Dani and the Bull Ch. 03

She reached out and lifted it a little to look at it closer. "Do you really believe in things like charms and magic?" It was clear from her voice that she didn't.

He grinned. "Of course I do my momma and my granny, they're witch women, and they make charms for fishing and curing the sick. And no one can predict like granny. She can tell you if a storm is coming or if hard times are ahead. She can sense evil in a person and smell the good. My momma can whip up a love potion or treat the worse wound you ever saw. Rumor has it that back in the past, her family was one of the reasons that our parish never saw as hard of times as others places did."

"You miss them..." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Why haven't you gone home?"

He remembered their conversation from yesterday. It was a safe topic, it would keep his mind off wanting to kiss her and that was a good idea. "When I left, it was because my dad and I got into a huge argument, I was fourteen, the same age that my brother and cousins started working on the boats. You like fish or shrimp Dani?"

"Yeah, as long as they're cooked, Dad used to go fishing all the time when I was little, and he'd come home smelling like the fish and I always refused to give him a hug or a kiss until he took a shower, and I would stay out of the kitchen until they were all cleaned, and frying in some of mom's cornmeal batter."

"Well, imagine living, and breathing that smell from the day you were born to the day you died, and knowing that like all your male relatives your future income relied on it as well."

"I see your point, so you left because your dad wanted you to work the boats like the others and you didn't." Made sense to her, personal choices versus family pride. It would be a tough call. "But didn't you explain how you felt; didn't he even try to understand...?" At the same time she wondered if her dad would have understood.

"Oh, he understood, said it was normal, man had to make his own way, and the only problem was, from my dad's point of view, there are only choices open in his family, work the boats or become a priest. I chose neither..."

His tone of voice made her sit up and look at him in disbelief. "Your dad wanted you to become a priest, as in long robes, mass and all the other stuff. Never been in a Catholic Church, but you hear about all the stuff even if you're not."

"I told my dad that I was about as likely to become a priest as he was to be elected Pope. Needless to say, I packed a bag and left home that night."

Dani understood why. "I can see why you feel like they might not want to hear from you and see you. But still...you are their son, and they are your family Bull." She shook her head. "I got to admit I heard dad telling mom that she thought he was bad because he didn't go home to visit like he should and that you had been on your own since you were fourteen. Mom said that was a shame that you had been so young when you left. Then Dad told her what you said about getting into a fight with your dad and he understood how that could happen. He didn't much think much of his dad and mom either when he was young, why he went into the marines at seventeen and once he got the house and land here, he just felt no desire to go back."

"His dad wanted him to go into the family business or become a priest?" He was grinning, "I can't see your dad living with the vow of celibacy, anymore than I could then or can now."

She hesitated before answering. "No, it was more than that, dad didn't approve of their life style. My grandma Claire, well, she's a lesbian, and grandpa was gay too. And while you'll hear one of us talk about our aunt Jessie, she isn't our aunt, she's grandma's lover. Has been forever, the only reason they got married was to hide it all from their families. When they were young it wasn't as acceptable as it is now, not that everyone considers it acceptable. From the way dad talks, I get the idea that my great-grandpa suspected something wasn't right with grandpa, so he put a clause in his will that the only way grandpa could inherit anything was to marry and have children. But don't think that they married simply for that reason, because I know for a fact that they grew to love each other very much. It broke grandma and Aunt Jessie's heart when grandpa died."

"So what makes you so sure they fell in love?"

She rolled over onto her stomach and put her chin on her hands. "Because every year on the anniversary of grandpa's death grandma calls and I can just hear it in her voice, she sounds so hurt and all alone and you just know she is missing him. Aunt Jessie isn't much better either."

Listening to her talk about her family down in New Orleans, Bull understood why she was talking about going to visit now that she was done with school. She didn't know that part of her family and she was well aware of what she was missing out on. He tried to imagine what it would have been like if he hadn't grown up around his grandparents and all his family, it was hard, but he was sure he would feel exactly the same way she did.

