrative, Miss Parker had come through the front door chortling with perverse satisfaction.
"Who called 911 about a stalker and someone breaking into the house?" she asked those of us who had been here. "Talk about putting a serious kink in the Centre's tail..."
"I did," I answered over my daughter's shoulder. "I was afraid..."
"Did he touch you?" she said when she saw how pale and drawn I was - I'm fairly sure I must have looked at least half as bad as I felt.
"He never even got close to her, Miss Parker," Sam said with a note of pride. "Joe and I, we handled it."
Rene raised tear-filled eyes to meet mine, and I think we both were not at all pleased by the condition of the faces we each saw. But she spoke first. "Mom? What's wrong?"
Sydney heard her and immediately left the others to come over and sit on the coffee table next to me. "Cat?" he asked gently.
"Too much stress today - especially in the last few minutes or so," I answered him briefly, feeling my entire belly tighten up again as it had earlier. I closed my eyes and smoothed my hands across my belly as if that would help the muscles relax, and they finally did.
"I'm calling the doctor," he said and began to rise.
I caught at his hands and dragged him back down. "Not yet. Let me... let me calm down by myself first - and maybe it will go away by itself now that things are more or less back to normal." I felt his fingers lace with mine, and Rene leaned forward into his shoulder so that she didn't lean on me anymore. "Talk to me. Tell me what happened after we spoke on the phone."
"Miss Parker found your ex-husband - drunk and fast asleep behind the wheel of his car in the parking lot of the university, not far from where he attacked Rene." Sydney sounded thoroughly disgusted. "Parker called me, I told the police where he was and proceeded to help Rene file an assault and battery complaint against him. Rene gave her deposition, I told them how to get in touch with us later, and we headed for the airstrip as fast as we could once the police were on their way to arrest him. Miss Parker and her team hung around only long enough to know that the police found him and took him into custody." I watched him wrap a very careful arm around Rene and hold her to him. "She'll have to go back and testify against him at his trial eventually, but..."
"I'm so sorry, Mom," Rene sniffed as her tears began again. "I know you didn't need this right now..."
"Oh, for God's sake," I brushed aside her self-flagellation. "You didn't set out to have your father beat you, poppet..."
"That's what I kept telling her," Sydney said, his hand smoothing up and down Rene's back slowly. "And I made sure the police got called this time," he added as Rene leaned harder into his shoulder. "It seems someone hadn't called them yet."
"Poppet!"
"I didn't get a chance before Dad got there," Rene complained with a sniffle. "I was too hurt to do it right away, and then I wasn't thinking straight..."
Sydney's eyes met mine, and I could see the indulgent disbelief in his gaze. "It's OK, poppet - the important thing is that they did get called eventually this time," I told her, reaching up and letting my hand join Sydney's on her back. "I'm just glad that you're safe and home now with us."
"Say, Dad, I changed the sheets on the bed in the office so that Rene could have some privacy," Nicholas added, sitting down behind Rene. "I figure I can take the couch..."
"Come on, fellas. I think they'd like to have some privacy and quiet time now," I heard Miss Parker say softly to the two sweepers standing in the hallway.
"Parker - thanks for your help," I sat up a little straighter and peeked at her over the top of the couch. "Joe, Sam..." I saw the big men each nod at me.
Miss Parker came over and patted my shoulder. "As long as you're feeling better, I'll take off, that is. If you need to head to the hospital in Dover, however, I'm driving."
I shook my head. "No, I'm better now - no more cramping," I told her. "I'll be fine. But thanks."
"Syd, you CALL me if you need a quick ride to the hospital," she shook her finger at my husband. "Anytime of the day or night, understand? I'm a better driver than you are, and I can get her there faster and safer."
"I promise." Sydney patted Rene gently on the back. "I'm sorry to move you, but I need to let these people go home, cheri."
She sat up so that he could get to his feet and walk Miss Parker and the sweepers to the door. She then looked at Nicholas, a very tired expression on her damaged face. "I hope you don't mind, but if you say that bed is ready, I really would like to lie down for a while. Do you think..."
"Sure. I'll take her up, Cathy," Nicholas rose and put out a supportive hand to Rene, then wrapped an arm around her waist to give her even more support as they walked slowly toward the stairs.
"Thanks again, Miss Parker," Rene called over Sydney's shoulder, then ran her hand down his arm. "I'm going to call it a day, Dad. I hope you don't mind..."
"Here..." Sydney handed Nicholas a prescription bottle from his jacket pocket. "It's about time she took another one of these anyway."
"I'll see you later, Rene," Miss Parker called, and then Sydney shut the door and watched Nicholas escort Rene slowly up the stairs before returning to my side.
"Now," he began, sitting down next to me and taking both my hands in his. "I thought I told you I wanted you to take it easy and just take care of our peanut - not worry yourself into early labor."
"I was doing just fine," I complained, "until Lyle and Willy got here." Now that it was all over - really all over - I was glad to be lying down, for I could feel the beginnings of the shakes all over again. "God, I'm so glad you're here now. I was so scared."
"Calling the police was a stroke of genius," my husband said softly as he gathered me close to him and held me tightly. "Lyle will have a hard time talking his way out of this one."
"I'll need to go down and make a statement..." I reminded him, my arms wound around his neck and hanging on with all my remaining energy. "I told them I would. But I just need..."
"I'll call and make arrangements for you to go down, file the complaint and make a statement..." he told me, "...LATER, after you get a good rest from all the upset and excitement. You're not going anywhere for the time being."
"Just hold me," I told him and then nestled down into his loving embrace and felt his unborn daughter press into her father against where his stomach touched mine. I didn't want to cry, but soon the tears were rolling down my cheeks and into the fabric of his shirt. Everyone I loved was safe - and the relief was almost more than I could bear. "God, Sydney..."
"Shhhhh..." he hushed at me, his huge and gentle hands smoothing down my back now in comforting strokes. "It will all be OK."
I closed my eyes and saw a flash from one of my last dreams from the night before - of my little unborn, dark-haired daughter whispering to me, "It will be all right."
It had been a little touch and go there for a while. But maybe she knew something after all. I had my husband's arms around me again, my grown daughter safely resting upstairs in the safe keeping of Sydney's son for now. And whatever those cramps had been, they had evidently ceased the moment the chaos of the day had begun to abate.
But I now considered myself warned. My long road without a turn in it had just taken a couple of dramatic twists. God only knew where it was headed next.
