With a wry grin, Mike grabbed his baseball cap from the coffee table and headed for the front door. As the door closed behind him, she heard Jacob call to her from the den.
She peered inside the den with its vaulted ceiling and oriental rugs. “You wanted me?"
Still speaking into the phone, he waved at her to come over to her father's massive desk. “I understand, Tim. But if you can get your friend to check on the phone calls from the motel, we won't have to wait for Manning to get around to it."
Placed near the desk, was a brocade, wing-backed chair with matching ottoman. Sue sat down, resting her feet on the comfortable perch, and listened to Jacob ask to have Abby back on the phone.
“She just came in, Mom.” Jacob handed Sue the phone. His mother thought she could persuade Sue to come home. It was a matter of need for Abby—a matter of desperation for Jacob.
“Why?” Sue whispered, taking the receiver from his outstretched hand. She figured Jacob put his mom up to something.
“Because she wants to talk to you,” Jacob answered quietly. “She loves you, you know.” He rose from the chair. “I'm going to get some coffee. Be back in a minute."
Great answer, she thought, knowing his answer was nothing but the truth. Loving Abby came easy. “Hello, Abby. It's been a long time.” In reality, it was only a couple of weeks. She and Abby communicated at the least once a month, though she had made Abby swear not to let Jacob know about it.
After fifteen minutes Sue replaced the receiver on its cradle and leaned against the comfortable upholstery, exhausted. Abby could talk a starving squirrel out of its last peanut.
Dottie was having a terrible mental battle, Abby said. Her children and her mother were having a hard time reaching her. Abby had tried to help, but after taking a new medication, Abby didn't feel so well, didn't have the energy to stay with Dottie. Just come for a visit, Abby had begged, we need you here. I need you—Dottie needs you. I promise, she had added, you can stay with me and we won't discuss Jacob or anything you don't wish to talk about.
She heard Jacob enter the room, but did not turn to look at him. He placed a cup of coffee on the lamp table near her and resumed his earlier place on the desk chair. Sue watched him sip the liquid steaming in his cup. “You did a good job of putting her up to convincing me, J.T."
He shook his head slowly while his navy-eyed gaze met hers and held solidly. “No. Mom says what Mom wants to say, you know that. You also know how she feels about you and the kids. Though she has never mentioned it to me, I could tell how much pain she went through when you left.” He set his cup on the desk. “Having the kids visit three or four times this year has helped. But, Babe, you know she loves you as much as she loves them.
“We have a situation. There's a better chance for your safety if we are all in the same place—at least until I know what the hell's going on. Mom wants you to come for a while because she needs you.” He combed his fingers through his hair. “Dottie needs you.” He forced himself to end with those words, knowing that she would sprint from the room if he added how much he needed her.
Sue rose from her chair and stood still in front of him. “But I don't want to go. I haven't the slightest desire to be anywhere around when you find out ‘what the hell's going on.’ I don't want Michael and Andee around when the refuse-hits-the-fan either.” Just thinking about it made her feel queasy—and she hated it, hated the weakness.
“Do you really believe they're safe here?” he asked, resisting the urge to raise to his feet. He would tower over her and that kind of dominance wouldn't be a bit helpful. “I'm in the wrong place, Babe, to get to the bottom of the situation.” He slid his thumbs into the belt loops on his jeans to keep from touching her. “I'm leaving in the morning. I need your help—your cooperation on this, Babe, or my hands are tied."
During his speech, she noticed the pinched worry around his nose and mouth. He meant it; he was leaving. How would she protect Andee and Michael alone? They were his children, too. They would have to protect them together. But, what if he wasn't there and she failed them, freezing as if made of solid ice? Slowly, Sue sank back onto the wing-backed chair. “You win,” she mumbled. “I'll go, but only on one condition."
“Name it,” he said, studying her pallid features. Knowing how stubborn she could be, he couldn't help thinking she gave in much too readily.
