“I deserved it. Tonda knew I deserved it, so I could not fault Ryanne’s Papa. He loves his children and I disrespected him by not speaking with him first before taking Ryanne as my wife,” Eduardo said. “A Papa’s love for his children are strong.” His eyes then went to Saxton.
“Your Papa called me,” he said to Saxton.
“Whose Papa?” he asked, his eyes brows up.
“Tu Papa,” Eduardo said with a smile. “Technically, he asked your wife to call my wife so that I would come and get you, to bring you all home alive.”
“Really?”
“...Something about Odessa calculating the odds,” Eduardo said.
“My wife,” Saxton said with a shake of his head. She always has my back.
“Speaking of wives, I need to call mine. The last thing I want to do is make Ryanne angry at me...she has a bit of a temper,” Eduardo said with a wide grin. “You know she shot her last husband when he hit her...”
Carlos was confused because his brother said the words with smugness. It was obvious he loved the woman and he was anxious to make her acquaintance, but first, he wanted to meet Odessa. A woman who got the slip on Hugo... was someone he could not wait to meet. Saxton of course, pulled out his phone to call his wife. Kevin Jr. thought about it and pulled out his phone as well. Agent Roget sent a text, which caught Saxton’s attention.
“Who are you texting Roget?” Saxton asked.
“Your sister,” Roget said with his tongue stuck out.
“Man, that’s not funny, don’t play with me,” Saxton said with a frown.
“Yeah, don’t be mad when your kids are calling me Uncle Reekus either,” Roget said with a wink of his good eye. Saxton took out his gun to check for bullets, his eye still on the agent in a threatening manner.
Tonda who had been quiet stood and walked over to Kevin Jr. Hovering over the young man like a bad decision, he reached down and snatched his phone from his hand and began to scroll through the pictures. Kevin Jr.’s mouth was wide open in confusion.
Kevin Jr. asked, “Can I help you find something Tonga?”
“Tonda. My name is Tonda,” the big guy said. “Yeah, I want to see the pictures of your woman with the Cucaracha hat!”
“Mary Jean doesn’t have a cockroach hat,” Kevin Jr. said.
Tonda had found what he was looking for, a picture of Mary Jean wearing a blouse covered in crickets. She even wore little cricket earrings with a matching cricket bow in her hair.
A frown covered his face as he looked at the picture of Kevin Jr.’s girlfriend. Tonda asked, frowning at the image in confusion, “You find this woman attractive?”
“Yes, Tonda...she is a nice girl. I had even given some thought about making it permanent,” he said with a grin.
Tonda, wouldn’t let it go, “You had sex with this woman?”
“A gentleman doesn’t discuss such things Tonda,” Kevin responded.
“No seriously, you had sex with the bug covered woman?” Tonda asked again showing the image to Eduardo.
Kevin ignored the big guy as well as Eduardo trying to hold back his laughter. Tonda showed Eduardo the picture, frowning like he suddenly smelled something stinky. He then showed the picture to Julianna who pushed the phone away like it was an annoyance.
Roget sat up, “Are you ready for that...you don’t even have a permanent job yet.”
“I do; I’m coming to work for you!”
“The hell you say and the Devil is a liar! You just nearly got us all killed because you were watching some woman’s ass and not paying attention,” Roget said to Kevin Jr.
Ironically, Kevin Jr’s eyes were now on Julianna, who looked at him and frowned as he held up his glass for more refreshments.
“I suggest Señor, you keep your eyes on the pictures of your bug woman. I am too much for a little man like you,” she whispered in his ear as she bent to hand him a refresher on his drink.
“I seriously doubt that,” Kevin Jr said to her with one eyebrow up. “Don’t let the sweet face fool you.”
It was only for a millisecond, but he saw the twinkle in Julianna’s eye. Maybe I’m not ready to get married just yet.
“See what I mean. All it takes is a pretty face and you are down the rabbit hole trying to get under Alice’s skirt. In the meantime, all of our lives are put in danger just trying to rescue you,” Roget said to Kevin Jr.
