Moment of Awakening 2
She couldn't believe the stream of people that started arriving that afternoon. First the propane people to fill the cabin's tank, which wasn't even hooked up; an extra charge, but according to them, the account was paid in full. She didn't have time to do more than wonder at the actual gas stove working in the kitchen, when the roofers arrived with shingles and roofing materials. All the pounding woke the girls from their nap and she had to try to calm them down.
The roof had to be replaced, not just over the kitchen, but again when she asked about cost, they said it was already paid for. Next was a truck with a couple of guys who offloaded about 6 ricks of firewood off a flatbed truck, one in each of the holders on the front and back porches, and the rest stacked neatly within walking distance if those ran out.
A plumber was next, to test the water, and then install a real water heater for the bathroom and kitchen. He ended up having to lay lines under the floor, but since it was just plank, he laughed and went right to work, something about glad it wasn't a concrete foundation. She stopped asking about how much it was going to cost when he looked at her.
"Kid, you have a fairy god father, now shut the hell up and let me get to work."
She shrugged and curled up on the old hide-a-bed in the front room while all the work went on. The sun was going down when she heard another truck pull up. The plumber was just finishing the kitchen sink and packing up his tools. She groaned. Not another workman to make noise and keep the kids awake; she'd just gotten Mari settled down and playing quietly, and Kiana was finishing her bottle. The roofers finished ten minutes ago and were still loading their truck. Not that she minded, the cabin was warmer with the insulating shingles they put on.
What surprised her was the woman that walked through the door. She was dressed in a pair of casual jeans, but with a denim jacket that was more suit jacket than casual, a silk blouse underneath, and high heeled boots.
"Well, this certainly is much better than you described." She said as Victor walked in the door behind her. "At this point, unless the children are severely under nourished or covered in bruises, my report should be easy."
"Jonesey, just get the report done and get the hell out. The kid needs as much of a break as we can give her." Victor growled, he was carrying large bags in either hand. "Kid, ya just gonna sit there, or help me unload the truck. Jonesey needs time with the cubs anyway."
"Who are you?" Ciarra asked the woman, ignoring Victor's barked order.
"Kimberly Jones, otherwise known as Jonesey. I work for Child Protective Services, and Victor told me what happened to you with your husband. I can help you set up a divorce, and if you have any evidence of the abuse, we can hit him with a Protective Order that will keep him away from the kids for life." She was holding out a hand.
"Wait a minute...I didn't want any authorities involved. If you file orders, he'll know where to find me." Ciarra felt herself start to panic.
"No, he won't, not from my office anyway. I file everything from the Provincial office, nothing will reference the town or area of the province you're in. I would recommend opening a mail box downtown Saskatoon, that way everything is run out of there, and you won't have to worry about mail delivery up here."
"I don't know..." Ciarra glared at Victor. He just shrugged as he dropped the first load of bags in the girls' room and walked back out the door.
"It is alright. Victor said you had some tapes you took from the house, surveillance tapes?" Jonesey asked.
"Yes." Ciarra carried Kiana into the bedroom and put her down in the port-a-crib. Mari was in a playpen in the living room. She opened the trash bag she'd thrown everything in when she left the house and pulled out two handfuls of tapes.
"That's what I grabbed." She handed them to the woman.
"I'll get these put on disk and we'll see what's there to use." Jonesey said, suddenly pulling Ciarra into a tight hug. "Trust me, and Victor. He won't let anything happen to you or these girls, or I'll kick him into next week."
Ciarra laughed a little at that, and the glare Jonesey gave Victor as he walked into the door. Victor just responded with a threatening growl, which Jonesey just ignored and laughed.
"Don't worry, Victor and I go way back. Don't we?" This time there was a hard tone in the woman's voice, one that said she meant business.
"Sure do, Jonesey." He said, but Ciarra could hear a tense undertone in his voice.
"Just so we understand, there will be no repeats of past history." Jonesey said, the hard tone still in her voice. "Am I understood?"
"Damn it woman, get your intake visit over with so I can get back ta my cabin before dark. Shit, I told ya over and over, I don't shit where I eat." He growled at her.
"You did once."
"Yeah, thirty years ago, now let it rest, shit you ain't dead." He growled back.
Jonesey turned to Ciarra. "Just don't let him get away with anything. If you have any problems I will be checking on you daily for the next three months or so, and don't even get huffy about it, part of my job. Right now, the cabin is well insulated, there's plenty of food out in Victor's truck to get you through the coming storm. If I can't get up here in person, I'll have the sheriff drop by to do a wellness check. He's a pussy cat, unlike this randy tom here." She said, this time teasingly.
"I don't understand." Ciarra said, confusion being the rule of the day, not the exception.
"It's okay, honey. You're in good hands. Your grandpa was a fixture around these parts, and as soon as Victor told us you were here, and needed help, the whole town's pitching in. You are the girls are as safe as you can possibly be, well unless we had a whole squad of Mounties surrounding the cabin, and even then I'd take Victor as a bodyguard over a squad of Mounties."
