Epilogue

Laura had explained that she was intending to spin the story to her folks about needing some time to herself, and having gone to stay with a friend while she communed with nature. She’d find some way to gloss over not having gotten in touch for a month.

I had real doubts about how well that was going to work out, but I reasoned that she knew them pretty well, way better than I did. She said that she wasn’t intending to give them any time to question her; she would be going onto the attack about what her father needed to do to stay out of jail himself.

As I drove off, with her waving figure receding in my rear view mirror, my confidence that this had all ended well receded at almost the same rate. In a couple of minutes, she’d be back in her own familiar environment, her parent’s large and luxurious house, and the conditioning of twenty years would immediately reassert itself.

By the time I got to the construction site, I’d pretty much convinced myself that perhaps she’d been play-acting in being so friendly, just to get herself free rather than dead, and that she was even now talking to the 911 dispatcher or the nearest FBI Special Agent. Or, that she herself was sincere, but that her parents would quickly force the truth out of her, with the same result, that I’d be hunted down like a rabid dog.

It wasn’t a good feeling, not good at all, especially after the fun, laughter and joyous exploratory intimacy we’d shared at the weekend. Maybe I should have gone ahead with my trip to Missouri. I could have gotten her dropped off shortly after dawn and now been headed for the I-85 before hiding myself in the border country between Georgia and Tennessee and buying a detailed road map to plan my trip north. It’s not like there weren’t several tens of thousands of almost identical trucks along my route; I could probably steal someone else’s tags a couple of times a day to give the authorities real trouble in tracing me.

But I hadn’t left town. It was probably too late to start now. Running off would almost be an admission of guilt and weaken my potential defense that everything had been consensual. Jeez! Why the fuck had I embarked on this mad-assed plan of revenge?

What with my mind inhabiting a parallel universe, my work that day was not my best; although I knew I’d absolutely done the right thing in releasing her, the suspense of waiting for the FBI to roll up and point guns at me before cuffing me was almost too much to handle. The other guys quickly noticed I couldn’t do a damn thing right, and they got a good laugh out of it, saying I’d obviously had far too good a weekend.

Despite my paranoid fears, there was nobody waiting in ambush when I got back to the cabin that evening. I spent a couple of hours removing what other evidence I could of my captive and the makeshift cell (a bit of wood filler and a lick of paint covered up where the spyhole had been in the door, and the drywall she’d excavated got the same treatment), and then sat on the porch worrying. I WANTED to believe in Laura, but recent experience had made me real cautious about women. I’d trusted Kasey; she’d set me up to lose everything. I was so down that I concluded that Miss Gregson was probably exacting some revenge and torturing me by making me live in daily fear for a while before she actually had me arrested. I had a disturbed and restless night; every sound from outside had me listening for more, wondering if it was the cops coming to get me. Didn’t help that I could smell her soap and shampoo on my sheets and pillows, reminding me how good she’d felt in my arms; I decided to strip the bed and take the linens to the service laundry in the morning.

Tuesday I was a little more attuned to waiting until the ax fell on my neck. My work was only a little better than the previous day, but at least the guys realized I was having a problem about something and backed off a tad with the joshing.

I picked up the washed laundry on my way home from the site. When I drove up my driveway, I saw there was a small compact parked in front of the cabin. Not a normal government vehicle, and nobody in it. Still, I’d never had any other visitors, so I guessed that this was my nemesis. At least they weren’t doing it in front of my workmates with blue lights, sirens and the local TV station to record it for posterity.

I pulled the truck up beside the car, turned the key off and sat for a minute, resigning myself to my fate, before climbing out. There was still nobody in sight.

I paused on the porch before I unlocked the door. There were two brightly colored cushions on my tatty wooden chairs that most certainly hadn’t been there that morning. That fact confused me even more. What the heck was going on?

I heard the sound of running footsteps and turned to face them, just in time to see my ex-captive come round the side of the cabin and launch herself into my arms. Her hug and kisses felt real good. When we finally separated, I got a chance to speak.

“Laura! Sweetie, what on earth are you doing back here?”

