by Jillian Neal
“Em, baby, I am so sorry.” He pled as he heard the truck crank and drive away.
She nodded against him. Her energy was terror-ridden and frantic.
“Rainer,” she finally managed as tears tracked down her face. “Something weird is going on. I can feel it. Please, please believe me! I think we need to go home.”
Rainer, please believe me. Don’t leave me! Please don’t go to Norfolk today. Something bad has happened. I can feel it.” He heard her almost redundant plea from the past.
“I’m going to take you home, baby. I promise.” He would never ignore her feelings and intuitions ever again. “I don’t think Captain Namphis will be able to get the chopper here until tomorrow morning, but you go start packing and I’ll call.” Harrowing defeat settled on him heavily.
“I’m so sorry.” Her chin trembled as she stepped away from him. Pulling her back into his embrace, Rainer shushed her tenderly. “You have nothing to be sorry for, baby. You’re right. Something is going on. I should have listened when we first got here. We still have a week off of work. We can go anywhere you want or just spend it moving in. I’ll honeymoon you in our new house.”
Relief flooded through Emily’s energy as she nodded against him. Rainer guided her into the villa and pulled one of his Iodex t-shirts over her head covering her completely.
There had been nothing in any of the extensive research he’d done on the island or the vacation villa about a special week anniversary meal or champagne, and that seemed like something they would have advertised. Rainer reasoned as he pulled his cell from the counter.
Captain Namphis assured him that he could have the chopper there at eight the next morning but that he’d need to land it at the Senate to make his afternoon flight to Paris, so they would need someone to pick them up.
Phoning Logan, Rainer gave a hesitant explanation of why he and Emily were coming home early. Logan assured him that he’d be there to drive them home and then help them move into their new home.
“I’m sorry, man. That sucks.”
“Yeah, I just wish I could figure out what the hell was going on, you know?”
“Yeah,” Logan choked. He knew something he wasn’t saying.
“What?” Rainer demanded. He’d been best friends with Logan Haydenshire for far too long not to be able to read his tone of voice.
“Well,” Logan hemmed. “I kind of thought it was a bunch of shit, you know, but now I’m not so sure.”
“What? What’s a bunch of shit?”
“A couple of papers promised this big reveal tomorrow in the Sunday papers on your honeymoon. But it seemed like this big teaser thing. If they really had something, why wouldn’t they have printed it already? Why wait?”
Emily looked pale and terrified as she laid out clothes for she and Rainer to sleep in and to wear home the next day. She piled everything else in their suitcases.
Rainer paced back out to the deck. He didn’t want her to hear him. “What kind of reveal?”
“I don’t know. It said they were going to tell where you are and what you’ve been doing. There’s no press down there, right?”
“No, there’s no one down here that I’ve seen other than the wait-staff.”
“Yeah, so it’s crap just like I thought.” Logan tried to sound reassuring.
“Yeah.” Rainer was still watching Emily obsessively. “I sure as hell hope you’re right.”
He needed to scan the villa for cameras or anything that wasn’t supposed to be there, but he didn’t want Emily to see him. If he found something, it would be more than she could bear.
Desperation weighted her as Emily laid her head on his shoulder when he joined her at the bed. The sun hung low over the horizon, and Rainer had never felt more lost.
“Will you take a shower with me?” There was no hint of flirtation in her tone only a haunting fear of being alone.
“Of course, baby.”
She wasn’t going to leave him, not even for a moment. She was terrified, and he was quite literally her shield; he reminded himself. If there were cameras, he’d make certain they got nothing else but that would have to be it until they left the next morning.
Guiding her into the bathroom, he turned on the shower water and called himself an asshole for what he was about to do. “Hey, babe, would you grab me a Dr. Pepper?” He had to scan at least this room before he’d allow her to take her clothes off again.
“We’re about to take a shower?” She was afraid to walk away from him even for a few seconds.
“I know, but I’m really thirsty.” He told an outright lie to the woman that meant more to him than drawing his next breath.
