by Katie Dowe
“Unrecognizable,” Yanique said with a shudder. “I have no idea what kind of animal could do that to her.”
“She deals with the scums of the earth,” Yvonne commented as she poured the piping hot water on the sachets. “It must be one of them.”
“The detectives said it was not robbery so it must be something like a grudge. I am sure Brandon is going to exact his own punishment.”
“Can you blame him?” Yvonne passed the cup to her. “I want to get a piece of the bastard who did that to her and she is not even my own child.”
Yanique smiled at the fierce expression on her mother’s face. “How was the party?”
“Your daughter had the time of her life and did not want to come home.”
“Did she notice that Brandon and I were not there?”
“She asked for both of you at first but then after she was having so much fun that she did not notice.”
“I am glad.” Yanique stared into her tea. “He is taking it pretty hard and I don’t know what to say to him.”
“Sometimes the best thing to do is to leave a person alone and allow them to sort through their own demons,” her mother said wisely.
Yanique nodded. “I want him to talk to me and be able to share whatever it is with me.”
“I am sure he will do so eventually, but right now he is probably wondering what to do with the bastard once he gets hold of him.”
“I already know what to do with him.” His deep voice sounded in the doorway causing both women to turn to him startled.
“I am sure you do.” Yvonne took her cup of tea and headed out. “Just remember you have a wife and children to think about,” she added touching him briefly before leaving.
He stood there looking at her, his face haggard. She poured him some tea. “When Shelly died in that accident I wanted to go out and confront the driver of that stupid vehicle and beat him to a pulp.” Her tone was conversational and she passed the cup to him and waited for him to take a seat. “I railed at fate for taking first my dad out of my life and then my best friend. With my dad it did not matter too much because I did not know him but with Shelly the pain was unbelievable! So much so that it was like a physical pain inside my body. I spent my nights crying and my days going over and over what I could have done to stop it from happening. I told myself that maybe I should have insisted she stayed home that night and when I called her while she was on her way I should have told her to come back.” She put aside her tea and took her husband’s hands in hers. “You want to fix this in your own way but I am going to ask you to let the police handle it. Would you do that for me? For us?”
He stared down at their clasped hands for a moment. “I have to find out who did this to her. I know that the police will be doing their jobs, but I have to find out for myself. When I do I promise that I will turn it over to the police, but I have to know. I almost lost her, Yanique.” His fingers gripped hers. “She is my sister and I almost lost her.”
“I know, baby,” she whispered as she clung to his fingers. “What can I do?”
“I want to taste you,” he said hoarsely as he lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed it softly. “I want to sink my dick so deep inside you that I won’t have the faintest idea how to come back out. I want to taste your nipple that will soon be suckling my son and when I am through I want to taste our combined orgasms.” His blue eyes held hers hypnotically. Yanique felt the goose bumps along her arms and the shivering inside her body. “I want you and I want to lose myself in you. Will you let me?”
She closed her eyes as she fought the wave after wave of intense passion rushing through her body. “Yes,” she said after clearing her throat. “I would love that.”
He took her hand and helped her off the stool. He pulled her into his arms and cupped her cheeks. “You are so beautiful and sweet.” His head bent and he took her lips with his slowly, his tongue teasing her, his teeth tormenting her. Yanique gripped his shirt tightly as she returned the kiss with all the pent-up passion she was feeling!
“Let’s go to bed,” he told her huskily as he lifted his head to look down at her.
She nodded, lost for words as she sank into him!
Chapter 11
Leanne was released after a week when the doctors were sure that she was well enough to go on home. She was not able to walk fully and still could not eat solid meals but her bruises had faded somewhat. She was quiet and subdued only smiling when her niece Yasmin handed her the card she had made for her. “You made this all by yourself?” she asked the little girl in amazement.
Yasmin nodded. “I want you to get better,” she said. “You missed my birthday.”
“And I am going to make it up to you.” She kissed the little girl’s cheek tenderly. She was wheeled into her bedroom after that and Brandon helped her to get into bed. Yanique had left to give them some privacy. He had hired a nurse for her even though she had protested. MaryAnn had gone into the kitchen to instruct the housekeeper on what to prepare for her daughter.
“What did you find out?” Leanne asked as soon as they were alone.
“It was the son of someone you put away, Lee,” Brandon told her grimly.
“What?”
“He is only seventeen.”
Leanne stared at her brother in shock. “That’s practically a baby,” she muttered.
“He is old enough to stand trial.”
“They have him in custody?”
“And he has confessed.”
“They got him a lawyer?”
This time it was Brandon’s time to stare at her. “Are you kidding me?”
“He felt justified in doing what he did, Bran,” she said defensively wincing as she felt the pain in her chest.
“He almost killed you!”
“I know and a part of me wants him to pay for what he did. Who is he?”
“Does the name Warren ring a bell?”