She chuckled.

“What does it look like, honey? I’ve come back. I’m sorry it took me so long; Dad was being real mule-headed until Mom and I told him that we’d turn him in to the Feds ourselves if he didn’t start listening to what I was saying. Then he finally did some serious thinking, and got to cursing. I would have called you to tell you, but I don’t have your number.”

I shook my head in disbelief.

“Sweetie, I know that we got kind of close at the weekend, and you know I’m real happy that you’ve come over, but would you care to explain WHY you want to be back with me, after I kidnapped you and held you captive for four whole weeks? Why aren’t you still at home with your folks, getting to know them again? Don’t you owe them some family time?”

She laughed and kissed me again.

“Honey, there are a whole lot of reasons. You are the real deal; you aren’t pretending to be something you aren’t. That on its own makes you a better man than half the guys I’ve ever met. Then you’ve shown me that you are kind, considerate and respectful. You had me in your power, and you didn’t abuse me. You could easily have pushed me at the weekend, but you respected my promise to Jenny. Even when I tried to use my body against you, your moral code wouldn’t let you. You showed that you cared about me as a person. I missed you last night, so much so that I realized that I’ve fallen for you.”

I staggered back in amazement.

“YOU have fallen for ME? Why in God’s name would you do something crazy like that? You’ve got it all, and I’m just a lowly construction worker.”

She put her hands up to cradle my face, looking deep into my eyes.

“Grey, honey, I’ve just listed a few very good reasons why I think that you are the man for me. Jenny would have loved you. I’d like us to date and see how we get on. I think we’ll be fine. We’ve got so many basic values in common, and I trust you completely.”

She giggled.

“Oh, and then of course there’s the big one. There aren’t that many men tall enough for me to wear heels when we go dancing, so I thought I might hang on to you a short while longer, see how well we fit on the dance floor.”

I shook my head in disbelief at the direction this conversation was taking. I seized on one word.

“We’re going dancing?”

She giggled, a real peal of amusement, but clearly laughing at the situation, not at me or my obvious male confusion.

“Oh yes, honey, we are going out to dinner, drinks and dancing as our first public date. You were going to ask me, weren’t you? But tomorrow, not tonight. I’ve got other plans for now.”

She dragged me into my bedroom.

“I’ll be back in just a moment.”

She returned with a bright and colorful comforter, which she proceeded to lay out on my bed.

“There! That brightens the place up. Now, honey, that offer of yours about licking me all over. I reckon you might have missed a couple of places last time, so I’m going to give you another chance to fully redeem your promise.”

It was my turn to grin.

“You know something? You do look good enough to eat! You mind if I put the bed sheets back on first? It would be a shame to have to launder the comforter. And I haven’t washed since work, so I’m not that nice to be close too.”

“I can live with watching you wash. Maybe I could help?”

We took a naked dip in the creek together, and then walked slowly back to the cabin, hand in hand.

“I wasn’t expecting you, so there’s not a lot in the larder.”

“I’ve got a few things in the car; I wasn’t sure that you’d have been to the store. How about working up an appetite first?”

Wednesday morning after breakfast, wearing only panties and a smile, she sat down on my lap and handed me her hairbrush. I’d learned all about brushing a girl’s hair with my daughter Aggie, and Laura was purring when I finished. Her hair was shining a whole lot more than when she’d only had the comb to remove the worst of the tangles. She finished dressing, I locked up, showed her where I kept the spare key, we kissed yet again, and drove off in our separate vehicles, she following me until we reached town.

That evening, I finished work an hour early to meet up with her. She looked amazing; she’d had her hair tidied up and was wearing a dress that showed her figure off, and some heels. Our first stop was a men’s outfitter where she chose a sports coat, a dress shirt, a tie, dress slacks and shoes for me to buy and wear out of the store. But, before I got fully dressed, she took me to the suit racks, and picked out three possibles. She talked to the salesman, instructing him almost as if I wasn’t there, and then sent me to get dressed in the sports coat, my work clothes folded into a store bag. I got back to her and was welcomed with a smile of approval.

