Mine to Protect

by Sarah J. Brooks

  I found Peter who, as usual, was overdressed in a navy suit with a pinstripe shirt and red tie.

  “You look like you’re ready for Fourth of July,” I teased him, and he had the good grace to blush.

  “Is it really that bad?”

  I nodded and leaned forward to pinch his arm. “Just teasing. Listen, Peter, I’d like the opportunity to meet Mr. Marshall. He has done a lot for me and for this community and I would like to represent all of us and tell him thank you. Is he inside?”

  Peter looked over his shoulder and then back at me. “Yes, he’s inside, but he won’t come out until he’s ready. He’s like that, very private.”

  “Well, how do I go about making an appointment with him?”

  “Don’t worry. He knows you’re here. You’ll see him eventually.” Peter was very enigmatic in his statement and wandered away before I could ask any more questions. That didn’t escape my notice.

  There was a professional party organizer on hand. She was hired in from Chicago, someone said, and she got up on a stage with a microphone and announced that there was going to be a play. She had scripts for a dozen people, costumes, and was looking for volunteers for the parts. A number of hands went up and she chose people appropriately. She pointed at me.

  “You, I want you to play the female lead.”

  “Me? No, I’m not an actress.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head, and motioning me up on the stage. Everyone around us began to applaud and I had no choice but to mount the stage steps and take the script she was holding out to me.

  She rounded up some of the people to assemble a pre-painted backdrop for the stage. The rest of us were sent to tents to be costumed. We were expected to memorize our lines but held our scripts for guidance. It was a spoof on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and guess who was Juliet.

  Carrie was safely in the hands of the daycare workers but was given a front row seat when I emerged from backstage in my Juliet costume. I had to admit, it was almost as if it had been made for me. The gown matched my eye color perfectly and my long, blonde hair was braided down my back. A tiara was settled upon my head, as though I was a princess, which Juliet was not.

  I went through the motions and waited to see who Romeo would be. Imagine my surprise when Romeo’s first lines came up and Peter emerged from stage left, carrying a chimpanzee wearing tights and a beaded tunic. He held the animal as if it were speaking the lines, but he was the ventriloquist behind. It was hysterical. When he spoke the lines to challenge Mercutio in the sword fight, the chimp was given a paper sword and waved it furiously through the air. The man who played Mercutio was laughing so hard, he fell to his knees and the entire effect was perfect. It was a shortened version, thank God, because people were laughing so hard they couldn’t speak, eat, or drink. It was the most perfect afternoon.

  People were beginning to leave when Peter came up to me. “He wants to see you now.”

  “Now?” I was still wearing my Juliet costume.

  “Yes, right now. Don’t bother to change. I’ll take care of Carrie.”

  “But where?”

  He pointed out to the cabin. “Go in the front door, up the staircase and it’s the second door on the right. That’s his home office. No need to knock, just walk in.

  I wondered at all the mystery involved, it made me feel a little uncomfortable.

  Chapter 23

  Coulter

  I heard her coming up the stairs, although her footsteps were light. I had my ear pressed to the door and as she came close, I vaulted over my desk like a twelve-year-old and sat there, waiting. I’d only seen her from afar since she’d left Chicago. I felt my heart pounding and my groin ached with wanting her.

  The door opened and there she was. My Juliet.

  “You.” Her word was more of an accusation than a realization.

  I nodded. “Yes, me.”

  She rolled her eyes and threw her arms out to her side. “How could I not know this?”

  I shrugged. “I went to a great deal of trouble to make sure you wouldn’t.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you would run again.”

  “But…”

  “Well? You would have, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t have taken the job, or the car or the expense account. You wouldn’t have taken anything that came from me, even if you’d earned it. Am I right?”

  She nodded resignedly. “You’re right. Why, Colt? Why do you continue to pursue me? Why did you do all that you did?”

  “I’m in love with you.”

  She sucked in her breath and went pale. I came around the desk, walked her to the leather sofa and handed her a snifter filled with brandy. Getting one for myself, I sat down next to her.

  “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “Ask away.”

  “Why did you destroy my apartment. All my things? My wardrobe, for heaven’s sake, Colt. I’m still paying for it and never got to wear a fraction of it. Why would you do that to me?”

  What was she talking about? “Gwen, you have to believe me. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who broke into your apartment and when was this?”

  “It wasn’t you?”

  “Hell, no! Why would I do something like that? That’s insane!”

  She looked at the snifter and nodded. “Now that you put it like that, I see your point. But there wasn’t anyone else, Colt. Everyone else was accounted for.”

  “It could have been some kid, looking for dope money. God, Gwen, I don’t know.”

  “No, this was deliberately aimed at me. Bitsy and Carrie’s things were untouched. Mine were destroyed.”

  I felt alarm and anger surfacing. “Who would hate you that much?”

  She shook her head. “No one I can think of. No one, Colt. I thought you were trying to control me—that you ruined my things so I would be forced to take what you gave me. I thought that’s why it was only my stuff that was destroyed.”

  “Jesus, Gwen, does that sound like me?” I rolled my eyes. “Do you really consider me a maniac?”

  She shook her head.

