by Lois Kay
“Your sisters are truly unique,” Sam grinned, pleased to see that Jody seemed more relaxed. “And I mean that in a positive way. Just don’t tell them that.”
“My lips are sealed,” Jody smiled.
“They sure are,” Sam agreed, bringing her face closer and catching Jody’s lips in a deep kiss.
Jody softly moaned and pressed her body closer to Sam’s, needing to feel as much of her as possible. Sam’s arms held her tight, her hands resting on the small of her back, pulling her even closer, and for a few undisturbed moments, they were able to completely forget they were standing in a parking garage, underneath The Reef.
“Jody, honey, no matter how much I’m enjoying this, and believe me, I do, I think we need to get moving. If not, I won’t be able to drive anymore. At least for a while,” Sam finally managed to breathe.
“Yes, we need to stop,” Jody gasped, wondering how on earth her hands had ended up underneath Sam’s t-shirt. “Although—.” She smiled and kissed the tip of Sam’s nose, glancing at the vehicle behind her partner. “I’ve never made love in a car before.”
“I’d love to accommodate you, sweetheart,” Sam answered with a mischievous sparkle in her eye. “But I’m afraid this car is a little too small for a person of my height. I wouldn’t know where to put my legs.”
“Outside the window?” Jody deadpanned.
“That’s a possibility,” Sam grinned, tucking a strand of hair behind Jody’s ear. “But I’m afraid we’d never, ever live that down if your sisters would catch us. And notice I haven’t even mentioned the security camera’s yet.”
“Ew, yes, you’re right.” Jody wrinkled her nose, and after giving Sam one last kiss, she slowly released her hold. “I guess we’d better behave.”
“Unfortunately,” Sam mumbled, turning around to open the door of the car.
“I love you, Samantha Stevens.” Jody’s voice was hoarse.
Sam glanced aside and shot her a brilliant smile, which colored her eyes almost impossibly blue. “And I love you, Jody McDonnell. I always have and I always will.”
In response, Jody reached out, and her hand covered Sam’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. When their eyes met, Sam was pleased to see that there was a confident spark in those emerald depths she loved so much. And she knew that, even when they were apart, the love they shared would always help them through. “One last kiss, for the road?” she asked, opening her arms in invitation.
Jody didn’t need any more encouragement and literally threw herself into Sam’s arms, clutching the taller woman close as if she would never ever let her go again. Which was not far from the truth. “Be safe, Sam,” she choked out, squeezing her eyes shut and feeling the hot tears escape. “Please be safe.”
“I’ll call you as soon as I get home,” Sam’s voice cracked.
Without a word, Jody pulled Sam’s face down and caught her lips in a kiss that was hungry, passionate and desperate at the same time. At first, it was far from gentle, their emotions were simply too raw and their fear too great, but slowly their lips changed the rhythm of the dance, and the intimate embrace became soft and tender. A wordless declaration of love, trust, and hope. Until they both pulled away, knowing no more words needed to be said.
“Keep your cell phone charged,” Jody whispered when she finally released her hold.
“I will,” Sam promised.
Sam stepped into the car, closed the door and started the engine with trembling fingers. Inwardly she was screaming in pain and frustration, but outwardly she looked calm and in total control. She cast one last look toward Jody, who was standing in front of the elevator with her arms wrapped around herself like she was cold. Their eyes locked and they both managed a watery smile.
“I love you,” Jody mouthed.
Sam’s response was to press her fingers against her lips and blow her wife a kiss. After that, she pulled up and slowly drove away, knowing Jody’s tear-filled eyes would follow the car until it disappeared out of sight.
*
There was a lot of traffic on the road, which was not uncommon for a weekend afternoon. Locals and tourists swarmed shopping centers, the many restaurants, and bars. Nobody noticed the car that had already passed the dirt road up to the house three times within the last fifteen minutes.
The driver’s eyes kept traveling back and forth between the road in front of him and the one that led to the top of the hill where he knew revenge would be waiting.