Ciarra stood there stunned, as Jonesey poked through the cabin, ignoring the loaded 410 leaning against the wall next to the door. She checked the water heater, and the stove. She nodded approval at the new heavy iron screen Victor set up in front of the fire in the fireplace. While the woman poked around, Victor kept bringing in bags, and glared at the two women.
"I'm not a fucking beast of burden, a little help here, frails." he growled.
"In a minute. It's not like you will get tired or anything, shit." Jonesey growled back. Ciarra laughed. Victor was intimidating, but this woman kept making a point that he was on some kind of short leash.
"Alright, sweetie, you seem to have everything under control here for a few weeks. I'll bring the attorney we have for expedited divorce cases up next week, after I've had a chance to review these tapes. Victor just told me you were abused, so I have no idea what's on these, and don't warn me. Shock value goes a long way and if there's anything good on these, we'll need to have that to get a judge to go along with it. I don't see a problem, and we'll see what we can do about that warrant you said was out on him too. If we can get him in jail, that will be even better."
Jonesey swept out of the cabin and Ciarra heard an engine start. The whole day had been a whirlwind, and evidently wasn't done yet. While they'd been talking, the kitchen counters and table were piled high with bags, as was the main room.
"What is all of this?" She asked.
"Food. Kid stuff. Clothes. Bad storm's acomin, you needed shit to get through it. You can't keep sleepin on that old hide-a-bed, I got two real beds for the cubs, I'll get those set up tomorrow, also a new mattress for the daybed so you can sleep on a real bed. I didn't know what size cub pants ta buy so I just picked up what they had. Should get ya through."
"Why'd you get CPS involved?" She asked.
"Well, when I went ta the roofing company ta get them out here ta fix the roof, Jonesey was there, heard The Old Man's granddaughter was her, and started pesterin' me about it, so I told her the basics. She insisted on gettin' involved and frankly, where that woman's concerned its better ta just let her, than fight. She helped me get all the shit done that needed doin' so the cubs would be okay up here, hell she picked out half the shit I bought."
"Great, a busybody. Just what I needed." Ciarra muttered.
"No, you don't get it. Jonesey, well lets just say we've got a past. The Old Man helped her get through some shit, and we've been friendly ever since. He's the one that taught me not ta shit where I eat."
"What exactly does that mean?"
"I guess for you, it means you're safer here than anywhere in the world." She shook her head. She tried as he unloaded the bags, but just couldn't get anymore out of him. He wore an air of danger around him, but more as a defense than anything else. Somehow she knew there was far more to this than met the eye.
She shrugged her shoulders and started putting away the food in the kitchen. She heard an engine start and relaxed. Her shoulders were killing her, from the tension.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
He moved the truck behind the woodpiles. He didn't want anyone to see it if they came up the old logging road that led to the cabin. Jonesey was right. She was safer with him as her bodyguard. He'd sit out here tonight, make sure no one was lurking around. Tomorrow he'd check his traps and go up to his cabin. He'd gone there first, done a quick internet search for information about her husband, the trust, the deaths of her parents and grandfather. He had a few feelers out to some of his contacts, and had even contacted Salem.
Emma had not been pleased to hear from him, but he really didn't give a shit. She did confirm helping Ciarra get away, and that she'd been watching the situation closely, and took the first opportunity she had to get Ciarra and the cubs out. He'd chewed the ice bitch a new one for waiting so long, and it had taken twenty minutes to wake up after the damned bitch knocked him out. At least they understood each other. Emma was to stay the fuck away and let him handle this from now on, and he was to be polite when he called her. Yep they understood each other, for now.
The other problem he had was Toad. Evidently the prick was looking for muscle to force Ciarra and the cubs back home, and he'd hired Mortimer to get her. That was why he was going to stay overnight. He didn't want Toad showing up here without him present. Toad needed to know the score, and the measly hundred grand the prick was paying to recover his wife and cubs wasn't worth the green-boy's hide. He'd take care of frog boy, hell maybe even get him to help protect her and the cubs.
Jonesey was another issue he wasn't thrilled about. Thirty years ago he'd not even cared that the damned town was where he had to buy supplies and shit. She'd been a hot little teenager and he'd been horney. He hadn't planned to leave her alive, hell he thought she was dead when he heard the noise that startled him and drove him off. She'd been a decent fuck, for a cub, but not worth the pain in his ass now. She was the reason he didn't leave any loose ends. Not that he minded too much now, she was useful, and realized that he was mostly an animal, it wasn't personal.
That part surprised him, but then again, The Old Man had been able to get the whole damned town to accept him, as he was, with the agreement that he didn't hunt, didn't scratch his itches in town. This was the only place he could disappear, shut out the world and just exist for a while, and the whole damned town protected him. A bar fight every now and then didn't count, and everyone knew it. He kept his claws in, and fought not too dirty, and they didn't do dumb shit, and everyone survived and had a beer when it was over.
All and all, he liked his peaceful life here in the hinterlands. Sure he had to work, sometimes he was gone for years at a time, but this was home and he missed it when he was away. The only thing that would make it perfect would be Jimmy. He missed the damned Runt sometimes. Missed having someone to talk to, remind him he wasn't just another animal in the forest. Now, with the letter from The Old Man, he had someone else, but damn it. CUBS!
