~The
Binding~
Chapter
6
Bron searched for the
glowing numbers on the alarm clock that normally sat on the nightstand on
Kevin’s side of the bed. The clock was there but it wasn’t
glowing. Rubbing her eyes, she could feel the puffiness from the
crying she had done earlier in the evening.
Pulling herself out
of the bed, she went into the bathroom. Closing the door, she turned
the light on. Her insides hurt like a son of bitch and she thought
maybe Kevin might have done her some harm. After using the toilet,
she felt better, just stiff and sore. Originally, what had woken her
up was the dull ache in her chest that had turned into sharp pains.
She had forgotten to pump.
Looking across the vanity,
she saw Kevin’s ever present shaving kit. Sitting next to
it was her breast pump from home, he had bought her.
She didn’t know if she should walk out of the bathroom and
hit him with it for screwing everything up on her or thanking
him for bringing it to her.
Plugging the unit in
and waiting for some relief, she eventually just cursed him. Her mind
was still fuzzy and she couldn’t think clear enough to figure out what the
hell she was going to tell him. “You’re an idiot, just tell him it
was a fan. He won’t know any better. I’ll go home and just be
very careful. I won’t leave the kids with anyone but his family.”
Satisfied with half
an idea going in her head, she finished getting some relief. By now,
she thought maybe she would have dried up, at least some. She had
heard that it could be painful and she had some inkling that she was
close. Expressing milk with a cheap pump for Wal-mart was much worse
then just dealing with the pain. She hadn’t stored milk in days since
she had been taking ibuprofen during the day while she was at work.
Sighing she unplugged
the unit after emptying the bottles down the sink. Turning off the
light, she opened the bathroom door, and made her way back to bed.
Kevin was snoring and
still sound asleep. The blinds had been drawn and the room couldn’t
get any darker. She felt strange like she should be up by now but her
body begged for more sleep. Bron hadn’t slept well since she had been
down here. Every little noise or squeak would wake her and then her
imagination would take over. The rest of the night would be spent
huddled up in the large wrought iron bed, quaking uncontrollably.
The dead weight that
now lay next to her turned in his sleep. Arms pulled her tightly
against his body. His mouth mumbled, “Love you so much.” Even
in his sleep, his hands began to move over her body in a more intimate
manner.
Bron closed her eyes
and settled into the pillow. Kevin ceased his exploration in time for
her to go back to sleep, which she promptly did.
Hours later, Bron
stirred again. This time she felt more rested and less hazy in the
head. Turning over she saw the other side of the bed was empty and
made. Bron groaned, one of Kevin’s neat habits was in full force, bed
making. It wasn’t that she minded since only twice since they had
been together had he actually woke up and got up before she did. The
last time he had made the bed with her still in it. He was trying to
be helpful since she had just gotten home from the hospital and having
Cooper. But the sheets were so tight she couldn’t move.
Patiently she waited for him to leave the room before she slackened the
blankets and sheets.
Kevin had been so attentive
when they had first come home. He doted on Cooper and
Kaylin, Andrew as well. Making sure that all of them
had equal time was important to him. They had talked
between themselves, he didn’t want Andrew or Kaylin to think
that Cooper was special because he was Kevin’s biological
son. During the days before he had left for Japan, he
would spend hours with Cooper while the other two kids were
at school. When Andrew came home, he would talk sports
and news with him and ask him about college. He would
rib Andrew about changing majors behind his mother’s back
because he thought she would kill him.
When Kaylin came
home, it was homework time. After their confrontation in September,
she never gave Kevin a hard time about the homework again, well almost
never. Kaylin had turned back into her old self. She was trying
very hard to please and impress him. Kevin was thrilled and showered
her with even more attention when she did well.
Bron sat up in the bed
and her mind went back to the time they had spent in Chicago.
It was the beginning of the end for them; at least she thought
it was. The letters started when she moved to Lexington.
The confrontation with Lenny, Solarez, and Solarez’s men in
the hotel suite was the undoing of them all. In the
back of her mind, Bron felt that if everyone had left her
alone to deal with her demons, she would have been fine.
Yes, she knew Lenny needed to be caught but she didn’t need
to face him or his brother that day. Kevin felt she
needed closure, who the hell was he to decide that?
Blowing out a breath,
she decided a shower was in order. The water cascaded down her aching
body. Too bad it couldn’t stop the throbbing inside as well as the
sore muscles and pains she felt.
Drying off with an
over-sized towel, she slipped her arms into her robe and wrapped her hair
in another towel. Placing her hand on the knob she took a large gulp
of air. She wasn’t too sure what she was going to face on the other
side of the door. Yes, it would be Kevin but which one was the small
thing that was worrying her to death. Would it be the, gentle,
loving, hardheaded man she married or the frightening man from last
night? Pulling the door open her nose caught the smell of
morning-coffee. “That’s a good sign, I think,” she mumbled as she
walked down the hall to the kitchen.