After a few moments of indecision, he finally found a parking spot alongside the road and stopped the car. With a quick motion, he killed the engine and pulled out the keys, twirling them around in his clammy fingers. Perspiration coated his forehead when he looked in the mirror to check on his appearance one last time. Only the light brown eyes in the reflection that greeted him looked familiar. Beacons of recognition in a stranger’s face, that was sporting a goatee and round, metal-rimmed glasses.
“Showtime,” he whispered to the image that stared back at him with cold eyes.
He was about to exit the vehicle when an approaching car slowed down and turned into the road that had his undivided attention for the last twenty minutes. He narrowed his eyes, and a slow smile spread across his face when he recognized the driver.
“The lady of the mansion,” he chuckled. “How convenient. Miss Samantha Stevens in person. Another cockroach to crush. Two dykes for the price of one. And a little girl as my bonus.”
Chapter 16
Peter Jones tensed when he first noticed the car slowly making its way up the road, but when the camera allowed him a clear view of the vehicle, he visibly relaxed. It was Sam. He leaned back in the comfortable chair and tapped his fingers on the armrest. He had hoped that sending Alice and the others to The Reef would have lightened his partner’s burden, but Trishia’s restlessness had only increased. It was clear that she was still very much on edge. Ever since Lucy had left, she had not stopped pacing the office and even though she had to be exhausted, her eyes were still sharp, and she remained incredibly focused. It made Peter nervous. Trishia’s eyes were almost glued to the images the hidden cameras flawlessly transported to the four different monitors. Every motion was detected, and a few times she had already scared the wits out of Peter, by jumping up because she thought she saw something out of the ordinary.
“Try to relax, Trish,” Peter grunted, shooting her an annoyed look. “You’re wearing yourself out. It might be a good idea for you to try to sleep for a few hours.”
“No,” was the curt answer. “I’m here to do a job, not to sleep the day away.”
“There’s not much day left,” Peter said, having noticed the sun had already started its descent.
“Trish, what makes you so sure that Martin will come up here? I mean, for all we know he could be in Darwin already.”
“Because he’s not the type to take defeat well. He killed at least three girls, and everything indicates that he tried to track down Alice for a long time already. He’s taken a lot of risks trying to find Alice. He openly used his police credentials to show people Alice’s picture and ask them if they’d seen her. He won’t give up now. That doll he put in your drawer was not just a little insight into his depraved brain, it was also a message. He thinks that, again, he can escape being caught. He believes he can’t fail and can outsmart all of us.”
“What makes you think he’d come to Murrook Farm? Wouldn’t that just be a wild guess on his part?”
“Martin Coles is not just a psychopath, Peter. He is a smart one like all of them usually are. But he’s also a police officer with a lot of experience. He knows Alice is with me. That is a fact. He knows I’d do anything to protect that girl. He knows where I live and I believe he already figured out I wouldn’t bring Alice to my apartment. And although I haven’t been back to the station, he also knows that I’m working on the murder case so I couldn’t have shipped off Alice to a place far from here.”
“Why Murrook Farm?” Peter persisted when Trishia fell silent and
stared at the monitor with unseeing eyes.
“Last years’ case, with Michael Jenkins and Steven Hayes, Sam and Jody became well known among our fellow officers. Heck, everybody was involved somehow. They all knew who Sam was and when I got involved with Lucy, well, let’s say the grapevine worked overtime. Everybody at the station knows about my relationship with Sam and the McDonnell family. There has been an article about Murrook Farm in the local paper, and I know it circulated through the office. I have seen it. He knows about this place and is smart enough to figure out that this would be an excellent place for Alice to be.”
“Aren’t you giving him too much credit?” Peter asked curiously.
“I hope I do, but my instincts tell me I’m not,” Trishia answered, and Peter could hear the confidence in her voice. “He’ll try to make his way up here, Pete. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Which he is running out of,” Peter yawned.
