by Jillian Neal
A defeated sigh echoed from Dan’s chest. That point did nothing to convince him that his temper wasn’t getting worse. Thoughts of why that might be threaten to unravel him.
“I don’t know. We’ve had our share of arguments, but I’ve never stormed out like that. I saw how hurt you were, and when she said that about Aida I just came unglued. I’m scared about why I did that.” He finally confessed to her.
She unleashed the power of her soothing Receiver’s cast. It worked through him restoring him. “I love you, and I love how much you love us. Even after everything we had to go through to get here, Dan, I just,” she choked, “I can’t tell you how happy you make me or how much I love you all of you, even the parts that scare you. I’ll help you work through them. I’ll help you do anything.” Her tears splashed into the bath water.
Dan was overwhelmed though he knew he shouldn’t be. She always managed to see the good in him when he saw nothing but bad. She always seemed to understand why he did the things he did even when he didn’t understand them himself.
She loved and accepted his every flaw. With every hideous scar, she was somehow able to make him whole in spite of himself. She wound her way inside of the darkest, most battered parts of his soul and soothed the places he’d thought were malignant and dead that no one else had ever been able to access.
“Take me to bed,” she whispered. With the implicit offer of her all-consuming healing powers driving him, he helped her out of the tub, gently dried her off, and then set to tend to her thoroughly.
Several hours later, he awoke to a small hand touching his bare shoulder.
“Dan?” Aida sounded terrified.
Trying to get his bearings, Dan sat up and then remembered that neither he nor Fionna were wearing anything at all. He quickly slid back down in the bed. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“I had a nightmare,” she confessed in a heartbroken whisper.
“Okay.” He debated how to proceed. “Go get back in your bed, and I’ll be in there in just a minute.”
Her lip trembled as she nodded and headed back out of the door.
Certain that it was his fault for screaming at his mother and then bolting that had given Aida nightmares, Dan pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt and moved into Aida’s room after covering Fionna carefully and heat casting the sheets.
“Sophie wanted to know if you would lay down with us because we feel safe if you’re here.”
“Sure, baby.” Dan reclined in Aida’s bed beside her. She crawled up on his chest and he cradled her to him. His shield spilled from his pores filled with his love and fierce protection for his precious baby girl. He held her tightly. He’d never let anything hurt her again. He would keep her safe.
His eyes blinked open hesitantly two hours later when Fionna’s lips caressed his cheek. “She’s in my spot.” She whispered sweetly. He’d laid Aida beside him in the bed when he was certain she wasn’t going to awaken.
He sat up and tried to stretch the crick out of his neck and to work the kinks out of his compacted spine. His size didn’t lend itself to lying in a double bed with his seven year old for any length of time.
“Nightmare,” he whispered.
Fionna covered Aida back up. She gazed down at her sweet face as she slept soundly.
They headed to the living room to have coffee before they got Aida up to go to breakfast with Garrett.
“When did she wake up?”
“About four. I’m sure my whole blow up freaked her out.”
“Or talking about her family, or coming to live with us, or having her very own room. She’s used to sleeping with a dozen other little girls.”
Dan supposed all of that might’ve been the cause, but he doubled his determination to learn to quell his temper.
When Garrett arrived an hour later, Aida was nervous, but she flew into his arms. He seemed to bring her peace.
“Dan and I will pick you up at the farm in just a little while; I promise.” Fionna vowed.
She gave them a frightened nod, but allowed Garrett to move her to his back for a piggy back ride to the Highlander.
They’d phoned Mrs. Haydenshire before Aida awoke to ask if she thought Dan should stay home with her. She’d urged Dan to go with Fionna stating that the only way Aida would learn that they would always be there to pick her up would be to prove it to her.
There certainly wasn’t a better source of advice anywhere in the Realm so Dan and Fionna had to agree with the reasoning.
“When we pick her up this afternoon, she’ll be better.” Fionna begged Dan to reassure her that they’d made the right decision.
“That’s the only way.” Dan sincerely hoped he was right.
Storms
~Garrett Haydenshire~
“Aida, sweetie, would you like me to make you something else to eat?” Mrs. Haydenshire asked Aida. She’d had two bites of her egg and picked at the pancakes on her plate.
“No, ma’am. This is very good. Thank you for my breakfast.”
“Come on Aida Mae you always eat for me.” Garrett reached and tickled her stomach, but she just slid further away from him. He tried not to feel the heartbreak of Aida pulling away. Dan and Fi needed to be who she relied on, but he didn’t want her to forget their many years he’d visited her at the orphanage.
“Dan and Fionna will be here in just a little while, and once you eat, maybe Garrett will take you out and let you feed the guppies in the pond.” Mrs. Haydenshire baited.
Aida was intrigued but unsure. An idea sprung to Garrett’s mind. “Hey Aida, how about if you eat your pancakes and then we’ll take your picture feeding the fish and send it to Dan’s phone, then he can send you a message back.”
Her eyes lit. “Really?”
“Really,” he promised.
She began eating rapidly as Mrs. Haydenshire and Garrett shared a smile.
The Governor looked relieved as well. He winked at Aida as he continued sipping his coffee.
