But he wasn't interested in a regular reporter's job at his age. No way. He wanted his own by-line and he figured that he might just have the lead now that was going to put his name right up there! It was going to take some good investigative journalism, but digging for dirt he was good at! With a laugh he took a sip from his beer and lit another cigarette. Might as well watch the rest of the show, he thought.
It was just after three in the morning when the alarm went off and the floodlights came on. Janet jumped from her bed, heart pounding, and ran down to the girls' room amid the wild barks of Rufus and the breaking of furniture.
A paddle, swinging at Janet's head, was barely checked by Ryan. "What are you doing with that?" hissed Janet, slamming closed the door.
"Repelling intruders," Ryan explained in a nervous whisper. "Do you have the rifle?
"No, it's out there," she whispered, jerking her head in the direction of the living room where the sounds of a massive fight seemed to be taking place.
"We'd better lock the door," suggested Ryan, nervously gripping her paddle.
"The interior doors don't have locks. We'll have to barricade ourselves in here until the police arrive." The two women looked around the room. One camp cot, a plastic crib and a diaper changing table were the main articles in the room.
There was certainly nothing to prevent an attacker from breaking through. Janet felt the sweat dripping down her back as goose bumps spread up her arms. Growls and barks came from the living room. "It's an animal!" gasped Ryan.
Janet took a deep breath to calm herself. Animals, at least the four legged kind, she could handle. "Here, give me the paddle."
Ryan did so, and slowly Janet opened the door. An animal, waiting in the hall, cast a menacing shadow on the wall. Janet gripped the paddle and looked around the corner. Rufus stood there alertly, ready to pounce. Seeing Janet instead of an intruder, she sat down happily and wagged her tail. Woof. Woof.
"Come, Rufus," the dog obediently trotted down to the bedroom. "Okay, you stay here with Rufus, and I'll go see what's out there," instructed Janet.
"Not likely! Mom would kill me if I let anything happen to you!"
"Someone has to protect Reb," Janet pointed out, and Ryan nodded, recognizing the logic in this.
"Be careful!"
Janet nodded and headed down the hall. Ryan had to hold onto Rufus's collar to stop him from running down the hall after her. Janet looked around the corner into the living room. It was a complete shambles. Then something jumped from the ledge above her head and she screamed. Rufus broke loose and charged down the hall, Reb woke up crying, the police arrived with sirens blaring, and Ryan tore down the hall, and knocked Janet flying. The intruder, a very frightened racoon, darted out the door with Rufus in pursuit as soon as the police smashed through with guns out.
Early the next morning, it was a sleepy Ryan that answered the phone. "Hi mom! Wow, did we have a night last night! We had another intruder. The police have just left. They smashed through the door with their guns out just like in one of your movies! The alarms worked really well. Rufus fought him, and you should see the livingroom, wow, what a mess!" At the other end of the conversation, Robbie's heart started to pound with fear.
"No, Reb and I are fine but Aunt Janet has a broken nose and..." the phone was snatched from her hand.
"Robbie?"
"Janet! Sweetheart, are you all right?! My God! I'll be home on the next plane!"
"Robbie, it was a racoon."
There was silence at the other end for a minute while Robbie's panic-stricken mind came to terms with this information. "What?"
"A raccoon. It fell down the chimney, and Rufus chased it around the living room."
"How did you get a broken nose?"
"It's not broken. It was just a nose bleed. Your daughter flattened me in the confusion." Suddenly, Janet started to laugh, "Robbie it was like a French farce! Wait until I tell you!"
Robbie sat on the plane staring blankly at her video screen. A smile came to her lips as she replayed Janet's tale of the Night of the Racoon through her mind again. She missed them. She missed them all terribly. "Where was she going to go from here?It was obvious that her relationship with Janet had gone much farther than a steady date.Hell, they were virtually living together! Janet was helping raise her daughter and she found herself thinking of Reb as her own.
Was Janet right? Was it time to let the ancient history of her youth go and have a real life? Or was Elizabeth right in reminding her, that for them, a commitment to anyone was exposing others to public humiliation or worse. Damn! I don't know! I don't want to hurt Janet or the girls but the truth is I can't live without them!
