Frankie's Story Ch. 07

We grieved together and step by step we put my beloved wife and her best friend to rest, not only in the ground but in our minds and hearts. I couldn't find it in me to remind Red of today's date, hell things had been so hectic these last few weeks I only discovered it myself by accident. Red was still on that perilous road to recovery, her mind and body still needed so much healing to do and reminding her of this day may hinder that progress.

Again, Shannon's scream came from the playroom, every board, screw or nail in this cabin held a secret about Shannon and it was times like these, that they shared those secrets. Her bare feet padded across the day room, I knew it would be a waste of time looking out the door of my den. The memories would stop if I did.

Today was our wedding anniversary and those were the memories that fed on me. Shannon was her happiest on days like these. It was hard to deny her anything on those special days. Her laugh echoed through the cabin and my heart swelled to the breaking point. Yet, try as I might, even though this was her special day, I just couldn't stop the feeling of so much pain when that one burning question took root on my thoughts.

Why wasn't I allowed to say goodbye? Both precious gifts were taken from me so suddenly that I rapidly became a bystander as the hospital staff quickly turned professional when Shannon suddenly went limp and the baby's heart monitor continued for a few seconds more before our child followed her.

*******

I'm not even sure how long I walked. My mind didn't have a direction or even a destination. Just walk, think and hope that my Shannon and our child were happy and both looked down on me and accepted that what we were doing wasn't hurting them.

I finally found myself sitting on the cot in the barn, my arms tucked tightly across my chest and I cried for the first time since I buried Shannon. To me, I had committed the ultimate sin, I had almost forgotten today was our wedding anniversary. For so many years, she was the anchor in this family of ours, the reason I woke in the mornings. I breathed because she was next to me doing the same and now, even with so much going on in this family's life, I almost forgot our anniversary.

I'm not even sure when my eyes grew heavy enough to force me to sleep, yet I found myself spooned into Frankie's naked form on the cot when I woke.

"How long have you been here?"

Frankie tried to push even more of herself into me before she spoke.

"I am slave, by right and choice. I came to you openly and gave myself to you. That will never change, unless you send me away. Where you go, then I'm but a pace behind you. I pulled up as you came out of the cabin, your thoughts were elsewhere and never even saw me there, so I followed you and stayed with you while your anger fed on you. It was left to me to pick up the pieces and to hold you in my arms while you cried and finally slept."

Even as I smiled at the back of her head, I still couldn't resist what I was about to say,

"And now that I am awake?"

With the speed of youth, she turned on the cot, pushing my shoulder as she did and forced me onto my back. Her leg came over me and she was now straddled across my waist. The smile was there, just as the dark circles around her eyes, Frankie had not slept at all. Finally, she lowered herself onto me her whole body now pressed against mine.

"I am slave; it is my duty to look after you as it is yours to look after me. Red phoned me in a panic. It wasn't until one of the nurses casually mentioned the date that she realized why you left the way you did. One call to Samantha told us both the rest, you sent her home. I'm sorry my master, but you will never be alone at times like this. We are family and every time you look out for us, it reinforces our need to look out for you."

My hands went to Frankie's rib cage and gently lifted her, pulling her over my head slightly and lowered her again so I could kiss each of her nipples and then back to kiss her lips. The slow moan as we tried to devour each other turned to frustration as she tried to wrap her arms around me and I stopped her. Once our lips parted Frankie went to speak again, my gently placing her back onto me so my own arms could wrapped themselves around her made her think twice.

"You are slave and I love you, so very much. Nevertheless, you were not due home until later today. Let me guess, your Mom was taking you to the golf club on your last night."

Frankie giggled and tried once again to place as much of her onto me.

"I heard her talking to daddy yesterday. The dinner was a parting gift and it's the dinner date that I would have been introduced to when we got there, that made me decide I would decline."

I swatted her ass and she moved so we could both get up. Samantha was wrapped in a blanket and seated on the porch, watching a barn that never seemed to move, yet we take it upon ourselves to watch it from time to time. Her smile grew as we walked toward her. Finally, she pulled the blanket aside and rushed toward me, launching off the porch and into my arms.

