“Fine. Whatever. But you better mind your manners around my son, mister,” she said with a worried look.
As we walked up to Frannie’s house, the door flew open and a boy the spitting image of his mother except he had blondish/red hair to her brown hair sailed directly at her. I noticed that she spread her feet preparing for impact as if this were a regular occurrence. Then it was impact time. He misjudged his power and lunged, I saw it coming just as it was happening. They were both going to go down and down hard. Moving with experience and agility, I grabbed them both, turning quickly so that I took the full force of the crash when we hit the ground.
The air was knocked out of Ally as we landed. Sam started laughing. We were a tangled mess of legs and arms as we all tried to right ourselves. Somehow my arm ended up through the strap of Ally’s purse and when I tried to move while she was getting up, it slammed her back on top of me, which set off another round of giggles from Sam.
“Look, Grandma Frannie, Mommy is all tied up with the strange man,” he said as he pointed at us.
When Ally landed on me the second time, her elbow hit me right in the ribs and I wasn’t prepared for it. Hell, if it didn’t hurt.
“Oh, my god, I’m so sorry Jonah, here, hold on let me get up first,” she said and without thinking put all her weight on her elbow, which was still in the same spot in my ribs, causing me to moan in pain.
“Woman! Are you trying to kill me or what?! Just hold on a second. Crap, you have boney elbows,” I said with a grimace. I put one arm securely around her, and used my other arm and my legs to get us both upright and on our feet in a quick maneuver.
“Oh wow! Did you just see what he did, Grandma! He was so fast that when he moved I could hardly see it! He must be related to the FLASH,” Sam said with such awe that my ego grew about ten feet taller.
“I sure did, Sammy boy. Jonah is a true hero. He was a Navy SEAL, so he can do many things that would amaze you,” Frannie said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Frannie that is not exactly true,” I said with a chuckle.
“Oh wow, Mommy, maybe he is the hero we need so badly. Mister, can you be our hero, since you can move like The Flash and you were in the Navy too?” he asked so seriously that it kicked my instincts into gear.
“Hey, buddy. I will be your mother’s and your hero any day and everyday if you like,” I said as I walked closer to him.
“Time to get home Sam. Sorry I was so late. Thanks again for the ride, Jonah. We really have to go now.”
Ally grabbed Sam’s hand before I could say anything. I watched as they practically ran home. I followed quickly behind and barely caught Sam saying to his mother, “But Mom he is a real true hero. You said that’s what we needed. Stop Mom. Go back and get him before he flashes away,” Sam said as he tried to turn in my direction.
I couldn’t quite make out what Ally said back to him and by that time they were already at the door. She yanked the door open, then shut it quickly. I just stood there staring. What did Sam mean when he said they needed a hero? My instincts kicked in again and confirmed my suspicions. They needed help and now.
Chapter Eight
Ally
Once Sam and I were inside with the door locked tightly and my weight leaning against it, I bent over at the waist with my hands on my knees feeling lightheaded and just prayed silently. My sweet boy hadn’t meant to slip with the hero comment and maybe Jonah would think nothing of it. Knowing Jonah though, the wheels were already turning with questions spinning around and around. Dammit. It had been such an innocent comment from a lonely boy who had been through so much. Sam needed a father. He needed a good man in his life as a role model. Jonah Bradford was starting to measure up in ways I had not expected. Going out of his way to follow me home from the store the other day had been an awesome thing for him to do. Maybe it had been him giving me the feeling of being watched. But something niggled in the back of mind telling me that was not the case.
“Mom? You ok?” Sam asked me as he walked over and knelt to look up at me through the curtain of my hair hanging down.
“Yeah, buddy, I’m fine.” Right then, my stomach growled so loudly it almost echoed in our tiny living room.
Sam got tickled and said, “Geesh, Mom, it sounds like you’re starving. Didn’t you eat today?”
Now, that he mentioned it, “As a matter of fact, I am starving!” I laughed out loud. “Did you eat at Frannie’s?”
“Yep! Frank did too. He ate enough for three people, Mom!” Sam sounded so amazed at the notion that one person could eat so much at one sitting.
