Returning Pride

by Jill Sanders

  They sat out on the deck in the cool night air and ate omelets. She wondered how he could make simple eggs and some salsa taste so good.

  He asked about her trip to visit her mother. When she voiced her concerns about her feeling guilty about putting her mother in a home, he jumped in.

  “You’re not trained to take care of someone with Alzheimer’s. Ally, I did some research after your mother was diagnosed. Some of the things that people do when they have this disease can be confusing and hurtful. Most of the people end up walking around in a confused state and getting lost.” He looked concerned. “What would you have done if your mother wandered off here,” he motioned to the beach. “She could have gotten stuck in the bluff at high tide, or lost in the woods.”

  Allison hadn’t thought of that. Biting her bottom lip, she saw the truth in his words.

  “I know the people at the Hotel are more equipped to deal with this disease. You can’t think of yourself and how you think your mother would feel. Is your mother happy when you visit her?”

  “Yes, she appears to be happy and healthy.”

  “Then focus on that. They are keeping her safe. Because you’ve taken this step, you may have very well saved her life. You did save her life already. Let her be happy there. Enjoy your visits and let her think she is on some extended vacation you’ve claimed she thinks she is on.”

  Pulling her close, he kissed her nose. “Don’t worry if you have done the right thing. Just know that you’ve done the best thing for her.”

  Later, they lay in the small bed holding each other after making love slowly. She listened to the evening spring rain hit the roof. Closing her eyes she wished that she could always feel this wanted. She listened to the rhythm of his heart and slid into sleep dreaming of him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next morning, shortly after Iian had left the cabin, she received a call from Ric. There was an art show this weekend in San Diego and some of her pieces were going to be highlighted. He wanted her to fly down and make an appearance.

  He’d already gotten her a hotel room and her flight from Portland was booked. Ric wasn’t one to take no for an answer. She decided to stop by the Golden Oar after work and see if Iian wanted to spend the weekend with her in California.

  She’d had so much fun teaching the children that day, that she was on an emotional high when she walked into the Golden Oar later. Then she stopped dead in her tracks after she’d entered the front doors.

  Iian stood next to the bar and Lori Roberts was wrapped around him like a second skin. His back was to the door, but when she’d walked in, his head snapped around and his eyes zoned in on her.

  Taking a big breath she walked right up to him and slapped him across the face, hard. Not waiting for a response she marched out the door without a word. Her eyes stung by the time she reached for her car door. Just as she was opening it, she was spun around.

  “I wasn’t doing anything with Lori, I was trying to get her to leave in the taxi there,” he pointed to the white cab that she’d just walked around.

  Looking over she noticed one of his staff members was pouring the very drunk woman into the cab.

  Allison laughed.

  “God, I’m so stupid.” She looked over at him and noticed the red mark on his cheek. “Oh my God! Iian, I am so sorry!” She grabbed his face and examined his cheek.

  He was laughing at this point. He pulled her into a big hug and started kissing her right there in the parking lot.

  “You can slap me anytime you want, I didn’t feel anything. If you were ever that mad at me again, I think it would break me. When I saw you leave…” He put his forehead to hers. “Don’t leave me again. I don’t want to be with anyone else Ally. Just you, move in with me, I want you close to me.”

  She jerked back and looked into his face. Tears were coming to her eyes now and she smiled up at him and nodded her head.

  “Tonight?” He asked eager for her answer.

  “Yes, Iian. I’ll move in with you tonight.” He kissed her again.

  “Good, I’ve a few things I have to finish up here first.” He grabbed a ring of keys from his pocket. “Here, this one is for the front door.” He removed a key from the circle. “You grab a few things and head over, then we can take tomorrow and get the rest of your stuff.” He pulled her into another embrace and spun her around in a circle, laughing.

  She felt like she was still spinning when she parked her car in front of Megan’s. Megan was sitting on the front porch were the children were playing quietly next to her. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to her friend and told her the news.

  “Finally!” Megan had said and given her a large hug.

  Did everyone in town know that they were sleeping together? If they didn’t, that little display at the Golden Oar should assure them that they were now a couple. Moving in with Iian was a large step. She’d never lived with anyone before.

  Sure, she had plenty of boyfriends, but she’d never gotten close enough to them to feel comfortable to actually live with them. She knew Iian was different.

  As she walked to her cabin a while later to gather some of her belongings, she thought about him.

  She wanted to be with him, she wanted to wake up with him beside her. She liked his sense of humor, the way he looked at ease with everything he did. The way he carried himself and the way he was with his nephew and niece. He would be a great father; she could just imagine their children.