"As you can tell my Master, we were all concerned when you left me at the airport. My sister phoned in a panic and asked where you were. Once I told her you had dropped me off, she knew what you were planning to do. I cancelled my flight and hired a car to get back here, but you had already left our home to wander in the night."

Her legs wrapped themselves around me, reinforcing the telling that she didn't want to let go any time soon. She even held my head in her hands to emphasize her next statement.

"From this day forward, all of us sisters have yesterdays date in our diaries and our hearts. You will never be alone on one of our sister's birthdays or anniversaries, ever again."

I carried her into the cabin still clinging to me and placed her in the kitchen. Both got the hint real quick and got busy with their chores and making us all breakfast.

*******

"Please, my Master. Two slaves and a Master require sunshine because we are all starting to look rather pale. Plus of course, getting you out of this office and having your eyes constantly fixed on two hot women will do both of us and you a world of good."

How could I not smile at her comment? Less than an hour later, all three of us were at the lake, the task of placing lotion on both girls fell to me. It was a task I did with true professionalism, spending far too long on most parts of their bodies. After all, you can never be too careful. Something else I noticed as the afternoon wore on, both girls seemed to be taking turns to lie out on the float, while the other one came and lay with me on my lounger.

We had been out by the lake for nearly three hours before the sound of an approaching car made us sit up. Frankie was out on the float and heard it, quickly diving into the lake and swimming to shore as Niamh's car came around the hill and into full view. She seemed to sit watching the activities in front of her for a moment before she got out of her car and walked over to us. Frankie emerged from the water and hugged her, like a long lost sister. The contrast of a naked Frankie and a clothed Niamh as they hugged made me smile.

I offered her a bottle of water as she sat on the lounger next to me. She downed over half of it before she looked at me.

"Can you put something on? I don't wish to see you all naked."

That comment alone raised my blood pressure.

"No."

It took a moment but I decided to add to it.

"Why are you here Niamh?"

"If you answered your phone I wouldn't have to be."

By now, both the girls were knelt next to me, watching everything and not understanding anything.

"It's the weekend Niamh. That makes it our time off, we have no need for phones out here and reception by the lake is worse than useless, so it's pointless having one here. You're stalling Niamh, you came here for a reason, what do you want?"

She fidgeted on the sun lounger for a moment longer, her gaze traveled to both the girls before she once again looked at me.

"I want Red to come home with us, when she is released from the clinic."

Both Frankie and Samantha started to fidget.

"Have you asked Red about this?"

Niamh quickly shook her head before replying.

"There isn't any point. She is yours; she'll do what ever you want."

Even as I went to speak, she held up her hand to stop me.

"Look, don't think for a minute that it's easy for me to come here. Hell, I've not seen this much naked flesh since communal showers after gym classes at school. I know you look at me and see my sister, but I'm not her. All this freaks me out, ok."

The agitation and the downright panic she was getting herself into, stopped me from acting on instinct and I turned to both girls and told them to dress. They quickly nodded and grabbed towels and wrapped them around themselves.

"Samantha go with Niamh back to the cabin, make drinks for us all. Frankie and I will be a few minutes behind you. Once at the cabin, T-shirts and shorts are to be used."

I turned to see a relieved Niamh nod and smile, before Samantha headed towards her car.

"Niamh, you're staying for dinner. We'll talk about this."

I waited until Frankie and I had cleared up around the shoreline and headed back to the cabin before I said anything. "We both know your instincts around people have grown sharper over the months. When asked in front of Mitch Harper, you spoke so eloquently that you have a fan or two in that family. Niamh is staying for dinner, she may stay the night. You have a job to do, watch her."

She nodded her head, yet stayed silent. Frankie left the car and quickly changed before helping Samantha with the drinks and getting a head start on dinner. Niamh was sitting on one of the loungers on the porch, her purse next to her. As I passed her, I told her I would only be a minute and went into my den. It took all of ten minutes to do what needed to be done. Niamh had ambushed me by coming to the cabin unannounced, and it was time to return the favor.

