He read over the information that she’d given him before leaving. Valyn tried very hard to not think about how many people they had hurt, and concentrated on just getting his facts straight. This was going to be a major take down, as Jennifer had called it, and he wanted to not stumble with the information.
Dusty entered his office just as he was putting things back in the folder to take a small break. “I found their banking account. It was fairly easy once I got with Jenny. She had a receipt that was given to her when she paid them the first time with a check. There is a bank stamp on the bank. After that, it was easy to find with their names on it.” He asked her why that was important. “Because, my dear brother-in-law, I got the money out of it.”
“That’s cheating as much as them taking from Jennifer, isn’t it?” She told him that the money would be used for good. “And what sort of goodness do you have in mind? I could use a bit of good news.”
“I’ve put the money in a different account, one that only has a name on it and nothing else. However, I don’t think these people are smart enough to figure out how to trace their funds. Anyway, once this is finished and they’re both in jail, we can pay back some of the people who have nearly lost everything. I think there might be enough to pay at least a portion of what they were scammed out of.” He asked her how much was in the account. “A little less than a million dollars. I’ve spoken to Galin, and we’re going to put in enough so that everyone is paid back. At least those that we can find.”
“You can add my name to that as well. I feel bad for these people.” She said that she did too. “I have that meeting in the afternoon with them. I have called the Federal Bureau and was told that they’d be here as well, hidden away until I can get them backed into a corner. I don’t really know what that means, but I’m going to wing it.”
She laughed with him. “I have an idea. You might like this. How about I have the three people brought here that aren’t that far away? That way they can finally face their enemies, so to speak. Not at first—just like the FBI, after you’ve backed them into a corner.” Valyn liked that idea. “Jenny said that she was going to be here too. I like that. This will be closure for a lot of people.”
Jennifer had gone to work that morning even though it was supposed to be her day off. The people at the hospital were calming to her, and she needed that for a little while. She’d been so good at what she was doing that she had branched out to the local nursing home one day a week as well. Boss said she was helping a great many people in her kindness and willingness to listen.
“She’s been very down of late. I’m not sure why.” Dusty told him that she was worried. “I have her. I would never allow these people to harm her.”
“No, you wouldn’t. But doesn’t mean that she won’t be hurt. The heart is a tender thing, you know that.” He did. It had been pointed out to him that there were different kinds of hurts. Mental, physical, as well as verbal. “And if I were you, I’d do what Galin does for me when I’m feeling overwhelmed. He takes me out to dinner, lavishes all kinds of gifts on me, and then he takes me soaring in the sky at night. The dinner and gifts pale considerably when I get to be free of everything but him and me up as high as I’d like to go.”
He thought about that long after Dusty left to do some calling. Valyn knew that she’d not like gifts on the lavish side. She was simpler than that, a woman who would enjoy a homecooked meal as opposed to one that had been made in a restaurant. And while she enjoyed flowers of all kinds, she much preferred plants that she could grow and see bloom for her. But taking her on a flight, that would be something that they both could enjoy, he thought. He made his way to the kitchen to ask the cook about a couple of things
It was going to be perfect, he thought. When she came home tonight, tired and ready for dinner, he’d take her away. As he made plans to have a picnic dinner made up for the two of them, he thought of the thousands of trees that were just outside his window at his first home. Going there, Valyn picked out two of them to plant, as well as a few flowers that he thought she might enjoy.
He was just planting the flowers when Michael came to him. “This is a splendid idea, Valyn. She will be most happy that you’ve taken the time to do this for her.” Valyn knew that wasn’t the real reason he’d come to see him, and waited for it. “You will make her very happy. Yes, you will.”
“What’s happened? I know you well enough, my friend, to know when you are stalling. You repeat yourself, mumble when you should be talking, and you will not look me in the eye. What has brought you here?” Michael glanced at him but turned away without speaking. “Michael, will I need to call the others here to beat it out of you?”
“You jest.” Valyn only stared at him. “Nay, you do not. I have come with some news that I’m not sure your mate will be happy with. Her mother is coming here. She has not been a part of her life for a great many years, and she saw in the newspapers that Jennifer has wed someone of wealth. Her name is Elizabeth Hale. She is going to be bad news, I think.”
“You think, or you know this?” Michael said that it could go either way. “I see. And when is this person going to arrive? I’m sure that you know when.”
“In a week. You have plenty of time to let Jennifer know.” Valyn asked him why he had to tell Jennifer. “Because as much as I love her, she has gotten stronger in her ability to tell a person off. I believe she’s been hanging around the others too much. She is no longer the sweet person that I first saw, but this person that.... Well, she’s not the same as she was before, that’s all.”
Valyn laughed. It was comical to him to see this person, of all the men he knew, afraid of a slip of a woman. He decided to have some fun with him and told him that it was his responsibility to tell her. Of course that made him sputter and complain. In the end, after laughing hard for about ten minutes, he told Michael that he would tell her.