“Morning,” Kevin
chimed.
“Oh this isn’t good,
he’s too chipper,” Bron whispered quietly.
“Coffee is
ready. What do you want for breakfast?” Kevin poured another
mug of coffee and set it on the table.
Bron was literally
frowning at him, he laughed. “What’s wrong?”
Bron snorted, “Okay,
I can play this game.”
Kevin took a sip of
his coffee and waited for her to sit. When she did, he was right
behind her chair. Leaning over, he gently placed a hand on each of
her wrists, pinning them to the table. “There are no more games
darlin’.”
Bron heard the
accent, thick and full, with a gruff inflection. “There you
are. I was wondering where you went.” She had to hide the
smile; she was still treading water to try to save herself with him.
But the real Kevin was there, lurking under the surface.
“Breakfast?” he
leaned further into her face.
“Cereal,” she smiled.
“It seems we have a
mouse, the cereal is all gone. Besides, that stuff wasn’t very good
for you. Really, Reese’s Puffs?”
“More like a rat than
a mouse. Make me some toast.” Bron looked at the garbage
can. Amazing she didn’t think it could hold that many empty cardboard
boxes. “Looks like the mouse forgot to recycle. I’m going to go
get dressed. I’m late for work.”
Kevin dropped the
toast in the toaster and pushed the button down. “You are way past
late, but you quit anyway.”
Spinning around she
opened her mouth. “What do you mean I quit?”
“Your boss called a
few hours ago. It is three in the afternoon. I told him you
were no longer available to work at his fine establishment. Really
Bron, an after-hours club?”
“Good tips,” she glared
at him.
“You have money at
home, which is where we are going the day after tomorrow. Right after
we have the discussion on why you pulled such an asinine stunt to begin
with.”
“I need to get
dressed,” Bron turned but was cut off.
“No, we need to talk,
then you can get dressed.” Kevin stood blocking her way.
Weighing her options,
she looked at him; the big bad Kevin was in place, not wanting to take him
on, she smiled at him. “I just want to put some clothes on.”
“Clothes off is better
when we talk.” Kevin knew his words would get a reaction
and they did. That small palm of hers contacted with
his cheek so fast he jumped backwards. His hand was
still covering his cheek where it stung, when she waltzed
by him and into the bedroom. The door slammed shut.
Kevin debated; he really, really just wanted to go kick her
ass for that as he rubbed the side of his face. “Guess
I deserved that,” he grumbled as he went back into the kitchen
to mull over what had transpired earlier while she was still
sleeping. "So much for toast."
Kevin had a busy
morning. Waking up at around ten, he snuck out of the bedroom.
Last night after Bron had fallen asleep, he had unplugged the alarm clock
and pulled the blinds. Over the months, he had learned that his wife
rose at four in the morning only if she knew it was four in the
morning. Today was a perfect example of tricking her into thinking it
was still night when it was mid-afternoon.
Kevin had unplugged
the phone last night so the first thing he did was call Jerald at Nick’s on
an old cell that had been in the house. Then he called Tim.
Tim’s call was the one
that sent Kevin into a frenzy. Kevin spoke to Kaylin
first, who was highly upset with him for leaving her.
“You promised you wouldn’t leave me Daddy.” The voice
she used was one that she didn’t use often, only when she
was truly frightened. After speaking with Kaylin and
reassuring her but telling her nothing, he spoke to Tim.
He sure as hell didn’t feel like the father at the moment.
Tim had Suzie
breathing down his neck while he talked. Kevin could hear her yelling
that if she didn’t speak to him, he would be damn sorry. “Please Tim,
I can’t, she doesn’t understand.”
“Just talk to her,
she has some information for you.” Tim had to finally spit it out
because Kevin wasn’t going to budge. He was insistent that nobody
know anything about what was going on or where they were.
Tim thrust the phone
at Suzie, “Try and tell him. Give me those I’m going to fax them to
him while he is talking to you. Maybe the stubborn jerk will listen
if he sees it.”
Tim grabbed the
papers and walked back to the room he used for a home office. Nobody
on the face the planet had the fax number to Kevin’s house in Florida, at
least he didn’t think so. Tim began sliding pieces of paper into the
fax machine.
“Suz, I can’t talk to
you now.” Kevin emptied another box of cereal into the garbage can.
Kevin’s voice sounded
angry but she ignored him.
“You have too.
I know why she is there. Tim said you thought this was a fan or
stalker related. It is.”
Kevin cut in on her,
“I figured that out, thank you.”
“Not all of it.
It is stalker related, but it’s not a fan of yours, it’s sort of fan of
hers.”
“Fic shit!”
Kevin yelped into the phone.
