Remember, You Love Me: Little Girl Lost

by Mairsile Leabhair

  “Can you get those for me by tomorrow? I’m in kind of a hurry.”

  “No problem, Aidan. I’ll have them waiting for you.”

  “By the way, I thought maybe you’d like to know, I’m now an agent with Homeland Security.” Aidan proudly pulled out her badge, and showed it to him, “And I am carrying a gun, so I would appreciate it if you’d let your employees know. I’d hate to be pepper sprayed for resisting arrest.” Aidan winked at him.

  “Congratulations, Agent Cassidy. I’m proud to know that.” Paul almost wished he could join her. Almost.

  ***

  “Hey Mom, we’re here!” Vicky and the others walked in the door to the wafting smells of chicken frying, “Oh God, I love that smell.” Aidan and Jerry agreed, it smelled like home. Vicky introduced Jerry to her parents, and bragged on his escapades until he blushed.

  Joyce walked over to Leonard, her patient, who was sitting in the recliner. He looked like he’d sat there all day. In typical Joyce fashion, she grilled her patient as she examined him, advising him to “get his butt up out of that chair more often”. Leonard laughed until he saw the seriousness on her face.

  Vicky joined them, and once the examination was over with she asked, “Dad, can we talk?”

  “Sure honey, what’s on your mind?”

  “Not here Dad, let’s take a walk, all right?” Vicky nodded towards the others, and he realized she wanted to talk in private, but actually, Vicky had a plan in mind to get him up and moving again. “We’re going for a walk, be back in a minute,” Vicky said over her shoulder, as they headed for the door. Aidan and Joyce started to follow them but Vicky gave them a look that told them they needed to stay put, much to their disappointment. It’s bad enough that Vicky wasn’t there to buffer between them and Alice, but with both Leonard and Vicky gone the house fell silent, like the silence before the storm.

  Finally Jerry, who had no background with Alice, sought to start a conversation, “Mrs. Montgomery, that sure smells mighty good.”

  “Thank you, Jerry. My daughter hasn’t had a chance to tell me much about you, but I can tell you’re a nice boy. Are you from around here?”

  Aidan and Joyce left Jerry to fend for himself, while they walked back into the living room, where Joyce noticed a new picture on the wall. The one Aidan had taken of Vicky just as she was sprinkled with holy water by a priest. There was a glow behind her that made her look like an angel, at least to Aidan’s way of thinking.

  “What a gorgeous picture of Vicky. The photographer really captured her beauty, her inner strength.”

  “Why thank you, ma’am,” Aidan smiled and pointed out the holy water reflecting the sun on Vicky’s cheek.

  “You took this, how marvelous. You must take a picture of me sometime so I can give it to Ellen.”

  “Actually I’m not in the photography business anymore. In fact just today I became an agent with Homeland Security.”

  “You don’t say…,” Joyce was both impressed and concerned, “and what does Vicky think about this new, dangerous job of yours?”

  “She’s cautious, but supportive and that’s better than I had hoped for actually.”

  “Vicky loves you Aidan, what else could she be, but supportive,” Joyce’s face turned stone cold as she said, “Listen, I need to tell you something.”

  “Sure,” Aidan said with a nervous smile.

  Joyce leaned in and said in a low, authoritative voice, “I know people, and if you hurt my girl again I’ll introduce you to them, understand?”

  Aidan looked at her to see if she was joking, and swallowed hard when she didn’t appear to be. She was glad that Joyce was as protective of Vicky as she was, and promised her that she had no intention of hurting her. She’d waited too long to be with her to do anything stupid to jeopardize their love now, especially after rescuing Samantha, her ex‒fiancée. That almost cost Aidan everything.

  “I know I hurt her because of Sam, but I assure you, Joyce, I will spend my last breath making her happy and spoiling her rotten.”

  Joyce tilted her head and nodded, “I believe you, Aidan.” But Joyce still had some reservations. She put two fingers to her eyes, and then pointed them toward Aidan. Aidan understood instantly. I’m watching you.

