“Really?” Joyce looked at Vicky, who grinned, and nodded her head, “Here, take this one back, please.” Joyce handed the dress to the store clerk. “By the way, Vicky, I think you’ve got a shy fan. He said he saw you on the O’Hare show.”
Aidan instantly went on full alert, edging her hand closer to her gun. Jerry noticed her stance and promptly joined them. Luckily for Aidan, Vicky had her back to her and was not aware when Aidan used hand signals to direct Jerry to move out. He made a sweep around the store, looking at everyone suspiciously, but didn’t see anyone he thought fit the description. He returned to the group and shook his head at Aidan.
“What’s so funny is that I was in awe of Maggie as much as anyone else. I’m not a celebrity, I’m a fan too.”
Anxious to get Vicky out of the store, though she knew her father was probably long gone by now, Aidan said, “Listen, if you ladies are ready, I’d like to take you out for dinner, before Joyce has to catch her plane.”
Joyce answered for everyone, “Fabulous idea, I’m starved. Just let me pay for these and I’ll be right with you. Aidan, would you help me please.”
“Uh…, sure, Joyce.”
Joyce piled her clothes in Aidan’s arms, and walked to the checkout, leaving Jerry with Vicky, who was busy putting a dress back on the rack, that she decided she didn’t want after all.
At the cash register Joyce turned to Aidan, “Okay, what the hell was all that about back there?”
Aidan dumped the clothes on the counter, and played dumb, “What?’
“I saw you go for your gun when I told Vicky about her fan.”
“Can you tell me what he looked like?”
“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
Aidan knew it would take too much time to explain it all to Joyce, but she also knew from stories Vicky had told her, that Joyce would be stubborn and closed mouth, until she got what she wanted. She was a lot like Vicky in that way.
“Vicky doesn’t know this, so it’s just between you and me. She has a stalker, a particularly nasty one, and Jerry and I are trying to catch him.”
“Oh God. That’s why Jerry stuck to us like glue all day. I could tell he wasn’t really interested in planning a wedding. The poor guy.”
“Exactly, now, can you tell me about this man you were talking to?”
“I saw him at the hospital earlier. Right after your snotty ex-girlfriend hurt Vicky’s feelings—”
“What are you talking about? Did Samantha say something to Vicky?”
“Easy lover. Vicky handled it like the lady she is, though I think it broke her heart. She really loves that baby, and its mother told her to stay away from him”
Feeling torn again, Aidan decided she would talk with Vicky later about this, right now she needed to know about her father, “What about the fan?”
“Oh yeah, he’s an older man, gray hair, scraggily beard, mean looking eyes. If you ask me, he’s a chromosome short of a full set. But he seemed genuine when he talked about Vicky. And you too, Aidan. He gave me this card and said don’t let the dyke see it. I assumed that was you.”
Aidan scowled, “Oh yeah, that’s me all right.” She started to open it up, but before she could pull the card out she saw Vicky walking towards them. She stuffed it in the back of her jeans, “Please Joyce, not a word to Vicky, okay?”
“Understood,” Joyce replied. Something inside her told her this was more than just a fan, even more than a stalker, and she decided she should keep closer tabs on Vicky.
They caught up with Vicky, where Aidan said, “I’ll just be a minute, I’m going to hit the head real quick.”
While Vicky paid for her items, Aidan hurried over to the bathroom, and quickly went into a stall. She pulled out the card and found a photo inside. When Aidan looked at the picture, her anger boiled to the surface. The photo was of Vicky as a little girl, around eleven or twelve. She was wearing a Sunday dress, with a bow in her hair. The card read, ‘Daddy’s little girl’. Aidan turned it over, but there was nothing else written on it.
*
Later that evening, as the four friends enjoyed an early supper, before Joyce had to leave for the airport, she leaned over to Vicky and asked, “So did Aidan tell you that I threatened her?”
“Oh, Joyce you didn’t?”
Joyce quipped, “It was my sacred duty, as your best friend.”
