His Fire Inside

As the days fly too fast in London, my thoughts of this being the best birthday ever grow. Rourke does all the touristy stuff with a smile on his face, never complaining or groaning even once. We see the Tower of London, the National Gallery, the British Museum, wander through Camden Market, ride the Eye, twice, have lunch in St. James Park then dinner on a private boat on the Thames, where I try quail eggs and deem them yummy. Every night I fall asleep clinging to Rourke, finding it hard to believe it isn’t a dream.

When the time comes to leave I’m sad yet hopeful we’ll be back together in the future, that there will be a Rourke and me in the future. Landing at the tiny airport in Tours, a car is waiting for us. The drive to the property is longer than I thought, almost a half hour out of town. As we turn down the long drive I see why: the drive itself is almost a mile long. Wow, I get why Cheryl called it a castle. It has small turrets, so in my mind it’s a castle.

While Rourke walks me through it, the idea of a castle does slowly fade. It’s huge, yet intimate, even the fifteen-foot ceilings with rough timber across them. The floors are all intricately crafted; I can’t believe it dates back to the fifteenth century. There are nine bedrooms the reason it took so long to update was because of the addition of a bathroom to each bedroom while maintaining the feel took careful planning. I’m relieved there are no slick surfaces, shiny chrome, or bright lights anywhere. I am in awe of how large the kitchen and the working fireplaces in the home are. It slips out: the word, “Home.” The word stops Rourke.

“That’s it, isn’t it? It feels like a home, not a hotel.” His eyes are roaming over the huge expanse of land as we walk out of the doors from the kitchen to the back.

I nod. “Crazy, right? Nine bedrooms doesn’t scream family home, only it feels like home and I would hate the idea of people roaming around in it, using it without loving it.”

The original three days become five as Rourke checks in with Cheryl to find she hasn’t left San Antonio yet and he shrugs, saying he’s in no rush. He has to work for a few hours of the day out of the library. While he does I walk the property and swim in the huge indoor pool or read in the library while he works. As the days pass, it grows to feel more and more like home each day.

Until our peace is broken by a phone call in the middle of the night. It’s a nurse calling me to let me know my sister is in the hospital and her husband is in jail for beating her. I’m in shock; thank god as usual, Rourke takes over. Within an hour we are packed up and in the air. He calls Gabe to pick up the kids and take them back to Cheryl’s house. Then he calls Cheryl to let her know about the kids being there until we get things sorted out. Cheryl is adamant she’s on her way home to help even as Rourke tries to get her to stay where she is.

Rourke makes a call to

get the whole story on what happened. Apparently it’s not the first time Larry has beat my sister; however, it’s the first time a blow to her head broke skin, and the blood freaked them both out and she called 911. She has a broken rib, but they aren’t sure if it’s a fresh break or old one because Stella admitted she thinks it happened a few weeks ago. I’m so upset I’m shaking.

Stella told the cops it started when she voiced wanting to leave him three months ago. He threatened her and the girls with his gun. With the threats and the beating they can charge him with a few things, but his mother is already there asking how much it will cost to bail him out.

Rourke talks with the prosecutor on the case to at least see if Larry can be held overnight until we get home. It won’t be a problem. He also thinks he can see bail set high, as this isn’t the first time Larry has beat a woman and threatened further violence, then made good on it.

This feels like a nightmare, and any moment I’ll wake up safe and warm in Rourke’s arms. Only it’s not, I know it’s not. A violent shiver overtakes me as I remember the late-night phone call so many months ago when Stella talked about leaving. She was asking for my help then, except I got to helpful, then too excited scaring her away from me, right back to Larry. Acid eats away at the back of my throat as I fight not to vomit at the fear this was all my fault.

Maybe if I had let her take the lead, not jumped like I always do trying to fix things, this wouldn’t have happened. As I sob for my sister and nieces and how stupid I’ve been Rourke holds me close, promising to take care of all of us, that everything is going to be all right, he’ll make sure of it. I cling to him, crying harder as I wonder how anything could be all right ever again when I failed my sister so badly?

