by Linda Bridey
In Tim’s arms, Renee felt her soul and heart healing even more and she rejoiced over the miracle of Tim’s love. He was more than she could have ever dreamed of and she gave herself completely to him that night, knowing that she would always be safe and happy with him.
Chapter Fifteen
Tim hated to wake Renee, but it was getting late and he didn’t want her parents to get worried about her—or to suspect anything had gone on between them other than becoming engaged. He kissed her shoulder and tightened his arm around her.
“Renee, it’s getting late, honey.”
She made a sound of protest. “I don’t want to go. I just want to stay here with you forever.”
He smiled. “I’d love that, too, but I have to get you home before they send a search party after you.”
Rolling over, she gave him a drowsy smile and caressed his cheek. “I’ve never felt anything so wonderful. Thank you for loving me and for showing me how beautiful lovemaking is meant to be. I don’t know how, but I love you even more than before.”
“I feel the same way,” Tim said, holding her closer. “I love you more than I ever thought I could possibly love someone. I can’t wait to marry you.”
“Well, let’s start planning right away.” She sighed and got out of bed.
Tim averted his eyes from her lush curves, knowing that if he looked at her too long, he would haul her back into bed. Once they were dressed, they made sure everything was straightened up and left. On the drive back to town, they didn’t say much. Renee sat close to Tim and whenever the road allowed him to drive one-handed, he put an arm around her.
He walked her to the door, giving her a lingering kiss. They didn’t say goodbye. Their gazes locked and their eyes did all of their talking. Tim kissed her forehead and went back to his car. Renee watched him go and then went inside. She felt different—more womanly and happier than she’d ever been.
A lamp burned in the parlor and she knew it was her father who was up so late. Indecision gripped her. Should she talk to him? Guilt for the way she’d treated him set in and she thought that it was time to hear him out. When she walked into the parlor, he looked up and smiled at her.
“Hi, honey. For the record, I was not waiting up for you. I’m just having one of those nights. I was looking over some of this financial stuff, but it’s not making much sense to me. Tom says we should sell some stock because the market is unstable right now and blah, blah, blah. I just give him money and he invests it for me. I don’t have the foggiest idea of how that all works. I’ve tried to figure it out, but it just gets all mixed up in my mind, which isn’t surprising. Anyway, you don’t want to hear about all of that.”
Renee couldn’t help smiling at his rambling explanation as she sat on the sofa. She was careful to hide her left hand, intending to tell everyone about becoming engaged all at once in the morning. “It’s all right, Pa. I want to apologize for the way I’ve acted towards you and the hateful things I said to you. It wasn’t right and I’m sorrier than I can really say.”
Switch put aside his papers and sat forward. “It’s ok, honey. You needed an outlet and I was willing to be that for you. I won’t pretend it didn’t hurt, but I understand. I need to explain to you why I did what I did, because I have good reasons for doing it, although maybe I could have done it a different way or talked to you or something.”
“Pa.”
“I’m doing it again. Ok. Sorry. See, when I was your age, I had no self-control where women were concerned, and I was pretty popular with the ladies.”
Renee let out a snort of laughter. “You?”
He frowned. “Yes, me. Why does everyone have such a hard time believing that? When I turn on the charm, there are very few women who can refuse me. Ask your mother. Plus women like guys who make them laugh. Doesn’t Tim make you laugh?”
She smiled. “Yes.”
“And isn’t there a certain look he gives you that makes you feel warm inside?”
“Yes.”
“Right. There are some men who know how to do that and some that don’t. I’m one of the ones who does.”
Renee grinned. “My father, the Casanova.”
“That’s right. Anyhow, I don’t need to go into all the stuff with my parents, but when I was with a woman, I felt good about myself for a little while. I think that’s one reason why I didn’t have much control. Do you remember when Hope and I had that talk with you about those boys?”
Renee’s face colored. “Yes. I’ll never forget that.”