Vicky knew what she was referring to. Back when Joyce was dating Ellen, Ellen’s sisters had a ‘heart to heart’ with her before their wedding, and assured her that she had better not hurt Ellen, if she knew what was good for her. Joyce actually took it well, knowing how close Ellen was with her siblings. So Joyce felt she needed to do the same for Vicky, since she was an only child.
“It’s okay kid, I think I alleviated her concerns, because she hasn’t had me hogtied yet.”
Vicky poked Joyce, and then leaned over and kissed Aidan.
Just then Jerry tapped Aidan’s shoulder and nodded at something behind him. They both stood up and Aidan said, “Don’t go anywhere, we’ll be right back,” Aidan didn’t wait for a reply; she turned and rushed out of the room.
“Well I wonder what that’s about?” Vicky said, as she watched them leave.
Though Joyce thought she knew what was going on, she said instead, “Oh probably just best man stuff. You know Jerry is kind of out of his element, the poor thing,” And with that Vicky started talking about Jerry, which was exactly what Joyce was hoping for.
Jerry led Aidan downstairs to the underground parking lot, and just as they entered, he was suddenly hit in the head with a two by four. He fell to the ground, semi-conscious. Aidan was able to partially deflect the board, as it swung for her next, but it still made her stumble backward, grabbing her good arm in pain.
“Well hello, daughter dear,” Harold stepped out of the shadows, wielding a piece of wood as if he would strike again.
“You bastard!” Aidan screamed, desperately trying to reach her weapon.
“Well then, what does that make you, my dear?” Harold tapped the 2x4 piece of wood, against Aidan’s cast, daring her to reach for her gun.
“Why? Why are you doing this you sick, son-of-a-bitch?”
“Now make up your mind, Aidan Marie. I can’t be both.., or can I?” he taunted her, “I was mother and father to you. I fed you, clothed you, gave you a roof over your head. And how did you repay my generosity? You ran away. If you hadn’t of run off like that, I wouldn’t have done what I did. But now I see things turned out all right. Vicky is a celebrity, thanks to me. She owes me.”
Aidan moved around him trying to get in a better position, “I’m not going to let you anywhere near Vicky, do you hear me, you fucking bastard!”
“Oh, but I’m not too concerned, my dear.”
“No, you never have been have you, father?” Aidan spit out the word father as if it were poison in her mouth.
“I did the best I could, Aidan, if you hadn’t of been such an ungrateful brat.”
“Ungrateful! You beat the shit out of me every chance you got. Why the fuck would I be grateful for that?!”
“See, that’s why I like Vicky so much. Yes, she was very grateful. She kept calling for you, but you had abandoned her, did she tell you that? So what else could I do, I had to take care of her. And I’ve got more great plans for her, Aidan. Plans that don’t include you.”
That was it. Aidan lost control and charged after him. She blocked the board with the hand that had the cast on it, and then slammed her other fist into his jaw so hard, that it knocked out a tooth. He was completely caught off guard by that, and grabbed his jaw in pain. Aidan didn’t wait. she hit him with her cast, sending him reeling backward, tripping over Jerry and almost falling to the ground. He dropped his board and ran in the opposite direction, out onto the street. And as much as Aidan wanted to go after him, she wouldn’t leave Jerry.
“Come on man, talk to me.”
“Oh shit, my head,” Jerry could feel a lump begin
ning to rise, “What happened?”
“The bastard blindsided us. Can you walk?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” but Jerry was still unsteady on his feet, so Aidan braced him up.
“Come on, we’ve got to get back to Vicky,” Aidan helped him up the stairs, and by the time they reached their table he insisted on walking on his own.
“Oh, my God! What happened to you two?” Vicky rushed over to Aidan’s side, and put her arm around her waist.
“Now don’t worry, kid, we’re fine. Uh, Joyce, would you mind taking a look at Jerry’s head, he hit the wall pretty hard.”
“It was a damn mugger!” Jerry exclaimed.
Joyce immediately got up and softly felt the lump on Jerry’s head, while Vicky checked Aidan’s arm. Joyce could see splinters in his hair but she thought better about pointing that out to Aidan. She knew there was more to this story than a simple mugging. She knelt down in front of Jerry and looked into his eyes, “Follow my finger,” she instructed, and Jerry complied, “Any nausea, dizziness?”