“Don't look so surprised,” she said, staring at him. “The children have to come before any preferences I might have, so that's where I'm putting them. Here's the deal. Someone besides me must be with the children at all times. Someone who can't be easily intimidated. Someone you trust completely—"
“That would be a fairly simple demand if our kids weren't escape artists. You and I both know how they can disappear when they think they have something better to do."
“Then I guess you'd better talk to them and get the seriousness of the situation across.” Taking her coffee cup, she got to her feet and walked to the door. “I guess we'd best talk to them now.
“By the way, how can we leave on such short notice? Are airline tickets that easy to come by?"
Following her out the door, he said, “I made the reservations this morning. First class usually has an empty seat or two."
She stopped, and he nearly ran into her. “You made arrangements this morning.” Sue wanted to scream in frustration. She hated being forced into anything. “Pretty sure of yourself, huh?"
“No,” he answered. “Just a risk I had to take."
His risk-taking was what frightened her. “Michael went outside to ride his bike. Why don't you find him while I tell Mom and Dad what's happening."
Delighted that she gave him the least complicated job, he said, “Deal."
* * * *
When Jacob followed Michael into the house ten minutes later, Raymond moved into his wheelchair and was waiting beside the door. “Would you give me a few minutes, Jacob?” He gestured at the front door. “We could go out there for a short while."
Jacob opened the door and waited for the wheelchair to clear the frame before he followed. Raymond swung his chair around near the wooden swing that hung from the ceiling at one end of the vast verandah. The scent of lilacs sweetened the air. Purples, Blues, Reds, bright colored flowers twined down from the hanging pots that lined the outer edge of the roof. Birds sang as if nothing was wrong with the world, and Jacob wished it were so.
“Suzie Q says you want her and the children to go with you to California.” His wide forehead wrinkled, his thick dark eyebrows nearly touching. “Don't get me wrong, Jacob. I think that's exactly where they belong—normally."
“I understand your concern, sir,” Jacob interrupted quietly. He had great respect for this man whose six-foot frame didn't have feeling from the waist down. “This whole business scares the hell out of me, too."
Raymond nodded. “I would never interfere—you know that. But, I want a promise from you, son."
Jacob laid a hand on Raymond's shoulder, knowing that Raymond's hard muscles beneath his shirt came from daily workouts. Muscles that he knew the man relied on to keep him independent. Raymond never seemed to allow anything to get the best of him. “You ask it; I'll give it."
“Keep them safe—keep us informed. Have someone call us at least once a day, Jacob. Kathleen and I will be basket cases if you don't."
Jacob understood what his father-in-law felt. Eighteen months’ of wondering what his family was doing when they weren't with him had taught him a great deal about worry. This was a man who had risked everything to protect his family. “One of us will call, Raymond.” He paused, making eye contact with his father-in-law. “I'd give my life for them, sir."
Raymond's brown eyes were moist. “I know, son. I know.” He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. “She's afraid to go back."
“Sue's made that pretty clear.” Still, there were changes in Sue. A temper that hadn't been there before. A different type of stubbornness he couldn't pin a description on. But,
he liked it.
“But, do you understand why?"
“Can anyone ever truly understand someone else's why? I know that a year and a half ago the stress became more than she could take. I've tried to give her all the space she needs to come to terms with it.” He sat down on the edge of the swing. “I'm still waiting for her to discuss it with me.” When Raymond's eyebrows lifted, Jacob added, “I mean really discuss it with me.”
Raymond raised his hand, indicating interruption. “Suzie was only six when this happened to me. She might not remember all that happened, but the terror she felt, we all felt, still exists. What happened to you renewed the terror, Jacob."
Jacob nodded. He'd felt some terror of his own then and when Kathleen called him about Sue. “She's handling what happened to Karen better than I could have hoped."
“One thing about us Borgsons, we try hard to overcome our weak points. Trouble is, we tend to keep what we think is weak a secret until it is worked out.” He placed his hands on the wheels of his chair, moving it toward the front door. “As an observer, son, I think she's winning her secret battle. Just hang in there."