  As Vicky and Leonard walked down the street and around the block, Vicky spoke about her concerns, “Dad, I’m getting married in six weeks. Well actually now its five weeks and six days, but who’s counting.”

  “So things with you and Aidan are good?”

  “Better than good, Dad, they’re fantastic, incredible, unbelievable, tremendous!”

  “Okay I get it, things are good. I’m glad to hear that, honey,” Leonard only wanted his daughter to be happy, nothing else mattered. And if marrying Aidan made her happy, he was all for it. He didn’t have a problem with same-sex marriages; to him they were one and the same. And the fact that he respected Aidan and she was perfect for his daughter, said a lot too.

  “Listen Dad, it has always been my lifelong dream that you would walk me down the aisle, and dance the father-daughter dance with me at the reception, but now I’m not sure you’ll be able too.”

  “Of course I will honey, why would you think that?”

  “Mother tells me you won’t follow the doctor’s orders and if you don’t follow them you’ll have another heart attack and next time Joyce might not be here to save you. Please Dad, I need you to dance at my wedding,” Vicky’s eyes welled up, real tears that told her father how much she meant it.

  “Okay honey, I get the message. I’ll start exercising tomorrow, I promise.”

  Vicky smiled and dried her tears, “Actually dad, you started today, because we just walked a block,”

  Vicky giggle her daddy’s little girl giggle and Leonard laughed with her, “Oh you are a tricky one,” He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

  “I love you, Daddy.”

  “I love you to, honey.”

  As they sat around the dining room table enjoying a home cooked meal and some casual conversation, Vicky sat back and just listened. Even her mother was being cordial, probably because she didn’t want to start something in front of Jerry and Joyce. Vicky knew a blowout would come sooner or later, but she was glad it wasn’t tonight. Tonight was perfect. Aidan held Vicky’s hand, discreetly of course, underneath the table, while Joyce entertained everyone with her antidotes and Jerry talked about how scrappy he thought Vicky was. Everyone was having a good time.

  Finally, Leonard put his chicken leg down and looked at his daughter, “So, your mother and I have been talking, and we have decided to take you up on your offer to stay here in the city. We’ve decided to retire here”

  “You have, oh that’s wonderful!” Vicky jumped up and hugged her father and then her mother, “What made you change your mind, Dad?”

  But Alice answered for him, “Baseball season is coming up,” Everyone laughed, but she was being serious. The close proximity of the ball park was just to enticing to Leonard, who was as excited as a school boy at the thought of spending his afternoons at the ballgames. Vicky was very much relieved, knowing her parents would be so close by. She was also very proud that she could help her parents out for a change. Though Vicky won several scholarships to help pay for her college, her parents still had to pay for some of it, and when Vicky took over as CEO at the hospital, she paid them back with interest. She even started a savings account just for their retirement.

  When the dinner came to an end, Alice instructed them to go into the living and she would get the dessert ready. Leonard turned to Aidan and said, “I’m sure there’s a baseball game on somewhere, shall we?” Both Aidan and Jerry nodded their heads enthusiastically, and followed him into the living room. Joyce joined them mostly because she didn’t want to be in the kitchen with Alice.

  “Not too loud, Leonard,” Alice scolded

  “Yes mother,” he retorted.

  Fulfilling a childhood dream of watching a game with Vicky’s father, Aidan made sure
she got to sit beside Leonard. On the nights she spent over at Vicky’s house, when they were young, she would sneak into the living room, and sit as quiet as she could, out of his view, and pretend she was watching the game with him. It took a lot at that young age to sit perfectly still and not be noticed, but she gladly did it.

  “Mom, I’ll be right back to help you, I’m just going to run to the little girl’s room real quick.”

  “Oh that reminds me, the plumber came by today. Said he saw you on television, and—”

  “That’s nice,” Vicky was flattered but nature’s call was stronger than flattery at the moment. She hurried down the hall to the bathroom.