With a deep sigh, she went back to the kitchen. Rainer quickly threw his radar scan all over the bathroom. There was no energy source that shouldn’t have been there at least that he could tell in his rapid haphazard scan.
Emily handed him the drink she’d chill casted it for him. “Rainer, what’s wrong? I know you’re not telling me something. I can feel it.” A shivered chill shook through her.
Dammit, Lawson! Get it together! You’re scaring her! He ordered himself fiercely. “I’m just a little freaked by whatever you’re feeling and whatever the hell is going on with Aldus and Ximena. And I feel bad that I didn’t think about this being our one-week anniversary.” He left out the rest of his concerns so he was able to tell the truth. When he lied, she knew.
Emily offered him a smile, but it was forced. “I’ve been your girlfriend since I was six. I plan on being married to you for the rest of forever, so one week doesn’t really seem all that momentous when we’re talking about the rest of our entire life.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking too.” He knew she would see it that way, but he was desperate to do something right by her.
“Come here, baby.” Keeping her body as close to his as he possibly could, he undressed her and kept her constantly covered as she entered the shower. He stepped in behind her. She wound her body around his in the streaming warmth. He understood suddenly. In the bathroom, the only room with four solid walls, with a locked door, behind a shower curtain, and in his arms, she felt safe.
~Dan Vindico~
“I don’t know.” Dan sighed as he chatted on the phone with Fitzroy Saturday evening. “Yeah, it is. I’ll talk it over with Fi.” He finally agreed. “I’m not saying no. No, no, don’t put Maddie on the phone!”
“Hey Mad, how are you?” He listened to her repeat Fitz’s invitation. “I will ask my beautiful bride about it.”
Fionna gave him a quizzical grin when he finally ended the call. “Fitzroy thinks I should bring you to Paris next week for a very quick official honeymoon and to celebrate your birthday.”
“Oh my gosh! That would be amazing!”
Shocked by her exuberance, Dan debated. “What about Aida?”
“Oh.” Her face fell. “Does Fitz not want her to come?”
“No, Fitz and Maddie want her to come, too. I just didn’t know if you’d want to take her on a trip so soon.”
“I think it would be a perfect birthday, and that our little girl would love Paris! Governor Haydenshire said we should do educational things with her while she’s not in school.”
Suddenly, rather excited about the idea of taking his wife and his little girl to the City of Light to see his best friend, Dan called Fitz back to accept the invitation.
The Highest High, The Lowest Low
Dan’s cell phone blared at a quarter of five Sunday morning. Rubbing his eyes and trying to remember how to answer, he eased Fionna off of his chest.
“This is Vindico.” As he cleared the gravel from his throat, he remembered that he was no longer an officer and no longer had to answer his cell that way.
“I do not care that I fired you! Get up and help me figure out who did this to my baby girl!” was the Crown Governor’s furious demand.
Sitting up and rubbing his face, Dan tried to determine if he was dreaming. He glanced over at Fionna soun
d asleep beside him. She took his breath away momentarily. Her breasts were swollen once again. They were getting larger by the day, and as Dan thought about what was causing that he almost forgot that he was on the phone with the Crown Governor.
“What happened to Emily?” He finally formulated an appropriate question.
“Go get your paper!” The Governor commanded furiously.
“K.” Dan crawled from the bed and located sweatpants. He held the phone between his ear and shoulder as he quickly paced down his darkened driveway. The cold concrete bit at his bare feet. He located the paper beside the mailbox. “I’ll call you right back, Governor.”
He rushed back in the house to find Fionna waiting in the entryway. “What’s wrong? Who was that?” She was on the verge of tears. “I dreamed about Rainer and Emily again.”
Dan was still trying to order his thoughts. He summoned and lit one lamp on the table before guiding her onto the couch beside him and opening the paper.
He extracted a large paper journal with pictures of Rainer and Emily landing via helicopter on Hatchpointe island. Exclusive Lawson Honeymoon Report was the title. What would Crown Governor Lawson think of Rainer Now? was the tagline.
