As soon as they get to the kitchen, both are seated at the table and
an overflowing plate of ham, bacon, eggs, and pancakes is placed
before each of them. Cadence looks over at James, "If I didn't know
better, I'd think y'all was trying to fatten me up some."
"That was the general idea, Widget. You're much too skinny. That was another thing that Edwin was worried about. You don't eat enough to keep a small kitten alive."
She just shakes her head and proceeds to slowly devour everything on her plate and goes back for seconds. James takes advantage of her silence and introduces the rest of the family to her.
Toby comes toddling into the kitchen and instead of climbing into his favorite seat, crosses over and crawls into Cadence's lap, trying to steal the last of her breakfast.
"So, Staff Sergeant Tolliver, how did you and James first meet?" his mom, Sharon, asked her.
"Call me Cadie, please. It was a few days after I joined this unit, and the hand-to-hand instructor thought that he'd have the perfectly mismatched pair for sparring. Ha. I think I showed him the error quickly enough."
"What happened?" James's dad, Ronnie, asked.
"She had me on my back within two minutes of the instructor's start signal. She may look small, but as she reminded me that morning, the biggest blasts come from the smallest packages," James revealed, seemingly embarrassed that this little girl had taken him down with very little expenditure of energy.
The whole group laughed.
"As I recall, that wasn't the only thing I reminded you of that morning either." Cadence told him. "I also told you that looks could be deceiving and that you should always keep an eye on your opponents."
"Yeah, that and the fact that you weren't that kind of girl." he replied, causing Cadence to blush.
Ronnie looked concerned. "He hasn't tried anything with you, has he? If he has, I swear I'll tan his backside like I did when he was a kid."
Cadence laughed. "Now, that's a visual." Everyone began laughing as James jokingly glared at the group and then joined in the laughter. "Everyone knows that you're never too big to be flipped over a knee."
"Sir, if he had tried anything, he'd probably still be in the hospital. If I don't want anything to happen, it won't happen," she told him, getting serious. "I guess it's a holdover from when I was growing up. Either you fought to survive or you submitted and were dead."
"It doesn't sound like you had a very happy childhood," Sharon stated.
"Well, let's put it this way, I can't remember a lot of it because I blacked it out from my memory. I can only remember certain things, and those are fuzzy. The only thing I can remember for certain is that I was on my own at the age of ten."
"What did your mother say? About you being on your own at ten, I mean."
"Hell, pardon my language, she was the cause. That woman didn't want me around at all. She did, on the other hand, want my two younger brothers, who are still, as I have since found out, living in luxury at my expense."
"What do you mean at your expense, Widget?" James demanded.
"Somebody has been taking money out of my accounts, and it most certainly wasn't me. Philip, Blaine, Joan and I did some checking around and discovered that my mother had somehow managed to get a way into my accounts and started draining them. We put the kibosh on that with a few keystrokes," she revealed, embarrassed.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because at the time it was none of your business. I'm the type of person who solves my own problems by myself."
"I know that now, but back then, I could tell something was wrong and when I asked you about it, you dang near snapped my head off."
"Well, let's see. I wasn't really in a good mood that day, either. I had just hit my limit of dealing with people around that time, and I needed some time to myself. You weren't helping."
"That's true. I'm sorry." He said, scratching his jaw. Cadence almost moans in desire as she watches him. "What?" he asks, seeing the expression on her face.
"I'll tell you later."
"Oh, Okay. Is there anything special that you wanted to do today?"
"Not particularly. Why?"
"Cause I thought that we could maybe go exploring. See what's changed since the last time I was here."
"Works for me."
"Have you ever ridden a motorcycle, Widget?"
"Ridden them, heck, I've raced my share of them. I had to get around somehow, and they seemed to be the easiest and cheapest way to go. I used to race under the name of Liberty Killeen."
His eyebrows rise in surprise as his jaw drops. She had been one of his idols when she had raced when he had first joined the Joe unit. He still had some posters from back then. "I got to get one of her autographs. Jeez, who would have thought that my racing idol and my sweet little compadre would turn out to be the same person? I just hope Mom took those posters down and put them away. I'm glad I took the three I did when I went into the military and they're now hanging in my quarters, so she can't see them."
