by Gina Leuci
The pipes rumbled a bit a second before the water turned on in the shower, and I prayed to be asleep by the time he finished. Caleb had other plans. He returned to the room, and before I realized what he was doing, he pulled the blankets off me.
“What the hell?” I tried grabbing the corner, but he made sure they reached the floor. Then he reached down and picked me up off the bed.
“Put me down.” I struggled, but to no avail. In a few large strides, he exited the bedroom and had me in the bathroom. “What do you think you are doing? Stop.”
While I kicked and punched, he stepped into the tub, me still in his arms, both of us still fully clothed—well, I wore only a shirt and panties, but he had on jeans and a tee shirt. He then put me down under the spray.
“Oh, my freaking word!” I screeched. “It’s bloody cold. You son of a bitch.” I lunged at him, my arms swinging, but he held me at arm’s length under the frigid water. “I hate you.” I swung. And missed. “I hate you and this horrible place.”
“Thatta girl.” His voice was tight while I nearly choked on my own emotions. “Fight me. Yell at me.”
I stopped to stare at him. What the hell was he up to? The tightness in my chest constricted more, and I gasped for breath.
“Come on. Let the emotions out, Grace,” he ordered. “You’re a fighter, and I won’t allow you to lie down and die at a little set back.”
My clothes plastered to my skin. The water felt like shards of ice, and my teeth were almost at the point of chattering. I wanted to give up. I wanted to disappear, but Caleb was a force to be reckoned with. All I had to do was look into his blue eyes to see the steel determination.
“I hate you.” But this time it came out as a whisper a second before the tears came. Tears I’d been unable to cry since Pastor Rick had declared me a married woman.
When the tears fell, my knees buckled. Caleb stepped forward, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me to his chest. With one hand he turned the knob to hot and in moments I warmed up, both from the water and from his strength.
“That’s it, let it all go,” he murmured.
I did, sobbing into his shirt while the tiny bathroom filled with steam, until the tears stopped and the hiccuping began.
“Feel better?” His deep voice was a timbre beneath my ear at his chest.
“No. I feel wrung out.”
He brushed a soothing hand down my wet hair. “I’m sure. Do you think you can stand on your own?”
I had to think about it. Caleb pretty much supported my weight at the moment. One arm wrapped securely around my waist while the other continued the strokes down my head. I might be able to stand, but I kind of liked where I was at the moment. I might not like this man at the moment, but I needed him. I needed his strength. I needed his courage.
This summer had been a roller coaster ride of emotions, and I didn’t know if I had it in me to keep going. I was tired of being strong. Part of me wanted to crawl back into the bed and sleep. Maybe when I woke I’d discover this was all a dream.
“Can you stand on your own?”
He wanted an answer, so I gathered the strength to give him the one I figured he wanted to hear. “Yes.”
Caleb moved back far enough to lift my chin, seeking out the truth in my eyes. He nodded. “I’m going to step out of the shower and give you privacy to clean up. If you hand me your wet clothes, I’ll take them down to the laundry room.”
I was glad for the instruction as my own thought process was moving slow. When he closed the curtain between us, I felt bereft and alone. And colder. I stripped and then stared at the shadow on the other side of the curtain.
“Umm, are you decent?” I called out.
“If you mean am I covered, the answer is yes.”
I grabbed the shower curtain to hold in place as I peeked around and held out my sopping clothes. Caleb was covered. In just a towel around his waist. I squeezed my eyes shut and held out my handful of sodden clothes. “Here.”
He took my clothes, and I opened one eye for a quick second before shoving the curtain back in place between us. I’d seen him without a shirt before, down at the lake and again when playing baseball, but I hadn’t been naked and wet only a foot away. Holy Sculpted Adonis. No man should look that good. There was a new wave of heat that washed over me that had nothing to do with the shower. Maybe I should turn the water back to cold? Does that help women? At least I know the shock of the past couple days hadn’t completely shut off all my emotions.