“Honey, I am so hungry right now, I could eat you!” And that was it!
The chase was on! Running around our little place, from room to room only catching him for a second here or there, making chomp, chomp and yum, yum sounds at him was the best stress reliever anyone could ever ask for. Finally, I gave up and told Sam that he won and I was going to go attack the refrigerator for something that had actual meat on its bones. Of course, that declaration set off a new round of laughter.
“Hey Sam, is all of your homework done seeing as it is getting super late and already past your bedtime?” I asked around a bite of leftover chicken.
“Of course, Mom. Frannie and Frank helped me study my spelling words for the test tomorrow, too. It’s gonna be a slam dunk. I know all the words by heart. They were super hard words this week, too,” he proudly exclaimed to me.
“Awesome baby! Go wash up and make sure to brush your teeth. I will be in to read another chapter of The Littles as soon as I finish this chicken and wash up,” I mumbled around a mouth full of cold, but yummy fried chicken. Why did leftover fried chicken always taste like a little bit of heaven? I threw the picked clean bone in the trash and washed the oily crumbs from my hands.
Sam said his nightly prayers, as I listened quietly just beyond the door of his room,
“Dear God, thank you for our food, friends, and our super health. I want to give a big thank you for giving me Grandma Frannie and Grandpa Frank. It’s like we have a big family again, well almost. But, God, I kind of think you sent us our hero we have been asking for every night, finally. Thank you so much! He moves like The Flash and that was super cool! One more thing God, please help Mommy to like our hero. We really need him. Amen.”
Standing there listening to my baby say all those things brought tears to my eyes and woke up the ever-present ache in my heart but made me smile at the same time. Young ones knew and understood so much more than a lot of people gave them credit for. I didn’t make a big deal of everything he said, as he spoke his truth straight from his heart. There was one thing I did want to mention though, the fact he called Frank, Grandpa Frank. That was the first time he ever called him that. It didn’t totally surprise me. I couldn’t wait until I got to work tomorrow and hug that old coot for all he was worth, which was a hell of a lot.
“I noticed you called Frank, Grandpa, buddy, is that something you would like to do from now on?” I asked softly as I tucked him into bed.
“He said I could, Mom. Said he would feel right proud if I did. From now on I am calling him Grandpa Frank. By the way I caught Grandma Frannie kissing Grandpa Frank! It was so gross I almost puked, Mom. Disgusting! He took a long break from work to eat dinner with us.” he told me and while making a funny face.
I laughed out loud and said a Thank you to the heavens. This was my family now. But how long would we be able to keep them?
Those little eyes were closed tight before the end of chapter six this time. I kissed him lightly on the cheek and tiptoed out the door, closing it softly. That one prayer had given me much to think about.
I didn’t really have to think about the newest development with Frank and Frannie. I knew it was inevitable with them. They were just meant to be and needed a little nudge. Seemed like the cookies for dessert turned out to be the perfect way for them to come together.
Praying before bed was something we did every single night without fail. And
every night since we ran away, we asked for God to send us a protector and hero. Faith is something learned and believed in with your entire being and my little boy seemed to have enough faith for the both of us. I smacked my forehead recalling how he asked Jonah if he would be our hero. Out of the mouths of babes.
It was still early spring here in the Mid-West and the temperatures from day to day varied. Mother nature was fickle most of the time so the evenings sometimes you needed a light sweater or the other extreme a heavy coat. The afternoons were beautiful though with the trees budding, the flowers blooming and the birds all nesting. Tonight, I could feel the draft from the old windows that told me tomorrow would be different, and we would need our heavy coats for the morning.