It was after ten o'clock before they left the park, Zach and Annie had went back to town long enough some burgers since the lunch her mom had packed was long gone and they had just sat around talking and playing cards. It was clear to him no one was in a hurry to leave, him included. It had been a good day, full of fun and he had gotten to know Dani a lot better, in return she had gotten to know him, at least as much as he was willing to tell her at the moment.

During the drive back to town, Dani admitted she was in hurry to go home. "I know it's funny, but I feel like I don't want this day to end. Maybe because it's the last night I spend as a kid, that somehow I feel like tomorrow is going to be the beginning of a whole new life for me. Does that sound crazy?"

He shook his head. "No, not really, and we don't have to go back to your folks yet if you don't want to."

"No I don't, if my driving isn't bothering you, I'd like to show you this place I go to when I really want to be alone or do some serious thinking..."

"Your driving doesn't bother me, and I'd like to see the spot." He had to admit that the two of them being alone in a secluded spot might not be a good idea, but he liked the idea she wanted to share something special with him.

It was up a long deserted logging road, and at the end, he saw why she liked it so well. From here you could see for miles in every direction, and the sky overhead was filled with so many stars that it seemed like they would never end.

"How did you find this place Dani?" He had to ask, most people would have never come up this far.

"It was by accident, I was headed back to the house from the lake and about a mile past the turn off for here is the road I normally take. I saw it and wondered where it led, this is what I found. I was just about to turn around when it happened. I'm glad I didn't." She looked up at the sky like a little kid seeing her first snow fall.

He could see why, "it's beautiful...but don't you ever feel scared coming here alone?"

She laughed. "Honestly, no, I feel safe here, like something up there is looking down and protecting me. I think if I had ever seen someone else here, or say headlights coming up behind me, it would be different, but I never have. It's like this spot was meant to be mine, and mine alone."

"Thank you for sharing it with me." Leaning across the seat, he meant to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head at the same moment, and he found her lips instead. It was a brief kiss but he felt like someone had lit a fire inside him and he looked at her. "Dani..."

Her words stopped what he was going to say. "What happened with you and Sue? I saw you the other night and yesterday you didn't seem all that enthused about going out with her last night, and today..."

Today he had been with her instead. He sat back against the back of the seat, and knew he would have to explain himself. "Dani, it was never Sue I wanted to be with...from the minute I saw you I wanted to get to know you, to just sit and talk and see what happened. But you kept running away from me, the first time when you went to the movies, and then when you came home, you ran away to your room. I guess I let my libido rule my brain when Sue seemed so willing to love up to me. What happened later, well it's been a long time since I been with a gal Dani, too long and Sue didn't help matters at all, but it didn't take long to realize that she couldn't do me any good." He chuckled despite himself. "Believe me it wasn't that she didn't try; I thought she was going to dislocate her jaw trying to give me a blow job, and finally I just called it quits. Once she fell asleep I went outside and took care of my problem on my own, I didn't know you'd seen me."

"Yeah, well the worse part for me wasn't knowing what you were doing, it was the feeling I got when I realized that Sue had let you down somehow." Her voice sounded if she was more disappointed in herself then she was anything else.

"What feeling was that?"

She lit a cigarette before answering. "I felt glad, I actually felt happy that she had failed with a man for once, I've never felt that way before. Then today Annie tells me that you looked sorry when I went upstairs and that she thinks you like me, and that Sue was jealous of me, and it's just been eating at me all day that here you had been with her last night, and today I was with you and having fun. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to be someone's second choice if that is what you got in mind." It showed in her voice that she was torn between her loyalty to her friends, and her own needs and wants. "Sue and Annie and I have been friends a long time, and I've seen it happen before, a guy goes out with Annie, then he switches to Sue and when he is done with her he comes knocking on my door."

He understood how she felt and knew that if it was reversed he would feel the same way. "Dani, I don't think of you that way, I do like you, and I want to spend time getting to know you. Hell, I admit it, all day I been thinking about how I'd like to be the first guy to give you your first birthday kiss. But I won't push you or rush you or do anything to mess up what I think and feel could be something special between us."

