Hi:

Things are heating up in our favorite fishing village. We are all aware of the trio's difficulties. A true sea-monster possibly on its way to the coast and those pesky Russians traveling by submarine to this location. Add to that, the US Navy, they've been too quiet.

Remember the ever changing personality of Elaine. It too has been silent and unseen. Could it be she has hatched a plan?

Just a tease concerning future posts.

Now…to continue from Chapter 54.


Chapter 55

We'll see about that.

As evening sneaks up dimming the sun's rays on the small fishing enclave known as Bristol Cove. It is a welcomed sight to one of their residents.

"I'm glad you waited for me to close the shop." Helen tells Maddie.

"I understand." The young scientist shrugs her shoulders. "A business is a business."

"No, dear. I'm fairly sure the Navy is in our homes." She takes a breath. "Maybe, if they could they'd stick a listening device in our brain."

The two women walk toward the pier. An open location with, at times a deafening mixture of clanging bells and revving engines. A recipe certain to foil any attempt at eavesdropping.

"You look like a woman that has been caught in a sandstorm or…" A grin grows on Helen's face.
"Or had the most unbelievable sex in her life." States a serious looking Maddie.

"What is this about Sarge?" As the older woman asks, a gust of wind whips along the wooden dock causing the felt lined fedora to take to the air.

"My goodness girl. Your hair!" Helen snaps. "You look like that Ben sent you to heaven and back." She ends her observation with short bursts of laughter.

Returning from retrieving the hat, "hell is more like it."
The older woman stands with her back to the wind. Gray wavy hair flutters about her stern looking face.

Maddie's comment has caught her attention.

"Let's go to the Anchor. I can hear them from here." Her olive complexion softens as she sports a smile. "Must be a wild bachelor party. Perfect for our needs."

As the two walk toward the restaurant, Maddie begins to tell her story. Helen's eyes shift back and forth as the girl describes in detail every instance of the late-afternoon tryst.

The Anchor

Sitting in a booth the pair pretend to read the menu. Information Helen now possesses has curtailed the woman's need for dinner.

"You are not the first person to do that." There is a short pause. "But, Maddie…you mean to tell me Ryn was right there for the whole thing."

"Yes," a quick reply leads to more shocking information. "I've done it myself, Helen. I did it to Robb." Dark colored eyes drift their gaze downward.

"He told me, I love you." Maddie takes a deep breath. "And I answered him with," upper teeth drag along a lower lip.

"I love you Ben."
Helen sits stunned. Her left cheek rests on the woman's palm. She tries to close her opened mouth but fails.

"I know…you must be shocked at my true…confessions." Maddie speaks through stuttered breaths.

"Well, don't worry about what I think." Helen adds. "The person you must worry about is Ryn." Ms. Hawkins licks her lips.

"I knew that the three of you were," she looks out the window. Turning back to Maddie, "how can I put it?"

"Please, I know Helen…what you must think. But we are in love."

The woman's mouth again opens as if to speak.

No words are uttered.

"Helen, now Ryn wants us," the young woman's hands begin to tremble. "Me and Ben…she wants us to have a baby." Taut facial muscles ease into a relieved expression. Baring her soul has appeared to dilute her fears.

The young biologist's companion remains silent.

"I think, Joe is trying to contact me." Maddie whispers. "Like Sarge tried to contact you. Joe needs to tell me something. Or maybe he…I don't know."

Leaning over the table, she pushes her head toward Helen.

"When I was in bed with the both of them, Ryn and Ben." Maddie bites her lip. "I could feel his breath on my face."

Helen scans the room, then lifts her head to check the booths behind and in front of her. "Please, believe me. I felt him on top of me. The way he held me. As Ben's hands traveled up my breasts, it was almost like…" A slender palm shields strained eyes from Helen's shocked expression.

Maddie cannot stop talking.

"The way he felt inside me. Inside me, Helen." A gust of air follows her words. "I know it was him. Him and not Ben."

