“Not here, bro.” Joshua and Carter stopped Aaron, leaving the man I knew as Brutus and another one of his security guards holding Sam.
Joshua and Carter both had trouble holding Aaron back. He managed to free himself from them, taking a swing at Sam, landing a fist to the side of his face. He went for another one but his brother’s were there again.
“Aaron, not now,” Carter tried to reason.
“Get the hell off me!” Aaron yelled.
“Aaron, I swear on my life, you’ll get the chance to handle this piece of shit. You have my word. But right now Patience needs you,” Joshua stated in a stern voice. He moved closer to say something low in Aaron’s ear. I couldn’t hear what he said but after a few heartbeats, Aaron took a step back and moved to me, scooping me up in his arms and carrying me to the front of the cottage.
More security greeted us, holding the door of a large, black SUV with tinted windows open. After placing me in the back, Aaron climbed in, pulling me into his lap. I leaned against his shoulder as he frantically freed my wrists from the restraints.
“Hsss!” I hissed then the rope rubbed against my skin for the last time, revealing the cuts and bruises left behind. I flinched when Aaron’s big hand lifted to my face.
“It’s okay,” he cooed, using the softest voice I’d ever heard from him. “You’re safe.” He pushed my locs away from my face and through my one eye I made out the ticking in his jaw as his eyes skimmed over the bruising on my face.
“I-I’m okay,” I lied, trying to reassure him. I wasn’t okay, though, and he knew it. I was petrified.
“I got you,” he crooned.
I lifted my head as the car started moving. “The kids,” I said, suddenly. “H-he said he would hurt them. Are they…are they…” I couldn’t even say it.
“They’re home. Safe.”
“Are you sure?” I asked with force.
Aaron didn’t respond. Instead, he shifted, digging his phone out of his pocket. He pressed a number and waited. “Mother, put the kids on. Patience wants to speak with them.” He handed me the phone.
“Hi, Mommy!” Kennedy’s voice yelled.
“Mommy!” I heard Kyle’s voice in the background.
The vision in my one good eye blurred as tears filled it.
“H-hi, my loves,” I croaked out.
“Mommy, you were scared. I told Daddy,” Kyle’s concerned voice pushed through the line.
“Mommy’s okay. I’m not scared anymore.”
“We’ll be home soon,” Aaron stated, taking the phone again.
I watched as he hung up.
“They’re safe. And so are you,” he reassured, cupping my face. His hand moved down my body to my stomach. “And the baby,” he stated, his voice lowered.
I didn’t even have time to register how he knew about the baby. I was physically and mentally drained. I needed his warmth. I moved impossibly closer, lowering my head to his shoulder. When his arms around me tightened, the few tears that had already begun to trickle, evolved into a geyser. I released all my pent-up emotion on his shoulder, dampening the dark shirt he wore. He held me through it all.
****
Aaron
“Mr. Townsend, we need to examine her.”
I watched at the doctor’s hand yet again made a move for my wife, who remained on my lap, her head buried in my shoulder.
“I’ll kill everything you love if you try to touch her again,” I informed him through gritted teeth.
The doctor’s eyes widened and he instantly took three steps back. Behind him, I could hear the sighs coming from my father, Carter, and Joshua. We were in one of the guest bedrooms at Townsend Manor. We’d brought Patience here instead of home to have her checked out and examined by our on-call medical team, but I couldn’t find it in me to give the doctors enough space to let her be touched by anyone but me. She hadn’t released me since she began crying in the car. Save for a few hiccups, she was completely silent.
I knew I was being unreasonable. She needed medical attention. For the bruising on her face and rope burns on her wrists. For the baby. I knew it, but I couldn’t let her go. Seeing another man’s hands on her—even if that was a doctor we hired to care for her. I myself just couldn’t bear it. I pulled her into me even more.
“Aaron,” my father began.
I shook my head, silently telling him not to bother. I wasn’t budging. I’d hold her for as long as she needed me to. Then the doctor could do his damn job.
My father wouldn’t relent. He knelt beside the bed we rested on. “Aaron, she’s safe. No one in this room is going to do anything to harm your wife.”
I ground my back teeth. Rationally, I knew this already.
“But she needs medical attention. Your job is to protect her, even if that means letting her go…just for a little while.”
My hand moved to her belly where I hoped our unborn child still grew.
“H-he’s right,” Patience whispered in my ear, seemingly coming out of the almost catatonic state she’d been in.
I tightened my grip.
“Aaron, the baby,” she whispered.
I hesitated but eventually pushed out a full breath and reluctantly loosened my grip from around her. Slowly, she sat up, pushing her hair behind her ear.
Another surge of anger moved through me at the sight of her swollen face. She moved off my lap to the side of the bed.
The doctor moved closer, albeit hesitantly. My father stepped back, giving him more room.
“Is there anything, health wise, I should know?” the doctor asked, attempting to be sensitive.
Patience stalled, her gaze bouncing around the room, embarrassed. That look tore at my soul. I was going to rip that son of a bitch’s limbs off and beat him with them.
“I-I wasn’t raped,” she uttered. “He hit me in my stomach…I’m pregnant,” she confessed.
