She shook for minutes after I rearranged our bodies so that she was in my arms again. I put my hand over her tummy sudden fear for my son or daughter hitting me. "I didn't hurt her did I?" I guess from the wide smile on her face that was a no.
Chapter 28
I have to make arrangements for her father's funeral; as much as I hate the bastard I know she'd want that so I'm doing it for her. She's looking better this morning, then again so am I. That's what a morning spent in bed together loving each other will do. She hasn't brought up the shit that's been going on in our lives yet today and I was glad for that. I wished she could have just one day free of the darkness.
"Gideon, why haven't you been going to work? I'll be fine here by myself if you need to go into the office I'm not a baby you know."
I think I've heard that same refrain at least ten times in two days. I've given up trying to explain to her. Somehow she seems to have been stripped of her fears. Either that or she really trusted me to have the necessary things in place to keep her from harm. But there's no way that I'm letting her out of my sight right now. The senator has been combing the city in search of something. I have no doubt it's the whereabouts of my wife; apparently her father had one ounce of decency left in him since he hadn't divulged her whereabouts or it seems who she'd married.
It wouldn't take him long to figure that out though, all he had to do was come across the publication with the marriage announcement. There was no telling if Cliff had told the other man that her new husband was onto him and his schemes. I'm quite sure if he'd given him my name he would've already been looking in my direction, but so far the reports suggested he was walking blind. It's not like he could be hidden, he's a well known figure so wherever he went and whatever inquiries he made would me noted no doubt so he'd have to be circumspect. It remained to be seen if the good doctor was going to join him.
"Come here." I pushed back my chair from the breakfast table where I'd been going over the latest finds from my guys on the missing children. She climbed into my lap and rested her head on my shoulder, so sweet. I went back to what I was doing while she stole strips of turkey bacon from my plate. She was in one of her cooking moods today, which I wasn't too thrilled about since she was still in a cast; but the girl could be stubborn as all hell.
"Well?" She butted my chin softly with the top of her head like a little kitten making me laugh. She always makes me smile, in fact I don't think I've been this relaxed and at peace in my life until she came into it, which is a fucking wonder with all this shit going on around us. But somehow when I'm alone with her like this nothing else seems to matter, she makes me feel like a carefree man just enjoying his wife, that's when she wasn't bugging me to get her way that is.
"Drop it Blossom, I'm staying home until you're back on your feet at least. Why don't you go do your lessons so you can send them in today, aren't they due soon?"
"They're done already."
"What, when?" Was she lying to me? I doubt it, for someone who's led such a horrible life she was amazingly honest and open; and so full of love. It amazes me every time that she survived that shit and remained the person that she is.
"I did them all the first day."
"Nerd." I nuzzled her head when I got an elbow to the ribs for my insult.
"It's almost time to go for your checkup I think another day or two." Her body tensed against mine.
"Is he gone?" I knew whom she was referring to and my heart hurt, she was still afraid of her monster. So what was all that talk about me leaving her then if she was still so afraid?
"No baby he's still here but my guys are on him every second he won't get near you ever I promise."
"Would you kill him...if he came after me, would you have to kill him?" Her little body shook as she sat up to look at me.
"Yes." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before relaxing back into my arms.
"Did we find the others?" I guess that's that, no questions no discouragement she just wanted to know the facts. Maybe it gave her a sense of security knowing that I would go the distance to protect her. I'm sure she had a pretty good understanding by now of what kind of man the senator was; maybe she knew that his kind could only be stopped one way. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that yet, I would love to see him pay for his crimes before the whole world, fucking bastard.
"That's what I'm reading now, we've found some of them and my guys tell me they've got the bead on others, we'll find them all baby don't fear; even if it takes years I'll never stop looking." I didn't tell her that it was going to take mercenary acts to rescue some of the young girls and boys who'd been sold into sexual slavery. There was one report of a young brother and sister who'd been sold to a husband and wife. Now you'd think these two had difficulty having children of their own and grew desperate enough to steal someone else's, but that wasn't the case here. These animals were running a sex club that procured children for sexual deviants. They have the money and the clout to keep their sick lifestyle hidden while parading in public as upstanding citizens of their country, and they weren't the only ones. If half this shit was to be believed quite a few of the rich and famous of the free world were into some sick shit that involved kids. No wonder the senator was willing to get his hands dirty to keep it a secret. There were a lot of moneyed people on that list.
My boys both local and abroad have been going at this thing hard, that's why the information was pouring in so seemingly effortlessly. To a man they all hated what we were uncovering and it made them work that much harder. It's only been a few days and already they wanted the go ahead to move on retrieving some of the ones they'd found. I thought it was best to get all our ducks in a row before we went in, I didn't want anyone being tipped off. But the thought of leaving a child in that environment for even a second more was abhorrent. My job now is seeing where we should hit first. It wasn't known as yet if this thing was run like a network, or if the senator kept his clients in the dark about each other. If it was the latter then we could move one by one, if the former then it would take planning. The operation would have to be handled simultaneously. I had the manpower needed to carry out such an operation but I didn't want to leave anyone behind if I could help it. It was a tough call all around. Move now and risk the chance of people being tipped off and going into hiding, or wait knowing that a child was being abused somewhere.
"Can't we bring home the ones that they've already found?" Geez, was she in my head or what?
"Is that what you want?" She nodded against me as I looked down at her sad face.
"What if we take them and it alerts the criminals that we're onto them and they hide the others that we haven't found yet?" She picked up the documents from in front of me.
"You've found all these in just a few days you'll find the others I'm sure."
"How did you know what I was reading?" I thought I'd kept it pretty well hidden from her under the guise of reading something for work.
"I read it upside down when I was asking you about going to work. Your face didn't look like you were reading something about work."
"What did it look like?" She was more perceptive than I'd given her credit for it seemed.
"Like you'd tasted something nasty, that's how I felt when I was helping you that first day. Now it just makes me angry; angry and sad. I think they shouldn't have to be there one more minute if we can save them." She took my hand then and placed it on her stomach. "We'd want him or her to come home right away no matter what; I know you can save them, just like you saved me."
"Shit Blossom!"
After putting that on me she'd busied herself cleaning up the kitchen having no idea what her faith in me did to me. I sat in that chair for a long time willing myself to be the man she needed me to be; hoping and praying that I would always be worthy of it of her. There were so many elements to my wife, she was in turn scared, brave, sexy, shy; a myriad of emotions that all came together in one small perfect package.
I kept changing my thinking because always in the back of my mind was the question of whether or not she could live with whatever it was I was about to do. She'd pretty much okayed offing the senator but could she really live with a husband who had blood on his hands? And if not that then what was the alternative? If I exposed him while he was alive there was no doubt in my mind that her name would somehow come up and I couldn't have that.