Chapter 1: Trinity

After four long days on the road, plus one demolishing a crime syndicate (literally) I knew two things for certain — my truck needed an oil change, bad and I was tired as hell! Oh, and I needed to pick up a safe. And my dog. Oh yeah, and ... her. Home was closer so I opted to run Gil there and then catch a nap before tackling the rest.

My dwelling was cold and empty. I could feel Bianca’s absence like a chill on my neck. Not having Travis around only made it worse. Despite being exhausted to the core, I tossed fitfully for over an hour before giving up, starting a pot of coffee, and hitting the shower. 20 minutes later I was climbing back out of the canyon, heading for town. It was only noon so I called ahead for a drive-in appointment at the dealership service center. I stayed in the truck while they lubed me up.

40 minutes later I pulled up to Kevin and Rachel’s and parked in their driveway. Trinity and Travis (my 230-pound long-haired mastiff) were in the front yard playing in the snow. She had a length of woven rope and tried futilely to battle him at tug-of-war. He dragged her all over the yard. I was surprised and pleased at the changes I saw in her. No make-up, thin skirt, hooker boots, or worn coat. She was dressed in a pair of tight-fitting jeans with a thick knitted sweater, white fleece beany, and soft leather, fur-lined Sorel boots. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and she was smiling happily as the big dope utterly dominated her. Then he saw me.

The rope was forgotten as he barked excitedly and bounced in circles several times, nearly clubbing her to death with his lethal tail. Then he bolted for the truck, racing around to my door where he stood on his hind legs and smashed his huge front paws against my window. The F 350 King Ranch Custom rocked as he barked and shook his head at me.

“Let me out. You big idiot!” I laughed as he held the door closed against me, “Down!”

He dropped down and gave me just enough time to open the door before pouncing up and knocking me back against the console. His tongue was the size of an oven mitt, only covered with slobber, His curtain-sized jowls did little to hold back all the dog spit.

“Oh God!” I gasped as he knocked the wind out of me, “Get off you fool! Ugh! Gross!” He slipped back and let me climb out. “You slobbered all over me!” I growled, “Who does that? Do I slobber on you?” But with the attention span of a dung beetle, he turned and bolted around the truck, almost taking the girl out before launching himself onto the porch. He stood against the front door and barked his head off, to make sure the occupants knew that he had urgent news.

I shook my head and reached into the console for the black duffle bag, that I brought back from New York. Turning, I found Trinity standing a short distance away, looking suddenly uncertain and shy.

“Hello Trinity,” I said warmly.

“Hello Mr. Davis,” she replied demurely.

I snorted as I led her back to the porch. “Oh please!” I begged, “I am Carter. I will always be just Carter.”

Travis gave up on the front door and leaped back down into the snow to run a zoomie around the yard. I stepped onto the porch just as the front door opened. Kevin stood behind it shaking his head at me.

“Finally!” he said exasperated, “we’ll get some peace around here.” He stepped out and hugged me before leading us back inside. “Rach is upstairs taking her 3^rd bath of the day,” he mused.

“Well,” I shrugged, “I guess when you’re pregnant...”

“Very pregnant...” Trinity added with emphasis.

“And she still has 3 months to go,” Kevin grinned.

“I hear y’all talking about me!” Rachel yelled from upstairs, in her twangy Texas drawl. “Carter, you’d better have brought me something nice!”

I turned and watched as her feet appeared through the banister rails, then her legs, then ... holy crap! She was waddling! At 5’ tall she was a tiny little Vietnamese-American woman, and she was beautiful beyond words, even 15 months pregnant.

“Good God Rachel!” I exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek, “how many babies are you carrying in there?”

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t even talk like that. If I had two of these little monster’s kung fu fighting inside me, I’d do my own C-section.” I helped her to the love seat where she sat beside me while Kevin took the recliner to my other side. She looked at me expectantly, “so...”

I turned to their house guest. “Trinity, could you give us a few moments?”

She nodded and turned for the stairs. “I have to pack up my things anyway.”

