The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 04

-=-

The last time they'd been to the B&B, the weather had been much warmer, so seeing it covered in fluffy white snow was a completely different experience. No other guests were staying at the inn this week, so the parking lot was empty. Alexis must have used a plow on the snow when she heard from Gabriella, as it was cleared sufficiently for them to get both vans parked near the door.

Fisher and his men were out first and signaled for Evelyn and Liliya to come out. Gabriella got to the door just as it opened.

Béatrice's smile widened as her eye jumped from face to face. "Gabriella! You brought friends!"

"There's a story I'll share with you shortly," Gabriella replied.

Béatrice's eyes widened as she looked higher at the smiling face of Zama.

"This is Princess Zama. And..." she turned to look back at the petite Vietnamese woman. "Moon?"

"Phan Thi Nguyêt, but Moon is fine," the woman said as she nodded sweetly to Béatrice.

The ebony-skinned woman smiled with a distracted nod, then looked to Gabriella. "Part of the story?" she asked as she gestured for everyone to enter.

With a nod, Gabriella stepped in with the ladies following.

When Liliya and Evelyn joined them, Béatrice's eyes widened, and Gabriella could see she was about to ask for the story. Alexis joined them, and her worried but stormy expression told Gabriella that something was wrong with Stephanie.

She glanced back at the door as she knew this reunion would be rocky.

When Ben stepped into the foyer, he closed the door behind him and turned to Alexis, whose face suddenly froze.

"Hello Alexis, Béatrice," he said quietly.

"YOU!" Alexis finally gasped and rushed at Ben.

He put his arms out and blocked Evelyn and Liliya from intervening. Then Alexis was pounding his chest with her fists. Ben wrapped his arms around the woman and held her against him to stop the hits, but he didn't say anything.

Alexis struggled, then suddenly burst into tears and sobbed against Ben's chest.

Liliya slipped her boots off and followed Béatrice into a hall that led to the living room. The others quickly joined her, leaving Gabriella with Ben and Alexis.

Alexis finally got control over herself and mumbled against his chest. "She's slowly fading away," she finally managed to say clearly.

Gabriella saw rage or fear flare in Ben's eyes, and he pushed Alexis into her arms as he surged down the hall toward Stephanie's studio.

Alexis looked at Gabriella in fear, wanting to chase after him, but Gabriella held her cousin firm. She believed in Ben and his love.

-=-

Ben opened Stephanie's door and stepped inside, closing it behind him with a thump. He wasn't thinking of her need for privacy or any of the social niceties. His anger pushed those considerations aside as she'd done to him.

But when he saw her, he froze. She'd lost weight, and there was a frailness in her body language he hadn't seen before. She was turning toward the door nervously.

"Who... who's there?"

His voice stuck in his throat as it tightened in anger and outrage. The more she moved, the more aware he became of how much she'd lost.

He didn't want that! He was angry, but he didn't want her to slide into oblivion, slowly and painfully. In his memory, she was bursting with life and creativity, an almost elemental force of nature.

"Please... who is it?" she asked pitifully, reaching out timidly, and pain went through his chest.

This wasn't what he wanted. His beautiful artist was giving up.

He still couldn't speak, so he yanked his shirt up and over his head and moved closer until her hand landed on his chest.

She gasped and pulled her hand back in fear. Then her expression quickly changed, and her hand shot out again to land on his skin.

She traced a few scars, then burst into tears as her legs gave out.

Ben was ready for that and scooped her into his arms to pull her close. She pushed at him feebly.

"no... no... I don't deserve to be in your arms...." she gasped through her sobs.

His voice suddenly came back, and with it came a growl. She froze and hiccupped, suddenly tense.

"I hate what you did to me," he forced out. "But I don't hate you. I need to know why you did it." He gripped her blonde hair and pulled her head back to watch her expression so he could see the truth there.

Stephanie's body was moving against him subconsciously, and her breathing was getting faster, but her self-loathing was battling for dominance.

"T-the night we were last together. It was... it was magic. I lost track of where you ended and I began. As we relaxed afterward, it was like my perception of you was sharper than it had ever been. Your passion... was humming through every cell in my body. I felt my muse explode with the need to capture that moment. It was so intensely intimate and intense. All other concerns, like sleeping and eating, paled against the need to preserve the memory of that passion." Tears ran down her face as she stared up toward the ceiling, seeing what only she could.

