Lexie leaned forward. “I hope that’s not the case though.”
After that, the conversation changed and Carrie was able to relax. Abby told stories about life in the Army, who was a captain and a medical doctor. And life with military husbands, since they were each married to one. Lexie regaled them with the plot to her next romance novel, which Carrie thought was thrilling! And they laughed about everything! It was one of the nicest evenings she’d had with women in a long, long time!
“When did Derick install a watering system?” Abby asked, her eyes narrowing on the sprinklers that had just turned on throughout the huge garden area.
Carrie jumped up and turned around since her back had been to the yard. “Shoot! I need to fix the timers,” she said and walked over to the faucet that she’d installed earlier today. With a few twists, she changed the timing system and the sprinklers slowly shut down.
Wiping her hands on her thighs, she nodded with satisfaction, and returned to the porch. “What?” she said when she realized that both Lexie and Abby were staring at her.
“Did you install a sprinkler system for Derick?”
Carrie shrugged awkwardly, not sure what to say. “He’s always moving the sprinklers around. He waters the garden every couple of days and…well, he’s constantly feeding me and giving me loads of vegetables. It’s the least I could do to repay him.”
Abby nodded her head. “Right,” she replied, a knowing grin to her pretty features.
Lexie laughed. “He grumbles about watering all the time. He’s going to love having a sprinkler system!”
Carrie suddenly missed her old friends. She missed talking about girl stuff. It was around eight o’clock when Abby and Lexie bid her goodbye.
“Let’s do this again soon,” Abby said, as she leaned in to hug Carrie. “You’re a lot of fun, Jolene.”
Carrie smiled, warmed by her offer of friendship.
Lexie nodded, and hugged Carrie as well. “I agree. I don’t like it when the guys go out of town, but it’s a good excuse to get together.” She grinned. “It’s also nice to drink in front of Abby. Because I know how much she loves wine!”
Abby groaned. “You’re a cruel woman!” She turned to Carrie. “Lexie already has a little boy who is with a babysitter at the moment.” She then turned back to Lexie. “And your time is coming! I know Mike is trying to knock you up again!”
Lexie laughed, nodding. “Yep. After a blissful, crazy, miserable, magical time with our little boy, we’ve both decided that it’s time to grow our family.”
They shared a laugh, and then both Lexie and Abby leaned forward, hugging Carrie gently one more time.
“Stay in touch,” Lexie urged. “No matter what happens, please stay in touch.”
Abby nodded. “And we’ll call you in a day or two. Or call us if you get bored and need someone to talk with. We never know how long it is before our men come back. So, we need to stick together.”
They climbed into Abby’s sedan and drove away. For a long time, Carrie stood watching the car’s taillights, beaming the whole time.
What a nice evening, she thought as she walked back into the house. That night, before she closed her eyes to sleep, she whispered a prayer. “Please, take care of them!”
A tear slipped out from behind her closed eyes as she repeated the prayer.
It had been so long since she’d prayed. After what she’d gone through, Carrie had assumed that God had abandoned her, leaving her to the pain and humiliation that her life had become.
But now, having spent an enjoyable, relaxing evening with two lovely women, plus her love for Derick, Carrie couldn’t stop her heart from asking for just one more wish. Just one! She’d never ask for anything else again, she promised. “Just take care of the men. Bring them back safely.”
With that, Carrie rolled over and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Chapter 12
Lexie and Abby paced by the door to the warehouse. It was a big, open area with only a few offices on one side and an elaborate conference room at the end of the row of offices. The rest of the space was filled with a work out area in one corner where the teams pushed each other to get bigger and stronger, some massive, tarp-covered lumps along the wall opposite the offices, and the fourth wall held supplies. Neither knew what those boxes of supplies contained, and neither asked.
During the day, Lexie worked as an assistant to the teams, ordering supplies and managing travel and meetings, or doing whatever research was needed. She’d become a research expert since she started working here. She loved every moment of her job…when the guys were here.
When the teams left on one of their super-secret missions, Lexie worked on her books. She was a romance author and loved losing herself in the twists and turns of her plots. When Mike, Colonel Cain to the team members, was in town, he helped her research the sex scenes and the popularity of her books had exploded.
Abby was an emergency room doctor for the Army base hospital. There were numerous training accidents that she treated on a daily basis, plus the normal viruses and bacterial infections when someone didn’t get to the base medical clinic early enough. There were also car accidents and accidental shootings during training and a plethora of issues that a civilian doctor wouldn’t necessarily see. She was also an Army officer, and a captain. That meant that her husband outranked her, an issue that he lorded over her at the most intimate of moments.
They waited for the teams to land on the private airstrip just outside of the warehouse. They’d been informed of the team’s arrival only twenty minutes ago, but Abby had warned the others on the emergency room staff that she’d have to leave as soon as she heard that her husband was coming back.
The doors to the warehouse opened and the men poured in, exhausted, but victorious. Some of them were laughing, others were calling out to meet at one of the local bars as soon as their weapons were cleaned and checked into the armory and their supplies had been stored away.
