by Lund, S. E.
“He sent them to me,” she said, haughtily. “I didn’t meet with him. What kind of fool do you think I am?”
I looked at the two images. One was of me with Blaine’s erect penis in my mouth, tears running down my cheeks. The other was of him sodomizing me.
What the images didn’t show was the restraints on my hands and the bruises on my body from how rough he had been.
Yeah, when I tried to leave him, he didn’t like it very much. I was lucky to get out of it alive.
I never talked about it. I never told anyone except the police what he did to me, abducting me and raping me.
“If you release those, Luke will never speak to you again.”
“If I release them, I imagine he’ll never want to see you again.”
I shook my head because I knew Luke loved me and would never leave me over the photos.
“You’re wrong. If you release them, all you’ll do is lose any chance you have of being part of our lives. You’ll likely never see your grandchild.”
“So be it,” she said and grabbed the sheets of paper from me. She shoved them back into her handbag and left the living room, storming out of the suite and down the hallway to the hotel elevator. I followed her.
“Don’t do this,” I said. “At least wait until you talk to Luke. Don’t ruin your relationship with him. He won’t leave me over this, and I won’t leave him no matter who much money you try to pay me.”
She pressed the elevator button again and again so hard I was sure she’d break it. Then, the elevator doors opened up and out walked Luke.
“Mother,” he said and came out into the hallway. “I told you I wouldn’t be home until four thirty,” he said and checked his watch. “You’re leaving already?”
He glanced down the hallway to where I stood in the door to our suite.
“Alexa?”
“Your mother had a chat with me. Show him the pictures, Mrs. Marshall. Now’s your chance.”
Mrs. Marshall looked startled. She opened and closed her mouth without saying a word in a comical fashion.
“Very well,” she said and right there, in the middle of the hotel hallway, she pulled out the two sheets of paper and handed them to Luke.
“What are these?” he asked, glancing over them. He looked over at me. “What the hell are these?”
“They’re photos Blaine took when he abducted and raped me. Your mother threatened to release them to the gossip columnists if I didn’t leave you and get an abortion.”
“What?” He turned to his mother, who stood there, a smug expression on her face. “How could you?” he managed to get out through gritted teeth.
“Luke, I--.”
“Go,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Leave now. Don’t bother ever coming back. You’re out of my life.”
He ripped the images into small pieces as he walked down the hallway towards me.
On her part, Mrs. Marshall stood there as the elevator doors closed, her mouth still open in shock. She actually thought that Luke would change his mind when he saw the pictures.
She obviously didn’t really know her son.
Luke came to me and after stuffing the pieces of paper into his jacket pocket, he pulled me into his arms.
“I am so sorry,” he said and stroked my face, his eyes meeting mine. “You should never have had to face that. I sent a text to the front desk to keep her out, but someone obviously didn’t get the message.”
My eyes were filled with tears in response to his complete acceptance of what he’d seen.
“I’m so sorry you had to see those,” I managed through my tears.
“I’m so sorry there are people evil enough to take such pictures or try to use them to blackmail you. If my mother was smart, she’d leave and hope I don’t go to the police and tell them how she tried to blackmail you using pictures she got from your criminal ex. I’m sure they’d want to know the juicy details of how she got those images. If I were her, I’d be contacting my attorney just in case.”
He raised his eyebrows, his eyes never leaving mine.
The elevator opened again, and finally, she left.
Luke pulled me into the suite and closed the door behind him.
We stood in each other’s arms for a long while, just taking comfort from each other’s warmth.
“I am so sorry,” he murmured, his lips pressed against my forehead.
“It’s okay,” I replied. “I just hope she doesn’t release those pictures.”
“She won’t,” he said. “She’s smart enough to know that I will follow through with my threat to go to the police.”
He lifted my chin and wiped tears off my cheeks.
“We’re going to forget this ever happened, okay? You’re going to wipe those images out of your mind and we’re going to spend the rest of the week getting ready for our wedding and for moving into our apartment. There is nothing she can do that will hurt us or break us apart. Do you understand?”
I nodded, trying to do what he said and wipe those images from my memory. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but if anything could, it would be making plans for my future with Luke and our baby.
For that, I could face anything.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Luke
The rest of the week was a blur of activity and we were both so busy, we almost forgot about the incident with the images.
Almost, until my father called me to speak to me and mentioned it on the Thursday before we went out to Westhampton for the wedding preparations.
“I don’t want to talk to you if you support my mother in what she did,” I said to him.
“No, no, of course I don’t,” he said, his tone defensive. “I knew nothing about it. I would never have approved of it, if she told me. I only called to let you know that I told her that I never wanted to hear another negative word about Alexa or you marrying her or the baby, and if she so much as tried to speak to you or anyone or tried to release those images, she’d be out on her ass so fast she wouldn’t know what hit her.”
“Thank you, Father,” I said and sighed, rubbing my forehead. “This was so bad of her to even try to pay Alexa off or threaten to blackmail her with those images. If she wasn’t my adoptive mother, I’d have already called the police on her.”