Leanne frowned as she mentally brought up the numerous men she had helped to put away over the years. Then her brows cleared. “Neville Warren. He had been accused of murdering his wife in her sleep. It was alleged that he beat her constantly and there was even a TRO out against him several weeks before he killed her. The evidence was clear cut and so was the case. He was belligerent and surly and pissed off the jury which was mostly women. But that was about nine years ago, why would he come after me now?”
“His father was killed in prison.”
Leanne looked at him in horror. “Oh Christ! Why was I not told of that?”
“It happened the day when you were beaten up.”
Suddenly Leanne felt the weary tears coming to her eyes and did nothing to stop them. “He lost his mother and now his father. How can I blame him?”
“His father was a scumbag! Someone did him a favor by putting him out of his miserable life,” Brandon said grimly.
Leanne looked at her brother through her tears and then smiled. “You are a dad now and even though I do not know what it means to be a parent I have a feeling that even though Warren was not much of a father he was the only one his son had.”
“I want you to concentrate on getting better and only that. Promise?”
“I promise. I am certainly not going to let this coddling go to waste,” she said with a small smile.
“You shouldn’t.” He got to his feet and kissed her softly. “I will let my wife and daughter come to say goodbye.”
“Thanks. Bran?”
“Yes?”
“It comes naturally to you now, right?”
“What?”
“Accepting Yasmin as your own,” she whispered in case the child was coming that way.
“She is mine,” he said simply. “I look at her and I see her mother and I love her automatically. No one can get her away from me.”
“Will you tell her eventually?”
“I don’t know. If it is something that is going to hurt her then no.”
“I am so happy for you.”
“Thanks. G
et some rest.”
But even when they were gone and her mother had hovered around making sure she was okay until she had told her to go to bed, Leanne could not sleep. She was lonely and dissatisfied. She would look at her brother and his family and would watch the expression on their faces and would get envious. She had seen those looks on the faces of the wives whenever she went to functions. Even from across the room they connected with just a look and she wished she could find someone like that. Someone who made her life worthwhile, someone who made her heart increase in tempo. She had been doing a lot of thinking and wondered if she was really true to herself. She had thought about Claudia a couple times and had contemplated calling her but had discarded the thought. Claudia had not called her either.
The tears came and she did not stop them until she finally drifted off to sleep.
*****
The hearing was scheduled for the end of June giving Leanne time to recover so she would be able to attend. It had taken her three weeks to be fully functional and still she could feel the pain and soreness of her ribs which had not mended properly. She had gone back to work in spite of her doctors telling her to give it another two weeks. “I am going to go crazy if I stay home another day,” she had said impatiently. She had a crazy idea even though she had not shared it with anyone yet. She called her sister-in-law who had gone into the hospital owned by Doctor Whittingham. She was slightly overdue and they were thinking of inducing labor.
“How are you doing?”
“As fine as a woman about to deliver what feels like a ten pound baby is,” Yanique said dryly. “Brandon is refusing to leave even though I am not due for surgery until tomorrow.”
“He is the loving dad,” she said distractedly “I need to talk to you about something. I hate to lay this on you at this time but I have no one else to say it to.” She took a deep breath and looked to see if anyone was coming inside her office. “I am going to plead on behalf of David Warren.”
Silence met her statement and Leanne wondered if she had done the right thing in telling her.
“Why?”
Leanne moved her shoulders restlessly even though her sister-in-law could not see the movement. “He deserves a chance. He had a very bad break and was not in his right mind.” She paused. “There is something else.”
“I had a feeling there would be. You want to pay his fees.”
“I want to adopt him.”
This time the silence was longer and Leanne smiled as she could just imagine the look on the other girl’s face.
“You are not thinking straight.”
“I have done nothing but think about this since I have been out of commission.”
“He is not going to want anything to do with you, Lee,” Yanique warned her.
“I know and if you know enough about me you know I love a challenge.”
“Your brother is going to have a fit.”
“I know that too. Could you not mention it to him? I want to talk to him myself after I sort things out.”
“What happens when you find someone and decide that you want children?”
“It is not going to happen for me, darling, and I have come to accept it.”
“You don’t know that,” Yanique protested.
“After seeing what you have with my brother and what Leesa and the others have with their husbands I am afraid I am not going to settle for anything less.”
“I think you should put more thought into it.”
“I have done enough thinking. Okay, I have unloaded enough. I want you to think serene thoughts and I will be there to see the birth of my nephew tomorrow.”
“You had better be.”
*****
Blaine Radford Reynolds was born on the fifth day of August at two in the afternoon. He had his dad’s black hair and blue eyes. He weighed in at seven pounds eight ounces and made his presence felt the minute he was ejected from his warm place inside his mother’s womb. He was bathed and fed and stared at the people gathered around him as if he knew how important he was to them.