“You clean up real well, honey!”

I grinned at her.

“Not as well as you do! You look like a million dollars!”

She grinned mischievously.

“That’s a raise! Last week I only looked like a quarter of a million!”

She kissed me on the cheek to show she wasn’t whining about having only been valued at that much in kidnap ransom.

“Let me get the bill.”

“Already taken care of, honey.”

I wasn’t going to argue over money in front of the store clerk, so I waited until I’d walked her to her car.

“You can’t buy my clothes! What do I owe you?”

“Grey, honey, would you have bought them for yourself?”

“I guess not, I had them before, but I’ve no cause to wear them now.”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong, buster. If I’ve dressed up for our date, then you have to be smart as well. Anyway, you’re buying dinner. It’s what the guy does on the first public date. Maybe we’ll start going Dutch after that.”

I know when I’m beaten. She was an irresistible force, and I’d be a fool to fight when she was going in a direction I was more than happy to take. I gave up arguing and took her over to the Red Lobster franchise for our first public date. No reservation needed, food reliably okay if not outstanding. We enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine with our meal, and then we walked to a nearby bar where we danced for a while. She felt so natural in my arms. Seemed like she felt the same about me; her grin was infectious.

“I just knew it, Grey. You are exactly the right height for me, and you’re a great dancer. Where’d you learn?”

“Mom and Dad taught me at first, and when I was twelve they made me go to Cotillion for a couple of years. That did me a lot of good; I did better at school after learning the discipline of dancing. Learned to talk to girls as well!”

That was true; I’d had some nice dates before my folks had been killed. Afterwards, I was just too busy trying to keep out of the state fostering system to have any time to date, and which high school girl would go out with a boy who was not only broke and pretty much homeless, but who also kept bursting into tears when some memory of the past intruded, even if he could dance?

“I don’t want to know any more about that part. Can you do a foxtrot?”

“I sure can! Haven’t tried for a couple of years, but I guess it’ll come back pretty quick.”

It did. Having such a responsive dance partner sure helped. She was good; even when I mis-stepped, she stayed with me, and that confidence upped my game. We stayed there until quarter to eleven, and then drove back to the cabin, she following me. She backed her naked butt into me under the wonderfully soft comforter that now adorned my bed, pulled my arm around her, and was almost instantly asleep.

Thursday morning we skinny dipped together in the creek bathing hole while the coffee was running, then after breakfast I left for work, promising to be back by four. She called me on my cell at lunchtime just to talk, and we had time at the cabin for me to wash and change out of my work clothes before she drove me back into town to the outfitters. The suit had been tailored and fitted perfectly; she picked out another dress shirt and tie, and this time I insisted on paying. We ate at the steak house, where I proved I could handle a whole place setting of silverware and use a napkin without disgracing myself, before going back to dance for a couple of hours. She was absolutely streets ahead of Kasey on the dance floor; we fitted together so well. She had an arm around my waist and her head against my shoulder as we walked to her compact to drive home to the cabin.

“Grey, honey, I could sure get used to this!”

“Laura, sweetie, I hope you will.”

“If tomorrow goes as I intend, we shall do this a lot, I promise you.”

“Are you ever going to tell me what you have got planned, or are you testing me to see how quick I think on my feet?”

She giggled.

“Introducing my wonderful boyfriend to my parents and letting them get to appreciate him for the amazing man he is.”

I pretended to look around me.

“So who is this guy? I’m jealous of him already.”

She prodded me in the chest.

“Oh! You!”

We went to bed as soon as we got back to the cabin; the lights in my bedroom were on for a couple of hours as we did some more mutual exploration. I’d have to get some drapes to save closing the shutters; I didn’t want to corrupt any of the local wildlife by turning them into voyeurs.

Another skinny-dip in the creek before breakfast Friday, and Laura ran through the schedule for the day. Twice. She thought (correctly) that I was too nervous for just once to be enough. Then she kissed me and sent me off to work.