But as soon as Mike stepped through the doors, he knew that something was wrong. Lexie rushed over to him, her eyes wide and she opened her mouth, ready to tell him their discovery. But Mike had been without Lexie for almost a week. So instead of letting her speak, he took her into his arms and kissed her. Thoroughly. When he was finally satisfied, he looked down at her, silently warning her that the kiss wasn’t the end, only the beginning.
“We need to talk,” she whispered, flustered as always whenever Mike kissed her like that. Or touched her. Or looked at her. He was that powerful!
“What’s wrong?” Derick demanded, standing off to one side as he watched Lexie, still in Mike’s arms, and Abby who was clenching her hands together.
Zeke came through the door next and dropped his pack at his feet, rushing over to his wife. “What’s wrong, honey? Tell me! Is it the baby?”
She covered his hand where they rested on her belly. “The baby and I are perfectly fine,” she told him, lifting up onto her toes to kiss him, to reassure him. He was just over six feet, five inches tall and built like a linebacker. But he was also one of the kindest, gentlest, most seductive men she’d ever known.
“Then tell me what’s wrong. I can see the worry in your eyes.”
She reached up, touching his rough jawline. The guys didn’t normally have time to shave during their missions, and she loved the scruff. It suited him, she thought. “Wait for Derick. He needs to…”
Derick appeared at Zeke’s side, his eyes narrowed as he took in the scene. “What do I need to know? Jolene? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine!” Abby reassured him, reaching out to squeeze his hand comfortingly. “We’ve talked with her several times and we stopped by one night and ate all of Zeke’s caramel apple cookies.”
“And wine!” Lexie added with a grin towards Abby, who glowered at her friend. “Yes. And wine.”
Zeke growled and Abby rolled her eyes. “Seriously? I had lemonade. I’m a doctor, big guy. Do you seriously think I’d endanger our child by dr
inking wine?”
“No,” he replied, looking appeased and slightly ashamed. He moved behind her and kissed her neck, wrapping his arms around her waist with both hands on her belly. “Sorry about that.”
She huffed, but turned back to Derick. Joe, their friend and the other officer in their group, plus General Kelly, the leader of the teams, came into their circle.
“It’s about Jolene though.”
Derick moved closer. “What’s wrong?”
Abby glanced at Lexie who nodded. “Tell him,” she coaxed. “He needs to know.”
“What do I need to know?”
“She’s fine,” Abby soothed again. “But she’s been hurt in the past, Derick. I suspect that someone abused her. A lot. The signs are all there.”
Derick’s body tightened at the thought of his precious Jolene being hurt by anyone. “How so?”
Abby stepped closer. “I suspect she’s been beaten by her husband.”
“She’s not married!” he snapped, furious at the thought of anyone having a claim on Jolene.
Lexie nodded. “I agree. But I went ahead and did some research. I hope you don’t mind, but there was just something…I don’t know. Something wounded about her.”
Abby nodded. “We like her, Derick. We want to help.”
Derick looked at both women, trying to understand. “What did you do?”
“We just dug into her background a little. We didn’t find anything,” Abby explained. “But you should know that the name Jolene Bickerson doesn’t exist. Or rather…she used to exist. She’s a hundred and four years old.”
Lexie nodded. “At least, that’s the only Jolene Bickerson I could find. There are some variations on that name, but no other woman by that name. And no one in her twenties.”
Derick took it in, sifting through the other details he knew.
General Kelly, shorter than his other officers, but no less authoritative, stepped forward. “What is this woman to you, Major Matlock?” he asked of Derick.
Derick paused. “She’s mine,” he admitted.
General Kelly stared at Derick for a moment, then nodded his head. “Good. Then she’s part of our family.” He turned to the others, including several of the enlisted men who had also gathered, curious about the conversation. “She’s one of us. We protect our family!” Everyone nodded their agreement and all plans for heading to the local bars disappeared. A member of their military family was in trouble and they would stop the threat.
General Kelly turned to Lexie. “Okay, use whatever resources you need in order to discover who this woman is.” He turned to Derick. “Talk to her. Find out what happened to her.”
Derick nodded as well, and turned to leave. His commanding officer was issuing orders to some of the others, but Derick’s only focus was getting to Jolene and finding out what he could.
Chapter 13
Carrie stared at the flowers, not daring to touch them. Daisies. Yellow daisies!
How? How could he have found her again? She’d been so careful! So damned careful! And how in the world had the damned flowers gotten here? She’d been working in the upstairs bedroom all day. Painting! Not even using power tools! So, she should have heard the sound of a delivery person coming down the street and she definitely would have noticed if one had stopped at her house!
So how? How had the daisies appeared on her doorstep?
She didn’t bother to ask why. Carrie knew why! It was John’s way of letting her know that he’d found her again. That he was spying on her. Even as she thought it, the hairs on the back of her neck tightened and she looked around. But she didn’t see anything. There was no movement in the trees or bushes to the right or left of her house.
No birds singing either.
That should have been a hint. But she’d been humming as she painted, eager to see Derick. She’d grown complacent.
And foolish!
