At Peace

  She handed Jack over to me, mumbled, “Thanks,” and collapsed into the grass beside me.

  I settled Jack into my lap or, more aptly, I let Jack squirm and play in my lap. The kid was active. Feb pulled her hair out of her face and lay back on an elbow.

  “How’re the wedding plans goin’?” I asked her and her eyes came to me.

  “Something I’ve learned,” she said. “When a man tells a woman he wants the wedding big, the biggest, the woman should tell him he has two choices, either he plans it or she’ll buy the tickets to Vegas on the internet.”

  I smiled at her. “Hard work?”

  Her eyes went to baby Jack doing baby squats in my lap while holding onto my hands then they moved to Colt who was smiling at Morrie while Morrie told a story then they came back to me and she grinned.

  “Not really.”

  I looked at Feb then I looked at her yard which was filled with food and drink and sunshine and people she cared about. She and Colt had been through the ringer, even made national news and here she was with her baby and her man and her family and friends, living a good life.

  Hope. There was always hope. Losing Tim, I’d lost sight of that. I’d thought I’d found it, stupidly, but then I’d been played by Joe and made too much of it. My daughters were healthy and happy and moving on to boyfriends and dogs. Tim was gone but there were still sun and friends and life.

  “You need any help,” I said to Feb, “I’m right across the street.”

  “Thanks but with Mimi, Dee and Jessie in the mix, I got all the help I need,” Feb replied, baby Jack lurched forward and grabbed onto my hair, yanking hard. “God, sorry, Vi, he’s strong like his Dad.”

  I extricated his baby fingers from my hair and smiled at her. “Not a problem at all, forgot how this was,” I looked down at Jack. “Sounds stupid but, remembering, it feels good.”

  “Only a Mom would say that. He pulls Jessie’s hair, she freaks.”

  I kept smiling at her and as I did so, I watched her face change.

  “Gonna say this quick, Vi, don’t wanna fuck up the day. But you know I know how it feels to have some creepy psycho messin’ with your life. You need to talk, you need anything from Colt or me, we’re here. Anytime. We know how it is and we don’t like that you’re across the street with your girls, alone. It’s messin’ with Colt’s head, thinkin’ this guy could come anytime, fuck with you and he might not be around. So he messes with you or you get freaked or you just want company, don’t think about it, you just call. It’d make Colt feel better, you do. He prefers doin’ somethin’ rather than hangin’ around worrying. Yeah?”

  I didn’t know whether to feel bad, considering that my situation was messing with their heads, or to feel good that I lucked out and moved across the street from such good people.

  I decided to feel good.

  “Thanks Feb, that’s sweet.”

  “Don’t tell me it’s sweet, honey, tell me you’ll call.”

  I nodded and pulled her son close to my chest, wrapping my arms around him to give him a squeeze. Then I dropped my head and kissed the top of his dark-haired, soft, fuzzy baby one.

  “I’ll call,” I mumbled against Jack’s baby head.

  “Good,” Feb said softly and I took in a breath, nuzzled Jack’s baby head and he squirmed, not thrilled about his captivity so I let him go and took his hands, allowing him to bounce in my lap again when Feb muttered, “Matchmaker.”

  I looked up to see Keira, Heather and Joe under the sideless tent. Keira had my plate of cupcakes in her hand and she was shoving them at Joe.

  Shit.

  “She’s social,” I told Feb and watched as Keira pointed at me, pointed at the cupcakes and then rolled her eyes and let her head fall back in a “Mom’s cupcakes are to die for” gesture.

  Shitshitshit!

  My cupcakes were good even I had to admit that. Another recipe I’d fiddled with, yellow cake with crushed up bars of gourmet dark chocolate baked in them and vanilla bean frosting that was simply orgasmic. So much so it was a wonder any made it to the cupcakes since I ate most of it while icing.

  But it wasn’t that Keira wanted to share the bounty of my cupcakes. It also wasn’t that my daughter had a crush on Joe.

  It was that she wanted him for me.

  Shit!

  This annoyed me and surprised me. Tim had been gone awhile it was true, but not that long.