What would be the difference really? She had long since crossed over the line. If someone did dig something up on her, Janet would be drawn into it. Okay, that's it then, I love her and I'm going to ask her to marry me.
But what if she says no! Let's face it, Williams, you are not easy to get along with. They'd had their fights. In fact, Janet hadn't wanted to sleep with her because it might reflect negatively on her and Reb! So do you think she is going to marry you, idiot!A misery spread through Robbie's soul and she looked out at the puffy, white clouds below as she blinked back tears. I love you so much, Janet!
She had been away almost six weeks now, and was very anxious to get home. Home. Funny I had never thought of my condo as home but Janet's cabin is. Home to Janet and the girls and the furry mountain that might be a dog.Robbie smiled. When did all this happened to me?
Then the eyes turned dark and misty. Janet and the girls would be meeting her in T.O. Tomorrow was Janet's check up. The first to see if they had got the cancer. What if they hadn't? She felt sick at that thought.Janet had to live. She just had to. Five years the doctor had said, five years before they could be relatively sure that the cancer would not return. It was like a darkness always hovering behind them.
Robbie picked up her briefcase after putting on her sunglasses and hat. She walked to the open hatch of the plane where a representative from the airline, who handled V.I.P.s, met her and took her by motorized cart through the corridors to Customs. Here she was passed through quickly. A limo waited to take her to her office while the representative waited behind with her baggage claim tickets to collect and forward her bags after they were unloaded from the plane.
It took almost forty minutes to battle the Toronto traffic from the airport down to her office in the city core. Stepping out, she headed for the automatic doors, then turned away and walked down the street instead and opened the heavy brass doors to DeBeer's.
She walked around looking at various displays. Then, getting her nerve up, she moved over to engagement rings. The selection was amazing. Robbie sat at a stool and a sales representative showed her various styles and qualities. Finally, her eye caught sight of the ring that she knew she had to have for Janet. It was three bands of plain gold joined as one and the centre band had six perfectly matched diamonds in a row. It was elegant and different and a quiet expression of her love. "I'll take it," she said.
With the small, plush box in her coat pocket, Robbie retraced her steps and took the elevator up to her administrative offices. She wasn't sure that she would ever have the nerve to ask Janet to marry her, but somehow buying the ring was a symbol that she had at last broken with her dark past, and was stepping out into the warmth of the sun.
"Hello Gwen, I'm back. You've lost weight. I'll need Brian on line one, and then get me Ernie on two," Robbie ordered as she crossed the carpet of her secretary's office and disappeared into her own. The voice continued a few seconds later on her intercom. "Also I want the balls of the fucking lawyer who is holding up merchandising in Britain."
Gwen shook her head and closed her eyes. Then with a sigh she put through Brian's call. She hadn't seen sight or light of her boss in weeks and the woman walked in like she had been out of the office for five minutes! She wasn't sure she was up to this!
Robbie leaned back in her chair. "Brian, it looks like Desiree is going to do well at the box office. I've got plans; I need to see you. Well, cancel your damn holiday. Why would you want to go to a tropical paradise like Trinidad and Tobago when it's snowing and forty below outside? Here. Now. Bye." Robbie hung up and clicked to line two, she had to watch her assistant director, sometimes he got ideas that he had a life of his own!
She smiled. "Hi Ernie, so are the backers happy?"
"Robbie, baby! We turned our first million the weekend it opened! I hear swords and ballroom dancing are all the rage in California!"
"There won't be too many balls if they're going to waltz with swords," observed Robbie, practically. "I need you to put together a deal for me for the spring, Ernie. I've got some ideas."
"What? Oh! Ideas! Now ideas I like! So when are you going to have something for me to sell?"
"Not before spring. I'm taking the winter off to write," stated Robbie, turning to click through her mail box.
"Good, you write, in the spring, you give me something, and I sell it. I hear Brian is going to Trinidad and Tobago. I passed by on a cruise ship once. It looked lovely."
"Brian has had a change of plans. I need a package put together before spring. Thirty million."
"Thirty million! You want me to sell thirty million of nothing?! Am I the miracle worker?" came the excited voice through the line.
