Protective Instincts

by Mary Marvella

  There was still a town square with a steepled, brick, three-story courthouse. The huge clock was an hour behind. Brit absentmindedly noticed the "Five and Dime" store and Stephen's, a quaint drug store, with its poster-board, handwritten list, of soda fountain specials displayed on the large window.

  On her mother's street, trees budded and tulips bloomed in every color. One hour and forty minutes after leaving Brit's house, the red T-Bird pulled up in front of a brick, two-story house. Its covered porch ran the length of the front and sides.

  Ellen moved from the large, old, porch swing and down the six cement steps, before Brit could alight from Julie's car. Brit closed her eyes and savored the love in her mother's hug.

  Monster nosed both ladies, rubbing against Ellen for his hug. Ellen bent down so she could rub his tummy. "Grandma has a special doggy treat for Monster. Yes, she does."

  The big dog licked his chops as though he understood. He explored, "greeting" the trees and bushes in male dog style, making himself at home.

  At the sound of Julie clearing her throat, mother and daughter pulled slowly apart. Ellen opened her arms and Julie moved into them. She hugged the shorter woman, giving her an extra, quick, hard squeeze. "Mother Simpson, you look spiffy. Looking good."

  "Julie, dear, I'd invite you in to visit but your mother's anxious to see you. We had lunch together yesterday." She turned to Brit. "I can't believe I have you here for a whole week!"

  "Thanks, Mrs. S. Well, gotta dash. Mama'll call looking for me again if I don't get on home." Julie winked at Brit, then left with an impressive tire squeal.

  The Simpson women walked side by side up the walk to the porch steps, each carrying a black, leather suitcase. Brit slung the garment bag over one arm. She'd leave with more luggage if her mother had anything to say about it. Glancing from the swing hanging from chains to the metal glider at the other end of the porch, Brit made her choice, the glider. Brightly covered cushions scattered splashes of color. The paint was shiny and pristine white.

  Ellen nodded and confirmed what Brit figured. "Yes, Matthew repainted it last weekend. He was afraid it would rain if he waited. He hasn't forgotten his favorite oldest sister's favorite place to spend a summer evening."

  The green lawn made a welcome view from the glider. Purple and yellow Irises lined the porch. Clusters of Azaleas bloomed in bright pink, matching the glow in Ellen's cheeks. She and Brit sat moving back and forth, as Brit's foot pushed against the floor to keep the bench moving. Peace and quiet lulled Brit, who was about to drift off to sleep.

  "Sweetheart, why don't you go upstairs and take a nap. There's time before everyone gets home."

  They lifted the suitcases and headed through the screen door. Up the familiar, picture-lined, staircase, daughter trailed mother until they reached the room at the far end of the hall.

  Lavender curtains fluttered on a fragrant spring breeze. Everything from curtains, to matching comforter and dust ruffle, had been freshly laundered, mixing the fragrance of detergent and fabric softener with that of flowers. Heaven must smell like this, Brit thought, especially when the smell of cinnamon and spice hung on from the morning's baking.

  The garment bag was slipped from Brit's arm and hung in her closet before she had put her suitcase down. Funny, she'd expected bitter-sweet memories of her recuperative months to be stronger, but they hung quietly in the back of her mind. Hmmm.

  Same curtains and bed coverings, same furniture, same lamp and even a stack of paperback novels she had left on the bedside table. The dresser scarf matched the same chest of drawers scarf. Very little about the room had been changed, but so much seemed different. Maybe she was different?

  "Mama, the room looks fabulous. You certainly have been busy. You didn't have to go to so much trouble washing and ironing everything, though." Brit hugged her mother again. "How did you know I'd be here? I hadn't planned to come."

  "A mother knows. We washed everything this morning. Your niece helped a lot. Alicia adores you. She almost didn't go to softball practice this afternoon, but she had to, since the first game is tomorrow."

  Ellen had begun to hang up Brit's clothes. "She's so excited; she could talk of little but the game and her favorite aunt. You'll be so proud of her. You can help protect the umpire from the most enthusiastic parent in the bleachers. Matt makes enough noise for two. He out yells his father and me."