  Then again, life had changed, I had changed and I didn’t hide my pain when Tim died. The girls were also in pain and I didn’t want them to think they had to hide it either. I didn’t want them to bury that only to have it eat at them later and, weirdly, I wanted us to give that to Tim. I wanted my girls and anyone to know I was inside out with losing Tim. I wanted people to see it because they’d know who Tim was and what he meant to me and that he was the kind of man whose death would cause that kind of pain. Because he was.

  But my daughter loved her mother; Keira would want to take away that pain.

  Shit!

  “Keira’s a nut,” I told Feb and I looked from my daughter and Joe, who had taken a cupcake and was in the process of taking a huge bite, to Feb.

  “And Cal’s a good guy,” she said back, I felt my body jolt at the look on her face and I knew that she knew about Joe and me. How she knew, I didn’t know. But she knew.

  “I –”

  “We’ll have drinks, you and me, one day soon. I’ll explain and maybe, when I do, you’ll give him a break and a second chance.”

  A break? A second chance? What was she talking about?

  First of all, he didn’t deserve a break. Secondly, he didn’t want a second chance.

  “Feb –” I started.

  “Feb!” Colt yelled. “Baby, we got any more Bud?”

  “I feel like I’m at work,” she muttered then shouted across the yard, “Yeah, it’s in the fridge in the garage.”

  Colt looked at his woman, Feb looked at her man. I knew where this was going. Even though he mowed the lawn, erected a tent and stood at the grill for the last two hours and she’d probably been planning this for weeks and preparing for days, doing the grocery shopping, cooking and running around, they were locked in a standoff as to who was going to replenish the drink coolers. She was sitting in the grass, taking a break. He was manning the grill which he considered work even though it was mostly just standing there. Therefore, Feb was going to lose.

  “Shit,” she muttered, losing, and looked at me, getting up. “Can you take care of Jack? I gotta go get more beer.”

  I smiled at her. “Absolutely.”

  “Momalicious!” Keira called as Feb walked away. “Joe loves your cupcakes!”

  Everyone turned to Keira, Heather and Joe but I only saw Joe’s eyes on me. I doubted he told Keira that he “loved” my cupcakes (though, he’d be a freak of nature if he didn’t at least like them, they were delicious) and I further doubted he was thrilled that Keira announced it to everyone.

  But, whatever.

  I avoided Joe’s eyes and shouted back, “I can die happy.”

  Then I looked down at Jack, cooed at him softly while smiling. He smiled back and did a baby giggle and I snatched him in my hands, shoving him into the air while he emitted another baby giggle then bringing his belly down to my face to give him a nuzzle so I could get another giggle.

  Baby Jack didn’t disappoint.

  * * * * *

  “Nice cupcakes, buddy,” I heard from behind me half an hour later and I saw, in front of me, Feb, who I was talking to, lift her gaze to some high point over my shoulder.

  Joe obviously was there.

  It sucked that he could sneak up on me.

  “Crap, Scout got hold of my shoe,” Feb muttered. “Be back.”

  I watched as Feb rushed across the yard to the puppy who looked really pissed at one of her flip-flops. The dog was jerking his head back and forth, flip-flop between his teeth then putting a paw to the shoe and tugging at the strap with his mouth.

  “V
iolet.”

  My eyes went from the dog to Joe.

  “Yeah?”

  “We need to talk about your system.”

  I didn’t say anything but I also didn’t move away, I just looked at him and waited.

  “Chip fucked up the wiring, not a big deal but it’s gonna take some more time.”

  “Whatever,” I muttered, looking away.

  “I’ll do it in the morning.”

  “Fine.”

  There was a pause then a terse, “See you haven’t decided to grow up.”

  My eyes went back to him and I opened my mouth to speak but I heard a shouted, “Mom!”

  It was Kate’s shout, it was high-pitched and the sound turned my blood to ice.

  I felt Joe tense at my side and he and I both turned to look along the side yard of Colt and Feb’s house toward my house. Dane’s yellow pickup was in the drive beside my Mustang but Kate was running fast across the street toward me, Dane coming after her.

