Running Into A Brick Wall

by Jacqueline DeGroot

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure and Jillie’s sure, right?” He looked over at Jillie, who appeared pale and nervous, tucked under his arm. She had never flown before and I knew she had to be nervous about the reunion that would take place on the ground at the airport in a few minutes. She mustered a smile and said, “When you told me that my parents were alive and that Brick was, too, you can’t imagine how happy that made me. I immediately loved my new mom when I met her, and dad I grew to like after a time. I was so grateful they wanted to take care of me, but I had no idea, no idea at all, that they had stolen me and then lied to keep me in line. If it weren’t for you, I could have spent my whole life just living and getting by, not truly being happy because I missed my true family so very much. You can’t know what a difference you’ve made and how unbelievably happy I am now to be going home, that I even still have a home. I’d been told for so long that every one I’d loved was gone, that I was just left behind without a thought. You can’t imagine how that felt, to have lost everything all at once.”

  For the tenth time that day, she began crying again and was passed back to me. Brick just didn’t cuddle the way a woman did when there were tears involved. Men don’t embrace tears as the healing balm that they are, they fear them and just want to make them stop. And sometimes, a girl just needs one powerful, fully dehydrating bout to set her straight and make her right with the world again.

  “I miss David and Goliath, will I ever see them again? And mom, I mean Ellen, what’s going to happen to her?” Fresh tears welled in her eyes.

  “David and Goliath?” Brick asked.

  I translated for him, “David and Goliath are her dogs. Goldens that she grew up with. The Rally had a dog show she had entered them in. Ellen is Robert Byrnes wife, and although I suspect she is the reason he took Jillie, she probably doesn’t know that. From what I can gather, when their own daughter died it caused marriage problems, she left him and moved back to England. He lured her back with Jillie.”

  Forty minutes later we were landing. Out the huge bubble that was the face of the helicopter I could see a small group of people, a man and a woman in the center were huddled together oblivious of the wind whipping their hair and clothing, their eyes anxious as they looked at the helicopter door on the side. From the woman’s coloring and sharp good looks I knew she was Brick’s mom, the man, light where the woman was dark, was a tall redhead, whom judging by his stylish, yet bookish spectacles, was the businessman who was Jillie’s father.

  As soon as the whine of the blades wound down they both came running and the entourage followed. This was a wealthy couple; it showed in their clothes, their demeanor, and the ease and familiarity they had with the aircraft. Seeing the impatience on his face, Brick handed Jillie down into her father’s waiting arms. She was enveloped and held tight as he turned to share the embrace with his wife. Everyone was crying, everyone was laughing. I looked over at Brick and saw a single tear leak from his eye. Seeing me looking at him from the corner of his eye, he looked over at me and smiled, then his hand gripped my thigh and he took a deep breath. He had chased this moment for years. The guilt he had etched into his eyes had finally cleared. He had brought her home.

  This day had been a long time coming and I felt like an intruder, but then Brick stood and pulled me with him and we exited the helicopter to cheers and enthusiastic waves.

  I was introduced to his parents and while I would have thought they were too occupied to really pay much notice, they immediately stopped talking, handed Jillie off to Brick and embraced me heartily. I was cocooned from that moment on, not out of sight or arm’s length from anyone.

  We were shepherded to the waiting limo and Jillie was given the seat of honor between her parents while I was asked to sit beside her father, across from Brick. Brick had told me we’d have about an hour’s drive before reaching the family estate. I was surprised that Brick came from that kind of wealth until I remembered the time he had hinted at it. He’d said his mother had remarried after his father had died, and that Jillie was his stepsister. They had been off on a cruise when Jillie had been taken. The man Brick’s mother had married owned vast amounts of land that was cultivated for grape harvests. Brick had joked on the helicopter that his stepfather was to Pinot Noir what Welch’s was to grape jelly.

