Somewhere in His Arms (58 page)

             
She laughed. “Want to go to the store with me?”

             
Pat's broad face broke into a grin. “Sure, why not? I ain't got nothing better to do.”

             
They drove back with a backseat full of fattening goodies that wouldn't help their cholesterol. Pat helped her with the bags and Alec had gotten up and held the door open as they brought them inside. “Well, where have you two been?”

             
“Hello, to you too!” Lucy said as they exchanged kisses. “We had to get stuff to eat, remember? There's nothing in the house.”

             
Alec carried the bags into the kitchen and set them on the table. He began taking out boxes and packages of meat. Lucy joined him and started rummaging for pots and pans. “Sleep well?” she asked, and was answered by a grimace.

             
“I've got the worst headache and he”---he nodded in Pat's general direction---“doesn't help.”

             
“I know, but behave just for tonight,” she pleaded as she oiled a pan and set it on the stove.  “You can grumble tomorrow.” Lucy began to boil potatoes and chopped some garlic.

             
“Grumble?” He handed her a spatula. “You make me seem like a bear.”
              “Well, you are!” she laughed and wrinkled her nose. “You're a horrible grouch when you don't get any sleep!”

             
“That's true.” Alec handed her the salt and pepper. “I suppose I ought to go and talk to the old boy.”

             
“There's an idea!” Lucy shooed him away when he tried to snag a dinner roll. He gave her a noisy peck on the cheek and went out to Pat who lounged on the sofa trying to figure out the intricacies of Yankee television.

             
Pat switched from one channel to the next, trying to figure out why there were so many reality shows. Not one football game on the telly! He flung the remote aside in frustration and contented himself with some bloke trying to outrun one of those zombie things. He glanced up to find Alec studying him contemplatively. “Well, out with it laddie!” he growled at last.

             
“I didn't say a thing.”

             
“You don't have to. You've got Maggie's eyes, and they always say the same thing when she knows I've made a mess of it!”

             
“Well, I
would
like to know what the hell you were doing over there. He won't talk to me, what makes you think he'll talk to you?”

             
Pat sighed raggedly. “I did it for your mum. She's had a hard time of it, with the cancer and all. I wanted to put an end to all of it!” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Do you know what it's like to see the woman you love lying helpless in a hospital bed?”

             
“I've been there, dad and I don't care to go there again.” Alec handed him a can of Old Speckled Hen. “Here, better finish these off.”

             
Pat took the can gratefully and after a thoughtful gulp, set it down. “When did you go there?”

             
Alec exhaled heavily. “When that son of a bitch tried to kill Lucy, she almost bled to death. I sat and kept vigil, waiting for her to wake up, and fearing I'd never have a chance to tell her how I felt.”

             
“There, now laddie.” Pat gave his stepson a comforting slap on the arm. “She's all better now, thanks to you. She glows when she's around you and you her.”

             
“Well, it's been a long, hard road getting there.” Alec cleared his throat, flushing slightly. “So, when's the last time you heard from Rudy?”

             
He shrugged. “A few weeks ago, before you left. He called me and said he had a few things to sort out and that I should tell you not to worry.”

             
“That doesn't sound like the old boy. He's been acting strange ever since we got back from Point Reyes.”

             
“How so?”

             
“I don't know.” Alec and Pat watched some telly until he glanced up to see Lucy motioning for them to come eat. “Did you find anything up there?” He rose and helped Pat to his feet.

             
“Well, now that you mention it laddie, I
did
find something.”

             
“What?”

             
Pat sat down at the table and began helping himself to fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. He glanced up to see Alec scowling at him. “Not before supper!” he said, and buttered a roll. He'd tell him about the spectacles later. All he wanted to do now was eat.

             
Alec shook his head at his inquiring wife and sat down across from her and watched his stepfather wolf down most of their dinner. After they ate what was left, Pat polished off half a chocolate cake, and went to bed. He and Lucy were left with the fudgy remains and sat in the kitchen licking the frosting off their forks and talking.

             
“He 's going to eat us out of house and home if we let him.”

             
She giggled and washed down her cake with ice-cold milk. “Well, he
is
a large man. It takes a lot of food to move that around!”

             
“Very funny, wife!” He rose and got her plate and put it in the sink. ”I mean it! I don't know what's going on anymore. Rudy's gone off on some half-assed expedition, Pat's a criminal, and my wee brother is a porn star! Have I left anyone out?”

             
Lucy got up, went to him, and slid her arms around his waist. “You worry too much, English. Everything will sort itself out. You'll see.”

             
“Aren't you the least bit worried about Rudy?”

             
She glanced up. “I'm worried sick. But I don't think I'll be helping anyone by being a nervous wreck.”

             
“That's your logical side rearing its impossible head again,” he said huskily and kissed the top of her head. “Let's go to bed, wife. I'm tired.”

             
She glanced at the dishes piled up in the sink. “What about those?”

             
“We'll do them tomorrow!” He caught her hand and tugged her along with him to the bedroom. “Sleep first! Chores later!”