  I started running to Kate and met her in Colt and Feb’s front yard. As I moved, I felt Joe moving behind me.

  My hands went to her shoulders and I got close.

  “Honey, what’s goin’ on?”

  “The porch,” was all she said.

  Dane stopped behind her but I looked beyond him to my porch.

  Then my heart stopped.

  There was a huge, flamboyant bouquet of purple flowers – roses mixed with dainty violets – on my welcome mat. So huge and wide, I could see them from across the street. They came halfway up the door and spread wide across it.

  Daniel Hart’s calling card.

  He knew where I was.

  And Kate knew what those flowers were. Since Tim died I got a delivery, exactly like that, like clockwork every Saturday morning for months. I’d called the florists and told them to stop, which they did but then a new florist would send them. Eventually Barry or one of Tim’s other cop buddies would sit in our drive on Saturday morning and take them away before the girls could see them but, until I sold the house and moved, they never stopped coming.

  I looked at Kate and saw she was trembling. “It’s okay, honey.”

  “But, he knows where we live.”

  “It’s okay,” I lied to and for my daughter.

  I felt movement and looked to my left to see Joe was stalking toward my house. Then I felt more movement and I saw Colt and his partner Sully following Joe.

  I looked at Kate. “Go and get yourself and Dane a burger, okay?”

  “But –”

  I gave her a smile and hoped it wasn’t as shaky as it felt. “Dane’s a football star, honey, he needs his grub.”

  “Mom –”

  I moved my face close to her face and squeezed her shoulders. “Go, look after your sister. Yeah?”

  That would get her, giving her something to do, something responsible, something which made her feel she was helping out her Mom. Kate’s mind would be turned from panic to duty by that.

  “Okay,” she whispered, I let her go, nodded to Dane who looked worried (therefore, I knew Kate had shared the situation with him) and he followed Kate as she walked to the backyard.

  I turned and watched only to see Keira standing in the yard, Feb’s squirming puppy in her arms, her eyes locked on our house. Feb and Cheryl were standing on either side of her.

  “Feb,” I called, her eyes went from my house to me and I tipped my head to Keira.

  Feb nodded, put her arm around Keira’s shoulders, moved Keira’s stiff body around and she led her to the back of the house, Cheryl, Kate and Dane following.

  I watched until I lost sight of them then I ran to my house.

  Joe, Colt and Sully were standing at my front door. Joe had a little white card between his fingers but he looked from it to me when I hit the yard and he watched me run until I stopped at their huddle.

  “Talk us through this,” he ordered the minute I arrived, his head jerking to the flowers.

  “It’s Saturday,” I explained stupidly.

  “And?”

  “He sends me flowers every Saturday.”

  Joe’s mouth got tight and even in the bright sunshine of the day he shifted straight to sinister.

  “You been gettin’ flowers?” Joe asked and I shook my head.

  “This is the first here,” I answered.

  His eyes went to Colt.

  “Moratorium,” he growled and I blinked in confusion at his strange word.

  “We’ll call the florists in town,” Sully said quickly and I got it then.

  “That won’t work, I tried that,” I informed them, Joe’s eyes came to me and it took a lot for me not to shrink from him, he looked so pissed.

  “We’ll be thorough,” Joe told me and I couldn’t do anything but nod because, the way he said that, I didn’t doubt for a second they would.

  “What comes after this?” Colt asked and I looked at him.

  “Gifts,” I answered, “then visits.”

  “What kind of gifts?” Colt asked.

  “It could be anything, it started small. Like he sent caviar which was weird. Then he sent fancy champagne and gift certificates to nice restaurants for me and the girls. Then he started to send jewelry.”

  “Expensive?” Colt asked and I nodded.

  “Visits come after the jewelry?” Joe asked and I nodded to him too. “What’d you do with the shit?”

  “Gave it to Barry, Tim’s partner. He’s got it all still, at the Station.”

  “How much time we got?” Joe went on.

  “I don’t know, it went on for months and then he started to come ‘round.”

  “Don’t suspect we got months,” Sully muttered and I suspected he was right, it had been months, me being away, I figured Daniel Hart would speed things up a bit.