‘Things?’ I mouthed to the preggo beside me.

“She’s a young lady,” Rachel shrugged, “we shopped. What’s in the bag?” She poked it with her delicate little fingers.

“Y’all have a safe right?” I asked.

Kevin raised his eyebrows at me, “Yes. What do you have Carter?” His tone was suspicious.

I unzipped it and held it open for both of them to see. Their eyes about fell out. Rachel got to her feet with an amazing show of dexterity and bent over the bag with her mouth open. “Are those diamonds?” she gaped at me and clutched the bag. “Carter-San!” she adopted a sing-song Asian accent, “you brought me diamonds?” She became comical as she fell into my lap and hugged my neck. “Oh Sailor-boy, you come! We fucky-fucky long time!”

Kevin snorted loudly and I bellowed an unflattering guffaw.

“Jesus Rachel!” I cried with laughter, “What the hell...”

Her laughter was like bells from Heaven. “But seriously,” she asked, not leaving my lap, “what is this?”

“Um. Payment? I guess?” I said awkwardly, “I didn’t ask for it. And that’s only half of it. Gil took his share earlier. At least I think he did. I never counted it.”

Suddenly she was back on her feet and grabbing the bag from me. “Ooh lemme count it! I love counting money!” And with that, she waddled quickly into Kevin’s Office and closed the door.

“You don’t let her out much anymore, do you?” I asked sternly causing him to snort again.

“Like I could ever stop her!” He retorted.

“Well, if that’s all it takes to make a woman happy...” I chuckled and shook my head.

Trinity came back downstairs carrying a backpack and athletic bag. “You want me to go wait in the truck Mr ... uh, Carter?” she asked.

I shook my head and got up. “Nah, let’s go.” I turned to Kevin and shook his hand, “Keep an eye on that woman of yours. I’ve never seen her like that before.”

He grinned and walked us to the door. Travis was waiting outside. I heard Rachel coming up behind us so I took the girl’s bags and went to the truck. The two females hugged tightly for a full minute before parting. I held the passenger door for Trinity and closed it after she climbed in. Travis was already hogging most of the seat so she had to squeeze in beside him.

“I figure we should hit the grocery store to stock up,” I said as I pulled away from the Sinclair residence, “you can pick out the stuff you like. Are you hungry now?” I felt awkward trying to make conversation. Especially when I couldn’t see her through the big furry beast taking up most of her seat.

“I’m good,” she said quietly.

We fell silent for a while as I drove through town.

“So how was your stay with Kevin and Rachel?” I asked.

She perked up a little. “They are so nice. I wish I had a mother like Rachel,” she replied, “she has been so good to me. She took me to the women’s clinic and I got treated for...” she hesitated, “I had VD and they gave me pills to take care of. And Dr. Fortune put me on birth control pills to control my periods ... I bleed a lot I guess...”

I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “You don’t have to tell me all your secrets and stuff, Trin,” I said as we pulled into Mavericks. I parked and shut the truck down. “While I was gone Rach, Kev and I kept in touch and we chatted about you.”

“I know,” she replied, “Rachel is working with HHS to arrange for me to become a Ward of the State or something and put me up for,” she paused, “she said you wanted to foster me.” Her tone was quiet but I could feel the hopefulness in her tone.

“What do you want Trinity?” I asked, “What about your family? Parents? School?”

“I can’t go back to that!” she said bluntly, “My mom threw me out when Dad...” She got quiet and I didn’t push it.

“You don’t have to go back,” I assured her, “what about school?”

“I was never very good at school,” she mumbled, “I dropped out in 9^th grade.”

“We can work on your GED then,” I said as I opened my door. She opened hers as well and barely got out before Travis jumped down. I walked around to her side while the mutt walked over to a red Subaru Forester and peed on the rear tire. I held the crew cab door open for him to jump back in and closed it, turning to face the girl once more. She stood uncertainly before me and I stepped forward, pulling her into a hug. She surrendered meekly by burying her face in my chest.