Come Away with Me

by Jane Reynolds

  Johnnie chuckled, clearly amused by this news. It was part of his character, to find things that should have cautioned him, even scared him, funny. In that moment, Zelda felt herself laughing along with him because the situation was just... ridiculous. Who would have ever thought that meeting John Dillinger (nee Jimmy Lawrence) would be life changing? The man she was in love with was Public Enemy Number One, that she was on the run with him, that everyone was chasing them.

  Yet, somehow, this was everything she wanted. This was normal.

  The night continued on, but neither Zelda nor Johnnie was too tired to leave the dance floor. Both loved the activity nearly as much as they loved the act of intimacy. But not quite enough.

  However, soon the floor began to empty and it was time to leave. About an hour later, Johnnie and Zelda slipped off their clothes and into their pajamas before crawling into bed together. Zelda didn't realize just how tired she was until her head hit the pillow, but she wasn't asleep. Not yet.

  "Darlin'," Johnnie said in a low, husky voice. Zelda picked her eyes up to look at Johnnie who was currently on his side, his elbow propped up, his cheek cradled in his palm. And those eyes? They were where they were supposed to be; on her. "We need to leave the States, I think." Zelda stayed silent, simply watching him, knowing that he would say more when he needed to. And she was right. "I'm getting too hot in this place, in this country. I'm getting credit for jobs I didn't do, and I've been spotted in ten different places within ten minutes. It's only a matter of time..." He let his voice trail off and Zelda was glad he didn't finish his thought. "And if anything happened to you..." He did the same but refused to finish the sentence for his own benefit, though he did reach out and gently grasp her bare shoulder. "Well, I don't like to think about that. I don't know what I'd do. Probably go crazy, and that's puttin' it lightly." Mindlessly, his fingers began to caress her skin. "So what do you say? Will you come away with me?"

  And there was that crooked smile that had won her over many months before.

  Zelda tilted her head forward and captured Johnnie's lips with hers for a chaste kiss. "Always," she breathed, but she didn't pull away from him.

  And he didn't let her.

  Chapter 31

  Zelda was not happy, and Johnnie knew it. "What do you mean, one more job?" Zelda asked, trying to control her flared temper as best as she could.

  Johnnie was on one side of their living room while Zelda struggled not to continue to pace up and down the other. The bank robber knew that Zelda was working on her patience as best as she could, but he still opted to stay a good distance away from her. Not because he thought that she was going to harm him in any way, but to ensure he wouldn't reach out and touch her in order to reassure her in his own way. He had learned the hard way that she wasn't the touchy-feely type when she was angry.

  And boy was she angry, though her angelic-like demeanor revealed nothing of the sort. But Johnnie knew Zelda well enough to recognize the way her velvet green eyes sparkled, almost like a dancing flame. A warning.

  "I thought," Zelda continued, proceeding to restart her pacing, her body much more tense than normal, "that you said you were through with that, that we were heading to Mexico together and that this life would just be a thing of the past. And," Zelda said sharply, seeing that Johnnie had opened his mouth in hopes to respond to her unasked question, but she intervened. "I thought you and Lester were through together. You know how he is, Johnnie."

  "I do know," Johnnie said, throwing his smoky grey eyes at Zelda's, managing to capture her own with his. It had always been a trick he had; once his eyes molded with hers, she couldn't look away. And he knew it. "But you also know that we're running short on funds right now. We can't just go running off to Mexico without some semblance of fortune. I'm not going to let us live dirt poor." And in three large strides, Johnnie was directly in front of Zelda, his hands over hers. "You're never going to worry about a roof over your head or clothes on your back or food on the table. You're never going to have to worry about paying a bill or anything relating to the children we're going to have. I promise you this. But we need to have somethin' to start with."

  "And then it's done?" Zelda asked, her brows pushed together, allowing herself to hope for just a little bit.

  "Then it's done," Johnnie assured her, feeling the muscles in his back start to relax at the prospect that Zelda was finally going to relent. For now. "Just one more bank. Just one more job. And then it's you and me against the world."

  "It already feels that way," Zelda said under her breath, but Johnnie heard that dry remark, and it made him smile.

  He reached out so his fingers curled around her chin and tilted her head up so her eyes locked with his once again. For what seemed like a long moment, neither said anything. Instead, Johnnie ran a calloused thumb pad over Zelda's bottom lip, his eyes dropping to watch himself do that. He could never get enough of watching Zelda react to his caresses, his flattery, the way they made love.

  "You know I love you, right?" he finally said, picking his eyes up to look back into hers.

