“Aidan?”
“Vicky, are you all right?”
Slurring her words, Vicky said, “I’m so sleepy.”
“That’s okay, baby, you sleep now, I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
Vicky rolled her head against Aidan’s shoulder, and tucked her small fist up under her chin, and fell asleep again. But Aidan lay awake for hours, keeping vigil, reacting to every noise until finally, in the wee small hours of the morning, she fell asleep as well.
*
“Aidan honey, I’m going in to work now,” Vicky leaned over and kissed her sleeping lover, thinking to herself, she must have really been exhausted last night.
Aidan mumbled incoherently in her sleep.
“Honey, are you awake? I said I’m going into work now, I’ll see you later. I love you, sweetheart.”
As Vicky opened their door and stepped out into the hallway, she saw Jerry coming toward her, “Good morning, Jerry, you’re up early.”
Jerry had just come up from the complimentary breakfast bar the hotel offers, with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Vicky, how are you this morning?” He eyed her carefully, looking for any signs of after effects from the night before.
“Very well, and considering that mattress of ours, that’s saying a lot.”
“Are you on your way to work? Isn’t Aidan with you?”
Vicky talked as she walked to the elevator, “Aidan’s still sleeping, and yes I thought I’d get an early start this morning. It’s my first day back and I want to get a jump start on things.” Truth be told, Vicky was excited about getting back into the driver’s seat of her hospital. There was a lot of exciting work ahead and she didn’t want to miss a minute of it.
“Mind if I tag along, I’m getting cabin fever just thinking about sitting around in that hotel room all day.”
“Of course, Jerry, though I doubt it’s going to be that exciting sitting around the hospital either.”
“No worries, I’ll grab a newspaper on the way in, and read it while I enjoy my coffee.”
Vicky smiled at him, and together they left the hotel, and walked up the hill to the hospital. Vicky asked him how his back was feeling and he assured her it was fine. When they entered the hospital lobby, Vicky went straight to her office and began checking the daily patient stats, and compared them with the number of full time employees, and then sent an email to the Vice‒President of the Human Resources Department, requesting a meeting. She was determined to make sure the employees aren’t worked to death because there wasn’t enough help.
Jerry sat in the reception area just outside of Vicky’s office, and read his newspaper, visually inspecting every man that walked. Thirty minutes later his phone rang, and even before he looked at it he knew it was Aidan.
“Please tell me you’re with her!”
Jerry could hear the panic in her voice, “It’s okay, Aidan, I’m with her now, and will be for as long as I need to be.”
“Oh thank Christ. Is she okay, does she remember last night?”
“No, she thinks she got a good night’s sleep. She’s in her office working, and everything is quiet here. Try not to worry, I’ve got this, Sarge.”
“Thanks Jerry. I’ll jump in the shower and be there in a minute. I owe you man.”
Fifteen minutes later Aidan came running in, and stopped in front of Jerry, her hair still wet, her shirt haphazardly buttoned.
“Good morning, Aidan. Everything’s quiet here, so if you want to take a minute and finish dressing, I promise I won’t look.” Jerry grinned, and pointed at her shirt.
“Well shit,” Aidan blushed and turned around, quickly redoing her buttons, and then she turned back to Jerry and laughed, “What can I say, I haven’t had my coffee yet. Listen, I need to do a couple of things this morning and then you can take the rest of the day—”
Jerry interrupted her, “No thanks, after last night I’d rather stay close.”
Aidan was so relieved and so grateful for his help, that she was at a loss for words. So instead, she just swatted him on the shoulder and went into Vicky’s office. The minute she saw her, Vicky could tell that Aidan was out of kilter, but Aidan explained that it was the cause and effect of waking up alone in a cold bed. They both agreed it was not something they cared for very much, and each promised to wake the other before leaving, no matter how early or late it was. Though neither could put it into words, both felt more secure knowing their lover slept beside them, and would not leave them alone without telling them first. After all they had been through together, it was more of feeling secure than anything else.
“So what are you going to do with yourself today?” Vicky asked, as she ran her hands along Aidan’s arm.
Aidan thought for a minute. She knew she wanted to talk with Paul, plus she needed to update the APB on her father, and then she would spend the rest of the day not taking her eyes off of Vicky.
“I’ve got a few errands to run, then if you don’t mind, I’d just like to hang out with you and watch you work.”
“Well I know you know how exciting that will be, but I would love for you to hang around. You can help me with the wedding.”
Aidan hoped that Vicky was teasing, but she had a feeling that she wasn’t, “I thought Ellen was going to be doing that for you?”
“She’s doing the majority of it yes, but I have to be fitted for a dress, and decide on the bridesmaid’s dresses, and—”
“All of that today?” Aidan had no clue what it took to plan a wedding.
“No silly, but Ellen is sending out a dressmaker this afternoon to take measurements, and then we’ll talk about what kind of dress I want.”
“I’d kinda like to see what kind of dress you’ll be in.”
“Oh no you don’t, you can’t see me in it, not until the wedding.”
“Ah kid, that’s just an old wives tale.”
“And I’m going to be an old wife, besides, I don’t want any more bad luck, not before our wedding, so you have to promise to behave, all right?”