I was so tired. Exhausted to the point of just wanting to sit down and cry. And for what? We were ok. Food in our bellies, a roof over our heads, even a few good people to call family. The tires were the problem right this minute. Couple that with the guy at the grocery store and this seemed more than just happenstance. It is time to call my underground contact and I knew it. My gut told me to do it now. We would lose everything that we had built here. Our home, our friends. Our lives would be turned upside down again because of my past mistakes. I couldn’t afford to make another one so I went to the laundry room, pulled out the step stool and moved all the boxes from the top shelf above the washer. Proceeding to feel with my fingertips, cautiously as to not end up with a splinter from the ancient dried up wood, I finally felt it with my pointer finger. Sighing in relief I retrieved the emergency cell phone, opened it and grabbed the little piece of paper with the pass phrase typed on it. That phone was to be used one time to call in and then destroyed. I sat on the stool before I turned on the phone. If I used the phone now I could only keep it on for forty-eight hours’ tops. There was one more way to contact another guardian but that was to be used only if we were in dire circumstances. Should I call? God? I looked up at the ceiling with my eyes closed. Please tell me what to do. I’m scared. I don’t want to lose everything again.
I am not sure how long I sat there but eventually I chose to put the phone back where it had sat on the shelf. The choice was finally clear, at least for now. I was not ready to uproot Sam or myself yet, we loved Frannie and Frank. Then there was Mr. Dreamy Eyes. Was Jonah Bradford our hero like Sam hoped? I did know he was a good man, better yet a good person. A decorated Navy SEAL with battle scars to prove it.
Butterflies fluttered around my tummy just thinking of what he said tonight. Did he really care about me that much? Did I owe it to him to give this a shot? Maybe it was me that I owed, for a damn change. There was only one way to find out and that was to stay and stick it out for now. I only hoped that I wouldn’t regret this decision. Mr. Back Breaker had called my name shortly after that and with Jonah Bradford on my mind my eyes closed even before my head it the pillow.
Chapter Nine
Jonah
Sleep eluded me last night as I lay there thinking about Ally and Sam. Saturday was only one day away but somehow it felt like an eternity. Knowing that Sam was going to be at Little League signups made me much more interested in serving as an assistant coach. I really wanted to get to know Sam better. When he asked so innocently, yet almost desperately, if I would be their hero, it tore at my gut like nothing ever had before. A boy needed his father. Where was Sam’s? That would be a hell of a personal subject to bring up. What would Ally say if I asked her? Would she shut down on me? Tell me to mind my own damn business? He may provide invaluable insight to understanding his mother. Then I lay there in bed, running over countless date ideas. I needed something that wasn’t over the top, but I still wanted it to be special and memorable. But what? After chasing ideas around my head for over an hour and not catching a single one, I decided to get dressed and work off some frustrations with a good long run.
Descending the stairs in my two-story brick home, I headed to the kitchen for fuel. After chugging a bottle of icy water and downing a couple bananas, I grabbed my phone to check for messages. Shane’s search should have turned up something on Ally by now. A look at my watch told me it was only four forty-five in the morning. Shane would sure as hell kill me if I called him this early. Maybe I should just to piss him off, I chuckled to myself before jogging out the door.
My normal route was only slightly rigorous but this morning, I felt I needed to push myself harder. Whenever I had a lot on my mind, a long hard run always helped me to think things out and clear my head of cobwebs. Hitting the pavement in front of my house, I turned and went in the opposite direction than I usually did. Going south would take me close enough to Ally’s place that I could check up on things while they slept. Stalking again are you, Jonah? I groaned out loud. Hell, if I didn’t chill out a bit, I would run her off. Then I would be totally screwed. I argued with myself a little more before deciding to make a quick pass by her place anyway. I continued to head south on a ten-mile round trip.
So, what did I really know about Ally? She was twenty-nine, around five foot, six inches, soaking wet about one hundred sixty-five pounds. That woman had an hour glass figure that could make a grown man cry. Funny thing was she had no clue how beautiful she was. With her deep green eyes and full lips, set into her creamy white skin dotted with those damn freckles scattered across her face, she was breathtaking in a way that went beyond classical beauty. Those freckles mesmerized me. Such small little dots that created a strong urge to revisit one of my childhood past times, connect the dots. I wanted to connect her dots, with my tongue. They peeked out from the edges of her shirt on her chest and arms. I was totally obsessed with the damn things. How far did they go down on her chest? Did she have them anywhere else, like her stomach or back? Hell, I was getting hard as I jogged just thinking about all her stunning nuances.
