Stolen Moments 6

It was close to midnight when Tom felt her stir again. He brushed the strands of hair away from her face and watched as her eyes slowly came opened. She had been sleeping nestled beside him for long hours, no longer shivering. He had to admit it; he liked the way how she felt beside him. At the camp, she was fully clothed; here, he felt every single one of her curves. She pushed herself away from him and tried to reach for her gown. When she had slipped it over her head, he turned and lit the candle beside him. Light filled the room and he turned to find her reaching for the blanket.

            “Thank you for helping me,” she said.

            “You’re welcome. Do you feel better?”

            She nodded. “Yes, I am.”

            “Can I take a look at the wound?”

            She shook her head. “I’d rather you not. It’s fine now, I promise.”

            He sighed. “Look, I know you feel uncomfortable, but this is for your own safety. I am not going to do anything. Just let me check the wound. I don’t want you to get an infection or anything.”

            “It’s fine.”

            “Do you want me to do it the hard way where I use force?”

            She stilled. “I thought you said you didn’t use force.”

            “Well, we’re not in my bed, are we? We’re in yours.”

            “Fine!” she cried.

            Tom watched as she kicked back the blanket and pushed her leg up. He took her knee and nudged it aside. The bite was a bit red, but no infection was sight. He nodded and covered her back up. He got out of the bed and began to pull on his jeans when what she said next stopped him.

            “Why are you wanted by the law?” she asked.

            He turned around and faced her half naked. “Why do you want to know?”

            “You brought death to my father. I think I deserve an answer.”

            He swallowed, knowing she was right. “I’m cleaning the world.”

            She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

            “I didn’t think you would. You’re a lucky person who was born into this world with love. I wasn’t. I’ve had to live with it all of my life and it’s not something I would wish for anyone. I’ve had a hard life and I’m cleaning the world of those people who make it hard for others to live in.”

            “What makes you think you have the right to do that? Justice is given to the sheriff. He’s the one who takes the criminals and puts them away. You don’t have a badge.”

            “No, but I have something more.”

            “And what is that?”

            He leaned down on the bed. “Honor.”

            She frowned. “That’s the second time I’ve heard you speak of honor. Why does honor mean so much to you? You’re out there killing people and yet you speak of honor. That’s not honorable to me.”

            Tom grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. “You don’t know anything about me!”

            “I know you’re not God!”

            He walked around the bed, grabbed her, and stood her up. “No, I’m not! Because if I was, I’d prevented my mother from being raped and left beaten to death! I was a child of rape, Yelena. She gave birth to me after four men had their fun with her. When I grew up and became a man, she told me the story and it made me sick to my stomach. I promised I would never let another man harm her. But you know what? This world is full of sick people. I wasn’t there when they came back for her the second time. They killed her and I couldn’t wash the blood off of my hands when I found her. That is why I’m cleaning the world. I’m going to find those scums and get rid of them once and for all.”

            She stared at him with shock in her eyes. “But…Nettie said your mother died when you were young?”

            “Of course she did because that’s what I told her. No one knows the truth, until now, and I’m wondering why I’m even telling you.”

            He watched as emotion filled her eyes and then suddenly she did something he never expected. She pulled him into her arms and held him. The comfort she brought to his heart made the madness in him confused. He was suddenly silent and slowly his hands came to rest on her waist, holding her in place, not wanting her to let him go. He had never felt another woman react this way to him before and it surprised him, but more it frightened him. He had never been surprised before and although he didn’t like the feeling of it, he felt compelled to say that it felt nice to be surprised by her.

            He gently pushed her back and stared into her eyes. She had a look of softness that tugged at his heart. He noticed that her eyes had a speck of gold that seemed to dance when she was concentrating. The curls of her hair made her cheeks stood out even more. He reached out a finger and traced it along her jawline. She closed her eyes and everything inside him screamed a flashing of warning. She was innocent, pure, and he was anything, but. When she opened her eyes again, he took a deep breath.

            “You should rest,” he said gently.

 

            Tom was sitting at the dining table with a bottle of Southern Comfort and a shot glass. Everyone was sleeping and he was drinking away to numb his feelings and his urge to walk up the stairs and make love to Yelena. He admitted that when she held him, she stirred that burning sensation inside the pit of his belly; the part inside of him that wanted to suck that flesh of hers again. When he was holding her, his hands molded the curve of her body and the heat of their bodies together made the ice around his heart began to thaw. Was it true what most people said? That a good woman could melt your heart and make you learn how to live again?

            He poured the brown liquid into the shot glass and downed it. It burned his throat and made his heart kick hard against his rib. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Women, what did he know? He knew they were creatures of heavenly bodies and fragrances. He knew they held secrets that could bring a man to his knees. Women were trouble or they were heaven sent. He couldn’t quite figure out which one Yelena was. Usually he was pretty good at pinpointing where they stood in his life, but this time, she had him dancing around her tune and had him confused, something he had never been before. He leaned back in his chair and let out a heavy breath.

            Tom wasn’t sure why he told Yelena the truth about his mother. It was a secret he was going to take to his grave, but somehow her tenderness made him give in and it spilled before he could control it. Perhaps it was also that she was someone who had lost someone close to her. He didn’t see a mother around either so she was alone just like him. They were creatures of the same mold now. But he had been so used to being alone that it didn’t occur to him that letting someone in would hurt. The only other woman who was in his life was Nettie and even she didn’t even know the truth about his mother.

            His mother, his beautiful, fragile, broken mother; she had been the light in his life. A victim of rape, she had lived a very somber and quiet life afterwards. She gave birth to a boy whose eyes carried the man who took her innocence and yet she loved him with every fiber of her being. One night when he had turned 21, she pulled him aside and told him the story. Perhaps it was because she didn’t want him to take someone against their will or because perhaps she was afraid they would come back for her. She needed someone to know her story and to make sure someone was there to give her justice should she disappear.

