Disclaimer: Please see Chapter 1 for the usual statements
Author's note: I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. My excuse is catching this horrible cold that I'm still battling today. Muay Thai is the violent sport of kickboxing that we know today. American kickboxing is very different and consequently not quite as effective as the Thai version.
Time to Consider
Chapter 19
By Callisto
Blue Cove, DE
Chairman Raines stalked squeakily through the corridors of his hard fought victory with an unhappy heart. The report from Sam was unsatisfactory to say the least. The ridiculous claim that Miss Parker had sought then found refuge behind China's Iron Curtain was preposterous. Despite the evidence presented to confirm this assertion, Raines was still finding it hard to believe. On the surface, it sounded plausible. Parker was fluent in the language, both written and spoken but her contacts were most likely fictitious. Regardless of the find, Raines ordered his sweepers to continue searching for her and to find any traces of the route she used to reach her communist destination. It was the only place on the earth that existed in which neither he nor the Triumvirate had any influence. Explaining this to the judgmental trio would be tricky, but the evidence should convince them eventually and they would all be forced to let the matter drop. The problem with this was the very real possibility that Parker took, forced or invited Jarod to go along with her, effectively shielding him from the reach of the Centre and placing Raines in a very prickly position with his masters—a detail that he felt certain held a great deal of appeal for his fugitive executive.
Lakeside Bed & Breakfast Inn
Lake Catherine, VT
With a hand resting on the door jam, she remained at the closed screen door long after losing sight of him. Inside, she was reluctant to face the peeved woman behind her. This would mark the first time she ever had an argument with her mother—at least in this time frame. Never one to back away from a challenge, Parker howeverwasn't eager to come up against the wall that was her mother's will.
Worse than with her father, Parker knew she would cave faster than a sandcastle at high tide. Instead of exposing her sensitive side, she decided if push came to shove, to come out in front and inform her mother that she and Jarod would only see each other away from the villa. It would be a sacrifice and he wouldn't like it, but she was determined not to lose her only friend in an alien time frame where even her mother was an unknown quantity. It was the only thing that could drive her away from her family home quicker than she had planned. There was so much she still longed to know and understand about both her parents. But Jarod had become an unexpected constant in her life, just at the point when fate condescended to give her several constants where previously there had been none. Inhaling the sweet scent of summer breeze, Parker turned to face her mother.
Catherine had gotten comfortable in a large and roomy club chair. She was composed and serenely beautiful with her legs elegantly crossed and her arms resting regally on either side of the chair. It was her expressive blue eyes that bore holes into Parker, threatening to sweep away what little resolve she had. Before her was a beloved parent. One who had lied but then asked for forgiveness. One who had made mistakes and readily admitted to them without going through tired excuses. One who hadn't insisted on being trusted on the one hand while maintaining a complex web of lies on the other. Instead she knew a mutual respect had to exist between them. Here was a wonderful person who talked to her and listened as well—this wasn't going to be easy.
"Why is this the first time I'm hearing of this boy? You've never sneaked around before with your boyfriends which is leading me to believe there is something serious going on between the two of you that you're hiding."
Nonplussed by Catherine's unnervingly accurate assessment, Parker deflected to an area she could answer without lying. "Because I didn't want you to disapprove. You can't dislike what you don't know," Parker replied calmly. It was still strange hearing Jarod being referred to as a boy—even stranger as her boyfriend.
"Well, unfortunately for you, I do disapprove. The only saving grace in this is that I know his father. Trevor Abernathy is a decent man. I can't imagine him raising a son who would shame him. Thanks to your generosity, I suppose we'll find out for sure," Catherine replied testily. She was irked on too many levels—one of which that Ben had kept Mari's little romance from her and that her husband was well on his way to pampering their already willful child.
"I guess that leaves out trusting me or my judgment," Parker retorted sharply.
