The Gypsy Queen: A Matt Preston Novel (Matt Preston Series Book 3)

by Paul Shadinger

  “I sat there with his hand on me, bawling like a baby and he told me hush. He gently squeezed my nipple and then his hand fell away. He had passed.” Nicky was sobbing as I took her again in my arms. I thought to myself what a great way to die. Holding a beautiful woman’s breast and being able to tell her how much you loved her, and how special she had been. Sign me up.

  I held her tightly in my arms. Her body shook and trembled, racked with her sobbing. I just held her and let her cry. I had the feeling this was perhaps the first time she had really let it all out since Bill had passed away. Finally, she stepped back and with a cute little grin, wiped at my now wet shirtfront. “I’m sorry. I got you all wet.”

  “Not to worry.”

  She turned my head and exclaimed, “Hey, your ear is healed. Not too bad.”

  I laughed as I told her, “I’m delighted you came to see me.”

  “Really?” I smiled and she gave me another little grin. It was so cute it almost broke my heart. “I had no place to go. I overheard when Bill asked you to take care of me and I had to laugh. I know he was just feeling badly I was going to be stuck with Rascal and having to deal with his death. It turns out he knew me better than I knew me. Anyway, I still had your card you gave me before you left so I…” her voice trailed away. I gathered her once more in my arms and held her close. This time I felt her start to slip from my grasp and slide towards the floor. I reached down and picked her up in my arms and with my bum leg, carried her as best as I could to the large leather couch in the front room.

  When I stepped back I saw she had either passed out or was asleep. I wondered when she had eaten last and I went out to the kitchen. Picking her up had aggravated my leg and I was limping quite a bit now. I made a large hot chocolate and poured a little Kalua into it. When I took the drink back into the front room, I saw she had her eyes open. When she saw me, she asked, “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. You were in my arms and you started to slip to the floor. When is the last time you ate?”

  “I don’t remember.” I handed her the hot chocolate and motioned for her to drink. Once I saw she was going to drink it, I went back to the kitchen and prepared a toasted English muffin with peanut butter and jelly. I took the food back to her. I could tell she was hungry since the food quickly disappeared. I took the empty mug and plate back to the kitchen and when I returned she was asleep. I got a pillow and a blanket and covered her up.

  I rousted Rascal out of bed along with my two and took them outside for one last outing. I wondered if I should put Rascal on a leash but he stayed right with my gang and in no time, we were all headed back into the kitchen. I gave them each a treat and they went back to the large shared bed. I headed over to my chair and curled up. I must have fallen asleep in the chair because the next thing I knew it was getting light outside. I also really had to pee and I headed for the bathroom. When I came out, I headed for my bed and once I was undressed, I crawled in and fell instantly asleep.

  Later I awoke to a warm, damp, naked body getting in bed and then curling up next to me. “Please, nothing more, just hold me,” she whispered. My mama taught me well, I always do what a lovely woman tells me to do.

  When I woke again later I saw it was midafternoon and I was alone in the bed. There was a large, still-damp bath towel on the floor from Nicky’s stopover. It looked like she had taken a shower and then paid me a visit.

  I got up and went into the bathroom to take care of Mother Nature. I found a towel for me and wrapped it around as I went out into the front room. I noticed that the dogs were missing and I headed out to the kitchen. The back door was open and I could see Nicky standing at the end of the walkway. The dogs were checking out the vacant lot as she watched them. Finally, my two started to head for the apartment. She called for Rascal and he came running after my two. Once they were all in the kitchen, I went to the pantry and got out treats. I told my two to sit just as I always do. Rascal saw the other two were sitting and he sat along with them. I praised them all and gave each of them their treat.

  I asked Nicky if she was hungry and she agreed. “But I don’t want to be a burden to you,” she said. I reached out my hand and when she took it, I closed my hand over hers and pulled her into the front room. She saw me limping and asked what had happened. I told her I would explain in just a moment.

  I pointed at my favorite chair and said, “Please sit. I want to get dressed.” When I came out, I tried not to limp too much, picking her up the night before had started things aching again.

  “Tell me what happened,” she demanded.

  “It’s a very long story, and before I tell you, I wanted to say something.” I pulled the ottoman up in front of her and sat on it the best I could. “I want you to stop worrying about whether or not you should stay. I want us to get to know each other. I’m not doing this for Bill. If this is for anybody, it’s for me. It’s a long story, but recently I almost had to shoot a man. Actually, more than one.” I watched her face as she frowned and she pulled back into the chair. “I have an extra bedroom for you and I have a lot of room. Take all the time you need and when you know what you want, let me know and we’ll go from there. Okay?”