He leads her out the door and over to the garage, where he pulls a tarp off of his motorcycle, and pulls two helmets off of pegs on the wall, tossing one of them over to her. She pulls her hair back and very quickly braids it. She then coils it loosely around her head and pulls the helmet on.
He pulls his helmet on and checks the gas gauge, ascertaining that he has enough gas to get where he plans on going. He has a little trouble starting the bike, but he finally gets it going and Cadence slips on behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He looks up and grins at his thoughts. "I could enjoy this immensely. She really knows how to hold on and ride, and her body fits so well to mine. I wish it could be like this forever."
Sure enough, Cadence can handle herself on a motorcycle. He stops at a small mom and pop gas station with an attached cafe and while Cadence is gone to the ladies' room, he orders a couple of hamburgers and chocolate shakes to go.
When Cadence returns to the bike, he has the food stashed in one of the saddlebags and they ride until they get to a little park in the woods off of the highway overlooking a pristine lake with a naturally occurring waterfall.
"Oh James. It's beautiful!" sighs Cadence as she stretches and takes in their surroundings.
"This is where I used to come whenever life got too hectic or I needed to think some things through. The sound of the waterfall was what kept me calm and allowed me to think."
He pulls a blanket from one of the saddlebags and spreads it out on the ground. He leads Cadence over to it, and seats her on one corner of it. He then goes back to the bike and gets the food, carrying it over to the blanket and sitting down, passing half of the food to her.
When they get finished eating, he draws her over into his lap and they sit there, watching the lake and relaxing, her back against his chest.
"I really enjoyed last night, James. I didn't have any of those nightmares that I normally have, and I think I know why."
"Why is that, little one?" he asked, his chin resting on her shoulder, and his arms were wrapped around her.
"I think it was because you were there. I think you kept me grounded, and that's why the nightmares didn't come back last night."
"Good. Then I'm glad I made you feel safe last night. I intend to do that for the rest of our lives," he says turning her head to face his and tenderly kissing her.
She breaks away as her cell phone buzzes and rings. Her face grows pale as she listens to the speaker. She suddenly leaps up and out of James's lap, looking around frantically as if she senses an ambush about to begin.
He immediately has an idea of who is on the other end of the phone, and he grabs it out of her hand. He starts in on the person. "Who the hell is this?"
"You are not someone she should be with. You are way too good for her. Do not lower yourself to the level of his worthless little piece of gutter trash. I recommend that you get as far away from her as you can because in a few minutes, she'll be dead."
"You've screwed her over way too much in her life. I won't allow you to do it again. She's my woman now, I have claimed her and she's under my protection."
"I don't think so; can you protect her from a bullet?"
A shot rings out and Cadence staggers, hit in the arm. She snarls and looks over at James, mouthing, "It's just a flesh wound."
"Ha. You can't hit the broad side of a barn." He rushes over to Cadence's side and grabs her arm, checking the wound when another shot rings out and Cadence is hit in the chest. James immediately disconnects from the call and calls 911, telling the dispatcher where they are, what has happened, and what he's doing in the way of first aid.
He growls deep in his throat. He'd lost one friend from a gunshot wound to the chest, he'd be damned if he'd lose the woman he loved.
He blocks out everything except the sound of Cadence's breathing. "That's it, little one. Breathe for me. Keep breathing. Don't give up on me now, when I've just found you. Come on, Cadence. Breathe for me. Stay with me, baby girl. In and out, babe. Breathe for me. Live up to your code name, girl. Keep breathing. Don't leave me here alone, Cadie, please. Live for me, little Spitfyre." He keeps cajoling her to breathe as he tries to stop the profuse bleeding.
Suddenly, he hears the sounds of sirens as the ambulance swings up beside the motorcycle in the clearing. James decides to ride along behind the ambulance, and meet them at the hospital. He realizes that he would only be in the way if he were to ride in the ambulance with Cadie, so he makes the decision to ride the bike to the hospital, following the ambulance. He calls his family and lets them know what has happened, and they decide that John will ride out with the trailer hitched on his truck and pick up the motorcycle, and the rest of them will follow and meet him at the hospital as soon as they could.