  I went to hold her, but she held me off. “What about the phone calls with no answer? The envelope of shredded newspapers? The pizzas?”

  I was really getting alarmed then. “Gwen, listen to me. I send pizzas to your house because I know you’re tired on Friday nights and I wanted you to relax. But that’s it. I know nothing about phone calls or shredded newspaper. You have to tell me who would have reason to do this to you.”

  “That’s it—I don’t know. I blamed you only because I couldn’t think of anyone else. I’m sorry.”

  “Well, that’s flattering.”

  “Colt, don’t be like that,” she said, reaching out to me. “I was scared. Everything was weird, and the apartment thing felt really invasive. You have to admit you’ve been following me. You know I asked you not to.”

  I had to admit it. “Yes, that’s true. I’m not wanting to spook you, Gwen. God, no. That’s the last thing. I’m in love with you and don’t want to lose you. The rest, well, I am trying to take care of you.”

  “All I want is someone to trust, Colt. That’s it.”

  I felt cold inside as I stared at the wreckage that was the woman I loved. “It was him that made you this way, wasn’t it? Carrie’s father.”

  She froze and then began to cry, nodding. I handed her tissues and held her. I wanted her to get it all out.

  “I’m not going to ask you about it because that’s your past. You are my future. I want you to marry me, Gwen. Come here and live with me, you and Carrie. We’ll stay here in Brookfield—hell, I’m sort of starting to like the little place. Let me look after the both of you. I don’t need to work, except if I get bored and somehow I don’t think life around you could be boring.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, what?”

  “Yes, I will marry you.”

  “Oh,
my god, Gwen, you’re not even going to put up an argument? I love you, and I don’t want to question this, but what turned you around? A moment ago, you came in here accusing me of vandalism, terrorism and I don’t know what else. What changed your mind?”

  “Because, I love you, too. I knew it the moment I walked in here and saw you. It was like we’d never been apart. I’ve missed you so much and even though I thought those horrible things about you, it never made me stop loving you. I figure that’s a good start to get through a marriage.”

  I pulled her against me and hugged her so tightly she began pounding my back to release her. “Can’t… breathe…” she gasped, and I kissed her.

  “Let me give you a little mouth-to-mouth.”

  She nodded, but I reached over and lifted her up, against me and took her down the hall to my bedroom.

  “My sweet Juliet. I had the costume made for you especially.”

  “I thought the colors were a perfect match,” she smiled.

  I set her down and reached behind her and began unbraiding her hair, laying the tiara on the nightstand. “I want to see you naked,” I whispered, and she nodded and began removing her clothes.

  When she finally stood before me in all her glory, I couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful. She came toward me and began unbuttoning my shirt, pulling the tail out of my pants and then undid my belt. A few, swift hand movements and my clothes were in a puddle on the floor with her gown. We stood naked against one another, man against woman.

  I reached forward and touched her breast, weighing it in my hands. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

  “You can tell me again,” she allowed.

  “You are beautiful, my sweet Gwennie. I’ve been waiting for you all my life without knowing it. Since the moment I met you, you’ve been like a tune in my head I can’t forget. I try to put you out of my mind, but you’re always there.”

  I pushed her smoothly against the comforter and pushed her legs wide. I took her then, without preamble, without preparation, and without guilt. She had been mine for so long, I just wanted to finally claim her. I think she knew that because she became instantly pliable, receiving my thrusts and matching me, rhythm to rhythm.

  There was a sweetness to our lovemaking. It was not sexual teasing or dominating roughness. We were reuniting what shouldn’t have ever been separated—a recombination of spirits. We let our bodies celebrate the feel of one another, taking our time and letting skin excite skin. At one point, I stopped and pulled her hard against me. “Swear to me you won’t leave again,” I ordered her.

  “I swear.”

  “Never?”

  “Never, ever.”

  I thrust hard then, finding her depth and driving into her with all the frustration and longing I’d felt for her. She answered me with her body and soon, the crest was upon us and the liquid fire spread through our bodies. I held her against my chest, not wanting to let go because I feared she’d run off again.

  We lay there a very long time. “I have to go,” she said, her head popping up. “Carrie.”

  “All taken care of. She’s staying with Peter and Kathy at the cottage here on the estate. She’s fine.”

  She opened her mouth to argue, but I saw the decision to trust me come into her eyes. She nodded, laid her head back on my chest and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 24

  Gwen

  There was a pounding noise and I pushed away the deep, dreamless sleep to find its source. I felt Colt move on the bed next to me. “What is it?” I rolled over to ask.

  He sat up, pulling on his pants. I grabbed the blankets to cover myself and watched as he went to the door and opened it. There stood a man in uniform.

  “Mr. Marshall, we need you to come with us. There’s a fire at your factory. People are hurt. Come on.”

  Colt looked over his shoulder and bent to grab his shirt and socks. “Gwen, I’m going to need Peter to go with me. I’ll send Kathy with Carrie up here to the house. You stay put, you hear?”