Once on the porch, I moved one of the loungers and sat on it. She tried a couple of times to initiate a conversation as we sat on the porch. I simply held up my hand to stop her. The girls came out of the cabin and placed our drinks between us before they took theirs and knelt against the support rails of the porch watching and saying nothing.

"Do we have to do this in front of these two?"

"We are a family, what one knows we all know. I assume you're already aware that your visit here will have reached Red before you see her tomorrow?"

Niamh nodded her head before she looked down at her iced tea. Once again she looked at the girls, there faces neutral although I didn't doubt for one moment that there wasn't a battle going on in their heads.

"I'm prepared for that, but if I don't do this, then no one will. My folks are relieved she is alive and feel beholding to you for protecting her from the studio that they won't speak out. Nevertheless, we want her back. Give me my sister back, please Jack."

"We both know Niamh, that Red won't be fit enough to leave the clinic for at least another six weeks and that's only if her present medical condition stays as promising as it is. The reason it's that promising, is that she knows she will come here to convalesce."

For the first time, real anger surfaced within her eyes, Samantha went to move but Frankie placed a hand on her thigh to stop her.

As Niamh glared at me, and between gritted teeth said, "Then you bring her here and beat the crap out of her for something that instinct made her do. She saved a life, but let's face it Jack, to you she's damaged goods now."

She nodded her head towards Frankie and Samantha before continuing.

"You have two spares you don't need my sister anymore. Give me back my sister."

Niamh was being a bitch, she had stuck her nose into my life and assumed a great deal about me. I wasn't in a charitable mood and I wanted her to work for what she wanted from me.

"Please Jack, turn her loose and I promise, I won't interfere with your life ever again."

The urge to laugh was close. She had practically run an express train through my life this afternoon, with what she was telling me. Yet, when it was all said and done, she was Red's sister and I couldn't turn her away.

"You have to know this Niamh. You are a guest, an un-invited one, but a guest and so far you have disrespected just about everyone present and I figure we can also toss your sister into this conversation as well. You know nothing of our life or that of Red's while she is here. It's clear she has either not shared anything about it or you have chosen to ignore it when she has spoken about it. Go to Red and ask her, I will abide by whatever your sister wishes me to do."

Niamh once again shook her head.

"We both know she follows you around like a puppy and has done since college. She won't use the bathroom without calling you for permission."

Samantha once again went to move, Frankie's hand on her thigh tightened. The smell of our dinner wafted out of the cabin and I nodded to both girls, they got up and left but not without Samantha and Niamh turning it into a glaring competition as they passed each other. Niamh picked up her iced tea again and sipped from the glass.

"For many years Niamh, your sister has been open to all her family about her life. Why do you think I would harm her for saving Caroline Atkins life? What she did placed her in harms way herself, Red acted on instinct in protecting someone who needed help. The scars she will now carry as the price for doing that, can only be worn with pride."

Niamh was quick to answer, her eyes now the hardest I've ever seen them in all the time I have known her.

"Yet you beat her every time she is here and don't you dare tell me you don't. She has known and lived with you for years, you cannot tell me she deserves to be beaten every time she is here. I lived with her for a while at her apartment in Hollywood and have seen the condition you leave her in to travel back there. The bruises on her make me want to cry sometimes, yet she puts a brave face on for me and makes excuses for you."

There was something about her statement that made me pause and think. I couldn't help but parallel some of what she had said to what Frankie had seen on Shannon that sent her on her own path.

"You are two parts of a coin Jack, I've watched you from the moment my sister sat us down and told us what she wanted out of life and that was you and your late wife. To my family and I'm sure to others out there you show the face of a caring and gentle man. But behind closed doors you're nothing but a bully and a woman beater who takes pleasure in leaving those stupid enough to be with you black and blue."

The purse that had never been further than arms reach in all the time Niamh had been here, now appeared on her lap, her hand went inside and quickly came out again holding a gun.

"I'm not a poor defenseless woman Jack. I even have a license to carry this. Do you want to try and beat me to a pulp too?"