Henry Hallett looked at me a little strange when I took him the timesheets after lunch; I assumed that it was my minutes-old haircut and clean-shaven look that impressed him, or maybe the fact that I’d clocked off early on Wednesday and Thursday. He didn’t say anything, and I headed straight back to the site to finish off the afternoon.

That night, we were having dinner with her parents at their place. I didn’t know precisely what she’d said to them, or exactly how she’d explained her absence, but they welcomed me as if my shit didn’t stink.

That evening it didn’t; I’d met with Laura at a motel at four where we’d shared a long shower under hot water, and I’d gotten my skin completely clean for the first time since the Guard weekend, and then she dressed me up in the suit and tie. I looked pretty damn good, though I say it myself. I felt even better with her holding my hand as she opened their grand front door and pulled me inside.

We were soon standing in their formal reception room, where she’d led me to make the initial introductions. Her father cleared his throat, sounding kinda nervous.

“Mr McKinley, my wife and I want to thank you most sincerely for looking after Laura for the past few weeks while she found herself again. We were real worried that she’d gone off without a word, we so hoped she hadn’t done anything stupid, but now she’s come back to us whole and restored. When my sister Jenny became ill and died, Laura changed, became serious and introspective. We didn’t know what to do. Now, she’s gotten that sparkle back in her eyes, and some real fire in her belly, and she puts it entirely down to how you helped her review where she was in life, and where she wanted to be. We’re going to be eternally grateful to you for what you’ve done for her.”

I blinked in surprise. Laura and I hadn’t discussed the story she was going to tell her parents in that level of detail; she’d clearly made it sound to them as if I’d been her Good Samaritan, therapist and Yogi all rolled into one. The manners my parents had instilled in me rescued me from making more a fool of myself than necessary.

“It was no trouble at all, Sir; I’m so glad that I was able to help her and give her the quiet time she needed to think.”

The lady in question excused herself to go to the kitchen and put the food she’d prepared that morning into the oven. Her mother went with her; her father offered me a drink and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He got me a craft beer, and took a whiskey himself. Mrs Gregson came back with a glass of something in her hand, and sat next to her husband on the love seat opposite the couch he’d ushered me to. I noticed that Laura was staying out of this part; I hoped she knew what she was doing.

“Mr McKinley, Laura was quite forceful to both of us Monday when she got back. It appears that my husband did you a monstrous injustice earlier this year. Not to put too fine a point on it, our daughter promised us both that she’d see her father disgraced and ruined if he didn’t put things right. Of course, once we’d reviewed the papers against the additional information, we could see the problem straight away. Please, will you stay with us tonight as our guest, and we’ll make full redress tomorrow?”

I couldn’t refuse such a direct appeal.

“Sir, Ma’am, from what I understand it was actually deliberate fraud and perjury on the part of my ex-wife’s lover, and your husband was only taken in by a con-man. All I ask of you is that you help me get access to my daughter again. Yes, I’d be honored to be your guest.”

Her husband studied me for a moment before responding. I guess my quiet reasonableness contrasted with whatever Laura had laid on them.

“That’s very generous of you, Mr McKinley. Laura made it very clear to me that I had totally failed in my duty as a judge and as a human being by signing such a document without carefully reading and understanding it. All I can say in my defense is that I was taken in by someone I trusted completely, and I should not have been. I was in total breach of the SCRA, and my violation could have had severe consequences for me if you had followed up.”

“I’m sorry, Sir, SCRA? I’m not familiar with it?”

“SCRA? Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. It’s a Federal law, originated during the Second World War, updated in 2003. Basically, it’s to protect people who are away on active service from being taken advantage of while they are serving. So your being taken to court in your absence for divorce and child custody was illegal. So was the sale of your home without your knowledge, and the closure of your bank accounts. You should have known that, anybody at the Armory would have been able to help you out, get you in touch with someone from the Judge Advocate’s Corps, who’d have fought your corner and won.”

I thought for a moment. Crap! I hadn’t even mentioned the divorce to anyone military, just the pay guy, and he’d probably assumed that I already knew about my avenues for redress. Sounded like I’d badly fucked up by not asking for help.