Chapter 6: The Turn In The Road
I could remember that many years ago, my grandmother had had a saying that went, "It's a very long road that doesn't have a turn in it somewhere." She had always applied that saying to the way the events of life would seem to go along in one mode for a long time, only suddenly to shift and change mode very quickly. As the end of Spring drew close, I found myself hearing my grandmother's voice in the back of my mind - almost as if she was warning me that my life was going to be going through a change soon.
Not that my life hadn't already taken a drastic turn seven and a half months ago. I'd first come to Delaware to be part of a psychological research project having to do with the effects of one twin surviving the other, only to meet and fall in love with Sydney, the psychiatrist running the study. As a result of finding myself pregnant six weeks later, I was no longer a disillusioned divorcee with a grown daughter in med school and few friends to speak of otherwise. Now I was happily married to a wonderful and caring man with a baby on the way and a warm cocoon of grown children and semi-adopted grown children and dear friends around me. I'd moved from the Midwest to a tiny Delaware beach community, and had gone from being disillusioned to actually allowing myself to dream again.
And such dreams I was having now! So often I would dream of happy and loving times with the little dark-haired daughter that was currently finding the confines of my belly increasingly restrictive. And when I didn't dream of my husband and baby, I would dream of the grown family that had coalesced around Sydney and myself - of Rene, my daughter, and of Nicholas, his son. Added to them were the Broots' - both Broots and his teenaged daughter Debbie - and the other “children” Sydney had helped raise and now we treated as our own, Parker and Jarod. Parker had a three-year-old brother, Jacob, whom she now regularly brought over to our house on weekends and whom we adored.
But my fondest dream - the one genuinely I feared would always remain a dream and never become reality - was that all of our family would one day sit around Sydney's dining table AS a family. Within that dream lay my secret wish that one day we'd be able to overcome the obstacles that had obliged us so far to enjoy our family piecemeal with always one member or another missing for one reason or another. Chief among those obstacles stood the poisonous hunt for Jarod that technically had never entirely been abandoned by the Centre despite Jarod's apparently complete disappearance. Because Miss Parker had been in charge of that hunt and was technically still under orders to bring him back to the Centre at all costs, Jarod had never been free to visit us when there was a chance she might show up.
Of late, however, I had cautiously begun acting as go-between, passing simple messages back and forth between Jarod and Miss Parker on those rare occasions that he did come to visit us in the evenings. Despite the present situation, Jarod and Miss Parker had once been fast friends - and neither was really content with the way things stood between them now. Because I had opened my big mouth and, evidently, opened a window between them that had long been shut and locked, they were hesitantly beginning to communicate again. That, in itself, was a big step, according to Sydney.
Finally, my late mid-life pregnancy had been almost a textbook example of health - at least it had been until my latest appointment, when the doctor noted that my blood pressure had climbed significantly. For a change, I was sent on my way with strict instructions to absolutely stay off my feet and not do any physical activity at all other than walk from one resting spot to the next from now on and to avoid stress whenever possible. He'd also issued a stern warning that if my blood pressure didn't quit rising by the next week's exam, it would mean that I'd end my pregnancy flat on my back in a hospital bed.
I didn't tell him that I had been preparing for another houseguest for most of the morning, and that perhaps my raised blood pressure had been due to my excitement at heading for the airport to pick up Nicholas right after my appointment. The look on my husband's face as we left the examination room told me that he was going to see to it that the doctor's orders were followed to the letter, however, and that he wouldn't be hearing any of my arguments otherwise. His hand at my elbow on our way out to the car was very protective, very solicitous.
Still, I didn't let the doctor's warnings keep me from walking into the airport to meet Nicholas' flight. When he caught sight of us past the security gate, his face broke open into a full and even-toothed grin of good humor that was so much like his father's that my heart gave a big thump in my chest. Then he was with us, embracing Sydney tightly and thumping his father heartily on the back, and then giving me a more careful and measured but no less hearty hug of my own. "Looks like I waited about as long as I could have to have my visit. How far along are you again?" he asked in a gently teasing tone as he eyed my expanded waistline.
"Stop that," I chuckled back at him and put my hands on the top of the hard bulge that was our peanut. "I'll have you know that I've still got six weeks or more. So you won't have to worry about competing for my time as yet."
"There isn't going to be a whole lot competing for your time at all anymore," Sydney told me very firmly, surrounding my shoulders with his sheltering arm. "Nicholas, you and I are going to make sure that Cat doesn't need to lift a finger from now on. Her doctor wants her to have complete rest for the rest of the way through this - and that's what she's going to have."
"Fine with me," the young man nodded agreeably. "Why don't you take her to go sit down over there," he pointed to a set of seats, "while I get my luggage? There's no need for her to get tired out on her feet standing around waiting for me."
Sydney nodded and directed our steps toward the seats. I have to admit that by the time we were seated, I was ready to sit down. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern when evidently my face showed my discomfort.
"Just a little tired," I reassured him with a pat on his hand before it went around my shoulders again. "Remember, my love, I'm just pregnant, not broken."
"You may not be broken, but you're definitely going to be out of commission for the time being for your own good and that of our peanut. I think I'll have to ask Broots if Debbie would like to earn some extra money on weekends doing some light housekeeping for you," he held me just a bit tighter. "And you aren't going to be doing a lot of cooking either..." His eyebrows climbed when he saw my look of dismay. "You forget - I'm not exactly untalented in the kitchen myself. I seem to remember a certain pot of stew that went over very well one cold, winter night..."
I smiled and leaned into him, enjoying the feeling of his arms wrapping themselves around me as much as I ever did. He was right - the stew he had made on what had turned out to be our very first night together had been delicious. And if Nicholas showed half as much skill in the kitchen as his father did, we certainly wouldn't be starving anytime soon. "I just hate to have you come home from work all tired and still have to turn around and cook when I'm home all day," I complained, knowing that he was expecting at least a token discussion. The truth was that I wasn't as unhappy at being required to take it easy as he thought. The past few days and that morning had been very wearing - something Sydney didn't need to know. His work was stressful enough that he didn't need to be worrying about me too.
"I did that for years before I found you and let you spoil me, Cat," he reminded me gently, then rose and helped draw me back to my feet as Nicholas began to approach with suitcases in hand. "And I happen to know that there are some very fine places to eat in Blue Cove that do deliver." Then he held out a hand for one of the suitcases while keeping the other wrapped around me. "Let's get you home," he told his son.
Nicholas moved to my other side and settled my other elbow into the palm of his free hand. "That sounds like a plan, Dad." We walked along slowly, both men letting me set the pace. "By the way, Mom sends her greetings."