Sitting back on the swing, Jacob watched Raymond disappear into the house. A few months’ ago Martha had told him all she could remember about that day, giving Jacob information Sue either omitted or didn't know. She told him about Sue's months of bad dreams, about her wanting to stay beside her dad in the hospital, about her aversion to television, violence.
One thing about us Campbells, he thought. We never give up.
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Chapter 11
When Abby reached for the phone, she and Tim had just returned from Jacob's mountain ranch with the dogs, Brandy and Bandit. After listening first to Jacob and then Sue, she was glad she had decided to go back to her house and get cleaning equipment before leaving the dogs on guard at Jacob's, or she would have missed the call.
She hung the phone on its base and turned to Tim. “Sue will agree to come home with Jacob tomorrow, I just feel it. She won't stay with him at the house, but it's just as well. I hate to have her see what a mess it's in, you know?"
“We can't do a whole lot about that. I'll help you straighten bedrooms, sweetheart. But J.T. needs to sort through the other mess himself. If we fix it, he might miss something important."
She nodded as she opened her broom closet. “That's fine. If it's as bad as you say, I imagine he'll need some professional repairs done anyhow."
Bandit, one hundred twenty pounds of black German Shepherd, followed her into the closet. “Here,” she said, handing the dog a galvanized pail filled with sponges. “You carry this to the car."
Bandit took the wooden section of the handle in his teeth and trotted to the door with Brandy following him. Her shining sable coloring was a beautiful contrast to his darkness. Finding the door closed they both sat down and waited.
“Some dogs,” Tim stated, watching them. “But I sure as hell wouldn't want to meet up with them in the dark."
“I'm glad they already know you.” Abby smiled. “If they love you, they're pussy cats,” she said. “If someone breaks into that house again, they won't have it so easy.” Jacob's ranch caretaker, Ben Eagle, worked at keeping the shepherds fit and effective—and socialized. They were so smart they were pussycats to most people, unless told differently by Jacob, Ben or any family members. Sometimes, though, they would show an instant dislike for someone as if they could read something bad about the person.
Abby lifted the phone receiver from the wall unit. “Do you mind if I call Jacob's neighbor and ask her to help me with putting things away? Maggie Rand has been Sue's close friend for several years, and I trust her."
Tim nodded. “I've known Maggie and her husband for years, too, remember? I think she's the perfect one to help you. Maggie won't let you go getting overtired.” He picked up a bucket and a sack of rags. “Maggie heard her dogs barking this morning and called in at the same time J.T.'s alarm buzzed the station. I'd like to talk to her alone about the lights she saw in the upper windows of Jacob's house. Sometimes it's easier to remember more details when you've had time to relax."
* * * *
Early Monday morning Sue could barely keep her eyes open as she watched Jacob place their suitcases on the airline's check-in rack. It had been an incredibly long night, and she was running on four hours of sleep. Her parents had encouraged her to leave; said they would take care of the apartment, and would have no problem getting a temporary manager for the building. Her dad's secretary would fill in for her in regard to his real estate paperwork and research. Everything fell into place without the slightest hitch.
Michael seemed to snap out of the glum, negative mood he had displayed for the past year. The mood that reflected in his dropping grades, his picking fights at school, his skipping classes to hang out with characters that looked twice his age and of questionable repute. She hadn't yet discussed the problems with Jacob. Mike knew that, but started smiling last night and, at six a.m., was still smiling.
The airport had come alive as more and more people arrived. The milling patrons didn't deter Andee from chatting with her grandmother, and excitement seemed to be oozing from every pore. It had been a while since she behaved as her usual animated self. They both loved California. But it was their father they missed. Sue had a feeling that they would love a tar pit if it meant they could be with Jacob.
Sue walked over and hugged her mother. “I don't plan to stay longer than a month,” she said. “Even less if J.T. can clear things up sooner."