“No, just a splitting headache,” he said.
“That’s to be expected. I don’t think you need to go to the ER, but if it becomes more than just a headache you go immediately, understand?”
“Roger that, doc.” Jerry winked at her and rubbed his head, willing the pain to go away.
“And what about you, Aidan? That’s a pretty bad bruise you’ve got swelling up here,” Vicky rubbed her fingers over the center area of the bruise and pressed in, feeling for a broken bone. Though it hurt like hell when she did that, Aidan was still so furious at her father that she ignored it, “No broken bones, you should be okay, thank God. What happened, Aidan?” Vicky was beside herself with worry.
Aidan hesitated, not wanting to lie to her betrothed any more than she already had.
Jerry volunteered, “We were just hanging out in the underground parking deck, while I had a smoke, and—”
“Jerry, you smoke?” Vicky was a little disappointed in him. She made a mental note to talk with him about a smoking cessation class at the hospital.
“Well, after tonight I’m giving it up. Anyway I didn’t see who hit us, but Aidan took them out with that cast of hers, and they ran away.”
Vicky looked at Aidan’s cast and gasped. It was cracked and pieces of it were falling off. She knew in order for that to happen, Aidan would have had to of hit the mugger pretty hard.
“Aidan, we should go to the hospital and get that cast replaced.”
“All right, baby,” Aidan tried to smile, but it was a forced smile at best.
Joyce never took her eyes off of Aidan, as she searched for some understanding as to what was really going on. She knew it had to be the stalker, but who was he and why was he after Vicky? “Maybe I should stay another night?” she offered.
“That would be great!” Vicky would love nothing more than to keep working on her wedding with Joyce.
“Kid, I’m sure she needs to get back, and we’re both okay, so no need to stay on our account.” Aidan looked at Joyce in a way that she hoped Joyce would understand. If she stayed she could be a target also, and Aidan didn’t want to split her attention to protect both women.
Joyce looked at Aidan, who nodded, and she suddenly understood what wasn’t being said, “No Aidan’s right, I really do need to get back to work. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay, hon?”
“Well okay, if you must. But you’ll come back with Ellen when she comes down next week, right?”
“Of course, wild horses couldn’t keep me away.” She glared at Aidan, challenging her to say otherwise.
Aidan just smiled, praying that Harold would be in captivity by then.
Vicky sent Jerry to his hotel room to rest, and escorted Aidan to the emergency room, where she had a new cast put on. Aidan wasn’t keen on staying there any longer than she had to, not so much because of her father, but because she wanted to get back to the hotel where she felt it was easier to protect Vicky. While they waited, Aidan came up with a plan to get her out of the city for a little while.
“So what do you want to do this weekend?”
“Oh I don’t know; work on the wedding I guess.”
“What do you think about you and me showing Jerry the sights? We could drive up to Heber Springs, then keep going up to Eureka Springs and maybe back down to Hot Springs.”
“So you want to show him all the springs in Arkansas, is that it?” Vicky laughed, though she really liked the idea. The weather was perfect for it, and the fresh air would do Aidan a world of good, she’s been so skittish lately.
Aidan joked, “Well you know what they say, hope springs eternal.”
“Oh that’s a bad one, Aidan,” Vicky laughed, “But I think it will be fun, let’s do it. And let’s stay over at a bed and breakfast in Eureka Springs; I do so love waking up in the fresh mountain air.”
“Okay then, we’ll make a weekend of it. I’ll ask Jerry as soon as we get home.”
***
Ruth and Kate stepped from the small plane, at the Ft. Worth airport, into a waiting limousine. They arrived at the finest restaurant in Texas, were the atmosphere was romantic, the food sublime, and the conversation, superb. As a surprise, after dinner, Ruth escorted Kate to the Bass Hall Theater, on 4th and Calhoun Street, to see the living legend herself, Ms. Carol Burnett. Ruth and Kate took their seats in the packed house, fifth row back, from center stage. The lights dimmed completely, the curtains parted, the audience hushed, as a video began to play on the big screen. It was everyone’s favorite clip from Went With the Wind, a parody of the movie, and when it was over, and the laughing calmed down, out walked the living legend herself. She waved to the crowd, who were on their feet, applauding wildly, like teenagers at a rock concert. She said hello to several people she recognized in the crowd, including Ruth.