"The next day, Alexis and Béatrice got me clay, but I told them I needed more. Richard made me a full-size armature and mounted it on a sheet of wood. I worked on the sculpture for over a week, almost non-stop. Alexis had to force me to take breaks to eat and sleep." She sighed as she recalled the extreme effort. "When I was done, I collapsed and slept for what seemed like days."

Ben ran his thumbs over Stephanie's cheeks to dry her tears, but her words continued as if she was almost desperate to confess her sins to him.

"While I was in this state, Richard collected my sculpture and placed it on a remarkable rendition of a bed, complete with sheets. One of Henry's friends is an art curator and was staying at their B&B. He saw what Richard was making into a bronze. He immediately contacted the Singhs and sent them a picture. They offered to buy it for a ridiculous amount of money... and Richard accepted."

Ben shook his head in shock. "Richard sold your art while you were unconscious?"

Stephanie shrugged gently. "He was so overcome with excitement at how much they offered, he got carried away. He assumed I had your blessing since this was the second sculpture. Alexis assumed I'd given Richard permission to sell it and was dazzled by the price too. I was too mentally exhausted to grasp the significance of what was happening. Richard worked on the bronze morning and night for weeks and shipped it overseas the moment it was ready. Then he presented me with the bank deposit slip. By then, the piece had gotten away from me. I never even had a chance to inspect the final bronze and was eager to do so at the unveiling. I didn't know you were there."

Stephanie sagged as fresh tears began to fall, and she struggled feebly to free herself from his embrace, but he wouldn't let her go.

"I'm so sorry, Ben! I never meant for it to be exposed to the public. I was trapped by my muse, and everything snowballed so quickly. You never deserved that, and I failed you so badly!"

Ben held her close to him and watched her face. Guilt and remorse flashed by there, and self-loathing, which disturbed Ben the most.

"I never gave you a chance to explain," he said quietly as his grip on her hair changed to stroking his fingers through her locks. They were dry and brittle as she hadn't been taking care of herself.

"You hated me. I felt it that night," she whispered as if afraid to bring his anger back.

"I was horrified at the betrayal I assumed you had orchestrated. That put my mind in a dark place. I-I almost struck you. I can't forgive myself for that," Ben confessed with a tight throat.

"I would have welcomed it. Hurting you was the last thing I wanted when I made the piece, but I did. I tried to buy it back from the Singhs, but they wouldn't sell it, even after finding out you didn't approve of its creation." She seemed to shrink in his arms once more. "I-I just want to die—"

Ben felt a stab of fear shoot through him, and he seized her face between his hands.

"NO! You're mine! You're my beautiful creative genius! You're not allowed to give up! I won't let you! I love you, and you are NOT getting away from me. You're in my heart, and I need you! Don't you EVER say that again!" he shouted.

Her mouth dropped open in shock. Then he was kissing her, and she moaned with need as her arms began to close around him tentatively as if she was afraid he would suddenly pop and disappear like a soap bubble or a figment of her desperate imagination.

But Ben's need would not be denied. One hand remained gripping her hair, controlling their kiss, while his other slid down her back to grab her ass and pull her onto his lap. His mind was acutely aware of how much weight she'd lost and how frail she seemed compared to the last time they were together. It frightened him how close he'd come to losing her.

He pulled her back from their kiss. "Tell me who you belong to," he growled.

She panted and gasped as she clung to him. "You?" It was a timid squeak.

"You're mine! Tell me who you belong to!" he said louder.

"You! I'm yours!" This time it came out as a desperate cry.

"Never forget that! You will eat and sleep and create art because you are my brilliant artist, and I love you! I want you healthy and happy! But you will NOT sell any art you make of ME to ANYONE! Am I understood?"

"YES, OH YES! I'm sorry, Ben!"

"Enough! I don't want to hear about past mistakes ever again. All we have is now," Ben insisted.

"Yes, Ben!" Stephanie cried and clung to him.

He embraced her and felt her finally relax in his arms, which felt good. She still needed to regain the weight she'd lost. "We'll ask Marie to fatten you up on Coq au Vin, and you will begin exercising to regain your strength. I want my Stephanie back."

She made sweet little noises against his chest.