"How is she?" I wasn't surprised that Sydney would ask this - better than anyone else, I knew how much Michelle had meant to him years ago, and that he still felt some fondness for her. I knew I owned his heart completely and carried his child now, so I didn't begrudge the little bit of fondness this interest indicated.
"She's doing fine - working up at the State Hospital now." I could see Nicholas watching my reaction, so I kept my face very neutral. After all, I couldn't deny that Sydney had had a life before I'd come along that included his mother in a big way - and I didn't want Sydney's son to feel uncomfortable speaking of someone so important to his life in front of me.
"Is she still seeing that lawyer... what was his name... Pat?" Sydney pointed across the parking lot in the direction we had left our car.
"Pete - and yes, she is. As a matter of fact," I saw Nicholas glance at his father assessingly now, "I think it's getting serious between them."
"Does that bother you?" I asked the younger man curiously.
"Not really," he replied. "I'd like to think that Mom wouldn't pull herself into a hole after Da... George died."
"He was your Dad too," Sydney reminded his son in a tone that made it clear that this wasn't an issue for him. "You called him “Dad” all your life - you don't have to trip over it just because I'm around."
"I know," Nicholas actually blushed slightly. "It's just..."
"You do whatever feels right, Nicholas," I told him as we approached the car and I heard the automatic locks being opened and the trunk popped. "Maybe you should consider yourself lucky that you've had two Dads."
I could see in a fleetingly startled glance at me that he'd be thinking about what I said for a while. "Anyway," he continued, handing over his other suitcase to be stowed, "for a while, I was kinda hoping that she and Dad would try again, but Mom just never really did anything to encourage anything between them. I think she was still plenty leery about the Centre and his still working there - and still is leery, for that matter."
"I don't blame her," Sydney remarked tightly, handing me into my place in the passenger seat. "There are times I wonder myself why I'm still working there - especially now."
"Let's talk about something else," Nicholas decided as he settled into the seat behind me. "How's Rene doing in her school, Cathy?"
I smiled, as I always did when talking about my daughter the almost-doctor. "She's doing well, thanks, and almost half-way through her pre-med. courses. She's talking about coming home for a while in August to help me out with the baby when she gets here."
"Really?" he asked, sounding definitely interested. My smile got wider. I remembered that when Rene had been with us a month or so ago, and Nicholas had dropped by unexpectedly for an overnight visit, the two of them had struck up an immediate liking for the other. I glanced at Sydney as he settled himself behind the wheel and found him glancing back at me. Obviously our thoughts had run immediately in the same direction because his smile was as pleased and amused as I figured mine was.
"Really," I replied. "I suppose if you wanted to stop by sometime while she's here..."
Nicholas was a sweet young man, and I should have been ashamed at myself for having made him blush the way I did. I knew better. I knew I knew better. But at seven and a half months pregnant, my options for exercising my mischief were limited.
"I just might do that," he warned with a chuckle when he saw that the both of us were smiling.
I settled back into my seat with a happy sigh, and I could see the contentment on my husband's face as he drove us back to Blue Cove. This was the first time his son had actually come to Delaware to stay with him for any uninterrupted length of time since the two had found each other, with another visit possibly in the offing already. For Sydney, this would be a precious opportunity to finally connect with and get to know his son better. For me, it would be a time to stand back and watch my beloved husband work to become a father to another of his children, knowing that our peanut couldn't help but benefit from the experience.
~~~~~~~~
I think I surprised my husband when I didn't argue with him at all when he informed me that I needed to take a rest on the couch before dinner - and that he and Nicholas would be taking over my kitchen for the time being. I walked into the living room and moved the pillows on the couch around so that I'd be comfortable while he escorted his son up to the office/spare bedroom. I was just settling down when he came back down the stairs and over to me immediately, sitting down next to me. "You look pale, Cat. Are you alright?"
"Don't fuss so, Sydney," I soothed, catching a hand between my own. "I'm fine - just more tired than I thought I'd be."
He bent forward and kissed my lips very softly. "Then you sleep. I know exactly what you were intending to prepare for supper, and I think I have the job covered."
"I'm sorry I'm not more help to you tonight," I caressed his soft cheek.
"Hush," he told me gently in that voice that could turn my knees to water sometimes. "The time has come for us to do for you for a change. Don't apologize. You just take good care of yourself and our peanut - that's all I want you to do from now on." He smoothed my hair back with one of those huge and gentle hands of his. "Close your eyes now."
How could I refuse him when his stroking my hair was like a natural sedative? He stayed next to me for a while, I'm sure, because I don't remember him getting up and leaving me to sleep while he fixed the supper I'd managed to get half-prepared before leaving for Dover much earlier. I must have been more tired than I had given myself credit for, because I didn't rouse again until Nicholas was gently shaking my shoulder and telling me that supper was served. He came around the end of the couch and offered a hand to help me get myself in an upright position and then pull myself to my feet.
"I hope my visit isn't going to tire you out too much," he worried into my ear as his hand found my elbow again.
"Nonsense," I reassured him, "I just did a little more than I should have this morning. I'll be back to my own feisty self in the morning - you'll see."
"Yeah? Well you'll be a very quiet feisty, if you please," he smiled down at me with Sydney's wide smile. "Dad has made me responsible for “making you behave,” as he put it, when he's not here."
"Did he now?" I smiled back. I'd have to have a word with my husband - he knew I'd have very little defense against a personable and gentle young man that looked so much like he had when he was younger, and he was taking advantage of that knowledge.
"There you are," Sydney beamed at me as I came into the kitchen and sniffed the air appreciatively. "Hungry, I hope."
"Our peanut's the glutton," I told him as I patted the tight and huge bulge in my middle that was our child and then slipped into my place at the table. "But this does smell very good. It's nice to have a man cook a nice meal for me for a change." I gave him a mischievous grin. "I could get very used to this."
And with that auspicious beginning, the men sat down to join me at a very tasty and filling meal during which the conversation was light and amicable. Sydney got Nicholas talking about his current teaching job at a small community college in upstate New York. I kept my mouth shut and listened as the two men discussed teaching techniques and approaches to take with problem students. I did ask a couple of questions when the discussion moved in a direction I wasn't familiar with, so that I could at least understand what they were talking about.