Kevin Jr. gave them all that look he would get when he had something important to say. He leaned forward in the seat, “Maybe the mission wasn’t about surveillance. Have you thought about why we were all there? Why are we all here? I don’t know any other reason why we would all come together like this...Eduardo, Saxton, Carlos, Roget, Tonda and me...in one place. On one mission... You weren’t there to save me. I am unharmed. God takes care of the motherless, fatherless and fools.”
He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. “You needed a bonding experience. Rescuing me was it. You were there to close the gap and become a family.”
Chapter 11 – Be...know...do
Houston, TX
Lucille Blakemore walked into the kitchen dying of thirst, discomfort and something else she could not put her finger on. Licking her lips several times, the thirst was taking over her senses and about to win. A mint julep would be perfect on such an afternoon as this. Too much was happening all at once and somehow, everything seemed to blur.
Odessa sat at the table next to a double stroller which vibrated as the babies rested peacefully.
“This sober shit is completely overrated,” Lucy said to her daughter-in-law. “I need a damned drink.”
Without saying another word, Lucy walked over to the wine cooler, pulled out a bottle of white, uncorked it, and sat a glass and the bottle on the table.
“I don’t care what step I am supposed to be on, it doesn’t matter what phase of resolution I am supposed to be addressing. I am going to take a seat where I am and pour myself a drink,” she said with conviction. “....because...damn it, I need one.”
Lucy poured the glass of wine and stared at it. Then she noticed Odessa. She really took notice of her as she pushed the glass to the side.
“Why are you sitting in here with these babies, crying like some lovelorn old woman?” Lucy asked.
“I dunno...I need to... I’m sorry, I am just a ball of emotions right now,” Odessa confessed. “I just don’t know what I am going to do if Saxton doesn’t come home.”
“Oh sure,” Lucy said. “You can sit and convince yourself of anything you want, but at the end of the night, the only thing you have left is the truth.”
Odessa’s tears began to fall. The truth wasn’t nice. She calculated the truth and the truth told her that one of those men were not going to come home. Numbers didn’t lie. Statistics could be manipulated, but the numbers were always truthful.
Lucy saw the worry on her face.
“When my Daddy died, I watched my Mama, her back rigid and stiff as she sat in that church with all of those sharks looking at her. Then I sat back and watched all the men come a calling,” Lucy said as she played with the stem of the wine glass.
“I watched the menfolk try to sally up to her. I even saw the employees try with me. I made up my mind right then and there at the age of 19 that I needed to find me a husband. Not just any husband, but a really good husband because he had to not only take care of me and the babies we would have, but he also had to take care of this ranch, the land, and he had to take care of my Mama,” she told Odessa.
Lucy swallowed hard. Her eyes boring into her daughter in law, she said, “That is why I married Bobby Ray Blakemore because he did all of those things. He is a good man. He has stood by my side when I was too drunk to even stand on my own two feet.”
Odessa’s tears had ceased to flow as she waited for the point Lucy was about to make that would give her the strength to get through one more night without her husband at her side.
“If my Mama died, I would truly be lost because it has been me a
nd her against the world since I was 16 years old,” Lucy said.
“But what if Saxton...if he...,” Odessa tried to say.
Lucy interrupted her, “You can’t think like that.”
“But I don’t know what I would do Ms. Lucy,” Odessa said.
“You will continue doing what you are doing for the sake of these beautiful babies,” Lucy said.
“Ms. Lucy, you are not understanding what I am saying,” Odessa pleaded.
“No, you don’t understand what you are saying. You don’t know shit about loss. I know loss,” she said. Her manicured finger tracing over the rim of the wine glass. She still had not taken a drink of the wine. “When Bobby Jr died, I had to put his little body in the ground, I swear it took half my soul with him. I sat there not knowing what to do, how to explain it, staring at my other three children trying to get a clear understanding of why God had done that to me.”
Fingers, steady and calm, ran through Lucy’s salt and pepper hair. Her gaze still affixed on Odessa. “I picked up a glass of wine to calm my nerves and it made me feel better. I continued to drink that wine until I could feel absolutely nothing, not even my husband when he came to me at night to love my body. I am sitting here today next to you and I feel everything. I look at my husband who has watched me drink myself to sleep. He has watched me drink my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And every night we went to bed, Bobby Ray told me that he loved me.”
