by Rae B. Lake
The little girl nodded her head yes, “I’m sorry, Momma. You guys were downstairs talking, and I could see some of the kids from my window. I snuck out.” She coughed a few more times before she continued. “I was just going to play with them, but then they went into the trees, and I lost them. I tried to turn around, but I tripped on something and rolled down the cliff into the water. I couldn’t get out. I was moving too fast.” The little girl began sobbing loudly, clearly still very scared. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I’m sorry.”
Like a pin popping a balloon and letting all the air out, the hostile tension that I’d been enveloped in, all but evaporated out of the room.
“Come on, let’s get this brave little girl into the back room so I can examine her properly.” Jake picked up the little girl in his arms and walked toward the back.
The woman kissed the girl on the forehead before her eyes settled back on me. She walked over to me, her tear-filled eyes never leaving mine. She put a soft hand on my chest, and part of me wanted to slap it away, but I allowed it. The threat was gone.
“I am so sorry. I jumped to conclusions, and I was so wrong. You saved my little girl's life. I can never repay you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.” Fat tears fell from her eyes as she poured out her remorse and gratitude. She stepped in closer and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Thank you. You saved her.” She cried hard into my chest.
I wrapped one arm around her loosely and patted her on the back, consoling her. “It’s ok. I’m glad I was there to help.”
The man I assumed to be the girl’s father comes and pulls the woman away. “Stacey, come on, we need to go be with Abi.” She nods her head and let go of me.
“Ok, Damien, ok.” She turned and walked away, but he remained standing in front of me. He raised a hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it. “Look man, that was fucked up, I shouldn’t have…”
I put a hand up to stop him. Damien Meza, I had heard a few stories about him in passing. What I did know for sure was that he loved his woman and his child. He’d thought I’d hurt his little girl. Of course, I was pissed I got punched for no reason, but if it were me in the same situation, I would’ve done a lot worse. “Don’t worry about it, I understand.” I put my uninjured hand out, and he shook it. That was all I needed. I turned and rushed out of urgent care. I couldn’t get out of their quick enough.
I walked for about a minute before I heard someone calling out my name.
“Carson! Wait!”
I turned to see Frances running toward me, trying to catch up. I stood still, but instead of her slowing down like I thought she would, she continued to run to me until she jumped, and I had to rush to catch her. She wrapped her legs around my waist and kissed me hard against my lips.
“Mmm, whadafuph.” My eyes opened wide as I did my best to hold her up in my surprised state. I didn’t even have enough time to react to the kiss before she jumped down and started backing away.
She stared at me with a sexy smirk as she continued to back pedal. “My hero.”
“What the hell is wrong with you, woman?” I shook my head, trying to stay annoyed but losing the battle quickly.
“I have to get back and help with Abi, but I am going to come and see you later. I want to hear about the whole thing! Put the damn ointment on your hand.” She smiled wide before she turned around and took off in a run back toward the urgent care.
When I turned back to continue my walk home, I could see a few people walking on the road, they looked at me and smiled.
A first.
Chapter Nine
It didn’t take much for me to fall asleep that night. Unfortunately, it was fitful and not very refreshing. I kept waking up, thinking I hadn’t been able to get to Abi in time. I wish I could have found out how she was doing.
The next morning there was a banging on the door. At first, I thought it was my dream, but after the banging stopped and someone started calling my name, I knew it wasn’t.
I rolled out of bed and tied the drawstring on my pajama pants, so they didn’t fall.
“Why! Why does everyone in this town break and enter! Has no one heard of fucking doorbells?” I slowly make my way to the stairs but am stopped in my tracks when I see Frances standing on the outside of my front door, balancing coffee and a box of donuts in her hands.
I walked down the stairs, “Is there a reason you are screaming my name?”
“Well, if you got a doorbell that worked, maybe I wouldn’t need to scream your name. Also, if you’re serious about not having people just walk in, maybe you should try locking the door.”
“I’ll make sure to do that next time.” I chuckle as I take the coffee out of her hands and walk to side den. She follows behind me, and we sit down on the couch.
She grabs my face and turns it so she can see the bruise that is no doubt blossoming on my cheek.
“Damien feels shitty for hitting you. Everyone was all riled up. He shouldn’t have done it.” She let go of my face and put her hands back in her lap.
“It’s not a big deal, and I’ll live. I understand why he did it. I just don’t understand why it was the first thing everyone thought. I’ve never had people judge me so quickly without even knowing one thing about me.”
“Yes, you have. People judge every day on what they don’t know. Unfortunately, it is up to us to change the perception or just let them keep believing it.”
“Like what? You want me to go around and beg people not to think I’m a murderer.” I rolled my eyes and leaned back on the couch.
She chuckled as she raised her coffee to her mouth and took a sip, “You know I heard another rumor about you today, apparently, your family is into witchcraft, and someone in your line has to come and haunt this land once every generation.”
I let my head fall back against the cushion of the couch, “Are you kidding me? They think I’m a ghost now?”