Sydney and I had discussed psychiatry and his current projects at the Centre often and in depth and occasionally chemistry the same way. But it wasn't until I listened to him talk teaching with his son that I could appreciate just how dedicated he must have been as a mentor to Jarod years ago. I could tell that he was striving to give Nicholas the benefit of his experience in working with Jarod - processes that had worked and those that had bombed spectacularly, as well as his assessment of why one had worked and the others hadn't. Nicholas had evidently been working at the college long enough to be able to respond with experiences and assessments of his own.
I have to admit that over that dinner table I heard teaching techniques discussed in the kind of detail that few people outside the profession ever did. I was also listening very closely at times when I would begin to hear methods and approaches to teaching that might benefit Debbie and her friends when they would come to me for Chemistry tutoring.
All too soon, as far as I was concerned, I knew that I'd used up all the energy I had gained back during my nap. "Now you two don't worry about me," I told them as Sydney immediately rose as if to escort me up the stairs. "I've been navigating this house just fine by myself for months now. You stay and talk with Nicholas - I'll just say my goodnight's now."
"Goodnight, Cathy," Nicholas rose as I did and then bent to deposit a very sweet kiss on my cheek. "Sleep well."
"You too," I returned the gesture and smiled up at my husband's very handsome son. "Sydney," I stretched up to kiss him on the lips and was rewarded by a warm and protective hug.
"I'll be up in a while, then," he told me. "You sure you're OK?"
"Yes!" I exclaimed and kissed him again. "I didn't have you pegged as such a worrier, my love."
"Only when it comes to you and our daughter," he replied as he put a gentle hand on the taut bulge and then looked at me with eyebrows raised as he could feel his child tumbling madly. "Has she been this active all day?"
I nodded. "I think she's just about worn me out."
His hand smoothed over my swollen belly and caressed his daughter and, as it never seemed to fail, the baby ceased her random acrobatics and calmed right down to push into her father's hand. I saw Nicholas watch the two of us with eyebrows raised in interest, and then he stepped closer. "Do... Do you think I could...?" he asked shyly.
"Of course you can. She's your half-sister, after all," I told him, taking his hand in mine and guiding it to where Sydney's hand had been before. The little imp evidently had decided she liked her big brother almost as much as her father, because although she twitched mischievously into my bladder once just to let me know that she wasn't done with me yet, she pushed a few times gently into Nicholas' hand too. Nicholas' eyes widened, and his smile at the sensation reminded me so much of the expression his father had worn the first time he'd felt his child move.
"I..." he began, obviously moved, then looked at me with glowing dark honeyed eyes that were so much like his father's that the resemblance was uncanny. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."
"It means a lot to the both of us that you're here," I told him with as much feeling as I could. "The house always feels happier when more of the family is home." It was true. While Sydney and I were very contented when it was just the two and a half of us, having any part of the rest of the family around us was a treat that neither of us could resist.
Nicholas smiled and actually blushed a little bit as he moved aside to let me through. "Goodnight, again."
"Goodnight," I waved to the both of them and made my way slowly down the hallway to the stairs. I was so tired that I didn't even bother to listen to them resume their discussion. It was enough for me to do to put one foot in front of the other and drag myself up those stairs to our bedroom.
~~~~~~~~
I was so soundly asleep that I barely heard the telephone ring late that night. Sydney let go of me and rolled away from my back to turn on the night lamp and answer it. Rolling to my back and squinting against the abrupt explosion of light in such a dark room, I heard him mumble his habitual, "This is Sydney..." obviously still half-asleep. But then I heard him draw in a sharp breath and struggle to wake up quickly as he propped himself up on an elbow and demanded in a concerned tone, "Who is this?" He paused, listening for a moment, then drew in his breath sharply again. "Rene? Calm down, cheri, I can't understand you..."
Rene? I rolled up onto my elbow against his back behind him. "Sydney?" I asked, now worried. I reached across his shoulder for the phone, but he shook his head at my gesture.
"Rene? What? Who is this?" he paused. "This is Dr. Sydney Greene... What?" He listened again. "No, I'm her step-father. What's happened?" His voice was brisk, professional - deeply worried. He listened again for a long time, then pushed himself up and rolled his feet off the edge of the bed as he continued to listen and nod. "I understand. I can be there in about five hours," he was saying suddenly. "Let me get my arrangements in order, and I'll be on my way."
"Sydney!" Something must be very wrong for him to be leaving to go to Rene's side in the middle of the night. "What's happened?" I reached for the phone again. "Rene..."
"Thank you, doctor. I'll see you in a few hours." He hung up the phone and then turned to me. "Sweetheart, Rene's been hurt. She was calling from the hospital."
I think my heart stopped for a moment. "My baby!"
I struggled to sit up too, but he twisted on the bed and put his arms around my front and pushed me back into my pillows. "No! You need to stay here, Cat. I'll go - and I'll bring her back with me."
"What's happened to her?" I demanded, propping myself up on my elbows again the moment he turned to stand up.
He turned to me, and those dark honey eyes were the most awful mixture of rage and worry that I'd ever seen from him. "From the sounds of it, someone tried to use her as a punching bag."
I fell back into my pillows, shocked, and I think my heart skipped another beat or two. "Oh my God! Jake!"
Sydney was moving quickly and efficiently, throwing on clothing and then reaching for the telephone again. He dialed, then waited. "No, Parker, it's Sydney and it's an emergency. I need you to order the Centre jet for me - I need to get to Rochester, Minnesota right away. It's Rene - she's been attacked and is in the hospital." He listened, then nodded. "Three sweepers ought to do it. I'll call Joe myself and get him over here now - and Nicholas is here, so..." He nodded again. "Thanks, Parker. We both owe you."
He pushed the button so that he could get the dial tone again and dialed another number. "Joe? Sydney. Look, I'm sorry to awaken you at this horrible hour, but we've had a bit of emergency here. I need you to come over right away and be with Cathy - I have to leave immediately to meet the jet at the airstrip." He listened, then nodded again. "Good. I think I can hold off until you get here. Thanks!"
"Sydney!" I'd never seen him behave quite like this before - very take-charge and dynamically moving aside all obstacles. He was always so soft-spoken, gentle - I had forgotten somehow that he could also be a powerful man, and one perfectly capable of steamrollering any person who unwisely got in the way.
He walked around the end of the bed, slipping his suspenders over his shoulders, then sat down next to me and took my hands in his. "Listen to me now, Cat. I'm going to Rochester to get Rene and bring her home to us," he told me gently. "She's hurt and she's going to need some taking care of for a while. While I'm gone, I want you to do your best not to worry - she's at a hospital right now, and they're treating her injuries and will keep her safe for us until I get there. Miss Parker is going with me - and we're meeting enough sweepers from the St. Paul office to handle any situations we encounter." His voice tightened into barely restrained fury on the last sentence.