Ruth looked over at Kate, who was so awe struck, her mouth gaped open. After the show was over, Ruth escorted Kate backstage to meet Burnett, who greeted several close friends, in a small sitting area. When it was Ruth and Kate’s turn, Kate was speechless, and could only stutter, when she was introduced. The three had their picture taken together, and then said goodbye.
Finally, Ruth took Kate to The Ashton hotel, where the room was large and luxurious, the bed soft and inviting, and the two person hot tub, bubbling with relaxation. A bottle of the finest champagne, sat on the table beside a tray of chocolate covered strawberries.
Ruth popped the cork, and poured the sparkling champagne into the glasses, then carried them to the hot tub, along with the strawberries. Then they both undressed, and stepped into the warm, whirling water. Ruth picked up a strawberry, and lightly touched Kate’s lips with its chocolate, but then she pulled it away, as Kate started to take a bite. Kate used her big toe, under the water, to entice Ruth to give her a bite. After they had their fill of strawberries and wine, they put on their bathrobes, and went to the bed
Ruth turned to Kate and asked, “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Did I pass?”
“Oh kitten,” Kate rummaged through her makeup case, “you not only passed, you will forever more, be known as the goddess of perfect dates.” Kate brought out a can of whip cream, and with wide eyes, and a toothy grin, she pushed Ruth onto the bed and disrobed her. “And now, here’s your well-deserved reward!”
***
That night, as the two lovers slept soundly, Vicky began to show signs of the nightmare being back. This time though, Aidan made sure she woke early enough in the morning to be alert and ready for when the dream came on. She rolled over and faced her lover, “Vicky, don’t be afraid. I’m here, baby, I’ll protect you.”
Vicky muttered, “It’s coming at me”
“It’s okay, Vicky. Aidan is here, she’ll protect you. Wake up now, kid.”
Vicky screamed, “No, get away from me!”
Aidan wanted to hold her, but now knew that could be misinterpreted in Vicky’s dream, so she continued to talk to her in
a normal, soothing voice, “Vicky, can you hear me? I’m right here, baby, wake up now. Come on wake up, Vicky.”
Vicky mumbled something unintelligible.
“Victoria Ann Montgomery, I need you to wake up now.”
Aidan watched as Vicky’s eyes fluttered open, “Oh, good morning, sweetheart.”
Vicky balled her small hands into a fist, and stretched deeply, while Aidan let out an audible sigh of relief. It worked. She brought Vicky out of her nightmare before she became too entranced in its quagmire.
“Good morning, baby. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, in spite of this mattress. How about you?”
“Like a rock. Ready to start our next adventure?”
“Oh yes, let’s grab some breakfast and hit the road!”
“Uh, well, the sun isn’t even up yet. We don’t have to rush out of bed first thing…, do we?”
Vicky smiled at her lover, knowing exactly what she was asking for, and she was more than happy to oblige, “No, dear,” she reached underneath the blanket and cupped one of Aidan’s breast, “No, we certainly don’t need to rush…”
*
Harold Cassidy made his way to the dark alley on Ninth Street, where he was living at the mission. Barely arriving before curfew, he managed to find an empty cot, and he stretched out on it. Smiling to himself at how he had gotten one over on his daughter, he decided it was time to escalate things. Rubbing the pain from his jaw, Harold devised a plan that would get him everything he wanted. Vicky.
Chapter 9
It was a beautiful, cool, late spring morning in Arkansas. Where the new born fawn suckles on its mothers milk. And the proud bald eagle circles the sky, searching for the banquet it would serve its eaglet, which was waiting impatiently in the nest. The luscious, thick, green forest, home to the mighty black bear and the delicate Ozark swallowtail, holds untold adventures for those hearty enough to venture out into them. And for those that prefer to be adventuress from their car, the wild cherry and plum trees, dressed in their prettiest blooms, greeted them from the roadside.
Remember, You Love Me: Little Girl Lost Page 16