"Make it happen," Robbie yawned, and hung up. Gwen was standing at her desk.
"Hello, Ms. Williams, I'm Gwen Smith, your long suffering and over worked secretary, who has been holding the fort around here for weeks," Gwen opened, sarcastically. "I need at least two hours of your time, and I want it now. I've made an appointment for Brian to see you at two."
Robbie swivelled back and forth on her chair excitedly. "Gwen, wait until I show you where your family is going to live..."
Janet passed her Bartlett School duffel bag up to Ryan in the back of the truck. She stowed it with the rest of the bags in the truck storage box and then jumped down. It was freezing cold, and snow was falling. It was a hell of a day to have to drive to Toronto, but there was no other choice; the 'copter that Robbie told her to use couldn't fly in this weather.
"Okay, let's hit the road. We'll drop Rufus off at Amanda Singh's and then hope we can get through to Toronto. If we can get past the snow belt between Orillia and Barrie we should be alright."
Ryan got in one side and Janet in the other. She looked back to make sure Reb was firmly fastened in her child's seat and then turned on the wipers to clear the snow that had built up in the few minutes that they had taken to put the bags in the back. She put the truck in gear and they headed down the driveway that was quickly drifting in. Tonight she would see Robbie again if she had to get out and push this damn truck all the way to Toronto!
Three hours had gone by before Gwen had finished with Robbie. However, part of this time had been used up with Robbie swearing Gwen to secrecy and showing her the map of the land that she had bought. She had though Gwen would have to be bribed or even blackmailed if necessary, instead the woman had actually hugged Robbie, told her she was a God send, and promised to work for nothing on Christmas Day if necessary. Robbie had no idea that Gwen loved the north.
.
Brian had proven to be more difficult. He had quit. He announced bravely, that he was going to Trinidad and Tobago no matter what, and that he was not going to live any farther north than suburbs of Toronto. Robbie was forced to resort to blackmail and bribery before the man broke. He handed over his plane tickets to Gwen, when she told him that she was planning on moving north.
Robbie leaned back in her leather chair and smiled happily. Tonight she was going to see Janet and the girls again and as far as she was concerned that made life just about prefect!
Winter Snows
Part 3 of 4
By Anne Azel
a_azel@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: The characters of Xena and Gabrielle are the property of Universal and Renaissance Pictures, no copyright infringement is intended. The characters and events in the Seasons series are the creation of the author.
My thanks to the readers who have been kind in showing their appreciation of my stories. You are a super group! My special thanks to Lisa and Inga, who are my patient beta readers, and Susan for her comments and insights.
Warning: This story is alternative fiction, please do not read on if you are under age or if such material is illegal in your end of the swamp.
You could barely see the lights of Toronto through the snow. Robbie looked at her watch again. Janet and the kids should have been here hours ago. She had arrived at her condo to find a message on her service saying that the 'copter was grounded and that Janet and the kids would be making the trip by truck.
She had tried to get them on the cell phone but they had not answered. She'd called the police. The 400 had not been closed yet, but traffic was down to one lane in some parts. She paced around the room again, dread eating at her guts. If anything had happened to her family....the elevator started rising and Robbie was over there in an instant, nervously swaying from foot to foot.
The door opened and out piled her family. "Hi everyone!" Robbie called happily, picking Reb from Janet's arms and giving the child a kiss and a fly over her head. She pulled an embarrassed Ryan close for a hug, after she had brought Reb in for a landing. Then she turned and let Janet, exhausted from a hellish drive, fall into her arms.
"Oh Robbie, I am so glad to see you! What a trip! You've lost weight, love," Janet mumbled, hugging her lover close.
"I was getting really worried," admitted Robbie, giving Janet a quick kiss on the cheek. "Are you guys okay?"
"Sure, Aunt Janet can handle anything!" bragged Ryan.
Janet gave Ryan an affectionate hug. "Ryan kept Reb amused for hours. If she hadn't, I'd have probably left the ankle biter upside down in a snow drift, I was so tense!"
"Well, come in. I had sandwiches and soup sent up from the restaurant. I'll heat the soup up again in the microwave," said Robbie.