  But I was pleased with how unassuming his family was—if you discounted the limo, the ready staff, and the clothing. During the hour we were in the car I learned how down-to-earth they were. While enmeshed in the trappings of wealth, they neither flashed their advantage nor discounted it. And they shared everything they owned without quibble.

  They insisted that I stay with them, that I allow them to shelter me from the media, that I treat their home as mine. I objected saying that I had a lot of things to tend to, that I’d have family coming and going as well as attorneys, chaplains, funeral planners and such. As Jared’s wife, since the divorce had not progressed, I was sole heir, legal trustee, and now had a long list of jobs I had to see to or hand off. The next few weeks were going to be hell.

  “Nonsense! I’ll set you up in my study. George,” a man whom I had been introduced to but hadn’t known his title, “will act as attaché and defense against the legal eagles soon to be zooming in on you, and Shelley, here,” he said, pointing to the plump and smiling women sitting across from him, “will organize everything. We’ll set up the south wing with a receiving room and we have six guest quarters to accommodate your family. We wouldn’t hear of you not staying and joining in on the celebration. Our Jillie is back home and you are the reason. We owe you a debt we can never repay, so you must allow us to at least try to help you out.”

  It did seem the perfect solution. I would need to coordinate a funeral when Jared’s body was released, issue press releases for the stores, and deal with a myriad of employees. I also had all of Jared’s holdings to attend to, and I was sure his attorneys as well as mine would soon be on the phone needing direction.

  “Well that is very gracious of you . . .” I saw Brick’s eyebrows lower in a vee as he frowned in anticipation of a negative answer, then raise and arch as he grinned when I said, “and I accept.” Then he winked at me and I knew there was a good chance he’d be staying for a while too—and hopefully I might have a midnight marauder.

  When we pulled through the gates and the limo glided down the long drive, I watched as beautiful gardens flashed by. It was then that I realized that I myself had enough money to live this way if I chose to do so. The thought buzzed into my head and then out again. I had no desire to live this way. I was already missing my Dolphin. I was concerned about getting it cleaned after all it had been through.

  “After a few days, we’ll sit down and discuss the matter of the reward, it’s fairly substantial. You may want George to help set up a trust.”

  “Uh, Dad, you know the man who was holding Jenny and Jillie, Jenny’s estranged husband?”

  “Yeah? What about him?”

  “He wasn’t just a rich man, he was Jared Jameson.”

  Mr. Holton’s eyes widened until his brows reached the red brown curls on his forehead. “Really? Well perhaps she would consider donating the reward to your pitifully under funded agency so you can hire more agents to assist in this kind of thing in the future. Children are not property, they should not be stolen!” He looked over at Jillie then gently unbuckled her and pulled her onto his lap. “Although they are treasures, precious treasures.” He kissed her cheek and rubbed his against hers as they both leaked tears of happiness.

  I handed Jillie my bottle of water and whispered, “Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, I have a feeling you’re not even close to being done with the water fall.”

  She smiled, took the bottle from me and took a big swig.

  We all tumbled out of the limo and followed Mr. and Mrs. Holton into the front hall. The story of the fatted calf paled for this homecoming. The staff, on full alert, had prepared a feast and Jillie was welcomed back into the fold with
enthusiasm. I was able to watch the interaction between her and her parents, her and the staff, and her and Brick. Her initial shyness had worn off, and everyone was giving her the space she needed to get acclimated, but I was pleased when I heard Mr. and Mrs. Holton discussing plans to bring in a professional counselor. I was worried that all their plans for her seemed to center around the estate and I was concerned that they might never let her outside the compound again. But it wasn’t my place, nor was it the time to interfere in something so personal.

  Brick was attentive, hardly letting her out of his sight, and that worried me too. Everyone was afraid of another abduction. The pain they had felt the day she was taken was still fresh in their minds. I sat on the perimeter, a silent assessor and found much to admire in Brick’s parents. And Jillie, I was so proud of her. She was clearly made of the same stock as her brother, what a trooper she was, always with a ready smile and a quick hug for anyone arriving to welcome her back.