He finally began to examine the room he was in, and... he wasn't thrilled by what he saw. Mostly it was him! The shelves and desks and window ledges were filled with clay representations of pieces of him. His head, arm, hands, feet, and even an area dedicated to his cock! That was particularly disturbing. Every available space contained something of him except for an obvious gap on the shelf devoted to his private bits.

"Um, I think your studio needs to be cleared out of all these bits of me," he suggested.

"Yes, Ben. I don't need them anymore."

He looked closer and saw a light sheen of dust over the shelves, but he could also make out an outline of what had been where the gap was now.

"Did... did you sell any of these?"

"NO! Not after what happened in New York!" she gasped.

"There seems to be a gap on the shelf of... penises," he said cautiously.

Stephanie jolted in his arms, then was desperately trying to stand. He set her on her feet before the shelf, and her hands went over the contents and found the gap. She gasped. "Oh my god!"

"Would Alexis or Béatrice have taken it?" he asked.

"No! And Richard and Henry haven't been in here since that night either. No one is allowed—" She suddenly stopped as her expression froze.

Ben watched her searching her memories. "Someone was in here, with you."

"Yes...."

"Who was it?"

"A guest. She stayed with us for a week. She was so easy to talk to. We shared much in common, and when we started talking about you, I-I couldn't stop. Robin. Her name was Robin."

Ben frowned as the name immediately made him think of another Robin who was also easy to speak to. "How much did you tell her about me?"

Stephanie looked frightened again, so Ben pulled her into his arms, and she clung to him. "It's okay," he said. "I need to know."

"Everything," she squeaked.

Ben closed his eyes. "About us?"

"Yes, and about how you protected me from Arsene," she confessed.

"I see," Ben sighed as he rubbed her back. Too late to put the genie back in that bottle. Still, he needed more information on this Robin. While not that common a name, he doubted it was the same woman.

"When was the last time you ate a full meal?" Ben asked. She tilted her face away, but he caught her chin and turned her face back toward his. "You will eat lunch with us today, and from now on, you will take better care of yourself! You can start with a soak in a bathtub and give your hair a good shampooing." He pressed his lips to hers, and she eagerly kissed him as she moaned again. "I love you and need you, so you'd better stop neglecting yourself!"

"Ben, I love you so much!" she said desperately but quietly. "I thought you hated me."

"What you did to me? Yes. Hate you? Never, but I was really hurt by what I thought was a betrayal. That will never happen again, right?" he said.

"Never!" she insisted.

"That's my girl," he said and kissed her again.

As he cuddled her in his arms, he thought of the next guilty parties he needed to speak to. "Would you know if Richard and Henry are home? I need to set them straight—"

Stephanie snorted in humor.

"You know what I mean! Silly girl," Ben scolded gently. Then he sighed as he felt so much better.

"I'll speak to Alexis about them. I'll also make sure she and Béatrice understand any art of me will not be sold," he said. He looked at Stephanie and saw she was looking much better already. There was life in her expression once more. "My visit today is brief as we were on our way home from Naples, but I insisted we come here first so I could see you. I will plan another visit soon, but we can only stay overnight today. I want to be with you tonight. Is that going to be a problem?"

She fussed with her hair as she suddenly realized how much she'd let herself go. "I-I need some time to prepare, but yes, I want to be with you too!"

"Good. Thank you. I'll ask Alexis to come speak with you," Ben said as he turned to the door. He paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked back.

She was trembling and fidgeting in excitement.

"Stephanie, who do you belong to?" he asked.

A happy smile flashed across her face. "I belong to you, Ben!"

"Don't forget it again," he said with playful gruffness, and she giggled.

He opened the door, and there was a sudden burst of surprised and embarrassed exclamations as Alexis, Béatrice, and Gabriella fell against him as they'd been leaning against the door listening.

"What's this? Can't a man have a private conversation in this place?" he exclaimed in mock indignation.

Alexis was closest to the door, so she was leaning against Ben directly. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Béatrice did her best to hug him around her wife. Gabriella just smiled at Ben with love in her eyes, and she pushed herself upright.

Ben returned the hug, helped them stand, then gently held Alexis' and Béatrice's chins to make them look him in the eye. "No more art of me gets sold to anyone! Understood?"

"Yes, Ben," they said in unison with a smile.

"Are Richard and Henry home?"

