Traveler Ch. 03

My thanks as always go to my two special friends for their technical advice. To my Beta readers for their help and their ability to always point and laugh. Also my friend vcwriter17b, who did the final edit for me. It's these people that lend me something so precious, their time. Thank you all.

*******

I took the long way home. Even as the past few days once again played themselves out in my thoughts, I reluctantly had to smile. With Abe as Traveler, he was finally going to get his hands dirty and drag the families back from the brink. But after our talk, he just turned and bowed to me. Not only that, Cindy had seen him do it. I almost screamed, 'what the fuck', back at him.

Generations of travelers have had to get their hands dirty for the sake of the families at some time in their position as head of the families. Commonly known by the name of Traveler. Yet all Abe did was talk of his own family problems and keeping his last two boys in line. Shame he couldn't do that with Callum. The prison system and inmates met him halfway on that one.

The house loomed closer, as was my divorce from the man I've truly come to love like no other. Even as the engine came to a stop, my ass refused to move from the car seat. I had spouted loyalty and commitment to the families to Abe and what did he do, cut and run. A tear trickled down my cheek, God I'm going to miss this place, my home, my family.

I was within my rights to refuse of course, but that would have left a hole in the families as a whole, the families would be rudderless, many would go under and be forced to leave a life they had inherited from mothers and fathers alike. Now I'm going to spend so much time away from the man who stood by me when I was at my utmost lowest. My own immediate family was safe, but the families of the river, those very river people that up until a few years ago, I was not only one of them, my father led them. And, with his death, I had led them.

Taking a deep breath, expelling it ever so slowly, because I knew that at the end of it, I had to get out of the car and hope like hell my husband and children will understand. As I opened the door and stepped inside, the silence was almost crushing.

My husband Robert was sitting in his comfortable chair staring at me as I closed in on him. Looking around the room felt so odd, I should be tackled to the floor by our two munchkins by now.

My eyes rested on Robert. "Where are the children?"

His face was as neutral as I've never seen it and I had been able to read this man almost as long as I'd known him.

Robert used his head to nod towards me, his hands holding onto the arms of the chair he was sitting in. "Barry came by an hour ago, he took them home with him. What is going to be said now will let us both know when we can see them again."

I stiffened, still not sure what I was hearing.

I knelt down in front of him, I lost focus, the tears in my eyes blurring the view of my one true love. "Robert ... I need..."

"No Cassie, the time to talk would have been after Brenda Cooper's funeral, at worst, after the trial of that scumbag son of Abe's. Not now, now is so past the time to talk. Now is the time for action."

My heart sank lower than the floor of the basement.

"Please Robert, we do need..."

"Stand, take off your shoes, drop your pants and I'm assuming you're wearing panties, because they're coming off as well."

The specificity of his request wasn't a coincidence, sure there was anger in his eyes, but he would never have even suggested this. That lightbulb moment came to me, just as defeat stood beside the reality of what I was going to do.

I think Robert detected the defeat in my voice, when I said. "You've spoken to Cindy."

The nod came first and now conceding defeat and vainly attempting to throw myself at the mercy of my husband, I took my sneakers off, my jeans dropped and my panties followed barely a few seconds later. I did have the wherewithal to pull both completely off, the shame of what I was doing was enough, waddling the last few paces to his lap like a duck would have had me in tears.

I didn't have to do this, I'm sure I could come up with several reasons why I could put a stop to this in a heartbeat. Being Traveler was one reason, but being this man's wife and bed partner had equaled that very statement. So many years ago, I, Cassie Marshal, had looked into this man's eyes and told him that I loved him and I meant every word. The two children in our lives were to us the icing on this big beautiful cake.

Since Cindy had been here, she would have told Robert what I needed to do to keep the families from going under. I may be Traveler now; I may be in a marriage with this wonderful man. But to keep the families together, I was going to have to spend weeks if not months away trying to salvage what Abe had done. That alone would be putting so much of a strain on my own marriage. I had to give my husband this, he deserved it for what I needed to do.