Out of the side of my gaze I could see my father and Carter’s heads raise. Joshua already knew since I’d revealed it earlier.
“Do you know how far along?” the doctor questioned.
She shook her head. “I just found out today.” Her voice cracked but she cleared her throat.
I sealed my eyes shut and inhaled, summoning every bit of strength I could. Opening them, I listened as Patience answered the doctor’s’ questions. I had to restrain myself when his hands went to touch her. I repeated over and over that he was helping her as I watched him clean out her wounds and carefully bandage her wrists. He carried a portable ultrasound as part of his service so he brought it out to use.
“The baby’s heart doesn’t begin to beat until around six weeks. So, it’s unlikely we’ll hear that today because you’re so early on.” He paused, tossing a weary glance my way. “Uh, typically prior to eight weeks it’s best to do a transvaginal ultrasound.” He continued to stare, uneasily at me.
“What’s that?” My voice was hard.
“An internal ultrasound,” Patience answered in a small voice.
“Internal?” I stopped, immediately shaking my head. No fucking way he was about to spread my wife’s legs.
“I-I can attempt a transabdominal ultrasound,” he rushed on. “That may give us get a good image of how the baby’s doing.” He looked to me then back to Patience. “I’ll need you to lift your shirt.”
I growled low in my throat.
“As part of the exam,” he rushed out, staring at me.
“I-it’s okay,” Patience insisted, grabbing my hand.
I pushed out a harsh breath and looked to my brothers and father, waving my head to the door. They instantly understood and left the room, giving us our privacy. I nodded at the doctor, telling him he could proceed with the exam. Patience squeezed my hand as he lathered her stomach in that ointment they use. A minute later we were both staring at a grainy black and white screen, a visible black circle with what looked like nothing more than a lump at the center. And then another lump appeared. I had no idea what the hell I was looking at, but the
gasp that came from Patience’s mouth had me on high alert.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded of the doctor.
His bushy, greying eyebrows were raised. “It looks like twins.” He stood up straight. “You already have twins, right?”
Patience nodded. “A boy and a girl…”
He nodded as my eyes volleyed between the two of them. What the hell’s going on?
“They were fraternal. Looks like these twins are identical.”
“Twins,” I stated, hardly unable to believe it.
“Are they all right?” Patience asked, fear lacing her voice.
“They look healthy so far. No heartbeat but from the size you look to be about four weeks. I recommend making an appointment with your OB as soon as possible. I’m going to leave some of this ointment for your wrists…” he continued.
I listened intently as he told us that he didn’t believe she had any broken bones in her face or ribs. Just some severe bruising that would take a few days to go down and weeks to heal. He showed me how to properly dress the bandages on her wrists and recommended after a couple of days to leave the bandages off entirely for better healing. After about thirty minutes, he was leaving with assurances that he’d back the following day.
My father, followed by Joshua and Carter, entered the room.
“We’re going to be uncles again, huh?” Josh questioned, a small smile at his lips.
Patience returned his smile with a small one of her on. “Twice over.”
All three faces widened in shock.
“Twins,” I affirmed, pulling my wife into me.
“You really know how to knock it out of the park, don’t you?” Carter teased. “You keep this up and you’ll be stuck with this guy forever,” he said to Patience.
I narrowed my gaze on him, but felt her look up at me. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
Her words pulled me back, staring down into her face. My heart squeezed at the fact that I could only see one of those sepia orbs I loved so much.
“We should bring the kids over–” my father began.
“No.” Patience shook her head, surprising all four of us. “I don’t want them to see me like this.”
Pain seared me.
“They’ll be frightened.”
“Are you sure?” I questioned.
She nodded. “Tomorrow.”
My father agreed to stay at our house with my mother and the children for the night, while Patience remained with me at Townsend Manor.
“You sure about this?” I questioned again as the three exited the room, closing the door behind them.
She nodded. “Yeah. I know they’re safe at home.” She buried her face into my chest again.
“How did you find me?” she finally asked after a few minutes of silence.
I went to tell her it was Brutus and his team that helped track Sam down, but what came out was the truth. “I had help…supernatural help.”
She sat up, giving me an odd look.
I wanted to tell her she needed to rest but I couldn’t. Per doctor’s orders, she couldn’t go to sleep for another eight to ten hours due to fear of a possible concussion from the blow she’d received earlier.
“Explain.”
I sat up, facing her. “Her name’s Emma,” I began. And as soon as I did, a smiling Emma appeared at the corner of the room. I told her all about how my first memory Emma occurred when I was just a baby, and yes I remembered that far back. I shared with her secrets I’d never told anyone. Like, how my father found me in my room talking to Emma when I was barely four years old and beat me so badly I had bruises for days afterwards. I told her how he beat me because he said I wasn’t going to turn into a freak like my mother. When she asked who this Emma was, I told her the truth on that as well. Emma was a distant ancestor of mine. My grandmother’s great-grandmother, on my mother’s side. Many in my mother’s family had these supernatural visions. They could be traced back as some of the original victims of the witch-hunts in North America.