“Me, neither. Look, my biggest fear about having kids was that I would pass my craziness on to them; I did in Skip’s case, which I feel really bad about. You’re so beautiful and I see the way men watch you. I was worried that I may have passed on my lack of willpower to you. Maybe that’s stupid, but that’s what I was afraid of. I overheard those men talking about you like you were some piece of meat …” He trailed off, staring into space. “Renee!” He jumped up. “It might be them! One was average height, sort of pudgy with a reddish beard. You said that you saw a little bit of the one’s face and he had a brown or red beard.”
Renee stood up with him, gripping his arm, hope and dread surging through her at once. “Yes. And he had a small scar at the base of his throat.”
Switch frowned. “I don’t know if he had a scar, but he had sort of a gravelly voice.”
Her hand tightened on his arm. “Yes! Almost like he was hoarse.”
Switch sat her down on the sofa with him. “And the other one was taller and he had an odd laugh. Like a coughing sound?”
Renee closed her eyes, forcing herself to envision the men and listen to them. She grabbed Switch’s hand, needing the contact to avoid giving in to panic. Opening her eyes, she looked into his and nodded. “Yes. I don’t know how I could think about such a thing at the time, but I remember thinking that he must have a cold. I guess I was trying to focus on something other than …”
A fury unlike any that she’d ever seen shone in Switch’s eyes and it was a little scary to behold. He hadn’t even looked like that the night that a guy had pushed her at the Watering Hole. The sheer rage in his expression was startling.
“If I find out it was them—”
She squeezed his hand harder. “No, Pa. Don’t do anything. I need you here, not in jail. And I need to face them and put them behind bars. Please don’t deny me that.”
Some of the anger left him. “You’re right. I think the shorter guy’s last name was Parsons. He called the other one Bret.”
“They never called each other by name,” Renee said. “But they sound like the same guys.”
“We’ll go tell Mitch right away in the morning.”
In their excitement, Renee forgot to hide her left hand. Switch caught the glint of her diamond in the lamplight. He grabbed her hand and looked at the fine ring.
“Holy Hannah!” he shouted. “Is that what I think it is?”
Renee giggled. “Yes, it is. Tim asked me to marry him and I accepted.”
“Hot damn! We need to celebrate.” He ran out to the kitchen, retrieved two cups and a bottle of rum, and brought them back into the parlor. “You wanna know how stupid the government is about this whole prohibition stuff?”
“How stupid are they?” Renee asked, taking the cup he handed her.
“You can’t make, sell, transport, or store booze, but there’s nothing in the law that says you can’t drink it. Isn’t that stupid? Of course, I guess they figure that if you can’t do all of those things, there’s no way for people to consume it, but you just watch; people are gonna get it one way or another. Moonshiners are gonna make a fortune selling their booze,” Switch said. “To my little girl getting engaged to the man of her dreams.”
They touched their cups and took a swallow of rum. Both of them made faces of distaste and then laughed at each other. Footsteps sounded on the stairs and Skip came in, squinting in the lamplight.
“What are you guys doing?” he asked.
“Sorry for waking you, Skippy,” Renee said. “We were just celebrating a little.” She held out her left hand to him.
Skip’s eyes bugged out. “Tim proposed? Wow! What a ring! Holy cow! I’m so happy for you,” he said, giving her a hug.
Switch handed him his cup. “I don’t normally give you liquor, but I’ll make an exception since this is a special occasion.”
Skip downed the rum and licked his lips. “Good stuff. Thanks, Pa.”
Chuckling, Renee handed him her cup and he drank that, too. “That’s enough now. We don’t want you going to school drunk.”
Skip said, “No, I want to be able to graduate next week. I don’t need to get suspended or something. I’ll make sure to brush my teeth real well in the morning. So Tim’s gonna be my brother-in-law. How about that?”
“That’s right.”
Switch went to the bottom of the stairs. “We can’t leave your mother out of this. She’ll kill us. Hope! Honey, come here!”