Lucy’s eyes teared up making Odessa cry again as well.
Her voice shook with emotion as she wiped away the tears, telling Odessa, “Now that I am perfectly sober, I don’t know what he ever saw in me to love. I abandoned his sons and daughter in their time of need. At times I even abandoned him only being sober long enough to be on his arm for special occasions.”
“Don’t say that Ms. Lucy,” Odessa said reaching for her mother-in-law, embracing her to her heavy breast.
“I have to tell you this,” she said. “What you and Saxton have is something truly special. If you think for one moment that man is not going to fight tooth and nail to come home to you and those beautiful babies, then you don’t know my son!”
“Okay,” Odessa said.
“Are we good?” Lucy asked.
“Yes, Ma’am, we’re good,” Odessa answered.
“Now, here drink a little of this wine,” Lucy said.
“I can’t! I’m breastfeeding,” she said to her mother-in-law.
“I know. All it takes is a little and those little shit makers will sleep all night so you can too. Saxton will be home tomorrow. All right?” Lucy said.
She rose from the table taking the remaining wine in the glass to the sink to pour out what Odessa did not drink. A sense of pride ran through her for resisting the temptation to drink the remaining contents. A second thought came to her as she grabbed the bottle and poured the rest down the sink. Although Connard had done another sweep of the house, she always kept a few bottles hidden...for emergencies. Before she left the room she called to her daughter-in-law, “Odessa?”
“Yes, Ms. Lucy?”
“I don’t know if I have ever told you, but I love you. I am glad you are his wife,” Lucy said.
“I love you too Ms. Lucy,” she said feeling better after the chat.
“Now, last but not least,” she said with her eyebrows raised. “If you tell anyone I had this bottle of wine I will disavow, disown and disinherit you. Furthermore, I will put you and them little shit makers in the barn and leave it to Dusty’s ole shaking ass to bring you meals three times a day, you hear me?”
Odessa laughed and nodded. Lucy stopped at the stroller to eye her grandchildren.
“Hot damn, I am a grandma! Look at those fine looking Blakemore babies,” she said with pride. “Whodda thunk! It’s almost like a get a second chance to be better...” Lucy stopped speaking suddenly as if she remembered something important.
“Hit the intercom if you need me,” Lucy said as she blew her a kiss goodnight. As wrong as it was, Lucy was right as Austin and Robbie slept all night, so did Odessa. Her fears were laid aside as she thought of her gun-slinging husband running across the tops of buildings like a big ole sexy 007, shooting his way to her. She rolled the stroller down the hall, peering on Ms. Patsy before taking the elevator up to the second floor.
The bedroom Odessa shared with her husband seemed too large and too small at the same time.
“Goodnight Mr. Blakemore,” she said to his pillow.
Chapter 12 – Bar-B-Que anyone?
Houston, TX
Three hours later, Eduardo’s plane touched down at the Busy B. After several ice packs, two shots of a ridiculously expensive cognac, Carlos determined that Roget’s eye could be saved. His vision would never be the same, but at least he would have his eyeball. Eduardo was on guard when the doors opened and two black Suburbans drove to meet the plane.
“Come on, meet my kids,” Saxton said to Eduardo. “I guess they are your niece and nephew now.”
Eduardo’s eyes had not moved from Saxton. “Did you get the gifts I sent for the bambinos?”
“Yeah, after I had a bomb sniffing dog go over the box,” Saxton said.
This brought a huge grin to Eduardo’s face, “The whole dog and pony show...”
“What?” Saxton asked.
“Never mind,” Eduardo responded. “I cannot stay long, I need fuel...I have to get to Los Angeles and then home...” He also slipped a special gift into his back pocket which reminded him of the coffee he’d brought for Saxton’s family. Tonda held the crate in his hand as he followed his boss down the stairs to the waiting vehicles.
“We have fuel, the truck will come out, load you up...do any checks with Julianna to make sure everything is okay before you leave,” Saxton told him.
Saxton asked Eduardo, “Oh, did you get the wedding present Odessa and I sent?”