I needed a distraction so I talked. “Caleb? Where is the laundry? I don’t remember seeing it.”
The shower curtain was dark enough to keep us from seeing details, but I could still see his shadow as he bent down to gather all the wet items. If I could see him, he could see me. I turned to the wall, reaching for the shampoo as an excuse to turn away, suddenly insecure.
He didn’t seem to notice as he moved around in the small room. “There’s a shared laundry room on every floor of the apartment building. It’s located next to the stairwell. Are you good if I go take care of these?”
“Yes.” I was, too. I took a few more minutes to wash my hair and stand under the now tepid stream, but for the first time in two days, I felt more normal. Maybe it was the crying. I’d needed that. Or the hot water washing away the stress. Or maybe it was the jolt of something a little hotter that had flooded my body as I’d peeked out at the man who’d forced me to get out of my head and get moving again.
I brushed my teeth, which felt damn good, ran a comb through my hair, and wrapped myself in a towel to go to the bedroom to get dressed. Caleb had stripped the bedsheets and must have taken those to the laundry as well. I walked over to my suitcase, which I still hadn’t unpacked, and grabbed shorts and a shirt sporting a Down Syndrome Awareness ribbon and dressed quickly, not wanting to be naked when my new roommate returned.
I went to the window, opened it to the screen, and stared out. The streets were empty, but I heard band music in the distance and children’s laughter. The July Fourth celebrations were in full swing.
When Caleb returned, I suddenly felt shy and maybe a bit embarrassed, but he didn’t notice. Or at least he didn’t mention it. “Are you hungry?”
My stomach growled at the mere mention. “Famished.”
With a nod of his head, he motioned me toward the kitchen. He’d gone shopping. The fridge and cabinets had more to choose from. Working side by side, we got macaroni boiling and made a quick Alfredo sauce. Only after we’d eaten did we begin to talk.
I wiped my mouth on a napkin and looked up from my empty plate. I was clean, had a full belly, and had the man eating across from me to thank for it, but I was still embarrassed by my behavior. “Thank you for earlier.”
“No problem.” He stood to gather the dishes. When I went to stand he shook his head. “I’ve got it.”
I watched as he got the dish tub filled with soap. I couldn’t sit, though, after spending so much time hiding. “What do we have to drink?”
“Not much. I didn’t know what you like. I did buy an assortment of teas to choose from, though.”
I silently scoffed at the wording. No one actually bought anything here. Or at least there was no exchange of money. The bracelets everyone was forced to wear contained our personal information and all we had to do was swipe it against the register and voila, it was yours. Maybe it could be considered a personal credit card, if you will, but since no one actually got a paycheck for their work, it was almost like a formality.
I grabbed the tea kettle and Caleb, still at the sink, filled it. Once it was set to heat, I stared at the selection of herbals. “What kind do you want?”
“Whatever you like.” He wiped the last dish and put it away.
Like? I had no idea. “I, ah, don’t drink tea. I’ve always had coffee.”
His slow smile was warm and non-judgmental. “Grab some cups, I’ll choose.”
A few minutes later, we moved to the living room, steaming mugs in hand. “I overheard your con
versation with your mom earlier.” I nibbled on my lip as I waited for his reaction.
“I’m glad.”
His quick response wasn’t what I’d expected to hear.
“Did you draw the same conclusion I did?” I asked. I know what I thought, but I didn’t want to be rude and say something about his family he would be mad at me for, not after he’d just been so nice to me.
He took pity on me. “I think my father deliberately got my mother pregnant so he could marry her and bring her here to live.”
I took a sip of the liquid and made a face. Ugh. It needed sugar. I set it on the end table. “And maybe lied to her about her parents not wanting to see her again?” I asked.
Caleb put his tea on the table and leaned over to take my hands in his. “I owe you a huge apology, Grace. I should never have brought you, any of you, here.”
“Why did you?” I wasn’t mad. I didn’t yell. It was a question to appease my curiosity about this man who seemed almost as lost as I felt at the moment.