  She stopped in the middle of the path and blinked a few times. What was she doing? She was thinking of having children with Iian! Was she in love with him? She didn’t know. She’d felt something for him for as long as she could remember. But was it love? She continued on the path and when she reached the cabin, she was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost stepped on it.

  There on the front porch, just outside her front door. It was larger this time. Maybe a cat or a raccoon? Its skin had been meticulously removed. Blood pooled around the small form this time it’s head had been removed as well. Looking up, she saw that it had been speared with a large narrow stick that had been thrust through the animal’s mouth into the wood of the front door. The door’s bright red was a complete contrast from the darker red of the bloody skinned head. The words “Die Bitch” were written on the door with the blood.

  Stepping back, she quickly looked around. Pulling out her new cell phone from her pocket, she punched a few buttons and sent her text.

  “Don’t touch anything! I’m on my way. So is Robert. Go to Megan’s, she’s expecting you.

  She met Megan halfway down the path. She had a large wooden bat in her hand and her cell phone in the other. “I’ve got her,” she said to no one.

  Then Allison realized that Megan was on speaker phone with Todd, when he said, “Good, get your butts back to the house and sit tight. We’re on our way.”

  “Where are the kids?” Allison asked, trying to control the shaking.

  “Lacey showed up right after you left. She’s got them on lock down in the house. Are you okay, sweetie?” Her friend asked her as she pulled her along the path quickly.

  “I… I thought it was like last time. But this time it was deliberate.”

  “Last time? Did this happen to you before?”

  “At the house, before the fire. I thought it was an animal that had done it.”

  Finally they reached the house. Lacey opened the door when she saw her friend approach, her large stomach protruding in front of her small frame.

  “Are you alright, Allison?” She gathered her friend close.

  They had no more than shut the door when Iian and Todd drove up. Both men jumped from the car and sprinted to the front door. Lacey opened it and stepped out.

  “We’re alright. Everyone is okay.” She stepped back as Iian rushed in to grab Allison. Todd did the same to his wife and grabbed both his kids in a family hug, all over the cheers from his kids of “Daddy, Daddy.”

  Just before Robert showed up, Aaron drov
e up and the scene was repeated for Lacey.

  Aaron didn’t want Lacey to remain there. He complained about how close she was to her due date and tried to get her to go home, but in the end friendship won over pregnancy. Allison did notice that they had agreed she could stay if she remained in the study with her feet up.

  So when Robert showed up, Allison stepped out onto the front porch and repeated her story.

  When she reached the end, the three men, leaving Aaron behind with the women, walked out to the cabin to see the damage.

  An hour later, Iian walked Allison to her car. He’d gathered some of her things in her overnight bag and they drove in silence to his place.

  He cooked a wonderful meal of caramelized salmon and wild rice with fresh vegetables. She could get used to eating like this. It wasn’t just the food that impressed her, but when he cooked it was like watching a dance. He was so fluent in the kitchen that she doubted he knew how graceful he was. His tall frame fit right in and he appeared to melt into the motions.

  She’d tried to help him and ended up just in his way. So she’d sat back at the bar on a tall stool, drinking a glass of wine and watched the show. There was just something so sexy about Iian cooking in the kitchen.

  Not until they were laying in the large bed, their breaths coming quickly from the marathon of great sex they’d just had, did she finally sit up and ask him.

  “Does Robert think it was Kevin?” He sat up and pulled her close.

  “Yes, he was heading over there to ask him questions.” He tried to hold her still so the conversation was over, but she pulled free from his arms.

  “Iian, I want to know what you think. Do you think Kevin would do something like this? I know he’s had a problem with drinking, but the Kevin we knew in high school would never hit his children, never threaten someone with dead animals.” Then she remembered the day in the parking lot, everything he’d said to her and she shivered.

  “Allison, you’ve been gone a few years. Right after you left, the bank foreclosed on his house. Then his father died and left him with a large pile of debt.” His eyes grew darker. “He turned to drinking almost immediately. He stopped being the model citizen shortly after and became the town bully and drunk. Actually, he always was a bully, just not a vicious one like he is now.”

  “I just don’t want to believe he would cross that line.” She allowed him to pull her down next to him.

  “I can. I’ve had to deal with him a few times and he’s changed. No more talk about this tonight. We’ll go and get the rest of your stuff tomorrow. Todd was cleaning up the mess outside so you won’t have to see that again. Let’s get some sleep.” He kissed the top of her head and she snuggled down next to him. It was many hours later that she finally fell asleep.