“Tim is faxing some
things to you now,” Suzie had become accustomed to Kevin’s
hollering and yelling around the house. After while
she mused that the public man that was soft-spoken and shy
was different from the real Kevin. The other Kevin,
the one that they all lived with, was loud and obnoxious.
Running back to his
office, he saw the faxes now peeling out of the machine and onto the
floor. Kevin picked the first one up and then the second.
Glancing at them, he frowned. His eyes scanned the letters as the
came out of the machine. Even copies of envelopes were being sent to
him with dates and postmarks. “Where the fuck were these?”
Kevin growled.
“Um... Um... “ Suzie
hesitated.
“Suz!”
“In her closet, in the
chest at the back of the closet. It was buried under
a ton of boot boxes. Your wife has too many boots.
I swear Kevin, I never would have looked but she had said
something once and it got me to thinking.... Then Andrew
said something about you finishing the chest for Kaylin for
Christmas and that he hoped it wouldn’t be as heavy as his
mother’s that he had to put in her closet....”
Suzie stopped knowing she really wasn’t making sense anymore
and she wasn’t sure if Kevin was even listening to her.
“I don’t believe this
shit, this is someone in her family, it has to be. Nobody knows this
shit!”
Tim’s voice came in
on the same line. “What do you want us to do?”
“Send me the rest of
these. Suz, are you ready for a vacation?”
“A vacation?”
Suzie’s voice questioned.
“You’re bringing our
kids to us. Tim is going to clean house, change telephone numbers,
locks, and security codes.”
“It won’t do any
good, they are there everyday.”
“Not anymore.
Operations have ceased at our home. They will now be handled out of
Mc’s house or the bed and breakfast, any place but my house.”
“Kevin that won’t
work. Whoever this is will get suspicious.“
“What the hell am I
supposed to do?” Kevin yelled a little louder than he wanted.
“Call Webster,” Tim
added.
“Fuck that, he’s one
of them.” Kevin balked at the suggestion.
“I’m not, am
I?” Suzie spoke softly.
“If I even thought
you were remotely involved Suzie I wouldn’t have you setting up an
elaborate rouse to get my kids to me. You’re going to fly to Boston,
or at least it will look that way. Nick is going to fly to Boston too
but he is going to stay here. You are going to come down here under
another name with my kids.”
“If it’s Mc, he’ll
figure it out.”
“By then, it will be
too late.”
“What about
Jake?” Suzie added.
“No, under no
circumstances. He’ll still get his check but Tim is going to clean
house. I want everyone out.”
“Andrew?” Tim
added.
“That’s my grown boy,
he’s fine. He is coming with Suzie. Where is he?”
Tim cleared his
voice, “Right here, he has heard everything and I’m sorry to break your
trust on that but he thinks it is one of them too and he’s a little
scared. He just isn’t sure how you feel about him right now and he
came to talk to me.”
“Put
him on the phone,” Kevin took a second to gather his true feelings.
He would have to trust or not trust Andrew and the kid deserved to be told
how he felt. Kevin heard Suzie say she would go and make the
arrangements for her and the kids.
“Hello,” Andrew spoke
much softer than normal.
“How are your brother
and sister?” Kevin asked just as quietly.
“Cooper is crying his
bloody head off, I think he misses you. Kaylin is scared, I’m
scared.”
“I understand and you
have every reason to be. You are going to go to school today like you
normally do. You are going to have a regular day... Do you hear
me?”
“Yes,” Andrew looked
at Suzie confused as all hell. Then Kevin spoke again.
“You’ll see Mom
tomorrow. Your Mom and I have some things to work out and we cannot
do that with you kids around. You understand me?”
“Yes sir,” Andrew
began to smile. He had gained the trust and was surprised he
had. Even Tim had told him not to expect it. The letters were
from someone in their family or from someone who was connected to their
family. They were violent, threatening, and spoke about kidnapping
and murder. Kevin’s life to be exact if Bron didn’t comply with the
person’s wishes.
Andrew handed the
phone to Tim. “I guess I’m okay.”
Tim nodded at
him. Suzie and Tim began to lay out an elaborate plan to fool all of
them once they had hung up with Kevin.
“I gotta go. I
got some readin’ to do before Bron wakes up.”
“Bron is still
sleeping, it’s one in the afternoon.” Suzie thought that was very
strange.
“We were up late
talking,” Kevin laughed as he hung up leaving a stunned Suzie staring at
Tim.
“That’s not as good
as it sounds, is it?” Tim asked.
Suzie shook her head
from side to side, as she mumbled a no to him.
Mail
This page © 2001 - 2007 Bronwyn
All
Rights Reserved
This
is a work of fiction.
The characters and events portrayed are fictitious.
Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
Used
with Permission
No part of this text may be copied or reprinted
without the author's permission.
All
Graphics © to Bronwyn
|