She shrugged and continued laughing.
“That’s not funny, Baby.”
The laughing stopped, and she squinted her eyes at me. “Don’t you dare start calling me that.”
“Oh, it’s way too late.”
She sucked her teeth and opened the small box of donuts. She plucked one out and proceeded to fold her legs under herself and looked at me expectantly.
My eyes shifted around for a few seconds, “What?” I asked, unsure of what she wanted from me.
“What do you mean, what? I told you yesterday I wanted to know the whole story, start from the beginning, spare no details.”
“There is really nothing to tell.”
“The lies, there must be a story. It’s not every day that the big bad beasts comes out of his castle to save a drowning girl.”
“I didn’t come out just to save her. I was cleaning up the beach.”
“You have a beach?”
I shrug, ”It’s more like a patch of dirt mixed with sand, but yes, I do. I don’t think anyone has cared for the area in years, so I was there just trying to be productive, trying to help out.”
“How did you see her?”
“Honestly, it was just perfect timing. I’d just stopped to take a breather and to take my meds, and I saw her little head bobbing up and down. At first, I thought the pain meds had made me hallucinate. I didn’t react as fast as I should have. “
“Are you kidding me, that little girl has been singing your praises all morning down at the hospital.”
A feeling of dread began to wash over me. “She’s in the hospital?”
Frances smiled as she placed a hand on my knee, “She is perfect, only one rib cracked, and it will heal fast. They only kept her overnight as a precaution. She doesn’t even have any pneumonia. She’ll be running and playing by this afternoon, that is, if her mother ever lets her out of her sight again.”
I had to laugh at that, “I don’t think she will, not for an awfully long time.”
I let my head fall forward as I let my brain register she was going to be ok, “I was so scared
, I didn’t know if I would get to her in time. I didn’t even know who I would call for help. The urgent care was the only place I could think of to take her.”
“You did good Carson, so good. I’m proud of you. There wasn’t a better man for the job.”
“Humph, I bet the rest of the town doesn’t feel that way. I don’t know why they try to make me out to be some type of monster.”
“Well…” Frances said, letting the ‘l’ sound linger in the air.
“Well, what?”
“Have you looked at yourself lately? Nothing about you says friendly. You’re always walking around with a scowl on your face. According to all the gossip, the only time anyone sees you is when you go down to the grocery store for food. You look like you haven’t shaved in years, your hair even though it’s gorgeous needs a definite trim and style. Not to mention you look like you bench press cars for a living or that you are probably taller than most mountains. Face it, Carson, you look scary.”
I eyed her as she shoved the rest of the jelly donut in her mouth, “You don’t seem scared.”
She nodded her head a few times and quickly swallowed what was in her mouth before she spoke again, “That’s only because I know the truth, you're like that lion in the children's book. Roaring at everyone, it’s just because you have a thorn in your paw. You’re in pain. You’re not so bad.” She winked at me and picked up another donut to eat.
I pouted and looked away. I’d never been compared to a character in a children’s book before, and I wasn’t too sure I liked it.
“So no witchcraft, then?”
My head turned back to her in confusion. What was she talking about now? “Huh?”
She looked around the house from where she was sitting, “Well, I mean, it’s a bit obvious with you living in a castle and whatnot that you are rich.”
“No, I’m not.”
She cocked her head to the side in speculation.
“Baby, I’m broke, like a month away from being out on my ass.”
Her mouth dropped open slightly, “Oh crap, really? I mean, how? What happened to all your family's money?”
“They still have it, but when I decided not to do what my father demanded, I was cut off. From everything and everyone. I haven’t spoken to my father, my brothers, even my mother in the last two years.”
“Oh, Carson, that’s horrible.”
“I won’t lie, it fucking sucks. I’m not used to living like this. The uncertainty of it all, not knowing if I’ll have enough money for food next month. I don’t know if my father is going to find me here, hiding out in his house, and kick me out. I don’t have any assurances about where my life is going right now. A few years ago, it was all planned out for me down to the outfit I would wear.”
“Well, what did you do to make him so upset. It must have been really bad.”
I smiled and looked at her, “I donated to the wrong charity and would not withdraw my support.”
Her face fell, and she looked at me like I was crazy, “You can’t be serious. A charity? What kind of charity was it? One for prostitutes or something? I don’t understand.”
“It was a charity for some of the kids at an inner-city school. They were raising money for sports uniforms, and I had the money, so I bought them for the kids. They decided to put a thank you note in the paper, and someone in my father’s social circle found out. The information went down the line.”
“Are you serious?” She asked her brows furrowing.
“As cancer.”
“Carson, that’s utterly ridiculous. Doesn’t he care about what you want to do? About the person you are?” She shakes her head in disbelief.
“No, all that matters is the family name, and that we conduct ourselves in a certain manner. Maybe it was just me. No one else in my family ever had a problem. I’ve always been the only one who wanted something different in my life.”
“Wait, what about your brothers? They’re ok to live this way too?”
