Broken Vows (Domestic Discipline Romance) (34 page)

"It was a hard lesson in personal responsibility. Jessica, the drama major, is now an accountant who enjoys acting in our local Little Theater productions. Mary got a degree in business and now owns the bakery in town where she applies her artistic talents to fancy cakes and pastries."

"Are your sisters in D/D relationships?" Mila asked.

"I know three of them are for sure. I suspect one other is, as well, but it is not my business to ask. The other two, I have no idea. They made their lifestyle arrangements with their husbands, not me."

"The part I don't understand," Mila said, "is why would any woman choose to accept it?

"Why don't you ask your sister," Kevin said gently.

Mila sucked her breath in. "Josh told you?"

"No, sometimes it's hard to disguise a sore sit-down. I recognized the signs. Doesn't Jenny seem happy to you? I envy them. Twelve years into their marriage and love radiates from both of them. D/D doesn't seem to be hurting their relationship."

"That's what Jenny said," Mila admitted. "She said they began their marriage with a consensual agreement and were happy until both of them stopped following the tenets of D/D. They were about to throw in the towel when Josh reinstituted what she calls being the HOA." Mila made a rude sound, "Jenny is so disgustingly and deliriously happy, I sometimes want to hit her."

"It's obviously working for them," Kevin said chuckling. "There are specific rules in an HOH relationship, and there is a certain amount of submission to those rules…
and
there are spankings."

"What sort of rules?" Mila demanded.

Kevin stretched out his legs and put an arm around her while reaching for his iPad to operate the curtains across the back expanse of windows, opening them to reveal a beautifully moonlit snowscape. "We are not in a relationship yet. We are in the 'you deserve it so you are getting it' stage, which hasn't actually happened yet. If we were in a relationship, there would be changes."

Mila settled back against the couch and accepted the pillow he slid under her cast hand.

"What kind?"

"Well, a new, safe vehicle would be at the top of the list. You need to replace your rattletrap, an
accident-waiting-to-happen
excuse for a car. Second, rules would go into place about the way you drive."

"What's wrong with the way I drive?"

"I have seen you drive, you are terrible. You don't stop for stop signs. Tapping your brake or stopping four to six feet past the sign does not count as a stop! You think yellow lights are a challenge to see if you can get through them before the light changes to red. You are an aggressive driver, which by itself would be bottom-blistering motivation for me. You can't take such chances anymore… not for yourself, and certainly not for Little Kevin!"

"I planned on getting rid of the car in the spring anyway," Mila said sleepily.

"We will review my required specifications for something safer," Kevin said as she snuggled closer into him.

"What else?" Mila mumbled.

"Hmmm, your lack of respect for orders. For an ex-military person, your inclination for not listening is indefensible. You also need to relax more and realize life is to be lived, not run through on a schedule."

After receiving no response to his last comment, Kevin got up and pulled a throw from the back of the sofa to cover the soundly sleeping women. She needed the rest. He bent down and whispered into her ear. "You need to accept the love waiting for you. I have already peeled past your tough outer skin to reveal the real Mila underneath. I see the strong woman you are, but I also see the vulnerable person hiding inside. You are someone I want to fall asleep with every night and wake up to every morning. I'm not in a big hurry, sweetheart, you are worth the wait."

Josh parked in front of the garage, and then he and Jenny looked at each other in consternation. They both saw the monster truck parked in front of the main house. Then the front door opened and a man came out carrying a rifle… an enormous mass of man.

Josh put the Land Rover in reverse, turned it around, and sped back down the road. He pulled out of their lane and drove a half mile further down the road before pulling into the driveway of an empty house and driving around to the back. He was constantly looking in his rearview mirror but saw no lights following them. He pulled out his cell phone and placed a call.

"What is going on?" Jenny demanded.

Kevin answered on the fourth ring. "Kevin, we went to the house and a huge man is there with a rifle!"

"I'm sorry Josh. I tried calling you, but couldn't get through. Mila is with me at my place. We had some trouble there today, so I hired the big guy to guard the place. His name is Bubba Kline. Bubba looks scary, but he is harmless unless he needs to be otherwise," Kevin said. "He is ex-marine. You will be safe with him on duty. Go ahead and settle in, and call me back later for all the details. I will call Bubba and tell him you are returning."

"What's going on?" Jenny demanded again.

"I don't have details yet, but Kevin vouched for the big guy. He hired him to guard the place. Let's go back and get in the house, so we can find out what happened."

Josh drove to their house for a second time. As he pulled in front, the big guy came out again, but immediately put his rifle to the side when he saw it was them.

"Kevin called," the man said, jogging down the steps. "I'm sorry you didn't know about me. I know I tend to scare people. It is good in my line of work but makes regular folk uncomfortable. Do you want help unloading? You take the children. I'll get everything else."