             
“But Ale---!” she protested to no avail. But her husband was right. After brushing her teeth and changing into her nightgown, she was so tired Alec had to tuck her in. He climbed in beside her and drew her close.

             
He lay awake for a long time, listening to the distant roar of ocean waves coming through a crack in the window, and wondering if they were
ever
going to have a peaceful marriage.

             
Alec sighed and drifted off, content for the moment at least.

             
The next few weeks flew by with Halloween fast approaching and still no word from Rudy. He seemed to have vanished into a black hole, and everyone was worried something awful might have befallen their favorite lawyer. Both Lucy and Alec braved on as best they could, with Pat lounging around the house, and being a general pain in the ass.

             
Alec didn't like Lucy running around cooking, cleaning, and waiting on Pat hand and foot like some servant. He'd finally lost his temper and told Pat to start helping out or he was going to drive him out to the desert and leave his sorry arse out there. Pat of course, had laughed his damn fool head off, and washed a few measly glasses.

             
Some help,
Alec thought bitterly.

             
When Saturday arrived, he told Pat
he
could do the dishes because he was taking his wife out---on a date.

             
“B-But what'll I do when you're gone, laddie? There's nothing on the telly!”

             
“Oh I don't know,” Alec drawled, escorting Lucy to the door. “Why don't you mop the kitchen floor and vacuum the living room? That's a good way to burn off all that cake you've been stuffing in that gob of yours!”

             
“You'll not get away with this, laddie!” Pat blustered, shaking his huge fist at them. “I'll tell yer mum and then you'll be sorry!”

             
“Temper, temper old boy!” Alec chided softly and shut the door as Pat continued to rail about kids today. He chuckled to himself as he walked Lucy to the car. “He's got such a nasty disposition!”

             
“You're enjoying this far too much,” she scolded. “You should have told him to do his laundry. He used all the towels... again!”

             
“See?” Alec told her as she buckled her seatbelt. “I told you what would happen, but nooo...you just had to invite him to stay.”

             
“How was I supposed to know how many towels he uses in one day?”

             
“That's the point!” Alec started the car. “Mum never lets him get away with this stuff. All she has to do is look at him and he goes off and does his chores like a good little husband.”

             
“Maybe I should try that with you.”

             
“I don't think you'd have to go that far, love,” he said laughing, and pulled out of the driveway. “So what movie are we seeing?”

             
“I don't know,” she sighed, just happy to get out of the house and the never-ending mountains of laundry. “I guess we'll find out when we get there.”

             
They loaded up on hot dogs and soda at the concession stand, and Alec was glad he'd bought their tickets early; the line stretched clear out into the mall. “I guess everyone and their mum wants to see this movie.”

             
Lucy smiled and followed her husband into the theatre where they sat way in back to avoid the pitfalls of sitting in front of people who liked to kick. They shared popcorn and waited for the previews. The lights went down and the screen lit up. Soon the audience was hooting and hollering as their favorite action hero showed up and started kicking ass and taking names. Lucy had never given much credence to the genre, but every now and then the action sequences had something to offer in the most violent ways in which to dispatch a villain. There were several car explosions, two decapitations, an airplane crash, a painful disembowelment, and a particularly nasty sequence in which the hero threw several knives and then finished off the goons with his pistol, some of whom were already dead.

             
Lucy shook her head and plugged her ears with her fingers. Everyone was screaming and cheering, even Alec was shouting for the hero to get the bad guys. And then...a familiar face popped up on screen.

             
It was...
him.

             
Even ten years gone, she could still feel his hot breath against her cheek and his hands on her young breasts. Vivian hadn't believed her when she told her what her latest toy-boy had done to her after he left Vivian's bed. She'd just turned thirteen, and he was tall and handsome and charming. One night he'd come to her room and touched her. Lucy thought it all had been a horrible dream. Then it happened again the next night and the next and so on. He would try to kiss her and would punch her in the arm when she refused. Then one night he came again and grew enraged when he found Lucy bundled up in several layers of clothes. That's when he forced her...

             
Lucy's stomach lurched at the remembered taste of him, and she clapped a hand over her mouth and barely made it to the ladies' room. Most of her dinner and all the popcorn she ate came up in a tasteless disgorge, splattering her clothes and hair. Tears coursed down her cheeks and her nose started to bleed. Shuddering with the last spasms, she grabbed a handful of toilet paper and tried to staunch the flow.

             
She stood hunched over the bowl, shaking violently, and dreaded what would happen if Alec ever found out.

             
“Lucy?”
It was Alec!
“Are you in here, love?”

             
Lucy winced. She'd have to tell him. You couldn't keep a secret like this from your husband and not expect it to bite your ass sooner or later. She mumbled an affirmative and wanted to die.

             
“Let me in, love,” he said, rapping lightly on the stall door.

             
She reached up reluctantly and opened it. His eyes widened at her appearance. “My God, love!
What
happened?”

             
She shook her head and turned away from him in shame. The tears wouldn't stop.

             
“I'm a m-mess!” she croaked. “I--I'm sorry.”