“I didn’t know. I, uh, I haven’t told any of the guys in the Guard that I’m divorced. I spent three months in Iraq showing anyone I could pin down long enough my photos of Aggie and Kasey; I was missing them so much that I just wanted to show them off. After doing that, I couldn’t face admitting that I’d lost them.”

“Damn! If you’d gotten some JAG lawyer to contact me to tell me that you’d been on active service, I’d certainly have looked again at the papers. There was no mention of you being in the service at all, just the false claim that you’d deserted your family. If there had been, I wouldn’t have granted anything and I’d have gotten in touch with the military authorities to make sure you knew.”

I remembered not to curse in company, but my face must have shown my remorse and self-contempt. I’d given myself extra months without my daughter, when there had been a remedy within my grasp. The Judge must have seen it in my eyes; he stood, approached me and gripped my shoulder in sympathy.

“Let it go, Son. It happened, you can’t go back in time and change it. Don’t beat yourself up. We’re going to get it sorted now.”

I nodded and took a deep breath. He was correct; I’d fouled up, but there was no point in dwelling on it. I still wanted to give myself a decent ass-kicking, but that was more regret that I could have been so prideful and stupid as to not ask for advice.

Laura rejoined us at that point, and sat right next to me on the couch, our bodies touching from shoulder to hip.

“Grey, would you mind letting Mom and Dad visit your place tomorrow morning? I’ve been telling them how calm and peaceful it is out there, and how much quiet reflection and thinking I’ve been doing, and they’d like to see it for themselves?”

“Sure! The cabin’s not up to much, but I’ve got free run of a quarter section of unspoiled woods, and it’s real pretty. I missed it a whole lot when I was out in Iraq.”

There were a few questions about the facilities; I stressed the two bedrooms angle. Then Laura stood up and announced that it was time for dinner. I already knew that she could cook; with a real oven and hob to play with, she showed herself to be a darned good one. The judge and his wife made small talk as we ate; I grinned to myself as I kept up my end of the conversation. I don’t think they’d expected me to be quite as knowledgeable about local affairs as I was, and I could see Laura trying not to giggle as I gently fenced with her parents. It was all good-humored; I suspected they were enjoying the novelty of entertaining their daughter’s beau for the first time, and were relieved that I wasn’t a spotty teen with no knowledge of appropriate subjects for grown-up conversation.

Laura marched all of us into her father’s home office after we’d eaten and I’d helped her clear away. She took his big desk armchair, making him sit in a hard chair in front of her while she dictated her terms. I’d done enough psychology to respect her seizing the power position, and tried not to grin too widely. It looked like she’d done a real number on her parents. This was a very confident young woman.

Only the topic of conversation wasn’t the one I’d expected, about reversing his decision on my divorce and child custody arrangements. Apparently they’d already had THAT discussion in full, which explained the earlier apology. She pulled a couple of sheets of yellow legal note paper from under his leather-mounted blotter and smirked at me.

“Daddy, about our pre-nup. Grey’s cabin and personal property are to be excluded from communal property. Everything he owns now remains his if we divorce, no matter what the cause.”

I realized that I was now engaged to be married. It was a surprise, but the basic idea sounded real good to me, so I didn’t bother disputing it. Okay, so maybe she was a step ahead of the play book, and needed slowing down a tad, otherwise I might have felt that I was being brow-beaten into this. As you might have guessed, I’m kinda old-fashioned and I did want to make it a formal proposal, so I interrupted her.

“One moment, please, Laura, we’re missing something rather important here.”

I got up from my chair, went down on one knee in front of her, and asked her to do me the honor of becoming my wife.

My, the way her whole face lit up!

She said that she’d be delighted, her Mom hugged and kissed us both, and even her father smiled as he shook my hand and congratulated me. Yeah, Laura had without doubt gotten something BIG she could hold over her parents’ heads, if they were that quick to accept me. They insisted that I called them Walter and Amy. That was surely going to take a little bit of getting used to, after all my months of hating them from afar.