“And that makes him ever so much more dangerous.”
*
The huge bed was occupied by three quiet teenagers, in various positions of comfort, who were staring intently at the big, flat screen TV that was strategically placed so watching from any position on the bed would be comfortable.
Fiona was flat on her stomach, a pillow propped up underneath her arms and her chin resting on her hands. She was dressed in a pair of shorts and t-shirt, with her long, dark hair flowing freely around her shoulders.
Yarra was sitting next to her, supporting her head on her hands and her elbows on her knees. Her dark eyes hardly blinked while she stared at the scene on the big screen.
On the other side of her, Alice was very much in the same position as Fiona, and she was completely engrossed in the movie they were watching. It was one of the DVD’s Fiona had snatched away from Jody’s collection, reassuring her friends her sister would not mind. The bowl of popcorn they had all been looking forward to was hardly touched, it stood forgotten on the floor beside the bed.
“Goodness, Fiona. Will you please pick a happier movie next time?” Yarra sniffed, wiping her eyes as the credits of “The Color Purple” scrolled across the screen.
“You have seen this movie at least twice, CJ.” Fiona sighed, rubbing her eyes. “You knew what was coming.”
“I know,” Yarra grunted, falling backward on the bed. She stretched her long frame and cast a look at Alice, who was silently staring at the screen.
“Did you like it?” she asked gently.
Alice nodded and pulled her body into a sitting position, so she could look at Yarra. “It’s a beautiful movie,” she agreed. “It’s pretty sad, though.”
“Yeah, life was no picnic back then, and it still isn’t,” Fiona said, turning on her side and supporting her head with her hand.
“You sound like my grandmother,” Yarra snorted.
“I bet I don’t look like her,” Fiona quipped with a smirk.
“Not really, no,” Yarra replied dryly. “My granny is a lot prettier than you are.”
Fiona laughed and grabbed the pillow she had been resting on to throw it at her friend. It landed on Yarra’s face, and she snickered when she heard the muffled cry of surprise. She had expected Yarra to start a pillow fight, but her friend threw the pillow behind her and stared up at the ceiling, apparently lost in thought.
“What are you thinking about?” Fiona asked, hoisting herself upright.
“Life, death, love…the future,” Yarra answered.
“Oh, my, the heavy stuff,” Fiona joked, but the expression on her face quickly became serious again and she gently nudged her friend in the ribs. “What about it?” she asked softly.
“I was wondering where I’ll be, say, ten years from now,” Yarra mused. “Where will I live? Will I have made it as a veterinarian? Will I be happy?”
“Whom will you be with?” Fiona helpfully added.
“That too,” Yarra admitted with a smile.
“I bet you’ll be a great vet, with a flourishing practice. You’ll live right here on the coast, in a beautiful house, much like Jody’s and Sam’s, with zillion animals, a loving partner and a bunch of blue eyed, blond haired kids.”
Yarra laughed a full belly laugh, making Fiona and Alice smile and her dark eyes danced when she looked at the youngest McDonnell child. “Blue eyes and blond hair, huh?” she asked. “Have you noticed my ethnic background?”
“Ten years from now we happily manipulate all the genes, and we can just order what we want,” Fiona grinned.
“I hope not,” Yarra mumbled. She turned her head and looked at Alice who had quietly followed the conversation. Her eyes were pensive.
“What about you, Alice?” she asked, startling the blond teenager. “What do you want from the future?”
Alice cast down her gaze and fidgeted with the hem of a t-shirt that was at least two sizes too big for her. Her initial response to Yarra’s question was to clam up, but she knew that if she wanted to have friends, she needed to learn to share her feelings.
“I…never gave much thought about the future,” she confessed. “These last few years I just lived from day to day, and all that mattered to me was trying to survive. But…before that, when Mom and Dean were still…here… and I went to school, I always wanted…I wasn’t sure what it was I wanted to do exactly, but I always thought it would be neat to be an architect.” Alice shrugged and smiled ruefully. “I haven’t been to school for a long time, so I guess I can forget about that, huh?”