It hurt like a bitch. It was humiliating and I deserved every goddamn handprint on both cheeks of my ass. I chose not to count, my burning ass wasn't interested in the number, just wanting to know when it was all going to end and in what year would I be able to sit on a seat without the aid of a very soft cushion.

Suddenly he stopped, I had held back the tears and had even stifled the thought that a little begging him to stop might help. But he had stopped, and then he placed an arm over the small of my back to stop me from moving. Even though, at that moment my thoughts were leaning more towards rolling off onto the floor and begging him to forgive me, while I was maybe curled up into a ball.

His hand once again came to my abused ass cheeks, the cream soothed the burning pain and a gentle moan escaped my treacherous lips.

Every day I bless the Gods for sending this man to me. Even now, when I'm bent over his lap and he's rubbing that soothing cream into my ass cheeks, I still love him to bits. He knows I could snap his neck, bust him up so badly, such was my childhood I suppose. Even at a young age I knew I was being groomed to take the mantle of Traveler. Being ex-military himself, my father had taught me the dark arts. From hand to hand, then onto the use of firearms.

Throughout my time as Traveler, what my father had taught me had held me in good stead. My dad always said that you had to learn to take it, just as much as dish it out and yet I'm putty in this man's hands. Yes, he knows it and I'm eternally grateful that he doesn't abuse that fact. Regardless, my burning ass was telling me otherwise.

After a while Robert lowered me onto the floor. He kept me on my hands and knees as he straddled me so that he could undo my blouse and my bra.

Feeling just a little brave, I said. "Although as your wife I wouldn't stop you, I do question your morals of taking advantage of a woman in pain here."

He laughed and I was grateful for that.

My husband got me to stand; he then carried my now naked form to our bed, and then had me lay face down while he laid next to me, anger still in his eyes.

"Cindy left the place you had your meeting with Abe and got here a day and a half later, you took three days to make the same journey. Am I that much of an ogre that you had to take twice as long as your enforcer to come to me and tell me what happened with your meeting with Abe?"

My hand sought his, thankfully he allowed the contact I so desperately needed from him.

"Before we married, I made you a promise and I've kept that promise, you and both our children have held my love because I was sure that with Abe's help, the families were safe. Yet, now Callum is dead, the twins in the wind. Abe relinquished the title of Traveler and handed it back to me and the families are on the brink of falling apart. The fallout of that will be felt for generations to come, destroying so many of our families along the way."

My hand went out and laid on his cheek, a tear came to my eyes and followed gravity towards the pillow.

"All that I have said so far is the only positive from all this. In real truth, if I don't pull this around within the next eighteen months to two years, the families will fall. Generations will move away from the water, from the canals, where we belong. Forget Abe, he has shown his true color and that's yellow. I have to at least try; my soul and conscience scream at me that I have to at least try.

"I am Traveler; we have led from the beginning. The families look to me as a symbol of hope, prosperity and a continuation of a way of life that has kept us fed and nurtured for so many generations."

Yet right at this moment in time, I crawl over to my husband, rest my head on his chest and cry my eyes out.

*******

I was alone when I woke. I could hear talking from the other room but nothing to indicate what they were talking about. All I knew was that Robert was next door, slowly I moved to get off the bed, then stood before reaching for my dressing gown. Robert was by the kitchen when I came in, he waved and pointed towards the couch, I laid across it, my ass still too warm to argue about it.

Watching as Robert had a coffee in one hand and a notepad in the other he came over, placed the coffee onto the table and sat on the floor next to me on the couch.

"Okay, this is what Barry and I've got so far. I talked to the waterways authority and bid for Callum's boat. They couldn't agree quickly enough. The lorry transporting it down to Barry Mitchell's boatyard arrived an hour ago and has just left the yard. Barry already sorted out a work crew to rewire the boat and I'm sure a fresh coat of paint will be added, the engine is being looked into since you and Cindy sugared the damn thing."

It had been some time since I'd even thought about Callum's boat. As a matter of fact, the Waterways Authority would have removed it from the canal to a storage facility. Once the police had finished with it though, since at the time it was still considered part of an ongoing investigation and Callum's now of course dead, they had a boat they didn't want taking up space in one of their storage yards.

