Deadly Expectations (48 page)

I gave him the matches and he put them in his pocket.

“Don’t call me again,” he said as he walked off.
 
As I watched him leave four men got up from another table just a few feet away and joined him.
 
They disappeared into the mall.

I finished my cold tea and stayed at the table.
 
Kenny would be out of the mall and on his way as quick as he could.
 
He wouldn’t want to be caught carrying all that cash.
  
That plus the photos and signatures would get him in a lot of trouble.

Paul came and sat with me.
 
“Ray and Denis are making sure they left,” he said.

“Paul …
tell
them to come back.
 
That could have been really bad.
 
Kenny had a gun and he knew you were up there.
 
Those four are probably armed too.”

“They’ll be fine,” Paul said.

I wasn’t happy about it.
 
“I’m sorry … Kenny never took it that far before.
 
He was trying to push you because he saw you all watching me.
 
I thought I felt a gun on him … I had to get close to him at the counter again to be sure.
 
He was armed.
 
Two of those guys with him were in to some nasty things with his brother.
 
Please call them back.
 
Kenny is going to get as far away from here with that stuff as he can.”

Paul sighed and called Ray and told him to return right away.

“Wasn’t there another way to do that?”
 
He asked.
 
“I really want to straighten him out now.”

“You’re sweet,” I kissed his cheek.
 
“So would I.
 
The alternative is undressing for each other on some dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
 
That’s why I prefer the way we did it.”

“At least he wouldn’t have touched you,” Paul said.
 
Then he reached in my pocket and took out the cigarettes.
 
“Not again Anna.”

“No … part of the exchange.
 
Denis can have the rest.
 
The cigarettes are a prop … a reason to give him the matchbook.
 
I’d written instructions inside it.”

“Are we going to have to do this again in a week?” he asked as Ray and Denis joined us.

I shook my head.
 
“That will be a lot easier … but you still can’t straighten him out for today.”

“I still don’t like it.”

I sat out in the mall while they got their rain gear, then we headed home.
 
Denis said he would take me car shopping the next day after their run which was fine.
 
I needed a nap before dinner so when we got in Paul and I headed downstairs for some time alone.
 
I needed Paul for a while to get Kenny’s attention out of my mind.
 
So did Paul.

Chapter 38

I didn’t make it back upstairs to Mrs. Desmond’s for her test until after dinner.
 
Even though my fridge and cupboards were full Denis wanted takeout so they ordered and I cooked for myself.
 
My time at Paul’s had turned me around from fast food.
 
Denis on the other hand was still treating every night like shore leave.
 
Paul said he wasn’t coming home completely drunk any more like the first night but he was still coming home with women’s names and phone numbers in his pockets.

Mrs. Desmond wanted to see how well they could test my line through my lives to see how strongly it was connected to me.
 
Or something
like
that.
 
Other than what Paul had explained to me in the truck I had little understanding of how their lines actually worked.
 
Pilot had told me that Paul’s would be strong like a chain.
 
Mine much weaker.
 
Anyone not like us wouldn’t have one at all.

When I got in she was still working on the dishes.
 
I’d put in a dishwasher upstairs but she still preferred to wash by hand.
 
Denis was outside having a cigarette and Paul and Ray were watching the news laughing and trying to remember if they had heard any of it.
 
Most of it was local or Canadian so it was almost all new to them anyway.
 
I dried and put away for her and made sure that the leftovers were in the fridge.

When we were finished she sent Paul outside with Denis.
 
She was going to have them come in one at a time to see how they would do.

“What’s going to happen?” I asked her.

She shushed me.
 
I sighed.
 
Mrs. Desmond was fine but Bee made me feel in no uncertain terms that family children like me should be seen and not heard.
 
Whatever being a child meant.

She closed the kitchen curtains and told me to stand up.

“Ray,” she said.
 
“There is something different about this one.
 
That’s all I will tell you.
 
I just want you to tell me what’s there … you can check for attachment just don’t test it.
 
Understand?”

“Yes,” Ray said.
 
He got up and stood close in front of me then he held his right hand over my chest.
 
Paul had said that I had to give permission to anyone other than Ray so he didn’t ask and I didn’t say anything.
 
His other hand went around my upper arm.
 
I didn’t get the feeling that it was necessary.
 
More that he was comfortable with me and didn’t have anything else to do with that hand.

“I’m going to start now Anna,” he said.
 
“You won’t feel anything.”