"That was the general idea, Widget. You're much too skinny. That was another thing that Edwin was worried about. You don't eat enough to keep a small kitten alive."
She just shakes her head and proceeds to slowly devour everything on her plate and goes back for seconds. James takes advantage of her silence and introduces the rest of the family to her.
Toby comes toddling into the kitchen and instead of climbing into his favorite seat, crosses over and crawls into Cadence's lap, trying to steal the last of her breakfast.
"So, Staff Sergeant Tolliver, how did you and James first meet?" his mom, Sharon, asked her.
"Call me Cadie, please. It was a few days after I joined this unit, and the hand-to-hand instructor thought that he'd have the perfectly mismatched pair for sparring. Ha. I think I showed him the error quickly enough."
"What happened?" James's dad, Ronnie, asked.
"She had me on my back within two minutes of the instructor's start signal. She may look small, but as she reminded me that morning, the biggest blasts come from the smallest packages," James revealed, seemingly embarrassed that this little girl had taken him down with very little expenditure of energy.
The whole group laughed.
"As I recall, that wasn't the only thing I reminded you of that morning either." Cadence told him. "I also told you that looks could be deceiving and that you should always keep an eye on your opponents."
"Yeah, that and the fact that you weren't that kind of girl." he replied, causing Cadence to blush.
Ronnie looked concerned. "He hasn't tried anything with you, has he? If he has, I swear I'll tan his backside like I did when he was a kid."
Cadence laughed. "Now, that's a visual." Everyone began laughing as James jokingly glared at the group and then joined in the laughter. "Everyone knows that you're never too big to be flipped over a knee."
"Sir, if he had tried anything, he'd probably still be in the hospital. If I don't want anything to happen, it won't happen," she told him, getting serious. "I guess it's a holdover from when I was growing up. Either you fought to survive or you submitted and were dead."
"It doesn't sound like you had a very happy childhood," Sharon stated.
"Well, let's put it this way, I can't remember a lot of it because I blacked it out from my memory. I can only remember certain things, and those are fuzzy. The only thing I can remember for certain is that I was on my own at the age of ten."
"What did your mother say? About you being on your own at ten, I mean."
"Hell, pardon my language, she was the cause. That woman didn't want me around at all. She did, on the other hand, want my two younger brothers, who are still, as I have since found out, living in luxury at my expense."
"What do you mean at your expense, Widget?" James demanded.
"Somebody has been taking money out of my accounts, and it most certainly wasn't me. Philip, Blaine, Joan and I did some checking around and discovered that my mother had somehow managed to get a way into my accounts and started draining them. We put the kibosh on that with a few keystrokes," she revealed, embarrassed.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because at the time it was none of your business. I'm the type of person who solves my own problems by myself."
"I know that now, but back then, I could tell something was wrong and when I asked you about it, you dang near snapped my head off."
"Well, let's see. I wasn't really in a good mood that day, either. I had just hit my limit of dealing with people around that time, and I needed some time to myself. You weren't helping."
"That's true. I'm sorry." He said, scratching his jaw. Cadence almost moans in desire as she watches him. "What?" he asks, seeing the expression on her face.
"I'll tell you later."
"Oh, Okay. Is there anything special that you wanted to do today?"
"Not particularly. Why?"
"Cause I thought that we could maybe go exploring. See what's changed since the last time I was here."
"Works for me."
"Have you ever ridden a motorcycle, Widget?"
"Ridden them, heck, I've raced my share of them. I had to get around somehow, and they seemed to be the easiest and cheapest way to go. I used to race under the name of Liberty Killeen."
His eyebrows rise in surprise as his jaw drops. She had been one of his idols when she had raced when he had first joined the Joe unit. He still had some posters from back then. "I got to get one of her autographs. Jeez, who would have thought that my racing idol and my sweet little compadre would turn out to be the same person? I just hope Mom took those posters down and put them away. I'm glad I took the three I did when I went into the military and they're now hanging in my quarters, so she can't see them."