"Young lady, so far your judgment has left a lot to be desired. I gave you your space, didn't question your whereabouts even when there were days we barely saw you for more than an hour or two. I deserve better from you. What exactly have you been doing with him?"
"Mother! I can't believe you're even asking me this," Parker responded disbelievingly. She never had discussions like this with her father, Mr. Parker.
"He's very good looking, no doubt extremely intelligent. It's obvious that he's in love with you. It would be extremely tempting…"
"I'm not having this conversation!" Parker yelled in 40-year old indignation.
"You're trying to convince me to trust your judgment. I bet the two of you haven't even discussed using condoms."
"Oh no you didn't just go there! I'm too old to be in teenaged hell," she replied in miserable disbelief.
Catherine's brow wrinkled in momentary confusion. It seemed as though Mari was forgetting her own age. What next? "I think it would be best if you stepped away from this entanglement for a while to allow you to clear your head. Take some time to look at this objectively."
The sudden premonition that she was on the brink of losing Jarod made her suddenly anxious. Irritably pushing aside any chance of self-examination, Parker fired back. "My judgment kept that sadistic murderer from shooting you!"
"You almost killed him! What the devil came over you? He was a smug, evil-minded little wimp my ex-husband scraped up out of the garbage heap. He had no intentions of doing anything more than scaring me," Catherine reasoned. The voices in her head had told her otherwise.
"Scare you?!" Parker yelled incredulously. 'No wonder you fell for Raines' bull the other time,' she seethed under her breath. Looking up into her mother's angry eyes, she continued, "Mama, he would have killed you. Make no mistake about it. He's a sadistic, black-hearted man who takes pleasure in other's pain. He wouldn't have paused except to enjoy the agony on your face."
"How the hell do you know all this!? Have you met this man before?" Catherine asked with a sinking feeling.
"He tried to kidnap me a couple weeks or so ago. That's when Jarod and I sent him away. Just believe me when I say, that if he had the chance, he would've not only killed you but tried to make it as painful as possible." Quickly walking over to her mother, Parker gracefully dropped into a crouch by her chair. "Mama, if you ever see that man again, please promise me that you'll tell me. This is very important."
The fierce sincerity in her eyes made Catherine pause, cooling her ire. With her eyes still locked in her daughter's own, she reluctantly nodded, knowing that Maritza's reaction would be violent at least, murderous at most. Seeing her mother's cautious assent, Parker then perched herself on the arm of the chair opposite and said, "The last thing I want to do is argue with you. I value your opinion more than anyone in this life. I'm going to explain what I have in mind. Please listen to me, I don't care if you disapprove of him—trust me." Parker then began with excruciating patience to explainwhat she expected fromJarod, what she was willing to concede and where she needed her mother's tolerance, neatly leaving out the why or the cause of so much devotion.
Abernathy Cabin
Lake Catherine, VT
The morning barely had a chance to start before the Abernathy family was up, packed and ready to leave. Jarod parted tearfully with his mother and sister. The former had plenty of advise to give her eldest son and made him promise several times to call them several times a week. Kyle grinned rakishly at his brother and shared some heartfelt expressions of his outright envy. He wouldn't have minded a chance to bum around Europe, a free man, on the arm of a delicious babe like Mari. Before coming to the sticks on what had to be the most boring vacation in family history, Kyle thought Jarod was slowly losing his mind. But after watching the deft skill with which his elder brother extracted money from their parents for the trip, Jarod fully redeemed himself in Kyle's estimation. With all the adeptness of a pickpocket, Kyle slipped the cassette tape of the Beach Boy's benchmark song, 'Wouldn't it be nice' that he had been using to drive Jarod nuts. It was his last dig and nudge to urge Jarod to get off his duff and discover with Mari what fun there was in physical relationships. Judging from Jarod's previous encounters with women, Kyle wouldn't be surprised if Jarod were still a virgin.