“I know and I don’t blame you for feeling that way, but I’m glad you didn’t. She’ll come to her senses. As soon as Alexa has the baby. If not then, as soon as I come back from visiting the hospital and have pictures of me holding the baby. She’ll be so jealous, she won’t be able to stay mad.”
“I hope so,” I said, doubtfully. “If she doesn’t, she’s out of my life. I’ll be sad that my son or daughter doesn’t have a grandma, but better no one than one who hated you from the outset and tried to break up your parents before you were even born.”
My father sighed heavily on the other end of the line. “She thinks she knows what’s best for everyone and feels empowered to make reality conform to her ideas, but she’s blinded by her own prejudices. As a result, she can’t recognize how happy you two are together, but I can.”
“Thank you. We are happy and while this will be an adjustment to all our plans for the next while, we both wanted to have a family eventually. It’s just happening sooner than we planned.”
“Life is like that. The best laid plans, and all. As long as Alexa doesn’t give up her pursuit of her PhD, and you the business, you should be good. If she does give up on her PhD, she’ll regret it the rest of her life. My advice to you is to do everything in your power to support her in doing her doctorate. Hire a nanny. Hire a housekeeper. Hire a babysitter. Make sure she has time to herself. In the early days, when the baby is new, she’ll be exhausted. She’ll need people to take over so she can sleep, and then she’ll need time away from the house so she can be a normal person and a doctoral student. And the two of you will need time just to yourselves, too. Don’t scrimp on that or you’ll be sorry in the long run.”
I smiled to myself, surprised
that my father had such insight. “How come you know so much about this? Neither of you had newborns.”
“I’ve seen what happens to my friends with children. The first few years are hell on a relationship unless you both have time to yourselves, and time together away from the baby.”
“We’ll do our best. Luckily, I have enough resources to take care of those items on your list. It will be hard for Alexa, managing her morning sickness and still taking classes but if she can make it through the rest of her year, she can take some time off after the baby is born and just get used to being a new mother before she continues with her PhD.”
“That’s good. Don’t let her give up her dream, whatever you do. She can stretch it out a bit to compensate but she shouldn’t give up on it. And you – don’t give up on yours, either. You need to be there for Alexa and the new baby, but you also need to keep working on the business. You have enough money to never work again in your life, but I know you. The space industry is your future. It motivates you and gives you meaning beyond your own personal life.”
“Father, you sound so reasonable and full of good advice.”
“I know, I know – I don’t usually give advice, but I’ve been thinking about you and Alexa since I found out and I want it to work out with you. You have everything, Luke. Everything you could want and need in life. Try to appreciate it. That’s all.”
“I will,” I said, actually feeling choked up a bit from his heartfelt words. “I’ll do my best.”
“Lecture over,” he said with a laugh. “Oh, stay away from that sonofabitch of a soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law. He has no shame and will only egg you into getting in trouble.”
“I learned that lesson the hard way,” I said and smiled ruefully, rubbing my forehead. “Not going to make the same mistake twice.”
“Good. Now kiss your beautiful fiancée for me and I’ll see you at the beach house on Saturday. I’m sorry I don’t know what to buy as a wedding gift, but you can expect a nice bond for the baby’s future in an envelope.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It means a lot to me that you called and said all this.”
“Just wanted to clear a few things up. Love you, son.”
“Love you, Dad.”
I ended the call, surprised at that turn of events. I hadn’t expected him to call and say those things, so it meant more than I imagined. While I might not have my adoptive mother at the wedding, he would be there to support us, and he would be happy for us.
That meant a lot to me.
I hoped our relationship from then on would be better than it had been in the past. Maybe my mother showing how petty and manipulative she could be made him realize he didn’t want to lose me and Alexa and the new baby.
I hoped so.
That afternoon, Alexa’s parents arrived, and I met them at the airport while Alexa was on campus finishing her seminar. She had arranged to have someone else take her seminar the following week, so we could spend some time getting moved into the apartment, but other than that, our lives would go on pretty much the same as before we were married.
Managing Alexa’s morning sickness and getting settled in the new apartment would occupy most of our time for the next six to eight weeks, when we hoped her daily bout of nausea would end. I hoped Alexa’s morning sickness didn’t last as long as Dana’s, which persisted for months, but we’d deal with whatever life gave us.
I waited near the arrivals gate and when I saw her parents, I smiled to myself. They really were wonderful people. Upstanding. Mr. Dixon was exactly what I expected for a former Air Force jock, fit, greying hair, sharp blue eyes. He had the right stuff – no doubt. Mrs. Dixon was attractive, fair haired and looked really good. I knew that one day, when Alexa and I had been married as long as they had, Alexa would look very much like her mother. That would be a good thing, for she was still beautiful. They walked towards me with their hands held, like they were still in love, and it gave me hope that I would have that kind of marriage – close enough after thirty years that we wanted to always be holding hands.