"Uh, sure that sounds good," said Josh as he and Jenny unhooked the kids.

"The name is Bubba Kline," the man said, holding out his hand. After they shook hands, he picked up nearly all their suitcases in one load, carried them to the deck, and then came back for the rest of their kid gear in a second load.

As soon as they were inside their house, Josh was on the phone again to Kevin. He put the phone on speaker so Jenny could also hear Kevin's explanation of what had happened earlier.

"Is Mila okay?" Jenny demanded.

"Mila is fine," Kevin assured her. "Her hand is in a cast, but it is only a minor fracture. Her fingers have some bruising, but besides a few other bruises here and there, there is no lasting damage. After what happened, I thought she might feel safer at my place. She is already asleep. I'll watch over her and Little Kevin tonight, and bring them home in the morning.

"Why would the staircase collapse?" Jenny demanded.

"I don't have all the answers yet," Kevin said.

Adam let out a wail as he and Emmie started a tug of war over a toy. Jenny ran to intercept before violence erupted.

Josh continued with the call.

"What else did he say?" Jenny questioned as soon as she returned.

"Jen, I can only tell you what he told me, he doesn't have all the details yet. Mila will be here in the morning when you can see for yourself how badly she is injured. Then we will sit down with the both of them and get every detail. For now, let's settle the kids."

"What about the big guy next door?" Jenny demanded.

"He's the perfect size to scare the hell out of anyone," Josh said, shrugging as his phone rang again. "Credit cards," he mouthed. Jenny left him to it and took the kids off to their baths.

Much later, Josh double-checked the locks and the security system and headed to the bedroom.

"You have been on the phone for hours," Jenny complained.

"I know. Those people want to verify every detail of your credit history. I had to tell them where we have been for the past seventy-two hours, details on where we live and how long we have been here. It's endless and it's not over yet," Josh said. "They need to talk with you in person tomorrow."

"Someone has been going crazy again with my credit?"

"Yes, but they caught them this time."

"Who was it?"

"Believe it or not, they aren't allowed to give me the name of the person who stole your identity. It's between the credit-card companies, the law, and the thieves. They have charged the perpetrator with fraud. They did tell me the person charged over forty thousand dollars in merchandise in a span of two days on two cards issued by the same bank… one Visa and one MasterCard. They caught the thief because they tried to return merchandise for cash. They had already flagged the card numbers in the merchants' systems. Since they have arrested the thief, the banks will take it from here. All the new purchases were made in New York City. I asked more questions, but they would not tell me any more. Crooks have rights. I gave them contact information for the bank issuing the initial fraudulent cards. If they can prove the same person used all the cards, the banks will combine forces to make sure they nail the perpetrator."

"Good, but what happens to my credit?" Jenny asked.

"You are protected, although it might be a little complicated for a while, it shouldn't do too much damage. Most of your credit lines were combined with mine anyway, and almost all of those were closed. Scoot over, I'm exhausted, and am hitting the sack."

* * *

The next morning, as soon as Kevin's truck rolled to a stop, Jenny ran to meet her sister. "Are you really okay?"

"Don't panic, Jen, I am all right," Mila assured her, but Jenny hung onto her sister as they walked into the house.

Jenny inspected the cast and bruised fingers. "Does it hurt?"

Mila shook her head. "My fingers are stiff, that's all."

"You are lying through your teeth," Kevin said bluntly. "She feels as if she was ground up and spit out. She needs help doing almost anything requiring her hands and fingers. She will need help with Little Kevin for at least the next few days. Her fingers are too sore to get a good grip on him."

Mila glared at him. "Will you shut up?"

"No," Kevin fired back, setting the car seat on the kitchen floor. "We need a strategy session."

"Have you had breakfast?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, but I'll take your cooking over mine any day," Kevin said. "Mine comes out of a cereal box or a toaster."

Sitting around the kitchen table, the strategy session did not progress far.

"Someone thinks there is something of value in the house, but they don't know where it is hidden," Josh said. "How are they getting in? We changed the locks, and closed off almost every avenue of entry."

"I haven't figured it out either," Kevin said.

"Where are the La Plata County building plans stored?" Josh asked. "If we can see the original plans for the house, we would get an idea if there is a hidden safe or a storage area we don't know about. There could be something hidden in a false wall or in a basement area."

"That would be County Records," Kevin said.

"Where are they located?"

"Durango."

"Convenient," Josh exclaimed. "Tell me where to go and I'll see what I can find."

"I'll call and ask Dad if he remembers anything unusual about the house," Kevin offered. "Although, we didn't do any finishing work until after the main construction was already completed. Meanwhile, I want to keep Bubba here as a safety precaution, since the fence is still only half done. However, I believe the poaching problem is different from the breaking-in problem."