“But you might be called upon to answer questions about her. If I were you, I’d be prepared. As you said, she’s not been in her life, nor a positive role model, for some time, and she will need answers.” Michael said that he’d take care that he knew more than he did now. Having that settled, Michael gave him a handful of seeds that he pulled from his pocket.
“They are a rare breed, these plants. Some of them have not been seen by humans for a long time. I would keep them in a safe place or you will be overrun with people wanting to have a bit of them.” Valyn said that he would make sure, then asked him what sort of sunlight they’d need. “You, that’s all. You with your magic should stand by them at least once a week. Your radiance will be more than enough to make them blossom year after year for your mate.”
Touching each of the dozen or so seeds, he knew what they were. He looked up at Michael when he got to the kadupul flower, a rare flower indeed. He told him that was a gift from him. There were also ghost orchids and a jade vine, one of Valyn’s favorite flowers. Jennifer would love that they were her own special flowers, and he was going to make sure that he took care that they had what they needed to grow for her.
After planting them as he was told, he stood before the seeds in the earth and spread his wings. With his magic beating down on the soil that cradled them, he could see the small seedlings sprout from the ground. It would be a lovely spot not long from now, and he decided to make the place somewhere that Jennifer could go when she needed some time alone.
Valyn worked through most of the afternoon, and was satisfied that she’d enjoy his plans for her and love the pretty little seedlings that were growing in the area he’d picked out for them.
Chapter 8
Jenny was exhausted and hungry. All she wanted to do was to eat then go up and take a long hot bath. After that, she was going to go to bed. It had been a very stressful day for her. She’d been present when a child had died, by the hand of someone that was to keep him safe.
Having a long conversation with his Protector, she was no less angry about it. Not about the death, but with the story that he told her ab
out the boy’s fate and what he had been going through since he’d been born.
“They were unkind to everyone, and when someone would dare question their actions, they would take it out on the boy.” She asked him if they were his parents, and had they paid for their crime against him. “Yes, they are both in jail. Their hearing has yet to happen. But they will serve a great many years for this. The last time he’d been at his home, they had beaten him severely and he sustained trauma to his brain. There was nothing else that could be done for him. I spoke to him every day, telling him what he would someday see when he passed from this world to someplace better.”
“And he died today, while I was in the room with him.” The Protector—he couldn’t tell her his name for a reason that she didn’t understand—told her that when she spoke to him, it was the kindness in her voice that had him feeling it was time. “But could they have helped him here? Operated or something on him so that he could have a better life?”
“Nay, they could not. There was much too much damage done to his head. There was very little left of the little boy he’d been.” Jenny said that was so sad. “It is. Not the first child that has had this happen to him. Nor, sadly, will it be the last. Children are easy prey for those type of people. They have no one to turn to because the people who should be caring for them are their tormentors. And their trust levels are very low because of that.”
She had gone on with the rest of her day, crying in a dark corner when she was able. Not for the fact that he had passed, but that he’d been put in that situation in the first place. As she was putting her things away in the locker that she’d been given, Boss appeared.
“I don’t want to talk to you right now. Not just you, but anyone. I’ve had my heart hurt, and I just can’t deal.” He nodded, and when she sat down on the bench in the large room, he did as well. “Why couldn’t he tell me his name? The Protector, he told me that he couldn’t tell me his name.”
“He has never chosen one.” She asked him how that was possible. “When the Protectors are created, they are grown adults. They are given the chance to choose any name that they wish. When he was created, a long time ago, he said that there were just too many people that he admired, and he would give me his name at a later date. He has yet to pick.”
“Thank you. I won’t be so irate the next time someone says that to me. I thought it was a club secret or something.” His laughter made her smile. “Spill it. You’re here for a reason, and with the day I’ve had, just tell me so I can deal with it tomorrow.”
“Can’t a man just come to see a pretty woman?” She said that a normal man could, but not him. “Ah, my dear, you wound me deeply.”
“Stop stalling. Is it really bad?” He shook his head. “Then what is it? I really would like to have some good news right now.”
“I’m afraid that I don’t have any for you right at the moment.” She felt her heart race, afraid of the news. “Your mother is coming to you.”
“I take it she’s found out that I have married into money, and is coming here with some sad sob story that will make me give her a lot. Then what? She tries to drain us dry? She’s done this to me before, you know.” He said that he did. “Then what makes this time so different? I won’t give her anything this time either. She abandoned me a long time ago, and that was the end of our relationship.”
He said nothing, and she was afraid that he thought she was wrong. She didn’t want to disappoint him. But before she could even begin to explain to him what she’d done to her all her childhood, Boss spoke.