Trembling hands move through the air, as tremors travel the length of her body.

Helen can only sit, helpless to stem the shuddering young woman to her front.

Maddie closes her eyes and speaks.

"Helen, I felt his cross hit my chin." She sits back. "It was real."


Returning home

Soft footsteps creep into the communal home. As the figure moves to the down stair's guest room a voice stiffens her posture.

"Maddie." A whisper emanating from the leather recliner is repeated. "Maddie."

Ben sits with his hands on the flared, rounded track arms. A streak of moonlight has managed to slink through the curtains underlining his silhouette.

"Oh, Ben…I'm so sorry." She kneels down next to the chair, placing her palm over his.

"Mad, there's nothing to be sorry about. I understand." His whispers float to her ears. They are soft and sympathetic.

"But something like that?"
His reply is immediate.

"Something like that is," he scoots up in the recliner. "It is almost normal. It's only been a week since the man that gave his life to save yours…well." Ben's hand moves to her cheek. Strong fingers gently stroke the soft cream-like skin.

"But how does Ryn feel?" Maddie needs to swallow attempting to moisten an arid throat.

"She knows I had done the same thing to Robb. She did not react well."
"How do you mean?" He asks.

"Just the way she looked at me. Ben, you know her. She remained quiet, but I knew she was judging me."

"She is the Queen." He snorts out a sigh.

"Ben, I love you both. This thing with Joe." Maddie looks to the stairway.

"She's sleeping. Everyone is." His words hold a tone of despair.

"I talked to Helen. I don't think it was me. I think, he is trying to tell us something." Her dark as night iris catches a flake of moonlight. For a moment, her eyes take on the appearance of a clear night sky with one twinkling star.

Ben slides from the chair. They kneel in front of the each other.

"Maddie, you are so beautiful. Your face," he inhales. "Your soul."
As they kiss, Ben's lips glide along her cheek. She expects another on her ear but is surprised at what she hears.

"Maddie, I've stop myself from calling out your name," his head moves back. "I've been with Ryn…alone…and fought the urge to scream for you."

"Ben, Ryn must never know. It will ruin our relationship." Maddie looks again to the stairs.

"Don't worry. After hearing what you told me about Torello and Tia's little S & M encounters."

His chuckle is halted by her response.

"Ben, I would ask him about the marks, the bruises on his body. He would make a joke about being a bad boy." She stands with Ben following. She looks toward their bedroom.

"Please, it's ok. We had some rump in the hay when the kids were off to bed. Even she was exhausted."

"So she's asleep?"
"Yes, sweetheart. Don't worry."

"Ben, I don't know what a jealous Ryn is capable of."
"Maddie, I."

She shakes her head.

"Don't tell me about the stem cells. You might be the strongest man on earth, now." Her teeth bite a lower lip. "You are still part human. She is and will always be stronger."

With his mouth closed he lets out a disgusted rush of air from his nostrils.

"I know her reaction if I ever did that in bed."

He joins her as they both look upstairs.

"I know we promised to never have secrets from each other." Ben pauses. "But this I take to my grave."

"Please do. Ben I love you."

"Don't worry. I'm too old to be spanked."
The lovers giggle and separate.

Maddie decides to sleep downstairs, while Ben returns to the master bedroom. As he ascends the carpeted steps, the creek from a closing door does not reach his improved hearing.

Leaning on the portal. Ryn exhales through clinched teeth. Her unfettered hearing has been focused on the soft whispers from below.

As she walks to the bed, her mind reviews Ben's last few words. Tense lips recede, exposing bared teeth.

"Too old to be spanked?" Ryn exhales causing the taut expression to soften.

"We'll see about that."


Note to reader:

This chapter is dedicated to my friends in the US/Canada/Romania and Brazil. They seem to be the first to read my posts.

Write me with your fav character. I'll make them an important part of future chapters.

GJ