Innocent Collector

"Never."

Paul made sure that she was comfortable in her room and then he pulled her down to sit next to him on the side of the bed. "Tina, I'm only going to say this once. If you need anything at all you have to let me know okay? All you have to say is thanks one time and then let it go. I'll get your sizes and after the detective is gone I'll go get you a few things to wear."

"But Paul..."

"I'm still going to do that so you might as well play along."

She put her arms around him and holding him tight against him, she said, "Thank you so much and I won't argue with you."

He was developing the habit of kissing her cheek, but this time he kissed her forehead and said, "That's better."

Then she looked at him and even smiled as she said, "You do realize that you'll know what size panties I wear, but worse for you is you'll have to buy all of those things."

"I'll survive it, but I'm just as glad I won't have anybody with me." Then he turned toward her a little more and said, "Okay now for tonight and in the morning what the hell are we going to find for you to wear."

"We could wash what I have on."

"I'd think you would never want to see those things again."

She smiled and said, "You're right, I really don't, but we're kind of in a bind."

"I'll go see what I can find, but we both know you won't look sexy in anything I bring back."

"I don't feel the least bit sexy anyway so that's okay." Those words rang in his ears as he rummaged through his drawers and rejected one thought after another. When he went back to her she was looking in the mirror and picking at her hair with a comb and her fingers, but she stopped and smiled. Have any luck?"

"I'll just say maybe."

He held up a pair of his underwear and she said, "Where did you ever get those?"

"They were a joke gift to me a long time ago and I found them in the corner of my dresser drawer. I'll have you know they are silk."

"Oh my god, I'll bet you looked just stunning in them too."

"I did put them on once, but they were so small they felt like a second skin, but it didn't matter because I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror."

She held them up to herself and said, "It will be interesting to see if they stay up."

"To complete your ensemble I present you with a tee shirt. I'm sorry I couldn't do better for you, but maybe that will do until I get back from shopping tomorrow."

At least the tee shirt won't fall off, but I'll swim in it. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome, and by afternoon tomorrow you'll be looking great."

"Except for the gauze wrapped around my head."

He smiled and added, "Well except for that, but that represents how very lucky you are to be alive."

"I'll never forget that either."

"Is there anything you might want or need before morning?"

"I'm okay and I'm very tired so I'm sure I'll sleep fine."

"You know where my bedroom is, so if you can't sleep or you need anything, just come wake me okay?"

"I will." Paul stood up then and she said, "Night, and thank you."

"Night Tina, see you for coffee."

Paul went to bed feeling good for the most part. He now hated Dale, but he was so glad that Tina was alive and for the most part well. What would happen from then on they could deal with. It would all be one step at a time, and one day at a time. Those thoughts were still on his mind when he slipped off to sleep and didn't wake until seven in the morning.

It was well after eight and Paul was considering going to his office when Tina appeared. They smiled at each other and she poured a cup of coffee as they said good morning. "Sleep okay?" Paul asked her.

"I slept fine. It felt wonderful to be in a nice bed again and the shower felt great." She caught him studying her and she said, "I know I look like a clown."

He smiled and said, "Sorry I guess I was gawking, but you look cute in your underwear and tee shirt."

"I look awful and we both know it. I had to give up on the tee shirt in bed though because it's so baggy that I was getting tangled up in it." Paul just smiled and tasted his coffee. "Another thing," she said, "Is I have to be very careful how I sit down while I'm in your underwear." As soon as she said that they both laughed and Tina blushed. "This is all so unbelievable. Last night I cried because of everything that has happened, and now we're laughing about me in..." and she stopped herself as they laughed again. "I give up. Anyway if I'm not careful, I'll be giving you an eyeful."

Paul was still smiling as he said, "But they stayed up I take it."

"They stayed up. How you ever got into them I'll never understand."

"Me either now that I think about it. I know they were tight enough to be very uncomfortable." Tina assigned her own interpretation of that statement but left it alone. But she knew that someday she would bring it up to him again so they could have a good laugh over it.