In a moment, Hope appeared at the top of the stairs. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Come here. We have good news.”
Hope came down, wondering why they were all so happy until Renee showed her the ring. She let out a shout and embraced Renee.
“Oh, honey! I’m so happy for you. You’re getting a good man,” Hope said. “And he’s getting a good woman. I can’t believe my baby girl is getting married.”
“You can’t believe it? I can’t, either. I have to walk her down the aisle and give her away,” Switch said, sudden tears springing into his eyes. “Just yesterday you were born and I held you for the first time and now here you are, getting engaged and ready to fly the coop.” He knelt next to Renee. “Don’t you see? I’m your father and there’s nothing I won’t do to keep you safe, even if you get mad at me. I love you so much. I’ve never thought anything bad about you, Renee. Not like you think I did. I promise you that.”
All of Renee’s anger faded away and she put her arms around Switch’s neck, hugging him close. “I understand now, Pa. I’m so sorry I hurt you like that. So sorry. You’ve always been the best father and I should’ve known that you had reasons for your actions. Please forgive me.”
“Of course, honey. Don’t worry about it anymore. It’s forgotten,” he said, stroking her hair. His heart filled with happiness over reconciling with Renee, washing away the hurt.
When he’d released her and stood up, Renee said, “I have a job interview tomorrow with Jake at the Watering Hole. He’d like to hire me as a waitress. Tim said Roberta quit and I was the first person Jake thought of.”
Hope didn’t like the idea of Renee working there, but figured that it was safer there now since alcohol was no longer served at the bar. Plus, there were still bouncers and Jake and Andy would keep an eye on her. No matter how much she wanted to, Hope knew she couldn’t keep Renee in a cocoon. “You’ll be a great waitress, honey. Sounds like this interview is just a formality.”
Switch nodded even though the thought of Renee working where those two men might come back terrified him. “And you know Jake and Joe pay well, too. You’ll be able to get your own place again in no time. I know how bad you want to be on your own.”
“I’ve been thinking about that since Tim proposed to me tonight. What’s the sense of me moving into my own place when we’re not going to wait long to get married? That would just be a waste of time and money,” Renee said.
Hope said, “I think that’s very practical of you.” She couldn’t hide her pleased smile.
Switch and Skip wore the same expressions, which made Renee laugh. “What are you going to do once Tim and I are married? I’m not going to be living here, you know.”
Skip hugged her. “Yeah, but at least we have you for a while longer. How long of an engagement are you going to have? A year, two? Five?”
“Not nearly that long. We haven’t discussed that yet. We just got engaged. Let us enjoy it a little,” Renee said.
Their little celebration broke up then. As Renee lay down to sleep, she smiled thinking about the wonderful evening she’d spent with Tim. The nightmare came, just like always, but this time, she combatted the memory of the heinous treatment she’d received by her attackers with the new memory of the bliss she’d shared with Tim.
Instead of seeing the hideous pillowcase masks, she saw Tim’s handsome smile and love-filled eyes. She fought off the cruel words the two men had said to her with the words of passion Tim had softly uttered to her. By showing Renee the pleasure a man and woman could share, Tim had given her the most powerful weapon against the evil she’d endured: love. It was that love that brought Renee through to the morning light, feeling stronger and more confident than she had since the attack had occurred.
Chapter Sixteen
Mitch listened to Switch and Renee the next morning and agreed that they were on to something, but the problem was that Renee hadn’t actually seen their faces. The fact that she’d been so dazed at the time also compromised the case and they couldn’t just go around accusing every man who matched her and Switch’s descriptions. Although they understood his point of view, father and daughter were disheartened.
Just as they were about to leave, Mitch said, “Where are you going? There’s still something we can do, but it depends on whether you’re willing to do it.”
They sat back down.
“Since Switch saw these two men at the bar, I’m inclined to agree with you that they probably frequent the place. Your working there would give us a great advantage, Renee. If you encounter them and you’re positive that it’s them, don’t react to them. You let me know and we’ll set up a trap. I know all about the stunts you pulled at Christmas and I think you have the talent to do this, too,” Mitch said.