Sweepers? One look into his face told me exactly what sweepers were and why they would be present. "Don't go after him..." I began, worried now not only for Rene's health, but Sydney's well being. "Don't hurt him," I clung to his hands tightly. "He isn't worth it. Just leave him be and bring my baby home."
"Cat, I intend to make sure he leaves her alone from now on - one way or another." He was determined, inflexible. "I will not stand aside while a member of my family gets hurt time after time. I'm calling the police if Rene hasn't already - and one way or the other, that man will NOT be hitting his daughter ever again."
"Just don't jeopardize yourself in the process!" I cried, then pulled his hand to my stomach. "I need you; Rene needs you - and our peanut needs you too. And we all need you HERE. So don't give anybody any excuse to..."
His face softened as his hand spread across my belly and caressed his unborn daughter lovingly, and then he bent over me and kissed me ever so gently on the lips to still my stammering. "I'll be careful," he promised, "and I'll be back before you know it with Rene." His huge hand cradled the side of my head. "I have to go wake Nicholas and tell him what's going on now - and you'll need to do the introductions with Joe in the morning - so you just lay back and rest as best you can. I'll call you from Rochester General the moment I know anything, I promise." He kissed me again. "Promise me you'll stay quiet and not do anything, for God's sake!"
I reached up to him, framing his face with my hands. "I'll try, but with you gone and Rene hurt, it's going to be hard until I heard from you."
"I know, Cat." He kissed the insides of my hands and then pushed away from me and rose. "I love you so much. Take care of yourself until I get back." He grabbed his wallet and keys from the nightstand and shoved them into pockets as he headed for the door.
"I love you too," I said to his retreating back. He had to be kidding - there was no way in the world I was going to remain complacently in bed while he prepared to go charging off to my daughter's rescue. I slipped my feet over the edge of the bed and into my slippers, and went to the closet to grab my bathrobe.
By the time I got to the door and had it open, he was on his way out of the office/guest room - and he gave me a disgruntled look. "You aren't going to be able to relax, are you?" he asked, understanding suddenly dawning.
"Would you?" I returned, tying my bathrobe sash where it now fit at the top of my stomach.
"No, I suppose not," he admitted, bending to give me another quick kiss on the cheek, then turned and went down the stairs two at a time when the doorbell rang. I stood at the head of the stairs and watched him let a rather ragged and unshaven Joe into the house. His instructions were brief and to the point: under no circumstances was Lyle to get into the house while he and Miss Parker were gone - and to use force, if necessary, to make sure. Joe nodded somberly, his eyes flitting up the stairs to meet mine, and then nodded again.
I felt Nicholas come up behind me and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. Sydney cast one last look up the stairs and nodded. "Take care of her for me, Nicholas. She means the world to me."
"I will, Dad, don't worry," Nicholas reassured him. "Have a safe trip."
With a last, fond look, Sydney moved past Joe and out the front door. Joe stared up at Nicholas with a slight frown on his face. "This is Nicholas Stamatis," I told my friendly bodyguard, "Sydney's son. Nicholas, this is Joe." The two men acknowledged each other stiffly.
"I think I'll find a soft spot on the couch for the rest of the evening, Cathy," Joe told me with a barely stifled yawn.
"We all need to get our rest," Nicholas agreed and took my arm. "You too, Cathy. Dad wants you to take it easy."
"I'm not going to be able to sleep now," I argued in frustration.
"Maybe not," he pulled at me, "but you could do whatever fussing you intend to in the comfort of your bed, couldn't you?"
"You need your rest, Cathy," Joe added his voice to Nicholas' unexpectedly. "If I know Dr. Sydney at all, he'll have our guts for garters if you wear yourself to a frazzle while he's gone and then something happens to that baby."
"Joe's right," Nicholas fussed at me, actually putting an arm around me and steering me back in the direction of my bedroom. "There isn't much you can do tonight anyway. Dad will call when he gets to Rochester, but that's not going to be for a while now. Until he does, why don't you just lie down and take care of my little sister."
I couldn't glare at my husband's son - the pleading in his eyes was far too much like it would be in his father's. I knew better than to even try - and I knew I knew better. So I sighed defeat. "OK, OK. I give in."
And the smile of triumph that spread across that young man's features was no less his father's either. He let go of me the moment I was past the threshold of my bedroom. "Goodnight, Cathy. Sleep well - if you can."
"You too," I told him before closing the door. I genuinely toyed with the idea of lying down again, but I was now far too awake and alert. I went to Sydney's side of the bed, put out the lamp, then settled myself in the easy chair by the window to stare out into the darkness instead. All I could do was wonder what in the world must have happened to have Jake actually batter Rene badly enough that she'd ended up in a hospital. I must have dozed eventually after one of several bouts of tears of anger and anguish for my oldest daughter. In my dream, the dark-haired daughter I had yet to meet held my hand and did all she could to comfort me, whispering to me that everything would be all right.
I so wanted to believe her...
~~~~~~~~
Our next surprise was the knock on the door bright and early - around eight-thirty in the morning. I didn't recognize the man, so only cracked the door a little when I felt the comforting strength of Joe behind me. "Yes? Can I help you?"
"Miss Parker sent me," he announced with no fanfare. "My name's Sam."
"Let him in," Joe said quietly over my shoulder. "Sam's Miss Parker's personal sweeper. She must have felt we needed an extra helping of security this morning."
I unhitched the security chain and opened the door wide to let a perfectly enormous dark-haired man slip gracefully past me into the house. "Joe," he greeted my bodyguard with the familiarity of long acquaintance. Then his sparkling eyes looked me up and down, his brows rising a bit in what I think was surprise when the gaze landed on my stomach. "So you're the mystery wife that Sydney refuses to even discuss at work," he commented in a soft but approving voice.
My lips twitched; my husband must be really determined to keep me and his home life completely separated from the Centre. "Guess so," I replied.
Nicholas descended the stairs toward the sound of our voices, frowning a bit. "What's going on?" he asked in a tone that told me clearly that he'd assumed the “man of the house” position in his father's absence and took his responsibility very seriously.
"Hello, Nicholas," Sam greeted my husband's son with a nod and a smile. "I remember you from a few years back - when you were taken hostage."
Nicholas nodded after thinking for a moment. "I remember your face," he confirmed. "Didn't get a name at the time..."