Kathleen patted Sue's shoulder. “Now, don't be in a rush, Suzie Q. You need to get away from here for a while. I know your dad has kept you running with real estate projects, plus listening to tenant complaints every day of the year.” She laughed. “Why do you think I haul him off to Hawaii every winter? I would go absolutely bonkers if we didn't get away from all the people we deal with."
“I'd rather be going to Hawaii,” Sue mumbled. “You know how I feel. I worry about Dad working too hard. And, I hate to leave Karen—"
“Oh, don't worry about Karen,” Kathleen interrupted. “After I see you off, I'm going over to the hospital and sit with her until Dennis comes. I promise to keep you posted about her health.” She adjusted the shoulder strap of her purse, and gestured at Raymond who was shaking Jacob's hand and patting him on the arm. “I'll make certain your dad has plenty of help. He might live in that wheelchair, but you know he hates being idle. That's why we have the best equipped van ever built."
“That's correct,” Raymond said, rolling his chair to a stop beside them. “Your mom always sees to it we both have an over-plenty in the help department. Don't worry about us, but make sure you let us know what's going on.”
Sue hugged him. “I love you,” she whispered. “Thank you for understanding.” When she was six years old and had to talk to her dad by lying under the circular frame that was holding him together she had decided there wasn't anything he didn't understand. He had soothed her then. He was soothing her now.
“I can thank you for the same thing. Now, just concentrate on what you need to do for you."
Sighing, Sue nodded and turned to watch Jacob just as someone on the PA system announced the boarding of their flight. He was waving for them to come. She looked at her mother. “Okay, Mom, I guess there isn't much else I can say."
Kathleen took her arm as they followed Jacob, Michael, and Andee up the ramp that led to the departure area. “I pray Jacob can end this thing quickly and you and the children can have a little fun before you come back."
* * * *
With the kids panting but keeping up with him, Jacob increased the length of his strides. He'd planned to reach the boarding gate before other passengers started onto the tubular ramp, but could see before he reached it that people were boarding. He wanted to see all the passengers. Wanted to see if the guy from the motel might possibly be amongst them. The man might have checked out yesterday, but Jacob couldn't make hims
elf believe the man had left town. It was another of the thoughts he really had no basis for but felt clear to his toes.
“You looking for someone, Dad?” Mike asked while sucking in deep breaths.
“Ahh, sort of,” Jacob answered. “I met a guy yesterday. Said he was going back to California. I just thought he might be taking the same flight."
Andee pulled on his shirtsleeve. “Can I sit next to you, Dad?”
He looked around to see Sue and her mother and father approaching. “You can sit across from me,” Jacob said, handing the flight attendant their boarding passes. He lowered his voice. “I would like your mother to sit beside me."
“I get ya,” Andee whispered. She turned to say good-bye to her grandmother and hug her grandfather.
Jacob gave Kathleen a kiss and a wink, shook hands with Raymond again, and then followed Andee onto the plane. She walked in front of him until they stopped beside the seats numbered on their tickets.
“How come you have to be so dumb?” Mike said, bumping her with his elbow. “You know Dad's got to work on Mom."
“I am not dumb.” She punched him on the shoulder.
“Okay, you guys,” Jacob said, breaking in before Mike retaliated, “you can't help me that way. Your mother hears you, and she'll be wanting to separate you."
“Sorry,” Mike mumbled, then grinned. “You mean we can't argue all the way to California?"
Jacob recognized Mike's humor, but he was serious. “Exactly,” he said, smiling as he watched them look at the seats. “This is important detail we're talking about. Think you can handle it?"
“We both want the window seat,” Andee said as they all three snuggled against the seats to let people by.
Jacob took a coin from his pocket. “Heads for Andee, and tails for Mike.” He flipped it and caught it in his palm, then turned it onto his left hand. “Heads,” he informed them. “That means, Andee gets window on this plane and Mike gets window when we switch in Denver."
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