Dan’s stomach churned as Fionna’s hand flew to her mouth.
“Oh my God!” Dan turned the page to find Emily seated on a reclining Rainer in the oncoming surf. They’d blacked out her nipples, but it was very apparent what they were doing.
“Dan, how did this happen?” Fionna began to sob.
“I don’t know, baby.” Hesitantly he turned the page, to reveal multiple shots of Rainer and Emily sunbathing. Emily was topless in all of them.
Forcing himself to go on, he read reports that Emily had been sick and Rainer had been denying her food. That he’d thrown her in the pool fully clothed and then pulled her under repeatedly. And that hotel employees had offered help when they’d found Emily sick and lying down in the middle of the day, and Rainer had ordered them away.
There were shots of Rainer and Emily in a large Jacuzzi bathtub together. The positioning of his body and his hand coupled with the look of ecstasy on her face made it fairly obvious he was fingering her. Dan wondered if people would note the look of possessive greed on Rainer’s face as support for the claims that he was abusive instead of seeing that she was clearly enjoying the experience.
Another grainy picture of Rainer’s right hand around Emily’s neck didn’t help matters. Dan was certain it had been a gentle caress, but that wasn’t evident in the photo.
“I have to call Governor Haydenshire back.” He set the paper aside. He didn’t want to see anymore, and he didn’t want Fionna to have to see them either.
The Governor answered on the first ring.
“Have you talked to either Rainer or Emily?”
“Yes, they’re flying home now.”
Suddenly Fionna’s face went white as a sheet. “Dan!” She managed just before her hand flew to her mouth, and she raced to the bathroom.
Well here we go. Dan kept the phone to his ear and raced after her.
“Portwood already has a rapid flight team from Miami heading to the island. All of the rental company’s employees are going to be lucky to be alive when I finish with them, but I want to know who the hell paid for this. This was set up long before Rainer and Emily arrived, and I want to know who, and I want to know how, and I want to know now!” Governor Haydenshire shouted louder than Dan had ever heard him before.
Rushing into the bathroom, Dan ran a washcloth under cold water and handed it to Fionna as she stood. He gave her a sorrowful gaze.
As he stood there in awe of his beautiful wife who was most definitely carrying his child, though she seemed confused at the moment as to why she was vomiting at five o’clock in the morning, Dan found the words flowing from his mouth with ease.
“Sir, I’m happy to help anyway I can, but I don’t have a badge and I’m really not looking to start back at Iodex.” He was certain he was about to be on the receiving end of one of Governor Haydenshire’s notorious lectures.
“I know that, Dan.” He sounded oddly calm and focused suddenly. “But as Rainer’s friend, a person that he deeply idolizes and looks to for guidance, as a friend of our family, and a hell of a detective, please just be there for him and help us figure out who would do this.”
“Fine, but we need to let Portwood run the legal side of this. He can do this. Let Fi and I be there for Rainer and Emily.”
He guided Fionna to him after she’d brushed her teeth. She laid her head sweetly on his shoulder.
“Fine, but if Portwood needs a little guidance?”
“Then I’ll be there.” Dan assured him.
“Thank you, Daniel.”
Setting the phone on the counter, Dan wrapped both of his arms around his wife. “You okay, baby doll?”
Fionna nodded, but then Dan felt tears leak down his chest. “Fi what?” He panicked. “Does something hurt, baby? Do you want to go to the hospital?”
“No, I feel fine now. I just kind of wanted to tell you in Paris.”
Not certain what to feel in that moment other than the utter joy that coursed through his veins, he chuckled. “I really like knowing right now though.” He cradled her face in his hands and wiped away her tears.
He gently kissed her forehead. “I love you so much.”
Fionna was crying and smiling in equal measure. “I’m not for sure, for sure. I mean I kind of am in the way that I know because I’m a Receiver and I can feel the extra energy, but I’m not sure like I haven’t taken a test yet.” She stammered and then blushed violently. “I don’t even make any sense.” She fell back onto his chest making him laugh.