Logan stalked sullenly through the kitchen door. “Sweet! Pancakes!” His mood improved rapidly. He fixed himself a plate and took his seat.
Garrett knew he was bored out of his mind on mandatory vacation from work, with Adeline at the hospital, and Rainer away in the Keyes.
Something caught Garrett’s eye as Logan scrubbed Aida’s head.
“What’s that?” He lifted the sleeve of Logan’s t-shirt.
“Nothing.” Logan jerked his arm away, but he still wasn’t nearly as strong as Garrett.
“When’d you get inked?” Garrett studied the decent sized, tribal band tattoo that was now circling Logan’s bicep.
The Governor rolled his eyes. “Why do you all feel the need to do that?” He demanded of Logan.
“It’s just something I wanted to do, okay Dad. Ad likes it.” The wrath in Logan’s reply was unnecessary.
“Tone it down.” Garrett gestured his head to Aida, but then gave his brother an approving nod. “It looks good. I like it.” He didn’t comment on the fact that he knew that the tattoo was of great significance to Logan. A representation of what he’d been through, what he’d done, and a reminder for him to make each day count in light of all he’d lost and all he’d gained as he’d pulled the trigger on his pistol that fateful day.
“Yeah, I went to that shop that did all of yours.” Logan grasped anxiously for the camaraderie, and Garrett realized that his brother needed him more now than ever before. They were the only two Haydenshire brothers that had ever ended someone’s life for something they’d done.
~Dan Vindico~
“Fionna! Fionna! Fionna!” Her name was chanted constantly as they moved calmly towards the arena.
“Are you planning on signing your contract for the next season now that you’re married?”
“Did you and Officer Vindico decide to adopt because of the miscarriage?”
“How are your feeling?”
“Are you able to practice”
“Will you be ready to challenge in August?”<
br />
“Looks like you’ve put on a little weight there Fionna. Are you pregnant again?”
“Are you going to walk away from your career to pursue motherhood?”
“What kind of message does that send to your fans?”
“Do you still consider yourself a role model for young girls after everything you’ve done?” The questions became more relentless and more rude as the reporters realized that she wasn’t going to comment.
“Hey back the hell off! Get out of her face!” Dan demanded of the reporter lecturing her about her public image and being a role model.
~Garrett Haydenshire~
“Dan and Fionna have those.” Aida studied Logan’s arm.
“Have what, sweetheart?” Mrs. Haydenshire reseated herself with Abigail and her bottle.
“Those pictures on their skin that don’t come off when you take your bath.”
Garrett was very pleased that Aida sounded like her old self.
He winked at her. “Yep, they do.” He didn’t want his parents to give her their opinion on tattoos.
“They have two that match.”
Garrett nodded as he added more pancakes to his plate.
“Fionna has it on this ankle.” She pointed to her left ankle. “And Dan has it on his back right here.” She stretched to try and reach her own shoulder blade.
Chuckling, Garrett continued to nod. “They got those done together.”
“And Dan has another one on his back that’s a cross, and a yucky snake one right here.” She pointed to her chest. “I don’t like that one.” She admitted hesitantly to Garrett.
“Well.” He wondered how to handle that particular bit of information. “The tattoos that Dan and Fionna have mean something important to them.”
“And he has one where Logan’s is.” She pointed back to Logan’s bicep.
“What!” Mrs. Haydenshire turned on Logan immediately.
“Mom!” Garrett tried to get her to calm down at least in front of Aida.
“And Fionna has water, and flowers, and a funny shape on her other ankle, and a word I don’t know. And she has the Angel tattoo here on her back.” She pointed to her own tailbone. “And she also has flowers here, but I only saw the top of it when she took me swimming at the orphanage. I think the rest of the flowers are under where your bathing suit goes, and that’s private.”
Garrett watched his parents and little brother become extremely uncomfortable. “That’s right. It’s always private.” He’d arrested enough child molesters not to let the opportunity pass by to remind her of that.
“Have you seen her flower tattoo?” Aida pierced him with those huge brown eyes. He promptly choked on his pancakes.
Swallowing down a large swig of coffee, Garrett shook his head. “I’ve only seen the top when I went swimming with her. Just like you.”
She took another bite of eggs as she considered. “Do you think Dan’s seen her flower tattoo?”
Drawing a deep breath and glancing at his parents who were clearly going to let him fend for himself on this particular matter, he sighed. “Well, Dan and Fionna are married, so I think Dan has seen her tattoos.”
He sincerely wished she’d pick a new topic.
“I think so too because they took a bath together last night.”
The entire table cringed over her realizations.
“Emily has a tattoo here.” Aida pointed to her hipbone. The bath didn’t seem to have bothered her. Garrett let himself relax slightly.
“She said it was something of Rainer’s. I don’t remember what. Have you seen hers?”
“I have seen Em’s tattoo.”
“Maybe when I’m older, I’ll get flowers like Fionna.”
Garrett’s parents both shuddered.
“Maybe when you’re much older.” He wondered what Dan would say to that.
Much to Garrett’s delight Aida was quiet as she finished her pancakes.
“May I please feed the fish now?” she asked Mrs. Haydenshire sweetly.