"Good, I'm starved. I'll just see to getting Reb settled down. Ryan fed her in the truck. I'll be back soon." Janet trotted down the hall with a sleepy Reb over her shoulder, and Ryan followed Robbie to the kitchen.
She looked around at the magnificent, designer living room and the expensive kitchen. Over tired and grumpy, the wealth rubbed on old hurts. "So if you have so much money how come you couldn't take care of me?" she asked sarcastically.
Robbie too was feeling over tired and stressed. She'd been on the move from city to city for six weeks trying to sell the critics and public on her new style of film. Before that, she'd had to deal with Ryan's accident and Janet's illness. "Get off my case, Ryan," she muttered crankily, as she stuck a container of soup in the microwave.
"No! I want to know!" whined the young teen.
Robbie sighed and turned to face Ryan. "I was in a lot of trouble at the time. I didn't want you growing up having to live down my past. I explained this to you before."
Ryan pulled a face and rolled her eyes, "So what could be worse than getting knocked up with me. Were you turning tricks? Selling drugs? Did you murder your old man for his money?" she smart mouthed.
"I SAID DROP IT!!" yelled Robbie, heaving a bowl across the room. It smashed into pieces against the stone of the fireplace. Janet came running down the hall. Ryan had backed out of the kitchen looking extremely afraid.
"What's going on?" she demanded looking between Ryan and Robbie.
"Stay out of this, Janet!" snarled Robbie her eyes flashing with anger. She'd gone through enough with out having to put up with Janet defending the rudeness of this brat of a kid.
"Okay. But before you discuss this matter with Ryan, could I just talk to you for a minute? Ryan, your room is the second on the right, hon. Why don't you take your bags down there." Ryan nodded and escaped. She had read that her mom had a violent temper. Now she had seen it, and it was pretty scary. It hadn't been so much what her mom had said or done, it was the energy that she seemed to radiate, like a reactor having a melt down.
"Leave me alone," snapped Robbie, banging things around noisily in the kitchen. Janet walked over to her and wrapped Robbie in her arms. The stiff body crumbled at the warm, gentle touch and she sobbed against Janet's shoulder. Janet held her and let her get some of the tension out. Then she took a tea towel and backed up a step to wipe Robbie's face.
Robbie took the towel from her and sniffed back the last of the tears as she dried her tears. "Damn," she croaked out with a raw voice.
Janet smiled and rubbed Robbie's back. "No, I don't think it is quite that bad but you two sure pushed the envelope a bit. She was an over tired teenager, Robbie. I don't know what happened in here, but I do know that teens have a Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. We've been pretty lucky with Ryan so far. She has been really willing to except a lot on faith. There will be some bad times, Robbie. You have to expect that."
Robbie nodded. "Yeah. I really love the kid, you know... I...I guess I've got a lot of guilt about not being there for her. She wanted to know, if I was so damn rich, why I couldn't raise her."
Janet looked at Robbie. "You've been away a long time. She was testing. What she really wanted to know was that you still wanted and loved her. Tell you what. You clean up the mess in the living room and I'll go clean up the mess that's your daughter. Then you two can talk it out, okay?"
Robbie nodded, looking strained and tired. Janet reached up on her toes and kissed Robbie tenderly. "I need you, too," she whispered and left.
Ryan had her headphones on. That was a bad sign. Ryan only put her headphones on when she was escaping. They were her sign to the world that she had an attitude and to leave her alone. Janet sat on the bed and waited. It took about thirty seconds to wait Ryan out. "She's a bitch."
"Is she?" asked Janet in surprise.
Ryan took off the earphones. "Look at all this!" she exploded. "Why couldn't she take care of me! She could have hired a nurse if she didn't want to be bothered herself!"
"I don't know, Ryan. All I know is that whatever happened back then impacted terribly on the whole family. Robbie won't discuss it with me either. Whatever happened, your mom has never come to terms with it. She is still very much afraid that her past will come back to hurt us all."
"So why has she taken me in now?" asked Ryan, playing nervously with the wire on her earphone.