His father was a mixture of both sides. He would miss his eldest son terribly, but was proud of Jarod's maturity and secretly envious of his ability to just pick up and leave. The major loved his wife and family to distraction but the thrill of having only yourself to be responsible for while seeing the world had its own draw. And with a passionate young woman like Mari as a girlfriend, the major had to shake his head in admiration.
To insure that his family remained undetected and unremarkable on the Centre's radar, Jarod used everything he had learned about their search techniques and tactics to both divert attention away and hide his family's whereabouts. Unfortunately for Parker, the most he could hope for was that the message they had sent the Chairman would buy them enough time to create a better cover for her family. The embarrassment of having 2 sweepers being overcome by a teenaged girl might rattle them a bit but would also whet Mr. Parker's appetite for the promise of so much talent.
Lakeside Bed & Breakfast InnLake Catherine, VT
It was around 5:30 in the morning when he arrived at the Inn, duffle bags in hand. He had asked Kyle to take his makeshift transponder back home with him. Jarod kept the radio and hoisted the contraption more comfortably on his shoulder. With the frog, there wouldn't be any need for a special transponder. The radio could be calibrated to the frog's signal and if worse, came to worse, he could still have Kyle ship the transponder to him. Much to his surprise, Catherine Parker was settled comfortably on the same porch swing he had planned on using to wait for Parker.
"Good morning, Jarod," she said softly.
"Good morning, Mrs. Ferrer," he responded with guarded friendliness.
"Please call me Catherine. I had a feeling you might arrive earlier than you planned."
"Yes, ma'am. My family is already on the road back home. I thought I would get here early and watch the sunrise."
A small huff of a laugh bubbled from deep within. "You are determinedly formal, aren't you? Well, I'm out here because I wanted to have a word with you alone. Join me, please and despite what my daughter may have said about me, I don't bite."
Jarod returned her smile, and relieving himself of his bags, sat next to Catherine Parker. It felt strange doing so. From her journals, he had read some of her most private thoughts that she committed to paper. In doing so, he had obtained a sense of the woman that strongly came through in her writings. Somehow he felt terribly guilty, as though he had violated her privacy. He had to keep reminding himself that this was a different time and this was a different woman than the one he had read about.
"How old are you?"
"I'm 20," he said taking a deep breath.
"So young. I'm sure leaving you behind in the hands of strangers was the last thing your parents had in mind for you. It must've been very difficult for them."
"My parents support my decision. It took them awhile but they understand why I felt it was necessary."
Another soft laugh was his answer. "I'm sure they do support you, though I doubt they understand. I say that because I'm not too sure I understand it—though Mari went through some pains explaining it to me like I was an imbecile," she remarked with wry amusement. She allowed a brief pause before continuing, giving Jarod a chance to slide in any clever arguments to augment his girlfriend's. With very little surprise, she noticed Jarod remained wary and silent, waiting to hear all she had to say before jumping to an erroneous conclusion. His maturity was on a similar level to her daughter's. So much so, that it felt like she was talking to an equal instead of horny kid still wet behind the ears.
"Hear me out, then. Something is going on between you and my daughter that I don't fully understand. On Maritza's side, whatever it is, has been having quite an effect on her and right now I'm torn between thinking it's a good thing or a bad thing. The little girl I raised would never have tried to kill a man for threatening to kill me. She would've been in a state of disbelief, as I was, but to act as she did yesterday, well that was a surprise—something I'm not used to from her. If she had run away to be with that lying rat of an ex-husband who calls her his daughter, well that would've been much less of a shock. Now, I strongly suspect that you're aware of or are somehow involved in these changes," she stated quietly, keeping her eyeson the orange ball of a sun as it rose slowly with deliberate majesty into the dawn sky. "It's doubtful it has anything to do with sex, though from what she didn't say last night, I'm sure you two have been physically intimate. I'm not a prude, Jarod but I'm very protective of that beautiful, headstrong girl in there. What all this boils down to is this: don't hurt her. She thinks you're in love with her and is too blind to believe that you might not be the only one with those feelings. When we get home, there are a number of things that Mari has to face. Things she seems determined to pretend don't exist. If you care about her to the extent that I believe you do, then give her some space."