“Yeah, I don’t like receiving packages...especially not from you,” Eduardo said with an arched brow. “It is still unopened and sealed in the safe.” The two men started to laugh.
Carlos watched closely as his brother accepted the offer of fuel and assistance. The Eduardo he knew would not allow such favors to be done for him. This new version of his brother was someone he was anxious to get to know.
More shock was in store for the younger Delgado as the two vehicles arrived at the very large home of the Blakemores. Carlos was accustomed to being around classmates in Los Angeles and friends with money, but the Blakemore home spoke of wealth. Generations of money that oozed from every floorboard to each tea cup which sat in the sideboards.
A matronly woman with salt and pepper hair stood in the driveway under the porte-cochère awaiting their arrival. Her hands clutched at the cross around her neck as the vehicles came to stop. She was counting heads as they exited the two vehicles, the look of relief on her face was evident when she spotted the black hair on her son’s head.
“Praises be,” she said aloud as she rushed to the car. Her arms went around Saxton as he lifted her in his arms, kissing her overly moistened cheek.
“Mom,” he said pulling back. “This is Eduardo Delgado, his assistant Tonda, and his brother Carlos. Gentleman, this is my mother, Lucille Sterling Blakemore.”
“Welcome to the Busy B,” she said with a warm smile. “Come on inside, Bobby Ray has bar-b-qued...Lord knows all that man needs is a reason...” Her eyes went to Saxton’s arm.
Then she noticed Carlos’ face.
Agent Roget’s eye.
Tonda’s busted lip.
The shoe print on Eduardo’s face.
Her eyes went to Kevin Jr., who stood there smiling.
Kevin Jr. darted past her. “I love Mr. Blakemore’s Bar-b-que, Ms. Lucy. Plus, I am starving!”
“Why is he the only one not injured?” she asked. “Isn’t he the one you went to rescue?”
“Don’t ask Momma,” he said placing her hand on his uninjured arm.
Inside the house, the kitchen counter was covered with enough f
ood to feed the Army or at least a battalion. Bobby Ray moved forward, pumping hands, shaking each as Odessa moved quietly to stand next to her husband.
“Thanks for the phone call, I was worried, but I didn’t calculate this Mr. Blakemore,” she said with a smile to Saxton as she looked at Eduardo and his brother.
Saxton lowered his head to kiss her lips mouthing the words, “Neither did I. He rescued all of us.”
“Your father offered him space in this family. Are you okay with that?” she wanted to know.
“He saved my life...he also taught me something about myself,” he told her.
“Do tell,” she said to him.
“It is okay to be scared, it’s not okay to do nothing about it,” Saxton said.
“So there were snakes,” she said.
“Yep, lots of them,” he spoke softly. “...A cobra, a water moccasin, even a Black Mamba....”
“You have been shot again,” she said looking at his arm.
“Yes, it was a through and through,” he told her. “Carlos over there patched me up.” He nodded to Carlos who threw up to fingers in response as he carefully observed Odessa. She in return gave the young man a two fingered salute.
“So... this is your last mission Fifty-Cent?” she asked her husband.
“Hell yeah,” he said. “I am sick of bullet holes in my body and of seeing the ugliness, Odessa. It is time for someone else to take up the mantle. I also made a call to Lizzie Perkins. This one was bad. Those women and kids were in pitiful shape, but not as bad as the other kids we rescued the last time we were in Panama. These had a greasy headed protector name Shifty.”
His eyes searched the room for his grandmother. She came into the kitchen quietly, moving slower than usual, but moving by her own steam. He was grateful that she was still with them.
“Grandma Patsy,” Saxton said. “This is...”
“I know who it is,” she said with a slight slur. “Are you taking care of my Ryanne you snake faced beady-eyed bastard?”
Eduardo was rooted to the floor, his eyes going back and forth over the old woman’s face. He noticed the difference in her from the last time he’d seen her in the store. The room was filled with silence; the family was almost afraid of what he was going to say next. Instead, he reached into his back pocket pulling out something. Saxton tensed, Odessa moved closer and Bobby Ray picked up the knife he’d been using to cut the meat.
Being Mr. Blakemore (The Blakemore Files Book 7) Page 7