She looked at him curiously. "You mean that, I don't know how I know, but I just know. Bull why did you come here, Elton would not be my first choice to stop in."

He chuckled. "No, but I been looking for something Dani, it's why I left home, and when I met Zach, I just got this feeling deep inside me that he was there to lead me where I needed to go, to bring me where I could find you. Turn on the dome light a minute will you. I want to show you something, and I promise it's not my dick or anything like that." She did as he asked and he dug his wallet out of his back pocket. The piece of paper was old and worn, but it had been there for a long time, tucked away in a corner, waiting to be shown. "This is why I came here."

It took a moment for her to take the paper and unfold it, when she did; he heard her gasp and knew she was wondering how it was possible. The drawing was of her, just as she was, just as she had looked earlier in the day at the park. Smiling, her eyes sparkling with laughter, he had two notebooks of pictures he had drawn of her over the last five years. Some he would show her later on, when they had reached a stage in their relationship that she wouldn't wonder if he was some kind of pervert, each one careful dated and her name scrawled below it. He hadn't known her last name then, just that her first name was Dani.

She handed him the drawing back then put it in her jacket pocket when he motioned her to keep it, he had done it for her and it felt right for her to have it now. "How...?"

"Some folks would call them visions I guess, but for me it was dreams, you came to me so many nights, you helped keep me sane Dani, I can't begin to tell you how close I came to just caving in to everything before you did. The next morning I would do a sketch of what I remembered just so I didn't forget." Reaching out he stroked her cheek, glad she didn't pull away from his touch. "Dani, I came here for you...and you alone." This time when he bent over to kiss her, she met him half way and this time she didn't pull away when the kiss was over. Instead, she moved closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. It was long past midnight and he knew he held a woman in his arms as he let them both be swept away by the fact that not only was she eighteen now, she was his, and he was hers.



Back at the Lazarus house, Jack looked at the clock and wondered where the hell Dani and Bull were. It was almost three in the morning and even Zach had made it back before now. So where the hell were they? He should have never let her go with him. He had felt doubts the minute he found out what was planned for the day, but it was better than having her lock herself away behind a closed door. He had even felt a relief that she was leaving when Nick and Jessie arrived.

No one seeing his daughter's eyes when Nick and Jessie arrived could have missed the fear in his daughter's eyes when they had talked to them, or the anger in Zach's. Jack knew his son was right, a man like Nick had no right looking at Dani like she was some tasty food just waiting for him to devour. And he had talked to the man about it; all Nick had done was laugh it off.

"Hey, Jack, come on. She is a tasty looking example of womanhood, just like her mom was at her age. You can't blame any man for wanting to look and dream, even a horny old fart like me." When Jack had brought up the day that Nick had gone in her room and tried to kiss her, Nick had sighed. "I admit I screwed up, I was drunker then I thought, and I did something I shouldn't have. But she set me straight, and I won't make that mistake again."

Deep down Jack knew Nick had not reassured him, and he had made a promise to himself that he would keep a closer eye on both Nick and Jessie. The younger man wasn't much better then Nick and that the two of them were using more and more drugs lately bothered Jack. He knew under that influence there was no telling what either of them might do.

Jack put down his wrench and sat back on the sofa in the shed. He felt like he was the only person awake in the world, the house was quiet, everyone sound asleep. He wished he could sleep; he hadn't been like this since the night she was born. And it didn't help when he considered who she was with. What did anyone know about Bull, for all anyone knew he could be some kind of rapist, or even worse, a serial killer? Damn, why had he thought it was a good idea for her to go with them?

The door to the shed opened and he looked up to see a sleepy looking Helen standing there. "Jack, what the hell are you doing out here this time of night? You should be asleep, we got a big day later today, all the people coming."

"She isn't home yet, almost four in the morning and she isn't home yet, Dani never stays out this late."