Leanne held him the longest, staring into his blue eyes so much like hers and Brandon and his curly mop of dark hair. Her mother and Yvonne were waiting on her out in the waiting area as it was approaching six but she could not put him down. “Hey there, darling,” she whispered as his eyes started to close. “I know I am supposed to let you get some sleep but I am so in love with you.” She touched his cheek gently and he moved in her arms as if protesting. “I want someone of my own to love the way I love you, darling, and I hope that our family will understand.”
“Ms. Reynolds?”
She looked up to see the nurse hovering just inside the doorway. “My time is up.”
“I am afraid so.”
She handed her nephew to the ample woman in white and watched as she put him down for his nap. She poked her head in Yanique’s room to tell her bye and stood there watching as her brother held his wife into his arms. They did not notice her and she stepped back before they could, not wanting to intrude on the tender moment. With a determined look on her face she made her way out.
*****
“Be careful, sweetie,” Brandon said gently as Yasmin climbed onto his lap as he held his son in his arms. “We don’t want to hurt him.”
“He is little,” she said staring down at the beautiful baby in fascination.
“So were you,” Brandon told her.
They had brought Yanique and the baby home just this morning and Brandon who had not been to the office since she had gone into the hospital three days ago had been making himself useful and not allowing his wife to do anything. He had been contemplating buying a house with a backyard and a pool and everything else that went with it, but he was going to discuss it with Yanique first. He looked up as she came towards them. She had indulged in a shower and had put on a black silk nightgown with buttons going down the front. Her hair was caught up on top of her head and she looked amazingly beautiful! Her eyes met his and something indescribable passed between them! He took a deep breath to steady himself and patted the space next to him. The nursery had been done up in blues and the palest of yellows and was airy and large with his name placed above his cot. She leaned against her husband’s shoulder and stared down at their son. “He is sleepy.” She touched a finger to his soft cheek.
“He is pretty, Mommy,” Yasmin murmured.
“So are you, sweetie,” Brandon told her. “How about a story before you go to bed?”
“And ‘Laine too,” she whispered not really knowing how to pronounce his name properly yet.
“Of course.”
Later that night after they had put the children to bed and made sure the monitors were on, they went into their suite.
“Tired?” he asked her softly as he massaged her feet.
“Hmm,” she murmured as she stretched her feet in his hands. “That feels so good.”
“Do you have any idea how you make me feel?” He put her feet in his lap and rubbed her calf.
“I have a vague idea,” she said teasingly.
“You are everything to me.” His fingers tightened around her leg as he stared at her. “I never thought it possible to feel this way about another person.”
“Me too.” She pulled herself up and slid onto his lap wrapping her arms around his strong neck. “I never thought I would find you, my love. I face each day knowing that I have you beside me to help me in every way and it is an exhilarating feeling.” She rested her forehead on his and sighed in contentment. “I am so happy, Brandon.”
“So am I.”
*****
“Why on earth would you do something like that?” Brandon asked his sister furiously as he stared at her. It had gotten out that the fierce and successful lawyer who had been attacked a month and a half ago was now fighting to get the battery and assault charges that David Warren faced dropped to a misdemeanor.
Brandon had come straight to her office the minute he heard. His son was three weeks old and alread
y looked like he was two months old. He kept them up at nights but Brandon did not mind, getting off the bed to go and fetch him so that his wife could feed him.
“Because he deserves a chance.” She was secretly happy that he had found out as she was still trying to find a way to tell him. She had told her mother two weeks ago and MaryAnn had stared at her in shock and tried to talk her out of it. “He had a very rough life, Brandon, and that is something neither of us understands. I want to give him a chance in life.”
“You are making a mistake, Lee,” he warned her.
“Then it is mine to make.” She placed her elbows on her desk and stared at him. Her bruises had faded and she had gotten better except for the soreness she still felt in her chest. “You have Yanique and your kids and I envy that, Brandon. You have the love of a beautiful woman and kids who no doubt adore you. I have a career that has consumed my life and nothing else apart from that. When I leave here I go home and sit in my suite wondering when I am going to find something like what you have with Yanique.”
Brandon stared at her for a moment realizing that he had never really spoken to her about her personal life. “You will find someone worthy of you,” he said quietly. “I met Yanique and I knew she was the one for me. You will meet that guy-”
“I am gay!” she blurted out.
He stared at her in shock.
“I found it out when I was in law school where I got involved with Claudia.” She saw his eyes flare as he recognized the name and she smiled grimly. “Yes, Brandon, I have feelings for women and when she left and got married my heart was broken so much so that I have a hard time recovering from it.”
He took a seat across from her and looked at her. She was beautiful and looked coolly confident with her black hair caught at the nape of her neck in an elegant chignon. She was wearing an olive green pants suit with a multicolored silk scarf around her neck. Diamond knobs the very ones she had given her for her birthday in April glinted at her lobes. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked her quietly.
“I was ashamed.”