  “Get under it!” Leonard yelled at the right fielder.

  “What a bone-head play that was!” Jerry added.

  “Wait, they’re not done yet,” Aidan interjected, “they’re going to drop that ball one more time I’m sure,” The three held their breath and sure enough, the player dropped the ball, causing a loud, rambunctious commotion in the living room.

  Vicky came back from the bathroom and joked to her mother, “I hear the game is going well.”

  “If their team was winning they’d have nothing to yell about, dear,” they both laugh at how true that statement was.

  Though Aidan was thoroughly enjoying critiquing baseball with Leonard, she had something important she needed to talk with Jerry about, “Hey Jer, let’s take a walk,” Aidan motioned for him to join her.

  “Don’t be long, honey, Mom’s got dessert almost ready.”

  “Won’t be but a minute, baby…, uh, Vicky,” Aidan said over her shoulder, still too intimidated by Alice to show affection to Vicky, even if it was just a nickname.

  Aidan and Jerry walked down to the street where they could talk privately and Aidan said, “Dr. Kline said that he thought because Harold saw Vicky on the O’Hare show that he might be fixated on Vicky as a celebrity. He said that Harold blames Vicky for letting him rape her. I don’t know, it’s really crazy stuff and I can’t wrap my head around it.”

  “I think I understand, your dad—”

  Aidan interrupted him, “That bastard was never a dad to me.”

  “Sorry…, I think that bastard hates himself so much that he blames Vicky, because he raped her.”

  “Huh?”

  “Like most abusers, he lost control, and she was unlucky enough to be in front of him when he did. When his rage was purged and he realized what he had done, he ran away. He’s hated himself ever since, but somewhere over the years the lines blurred and his hate moved over to Vicky, because she was the catalyst that started it all. But he had no outlet for his hate until…, until he saw her on the O’Hare show. In his mind it was her fault that his life ended up the way it did, and there she was, a celebrity on TV, where even President’s doted over her. But Aidan, don’t fool yourself. I think he plans to hurt you just as much as he wants to hurt Vicky, because you stand in his way.”

  “Damn Jerry, where’d you learn all that gobbley-gook?”

  “College Psych 101. Nah, it’s always been my interest, like a hobby you know?”

  “You should be a profiler. In fact I think I could really use your ‘hobby’ at Homeland Security, to help get inside the mind of those terrorist. Anyway, thank you for explaining it to me. It makes sense now even though the bottom line is he’s still a bastard.”

  Aidan and Jerry started back toward the house, when Aidan remember something she wanted to ask him, “Uh, Jerry, I know this is bad timing, what with your girlfriend and all, but I was wondering if you’d be my best man at my wedding?”

  “What, really? That would be awesome, I’d be honored,” Jerry was very proud of her request, and knew it was based on trust. Not the kind of trust they shared on the battlefield, that was different. This was a trust of a sacred ritual, made even more important by the fact that it was a same-sexed wedding in a state that won’t recognize it. “Um, Sarge, I’ve never actually been to a same-sex wedding before, do I need to do anything uh…, special?”

  “You mean like a bachelor party? No I don’t need to sow any wild oats. We can go to a ball game or out for a beer or something, which would be my idea of a great party.”

  Jerry smacked her on the back and said, “I like the way you think, Sarge.”

  ***

  Later that night, as Aidan and Vicky lay in bed, recovering from another intense, erotic round of sex, Vicky began thinking about the wedding. She excitedly told Aidan all the details that she had worked just today.

  As far as Aidan was concerned, she had performed her pre-wedding duties, “I asked Jerry to be my best man tonight. He was funny, wanted to know about throwing me a bachelor’s party, but I talked him out of it.”

  “Well I’m kind of glad you did, not that I don’t trust you, it’s just that…,”

  Aidan laughed and said, “I know, it’s the stripper you don’t trust, right?”

  Vicky laughed, that was exactly what she meant.