20

Rourke

Watching Olivia sleep, I sigh to see even in her sleep tears are sliding down her cheeks. Fuck. I’m shaken by how completely our lives were pulled from perfection to hell in mere hours. I went to sleep with the woman I can’t hide from the fact I’m stone cold in love, and woke to her going through a special kind of hell. It kills me to see her in pain; I hated how helpless I felt for even minutes as I tried to work out what the hell I could and had the power to do.

Now that she’s asleep I make a call. The security company isn’t any normal security company. They specialize in joint special ops missions overseas. However they also do security as bodyguards for heads of state, and they aren’t just goons in suits, everyone is former military. Most of them special ops, so they know exactly what they are doing. Quickly, I’m routed to Sam King, one of the owners. I tell him everything that has happened so far.

“Mr. Vega, you’re very right to be concerned about the situation. I’m unsure how you want us to proceed, however. Are you wanting security around Ms. Casey and her sister or—”

“I want you to up the security on my mother’s place and my place. I’m thinking I’ll move them to my place, strategically, it’s safer. Right now, though, there are four kids under four unprotected at my mother’s home. We have another eight hours in the air. I want two people on the house and an evaluation of what can be done to fortify my place as well as my mom. I also want someone at Stella’s bedside. Keep out the mother-in-law and everyone who isn’t Gabriel Casey, me or Olivia Casey.”

“We’ll start now. I’ll have it together by the time you land. Just so you are aware, I know Gabe Casey personally.”

I’m not really surprised. “How do you know Gabe and will it be an issue?”

“I tried to hire him on once he recovered and came back, about the same time I came on board. He declined however since so many of my employees are former vets he’s become friends with them and me and my wife. As I’m sure you’re aware there are some things civilians just don’t get. And it won’t be an issue.”

His words have me remembering the months after I was released from the hospital when Mom tried to get me to talk about my experiences but I just couldn’t. How I ended up on some of my home flipping sites to be around former vets who’d seen the same things I’d seen.

“Good. I’ll see you in eight hours.” I hang up, tension easing inside me. Olivia was right to be scared: this is a fucked-up situation, and one that doesn’t feel like it’s going to be solved quickly or easily.

My final call is to a service who I’m up front with on the situation, but I’m willing to pay double the usual fee if I can get a nanny to help settle the kids and be on the job for the next week at least. Warily, the woman tells me she’ll call around then get back to me. I’m up pacing the length of the jet as I wait. A half hour later I get a call: someone is on her way right now, Lydia Sanchez, and she should be there within ten minutes.

With relief I use Olivia’s phone to call Gabe. “Yeah?” He sounds tired, and there’s a baby crying in the background.

“It’s Rourke. My mother is on her way home, she should be there within, hell, I think within the next ten minutes knowing the way she drives. I also have a nanny on the way, her name is Lydia Sanchez. Considering everything else, there will also be two guards sent from Miltiades Global Security. They’ll assess to see if anything more needs to be added. I also have a guard on the way to the hospital to keep Stella secure.”

“Thanks. If you’d asked me before I would have thought no problem on handling the girls for a few hours by myself. I found out I’m wrong. One of them hasn’t stopped crying since I picked her up. Turns out she got smacked by Larry pretty hard. I called CPS to get it on record against his ass. I got there before Melinda, his mom, and she tried to argue she should be the one to take them. No fucking way. The lady agreed and handed them over.” I hear Mom in the background. “Hey, your mom is here. She wants to talk to you.”

I hear the crying grow louder, then die away as Mom whispers soothing words to the crying child. “Rourke, we’ll be fine.”

“Maybe. It’s been a while since you changed a diaper. I have a nanny on the way, Lydia Sanchez. With the issues with Larry, I also have two guards, just in case.”