As the two brothers left the office, eyes followed them, then a motor turned and a car prepared to pull out of a secluded parking space. Abruptly it turned its wheels and headed out the back driveway as a green Jeep pulled into the lot. Rick spied its driver. "A.J., you might want to get lunch instead." He teased, and his brother looked to see Laurie wave at the two men.
"Ron called me, guys. I thought I'd go over to your place, A.J. and make lunch for us. "
"Thanks, sis. That's a great idea, only, why don't Rick and I bring some take out. My treat." He added, then snickered as Rick beamed, "Best idea you've had all day."
As they rendezvoused later at the condo complex, the brothers were glad to find no further phone calls had been made to the Simon household. According to Ron, Anita Cooper had been arrested twice in the last six months on disorderly conduct and DUI charges. The last time she had been bailed out by a professional bail bondsman, but apparently had no permanent residence.
"She's unemployed to boot, but somebody must have helped her make bail. I've filed this with the bail bonds place, but she'll be served in a couple of hours also, guys." Their friend promised.
"Thanks, Ron, Laurie's gone to the condo, and I'm sure Anita's just blowing smoke, but still…" Rick glanced at his brother's set face.
"I want my family to be safe." A.J. said finally, then Ron nodded. "Me too, pal. I'll have an extra patrol car go by there tonight, just in case."
Now as the brothers relaxed after dinner, Laurie and Linda cleaned up after dinner, then put the children to bed. As Laurie paused to say good night to Ricky, she caught sight of his open window.
"Ricky, it's too cold to have that open."
"Aw, Auntie Laurie, I like a little fresh air." He grumbled, as she went to shut it.
Suddenly she caught sight of a foreign car at the curb across the street, and hurriedly closed the window.
"Ricky, I'm going to turn out the light now. Stay quiet now, I have to get your dad." She told him.
Rushing out of the room, she found the guys kibitzing over a football game.
"Rick, A.J., there's a strange car in front of the neighbors, Linda says they're out of town. Did Ron send someone over?" she asked calmly.
Rick slowly got up, then looked through the slats of the living room blinds. "No, darlin', that's not one of his. You call Ron then stay put with Linda, A.J. and I will check this out."
As he grabbed his weapon from the gun drawer and A.J. removed the safety catch from his, Laurie dialed up their friend, then after notifying him of the possible threat, came to her husband's side as he waited to slip out of the condo.
"Be careful, love. Ron says not to confront whoever it is without back up. Please." She begged, then he turned and kissed her gently. "We'll be careful, angel, now don't let anyone in but us."
As the two brothers came out of the home, A.J. nudged his brother; a woman's figure was silhouetted in the street light inside the sports car. "Anita", he whispered.
Rick quailed inside, now this was definitely scary. What had happened to make this woman come after A.J. after all these years?
Suddenly the car door opened, then Anita emerged, and Rick quickly "told" his wife, "turn the front light on, Laurie."
As the red-haired woman entered the walkway to the front door, the lights came on, and she froze.
"All right, Anita, that's far enough." Rick warned her in a no-nonsense voice.
He saw her face droop, the wrinkles around her mouth and eyes stark in the bright light.
"Rick, stay out of this. I want to talk to A.J.. You and Laurie have done enough to separate us."
"No, Anita, it was you." A.J. came out of the shadows, then faced her angrily. "You lied, and tried to manipulate me into marrying you. I didn't fall for it then, and I sure don't love you now."
She took a step toward him, then spoke in a pleading tone. "A.J., I'm sorry about all that. You don't know how sorry. I threw away the best thing in my life. Everything I've done since, is crap. I know you think what we had wasn't much, but it was real, I can prove it…"
"Real?" A.J. glared at her, "Harassing my wife and children, threatening my brother and sister, that's what's real."
"Sister, huh! If you mean Laurie, that was your mom's idea, not yours! I know all about her past." Anita spat. Enraged, Rick grabbed his brother's arm. "Come on, A.J., she's done here. You're being served with a restraining order, Anita. Come near any of us again and you'll be in jail in 2 seconds."