  “And what about you, with Joyce being your matron of honor, I’m sure she has something wild and erotic planned for your shower?”

  “Gosh, she hasn’t said a word about a shower. Knowing Joyce she probably didn’t even think about it, which is okay with me, except—”

  “Except for all the gifts you’d get to open.” Aidan knew Vicky to well, and they both laughed out loud.

  “So my mom was really on her best behavior tonight. Of course she didn’t mention a word about our wedding, but it’s probably just as well. I doubt she’ll come to it anyway.”

  “Aw, kid, I’m sorry about that, but she’s going to regret it, with the kind of blowout you plan on having.”

  Vicky turned on her side trying to get comfortable, but there was a lump in the bed poking her in the back, “Let’s not talk about her, let’s talk about finding a place to live with our own bed. We could buy another house, or live in a condo, or—”

  “Okay slow down, we need to hash something out first. I want to pull my own weight in this marriage, but I can’t afford a mansion.”

  “It’s not up to you to provide for me Aidan; it’s up to us to share what we have with one another.”

  “I understand that and agree with you, but it’s also not up to you to provide for me,” Though Aidan was by no means rich like Vicky, she did have a comfortable cushion of money built up in her savings account. Her only expenses since having joined the Army, was the upkeep on her Mustang and her rent. She didn’t spend money on anything else, and rarely took vacations because though she loved to travel, it just wasn’t fun to go by herself. “I just won’t feel right about myself if you pay for everything. We need to find a place where we both can contribute to it alike, so that I feel I’m an equal partner in the marriage. I’m not saying you have to ask my permission every time you want to buy something. You don’t even need to tell me, just do it, it’s your money to spend as you like. What I am saying is that we need a solid foundation under us, one that we both contribute to. One that we both choose. Am I making sense at all?”

  “Yes honey, perfect sense. You are the love of my life, and if ever I make you feel less than yourself please let me know. I think a good idea would be to set up a joint account to pay for such things. You know, we each keep our own accounts, but contribute to the household budget.”

  “That’s a great idea, Vicky. I’d feel better about your money that way.”

  “Again, my money is your money, but we’ve already had that argument, so let’s move on. Do you have a budget in mind for the home?”

  “Well, I was thinking maybe one of the condo’s down by the river. That would be in my price range.”

  “Oh I’ve heard of those, they are beautiful inside, with wall to wall windows overlooking the city skyline. But honey, we need to keep in mind two or three children take up a lot of space.” Vicky giggled and snuggled in close.

  “Well maybe we should talk about that too. Do you want children right away?”

  “Honestly, no, not
right away. I want to enjoy us first. But I’m not getting any younger you know, so we shouldn’t wait to long.”

  “I know you’re keen on carrying to term but how do you feel about adopting a child, maybe a boy?” All her life Aidan dreamed of someone adopting her and taking her away from the abuse, and when she grew up, the need to be adopted turned into the need to adopt a child.

  Vicky looked at her with sincerity and replied, “I think we should.”

  “Okay, so I guess I’ll need to trade in my Mustang for a mini-van,” Aidan loved her Mustang; she called it the boss not only because that was its name, Boss 429, but because it was the boss of her heart, and her budget, for such a long time.

  “Oh no, please don’t sell it. I get horny just thinking about you in that car. No, you keep your Mustang and I’ll keep my Mercedes, and together we’ll get a mini-van, okay, honey?”

  “Well if you insist, kid,” Aidan exhaled a sigh of relief.

  “Aidan, I really think we’re going to want a house when all this is said and done, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. But maybe in the mean time we should just get an apartment? You know it takes a while to find a house, then you have to wait on closing on a it, and honestly I can’t stand living in this hotel room one minute longer.”

  Vicky punched the lump in the mattress and said, “Oh I agree!”

  Aidan yawned and rolled over, facing Vicky. “I love you kid, and I love our bedtime talks but I’m beat. Let’s talk in the morning.”

  “I love you too honey, sweet dreams.”

  Chapter 8