“I’m so very sorry.” She asked him if he was sorry for her not wanting to see her mother. “Nay, I am sorry that it has come to this with her. She has no one to blame but herself in this. And no matter the amount of times she was encouraged to treat you better, she did nothing. But she will come and not understand why you have discarded her from your life. I hope that you are brave enough to tell her why.”
She thought of what he said a lot on her way home. Was she brave enough? Probably not. Jenny had been a wimp all her life where it concerned her mother. And she thought that the reason was, in the back of her mind she had thought—no, hoped—that she would someday be the mother that she needed. But never, in all the times that they’d spoken, was there any declaration of love or even her being sorry for her actions. So, she thought again, was she brave enough to stand up to her mom? Jenny supposed that would depend on what she said to her.
There wasn’t a sound in the house when she opened the door. It was an eerie kind of quiet, like the house was waiting for someone to turn it on. She knew that was silly, but she couldn’t think of anything else. Then she saw the note on the front hall table.
My darling Jennifer. Meet me in the back yard and bring a jacket with you. I shall keep you warm. Love you always, Valyn.
Dropping her purse and work bag on the table, she made her way through the house to the back yard. There was no one there, and she thought she might have misread where to go. Then Valyn landed on the soft snow with his wings spread out behind him. He was the most beautiful being she’d ever known.
“Come here. I have a nice surprise for you. I know you had a bad day, so I’m hoping this will make it better.”
She moved across the deck slowly so as not to fall. But before she was to the steps, Valyn scooped her up in his arms and soared to the sky.
The sights were breathtaking from this view. She could see the tops of homes, the restaurant that she had worked in at one time. There were children out in the weather, dragging their colorful sleds behind them as they climbed the big hill.
Tops of trees were stunning against the backlighting of snow. Tiny looking cars were driving along the roads too. She could see lights still hung up on some homes, and they were like a twinkling beacon in the darkening sky. With the wind blowing gently over her face, it washed away her mood and replaced it with a much better outlook on life. Then Valyn took them to a mountain top and set her on her feet.
“How did that work with your mood?” She kissed him rather than tell him. She conveyed as best she could how magical the night had been for her. “I love that answer. But the surprise doesn’t end there. Come on, I have a fire for you to get warm by.”
There wasn’t just a fire going, with the small bits of wood flames lighting up the sky. He had spread out a blanket on the ground and a large picnic basket in the middle of it. She went to sit on the blanket while he emptied the contents of the basket between them.
“Boss said that he told you about your mom.” She told him that she didn’t want to talk about anything but the night. “All right. We can do that. I love the way your laughter seemed to come from someplace deep within your body. I’ve never heard such a delightful sound as that.”
“You keep that up and you might get lucky, big boy.” She ate some of the crackers and cheese that he had. When he handed her a glass of juice, she smiled at the taste—it was cherry. “You take such magnificent care of me. I don’t know what I would have done had you not come around to loving me.”
“I was a fool for pushing you away.” She didn’t disagree with him and he laughed. “I can see I still have a bit to make up for, don’t I?”
“No. You’ve more than made up for your bad manners.” He laughed again as he handed her a plate of food piled with delights such as cold fried chicken, potato salad, and macaroni salad. “You’re trying to fatten me up for something, aren’t you?”
“Just to show you how much I love you. And giving you some extra energy for later.” They ate their meal while enjoying the beautiful night. “We will have to do this when it’s warmer. The trees will be budding soon, and that is a sight you shouldn’t miss.”
“Warmer would be nice.” She was warm, really. The fire next to them was giving off a great deal of heat. “I needed this today. More than you could know.”
She told him of the little boy and what she’d learned from his death. He didn’t say anything at first, and Jenny worried if talking about
it would bring up hurtful memories for him. When she told him she was sorry, he told her that wasn’t what he’d been thinking about at all.
“I was wondering about children. I cannot father any, sadly, but I would like to raise some children with you. That is if you’d like to as well.” She wasn’t really sure about that. She told him that she knew very little about them. “I have a good deal of experience watching people with children. I know when to change diapers, that there are different cries depending on what they wish. Also, I have noticed that when they’re walking, things must be put up higher, so they cannot get into it.”
“I would love to have a couple of kids running around here. I don’t care if they’re infants or older children that might need someone to be there for them. A place to come to when the world is too much for them.” He told her that they’d never leave home then. “And that’s all right too, I think. How do we start this process? I’m sure that it’s not as easy as just saying we want to adopt children.”
“No, but we have a great many of our kind in places where they would come to know where a child is being born. And which children will be alone in the world because of one thing or another.” She nodded. thinking of the little boy from today. “And children, as you said, need a place they can come to when the world is too much.”
“You mean like when they’re taken from their parents for some reason.” He told her that was what he meant. “They’ll be hurt in some way, these children that would come to us. What will I do when they’re taken away again? I love every child that I come in contact with. That’ll be the hardest thing I have to do.”
Valyn_Mystic Protectors_An Angelic Paranormal Erotica Page 9