  "You, Mama?"

  "Yes, me. You know I get in there for my children."

  "No, I mean does he really out yell you?"

  "Smart aleck, I'm not that bad," Ellen snorted. "And you're not too old to spank, young lady."

  "Right," Brit retorted. She couldn't count the number of times she had heard that announcement, but she didn't need five fingers to count the number of times she had actually been spanked. It wasn't that her parents weren't believers. Other methods, like separating her from Julie, her usual partner in crime, had been more effective.

  "Mama, is there a good light in the attic? I'm thinking about going through some boxes of stuff Daddy put up there for me. Maybe I'll check 'em out while I'm home this week."

  "There should be plenty of light up there. I'll have your Daddy check tomorrow. Going through Tommy's things?" Ellen asked. "I'll help if you need me … Just let me know."

  "I think I'm ready to sort things out." Brit sighed at the thought of facing the ghosts of her past. The time had come.

  * * * *

  Brit's nap lasted an hour, but it was enough. The shower relaxed her less than she'd have liked. Sam had no business insinuating himself into her shower in her mother's home. His smoldering eyes watched as she soaped her body, especially as she circled her breasts with the wet bath cloth. She remembered how Sam's mouth had felt at her nipples. She could just see the smirk on his insolent face. Only Sam was miles away.

  Forcing herself to stop her erotic daydreaming, she finished her shower, willing the face that haunted her to disappear, before she started thinking about his wonderfully sexy body and the ways she had come to know it intimately. She had left him so she could find breathing space to sort out her feelings, to gain perspective. He was the kind of man she didn't need. He'd keep trying to protect her, he'd expect too much.

  She almost bounced down stairs to greet her family. Alicia stopped setting the table to run and hug her. The twelve-year old was a tad taller than her aunt. Both wore ponytails and looked like sisters.

  "Aunt Brit!" Alicia exclaimed, as she looked Brit in the eye, then hugged her again. "I missed you so much! Daddy, I mean Dad says we might get a horse once softball season is over and I promised to take good care of it and keep my grades up and …. " She finally took a breath. "You look great, you know that? I have so much to tell you." She squeezed her again.

  "I missed you too, squirt. You look like you've grown six inches in the past two months. Look at you; you're taller than your old aunt. I guess I'll have to stop calling you squirt."

  "Everyone's taller than you." The girl giggled. "I'd better get back to setting the table or Grandma'll skin me."

  "I heard that." Came the response from the kitchen.

  "Watch it, smarty, never make disparaging remarks about your elders. I'm still tall enough to whup up on you," Brit pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen. "Good evenin', Mama. May I help?"

  The mingling fragrances in the kitchen were enough to set Brit's stomach grumbling.

  "You may put the salad together. Everything's on the counter." She turned, tilted her head toward the double sink. "You look rested."

  "Yes, Mama. When I was a kid, you sang the praises of a nap as a cure to everything. I wasn't one for taking them."

  "You didn't want to miss anything, and you weren't old enough to wish for one. You and Matt kept me so busy when you were small, that I would've given my eye-teeth for time for a nap. You two were a handful, especially after Amber came along."

  "You must not have been too tired since Jared wasn't so far behind Amber, less than two years."

&n
bsp; "I said I didn't have time for a nap, not that I didn't have time for anything." Ellen laughed. "Besides," Her face crimsoned, "your father was to blame for that. That man always was frisky!"

  "Was?"

  "Now you're being too nosy, young lady," Ellen's telltale blush deepened.

  Brit smiled and finished tearing lettuce leaves into a large bowl. Would she be blushing years from now, while her daughter teased her about sex? Would she even have a daughter? Could Sam possibly be the man who could keep her happy for thirty years or more? Nah, not likely.

  The phone rang twice.

  "Could you get that, honey?"

  "Sure, Mama." This is New Britain, not my house, where a phone call could mean a threat to my sanity.

  The phone rang a third time before Brit answered it. "A dial tone." Not here, too? Had they followed her?

  "Honey? Who is it?"

  "No one." Brit hoped she sounded normal.