He was telling me, not asking so I nodded.

His fingers were spread and they moved gently like they were handling whatever his distant gaze was seeing.
 
Then he looked a little puzzled and held his hand still.

“She has two lines,” he said.

“Yes,” Bee said.
 
“Tell me about them.”

His hand moved a bit more.
 
“One is soft … not attached to her.
 
It stays close to hers though.
 
When I get near it moves closer … almost hiding behind hers,” he smiled then.
 
“It’s the baby’s.
 
But why doesn’t the baby have it?”

“It won’t move into the baby until just before he is born,” Bee said.
 
“If the mother were to die now the child would not be seen again.
 
It will loosen … separate from hers and move into the baby only when his birth is imminent.
 
The mother can feel that sometimes but of course she doesn’t know what it is and is usually too caught up in labour to make much of it.

“What else do you notice?”

Ray’s hand moved a bit more.
 
He looked a little confused.

“Anna’s isn’t what I expected … it’s stronger.
 
There is almost something male to it.
 
Just a bit.”
 
Ray said.
 
“It’s something I’ve never felt in a mate.
 
I don’t know what to make of it.”

“Yes,” Bee said as Ray put his hand down.
 
“Curious, isn’t it?
 
Have you done much of this before Ray?
 
You’re quite good.”

Ray nodded, almost shyly.
 
“A long time ago.”

“Be receptive to teaching any others who wish to learn,” she told him.
 
“Go get Denis now … you may stay as long as you don’t interfere with Denis’ test.”

We waited for Ray to come back with Denis.

“When you said my line was tangled … did you mean with Paul’s?” I asked her.
 
“Is that why the baby’s line is in me?”

“No dear,” she said.
 
“Now be quiet.”

I crossed my arms.
 
What if I said no thank you, I thought.
 
Like yesterday when I wouldn’t talk about Pilot.
 
I was thinking about doing that now … but Paul needed this for our daughter so I would let them do it.
 
What Ray found was interesting but Bee said he was pretty good at it so I didn’t expect Denis or Paul to find as much.

When they came back Ray sat down next to Bee.
 
She told Denis the same thing that she had told Ray.

“Anna,” Denis asked.
 
“Do I have your permission?”

“Yes Denis,” I told him.
 
The way he asked seemed awful formal but I guessed that was the way things like this were done.
 
Mrs. Desmond had always been firm about etiquette even before I knew she was Paul’s father.

Denis put his hand over my chest.
 
He didn’t stand as close as Ray did and kept his other hand at his side.
 
He quickly found that there were two lines in me but didn’t figure out why as Ray had.

“Do they seem the same?” Bee prompted him.

“No … one is stronger … firmer.”

“Are they both attached to her?
 
Don’t test their strength … just feel for attachment.”

“No.
 
The stronger one is attached.”

“Please get Paul now Denis, then come and take a seat.”

While he was getting Paul she spoke to Ray.
 
“What Denis found was the most I had expected from all of you.
 
You did well.”

Denis and Paul came in and Denis sat down.
 
I leaned back on the counter now since my legs were getting tired.
 
Wandering around the mall was more exercise than I was used to these days and I wanted to soak in the tub and put my feet up.

“Paul,” Bee said.
 
“Something is different with your mate from what you have seen in the others.
 
You may be more sensitive to it than they were …
remember
just feel what is there.
 
Do not test its attachment.
 
You already know how to do that from these two.”

Paul stood close as Ray had and put his left hand on the counter and his right over my chest.
 
Suddenly I felt an unwelcome pressure in my ribs and I quickly brought my right hand up under his, blocking it.
 
Paul drew his hand back in surprise and rubbed his palm on his leg.

“What the hell was that?” he asked.

“Anna dear,” Bee said.
 
“What did you do?”

“Pressure … it was intrusive,” I tried to explain.
 
“I didn’t like how it felt.”

“You shouldn’t have felt anything,” Bee said.
 
“But I haven’t seen this done with a mated pair when there is a child … what did you feel Paul?”

“I got a shock,” he said as he looked at his palm, wiggling his fingers.

“Sorry Paul,” I apologized.
 
“I just wanted to push your hand away.”

“Perhaps you should have asked permission first Paul,” Bee reminded him.
 
“She has good reason to be protective.”

I could see understanding in Ray’s face.
 
We both realized now that I was protecting the baby.
 
It was an intrusion when there was no permission, even with Paul.