“How did she help you find me?” Patience asked, intrigued.
She didn’t look at me as if I was completely out of my mind.
“She helped me broaden my perspective,” I answered, looking toward a smiling Emma. I glanced back at Patience. “She showed me parts of the past. Sam had been following you for years. Your relationship with me set him off, then and now. This sounds crazy as hell,” I grunted, running my hand through my hair. I knew Patience had to be thinking I was insane to be admitting to seeing ghosts or spirits, or whatever the hell Emma claimed she was.
“Yeah,” Patience stated, nodding, half of her mouth turned upwards. “But…it kind of makes sense. I mean, you have this larger than life energy about you. Even when you scare the hell out of people, they still gravitate to you.”
I paused, reflecting on her words for a while.
“This type of gift runs in your family?” she asked.
I gave a one shoulder shrug. “Apparently. On my mother’s side.”
“Kyle,” she stated.
“What?”
She lifted her head. “Kyle, he’s so intuitive. Sometimes he sees and knows things no one’s ever mentioned to him. Like, your birthday. He said a woman told him the date. Is he … like you?”
I looked toward Emma who nodded.
“Is she here now?” Patience asked, turning to glance over her shoulder.
“She is.”
“Tell her I said thank you.”
“She says you don’t owe her any thanks,” I repeated Emma’s words.
“And Kyle? Has she visited Kyle.”
“On occasion,” I answer, again repeating Emma’s response.
“I guess it’s why kids and animals are so drawn to me. They can see things others can’t.”
“They see your goodness,” Patience and Emma say at the same time.
“It’s not fairies, as the children like to call them,” Emma continued. “The light they see is the inner soul. The one you believed you didn’t have. Your father tried to tamp out your light. Even you, yourself were afraid of it. But no matter how hard you tried, it’s still there, visible to those whose eyes are open to it. Like children, and your wife.”
I swallowed and turned back to Patience who was staring at me.
Her hand cupped my face. “You’re a good man, Aaron.”
The woman who I didn’t think could bury herself in my heart any further just found six more feet to dig herself in my soul. I wasn’t convinced she was one hundred percent accurate on my being a good man, but I didn’t give a shit either. I was hers and she was mine. I spent the rest of the night telling her all about the night of my accident, and how the bitterness I gained that night, impeded my trust of others afterwards. And how Emma showed my dismissal and distrust of others could also blind me to what was really going on around me, including having possibly seen Sam’s obsession before it ever got to this point.
“You can’t blame yourself for his craziness,” Patience consoled.
I refrained from blurting out that she was wrong. I could and did blame myself for not protecting my family. Instead, I kissed the palm of her hand that stroked my cheek and made a promise.
“He will get what he deserves,” I vowed.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Three weeks later …
Aaron
I stood over my sleeping wife’s form, looking down on her. Admiring her. The bruises on her face had healed and most were gone from around her wrists. The emotional marks still lingered, however. Just a few hours earlier, she’d awaken from another terrible nightmare. I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead.
I was caught off guard when her eyes opened, staring at me. She remained silent for a while, instead taking in my all-black ensemble. She stared at me from head to toe before speaking.
“You’re going now?”
I narrowed my eyes. I hadn’t told her where I was going but she didn’t seem surprised to see me dressed to leave so early on
a weekend morning. She moved, sitting up on her knees, her hands going to my shoulders.
“I know where you’re going.” Her hands moved up, cupping my face. “After this…” she trailed off, her gaze going over my shoulder before moving back to me. “He gets no more of our energy. After this, it’s done,” she said with finality.
My heart swelled at the conviction in her voice and I pulled her to me, crushing her lips to mine. I moved back before I could get too absorbed in the kiss. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then leaned down to kiss her slightly rounded belly. Her pregnancy wasn’t obvious to others just yet, but I had every centimeter of her body memorized. I could see even the most minute changes.
I pulled back and went to the bedroom door, taking one last look at my wife. The fear and anger at the thought that she’d almost been taken away from me permanently, pushed me out the door.
I opted to drive my own vehicle this time, not wanting a driver to know where I was going. Plus, I had security beefed up around our home and community. No need in taking security off my family for this trip. Within minutes, I was speeding down the road in my Tesla, hands tightly gripping the steering wheel, my body rigid with anxiety. I’d waited three weeks too long for this day. The son of a bitch who tried to take my whole world from me was not going to survive until the end of the day.
****
“We’ve been waiting on you,” Joshua stated as I stepped into the darkened, concrete room. I took in the gleam in my brother’s eye. He loved this type of shit. Joshua has his dark side just like the rest of us Townsends. It was an added bonus for him that I was about to take out the scumbag that stalked and attacked my wife.
I took in his all black ensemble before looking around the room, spotting my two other brothers, arms folded over their chests, staring ahead at the center of the room. Tyler’s green eyes turned on me, narrowing before he turned back to the middle of the room. He was still pissed that he wasn’t there to help the rest of us locate Patience.
I pushed past Joshua, moving to the middle of the room where Sam was seated, hands tied behind his back in a wooden chair. There was an overhanging light, illuminating Sam and the space around him.
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