"Because of the accident. She thought she was going to lose you. That made her realize that you were something very precious to her, and she had already lost too much time that she could have shared with you. I think too, that she realized that children could like her because Reb did. It gave her the courage to try to be a good mother to you."
Ryan licked her lips. "I was pretty rude."
"The nice thing about being close to someone is that you can say you are sorry, and if you really mean it, that person will always give you another chance. How about I go see to dinner, and I send your mom in here so the two of you can talk?"
Ryan nodded and Janet gave her a hug and left. Janet blinked the sleep from her eyes and forced her weary body down the hall. She found a sad looking director puttering hopelessly around the kitchen. "Okay, your turn. Try not to throw anything valuable," twigged Janet, with a soft smile. Robbie hesitated. "Go on you big coward. You got yourself into this one, and now you are going to have to wade out."
Robbie frowned and headed down the hall as if Janet had forced her to walk the plank. Janet watched her go with eyes filled with compassion and understanding.
"Ahh, hi," said Robbie awkwardly, from the doorway.
"Ahh, hi," responded Ryan nervously, as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Ahh, can I come in?"
Ryan nodded and Robbie went in and sat on the bed beside her. She frowned. What do I say? I'd best just tell it like I see it, as I usually would. "I didn't like that. I didn't like fighting with you. I didn't like being pushed about something I just can't discuss. I didn't like making an ass of myself by losing my temper and I didn't like having to come in here and try to talk to you because I'm no good at words," said Robbie, staring at the wall.
"You're a famous playwright," snorted Ryan, looking at the same wall.
"I guess, I could write you a play, every time we fight," reasoned Robbie, with a weak laugh.
"Oh yeah, then you'd get to put words in my mouth!" objected Ryan good naturedly.
"I'm sorry. I wished I'd been a better mother. I wish...well, the only good that came out of that time in my life was you."
"I'm sorry, I acted like a jerk," confessed Ryan.
"It's okay. I guess we both kind of dumped on each other. You hungry?" Robbie asked, finally getting up enough courage to look at Ryan.
Ryan fell into her mother's arms. "Don't send me away," she sobbed.
Robbie's heart stabbed with pain. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm never, never, going to do that!"
"Hey, anyone for soup?" Janet yelled from the kitchen, getting a little nervous by how long the two Williams had been locked up together.
Mother and daughter came down the hall together and Janet gave a sigh of relief. Robbie lit the gas fireplace, and they sat around with cups of lobster bisque with sherry soup and herb and salmon sandwiches.
Robbie and Ryan soon got into a heavy discussion on modifications they could make to their snowmobile and what Ryan had learned about snowmobile racing from her instructor, George Drouillard of Drouillard's Small Motors fame.
They looked up some time later, to find Janet curled in a chair, fast asleep, her empty cup in her hands. "I think Aunt Janet has had it," whispered Ryan.
"Yeah," sighed Robbie. "I guess I kind of left her to handle things," she admitted, belatedly feeling a sense of responsibility.
"Yeah, the drive took us almost eight hours, and Aunt Janet white knuckled it most of the way. It was really scary out there with the white-outs. And then I had to go throw a temper tantrum," reviewed Ryan, starting to feel a rather rotten human being.
"You and me both," agreed Robbie. The two Williams looked very guilty as they sat watching Janet sleep.
"And we didn't include her in our conversation," added Ryan, keeping a list of their crimes. "That was bad manners."
Robbie frowned. "She looks awful pale." Tomorrow was Janet's test, and she wasn't supposed to get over tired if she wanted to get well.
"Do you think she'll kick us out?" Ryan asked insecurely. Tears welling again in her eyes.
Robbie managed a weak smile, and rubbed the back of her daughter's neck with her hand. "No, it's not that bad, but we'll have to think of something to make it up to her. We sort of acted like Williams creeps."
Ryan nodded. "You help her to bed, mom, and I'll clean up dinner. Wait until I tell the kids at school that take-out at your place is lobster bisque in sherry and salmon with herbs! Usually we send out for pizza."