Kevin's phone went off. "Speak of the devil. It's Fred Jamison of Western Fencing. Yeah, Fred, what's up?" He listened for a while and glanced over to Josh. Yeah, I'll tell him."

"What," three voices demanded.

"Fred's crew found another case of poaching this morning. We need to call the Game Warden, Jim Hodges."

"Bubba stays," Josh said firmly.

"Agreed," said Kevin.

"I need to see how much damage was done to my work," Jenny exclaimed.

"You two and the kids stick together," Josh said. If you go to your studio, everyone goes. Bubba will remain on guard duty. Kevin and I will see about the poaching."

* * *

Jenny inspected her pieces carefully. One by one, she set them aside telling Mila, "It doesn't look as if too much damage was done, nothing I can't repair. Whatever type of locks are on Josh's office door, I want the same ones for my studio." 

She walked down the hallway to the library, but only viewed the room from the doorway since they had the children with them. She looked in dismay at the spiral stairway leaning precariously, only held in place by ropes.

"We are fixing it today," Bubba Kline said from behind them.

"I'm glad you are here," Jenny said, craning her head back to look up at the tall man.

Emmie pulled on his pants leg. "Are you an ogre like Shrek?"

Bubba squatted down to her level. "No, I'm not green. See, I'm brown."

"My Grandpa and Grandma, and cousins, are brown too, but you are lots bigger than them. Are you a brown ogre?"

"Sorry, no, but I was a Marine. Marines wear green clothes." Bubba ran a hand over his fatigue shirt.

Emmie studied him for a moment. "Okay, you don't have to be an ogre. I like you anyway."

"I'm glad you do," Bubba said grinning.

Jenny gave her daughter a nudge. "Go to Mommy's workroom." She smiled at Bubba who was proving to be gentle and kid-friendly. "Thank you."

Bubba shrugged following them back down the hall. "I like kids."

* * *

Mila slowly sorted through items in Jenny's studio. "You need to ask Kevin to build you diamond-shaped shelves like the ones Julia uses to display her yarn.

"Please, stop," begged Jenny, "You look as if every move is excruciating."

"Don't tell
him
, but it is."

"He already knows," Jenny said. "Come on back to our place. Did you even thank Kevin
nicely
for saving you?"

"Yes, I did," admitted Mila. She followed her sister back to the guesthouse where Jenny installed her on the couch, handed her the TV remote and a stack of magazines, and told her to stay put.

* * *

Josh and Kevin were in Mila's little house discussing her accident while waiting for the Game Warden. Mila had not gone into detail in front of Jenny and tried to minimize exactly how dangerous the situation had been. Kevin told it all to Josh, not hiding a thing.

When Jim Hodges drove in, Josh and Kevin went out to meet the Game Warden. Kevin gave him directions to the latest poaching site and they jumped into his truck. Nearly a half mile away, the fence crew flagged them down at a tree tagged with a piece of yellow plastic tape tied around it. These tags acted as surveyed property line markers, which the fence was following. Thirty feet inside the line were the mangled and headless bodies of six elk.

"They got themselves a good haul this time," Warden Jim Hodges said, "Recent too."

Josh was looking ahead for the next survey marker. He had delayed having security cameras installed around the perimeter of the house until after their return. He wanted to pick a day when he could confirm no one was around in order to keep the installations secret. However, the security firm had already installed cameras around the property perimeter and activated them, although they were still in the testing stage. Josh saw no indication of the surveillance cameras hidden somewhere in the trees every three hundred yards. However, the survey tags were numbered, and the camera locations coordinated with those numbers, so they could pinpoint exact camera locations based on the surveyor tags.

Kevin and Josh listened to the Game Warden's rationale for why his department had not yet caught the poachers. Unfortunately, the reasons made sense. His department was short staffed, and hunting season was his busiest time of the year. Josh nodded in understanding. It would not help to get angry even though he sensed nothing would be done. Hopefully, his security system would catch a suspect.

As soon as they got back to the main house, Kevin and Bubba went to the library to reinstall the spiral stairway. Josh went to his office and phoned the Home Secure Company. A helpful operator answered on the first ring, assuring Josh he would receive a response to his request within a few hours.

After checking on his family, Josh went to offer his assistance to Kevin, but he and Bubba were almost finished. They had reattached the holding bolts on the spiral staircase and fortified the sections with what Kevin considered his
big gun
welder. Kevin had tested both the stairwell and the railing attachments across the entire second tier of the library. Bubba had tested the stairs and walkway for strength. Nothing less than a major earthquake would bring it down now.

Josh returned to his office and got on the phone with the La Plata County Records Department. An hour later, video feeds from the Home Security Company started coming through on his computer. He downloaded them to an external back-up drive and started viewing seven-days of images at an accelerated speed.