The car engine roaring down the street made her flinch, terrified that John was coming.
It took her several moments to realize that the car wasn’t a green SUV, but a big, black pickup truck. Derick!
He was out of his truck and heading towards her before she could process his return. But when it clicked, she ran to him and threw herself into his arms.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, holding her close. She could barely breathe, let alone speak, but Derick seemed to realize her fear.
He didn’t say another word. Instead, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to his truck. Then, he drove away. Away from the danger and those damned flowers!
She stayed in his lap as he drove a few miles down the road. When he pulled over and shut off the engine, Carrie still had her arms wrapped around his neck. Since she still had a death grip on him, he didn’t say anything. He simply held her, sharing his strength with her.
When the trembling finally subsided, she pulled back and wiped her cheeks. Carrie hadn’t realized that she’d started crying, but the evidence was there.
“Talk to me, honey. What happened? Did he come back? Did he find you?”
“He?” she asked, eyes wide.
His hands came up, cupping her cheek and she leaned into the callused palm. “The man who beat you.”
For a long moment, she didn’t speak. But slowly, she nodded her head. “Yes. I think so.”
“Did you see him?”
“No,” she whispered. “But he put yellow daisies on my front porch.”
There was a moment of silence, those words hanging between them. Finally, Derick asked, “What’s the significance of yellow daisies?”
She shifted, leaning into him so that her head nestled into the curve of his shoulder. “He used to bring me daisies when we were dating. It was sort of his thing.”
Derick listened, his hand stroking her back reassuringly. For a long time, she just enjoyed his touch and his strength. But slowly, she explained.
“He was nice at first.” She blinked, staring out the window. “His name was John and he was so charming. A lot of fun. Jealous, but not in a crazy way. At least, not at first. But slowly, he just…I worked in an accounting office.” She lifted her head and looked at him. “I’m a certified public accountant. I used to work long hours during tax season, working on corporate tax filings and personal taxes. I loved it,” she sighed. “I loved the details and the intricacies of applying the tax code.” She laid her head back down on his shoulder. “I was good too. Really good. But John didn’t like the long hours I had to work during tax season. He thought I was cheating on him. There were nights I’d work until midnight or later. Plus weekends. He’d wait outside my office for me, then he’d yell at me, demanding to know who I’d had sex with.”
Derick’s arms tightened around her and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head.
“He finally stormed into the office with a golf club and smashed up my boss’s office, screaming at him that he couldn’t have sex with me. John threatened to tell each and every one of my boss’s clients about the affair if he didn’t stop having sex with me.” She inhaled deeply. “After that, my boss told me that it would be better if I didn’t work for the firm any longer. It was too dangerous.” She paused. “Basically, John got me fired. Then word spread around the accounting community about John’s crazy behavior and accusations. After that, no one else would hire me.” She sighed, shivering for a moment, and pressed closer to Derick. “John apologized and, because I was so scared about how I was going to pay my rent, he convinced me to move in with him. He was sweet for a while. Very sweet. But…” she sighed, moving off of Derick’s lap to the passenger seat. “He wanted me to marry him. I was still too upset about how he’d gotten me fired and black listed so I said no.” She turned her head away. “That was the first time he hit me.”
“Jolene…I…”
“My name is Carrie,” she interrupted, staring out the passenger door window. “Jolene is the fake name I came up with. I even have a fake ID with that name on it.” She smiled, straightening he
r shoulders. “I tried to leave him once. He went to work and I waited. I waited for over an hour. Then I packed up everything I owned and got into my car.”
“What happened?” Derick asked.
“Someone in the neighborhood must have seen me packing my trunk and called him. He came home and dragged me back into the house. That time, it was more than just a slap.”
Derick held his temper, needing to hear all of it. If he was going to protect Jo...Carrie, then he had to hear it all. “What happened next?”
“My car was impounded. The officer who had it towed away said I’d have to prove that it was mine.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
She shrugged and looked at him. That’s when he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. “I was powerless. I had to appease John. I had to convince him that I would stay so the beatings would stop. I cooked and cleaned. I made cakes and pies, but then he beat me because I spent too much time baking. So, I spent more time cleaning, fixed up the things that were broken by watching how-to videos. Then he beat me because I wasn’t cooking his favorite meals.”
“He’s a bastard.”
“I know.” She sniffed. “I never thought I’d be one of those women who cowered. But I did, Derick. I cowered whenever he walked into the house. I cowered when he came towards me. I cringed whenever he demanded sex. At first, he was nice. But after he’d slapped me that first time, he…”
There was another long silence. When Derick spoke, his voice was rough, as if he were speaking around cut glass in his throat. “He raped you, didn’t he?”
“Just about every night,” she admitted. “He demanded sex. If I asked him to hold off, he slapped me, then pushed me onto the bed and just…took it. He didn’t care if I found any pleasure in it. He just…” she stopped and looked away.
“That’s why you wanted to be on top during sex with me, isn’t it? You needed to be in control.” She nodded and he continued. “How did you finally get away?”
Derick (Delta Forces Book 3) Page 6