“No, I don’t agree,” Yarra gently objected. “When all this is over, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to go back to school, Alice. True, you’ve missed a lot, but you’re smart, and I’m sure you could catch up and follow your dreams.”
“Sam and Jody could help you,” Fiona added. “They’re both pretty smart, but don’t tell them I said that. And Yarra and I can help, too. And if you’ll follow a homeschool program, you’ll most likely catch up, because you won’t be held back by pesky vacations and holidays.”
“You make it sound like I could stay there,” Alice whispered, not realizing how wistful she sounded.
“You can,” Fiona stated full of confidence. “They asked you to.”
“I know, and…it’s very sweet of them, but they haven’t been married that long. How can they want me to be there?”
“Because they are Jody and Sam,” Yarra answered.
“But they’re obviously still so much in love. I’d feel like I’d be intruding,” Alice objected, feeling her heart clench at the idea of leaving Murrook Farm.
“They’ll always be like that, believe me,” Fiona snorted. “They are soul mates and meant to be together,” she casually added, as if that was as normal as sliced bread. “You’ll learn to ignore them when they’re all lovey-dovey.”
“Ooh, Fiona McDonnell,” Yarra grunted. “I can’t wait for the day I see you fall in love.”
“Get in line,” Fiona grinned. “Sam will sell tickets.”
Yarra chuckled and rolled her dark eyes at her friend.
“It must be wonderful to be in love like that,” Alice mused. “And to be loved like that as well. Sam and Jody seem so…complete.”
“Trishia and Lucy are as well,” Fiona said. “We are surrounded by love sick people,” she added dramatically, but her eyes were twinkling.
“I wonder what that would be like,” Yarra mused.
“To be surrounded by love sick people? It’s not my idea of —.”
“No, not that, you goofball,” Yarra interrupted her friend, playfully slapping her arm. “No, to be in love like that, I wonder what that would be like.”
“Safe,” Alice answered, staring at the blanket and drawing patterns on the soft fabric.
Fiona and Yarra exchanged a look and smiled. Alice was feeling more comfortable around them, and they welcomed the change. She gradually started to open more, and hopefully, they would be able to make Alice truly feel at home.
“I wonder how they knew?” Alice continued.
�
��Have you ever been in love, Alice?” Yarra asked, eager to learn more, but afraid to scare her away at the same time.
Alice shook her head avoiding the inquiring looks of her friends, by staring at her clasped hands. She knew her childhood had been so much different than theirs and she felt a pang of loss when she realized that there were so many things she didn’t know anything about. Like having a crush on somebody, or falling in love. “Have you?” Alice hesitantly returned the question, suddenly feeling very insecure.
Fiona cast a teasing look at Yarra and was about to make a comment, but the pensive expression in those soulful brown eyes made her change her mind. She stretched her legs in front of her and leaned back on her hands, intently watching the interaction between Alice and Yarra.
“I had a few crushes,” Yarra admitted after a long silence. “But I don’t think those classify as being in love.”
For a moment, Alice pondered Yarra’s answer, and she raised her head, casting a shy look at her new friend. “How do you know the difference?” she asked.
“Good question,” Yarra praised, pushing herself back into a sitting position again. “In my opinion, a crush is a superficial type of affection. Like when I was twelve, and I had a crush on my teacher because she had the most beautiful blue eyes.” Yarra chuckled softly. “That lasted a week until she sent me out of the classroom because I was talking too much. That efficiently ended my undying love for her. See Alice, I think a crush has something to do with initial attraction. Those feelings can either end as fast as they started, or they develop into something deeper.”
“Like falling in love?” Fiona asked.
“I think so, yes.”
“Have you ever kissed anyone?” Fiona asked curiously, and by the serious expression on her face, Yarra knew her friend was not trying to make fun of her.
“A couple of times,” Yarra admitted with a grin.
“Who?”