"Yes, they should be," Alexis responded.

"I'll be back shortly. I need to speak to them. In the meantime, Stephanie needs to soak—"

Alexis grinned at him. "We know! We love you too, Ben!" As he stepped out, the sister and her wife rushed past Ben into the room. Gabriella took her turn holding him in her arms, but she also gave him a sweet kiss.

"I knew you would save her. I could see it in your eyes," Gabriella said as they walked arm in arm back to the foyer.

He looked at her in concern. "Did you know she was wasting away?"

She nodded as she held his eyes.

"Gabriella! You should have told me!" he scolded, but she held up her hand and shook her head.

"You weren't ready. You said so yourself. I promised you I wouldn't manipulate you or your emotions, and telling you how much pain she was in when you were still dealing with your own feelings would not have been welcome. You had to reach this point on your own." She held up her hand once more to stop his next question. "I've been monitoring her state, and yes, I was worried about her recent behavior, but I had faith in your heart. I knew you loved her and would come around. Had I known you just needed to be close by, I would have suggested a trip to Milan earlier."

"You never cease to amaze me," Ben said with a smile and kissed her again.

She smiled at him when he pulled back. "I need a little Ben time when I get you home."

"I promise," he said, and she nodded. Evelyn left the living room and smiled at them.

"I need to go speak to some friends up the road for a minute," Ben said to her.

Seven minutes later, Ben was sitting in the back of a van between Evelyn and Liliya with all four commandos in the vehicle as well. "It's a two-minute drive! I could have been there and back in the time it took you to get ready," Ben complained.

"Until we get you home, you do things our way," Fisher said firmly from the front passenger seat.

Ben sighed and glanced at the two ladies cuddled in against him. They had identical smiles on their faces.

Stim pulled the van into the driveway and stopped before the doors of the large chateau Richard and Henry renovated for their B&B. They moved inside into the grand hall, and Ben looked around. This was the first time he'd been inside. The entryway was impressive, but he thought it lacked the homey warmth of Alexis and Béatrice's chateau.

Richard rushed out of the back room with a wide smile on his face seeing so many prospective customers in the hall. Then his eyes moved across the faces of the harder-than-steel commandos who were evaluating his threat level. His eyes jumped to Evelyn, who looked away having dismissed him, then to Liliya, whose dispassionate examination seemed to send a chill through him. His smile froze.

Ben stepped forward, Liliya and Evelyn parting to allow him through.

Richard faced the man he'd last seen tossing security guards left and right as his rage flared from seeing the brass statue he'd helped make.

Suddenly, the presence of the four enforcers took on a sinister meaning in Richard's mind. He dropped to his knees and put his hands over his face. "Do what you want to me but spare Henry."

"Richard, for fuck's sake, stand up! I'm—we're not here to hurt anyone!" Ben exclaimed.

Henry chose that moment to join them in the hall and raised his eyebrows in surprise. He caught Ben's exasperated expression and sighed as he came forward to help Richard up to his feet. The other man was watching Ben nervously.

"I just spoke with Stephanie, and she explained how assumptions were made and how people got a little too excited about money and mistakes happened," Ben explained. Richard flinched, and Ben sighed as his eyes went to Henry.

"How's it going, Doc," Ben said to Richard's French partner.

Henry couldn't stop the smile from popping up on his lips. "I am well, Ben. Your wounds healed well?"

Ben smiled in return. "Very well. The scars barely tug at all."

Fisher looked at Ben. "This man fixed you up?"

Ben nodded. "Twice. He's an excellent field medic! The first time was for a blow against my scalp with a heavy walking stick, and the second time he removed shotgun pellets from my back and stitched some cuts closed. That all happened the first time, I visited Alexis and Béatrice."

Fisher gave the man an impressed nod.

Ben returned his gaze to Richard. "I came here today to apologize for my behavior during the unveiling at the art gallery. I was horrified to see myself on public display and reacted badly. I didn't give Stephanie permission to make the statue, and I wasn't aware of it until that night. I never want to go through that again. I have spoken to Stephanie, and she's agreed to never sell another statue of me. I'm not asking her to not sculpt me as her muse is too powerful, and I won't curb her artistic expression. As you are the one who makes the bronze versions of her clay masterpieces, I'm telling you they are not for public consumption! Don't do that again."