Mrs. Haydenshire expertly kept Abigail tucked on her shoulder and handed Aida a bag of stale bread from the breadbox. “Just hold Garrett’s hand when you’re by the lake, okay?”
Aida quickly agreed as she raced out the backdoor.
~Rainer Lawson~
“But it’s a good idea.” Emily demanded for the third time.
“Em, I’m not going to let you cook on our honeymoon. We’re supposed to be relaxing and spending time together, not cooking and cleaning.”
“Rainer, those people give me the creeps, and I swear I felt like someone was watching us in the pool this morning.”
“Well, then they got a hell of a show.” Rainer shot her a cocky grin.
She giggled. “True, but not the point.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he rested his hands on her backside.
“They keep asking us if there’s anything else we want, so if you just get them to get us groceries then we can cook and eat things off of each other.”
“I’ll think about it.” Rainer watched the grin form on Emily’s face. She thought she’d just gotten her way, but he’d meant what he said. He would consider it.
“What would my beautiful bride like to do this afternoon?”
Her hand moved to his zipper line and his heartbeat quickened as she began to massage him. “Well, in the very brief time that you’ve actually left my clothes on, I have been reading a very good book.”
Rainer felt himself harden in her hands. He shuddered from the exquisite sensation. “Oh, so, you want to read, baby?” He husked in her ear as he began kissing from her earlobe to her neck slowly. Taking firm hold of her backside he thrust against her. She moaned as he throbbed in her hand.
“I could read unless there’s something else you want to do.” She grasped him tighter.
A low rumbling moan echoed from Rainer’s chest. “Oh, baby, there are so many things I want to do.” His hands wound there way under the t-shirt she’d thrown on after their tryst in the pool that morning.
“Like what?”
“Like this.” He jerked the shirt off of her. “And this.” He released her luscious breasts from the white satin bra. Her eyes closed as he traced delicate patterns over her breasts watching her nipples darken and beg for his attention.
Moving back to her ear he husked, “I want to suck you, baby, until you beg me for more. I want you to ache for me to fill you full.”
Her body pitched. Her breaths stuttered as she moaned.
He lapped her right nipple with his tongue. He flicked it back and forth over the sensitive skin drawn into a taught cherry confection all for him.
Thunder echoed in the distance as the sky began to darken.
“Rainer,” she panted as he began to trace his fingers over her mound through her shorts. He wanted to build her desire so high he was her only craving when he finally gave in to his own heady desires and plunged her depths.
“What, baby?”
She continued to pant and writhe in his arms. “It’s going to storm.”
“I’m right here, baby. I’ll keep you safe.” Rainer assured her with his customary response for her fear of storms.
“I know.” She seemed to force herself to go on. He dipped his hand down the waistband of her shorts, pulled the scrap of lace covering her lips aside, and lightly teased her slit.
She gasped for breath. “Yes,” hissed from her as the sweet liquid heat she made for him began to ease around his fingers.
“Tell me, baby. Tell me to touch you.”
She trembled in his arms. Her breaths were shallow and quick. “Oh God, I want you to touch me, but don’t we need to do something so everything doesn’t get wet.”
Forcing the head above his beltline to re-engage, Rainer pulled his hand away. Thinking about anything but laying Emily out and pounding into her was next to impossible while she was standing topless beside him.
Drawing a deep breath, he kissed her forehead as an idea formed in his min
d.
“Go get in bed for me, baby. I’ll close everything up, and then I’m going to give you some better memories of storms.”
Pushing away the harrowing guilt that Emily’s terror always brought him, Rainer lowered and attached the huge plastic sheeting that covered every open space of the villa.
Clouds rolled in quickly darkening the sky. Lightening fractured the sky over the shoreline. Emily squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw in an effort not to whimper.
She’d hated storms ever since she was a little girl. All Receivers hated them. He wondered momentarily if Fionna’s fear equaled Emily’s though he suspected that it didn’t.
“You have to stay in my room with me and hold my hand because you’re my boyfriend.” She’d informed him one day after school when she was six and a spring thunderstorm had darkened the fields over the Haydenshire farm.
“I’m your boyfriend?” Rainer had been shocked. He recalled the excitement he’d felt.
“Yes.” Her eye roll made him feel silly for asking.
“How do you know? He’d asked innocently.
“Because I said so and because you’re my best friend.”
He’d followed her to her room, seated himself on the hardwood floor beside her bed, and held her hand.
“I think I have to be Logan’s best friend because we’re blood brothers, but I’ll be your boyfriend.” He’d hoped against hope that she would agree.
“Okay. she accepted the terms of the deal and that had been it. Their fates sealed inside of her room in front of a Checkers board and against the echoing thunder of the impending storm.
Ten years later, he’d stupidly driven to Norfolk to check on his uncle even though she’d been a mess all day. She knew something bad was happening. She could feel it.
That day would be the very last day of his life that he would ever doubt her abilities. The call had come. Cal had been killed. Emily had raced out of the kitchen into the furious storm. She’d called and called. He’d left his phone in the Mustang. The press had gotten word of Cal. They’d chased her, and she’d wrecked.