“Okay, baby, I promise,” Aidan tilted her head back and imagined her lover in a long white gown, her golden hair shimmering under the veil. She smiled at the thought of it.
“Aidan Marie Cassidy! That’s cheating.”
“What? I don’t even know what dress you’ll be in, how is that cheating?” Aidan laughed, relaxing enough to enjoy the teasing.
“Oh, I know you, you’ll be undressing me before long, and I won’t be able to get anything done, so off you go, I’ve got work to do.”
“Yes ma’am, I won’t be long.”
“Oh, by the way, I’ve got an executive team meeting I’m going to call in two hours, so don’t forget to knock, okay?”
“Roger that, see you in a bit,” Aidan was relieved, she knew her father wouldn’t come near Vicky with all those people around. She would be safe, at least for a while.
As Aidan turned to leave she heard Vicky talking to catering on the phone, “Yes, this is Victoria Montgomery, and I’d like to order lunch and dinner for the CVICU unit. Oh thank you, it’s good to be back. I’ve missed you all too. Anyway, please put on the card, compliments of the Montgomery family. Yes, it’s a thank you to the unit for taking such good care of my dad. Yes please put it on my tab, thanks.” That had been at the top of Vicky’s list of things she wanted to accomplish on her first day back.
Aidan smiled and thought, she’s back where she belongs, and closed the door behind her.
***
“Paul, how are you?” Aidan walked into Paul’s office and shut the door. He looked up from his desk with a smile on his face.
“Doing well, Aidan, coffee?” he indicated the coffee pot on the table.
“Thanks, you read my mind,” Pouring herself a cup, she offered to refresh Paul’s cup, which he gladly accepted.
“Have you got those tapes ready for me? I need to see if I can pull a screen grab of my father off of it.”
“Got them right here,” Paul opened a draw
er and pulled out two discs labeled security with the date written on them, “You can watch them in there,” he indicated a surveillance room full of monitors.
“Great, thanks Paul. One other thing, can you put a guard on Vicky? Make something up, I don’t care what.”
“Well let’s see, I can assign one of my employees to accompany Ms. Montgomery while she’s at the hospital. I’ll tell her it’s a new program I’m initiating for training purposes, and ask her to evaluate it after a couple of weeks or so.”
“Perfect! You’re a genius! Just warn him not to be to visible or Vicky might get concerned, she deals with a lot of sensitive stuff you know.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be very discrete.”
“Thanks again, Paul.”
“I’m glad I could assist you again, Aidan.”
“Yeah we really do make a great team don’t we? By the way, do you know of any good secured apartment complexes nearby?”
***
He held his shoulder as he entered the chapel and looked around. It was a pretty chapel, with rows of pews taking up most of the space. There were statues of saints, and even a water fountain to wash away your sins with. But Harold Cassidy wasn’t interested in any of that. When he saw that no one was there praying, he made his way towards the back where the offices were. Checking the door to the sacristy, he found it wasn’t locked, so he walked in and looked around for something to bandage his shoulder with. He found a refrigerator full of wine instead. Thinking that he’d just been blessed, Harold poured half a bottle of wine down his throat, and then poured some of it on his wound. He screamed in pain and grabbed some cloth to bite down on, to muffle the sound. Finally he tied the cloth, the Humeral Veil, around his shoulder and put his coat over his arm to hide the veil. He looked around for things he could loot, but except for the wine, he found nothing of value. He made his way out of the chapel and down the hall, taking the elevator to each floor until he found one that was taped off for construction. He poked his head inside to listen for sounds of workers, and was pleased when he didn’t hear anything.
Harold went to the furthest corner of the floor, next to a fire exit, and sat down. His shoulder was throbbing so bad he had to fight back the tears, because he knew, grown men don’t cry. He was taught that the hard way by his father, who was taught by his father, and Harold tried his best to teach Aidan. If she cried, he would hit her again. She either learned how not to cry, or risk another lashing. Aidan learned how not to cry at a very early age, and still struggles with that now. But as a child, Vicky had taught her that strength has a whole different meaning, and she was stronger for crying. Now, as an adult in love, Aidan will allow herself to cry only after giving herself permission first.
Harold pulled up his knees and rested his bad arm on top of them. From the blood smear on the chalk wall, he could tell the bullet went through and through, so if he didn’t bleed to death, he would survive. He knew he couldn’t stay there for too long. Aidan would figure it out sooner or later and send the police after him. She might have already done that. He smiled at himself, thinking how stupid she was not to put two and two together. Probably got that from her mother’s side of the family, he thought.
Last month for the first time in years, Harold found his will to live again. When he saw Vicky on TV, he vowed to seek retribution. He assumed her parents still lived in the same house, so he hitched a ride back to the small town forty‒five miles from the city. His intentions was to lie in wait until she showed up, but when he got there, no one was home, and it looked like no one was coming back for a while, either. The place was locked up tight and there was no food in the refrigerator. Though frustrated that he couldn’t carry out his plan, he decided it wouldn’t be a total loss, and began helping himself to whatever he could carry. But it was when he saw the bottle of expensive Champaign, that his plan to drug Vicky hatched. He stuffed it in his coat pocket and continued looking around. Then he noticed a photo album full of pictures of sweet little Vicky as a child. He snatched several photos from the album and stuffed those in his pocket as well. Next he ransacked the bathroom for drugs, and found some expired pills in the trash can, so he scooped those up also. Not finding anything else that he could carry, he hitched a ride back to the city and waited for his chance.