  “You talk to him?” Joe asked.

  “He just showed, sat outside in his car. Then his man would come to the door, knock on it. Then he would. I didn’t go out in the beginning, didn’t answer the door. Barry talked to him at first and it didn’t work so then Barry talked to him officially and that didn’t work either. In the end, I talked to him a couple of times, thought he’d get it. That didn’t work either. Barry helped me get a restraining order so, after that, he’d sit in his car just outside of order range and just watch.”

  “You don’t talk to him now,” Joe commanded. “Colt or me talk to him. We aren’t here, you stay in the house and call the police. We’re here, you stay in the house and call one of us then you call the police, got me?”

  I nodded.

  “He come when the girls were with you?” Joe asked.

  “Yeah.”

  I watched Joe’s face go hard as granite before he continued. “He come when the girls were home alone?”

  I nodded and repeated, “Yeah, in the end, that’s when I decided to move.”

  “Fuck,” Colt muttered.

  “All right, buddy, listen to me,” Joe stated. “You stay in the fuckin’ house, you keep the alarm armed at all times, you keep the doors locked. Even when you’re home, alarm on, doors locked. You only work in your yard if you know Colt or me are here. You go to your car with your keys in your hand, ready to roll. You lock your doors in your car the minute your ass is in the seat and the door is closed, at home, comin’ from work, at the store. You tell Kate the same. You stay in the fuckin’ house if he shows. That’s your job, that’s all you do, you leave the rest to me, Colt and the cops. Got me?”

  “Got you.”

  “You get anything, flowers, gifts, calls, hang ups, you think someone’s followin’ you in your car, you think someone’s watchin’ you, you even get a bad fuckin’ feelin’, you report it to Colt or me. Yeah?”

  I nodded again and whispered, “Yeah.”

  Joe’s eyes moved over my face and he declared, “He’s gonna go away.”

  I licked my lips and didn’t say anything.

  “Buddy, he’s gonna go away.”

  “He found me,” I was still whispering an
d I had started trembling.

  Joe’s voice was a lot less tight and scary when he said, “Yeah, he’s found you. His problem is, you moved to the right fuckin’ place. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I said but I didn’t believe him, not for a minute.

  Joe read that and got closer. “He’s through dickin’ with you, Violet.”

  “He’s pretty powerful,” I whispered, tipping my head back to look at him.

  “He’s a man, just a man.”

  “A powerful man.”

  “Lotsa different kinds of power, buddy.”

  I stared at him, tall, broad, strong, sinister Joe Callahan and the look on his face made his words penetrate.

  I swallowed and said, a lot more convinced this time (but not thoroughly convinced, it must be noted), “Okay.”

  Joe held the card up between us. “What’s this mean, ‘DH’?”

  I looked at the card then in Joe’s eyes. “It’s his initials. Daniel Hart.”

  Joe’s torso shifted back, his eyes cut to Colt and his face wasn’t granite, it was carved from ice, as were his eyes.

  “You didn’t tell me it was Hart,” he said to Colt.

  “You know him?” Colt asked and I stared at Joe in shock as his one word answer seemed to come from somewhere ugly in him.

  “Yeah.”

  “How do you know him?” I asked but Joe didn’t look at me, he kept his eyes on Colt.

  “We gotta talk.”

  “Joe –”

  “We’ll talk now,” Colt said over me.

  I butted in. “Hang on a second, Joe –”

  “No, now I’m gonna fix Vi’s wiring, we’ll talk later,” Joe told Colt, ignoring me.

  “But –”

  “Gotcha,” Colt said.

  Joe looked at Sully. “You deal with the flowers,” then to Colt, “get her outta here.”

  “Hang on!” I snapped but Joe was moving away, Sully was moving toward the flowers and Colt had hold of my arm.

  “Party time, Vi,” Colt said softly to me and I looked up at him as he pulled me gently away, “time to forget this shit.”

  “But, I wanna know –”

  Colt’s hand gave me a squeeze then it dropped to take my hand and he did this all without stopping as he walked me across my yard.

  “Time where you deal with this is over. Hart brought this to my town, now it’s my problem. We clear on that?”