“I’m the youngest out of the five of us. They may have tried to rebel, and I just don’t remember, but it seems like they are.”
“What gives him the right? Honestly, what makes him feel like he is so much better than the working class?”
I leaned forward, making sure I had her undivided attention, “Well, it’s always been that way. You see, we’re royalty.”
Chapter Ten
I watched her blink a few times, and then she broke into laughter. “What? No, you’re not!”
“I am, well at least my family line is.”
“Holy shit! From where?”
“Well, from what I can remember, my father said his great great grandfather was a duke in England. He was one of the many men who received substantial wealth and land during the times of turmoil between the Scottish people and the English people. His wealth continued to grow as he enforced heavy taxes on the people of the land. As the years passed and it became increasingly evident, there’d be no place for English Dukes in the new Scotland, great great grandpappy picked up everything he owned and fled. Fortunately for him and the rest of the family, it seems we’re charmed when it comes to money. Dad’s great grandfather was one of the first to give financial backing for the search of gold and jewels when explorers started to come to the states. That doubled our money. Dad’s grandfather invested in textile and had his hand in war profiteering during world war 1. He made weapons and arms for whoever paid more. During the great depression, Dad’s father expanded our business and our income. Our family gained control of the banks where our money was held, so they made sure the Ingram family had their money first. We had vaults of gold bricks, diamonds, rare art. You name it our family had it. By this time, the Ingrams controlled quite a bit of farmland, the textile industry, and the locomotive industry. We also owned a third of the iron mines, plus we still had expensive and valuable contents stashed in our vault. Then when Dad broke on to the scene, he decided he wanted to get into natural gases and oil, and just like that, he managed to procure a profitable oil well and acquired massive shares in the shipping and transportation industry. Now it’s down to us. All my brothers are right in line to compound the family profit. I’m the only one who hasn’t found my way there yet.”
When I looked back at Frances, her mouth was gaping open, and she was staring at me in shock. “How much is your family worth?”
“Hundreds of billions, if Dad told me it was trillions, I’d believe him.”
She leaned forward and grabbed her coffee before she scoffed and continued talking. “Jeez, talk about the good life.”
“I won’t sit here and say it wasn’t. It just wasn’t a fulfilling life.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Being shuffled from event to event, laughing with crooked politicians and business owners, dealing with some of the worst people on the planet just to make a buck sickens me. Then to think that my brothers and I are the next in line to keep the legacy going is more depressing than I could ever explain.” I took a sip of the coffee she’d brought for me, “Did you hear anywhere in the retelling of our history a time where we developed better housing for people who needed it, or that we donated to education, hell even any type of political reform? Never. We ensure that our familial line is well taken care of and that our financial support goes to approved causes only. That’s not what I want.”
“What do you want then?”
“I want what I do to have meaning. I want to be more than a handsome face and a big wallet. I can tell you the only times in my life I have felt I was worth a damn was when I was helping others. Donating to children in need, building homes for people who need them, saving that little girl yesterday. That’s what life is about, not just how much money you can make.” I let out a cathartic sigh when I finished my little speech.
I opened my eyes again, and before they were even completely adjusted, Frances's lips were on mine.
“Mmmmph!”
She pulled away before I could grab onto her.
> “Damn it, woman! Why do you keep doing that?”
She giggled and raised one eyebrow, “What, you don’t like to be kissed?”
“Kisses, I like, being attacked, then pushed away before I can participate, not so much.”
“Stay on your toes, Ingram.” She laughed.
“Whatever.” I pouted.
“Aww, is the big man sad?” She teased me and poked me playfully in my side.
“I can’t stand you, Baby.” I rolled my eyes and got up
“Keep calling me that, and the feeling will be mutual.” She stood on her feet and glared at me. Her eyes raked over my face for a second before she looked away.
This woman was confusing. Yet she was the only one who even after I told her I was basically a trillionaire, she didn’t change how she acted toward me. She didn’t put on an act or try to appease me; she was still just Frances. That shit was so damn attractive.
I turned my head slightly and caught my reflection in the mirror above my mantel.
“Holy hell,” I whispered more to myself than to her.
“What? Are you ok?” She stood up in front of me with a concerned look on her face.
“Yeah, you’re right. I look like hell.”
She giggled and then softly touched the ragged ends of my hair. “You could use a little polishing.”
I’d never had to worry about my hair being trimmed even though I preferred to keep it long. There was always someone on hand to take care of it for me. My beard was fuller than I had ever let it get, and the only clothes I had were either black sweats, black hoodies, or black t-shirts.
“You want to cut it?” I looked at the woman in front of me. I instantly regretted asking her when her eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
“Really! You’d let me? Yes! Please!” She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the stairs before stopping at the bottom. “Wait, where is the bathroom?”
“There are several, the one I usually use is upstairs attached to the master bedroom.”
“Several? Well, I guess that makes sense. It’s a freaking castle. Where’s my tour?” She turned back to me and folded her hands over her chest.