            He took another shot and downed the memory that he’d locked away for so long. He heard the creaking of the stairs and turned slightly to find Emily making her way down. She had that tousled hair with kiss me lips staring at him. Ironically, everything in him remained still and he turned away, knowing she was angry at his reaction. She made his way to her and as he tried to pour another shot, she grabbed the bottle from him.

            “You’ve had enough to drink,” she said.

            He tried to reach for the bottle, but she held it out of his reach. “Give it back.”

            She smiled and placed it between her hands. “You want it? Why don’t you get up and try to get it?”

            Tom stood up and dizziness washed over him. He stared at her smile and inside he felt the vomit coming up, and it wasn’t from the drink. “Keep it.”

            He turned to go and she walked around to block him. “What’s wrong with me? Why don’t you like me? Do I not have what Yelena has?”

            “Move,” he said.

            She put the bottle on the table and moved her hands to his arms. She traced them up until she reached his neck. She moved in closer to him. “I have something Yelena will never have. I have passion and I have a body men find irresistible. One taste and you’re hooked.”

            Tom leaned down close to her and removed her hands from his neck. “Stay away from me, Emily or I will send you back to your home.”

            She frowned as he walked around her and up the stairs. It was a long flight of stairs when drunk and he almost stumbled on the top step. He caught himself and dragged his numb and heavy legs to the bedroom door. He opened it, walked in, closed it and flopped on the bed just before he knocked out.

 

            The power of the pillow slamming into his face woke him up. Tom cursed and sat up, his head spinning as the pillow whacked him in the face again. He grabbed the pillow and tossed it aside as he looked up to find Yelena sitting on the bed beside him. She cursed and reached to hit him, but he grabbed her hands and pulled her toward him, hard.

            “I’ve got a damn hangover, lassie. Stop screaming and hitting me before I kiss you senseless,” he said.

            She tried to pull her hands free, but failed. “You slept in my bed! What did you do to me?!”

            He frowned and let her hands go. He took a look around and realized she was right. He turned back to look at her. “I was drunk and came in here by mistake. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

            She blushed and looked away. When she looked back up at him, she changed the subject. “Just get out of my room.”

            She moved to get away from him and he grabbed her arm. “Wait…why were you so sound asleep?”

            “None of your damn business.”

            He tightened his grip. “What did you do?”

            “Nothing!”

            “Tell me!”

            She scoffed and swallowed hard. “I was…I was scared so I took a little something to relax me.”

            He frowned and looked around the room. His eyes fell on the whiskey bottle on the drawer top. He laughed and let her go. “You were drinking, lassie? Have you even taken a shot in your life?”

            “Yes, I have!” she argued.

            He laughed. “So if you were drunk and I was drunk, we can both come to terms that nothing happened last night. Or we were both too drunk to remember anything.”

            She cleared her throat. “Seeing as how we’re both still fully clothed, I choose that nothing happened.”

            He held his head in his hand, which was spinning wildly. He groaned and cleared his throat as he turned to face her. “How do you not have a hangover?”

            She shrugged. “I took one shot.”

            Laughing, he said, “Oh, figured.”

            “Why were you drinking?”

            “Well, as a lassie once told me, none of your business. I’m going to take a bath and drink a pitcher of water.”

            Yelena finished putting the milk on the table and turned around to find Nettie pulling the biscuits out of the oven. She grabbed the plate of bacons on the counter and placed it on the table just as Two Faced and Bobby stepped in. They sat down and helped themselves to a healthy serving of everything on the table. Tom walked in, freshly shaved and dressed in a blue shirt and jeans, and sat down. Emily came in after wearing a black cotton dress and her hair in braids down the front of her chest.

            “Good morning,” she said sweetly.

            “Morning,” Bobby and Two Faced said in unison while Tom remained mute.

            After breakfast, Tom began packing and Yelena watched as he called out to his two men to saddle the horses. She swallowed, knowing he was going to leave. He had told her he was going on business. She knew what his business was and even though they hadn’t known each other long, she feared for his life.

            “How long will you be gone?” she asked.

            They were in the kitchen alone. He looked up at her. “I don’t know, a few days, a week at the most. I have to wait for a shipment.”

            “What kind of shipment?”

            He looked away. “It’s best if you don’t know.”

            She nodded. “Perhaps.”

            Yelena turned to go, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around. She stared into his eyes and found his lips inviting as he watched her. Where he held it, it seemed to burn and tingle. He looked at her from her eyes to her lips and back.

            “Don’t go out again. I’d hate to think of you in danger while I’m not here,” he said.

            She nodded. “Yes.”

            He nodded and let her go. “I should get going. Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

            “Yes,” she said.

            “Make sure you stay here and don’t wander.”

            “Yes.”

            He sighed. “I’ve heard three yeses, can I hear another word?”

            “Ok?”

            Yelena watched the three of them ride off with Emily beside her. After their initial good-bye, Tom walked off and then came back to give her a peck on the cheek, which surprised her. She wasn’t expecting anything of that sort and he must of had been fighting with himself whether or not to give it because he had been quiet during breakfast.

            “It’s just us ladies now,” Emily said.

            “You should send a telegram to your mother. She is probably worried about you.”

            Emily turned to look at her. “Why would she be worried? She’s got her husband at home. That’s all she needs.”

            “But she’s your mother. She deserves to know where you are. For once, stop thinking about yourself.”

            Laughing, Emily replied, “I have to think of myself because she doesn’t think about me. You grew up in a perfect home with a father who loves you! You don’t know anything about my life or what I have to live with.”