Helen gave him an understanding look, "So that's what's wrong, she's out with Bull, so you are thinking the worse, Jack there is a hundred reasons why they're not home yet, you know how it goes..."

Jack heard himself growl. "That's just it; I remember all too well just how it can be. I also know we don't know shit about Bull. Helen he could be some kind of freak, a pervert, a rapist, and he's out with our little girl."

"And they could be sitting somewhere having coffee and talking and getting to know each other, I don't think Bull is fool enough to think he could get away with hurting Dani and not get caught. Look, the sun is coming up, come in the house, lay down and rest. I'll get Zach, Tom, and Mike up and have them go look for her if that makes you feel better, but I want you to get some rest. And you can play outraged daddy when you wake up. Besides, she's eighteen now, what do you plan on doing, ground her for something she's never done before."

"No, but I can tell Bull to get the fuck out of here, and not come back. I don't want him thinking he can mess with Sue and then turn his attention to Dani."

Helen shook her head, "Jack, you are acting like a fool over this, how many times we went out and ended up losing track of time, and not just because of sex? All the nights we spent parked down by the lake, talking about the future, the dreams we had and the plans we made? I'm sorry honey; I just think you are over reacting. Hell she could look at this as a special night for her and just wants to be able to see the sun come up in some spot she likes, not safe at home in her room."

Jack hated it when his wife was so logical. "Alright, I'll go in the house but I want Mike, Tom and Zach back with her before I wake up...and as far as Bull goes, well it will depend what kind of shape she is in, if he has done one thing to her that she didn't agree to, hell even if she did agree to it, I will kill him."

"Alright, I will go along with that, but let's go, you look ready to drop."

They stopped by the R.V. their son Mike and his family had driven up from California in, and Helen informed Mike what was needed. He didn't look happy but agreed to go out hunting his little sister. They were just to the front door of the house when a tow truck came up the drive way, towing Dani's truck and the missing people as passengers. They both looked tired, but it was clear that they were more disgusted then anything.

"I still can't believe it happened, I mean you saw the road going up, how the hell did I miss that spot?" Their missing daughter sounded disgusted over something.

Bull was walking beside her. "Dani, it wasn't your fault, I didn't even see the high spot until it was too late. I am really sorry I yelled like I did..."

Jack frowned, as he spoke up. "Where the hell have you two been do you know what time it is?"

Dani looked at him, "I know exactly what time it is dad, believe me, we would have been home hours ago if we hadn't gotten high centered and we had to walk down to the lake to be able to get cell service enough to get a tow truck to come pull us out. Then he took the wrong road, and we ended up having to double back and it's been a mess." She looked back at the tow truck, "Thanks Roy, much appreciated for all your hard work tonight."

The driver gave her a wave, "no problem Dani, sorry about taking so long. Morning Jack, Helen. I see Mike is here from California, tell him to stop by the shop before he leaves, I miss my best driver, and I'll send the bill to the repair shop okay?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, that's fine Roy, I'll take care of it the first of the month as usual."

Dani was looking at him when he looked back his daughter and the big man. "What are you and mom doing up so early dad? You should be in bed, and when did Mike get here."

Her brother came walking up frowning. "About five hour ago, where the hell you been, mom came to the door of the R.V. saying that dad was being all crazy because it was after four in the morning and you weren't home yet, she was going to send me, Tom and Zach out looking for you." He looked at Bull and after a minute, held out his hand. "Hey, I'm Mike, one of Dani's brothers, sorry if I seem a little grumpy but getting woke up in the middle of the night after driving over a thousand miles to be here for her birthday is a good enough excuse."

Bull took the offered hand. "Name's Beau but everyone calls me Bull, I'm a friend of Zach's and I agree, of course, it is later then Jack and Helen are used to her being out."

Mike laughed. "Well that explains the concern, if you're a friend of Zach's, we all know his friends are nothing but sex maniacs, and then you have Tom's and Dave's, not to mention a few of mine..." He walked over and hugged his sister, "Good to see you kid, now excuse me while I go back to bed."