  I excused myself around seven as I was exhausted and with the help of Shelley, I found my way to my room in the wing I had been told I could use for as long as I needed.

  As soon as I saw the oversized garden tub in the enormous guest bath, I was tempted beyond bearing and immediately started taking off my clothes. While it filled I unpacked the duffle bag I had hurriedly packed when we had parked the RV, hoping I had remembered to grab my lavender bath gel. I smiled as I held it like a trophy and went back to the bathtub to generously dump a good portion of it in. Then I slid in and soaked until my bones melted and my cares dissipated with the bubbles. I had almost fallen asleep with my head back against the tiles when I heard a low knock on the bedroom door. Moments later, Brick’s head poked around the bathroom door.

  “A sight to warm a man’s heart. And his cockles.”

  “What’s a cockle?”

  “Technically it’s a shell or something puckered. Euphemistically, I’m referring to my balls. You look soft and pink and infinitely edible.”

  “How’s the party going?”

  “Winding down. Jillie was getting tired so Mom took her to get her ready for bed. I have every expectation that she will spend tonight and likely quite a few others in their bed.”

  “This is going to be quite a transition for her and for everyone else,” I said.

  “Yes, and from the other side of the fence, I’ve seen how difficult it can be sometimes so I’m glad my parents are taking my advice and calling in a few experts.”

  “Have you heard anything about the Brynes’?”

  “They had already packed up and left the rally by the time the agents got there. We had a complete description of their RV and tow car and they were arrested a few hours later. It wasn’t pretty; he bolted and got himself shot. She turned herself in. They were making their way to Canada. She says she didn’t know how he got her, but she always suspected something wasn’t right as they couldn’t legally adopt her.”

  “What happens next?”

  “They get arraigned, they go to jail, a trial date is set and then he goes to prison. They both have a lot to answer for, but at this point her culpability is in doubt. He told her he found her. She didn’t know for sure that he’d taken her until you took her back.”

  Just then a buzzer sounded and he walked over to a console on the wall and pressed a button. “Yes Mother?”

  “Figured that’s where you’d gone. Jillie wants you to come say good night. Jenny too if she’s available.”

  “She’s covered in bubbles and doesn’t look like she could get there under her own power right now.”

  There was a delightful laugh and then the button was released and it was quiet in the room. So quiet I could hear the bubbles popping all around me.

  “I have to go, and if I know her, she’s going to want a story.” He stopped just then and stared straight ahead. I knew what he had just realized, he didn’t know her, and she was past the age of wanting bedtime stories read to her. They’d lost so much time, so many years of her growing up and so many changes—Jillie wasn’t a little girl anymore.

  “Even though she can read now, she would probably still love for you to read to her. It’s a given your mom has saved all her books and toys, find one that was special and read it to her anyway.”

  “Thanks.” He bent and brushed his lips over mine and then with the snick of the door, he was gone.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  At two in the morning, I felt Brick slide into bed beside me. He had that just showered smell; a fragrant citrus and spice overlaid his all male essence and when his hair brushed my cheek as he drew me to him I could feel it was damp.

  I let him draw me into his chest and entwine his legs with mine. I had found a razor and my legs were smooth. The soft hair on his legs abraded mine and I loved the masculine feel of it.

  “Hi,” he murmured as he kissed the shell of my ear.

  “Wasn’t sure you were coming back.”

  “Long bedtime story, even longer lecture.”

  “Lecture?”

  “Well, not exactly a lecture. There’s been this tenseness between my stepfather and me ever since Jillie went missing. An elephant in the room kind of thing. He blamed me, yet he didn’t blame me. But how the hell could he not blame me? It was on my watch that she was taken, and if anyone in the world should have known better, it was I. I’d been on a task force handling just this kind of thing for seven fucking years. We had a lot to talk about. Then I had to make some phone calls. It took some time and a lot of planning, but David and Goliath are on their way here from the kennel they’d been taken to. Ellen had to agree to let Jillie have them and sign some papers to that effect, so an agent had to find her attorney and visit her at the jail she was being held in. What a long day. But that should make Jillie happy.”