He leads her out the door and over to the garage, where he pulls a tarp off of his motorcycle, and pulls two helmets off of pegs on the wall, tossing one of them over to her. She pulls her hair back and very quickly braids it. She then coils it loosely around her head and pulls the helmet on.
He pulls his helmet on and checks the gas gauge, ascertaining that he has enough gas to get where he plans on going. He has a little trouble starting the bike, but he finally gets it going and Cadence slips on behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He looks up and grins at his thoughts. "I could enjoy this immensely. She really knows how to hold on and ride, and her body fits so well to mine. I wish it could be like this forever."
Sure enough, Cadence can handle herself on a motorcycle. He stops at a small mom and pop gas station with an attached cafe and while Cadence is gone to the ladies' room, he orders a couple of hamburgers and chocolate shakes to go.
When Cadence returns to the bike, he has the food stashed in one of the saddlebags and they ride until they get to a little park in the woods off of the highway overlooking a pristine lake with a naturally occurring waterfall.
"Oh James. It's beautiful!" sighs Cadence as she stretches and takes in their surroundings.
"This is where I used to come whenever life got too hectic or I needed to think some things through. The sound of the waterfall was what kept me calm and allowed me to think."
He pulls a blanket from one of the saddlebags and spreads it out on the ground. He leads Cadence over to it, and seats her on one corner of it. He then goes back to the bike and gets the food, carrying it over to the blanket and sitting down, passing half of the food to her.
When they get finished eating, he draws her over into his lap and they sit there, watching the lake and relaxing, her back against his chest.
"I really enjoyed last night, James. I didn't have any of those nightmares that I normally have, and I think I know why."
"Why is that, little one?" he asked, his chin resting on her shoulder, and his arms were wrapped around her.
"I think it was because you were there. I think you kept me grounded, and that's why the nightmares didn't come back last night."
"Good. Then I'm glad I made you feel safe last night. I intend to do that for the rest of our lives," he says turning her head to face his and tenderly kissing her.
She breaks away as her cell phone buzzes and rings. Her face grows pale as she listens to the speaker. She suddenly leaps up and out of James's lap, looking around frantically as if she senses an ambush about to begin.
He immediately has an idea of who is on the other end of the phone, and he grabs it out of her hand. He starts in on the person. "Who the hell is this?"
"You are not someone she should be with. You are way too good for her. Do not lower yourself to the level of his worthless little piece of gutter trash. I recommend that you get as far away from her as you can because in a few minutes, she'll be dead."
"You've screwed her over way too much in her life. I won't allow you to do it again. She's my woman now, I have claimed her and she's under my protection."
"I don't think so; can you protect her from a bullet?"
A shot rings out and Cadence staggers, hit in the arm. She snarls and looks over at James, mouthing, "It's just a flesh wound."
"Ha. You can't hit the broad side of a barn." He rushes over to Cadence's side and grabs her arm, checking the wound when another shot rings out and Cadence is hit in the chest. James immediately disconnects from the call and calls 911, telling the dispatcher where they are, what has happened, and what he's doing in the way of first aid.
He growls deep in his throat. He'd lost one friend from a gunshot wound to the chest, he'd be damned if he'd lose the woman he loved.
He blocks out everything except the sound of Cadence's breathing. "That's it, little one. Breathe for me. Keep breathing. Don't give up on me now, when I've just found you. Come on, Cadence. Breathe for me. Stay with me, baby girl. In and out, babe. Breathe for me. Live up to your code name, girl. Keep breathing. Don't leave me here alone, Cadie, please. Live for me, little Spitfyre." He keeps cajoling her to breathe as he tries to stop the profuse bleeding.
Suddenly, he hears the sounds of sirens as the ambulance swings up beside the motorcycle in the clearing. James decides to ride along behind the ambulance, and meet them at the hospital. He realizes that he would only be in the way if he were to ride in the ambulance with Cadie, so he makes the decision to ride the bike to the hospital, following the ambulance. He calls his family and lets them know what has happened, and they decide that John will ride out with the trailer hitched on his truck and pick up the motorcycle, and the rest of them will follow and meet him at the hospital as soon as they could.