He took a moment before speaking, as though he wasn’t quite sure how to explain himself. “Growing up here, everything we do, all the rules and laws, it’s all normal, or at least it’s normal for us.” He struggled with the words—a rarity in itself, so I kept quiet and let him talk. “I left, not because I disagreed with our life, but because even though it had been eight years since the scandal of my parents’ divorce, I still felt I lived in the shadow of my father’s mistakes. Leaving the way I did, though, was akin to disavowing my allegiance to Wellington. In a way, I disgraced my family a second time.
“When I joined the Marines, it was like a whole new world opened up to me. I’d found a new home, a new family. I met Jill and everything was perfect. Until her death.”
“How did she die?” I’d been curious for so long, I finally had to know. Caleb sat back, his hands finally releasing me, and I saw the weight of the world in his expression.
“It happened on base.” He shook his head. “The one place other than here I thought for sure would be a safe place. Anyway, a fellow marine had a falling out with his wife. He believed she was having an affair and decided to confront her at the playground. He pulled out a gun and opened fire. Someone decided to tackle him and when he did, the next bullet went astray.” His hesitation said it all, and I reached over to put my hand on top of his. He turned his palm up and clasped mine.
“The bullet caught Jill dead center in the head. Eliza was in school. The baby was in the stroller, too young to know anything, but Justin witnessed it.”
“Oh, dear God.”
His fingers squeezed mine. At my reaction? Or to punctuate his reasoning, I wasn’t sure, but Caleb continued. “My priority became protecting my children at all costs. Home was the first place I thought of.”
I gulped. “Sure. It makes sense.”
“Coming back, though, not all of the townspeople welcomed me. Most did, but to the council, I needed to prove myself. Prove my loyalty to Wellington. Ironically, my father’s old job as police chief was open, and I was the most qualified.
“Randy came with me. He’s Jill’s brother. He and his sister were close, and he wanted to be a part of her children’s lives. Anyway, he brought with him a certain skill set which helped boost the security in the town, something we were both thrilled to do under the circumstances.”
Caleb’s thumbs rubbed the back of my hands as he spoke. I’m not sure if he realized what he was doing. My guess, for him it was an unconscious motion, but I was aware of each and every swirl they made. I forced myself to look at him as he spoke, trying to dismiss what his touch was doing, and how the motion of his thumbs sent an echoing electric pulse in my stomach.
“When we were told this year that rather than scouting the surrounding cities and towns for runaways that we were going on an extended mission to bring in a more educated, more worthy group of individuals, I protested.”
His eyes begged me to believe him.
“I’m sure you did,” I said.
“But the council has a way of making me feel unworthy, and I still felt a need to prove my loyalty, so I did everything they asked of me. I swear, though, Grace,” he clenched my hand in both of his, “I never, not once when I set out on that mission, thought if someone wanted to go home at the end of the summer, that the council would find a way to force them to stay.”
“I think Roger is the driving force,” I muttered, “but the others don’t argue with him. How do I leave?”
His breath came out on a huff. “It won’t be easy. The security system here was quite unique even before I came back. With Randy’s help, we brought it up to a near fortress. The tracking devices are state of the art.”
I curled my lip up, “Much like an ankle bracelet for those under house arrest.”
Caleb closed his eyes briefly as he nodded his agreement. “Similar, but sleeker and more advanced. If and when they are disengaged for any reason, an alarm goes off at the precinct and on every officer’s phone.”
“I know the hospital is able to remove the bracelets for certain procedures.”
“Yes, but before they do, the patient’s name is logged into the computer and the reason, such as having an x-ray. As soon as the patient leaves the room, the bracelet is immediately put back on.”
Now that we were talking and Caleb was forthcoming, I had more questions. I shifted on the uncomfortable, block-style furniture, attempting to get more comfortable as we spoke. “What happens for all the people who go to work outside of the gates?”