Now, as he leaned his good shoulder against the unfinished wall, Harold pulled out another photo of Vicky as a child. He smiled proudly at his own audacity, and began to plot his next move, something more devious than the last one. Something that will teach them, once and for all, not to screw with Harold Cassidy.
As Harold plotted, Aidan sat in the surveillance room and watched the security tapes. She fast forward through most of it, until she saw Vicky. Aidan asked the controller if he could zoom in on her, and the man that she bumped into. Aidan knew him instantly, that was her father all right. She asked the controller to digitally enhance a tight shot of him, where his face was the most visible, and emailed to her.
***
“Good morning, Samantha.”
“If you say so.”
“Well if that were the way it worked, I’d have a lot more to say.” Dr. Kline smiled at her, but his humor didn’t register with her like he had hoped. “Samantha, you seemed distracted. Anything you want to talk about?”
“Well, yes, but I, um, don’t know.”
Kline knew that Samantha had problems talking without prompting, so he asked, “Is your baby all right?”
“What? Oh yes, he’s doing well.”
“Then it must be Aidan that has you concerned? Have you talked with her recently?”
“Yes. I let her go.”
Kline was surprised, “You let her go? What prompted you to do that?”
“She did. You did. Hell the whole world did. After the initial shock, I got to thinking about things, and I just didn’t want to carry the pain anymore, you know? I just want to be whole again, and see what new thing, life has to offer me.”
“And letting go of Aidan is your first step?”
“Exactly. I’m ashamed to admit, considering the fuss I made, but letting her go was relatively easy, compared to…”
“Compared to what, Syria?” Samantha nodded her head, and he continued, “Samantha, let me be frank with you. I don’t think you’re being honest with yourself. I think you found it easy to let Aidan go, because you are afraid to face the truth about why you were hanging on to her in the first place.”
“And why is that?”
But Kline asked her a question first, “Who did you see when you were assaulted?”
“I told you, Aidan.”
“So over time, you looked forward to being raped, because you disassociated from the violence of it by visualizing Aidan, so that you could survive it. Now that you’re free, your sexual prowess towards Aidan had begun to hurt you. You had to let her go, to stop the pain.”
Samantha’s face contorted in agony, and she screamed at him, “You bastard!” as she pulled her knees to her chest, as if to protect herself.
Dr. Kline, who was sorry he had been right, spoke softly, and with compassion to her, “It’s all right, Samantha. It’s out in the open now. I will help you get through this, and you will get through it, and be stronger for it, I promise you.”
***
“Vicky, it’s so good to have you back in that chair,” Yvonne, Vicky’s executive assistant, arrived at work early. She always felt a special kinship to Vicky, because she wasn’t like other bosses, she always made time for her, no matter how busy she was. Vicky got up from her desk and hugged Yvonne.
“It’s so good to be back, I’ve missed everyone!”
“Oh we’ve missed you! It just wasn’t the same without you.”
“I hope you’ll still say that after I load you down with work. I don’t think much got done while I was gone.”
“No, not much at all,” Yvonne smiled.
“Well I’ve got a list of major things we’re going to initiate in the next few weeks. We need to start w
ork on the new cardiology wing, new surgery suites for ortho, and I’m going to go before the corporate board soon, and ask to build a whole new hospital!” Vicky’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Oh wow, all that and a wedding too? I wish I had your energy, Vicky.”
“Well, not to change the subject, but I was wondering how you feel about violet chiffon, because I’d like to ask you to be a bridesmaid?”
“Oh gosh, I’d…, I’d be honored, Vicky.”
“Yvonne, you’ve been much more to me than just an assistant. I know about the times you discreetly buffered me from the hatemongers, when you didn’t have to. And the way you cared for my family, while I was away. That is more what a friend would do than what an assistant would. I think of you more as my friend anyway.”
“Thank you Vicky, I truly am honored now.”
“Okay enough of this blubbering; we’ve got work to do. I need to see the entire exec team first thing this morning please.”
“I’ll get right on it,” and before Yvonne had even left her office Vicky was back on the phone making calls.
*
“Jerry, its Aidan, got a minute?” Aidan was driving toward the south west part of the city, about five miles away from the hospital.
“Yes, nothing’s going on, what’s up?”
“I’m on my way to see about renting an apartment for Vicky and me. One of those places that has a closed gate entrance, and a security alarm system. It’ll take me a couple of hours, are you good?”
“Yes, security has a guard up here trying not to be obvious, but he’s not very good at it. Was that your idea?”
“Yeah, I was going to tell you, but so much is going on I forgot, sorry man. If you don’t mind though, hang out there until I get back. The security guard is a backup, he’s not you and I only trust Vicky’s life to you, okay?”
Remember, You Love Me: Little Girl Lost Page 18