"Sam," the huge man supplied easily. "Miss Parker sent me along to help keep the home fires secure today. She said she didn't trust that Lyle wouldn't decide to take advantage of both her and Sydney's absence and try to get at Cathy again."
"Maybe you know," I began as I made my way back into the living room and my comfortable spot on the couch with three men trailing behind curiously, "just what it is that Lyle wants with me so badly?"
Sam and Joe exchanged knowing glances, and the newcomer shifted on his feet slightly in discomfort. "Lyle... isn't the kind of person that can be easily understood. He has his own agendas sometimes - and they AREN'T the kinds of things that I'd imagine Sydney would want you mixed up in at all. Even Nicholas here found out the hard way that Lyle isn't exactly the best person to be around."
I looked at my husband's son. "What?"
Nicholas came around the end of the couch and sat down at my feet after I made room for him. "When I was working in the Appalachians, a militia stormed my school and took me and a few other teachers hostage. Lyle found out about it, supposedly “rescued” us and then killed most of the militia. Then he used me as bait for a trap for Jarod, because he'd intercepted a message from my father to Jarod about the kidnapping." He saw my brows furrow. "Of course, Jarod got away - after rescuing me and then scaring the crap out of Lyle."
I gave a dry barking chuckle. "That sounds like Jarod."
"You know Jarod?" Sam asked immediately, his tone concerned.
I shrugged quickly, knowing this to be something that needed a quick and logical explanation to prevent questions later. "Sydney's told me so much about him since we were married, I feel like I know him myself." That much was true, of course. Sam just didn't have to know that I knew Jarod quite well myself. Even Joe didn't know that yet, and I trusted Joe about as far as I could trust any Centre employee not part of my family.
I caught myself thinking those thoughts and cringed inside. In a very small way, by having had to successfully learn to lie by omission, I'd let the Centre begin to exert a subtle influence on even me. That didn't make me happy at all. I was even less happy thinking that this would be the moral example that I'd be setting for my new daughter. This would be something Sydney and I would have to discuss, because I couldn't see myself teaching a child that it was permissible to do such a thing with any regularity.
"So you don't know why Lyle would want me?" I changed the subject back to where it had been.
"It could be a way of trying to get a hook into Sydney - to get him to do something that he so far has been able to avoid doing. He's good at being able to do that unless he feels threatened," Sam suggested with a shrug. "Then again, from what Miss Parker has let slip, it could just be a continuation of the way they've always been keeping Sydney from having anything in his life to care about other than the Centre." He cast a quick glance down at Nicholas. "After all, that's why he didn't know about you for all that time."
"Tell me something?" I looked up at both of the sweepers, who then nodded. "Why do each of YOU still work there, if you both know that such things go on?"
The glance that passed between Sam and Joe was priceless. I don't know that either of them had ever analyzed their careers before that closely. Sam answered first. "I work for Miss Parker - it's just that the Centre issues my paychecks. If it came down to a choice between..." He glanced around the room, and I got the vaguest impression he was worried that he'd be overheard. "If I had to choose the Centre or Miss Parker, I'm Miss Parker's man."
I looked over at Joe - a man who had become like a friend over the months that he'd been at my side during daylight hours. "What about you?" I asked him.
"I don't know anymore," he answered with surprising honesty. "When I first started there, I was just doing bodyguard work - like now. That's how we all start. But I'd hear stories of the kinds of things that others were doing - people like Raines' sweeper Willy - and I'd ask myself if I'd be willing to do some of that if I got orders to. Then I got lucky and got assigned as part of the security staff for the Sim Lab, and that's where I met your husband." He looked down at his hands. "I like Dr. Sydney - he never asked me to do anything questionable, or treated me like a dumb muscleman like so many of the others do. That's why, when he asked me if I'd be willing to come here instead of to the Sim Lab..." He looked me straight in the eye. "I work for your husband, Cathy - and I feel honored that he actually trust me with YOUR safety. As for the Centre, they just give me my paycheck - like Sam. If I had to choose, I'm Dr. Sydney's man."
Oddly enough, I felt even safer now than I had before, knowing that these men were more loyal to my family than they were to their mutual employer. I didn't know that I would ever understand the thinking that would allow all of these people to continue to work for a corporation all of them seemed to detest so much, but I was at least able to feel comfortable under their protection. I reached for my mug of tea that I'd brought with me when Nicholas had insisted that I find a spot on the couch to relax. "Nicholas, maybe Joe and Sam could do with some coffee. Do you mind?"
The young man patted my feet and got to his. "I'm on it," he replied and waved to both men to follow him into the kitchen - Joe for a refill and Sam for a first cup. At least I knew the coffee was palatable, it was the ONLY thing Nicholas had allowed me to make before pointing me into a chair at the table and taking over breakfast.
The telephone began ringing, making me nearly jump out of my skin, and I scrabbled for the cordless handset I'd brought with me to the living room. "Hello?" I answered breathlessly.
"Cat? You didn't run..." Sydney's warm voice answered me immediately.
"No, my love, the phone just startled me. What news of Rene?"
"She's being discharged and getting dressed while we speak. We need to make a side-trip to the police station to file a formal complaint, but then we'll be on the way home again. With luck, we'll be home long before suppertime." I could hear the restrained emotion in his voice - worry for Rene and me, and anger at Jake.
"Where's Jake?" I demanded.
"We don't know yet," he answered tersely. "Miss Parker and her team are currently working on that. I'll wait until I hear from her before actually filing the complaint and demanding an arrest warrant."
"What about Rene? What did he..." I was unable to continue. I looked up and saw that Nicholas had rejoined me and was listening to my end of the conversation closely.
Sydney's sigh spoke volumes. "Two broken ribs, bruises on her arms and face, another black eye and a mild concussion from being slammed into a wall." He was furious, I could tell. "How she managed to drive herself here is beyond me. She's pretty battered and bruised, Cat." Yes, he was furious, but he was also hurting for my daughter who had become a part of his life too. "How are you?"
"Sam is here," I told him gently. "Miss Parker evidently wanted to make sure that things stayed secure on this end while you were gone."
"She told me she'd called him when I met her at the jet," Sydney said, sounding suddenly somewhat distracted. "I have to go, sweetheart - time for me to get the car around for Rene's release. I just wanted to tell you..."
"I love you too, Sydney. Thank you for taking care of Rene for me." I was almost in tears. I felt Nicholas move next to me and put a gentle hand on my shoulder to comfort me.