The three of us hugged and smiled, an extra bit of emotion over the fact that Alexa was pregnant, and we were getting married. We decided to tell them because by now, everyone on my side of the family knew. They might as well, too.
On the drive back to Manhattan from JFK, I told them all about my little sojourn in the courthouse jail and answered questions about the charges being dropped and of course, how Alexa was doing.
“We wanted to come a few days earlier, but I had no one to take over until today,” Mr. Dixon said. “But we’ll stay for a few days next week and spend time with you two getting you into the apartment.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “I know Alexa will be happy to have you help out. As nice as it is, we’ll both be glad to be in our own place and out of the hotel. Alexa can’t wait to use the kitchen and cook real food for a change. We’ve been eating restaurant food for weeks. I’m surprised I haven’t put on twenty pounds.”
“How’s Alexa? Is she holding up despite the morning sickness?” Mrs. Dixon asked.
“She’s strong,” I replied, nodding. “She’s determined to keep going despite it. Luckily, she feels good around noon every day and so we’ve arranged her schedule so that she doesn’t have to be on campus until one thirty or so.”
“That’s good,” she replied. “I remember my own morning sickness. It was really hard, and I didn’t work outside the home until Alexa was two.”
We arrived at the hotel and got them checked in for the overnight stay. While they signed papers, I thought about how the weekend would go.
Tomorrow, we’d all drive out to the beach house and start getting ready for the wedding. Dana and the baby were coming separately. We would bring Candace and her wheelchair with us in the limo and get her settled in. She would be emotional support for Alexa and would direct the whole business from her wheelchair.
We’d have a big catered dinner at the house for everyone who was attending the wedding. They’d be put up in our place or in the local Hilton for the night. The next day, we’d have a big brunch, and we had a hair stylist coming out to the house to do Alexa’s hair and makeup and help her get dressed. Then, the ceremony would be at five in the afternoon.
The morning would be for her to rest and get over her morning sickness.
After the wedding, we had the catered dinner for family and friends.
The party would end early, due to Alexa’s fatigue, and we would spend the rest of the weekend relaxing with family and Candace.
Then, it would be right back to the real world. We’d wait until Alexa was feeling much better before going on a honeymoon to Bora Bora. Candace had made all the arrangements for the wedding, arranged the caterers, the flowers and the hotels for out of town guests.
“We’re all set,” Mr. Dixon said and held out his hotel room key. “Let’s get this stuff stowed. I can’t wait to see my little girl.”
“She should be back pretty soon,” I replied, checking my watch. “We’ll go down for supper as soon as she’s ready.”
We went up to their hotel room and dropped off their bags. Mrs. Dixon wanted to freshen up before she came to our suite, so I gave them one of the extra room keys to our place and left them, returning to the suite alone.
When I arrived, Alexa was already there, waiting, her laptop opened on the coffee table.
“There you are,” I said and went over, bending down to kiss her. “Your parents will be up in a few minutes after your mother freshens up, whatever that means.”
“It means she wants to have a pee and fix her hair or something,” Alexa said with a laugh. “She probably figured you didn’t need or want to hear she needed to take a leak.”
“I guess,” I said and sat beside her, stretch out after the drive to and from JFK. She closed her laptop and snuggled up against me. “How are you? Did you have a good seminar?”
“I did,” she said and smiled. “I feel like such an imposter, teaching a seminar when my
students are only a few years younger than I am.”
“You’ve got your MA and are a doctoral student. That means you have that much more knowledge than they have. You’ll get used to it.”
“I will,” she said and sighed. “How are my parents? Did you regale them with tales of being an outlaw?”
“I did, but your father had a few tales to match my own of being in ‘the brig’ for making a beer slide between the sofas and the other guys on the flight sliding down it during a party at the Officer’s Mess when he was on a trip and stayed at a Canadian air force base.”
“Yes, I’ve heard that story before,” she said and snickered. “They do know how to party. I guess if you’re going to fly planes faster than the speed of sound, you need to decompress now and then. A beer slide sounds perfect.”
Alexa’s parents finally arrived, and we went down together to the restaurant in the hotel, not wanting to make the effort to take the limo and go somewhere else. We had an enjoyable meal, and Mr. Dixon told us tale after tale of his exploits in the Air Force, traveling around the world with Mrs. Dixon and their two kids in tow. Germany, Canada, and all over the USA, he had been everywhere and had such a full life and career with the military.
Then, it was my turn to talk about John's and my plans for Astra Investments.
“Mining the asteroid belt, huh?” Mr. Dixon asked, nodding. “Sounds exciting. How many years before you have a rocket capable of going there and returning?”
“A good twenty years, but it’s my long-term goal, if I’m not going to Mars.”
“What about the Moon? You could start a colony there.”
I found in Mr. Dixon an eager listener and he seemed as excited as I was at the prospect of being involved in the space industry.
After our dinner was over, we said goodnight and returned to our own hotel rooms for the night.
Alexa ran a bath and lured me into it with a naughty expression in her eyes that said everything they needed to say.
She felt good enough, in other words.