Picking up my pace so that I wouldn’t be caught jogging around town with a hard-on, something else dawned on me about her appearance. Her hair was lush, and an auburn color of sorts that didn’t quite suit her for some reason. Mentally comparing Sam’s freckles and reddish blonde hair to his mother’s, a light went on in my head. Damn, she colored her hair? Why? Red hair on her would look fucking amazing. I mentally shrugged thinking of how often my baby sister had changed her hair color over the years. It had to be just a woman thing.
Hell, Shayla even had rainbow colors in her hair as a teenager. Smirking I remembered how Shane and I used to tease her about it. We took turns calling her Rainbow Bright and Lucky Charms, which pissed her off and she would chase us with a whiffle ball bat. She seldom caught us but when she did, those damn things hurt like crazy. Pumping my legs at a good steady pace to keep my cardio in check, I realized I was getting close to the turnoff to head toward Ally’s. Glancing down at my watch, I knew I was making suitable time but needed to push it, since it was almost six am. Sam had school and they would be waking up soon to start their day.
Dawn had already broken with people headed out for errands or work. A few cars passed and their inhabitants waved as they passed by. Our town of Wordly, Illinois, was a decent sized town of about twenty thousand people. Just small of enough to not be a busy rat race but big enough you could get lost in if that was what you wanted. Growing up here was amazing. Wordly had just about everything a family could want. There were several grade schools for the younger kids and one large high school for the older teens. The town’s park boasted a large in-ground public swimming pool and surrounded by ten acres of greenways. We had choices in shopping, from mom-and-pop stores to a few big chains that had moved in about twenty years ago. Wordly was considered a Metro-Saint Louis town, located only twenty minutes from downtown St. Louis Missouri. Its location made it a prime area for commuters going back and forth to the city for work. We had the best homecomings, parades, celebrations and lots of community events. Our family had been involved with the town all our lives.
Mom instilled in all of us a desire to be members of the community and helping out whenever we could. As adults, we all did our p
art. Shayla was quite involved in the PTA, plus boy scouts with her son. Shane devoted his free time to coaching Little League as soon as our nephew was old enough to play T-ball. And I helped organize swim lessons and other activities at the youth center. This year when Shane’s assistant coach moved out of town, he asked if I would be interested in helping out. I jumped at the chance to mentor a team of kids that I could stick with and help grow up. Once a team was formed in Little League, most of the primary players stayed through the years with a few new additions each year. I was anxious for signups tomorrow.
As I turned the corner onto Ally’s street, the sky had lightened a bit more and I could almost see her place. This was the older side of town but still well-kept. A lot of the residents in this area were working families or older, retired people. I spent a lot of time in this neighborhood as a kid and so did Shane. Shane’s best friend, Brent lived here with his aunt and uncle and I had a girlfriend or two in this area back then. Those were the days. I smiled to myself. We were carefree and totally full of ourselves.
Growing closer to Ally’s end of the street, I noticed a light come on in the house. OH SHIT! Just about then I saw the curtain barely move as someone peeked outside. Looking around, I took stock of an older brown van sitting caddy-corner from their place. As I grew closer, the light inside went out suddenly and the van’s loud diesel engine sputtered to life. The driver gunned it several times and then peeled out.
What the hell? Kicking myself into high gear, I went full throttle with the hopes of catching the license plate. No such luck. Ducking between houses, bushes scratching and cutting at my arms, I headed for the next street over thinking I could catch sight of it there, but I was too late. The van had picked up speed and was already on Main Street and heading East. I kept going hoping it would get stuck at a stop light. Pumping my legs as hard as I could, I saw the van hit the exit for the highway and then it was just gone. Damn it! Taking measure of my pace, I slowed it down a bit to give my pounding pulse a chance to recover after such a huge surge of adrenaline. I wanted to keep going but there was no point. I needed to cool down and call Shane now.
TRUE HERO: A Romantic Suspense Novel (True Hearts Series Book 1) Page 6