“Do you want me to go get you one?”
“I don’t know. I’m confused, and oh my gosh! Poor Rainer and Emily. This is terrible. We have to do something!”
Dan couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was astounding. “Come here, baby.” He led her to the kitchen. “Wasn’t there a box of stuff for this that Tutu sent back with us?” He pulled crates of Hawaiian remedies from the top shelf of their pantry until he located a small box labeled - “Hapai, Maylea.”
Overjoyed, Fionna extracted two small canisters of tea bags, a large brown bottle of oil, several smaller bottles labeled for Maylea’s baths, and two screw top jars of ointments.
A small rolled piece of paper fell to the floor. Dan picked it up and handed it back to her. She slowly unrolled it and renewed tears sprang to her eyes. She handed Dan a small black and white photograph. Wrapping her up in his arms, he studied the photo of Fionna’s mother, who looked so much like her it was astounding. Her stomach was swollen rather full of Fionna. She looked ready to pop. There was a note from Tutu explaining that the photograph had been taken the day of Fionna’s birth. It included the prescription that her mother had followed throughout her pregnancy with Fionna. When she would drink the teas, what she’d done with the oils and ointments, when she’d taken baths and what she’d added, and a few other things that Fionna read and studied intently.
“I’ve never seen this.” She held the photograph and instructions like she’d been given a tremendous treasure.
Dan tenderly kissed the side of her head. “You want some tea, baby doll?”
He understood that she desperately wanted to follow the very same regimen that her mother had used.
Fionna hugged him tightly. “Thank you.”
He heated a mug of water with his hands and dropped the ginger root and alfalfa tea bag inside. Fionna carried everything from the box to the table reading and re-reading the hand written labels.
Dan supplied her with the tea after adding Kauai-an honey per the instructions. He made himself a mug of coffee and tried to sort through the wide range of emotions the morning had provided.
“I don’t know how far along I am because even though I had what I think was that one quick period after the miscarriage, I don’t really know my cycle again yet.”
“Okay, b
ut a Medio can tell us, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to go see Adeline at Georgetown. I don’t want the press to know. I just want us to know. Last time...” she choked. Tears swelled in her eyes again.
Dan knelt down beside her as she sat.
“Hey.” He cradled her head on his shoulder. “This isn’t last time, and I‘m over the moon, Fi, really. I want to do this just the way you want so you just tell me. I’ll do anything in the world to make you comfortable, and safe, and happy, okay?”
“I don’t want to tell anyone else just yet.”
“Whenever you’re ready. I’m just glad you told me.”
“But I would like to talk to Adeline soon, because I want her to be our Medio.”
“Well.” Dan drew a deep breath still overjoyed with their news and horrified over what was happening with Rainer and Emily. “I really think that we need to be at the Senate to show our support to Rainer and Emily, and we’ll probably either end up at the farmhouse or at their house so maybe we could talk to Adeline then.”
“I was sick last time, too.” Fionna confessed in a heartbroken whisper.
“I know, baby.” He didn’t want to keep anything from her this time. He wanted to work through the pain so they could move on with the joy.
“Would you hold me for just a few minutes before we get ready to go?”
Dan stood and guided her back to the living room. He sank down on the sofa and Fionna curled up in her ball in his lap. He cradled her tenderly and whispered how much he loved her and how excited he was.
“I’m so excited too, but I feel so awful for Emily and Rainer. I’m confused.”
“Believe me, baby doll, Rainer will take care of Emily, and Governor Haydenshire will take care of the sick bastard that did this.” He gestured his hand to the paper folded on the coffee table. “Let me take care of you and of this.” He gently rubbed his hand over her abdomen. Her breath caught as she reveled in the sensation. Had he not been so intimately in tune with her body, he would never have noticed the weight she’d gained in the last few weeks had rounded her midsection ever so slightly. A broad grin stretched across his face.