  "I know," Zelda said, and though her voice was quiet, it was sincere. She knew that if Zelda wasn't with him, he might be deeply enthralled in his life of crime; she knew he was giving this all up for her. And as a result, she had to know something. "If..." She forced herself to continue, though she had to admit that she was afraid of how he was going to respond. "You know that if you didn't want to leave here... that if you couldn't give this up, I'll stay with you. We can go to Mexico or wherever... we can do that later. If you can't give this up –"

  "I can," Johnnie told her and then kissed her with the quick passion he was known for. When he broke apart, his eyes looked intense. "The only thing I can't give up is you. I want to settle down, darlin'. I want to start a family. With you." His lips curled up into the usual crooked smile the American people associated with him. "This life we lead... It's not as great as people think it is. We're on the run. When I sleep, I'm not sure if I'm ever gonna wake up again. I know that if I get caught, I'll be sent to the electric chair. And if I don't? I could die in a slew of bullets. And if that's gonna happen to me, Lord knows what'll happen to you. They might use you to get to me, and I'll do anything to ensure your safety. And I won't let you get hurt because of me." He rested his forehead against hers, a light caress. "I want to get out of this life, honey. And I want you with me.

  But before that happens, I need to pull off one more job, and we're free."

  Zelda felt herself sigh through her nose, and though her eyes were resting on the floor, she nodded her head. She knew Johnnie was right, whether she was happy about it or not. Just one more job, and then they could leave this life and start another. Just one more job.

  That night, Zelda made absolutely sure that she prayed extra hard for the guarantee of Johnnie's freedom. They were so close, it would just be horrible if Johnnie was harmed or killed before they could escape.

  Interestingly enough, Zelda wasn't the driver for this last job. Johnnie had told her it was because she was too hot, and apparently, that was true. Zelda hadn't realized her face had been in the papers, if people even knew who she was, but they did. In fact, she was looking at it right now, sitting at the small dining table with a cup of warm tea. The newspaper was in her hand, and there, on the front page, was a picture of her next to Johnnie. It wasn't an actual picture, but rather a sketch of her that was taken from her mug shot.

  Pursing her lips, Zelda looked at herself critically before taking a long sip of her warm drink. Soft voices drifted in from the living, but she was only half paying attention. Zelda had the radio on, listening for any sort of evidence of Johnnie's last heist, but hoping that none would infiltrate the airwaves. It was probably why she was reading – or at least attempting to read – to help get her mind off of Johnnie.

  But then the paper was filled with nothing but him. In fact, the article that had her picture was simply there in order to speculate on their relationship together. App
arently, some people thought that someone like Johnnie was incapable of love, and the only reason Zelda was even along was to satisfy his desires without having to go to whorehouses and risking capture. Religious fanatics thought she was going to hell along with Johnnie due to the fact that the two were living in sin; not only were they robbing banks, but they were living together without being married. And only a few actually believed they were in love, although they had the biggest piece of evidence: that kiss Johnnie had bestowed on Zelda during that court procedure, one that was caught by cameras.

  Some people couldn't understand how Zelda could love someone like Johnnie. Some people didn't know Johnnie.

  When she finished with the paper, she stood and began pacing. When that got to be tiring, she began to pack things that she hadn't packed yet, and when she finished with that, she cleaned. As of yet, no news on Johnnie.

  No news is good news, right?

  It was only when the sun started to go down did she finally begin to worry, and yet, at that moment, it was Johnnie who walked through the door. It was as though he could tell just how worried she was and wanted to remedy that. In his hand was a suitcase – probably filled with his take, no doubt – but that was it. No machine gun. No bullet proof vest.

  Just Johnnie.

  Zelda's eyes started to blur, and without any sort of warning, Zelda ran to him, throwing herself in his arms. Johnnie barely anticipated the move but dropped the suitcase in order to catch her, holding her tightly against him, never wanting to let her go.

  "It's okay, darlin'," he said soothingly as he felt her begin to cry in his shirt.

  "You're okay," she mumbled, though her words were lost in translation.

  It didn't matter. He was okay.

  When she was finally satisfied that, yes, Johnnie was here, she slid down and turned her head up to look at him. "Everything's ready to go," she told him softly, probably because she didn't trust her voice to its full extent just yet. "Do you want to say goodbye?"

  Johnnie knew she meant to his acquaintances, to the friends he had made. Surprisingly enough, he shook his head. "No reason to," he told her in a low drawl. "We'll see 'em again someday."

  Then he smiled that crooked grin of his and Zelda knew that everything was going to be all right, as long as they were together.

  Acknowledgments

  John Herbert Dillinger died July 22, 1934 after exiting the Biograph Theatre. He was shot four times by three Bureau of Investigation Agents (what would later become the FBI). He had just finished watching a Clark Gable gangster film, Manhattan Melodrama, with his last girlfriend, Polly Hamilton. He was killed while trying to flee, his back facing the agents, almost execution style.

  The events that occurred in this work of fiction were all true. Girlfriends names were changed since I toyed with their personalities – Mary Todd, Stephanie Linder, and Dolores Bernier were not their real names. Zelda Kelly is a fictional character I made up to give Dillinger the sort of escape I thought he deserved.

  Again, this is a work of fiction loosely based on the life of John Dillinger.

  If you are interested in reading more about Dillinger and other gangsters of the time, I highly recommend Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough.

  While Zelda Kelly is my character and her romance with Dillinger is entirely fictional, the majority of the story is based on historical fact. I've read ten different biographies on the gangster, seen at least three biographies on television about him, and have read countless articles on him. So, suffice to say, I'm kind of an expert when it comes to John Dillinger. If you have any questions about him, feel free to ask them because I honestly have no problem answering.

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