  I leaned over and kissed him, and nodded. It would indeed make her happy.

  I smelled a hint of brandy on his breath, not quite masked by his toothpaste. I sensed it might be a good time to change the subject. I was about to cry again. That was such a sweet thing that he had done.

  “How did you find me?”

  “What do mean, you were there—I climbed to the top of your RV and there you were sunbathing practically naked with a very large ruby in your belly button.” He pulled the covers down, sat up and bent over my stomach and kissed my naked navel. The scar was long healed where the prong had fastened to the setting and pierced my flesh. His tongue was tickling me so I giggled and pushed him away and he slid back up to look into my face.

  God he was so handsome, my heart lurched to know he was here, with me, and that we were both naked, warming each others skin as our legs shifted and tangled together.

  “I meant this morning, how did you find me this morning.” I rubbed my hand over his furred chest, tracing a firm nipple with my index finger, circling it over and over again.

  “Ahh . . . well your sister called just as I was leaving Minot airport. Had this far-fetched story, but knowing it was you, I knew it had to be true. Agents were dispatched and upon arriving on the scene discovered everyone in an uproar about a missing girl. At first you weren’t a suspect, then someone spoke to the people whose site was next to the Brynes’. Said they’d been furious you’d taken her, and that they were going to find you. But I guess once they realized they couldn’t exactly ask the police for help, they went the other way, trying to get out of the country. Now a question for you, how did Jared manage to find you this time?”

  “You’re going to love this story. He pierced my cervix with one of those ear-piercing machines that he modified the night he caught me in his study and drugged me. I’ve got a hollow gold-studded earring with a tracing chip inside attached so far up inside my vagina that I can’t feel it. It’s the size of small pea and has its own tiny hearing-aid-sized battery embedded in it. With it, he was able to track me for at least a year, maybe two—however long the batteries lasted.”

  Brick jerked back, gripping my arms and looked into my face, “You’re kidding rig
ht?”

  “No. According to him it’s there.”

  He had a thoughtful expression on his face then I saw his lips quirk.

  “What?”

  “I felt something when I was inside you, something I thought I nudged when I was thrusting into you once, but I thought I had imagined it.”

  “Hmmm . . . ”

  “Maybe I should check again?”

  The innocent look on his face caused me to laugh. I got to laughing so hard I was crying. Then he was laughing too, and before I knew what was happening, he was on top of me, kissing me so deeply and so thoroughly that I thought he might be considering attacking this from a different angle.

  An exquisite heat spread through me, and when his hand moved to cup my breast and his thumb flicked my nipple that marvelous heat streaked like an electric current to my womb. This was a dangerous, primal man who with his muscled body was pinning me to the bed and looking into my face with desperate moonlit eyes. The need and wicked smile I saw there sent pleasure racing and pulsing through me. He watched my eyes close in ecstasy and then leaning on one elbow, he bent and took the other nipple into his mouth. His teeth grazed the tip then his mouth clamped on it and tugged as the fingers of his other hand continued to pluck at my other nipple. I was dissolving, melting into the mattress with each tug. His hips meshed with mine and I felt his erection probing, invading between my thighs, retreating and evading as I squirmed to capture it back. Using his hand he pressed his erection flat against my mound then he teased with a series of forays that stroked my clit mercilessly.

  With each ripple of pleasure that blazed and sent shards of lightning through me, I mumbled my displeasure with his blatant teasing, groaning each time when he delved deeper and I fought for completion. I wanted penetration of that hard, thick ridge more than I wanted anything in the world. I got penetration, but it wasn’t his cock sliding into my cleft, it was his bold tongue darting into my mouth—the intensity thrilling as he built my arousal until I could no longer stand it. I had to have him inside me. Now.