  "Probably Mrs. Bates." Ellen laughed and shook her head. "She gets the wrong number when she doesn't wear her glasses. Poor thing gets us instead of her son."

  "She needs a phone with built in memory."

  "She'd push the wrong buttons." Ellen covered the corn she had stirred. "She won't get rid of her old rotary phone."

  Brit had just chopped a tomato and was scraping it from the cutting board as her father slipped into the room. She cut off the greeting she was about to voice when he crept to her mother bending over the open oven door.

  Father and daughter smiled, as her mother re-arranged pans in the oven and straightened. Her dad turned Ellen into waiting arms.

  Brit's grin grew as her mother half-heartedly smacked him before he turned toward Brit, who needed no encouragement to move into his embrace. Her cheek was pressed against his chest. His Old Spice mixed with his natural body chemistry to create the familiar scent that was Daddy.

  She hoped he'd never change. She'd know his scent in the dark, and it spelled security, especially during those long, dark months after Tommy's death when he had just held her as she had cried in his arms. It reminded her of Sam. Funny they wore the same after-shave.

  "Still frisky, I see," Brit grinned cheekily.

  "There's too much company in this kitchen. You two go visit while I finish up in here." Ellen's face still glowed from the oven's heat, or from the conversation, probably from the conversation! "Everything will be ready in five minutes. Matthew should be here any minute. We can eat as soon as he gets here. Now scat, so I can get this meal ready."

  Brit's oldest brother, Matt, met Brit in the dining room and swung her around. He felt a little thin. She looked into his grayish-brown eyes, saw love and exhaustion. Lines at the corners spoke more of worry than too much sun. Her gaze traveled down his beloved face to notice his gaunt cheeks.

  "Working too hard or partying too hard?"

  "Working."

  "Wash up, supper will be on the table in one minute!" Ellen brought two steaming bowls of vegetables to the dining room table.

  With Brit and Alicia as helpers, everything was on the table in one minute.

  It felt good to share a meal with family, even with Amber and Jarred missing. Mama always cooks all the food I don't bother to cook for myself. Brit smiled. I can't believe she cooked both butter beans and black-eyed peas tonight, with everything else. Bet Sam would enjoy the cornbread. Sam? He's always in my thoughts! Always!

  "Aunt Brit," Alicia broke into her thoughts. "Are you going to my softball game tomorrow? It'll be our first real game. We're playing last year's girls league champions. Coach said we should play the team we fear most and get it out of the way."

  "Sure, I'll be there, but I can't promise to out-yell your father or grandmother, but I'll do my best. Who's your coach? Should I know him?"

  Matthew grinned. "Yeah, you should know him. He's none other than Zeke the Geek or should I say ex-geek."

  "Coach Zeke used to be a geek?" Alicia frowned. "No way!"

  "Some of our classmates called him that because he was a wizard with inventions and shy around girls. He was really very nice."

  "He was in love with you, Sis." Matthew looked at Alicia. "He used to stand across the street and wait for your aunt Brit to go outside, so he could see her." He grinned at Brit.

  "I can't believe he coaches girls' softball. Does he have a daughter on your team?"

  "He isn't even married." Alicia scooped up a bite of salad. "You should see the way the moms make eyes at him. It's ridiculous."

  "He doesn't have a daughter? How'd he get roped into coaching a league team?"

  "He teaches a computer class at the YWCA and we ran out of fathers to ask." Alicia glanced at her daddy.

  "I'd have volunteered to help you if I hadn't agreed to take over some of Mrs. Ricker's classes. Teaching can take its toll on a person without adding evening classes."

  "That's true; he spends too much time studying, even on weekends. That's why he's so thin and tired. It's a good thing next week is Spring break."

  "Second that motion!" Alicia raised her fork in praise.

  "Third it." Mathew sighed, sank back in his chair.

  Now she knew the best reason her brother deserved her thanks for painting the glider for her. It was like him to make time to do something special for her.

  "Baby, we're glad you decided to spend time with us. I'm not on duty at the hospital at all this weekend, so maybe we'll have some time to visit and talk. I want to hear more about your capture of the intruder." Joe's voice shook.