My cheeks warmed and he smiled.

"Barry is sending the paperwork onwards to register the boat to the boatyard."

Going over everything Robert had said, left me feeling a little dizzy.

"How did you manage to get all that done since I've only been back a few hours?"

"Cindy told me, remember. She also told me what you were planning on doing, even if you hadn't got around to thinking about it just then. Which brings me to my next question, are you taking Cindy with you?"

The sadness still sat behind his eyes and I truly understood. I almost wanted to drape myself over his lap again so he could get a few more smacks in.

After thinking about my husband's question for a moment, I shook my head and explained to my husband an old saying from a former president that still resonated in my thoughts. 'Trust but verify', Abe may have retired and promised to keep an eye on his two remaining boys, but I needed Cindy to keep an eye on all three of them.

Robert nodded in understanding. "Then I'm going to pitch an idea at you. I can't come with you because the children still need schooling. Plus, you admitted yourself that this could take up to two years. So I looked up an old friend and I want you to meet her."

Something in my head rewound what my husband had said and played it again while he sat and stared at me. He was clearly holding something back on even this little in the way of a conversation.

Venturing the question, although already terrified at one of the possible answers he may give me. "I'm missing something. What did I miss?"

It seems that while I was away looking for Brenda Cooper, the red lady -- an old friend of my husband's -- turned up. She's a writer, a good one so I'm told by Robert, who does a book about once every other year. She came to him because she's on a dry spell and asked for any ideas. The fact that Robert was only mentioning her now and not when I got back, raised that jealous streak in me that another woman was sniffing around my man while I wasn't here.

With so much going on in my head at the moment, I made a monumental mistake, made worse when Robert had just finished telling me that he had only just got off the phone to said husband-stealing witch and she was due here in an hour.

"Then phone her back and tell her she's not needed."

He must have seen me clench my hands into fists, I wasn't going to take this man-stealing bitch lying down. Okay, I may have overthought that comment since I was actually lying down. I must have telegraphed my unhappiness since all he did was look at me and smile.

"You're not getting jealous, are you?"

"NO." Fuck, I said that too quick and way too bloody loud for him to believe me.

The smug git leaned over to the coffee table and pulled a paperback towards himself, then placed it on the arm of the couch. I recognized it instantly, although if he thought I was going to lay here and read until this witch arrived, he had another thing coming. More so since I had already finished reading that book just before the shitstorm caused by Abe dragging his feet when he should have been pulling the families away from the storm that's been brewing.

"Since you liked the book so much, I'm sure she would sign the inside for you."

Stunned wasn't a word I would use lightly, I even pulled the paperback off the arm of the couch to make sure he had the right book in his hand when he put it there. The witch coming to suck up to me and steal my husband in the process was Joan Phelps.

"I hate you."

Robert smiled and went to sit back onto the floor next to me, pausing long enough to kiss my reddening cheek as he did. "I know you do."

"No. I mean it; I really hate you."

The top half of his body turned towards me, his arm moved and pulled the bottom of my dressing gown up over my burning ass and rested on the small of my back. The rest of him moved just then, he leaned in and kissed one of my very red and abused ass cheeks. My body betrayed the hell out of me and rose as his lips parted from my ass cheek, and a groan left my throat and escaped between my treacherous lips before I could pull it back.

An exasperated sigh left my lips. "You fight so dirty." It followed my defeat at the hands, not to mention lips of this man.

As Robert spoke I listened to his voice, it had a soft lilt. He could recite anything from poetry to a shopping list and I would still be soaking my panties while he finished. I once asked him about his ancestry, nothing flagged the lilt. I would have sworn he had a bit of Irish in him.

Our son had that same lilt to his voice; I could just envisage the female population swooning when he hits puberty. Robert was still telling me some of the antics the children had got up to when the doorbell rang; I got up, slowly of course. I wasn't going to let the man-stealer see me laying face down on the couch, with my bare ass free to the world.