  I nodded and watched him leave, my heart pounding in my chest. When the men were gone, I ran to the window, hoping I could see something, but the forest surrounding the house was too dense. I quickly dressed in some sweatpants and a sweatshirt I found in Colt’s closet. I folded up the legs and sleeves, so I wouldn’t trip and ran down the stairs. Just as I arrived at the front door, there was a knock and I opened it to find Kathy, holding Carrie in her arms. “Thank you, just give her to me,” I told her.

  I looked around to get my bearings and remembered I brought my purse into Colt’s office. I quickly went up the stairs to retrieve them and came back down, still in my bare feet. “I can drop you at the cottage, but I’m going home,” I told her.

  “I’ll be okay on my own,” she said, and I swept past her and ran out into the yard to find my car. I put Carrie inside and carefully drove down the long drive but turned to the right, so I wouldn’t pass the factory. I wanted away from it all. It was all coming back to me. Colt in the defendant’s chair. Colt with that smirk on his face. Colt, with the logical explanation for everything. Had he bought Marshall Manufacturing so he could be near me, to control my life in the very town where I grew up? Now that he felt he had me, did he want to rid himself of the obligation? He thought he had me, that I would go anywhere with them. He wanted to take me back to Chicago, I just knew it. I wasn’t going anywhere. I was home.

  I put Carrie to bed at the house and told Patsy what was going on. She was shocked and wanted to go down to the company, but I told her to stay home and keep the lights off. I wanted away from it all, to not be involved. I’d gotten caught once again.

  * * *

  The fire marshal opened an investigation. He had found a pile of boxes that looked suspicious among the rubble. Although people were injured, none were hurt too seriously and they were being cared for the local hospital. The town was all abuzz, especially when it was learned that Colt’s name was not Tom Marshall, but Coulter Stillman. It surfaced that he was a multi-billionaire from Chicago who had tracked me back to my hometown. The more that was said, the further I withdrew. The accusations, the open-ended justifications—so easily created by such an intelligent man. I didn’t know what to think. I loved Colt and wanted to stand by his side. But I had to know. I had to know.

  Chapter 25

  Coulter

  The courthouse overflowed onto the lawns of the town square as the entire community gathered to “be the first to know” what happened in the courtroom. I walked through the throng with Mason and received a mixed response. Some, who were my employees, nodded respectfully, but that’s as good as it got. Others, who were only gawkers, behaved like they’d come to enjoy a good hanging and growled and shouted names.

  I didn’t see her. I was distraught. She had run again.

  It remained undetermined whether the fire was deliberately set at Marshall Manufacturing. Either way, the families of those injured had done their research and unearthed the details of my trial in Chicago. The prosecutor, seeing the opportunity to make a name for himself, filed charges in a group action against me to claim I was negligent. It was the fastest action Mason had ever seen—the court docket had been cleared in favor of the expected drama, especially in light of the upcoming election for the prosecutor and the judge.

  “Might as well get it over with,” advised Mason in my office the day after the court papers arrived. “These hicks have no idea what they’re doing. There’s not even been proof it was arson! But we have to respond and clean up later. You’re as innocent as hell and the sooner that’s out, the sooner you can get down to the business of rebuilding and putting those people back to work.”

  “I really don’t care anymore,” I told him. “I’d be better off in a cell somewhere. Hell, Mason, she’s walked on me again.”

  “Look, Colt, you’ve got bigger things to worry about at the moment. She’ll be there when this is all over. Trust.”

  “Hell! What kind of trust did she have in me?”<
br />
  Our conversation turned there as Mason made a couple of calls while I sat in misery. I barely heard him as he told me he’d put some guys he knew on rooting out the background and details. I nodded as he patted me on the back on his way out the door. I couldn’t remember being that low.

  So, there I was, entering the courtroom, again, for something I’d had no part in. People with money were always targets and I sure as hell was living proof.

  Chapter 26

  Gwen

  I was on the back patio with Carrie, watching her stack plastic blocks as she sat on a blanket in the sunshine. She was innocent and pure—she was who I wanted to be again. I felt dirty, as though I’d put myself in the crosshairs of community judgment again and was found guilty. Everyone seemed to know that Colt and I had a history, and now my reputation was also on trial.

  I didn’t answer his calls because there hadn’t been any. I guess he’d finally gotten the message. I didn’t want to see him; he couldn’t be trusted. Either way, the phone remained silent and my heart was going down in a Titanic sort of way. All I could do was focus on positives, like my tiny daughter playing in the sunshine.

  Patsy came bursting through the slider, out of breath. She grabbed a folding chair and dragged it close, facing me. “He’s innocent,” she whispered excitedly, looking over her shoulder at Carrie.

  I leaned forward, my eyes wide. “What happened?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know the details, I couldn’t get a seat inside, but the word came out to everyone outside. There was no negligence because arson couldn’t be disproven. Everyone says the prosecutor got ahead of himself and pointed fingers when there was no proof of guilt. It’s over, Gwen. You can go back to him now.”

  I shook my head. “No, I can’t. I doubt he’d have me. Oh, Patsy, I’ve screwed up everything. What happened? My life used to be so simple. I had a future and it all looked so bright.”

  “Well, you’ve got Carrie, haven’t you? You wouldn’t wish her away, would you?”