Chapter Twelve

Detective Andrews came about nine and Tina had to endure more questions while she sat there in Paul's underwear. The only thing they learned from them talking was he had a lot of work to do before they could even approach Dale. They didn't want him to know that Tina was found or that he was a suspect in the attempted murder of his wife. They didn't even have an idea about who Dale might have hired to do the dirty work for him. Then he ended on an upbeat note saying they had little doubt that they would uncover the truth. But then he reminded them that Tina was to stay hidden until they were ready to confront Dale.

Paul's next order of business was to get Tina's sizes and spend a few hours shopping, but before he could leave he got a call. He checked the I.D. and said, "Hi Sybil." Tina looked at Paul and headed toward her room. "Hold on a sec," and he covered the phone and said, "Tina, come back here, it's okay."

"I don't need to listen in on your personal calls, I don't mind."

"Tina honey if you don't come back here I'll come sit on you."

She smiled at him and he caught her and put his arm around her waist. As he pulled her up against him he said, "I'm back, how are you getting along?"

Tina didn't know what he was up to, but she looked up at him as Sybil answered him saying, "Pretty well. You've been in my mind so much that I just had to call and see how you're doing."

"Doing fine and I'll have stories to share one of these days. Have you talked to Meg?"

"Yesterday actually, and she's doing good too. Did you two have an argument?"

"Not at all why, is she mad at me for something?"

"Oh no, nothing like that. She just seemed a little quiet is all."

"I'll have to check on her and see what's up."

"So what are the stories you have?"

"They're too long and detailed to get into now, so I'll save them for you when you come down."

"Don't be surprised if I do show up at your door one of these days."

"I'll be surprised, but also very happy. We'll go out and get a little drunk."

Paul felt like he could hear a slight smile in her voice as s he said, "It's been a very long time since I've done that and it sounds like fun. I don't have anything more I guess, I just wanted to hear your voice I guess."

"We'll talk again very soon. I'd come up there, but I'm a little tied up right now."

"I'm sure you have a lot to do. Okay, bye for now. And Paul...I love you."

"I love you too Sybil, bye."

As soon as he hung up Tina looked up at him and in a somewhat firm voice asked him, "Now why would you want me next to you while you told your lady that you love her?" He kissed her forehead again and before he could say anything she said, "And don't kiss my forehead, that makes me feel like I'm fourteen and stand three feet tall."

Paul kissed her on the lips then and said, "There, and I'll never kiss your forehead again. Okay, now about this woman in my life. Remember me telling you about my friend dying of cancer?"

"Of course I remember."

"Well he died not long ago and Sybil was his wife."

"Oh that's right, I'm sorry."

"And Meg? She's a very good friend and I love her very much too. Very much like I feel about you in fact."

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be nosey, but I didn't want to interfere with your personal life or complicate it in any way."

"You didn't and you're not."

"But I still don't understand why you wanted me close to you."

"Because it feels very nice for one thing. Also I wanted to be sure that you didn't think I had a significant other that you might interfere with. A lot like you just said you felt in fact."

She smiled and admitted, "I did feel a little like excess baggage."

"Now you know you're my very good friend that's staying with me."

"So you have three women in your life that you love, but none that you really love."

"I guess that's right."

"You're life is a mess, do you know that?"

"It has been lately, but it's getting much better. Now let's finish with my shopping list.

When the list was complete, she told him, "You've never been married, so it's going to be interesting to see how you survive this experience. Have you ever even shopped for panties or bras?"

He was trying to keep the moment light and make her smile or laugh, so he said, "No, I've never gotten into wearing them."

He had to settle for a nice smile before she told him, "Well good luck."

"Thanks and I already have a plan for my shopping experience."

Tina surprised him when she got very serious and put her arms around his waist. "Paul, thank you so much, but I'm afraid."

He took her hand and led her in to the couch and they sat down. "Honey, talk to me. Are you afraid of Dale?"