"I love you too, Cat. We'll be home as soon as we can." He paused as if he wanted to say more, then added. "I love you. Talk to you later."
"Good bye," I said as I heard the line go dead in my ear. I looked over at Nicholas, patiently waiting with an anguished look of his own. "Broken ribs, bruises, a black eye and a concussion..." I told him with fingers to my lips, my whole body beginning to shake.
"Geez," he whispered, shocked, and then moved to sit on the edge of the couch next to me when I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I cried into his shoulder for my daughter who'd had her father beat her so badly that she'd landed in the hospital. I cried for myself, for having been so foolish as to have actually loved Jake once. The only good thing that man had ever done for me was to give me Rene. I cried because I was in no shape to be there and face the bastard and take my own revenge for all the pain and misery he'd ever done to me and to her. And I cried because, as much as Nicholas was doing his best to comfort me, the arms that I wanted around me were Sydney's, not his son's.
~~~~~~~~
About three o'clock, I roused from yet another nap to the sound of car doors slamming. Behind me, I heard Joe rise from his easy chair and go to the front window, probably to peek out and see whom it was. "Stay put!" he ordered me brusquely. "It's Lyle!"
"Shit!" I heard Sam explode quietly from the other easy chair. "Nicholas - do you know where your father keeps his gun?"
"Yes," the young man said and was heading up the stairs two at a time as the doorbell began to ring.
"You don't move!" Joe ordered me again and put himself between the front door and me.
"Go away, Lyle," Sam said through the wood loudly enough that the man outside could hear him. "You've been told you aren't welcome here - nothing's changed."
I reached out a shaking hand for the telephone handset and dialed 911. I had two husky bodyguards, but I wasn't taking any chances at all. I was in no shape to fight back.
"Sam? Is that you?" I heard Lyle ask in his apparently customary oily tone. "C'mon. All I want to do is talk to her for a bit."
"She doesn't want to talk to you," Sam told the man curtly. "You're trespassing."
"911. State the nature of your emergency," sounded in my ear.
"A man is trying to break into my house. He's been stalking me for months," I told the operator quickly and as quietly as I could. "My name is Cathy Green, I'm at 125 Washington Ave. PLEASE hurry!"
"Just stay on the phone Ms. Green. I'm dispatching a patrol car to you right now."
I heard a crash from the kitchen - the sound of glass shattering - and Joe waved at me to lie flat so that I couldn't be seen on the couch as he took up a protective position against the wall where he could surprise anybody trying to come at me. "Somebody just broke in through my patio door," I told the operator, my voice a little higher in fright.
"Drop your gun, Sam," I heard an unfamiliar voice demand in a lazy and arrogant tone, "and then unlock the front door."
"Willy," I heard Sam say caustically, after which I heard something drop to the floor that was heavy - Sam's gun? "Still terrorizing those who can't fight back, I see."
"Shut up and unlock that door," the unpleasant voice demanded again, moving closer, until I could almost imagine him at the front door himself.
"I don't think so," Joe said softly, and I heard a soft metallic snicking sound that made me catch my breath. I'd never heard a gun actually made ready to fire before - and I knew it would be a sound I'd never forget for as long as I lived. "Your piece," Joe demanded in the most deadly tone I'd ever heard from the man.
In the distance I could hear the wail of a siren. The police were on their way at last.
"Come on, Willy, get this damned door open!" Lyle demanded angrily. "We need to get the woman and get the hell outta here before the cops get here."
I heard the front door open. "I don't think you'll be going anywhere," Sam stated in a cold tone. "I'll take your gun."
At last I felt safe enough to raise my head and look over the back of the couch. The man Sam called Willy was a tall and handsome black man who was now on his knees with his hands laced behind his skull with Joe's gun pressed against the side of his head. Sam had dragged Lyle into the house, leaving the front door wide open, and shoved the angry Parker man to his knees too.
Within minutes, my home was chaos manifest. Two squad cars wailed to a halt in front of the house, the officers approaching the house with their revolvers drawn. I was afraid that they were going to arrest Sam and Joe too until both Nicholas and I made clear that they had been hired as bodyguards for me. Lyle tried to laugh things off and schmooze his way out of trouble until I rose to my feet and pointed at him. "I think he was trying to kidnap me this time."
"Not a great idea, buddy," the officer said as he snapped handcuffs on Lyle and hauled him roughly to his feet. "I take it you'll be in to file a complaint?" he asked me over his shoulder.
"Absolutely," I said, nodding my head vigorously, then clutching at my middle as my entire belly tightened painfully and I started to feel my heart pounding in my ears.
"Cathy?" Nicholas saw my movement and came over to me immediately.
"I've GOT to lie down," I told him, grabbing onto his hand for support, "now!"
"Ma'am? Do you need to go to the hospital?" another officer asked in concern.
I shook my head at him. What I needed was for Lyle and his henchman to be taken out of my home - and for my husband to get home with my daughter. Nicholas put his arm around me and helped me lie down again. Joe muttered something about getting me some water and headed toward the kitchen. Sam crooked his finger at a third officer to follow him back into the kitchen - probably to show him where the arcadia door had been shattered. Nicholas remained at my side, smoothing my hair back and talking softly and gently to me. I closed my eyes and took several very deep breaths and tried to focus on slowing my racing heartbeat down and smoothed my hands over my belly in an effort to let my cartwheeling unborn child know that she needed to ease up a bit on her internal pummeling. Her mom needed a break!
The police were hauling Lyle and Willy out the front door when I heard the one thing I'd been dying to hear all day. "What the hell is going on here?" Sydney bellowed from outside the house, and another set of car doors began to slam.
Nicholas caught me back when I would have flown off the couch. "Don't even think it," he warned me with a worried look. "Let him come to you." He raised his head. "Dad! We're in here."
"Let me sit up!" I demanded and pushed Nicholas back. I twisted myself around so that I could be looking into the hallway when Sydney carefully escorted Rene through the front door. Both Nicholas and I caught our breaths when we saw her face - the damage to her eye had almost swollen the organ shut, and the shiner wasn't the only visible bruise. "Rene!" I whispered and held my hand out to her.
"Mom!" Nicholas moved quickly out of the way so that my baby girl could be brought to me and seated next to me so that I could hold her in my arms. I didn't dare hold her too tightly as I could feel the bindings on her ribs through her blouse.
"You're safe now, poppet," I murmured over and over into her hair as she clung to me and just sobbed. I looked over her shoulder at Sydney, only to see a unified team of Nicholas, Sam and Joe had diverted his attention. They were taking turns filling him in on the excitement that he'd only just missed. By the time they were finished with their disjointed narrative, Miss Parker had come through the front door chortling with perverse satisfaction.