Renee jumped at the chance to help apprehend her assailants. “Whatever it takes to catch them and tell the whole world what they did, I’ll do it.”
Mitch smiled. “I’m glad you’re willing to testify. A lot of women won’t take the chance of public humiliation if the verdict doesn’t go their way.”
“Who do you think I’m doing this for?” Renee said. “I’m not only doing it for me, but for every woman who’s ever been a victim of such brutality. I’m giving those women who can’t speak for themselves a voice. I will have my day in court, but I’ll be doing much more than testifying against two rapists; I’ll be showing women everywhere that they need to stand up for themselves because sometimes no one else will stand up for you. I’m very fortunate to have family and friends who love and support me, but not all women do.”
Switch gave her a sideways squeeze. “That’s my brave girl. Well said, honey.”
Mitch said, “I agree. We’ll keep you completely safe, Renee. I guarantee that.”
“I have every faith in you, Sheriff,” she said, smiling.
The Kellers left, Renee’s spirits high as she anticipated exacting revenge. It was time that the hunted become the hunter.
*****
“Damn it, Hailey!” Art complained laughingly. “That ain’t fair!”
She grinned at him as she pinned him down. “A warrior uses all of the weapons at their disposal.”
He grinned. “So braves make a habit of kissing other braves to distract them?”
She laughed. “I haven’t heard of that, but it worked on you.”
Hailey made the mistake of relaxing a little and Art turned the tables on her, flipping her over and putting her in a loose chokehold with his legs wrapped around her midsection.
“Ok, Pocahontas. What’re you gonna do now?”
If anyone else had called her the Indian names he did, she would have been highly offended, but Hailey knew that Art respected her and her heritage. They weren’t meant to disparage her people; they were said in fun and made her laugh.
“I’ll think of something,” she ground out between clenched teeth.
Art soon found out what that something was when he felt her unbuckle his belt. “Hey! Don’t do that unless you mean it.”
Hailey broke out into loud laughter as she slid his belt from the belt loops. Art growled and let her go, snatching the belt from her hand. Quickly he secured it around his waist again.
“You’re the sneakiest female I’ve ever come up against,” he said, rising.
“I learned that from my cousin, Reckless. He did that one time in a fight against Dr. Walker when they worked as bouncers together at the bar. He won the fight,” Hailey said, brushing the dust from her leggings.
Art smiled. “I would have enjoyed seeing that. All right. I gotta get to work. Where’s my friendly kiss?”
Hailey wrapped her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. “Are you coming to play cards tonight?”
“Of course I am. I’m not gonna miss the chance to beat you again.” She scowled, making him laugh. “You’re the only woman I know who even looks beautiful with her face all scrunched up like that.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“I do love a bossy woman,” Art said before complying.
Hailey giggled against his mouth until he put his hand on the tie that would release her leggings. She stilled and pulled back from him a little. He smiled at her. “Now, you did say that a warrior uses all the weapons at his disposal, so you can’t be mad at me.”
She laughed again and he embraced her before giving her a real kiss. Hailey felt the familiar rush of desire and happiness she experienced whenever she kissed him. It didn’t matter how he kissed her, softly lingering over her lips or fierce and wild, he always left her wanting more.
Art also wanted more—more of Hailey and to make her his wife, but he didn’t know how that would be possible with the law against whites and blacks marrying. It was muddled by the fact that both of them were biracial. Would the law swing in their favor or would one or both of them wind up in jail? There were some judges who felt the whole matter was ridiculous and refused to give anyone jail time.
Then there was the fact that Matt, or any other preacher for that matter, couldn’t perform the ceremony without getting in trouble. The marriage wouldn’t be valid even if they did. His mind turned the problem over all day, but he didn’t come up with a solution. When he arrived in camp that night, he found Raven at the central fire.