  Brit just nodded. Alicia's open expression said she didn't know the whole story. The murderous look in Matthew's eyes told her he did. Could she keep the worst of her problems away from her family? It might be best if she did what she needed and headed back home, back to Sam and danger.

  After supper, Brit enjoyed helping her mother clean up. Alicia went with friends to a movie. It felt good to share girl talk with her mother.

  * * * *

  As the warm spring night washed over her, Brit sat in the glider, soothed by the stars. During her teen years, she'd spent many hours sitting in this very spot, reading and daydreaming about handsome knights rescuing a certain amethyst-eyed damsel.

  Sometimes her rescuer had golden hair that shone in the sunlight like a crown. Sometimes he had auburn hair, like her older brother. But more often than not, his hair had been dark as the night. She hadn't seen his face or the faces of any of the heroes, but she felt an eerie shiver as she tried to forget how at home Sam seemed in girlhood daydreams.

  Matthew plopped beside her. They sat in companionable silence as the glider resumed its back and forth motion. A heavy arm moved from the back of the seat and settled around Brit's shoulders. "I would've killed that bastard if I'd been there!" Her brother's voice, rough with emotion, startled her.

  "I know you would have. Sam tried to catch him. He was afraid I was hurt. He saved me by arriving when he did."

  "Who is this Sam fellow? Mama likes him and she's usually a good judge of character." Matthew looked at his sister as if trying to read her mind.

  "He's the father of a student. They were in the parking lot and had come looking for me because they saw my car was still there. Thank God they did!" Brit's voice was a harsh whisper as she turned her face into the shoulder her brother offered.

  He just held her for a while.

  He interrupted the silence after a few minutes. "But who is he to you? Is there something you want to tell your big brother?"

  "No, we enjoy each other's company." She couldn't tell her big brother that she and Sam were suffering from late hormone problems,or lust or sexual attraction or whatever!

  "I just want you to be happy, little sister. I know how lonely you can be after losing the person you love more than you love your own life. You and I both need to find someone to love. At least I have Alicia, but she needs a mother. I know Beth would want me to love again but --"

  "I know, believe me, I know. Maybe it's still too soon." With her forehead rested against his c
hin, Brit felt her brother's tears dampening her hair. The ache in her throat made it impossible to say more. She hadn't seen him cry since the death of her sister-in-law. Brit's hurt was already lessening. Beth had been gone for five years. Maybe Matt would find someone who would make him forget some of the pain. He deserved another chance at love.

  * * * *

  Pain erupted in Sam's gut, matching the stiffness in his neck. Something was bad wrong and he couldn't ignore it. If only he could see or hear something.

  Sam was on his way back to Brit's house, two hours after he'd found her missing. She hadn't called and he wanted to wring her neck. Please, God, let her be hanging out with someone instead of hurt and unable to respond to the phone or let him in. He'd rather forgive her for shutting him out if he had the chance! His premonitions hadn't kicked in but his panic button had! Panic was unlike him. He'd always kept a cool head in a crisis. He wanted to protect her. Love had done this to him.

  He got his address book and called Brit's mother.

  "Hi, ma'am, this is Sam Samuels. How are you?" He tried to keep his voice normal.

  "I recognized your voice. How's that nice son of yours?"

  "He's spending a week visiting with his mama and her family in Hawaii for spring break."

  "I'm sure he'll have a great time. I'll bet you want to speak with my daughter."

  Sam held the headset away from his mouth. He exhaled a long sigh. "I just called to make sure she got home all right."

  "She's in the shower. Shall I have her call you?"

  "Oh, no thanks. I'd love to surprise her."

  They worked out a plan. Now he needed to find out how she could have up and left him without a word. She should have realized he'd be half out of his mind with worry.

  A visit to his office had netted him the key to her front door and the information he needed to get into her house and disarm the alarm system. Something had made her run scared. Getting inside her house didn't take long. Without his tools, he'd still be waiting outside. He looked for notes she might have left. Nothing was lying around on tables or counter surfaces. He found no notes in wastepaper baskets or near the top of her trashcans.