"Of course I am, but I'm also afraid of how long this will drag out. I've lost everything. My home and everything in it. I don't even have identification. It's like I don't really exist. I'm afraid I will complicate your life and in fact I know I am. If I weren't here you'd be in your office working right now. I don't have a life and I'm not sure who I am and I have no idea what will happen to me."

"Let's take them one at a time. Right now there's nothing we can do about your personal things like drivers license, but as soon as we can we'll take care of that. How long this go on we don't know, but we do know the police are working hard for us. Now about me. Once you have clothes and the other basics we can put that issue behind us so we've taken one step ahead. I like having you here. I'm not going to try to explain why because that isn't important. I like you here and it's that simple. Now about interfering with my work? Sure, but I set my own schedule and I'll be fine. Once we're settled down I'll spend time in my office everyday, but that's nothing for us to worry about, especially right now. Tina honey I can't truly appreciate what you're feeling right now. Your husband very possibly tried to have you killed. You have a home, but you can't go back to it for awhile. Basically your life went to hell the day you were abducted, but damn it you're alive and you're safe and I care for you and worry about you, so you're not alone. Tina, I don't care if this takes six months, you still have here to call your temporary home. But I'll bet that before that time Dale's going to be told that you are alive and you have told them a whole lot. I'd bet you that this won't last thirty days, but I don't want either of us focusing on a random date on the calendar. Okay, one more thing. After I get home with your goodies, I'll have a surprise for you. Not a huge one, but maybe one that will help your spirits."

She smiled and said, "Thank you, I guess I need to focus on the positive."

"That's a lot easier said than done, but it's a good idea." Tina walked with Paul to the door to the garage where he paused and told her, "I know this is obvious, but I'll say it anyway. Don't open the door for anybody except me or detective what's his name."

"Andrews."

"Right, him. Don't open the door even if you know who's on the other side of the door. Don't even say anything because you're not really here."

"I remember, now hurry back so I can find out what my surprise is."

Paul was home in just over two hours and Tina met him in the kitchen as he came in with a few large bags in hand. "Looks like you had some success at the least."

"Oh, this is only the first part," and he went back to his car and came back with four large bags almost dragging the floor.

"Oh my god, did you buy everything you saw?"

"Not even close. Okay, so we have casual slacks, jeans and shorts. We have blouses, pullovers and...well whatever some of the others are called. There are undergarments and I'm proud to say I didn't blush once. There's...well let's take all of this to your room so you can see for yourself and try them on. I know not all of them will fit, but I can take them back. Better too many than two few was my motto as I shopped."

She looked at him and said, "I will pay you for all of this and no arguments."

"Okay fine, whatever, but you can think about that somewhere down the road."

With him carrying most of the bags he followed her to her room and he tossed them on the bed. "Dig through all of that and put the ones you don't like aside. Then we'll go for fit, and then we'll go for the surprise."

"If I wasn't in such a horrible mess this would be a lot like a wonderful Christmas."

"The thing I would like to give you most would be your life back."

Tina took her time going through each bag, but she didn't reject anything because of style or color. "You did great, I'm very impressed."

"I'll tell you my secret to shopping for you later."

"My god, there must be fifteen different outfits here...and panties and..."

She stopped there and held up first one pair and then another as she checked them and then smiled at him. "These are pretty sexy."

"Of course and so are your bras."

"Paul, you are a devil."

"I had good clinical reasons for choosing those."

"Oh I'll bet."

"No, really I did. It is my thought and my hope that you will feel better about yourself wearing those. You'll feel more feminine and full of life. Of course my reward will be that I'll know that no matter what you're wearing, you'll be wearing sexy undergarments."

"So we both win is that it?"

"That's it exactly. But also notice that there are no very short skirts or skirts with splits to the waist and no extra short shorts either."

Tina started trying things on in the bathroom. She would come out and show him and then go back in, but she left the door to the bathroom open and was just careful as she changed. From there she just told him to turn his back and she would try on another blouse or pants and have him give his approval." When she was done, she sat down next to him and then put her arms around him and kissed him. "I'm almost speechless Paul. I'm in great shape for now."