"Who called 911 about a stalker and someone breaking into the house?" she asked those of us who had been here. "Talk about putting a serious kink in the Centre's tail..."
"I did," I answered over my daughter's shoulder. "I was afraid..."
"Did he touch you?" she said when she saw how pale and drawn I was - I'm fairly sure I must have looked at least half as bad as I felt.
"He never even got close to her, Miss Parker," Sam said with a note of pride. "Joe and I, we handled it."
Rene raised tear-filled eyes to meet mine, and I think we both were not at all pleased by the condition of the faces we each saw. But she spoke first. "Mom? What's wrong?"
Sydney heard her and immediately left the others to come over and sit on the coffee table next to me. "Cat?" he asked gently.
"Too much stress today - especially in the last few minutes or so," I answered him briefly, feeling my entire belly tighten up again as it had earlier. I closed my eyes and smoothed my hands across my belly as if that would help the muscles relax, and they finally did.
"I'm calling the doctor," he said and began to rise.
I caught at his hands and dragged him back down. "Not yet. Let me... let me calm down by myself first - and maybe it will go away by itself now that things are more or less back to normal." I felt his fingers lace with mine, and Rene leaned forward into his shoulder so that she didn't lean on me anymore. "Talk to me. Tell me what happened after we spoke on the phone."
"Miss Parker found your ex-husband - drunk and fast asleep behind the wheel of his car in the parking lot of the university, not far from where he attacked Rene." Sydney sounded thoroughly disgusted. "Parker called me, I told the police where he was and proceeded to help Rene file an assault and battery complaint against him. Rene gave her deposition, I told them how to get in touch with us later, and we headed for the airstrip as fast as we could once the police were on their way to arrest him. Miss Parker and her team hung around only long enough to know that the police found him and took him into custody." I watched him wrap a very careful arm around Rene and hold her to him. "She'll have to go back and testify against him at his trial eventually, but..."
"I'm so sorry, Mom," Rene sniffed as her tears began again. "I know you didn't need this right now..."
"Oh, for God's sake," I brushed aside her self-flagellation. "You didn't set out to have your father beat you, poppet..."
"That's what I kept telling her," Sydney said, his hand smoothing up and down Rene's back slowly. "And I made sure the police got called this time," he added as Rene leaned harder into his shoulder. "It seems someone hadn't called them yet."
"Poppet!"
"I didn't get a chance before Dad got there," Rene complained with a sniffle. "I was too hurt to do it right away, and then I wasn't thinking straight..."
Sydney's eyes met mine, and I could see the indulgent disbelief in his gaze. "It's OK, poppet - the important thing is that they did get called eventually this time," I told her, reaching up and letting my hand join Sydney's on her back. "I'm just glad that you're safe and home now with us."
"Say, Dad, I changed the sheets on the bed in the office so that Rene could have some privacy," Nicholas added, sitting down behind Rene. "I figure I can take the couch..."
"Come on, fellas. I think they'd like to have some privacy and quiet time now," I heard Miss Parker say softly to the two sweepers standing in the hallway.
"Parker - thanks for your help," I sat up a little straighter and peeked at her over the top of the couch. "Joe, Sam..." I saw the big men each nod at me.
Miss Parker came over and patted my shoulder. "As long as you're feeling better, I'll take off, that is. If you need to head to the hospital in Dover, however, I'm driving."
I shook my head. "No, I'm better now - no more cramping," I told her. "I'll be fine. But thanks."
"Syd, you CALL me if you need a quick ride to the hospital," she shook her finger at my husband. "Anytime of the day or night, understand? I'm a better driver than you are, and I can get her there faster and safer."
"I promise." Sydney patted Rene gently on the back. "I'm sorry to move you, but I need to let these people go home, cheri."
She sat up so that he could get to his feet and walk Miss Parker and the sweepers to the door. She then looked at Nicholas, a very tired expression on her damaged face. "I hope you don't mind, but if you say that bed is ready, I really would like to lie down for a while. Do you think..."
"Sure. I'll take her up, Cathy," Nicholas rose and put out a supportive hand to Rene, then wrapped an arm around her waist to give her even more support as they walked slowly toward the stairs.
"Thanks again, Miss Parker," Rene called over Sydney's shoulder, then ran her hand down his arm. "I'm going to call it a day, Dad. I hope you don't mind..."
"Here..." Sydney handed Nicholas a prescription bottle from his jacket pocket. "It's about time she took another one of these anyway."
"I'll see you later, Rene," Miss Parker called, and then Sydney shut the door and watched Nicholas escort Rene slowly up the stairs before returning to my side.
"Now," he began, sitting down next to me and taking both my hands in his. "I thought I told you I wanted you to take it easy and just take care of our peanut - not worry yourself into early labor."
"I was doing just fine," I complained, "until Lyle and Willy got here." Now that it was all over - really all over - I was glad to be lying down, for I could feel the beginnings of the shakes all over again. "God, I'm so glad you're here now. I was so scared."
"Calling the police was a stroke of genius," my husband said softly as he gathered me close to him and held me tightly. "Lyle will have a hard time talking his way out of this one."
"I'll need to go down and make a statement..." I reminded him, my arms wound around his neck and hanging on with all my remaining energy. "I told them I would. But I just need..."
"I'll call and make arrangements for you to go down, file the complaint and make a statement..." he told me, "...LATER, after you get a good rest from all the upset and excitement. You're not going anywhere for the time being."
"Just hold me," I told him and then nestled down into his loving embrace and felt his unborn daughter press into her father against where his stomach touched mine. I didn't want to cry, but soon the tears were rolling down my cheeks and into the fabric of his shirt. Everyone I loved was safe - and the relief was almost more than I could bear. "God, Sydney..."
"Shhhhh..." he hushed at me, his huge and gentle hands smoothing down my back now in comforting strokes. "It will all be OK."
I closed my eyes and saw a flash from one of my last dreams from the night before - of my little unborn, dark-haired daughter whispering to me, "It will be all right."
It had been a little touch and go there for a while. But maybe she knew something after all. I had my husband's arms around me again, my grown daughter safely resting upstairs in the safe keeping of Sydney's son for now. And whatever those cramps had been, they had evidently ceased the moment the chaos of the day had begun to abate.
But I now considered myself warned. My long road without a turn in it had just taken a couple of dramatic twists. God only knew where it was headed next.