  She said, “Somehow I knew you were like this. Somehow, I just knew you would understand. Thank you.” Nicky stared at me with those beautiful blue eyes for a while and then started in, “But, I see now it was the right thing for you that I came here. You need help. You need me to take care of you so your leg can heal. But more than that, I see a sadness in your eyes that wasn’t there before. You need a person to help chase your dragons in the night.”

  My mouth dropped open and when she saw how startled I was, she asked, “What?”

  “The thing with the dragons, I say that all the time. Where did you ever hear that saying?”

  “My mother used to say it to me. When I couldn’t sleep at night it was because the dragons were roaming in my head.” She smiled at me.

  I had no idea where things were going to end up. I hadn’t really promised Bill I would take care of Nicky, but I was not going to toss her out. Looking past how attractive she was, I remember how quickly she caught on to my efforts with Bill. I could tell she was also very smart and if she had been one of John’s operatives, I knew she was clever as well. For now, I was just happy to have somebody in my life. Seeing both Sharon and Gladys leave the same day had done something to me, there seemed to be a hole in my life. Having to do some of the things I’d done over the past weeks had left a big impression on me. Nicky was right, there was part of me I needed to repair.

  At this point in time I was not ready to commit to anything long term, but I did want somebody to care about, and who just might care a little about me. Time would tell.

  “So, do I get to stay and help fight the dragons?” Nicky asked. Damn her, I could feel the tears in my eyes.

  “You said you were hungry? What do you like? What’s your favorite food?”

  “I’m a vegetarian.” She told me with a perky little grin.

  “What?” I asked in fake disbelief. “You mean you like take care of sick animals and stuff like that?”

  She laughed. Nicky could tell I was kidding her. “No dummy. Not a veterinarian, a vegetarian. You know. I don’t eat any kind of meat and not that many dairy products either. I admit though, I like cheese.” Her grin was so cute. “If it had eyes, or a mother and a father, I won’t eat it!”

  Vegetarian! I thought to myself what a revolting development this was. I was starting to get interested in… in what? Back in the day she would have been called counterculture, a Hippie. Not that I have a thing against hippies! But what do they call them now?

  I couldn’t believe it.

  A vegetarian.

  Leavesand bark, and I’ll bet she eats tofu too.

  Oh crap!

  What have I done now? Am I really beginning to fall for a vegetarian?


  Life is funny. A door shuts and another one opens. The thing of it is, you just have to have the nerve to go through the open one.

  The End?

  Well I hope not.

  (I don’t think this the end, this is just where we’ll leave the story)

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you to my editor, Ellen Campbell for her patient way of dealing with me. Even though she knows what is best for me, I still kick against the prods and fight with her. I know her intent was to make me a better writer and my novels easier to read and more interesting, but that still didn’t make me want to embrace all of her comments and ideas. Thanks for sticking with me, even though it wasn’t easy.

  I would like to thank Kevin Summers for my amazing cover. Kevin always seems to capture the essence of my books with each cover he creates. And once again his expertise in formatting and preparing of the manuscript has produced what you now hold in your hands. I keep saying this and I mean it, that God for people like Kevin who can get those little bytes and bits slapped into shape to do the proper things so my novels can be in a readable format.

  Thank you to Laurainne Beattie for proofing the story. It is amazing how many times Sandy, Ellen and I read through the manuscript only to miss some obvious mistakes. I could say that any mistakes found in this work is Laurainne’s fault, but I won’t. Thanks Laurainne for reading it over and suggesting the proper changes.

  Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to my wife, Sandy. Houseboat, Code Name: Crescent and this novel would have never been even started, let alone finished without her support and encouragement. I will always feel she had gone the extra mile and it is not an exaggeration when I say that without her, none of my books would exist today. Thank you.

  And that brings to a close the latest adventures of Matt Preston. Book four is underway but I have no idea when it will be finished. For now I am finished, time to rest the old body….

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Paul lives in North Fort Myers Florida with his wife and biggest fan, Sandy, and their three beautiful American Cocker Spaniels, (Max, Bean and Samantha) whom are better known as “The Kids”.

  Born and raised in Seattle and now transplanted to Florida, in addition to writing, Paul keeps busy learning to ballroom dance and working on an HO scale train layout. A graduate of Western Washington University in Education, Paul taught for 4 and a half years and became self-employed when he left teaching. Over the years Paul has owned and operated several businesses, where he met many interesting people who always seem to confide astonishingly personal information to him, hence the varied knowledge of people portions of which he massages to create his fascinating characters.

  The Gypsy Queen grew out of the many trips made across the United States and then finally settling in Florida. Because of the warm welcome the first two books received, he was encouraged to put time and energy into the writing this book.

  To contact Paul Shadinger please email him at paul@paulshadingerauthor.com he enjoys hearing from his fans.