"I wanted to get you some nicer things, but I knew you wouldn't get a chance to use them for awhile. But I'd be happy to help you shop for those things later."

She became serious when she said, "I'm sure Dale got rid of all of my things, so I will have to get more later."

"I'm sure you will too."

She was still holding him close as she asked him, "Okay, what is your shopping secret?"

"Well, I went to Victoria's secret and when the woman asked if she could help, I told her that I was hoping to help a friend who has lost everything and is home recovering."

"So that's how you worked your magic. But you still had to find and select and so forth."

"I sort of cheated. I told her that I needed ten pairs of panties of various colors and styles, but all of them had to be sexy. Then I just waited and stared out toward the mall until she came back. She showed me about...I don't know, maybe eighteen and I selected ten. Then the same for your bras of course. I used the same tactics for everything I bought. Give the clerk my story and followed her around as the pulled things out in your size and I'd say yes or no. It went very quickly actually."

"So you really were embarrassed at Victoria's Secret."

"Let's call it very uncomfortable."

"And the last bag, is that things for you?"

Paul laughed and said, "Not hardly, that's yours too."

The first thing she pulled out was a light and somewhat short duster. She held that up and smiled as she looked it over. "Again, very sexy."

"I was striving for femininity and light weight so it isn't too warm. I couldn't help it if the robe just happened to be sexy."

"It's a duster actually."

"Oh, so that's what she said."

The next thing she pulled out was a box of tampons. "Oh my god you didn't really."

"Now that was hard to deal with. I didn't know what you liked or the size or...hell I don't know anything about those things, but I thought you'd need something and I hope those will do."

That earned him another kiss as she noticed a slight blush to his cheeks. Then she emptied the bag when she pulled out several pounds of make up and hairspray. "I know there are other things you'll need or want, but maybe this will get you started. There are hundreds or thousands of choices, so I just bought you two of those large all in one kits. The lady at the counter helped me of course. There is perfume with very subtle fragrances and hair spray and gel and all of that crap that I know nothing about. Use what you like and we'll donate the rest of it to charity."

Tina was crying as she went back over to him and they shared a long embrace. He gave her a minute and then asked her, "Ready for your surprise?"

She wiped her eyes and tried for a small smile as she said, "Yes, tell me about the surprise."

"We're going out to eat."

That stopped her. "Paul, we can't go out remember?"

"Sure we can. Of course it will require you getting on the floor of the car in the back and hiding until we're well out of town."

"Do you think it's safe?"

"I do and I have a place in mind. So you select your outfit...oh and it's very casual...and do whatever you do before you go out. I'll freshen up and we'll have a great evening."

Chapter Thirteen

Tina came out of her room and stopped while Paul surveyed his date. Then she did a graceful pirouette and asked him, "Is this okay?"

"That's wonderful, you look great and you look sexy."

She gave him a knowing smile and told him, "You just know what my panties and bra look like."

"I do remember that in fact, but you look sexy with or without your panties." She smiled at him and walked over to him as he added, "Well that's the truth you know."

"You don't know what I look like without my panties."

"I have a vivid and pretty accurate imagination."

"You better take me to dinner before you get both of us into trouble."

Dinner was a major treat for Tina, and Paul was having a great time, but over an after dinner drink she got serious telling him, "You need to know how it was between Dale and me toward the end."

"You don't really want to go there now do you Tina?"

"I need to and you need to know the truth."

"That's your call hon."

"As time passed we were arguing more and more. Not over any one thing and not because of any one thing. Neither of us was happy, but I don't know if the arguing made us that way or we argued because we were unhappy. I just know it got worse, with shouting and throwing things and I mean both of us. He was spending money on things like expensive meals when he was out with others, or he'd go golfing and not come home until long after his game was over. It was always something. He complained about my work schedule and would get mad if I wasn't right there if he wanted to have his boss over for dinner or whatever. Our marriage was close to an end when I was abducted. Jogging almost everyday was my way of keeping my sanity I guess."

"So if you were dead, he'd have all the money, the house and cars and everything else."