Robbie pulled a funny face at her daughter and went to pick Janet up out of the chair. She murmured softly in her sleep but didn't wake as her lover carried her down to their room. She gently lowered Janet to the bed and then carefully stripped her down. "I can do that!" protested a groggy voice.
Robbie leaned forward and kissed a soft, warm belly. "Mmmm, let me. I've missed you," she murmured.
Janet smiled, her eyes still closed. "I missed you, too." She was fast asleep again by the time Robbie tucked the sheets up around her. She kissed Janet tenderly on the cheek, and then went to help her daughter. I have to learn to be more thoughtful if I'm was going to have a family, she concluded as she walked back down the hall. I've got to stop thinking like a one.
There had been words the next morning too. Robbie wanted to take Janet to the hospital and wait with her. Janet pointed out that there had been a near riot the last time she had been recognized sitting in the waiting room. Ryan said she would go with Aunt Janet and that made Robbie sulk even more. They compromised with them all going, and the three Williams waiting out in the truck until Janet came out.
Janet took the hospital elevator down to the main floor, doing up her jacket as she went. Southern Ontario was in the gasp of a nasty cold front that had sent the temperature plummeting. She crossed the lobby and slipped through the automatic doors to be hit by a wall of cold air and blowing snow. Janet shivered and pulled her collar up around her neck to protect her face from the elements.
"There she is," blurted Robbie, "Stay with Reb," she ordered, getting out and hurrying to Janet's side.
Janet looked up to see Robbie dodge two cars and hop a guard rail choked with snow as she bee lined to her. She is such a wonderful idiot, Janet thought as Robbie scooped Janet under her arm. "The doctor said everything looks fine. I'll have to wait a few days for the test results to come back from the lab but the doctor seemed fairly confident that they have got the cancer."
Janet felt more than saw the relief flow through her lover. Robbie didn't say anything. She couldn't. She just squeezed Janet close to her, protecting her from the wind as the two of them made their way back to the truck.
"Well?" asked an anxious Ryan, leaning over from the back seat.
"I'm fine!" Janet smiled, reaching up to pat Ryan's face.
"Cool," Ryan said confidently, as if it had been a given. "Let's go celebrate!"
Robbie arrived late at her office the next day, as some of the private celebrating that she and Janet had done had continued again in bed that morning. The elevator doors slid open to chaos. Personnel from several departments crowded the hall and angry voices seemed to be emanating from her office. "Okay, everyone, back in your cages!" Robbie snapped, from behind the gawking group.
"Williams!" someone warned, and the group hastily retreated back to their desks.
Robbie strode down to her office. Two police were holding back two very angry men. Robbie recognized one of them as Brian. The other was hard to identify with the blood spurting from his nose and the swelling of his left eye but Robbie suspected that it might be Gwen's husband. She had met him, she thought, at the staff Christmas party one year.
A security guard bent over Gwen, applying some ice wrapped in a paper towel to her jaw. "What the hell is going on in here?!" Robbie demanded, slamming her briefcase on Gwen's desk, and coming around to kneel by her secretary.
She had a nasty bruise on her jaw. "You okay?" Robbie asked softly, seeing the shock in Gwen's eyes. Her secretary nodded. Robbie stood up, radiating authority. "Okay, who suckered my secretary?!" she growled.
"He did! The bastard's been cheating on her, and when she served him with divorce papers, he came in here and hit her!" yelled Brian, as the cop held him tight.
"I'm going to sue you, you hear! I think you broke my nose!" came a nasal voice from under the blood.
"Brian, did you hit him?" Robbie asked calmly, looking at her assistant director with new respect.
"Twice!" Brian bragged.
"Good. Remind me to give you a hefty raise," Robbie commented, and then turned to the cop holding Smith. "Officer, I will be pressing charges against Mr. Joseph Smith for trespassing, and assaulting one of my employees. We will also want a restraining order filed against him." Robbie walked over to Smith and looked him in the eye. "If you bring charges against my assistant for protecting my secretary, I will hire a battery of lawyers to see that you go to hell in a hand basket. Officer, please remove him from my office."
Дата добавления: 2015-11-04; просмотров: 26 | Нарушение авторских прав
| <== предыдущая лекция | | | следующая лекция ==> |