They were both still talking traffic when they came in, Robert introduced Joan, and then her book appeared in his hand. I so wanted to rip his arm off right about then, more so when he told Joan that I had raved about the book and enjoyed it. He then thrust it forward and before I could grab it out of his hand, Joan had it in hers.

My darling husband magically produced a pen and smiled at me as he handed it over. My smile hid the thought of my placing said pen up certain body parts of his, maybe pausing for a moment before nodding in completion of the pen's arrival at its new destination.

"A fan of my work, I'm flattered."

I stared, if this bitch thought I was in the mood to suck up to her, boy wasn't she overdue for an enema.

"What exactly is it that you want Ms. Phelps?"

Robert winced from behind her, Joan Phelps simply rolled with the punches. She had clearly rehearsed the next part, because I didn't even get a chance to draw breath.

"Bobby has given me some background and I've researched the rest."

I held up my hand to stop her, I had to.

"First off, my husband's name is Robert. Call him Bobby again, even if he isn't in the same room as us, I will be. That means I get to bust you in the mouth for insulting my husband, something I don't take lightly at all Ms. Phelps."

My husband took a step back, thought he got away with it and took another, that's when I glared at him. He froze, Joan even turned to look at what I was glaring at.

It was then she seemed to have her own lightbulb moment. "If you two are having a domestic, I can sit out in the car for an hour, two if makeup sex is involved."

The bitch caught me off guard, I swear I will take that excuse to my grave. I burst out laughing, Robert joined in and Joan wanted to know what was so funny.

Try as I might, I just couldn't dislike her. Robert went to make coffees and Joan and I talked about what my next year is going to look like. It took me about an hour to realize that she had invited herself, not only onto my boat, well once Barry and the tech boys and girls have finished with it, but she's inviting herself into my life for the next year as well.

I excused myself for a moment and put some clothes on, loose ones, very loose ones. We were both sat on the back porch when I decided to cut to the chase. "Exactly what is it you want, Joan?"

She had just taken a sip of her water. The sip gave her a moment to prepare her sales pitch.

"I've read everything Robert ever wrote about you, Traveler. You're like a Russian doll, peel away one layer and another you is waiting just inside." We stared at each other. Eventually, it was Joan who conceded. "With your permission, I want you to be my next book."

I had a feeling she was building up to this. Finally, I put my glass down and leant on my legs as I closed the gap between us. "Today is Tuesday, come back on Friday afternoon, before two o'clock. On Thursday I will email you what you can bring, clothes-wise. I'm taking you out on a canal boat for the weekend, if you learn quickly then you have a week or so to get your affairs in order because you won't see home for about a year after that."

She jumped out of her chair and did some sort of happy dance. Amusing as all this was, I waited her out.

"I'm Traveler, Joan. That means you leave your camera at home if we do this. People don't trust any form of recording device when it comes to our business, so this is going to be testing your memory and shorthand skills. We will talk about what else you can or can't bring over the weekend, this book of yours may be about me, but I'm no superstar, just a person trying desperately hard to keep the families together."

Joan Phelps left about an hour later, looking like she was walking on air.

*******

Robert was waiting for me when I went back into the house. "It's that bad, is it?"

I nodded. "I visited both the banks on the way back here, the contingency accounts are all very low. Abe's damn family has been draining them ever since he took control. I've checked around. Boat-wise all are good, so no major bills are going to hit the accounts anytime soon."

Thinking to pause over this next bit. "One of the managers told me that when I notified the bank of the change of Traveler and when Abe introduced himself as Traveler. Abe read the amount in the accounts and then demanded to see the full accounts up to three years' prier. It seems he was convinced I had spirited away millions and wanted the police involved. The bank produced all activity on those accounts for the three years he requested and he stormed out of the bank."

Abe had overplayed his hand -- he now had both banks watching not only Abe but the contingency accounts very closely. It also slowed down his ability to drain them of funds as quickly as he wanted. Between both accounts, they still held enough to keep the families afloat for the two years I hopefully needed to turn this mess around.