Caleb, too, shifted, sitting back with his arm stretched along the back of the couch, his arm now almost touching my neck. Part of me—the part that had fallen asleep in his arms under a rock shelter—wanted to lean my head back and get back to the truce of Saturday night. The other part, my less trusting side, had me sitting straight, avoiding any contact.
“Their GPS security is set for access to leave town. It also has a special button on it for them to press every hour, confirming they are safe. If they don’t respond when it vibrates, then a search party is immediately dispatched.”
“I had no idea how far-reaching and invasive the system is.” I looked down at the bracelet and knew it was the key to leaving. “Would Randy change the security if you asked him?”
Caleb shook his head. “No. He came to me last night and said he’d been ordered to enhance the security on both of us so the council members would be alerted if either of us went even beyond the general town area. Going out to Jefferson’s Farm and the lake will even alert them, and an officer will be sent out to ensure it is as far as we attempt to go.”
I felt the tightness returning to my chest. Roger meant business in keeping us trapped here. “And if they suspect you help me, in any way, they’ll take your kids from you. So what do we do?”
Caleb shifted again as he reached over and took another sip of tea. “I’ve been giving that some thought. Do you remember what you said to me your second day here?” He shook his head. “Probably not, you were stoned. Anyway, you said you needed to pretend to fit in so no one would know you planned to escape.”
I remembered making that plan with Jake. I didn’t remember spilling that to the chief.
He continued, “I think we should pretend to get along. Build trust. Act as though we are trying to make our marriage work.”
I swallowed, but had no saliva left. I grabbed my tea and gulped down the now tepid, bitter liquid. “How far are you thinking of taking the farce?”
“Don’t go down that road, Grace,” he said softly. “You know I won’t disrespect you.”
I guess I did. He was a gentleman. He’d broken Leland’s arm in the process of protecting me. I slowly nodded my agreement. “What do you have in mind?”
“If people see us together, holding hands, getting along, maybe by the time summer ends, we’ll have earned the right to have the security lowered, and we can strike the advantage.”
That might work. “If I’m not home by the time I’m supp
osed to go back to school in August, my parents will come looking for me. What will Roger do then?”
“I honestly don’t think he’s planned that far ahead. I believe he counted on everyone falling in love with our little town. Falling in love, period. He expected everyone to contact their families and say they were staying and it being of their own free will, much like Caroline.”
“That’s stupid. We’re not runaways. We have families who love us.” I shook my head in disgust. “I’m with you. I like having a plan. Thank you.”
He looked at the clock on the kitchen stove. “It’s almost seven-thirty. Are you up for the fireworks? The whole town will see our solidarity.”
The whole town? The town who’d encouraged the marriage between us because of the mere possibility of impropriety?
I closed my eyes as I called for inner strength. “We’re in this together, right?”
“Together.”
Chapter Five
I heard the noise of the crowd the moment we stepped out of the apartment building. All four hundred or so residents of Wellington had converged on the streets on the edge of The Square. When they all came together on Sunday for mass and a fellowship meal, that was a time for reverence.
Today, they partied.
As we walked the few blocks, the sound of the school band playing “God Bless America” echoed down the streets. Fourth of July. Independence Day. In a town holding its residence hostage. My pace slowed.
Caleb looked down at me. “Okay?”
No. I wanted to scream the word. I wanted to turn tail and run. “I feel hypocritical, celebrating a day of independence with a town that has taken away my rights.”
The distant look he gave wasn’t him closing off this time. No, I spotted the hint of pain in the blue flecks before his shoulders squared. “Think of it more of you taking the first step to secure your freedom again.”
I rubbed my clammy palms against my shorts. “Do you think it will work? Do you think we can fool them?”
His answer was to hold his hand out. “If we show a united front, yes.”
I took it. Not for the first time, I noticed the difference in size as his fingers folded between mine. Today, at this moment, our age difference seemed massive, but part of me knew it was due to his confidence. My own fears of my future had me wishing to be a little girl back in the safety of my parents’ home.