"You're right. I do love your daughter and I'll wait for as long as it takes for her to face her feelings."
"Are you sure about this? She's seventeen and fickle. A lot can happen between now and whenever Mari decides to look at herself in the mirror."
"I want to make sure I'm still fresh in her mind when she does look in that mirror," Jarod replied sincerely. Then allowing a pause of his own, he continued, "There isn't any way I would intentionally hurt Mari and I do intend on being around for quite some time."
"Interesting. We'll see how well your resolve will pan out. Just a word of warning—hurt her and you'll have me to answer to," Catherine said solemnly as she rose from the seat and took her leave.
Jarod leaned back against the seat rest and listened to Catherine Parker's retreating footsteps. It was refreshing to hear the fiercely protective note in Catherine's voice—very similar to a lioness defending her cub. With sad recollection, he remembered the possessive note in her 'father's' voice after Jarod kidnapped him in exchange for his own parent. His possessiveness was on the level of a man who loved his prized car. This time frame had much to offer both of them. Whenever he wasn't occupied with Parker, Jarod spent most of his time with his mother. She surprised him not with her precise insights or unfailing common sense but with her own brand of possessiveness. In a way it was thoroughly comforting. He knew, for example, that she would always consider him as her child. A small thing really, but for a man who never had anyone regard him in this way, his mother, with one of the gentlest smiles and a softlycaressing hand, soothedhis ever-present yearning of finding a place where he truly belonged. Jarod smiled slowly at his thoughts as the sun inched a bit farther up in the sky.
Speaking of possessiveness, it was strange how his ex-huntress had also established the same feelings in him. This journey they had beenforced to embark on was strange to say the least. They both now had what they always equally craved—families. People who loved them and whom they could love without reserve. Taking a deep breath, Jarod wondered if he were pushing his luck in reaching for yet another love. Parker was still sketchy about accepting this variant timeline. Slowly releasing his breath he pondered whether it was worth risking everything in pursuing a relationship with her. She was his sole connection to his previous life and though ordinarily, given the facts of his well-documented misery, she kept the worm of disappointed, discontent fully at bay, almost erasing its existence from his mind. He stretched out more comfortably on the swing. His answer was the patience he felt in waiting for her to show.
Montpellier Regional HospitalMontpellier, VT
They were hitting. Now the hitting and pounding had stopped but the pain remained. In this case, he truly understood the abuse a golf ball took. Every inch of real estate on his body was covered up in bandages, while three of his major limbs were bound up in splints and retaining pins. He was a mess and felt every inch of it. However, it would be quite a bit later until he could understand what had occurred to him. A visiting Muay Thai master had been giving a kick boxing demonstration in which the heavy bag Damon had been placed in figured prominently. Also, unfortunately for Damon, it was the Chairman himself who told him in no uncertain terms what kind of an idiot he thought his sweeper was and that he would arrange to have the hapless lackey released into the care of the Centre's Renewal Wing. It was this latest bit of information that caused a slim, cold finger of fear to trace its chilling path down from his heart causing him to relinquish what little control he still retained of his bowels. The Chairman continued on with his diatribe until the unpleasant result of Damon's fear assaulted his nose. Wrinkling his face in sudden disgust, Mr. Parker leaned in close, with Jarod's explanatory note still rumpled in his fist, he whispered directly in his frightened sweeper's ear.
"I never authorized a sanction on my ex-wife. Now that bitch will take my child and make sure I never see her again. I doubt my Angel will ever call me again because of your bungling. There will be hell to pay, and you're going to be the first in line with his checkbook out." With that the infuriated Chairman left the private hospital room.
Had Damon been able to speak through his wired jaw, he would've inquired about Mr. Cox and what if anything had happened to him. But then again, maybe it was a good thing that Damon's mouth was wired shut.