The voice that came next echoed through the cabin walls.

"Niamh, you get your sorry ass over to this clinic this instant or so help me I'm pulling tubes out and coming over there myself."

Niamh's head spun looking for the source, there was no one source. As soon as I had got back, I phoned Red and un-coded the cabin security system so she could watch and listen to everything that was going on through her laptop. The girls came out and smiled at the voice echoing through the cabin and out into the valley, we heard a chuckle through the speakers.

"Sisters get your damn clothes off this is our home and getting naked for our man in our valley is what we do."

The smiles grew on both girls as they looked towards me, I nodded and both hit the thousand-watt smile once again as their clothes hit the cabin floor before going back to finish dinner. Red's attention once again turned back to her own sister.

"Why are you still sitting there, put the damn gun away before you blow your foot off, we have some real talking to do. Something we perhaps should have done some time ago. Jack can you make the necessary arrangements please?"

We both heard the click over the speakers. Niamh was crimson with anger and embarrassment of the emotions fighting within her. At least she had the foresight to put the safety back on the gun before it went back into her purse. That old saying of 'if looks could kill' reigned supreme at that moment. My face remained neutral because I simply didn't care. I did warn Niamh that her sister would know of this visit by morning. She didn't seem to take any notice when I said it.

All three of us watched her leave and all three of us felt sorry for her.

*******

The news from the clinic was that Niamh stayed for three days with Red in her room. The people there kindly wheeled another bed in for her, we all stayed away. Samantha left to return to Salt Lake City to be with her folks for a few days before Mitch would no doubt find a fire for her to put out. Frankie and I went back to work, and as the go-to girl took care of the office, I went and annoyed Marlon. We all knew Rebecca Montrose would be coming shortly for her usual update on the projects we had in partnership with each other. Frankie had already booked her hotel and checked with the airport, her plane would be landing in two hours.

I sent Frankie to meet her. Most of the time, she came straight to the office but Frankie phoned from the airport to tell me they had to go via the Mall first and would be an hour. I think she heard me laugh as I put the phone down. Honestly, the words Shopping Mall and only an hour in the same sentence from a woman never did fit well together.

That hour turned into two. It seems the airlines had lost her luggage, well actually, the tale I got from them both was that they didn't actually lose it; after all, they knew exactly where it was, just not with Rebecca, more likely on the way to Dallas. The airline promised faithfully she would get it back on the first available flight, just not today.

We broke for lunch before we even got started. Rebecca brought us up to date on what was going on and we did the same. Mrs. Gillins met us as we came back and Rebecca handed her a letter from her Father. That's the first time I had seen her blush and make a quick exit. In the back of my mind, I was wondering if I might be losing the best head of personnel and friend I ever had, sometime soon.

Marlon joined us in the conference room and Rebecca took copious notes of everything even though she knew she would have reports from the research department in the morning. The phone in the conference room rang and since I was the closest, I answered it. Security had Niamh O'Connell down stairs and although she didn't have an appointment, she had said that it was urgent.

Excusing myself and heading for my office, Niamh got there seconds after I did. She sure looked like she had taken one heck of a verbal beating from her sister. I pulled a chair over and joined her. Sitting across a desk from her just didn't seem right to me. By the time Rebecca and Frankie got back, I was holding onto a crying Niamh, good manners said I had to introduce her to Rebecca.

"The name O'Connell rings a bell, and sorry, but why do you look familiar to me since I know we haven't met before?"

I looked at Frankie who seemed to be waiting for me to do that, she shook her head, ever so slightly and unless I was looking for something from her, I wouldn't have even noticed it myself.

Niamh mentioned that Rebecca had probably seen pictures of her sister. It wasn't until she mentioned her sister by name that the lights seem to go on in Rebecca's head. Frankie and I were reduced to bystanders after that, as both talked about the accident at the studio and how her sister was recovering in a clinic close by. We both watched open mouthed as Rebecca continued talking and held out her hand. Niamh held it before both walked out of my office and minutes later, out of the building. It was a few minutes later before either of us said a word.