A panicked expression filled her eyes. "A.J., please, can we at least talk, I need you, you're the only man I've…"
"That's enough, Anita!" A.J. said tightly, his face red. "I have nothing to say to you, get out of here, now!"
"That's right, Ms. Cooper." Ron's voice carried in the crisp winter air. The glare of car lights broke the night, Reluctantly, the woman turned away from the Simons, then whirled around for one more verbal salvo.
"Listen, A.J., one of these days you'll change your mind, and I'll be waiting." Defiantly she walked away, snatching the court papers from Ron's hand as he politely opened her car door for her.
As she pulled away from the curb and screeched out of the complex, both brothers heaved a sigh of relief and crossed the street to talk to their friend.
Abruptly the sound of a high-powered engine caused Rick to look up, then he saw a van barreling toward them.
"A.J.! " he yelled, then grabbing his brother's arm, tried to jump out of the way.
Screeching tires sounded next to him as he hit the ground, then the noise of shots and voices yelling.
Above the sound he heard two women's voices calling, then he heard a groan next to him. "Rick."
Turning his head and opening his eyes, he saw A.J. awkwardly lying next to him, grimacing in pain.
"A.J.." he found his voice shaking. "Are you all right?"
"My leg, I think it's broken, uhh." A.J. groaned, then looked at his brother. "Rick, if you hadn't…."
"Stay down, A.J.. Just stay down, honey." Linda's voice was next to them, and Rick looked up to see his sister-in-law's concerned face. "Ron called for an ambulance, you're going to be all right. Rick, are you okay?"
"Yeah, just sore." Rick tried to get up, only to find his mother on the other side of him, pushing him back down.
"Mom, where did you come from?" he gasped.
"Laurie called me, son. She's watching over the children. Are you sure you're not hurt?" his mother looked at him with concern.
"I'm fine, Mom. Here's the paramedics now." He responded with relief, seeing the medics coming to his brother's aid.
Within minutes A.J. and Rick were both on gurneys and Ron was yelling over his radio at the units who pursued the hit & run van.
"What do you mean he disappeared?"
"Man, for an old guy you sure have good reflexes."
Rick grinned abashedly at Dr. Allen, who stood with his hands on his hips staring at the older Simon.
"Well, you know, fresh air, clean living,…." He began, only to dodge an elbow from the doctor who'd mended him more then once.
"Good thing I like your wives, guys." He needled, then turned serious as he focused on A.J., his leg encased in a brace.
"A.J., I'm going to keep you overnight just to make sure that leg starts to set, then you can go home. Rick, I want to do the same …" he raised his hand as Rick opened his mouth to protest, "you have a cracked rib and your hip is bruised, I want to make sure you have no internal injuries. Besides, this is an order from Ron and Laurie, and they out-rank you."
A.J. managed a chuckle. "I don't know about Ron, but I wouldn't mess with Laurie, big brother. No, sirree!"
Just then Linda knocked at the door, then seeing Dr. Allens' nod, came in and put her arms around her husband. "A.J., this is my fault, I shouldn't have made such a big thing about that woman. Maybe if I didn't…"
"No, oh no, Linny." A.J. stopped her, then sat up and kissed her. "Honey, this is not your fault. I love you, I don't want anything to do with Anita. She never thought about anyone other then herself and she and her lies drove me away 27 years ago. I want her out of our lives now, she's a danger to us. I won't let anyone hurt you or the children, or ", he glanced at his brother. "The people I love."
Rick had a lump in his throat; what if he hadn't insisted on confronting Anita. Instantly he felt his wife's thoughts toward him, and he wanted to see her so badly.
"Rick, as long as you're feeling better, I'm going home to the children. Laurie won't get any rest until she sees you two are all right." Startled, Rick glanced up at his mother, who had been waiting outside.
"Uh, Mom, how did you do that?"
"Oh, mothers have their ways, besides, I saw the way your face changed just now." Cecilia smiled at him, then gave Rick a hug as he choked, "Mom, I love you. Thank you for being a mind-reader."
"Yeah, me too." A.J. chimed in as Linda wiped her eyes. Cecilia hugged the two of them. "You're welcome, now let me get back to my grandchildren."