  The next day she stood on the front porch of the cabin. If she hadn’t seen it herself the day before, she would have never guessed that there had been a bloody mess.

  As she gathered up her new items in the living room, she thought about the fire. About her tires. About all the other things that had been going on to her.

  Iian walked into the room from the back with a bag full of her new undergarments and a large goofy smile on his face.

  “I didn’t know it was my birthday,” he smiled and set everything down in the suitcase he’d brought for her clothes.

  Laughing she said, “I did buy you something special. If you’re good, I might just show you later tonight.”

  “Woohoo!” He shouted and turned to gather the rest of her items from the back room like a kid in a candy store.

  When they arrived back at the house, Robert was there waiting by his car.

  “Evening,” he said, as they stepped out of the car. “If you have a few minutes, I’d like to talk to you both.”

  “Sure, come on in.” They settled in the living room.

  “Well, the bad news is, Kevin wasn’t at his place. We talked to his wife and she hasn’t seen him for several weeks. She thinks he went hunting shortly after she left him. I’ve got everyone out looking for him. We’re checking everywhere he usually goes. He has a cabin up on Gunner Hill, but it was empty and looked like he hadn’t been there for a while.”

  “What about the tires and the fire?” Iian asked.

  “We don’t have any proof that he was in Edgeview. Or that he started the fire that night. All we know is that we can’t account for him after you saw him at the park.”

  “So basically you haven’t figured anything else out yet.” Iian stood and started pacing.

  Later, after Robert left and as Iian cooked them dinner, she asked him about the trip to California.

  “Ric called me the other day and asked me to go to San Diego for an art show this next weekend. Some of my art is going to be featured and I was wondering if you would like to go with me.”

  She held her breath waiting for his reply.

  He took his time replying. “Are you driving down there?”

  “No, I’ll be flying.”

  “I’ve never flown before,” he signed back. “I’d love to go to your art show.” He walked over and kissed her lightly. “It’ll be nice to get out of town for the weekend.”

  They sat and ate dinner in the living room while watching a movie. She could tell Iian got frustrated half way through it, trying to read the subtitles, so she grabbed the remote and switched it to a ball game. He smiled and they sat back and enjoyed the game together.

  Two hours later he lay with Allison wrapped around him, the little see-through black lace she’d purchased just for him was somewhere on the floor. Seeing her in it had totally destroyed him.

  He lay there feeling her steady breath on his shoulder and felt confident that he was armed with a plan. First thing in the morning he would start messaging his brother and brother-in-law. For the next few days, at least until they left for California, he’d make sure Allison wouldn’t be left alone.

  The next morning, after his messages and making plans with his family, he’d jumped in the shower with her, but this time his mind was on getting clean and getting dressed. She’d tried several times to start something, but he was having none of it.

  Tossing a large towel in her direction, he said, “Wrap this around yourself and come with me.” He grabbed a towel himself and hastily tied it around his hips. He didn’t even wait to see a response from her.

  Walking down the hall, he looked over his shoulder in time to see her grab a terry robe from one of her bags.

  He led her down the hallway where he’d placed a green ribbon on the door knob. He nodded for her to open it. He’d meant to show her what he’d made for her last night, but they’d been so busy it had been the last thing on his mind.

  Now he watched her as she opened the door and pushed it wide. He saw the expression on her face go from confusion to excitement so quickly. Then she was running into the room looking around with complete and utter awe.

  He could tell she was saying something, but she was running around touching everything, looking in every direction that he couldn’t see what she was saying. He sat back and watched her with a large smile on his face.

  The room was more than she’d ever dreamed of. He had everything. There was a large easel in front of the huge bay windows. Canvases of every size leaned against one wall there was a desk full of paints and brushes of every variety. Some of them looked very old, but still in great condition.

  Then she saw the drafting table. She walked over to it and ran her fingers along its aged wood. Everything she could ever hope for was here in this large room. Turning, she saw Iian standing in the doorway with the towel wrapped loosely around his hips. His arms were crossed over his chest.

  “You did this all for me?”

  “No, I’m thinking of taking up painting.” He smiled and walked towards her.

  “Iian, I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. Some of these were my grandmother’s. I think she would be happy that they went to you instead
of sitting in the attic collecting dust. I hope I didn’t miss anything. Lacey and Megan helped me pick out most of this stuff.” He walked over and toyed with a pen knife used to cut canvases.

  He turned back to her in time to see her wipe a tear from her cheek.

  “Oh no!” he walked over to her, “My sisters assured me that this was a no crying gift.”