Chapter 3
They say laughter is the best medicine. They lie. Its brownies.
-E-card
Jack
I stood to the side of the room watching Winter work her magic on the computer when Elliott sidled up next to me. He slung his arm around my shoulders and leaned into me heavily. I took his added weight with a grimace, but didn’t say anything further since I knew he was about to let me have it.
“So, Jackopa is your real name?” He asked causally.
I grunted in validation, but didn’t comment seeing as I didn’t want to answer the question I knew was coming in the first place. I’d been putting this off for ten years now, and it figures that the first time they meet my woman, the information is leaked.
“That’s a strong name. I think I’ll ask Blaine if we can use it for our next kid.” He snickered.
“You might reconsider. I got my ass kicked for three years in middle and junior high school for that name. It only stopped when I started fighting back. I don’t want any kid getting the same treatment I received.” I said in all seriousness.
An evil gleam entered his eye when he asked, “Is that why you never told us? Because you knew we could kick your ass?”
“I’m pretty sure I can take you,” Winter said distractedly from the computer. “However, I don’t want to hurt your wife’s feelings before I even meet her, and if you don’t stop making fun of him, I’ll do just that.”
Elliott gave my shoulders a squeeze before saying, “Thanks darlin’. I like knowing my boy here has a good woman at his side. You probably have bigger balls than he does. Jack is our laid back, let everything roll off your shoulders, good old boy. He’s the very last person to enter anything, but he sure will finish it.”
“His balls were just fine a few years ago. I’m sure they haven’t changed much since. Maybe they’re bigger, you never know.” She muttered as she tapped away at the keyboard.
Elliott snickered, and I watched the back of Winter’s head move back and forth. Her hair shimmered in the sun light that was streaming in through the windows. It was a dark shade of orangey red, and she had the temper to go along with it. She’d gained a few pounds, but in all the right places. She was tall for a woman, 5’7 or so.
She was also starting to remember.
The glasses that were hidden earlier were out now and perched precariously on the tip of her nose. They were thick librarian glasses, and I knew if she took them off then she’d be practically blind in one eye.
“Who’s the chick?” James asked as he came into the office.
“Jackopa’s wife.” Elliott said with a cackling laugh.
I rolled my eyes and moved up behind Winter as she fought her way into the protected files of the San Antonio police department. I let my hand drift down to her hair that fell halfway down her back and worked my fingers through the tangles. She had curly hair seven years ago, and this new sleeker straighter style threw me off a little.
“I like the straight hair and all, but the curly hair is my favorite.” I observed.
She turned her face from the computer and smiled at me from over her shoulder. “Oh, it’s still curly. Don’t worry; it’ll be back by tonight.”
“Who the fuck is Jackopa?” James asked.
I hung my head and waited for it. Winter patted my hand in commiseration and went back to her work. Elliott didn’t disappoint.
“That would be our very own Jack! Have you met his lovely wife?” Elliott asked facetiously.
James’ eyes went back and forth from Winter to Elliott, and then to myself over and over again. It didn’t take long for a grin to take over his entire face, and he started laughing.
“So that’s why you never date or have sex with anyone!” James crowed.
Elliott burst out laughing, and Winter’s shoulders tensed under my hand. Fuck. This wasn’t the place to be having this discussion, no matter how inevitable it was.
“There’s nothing here. Absolutely nothing,” Winter yelled loudly drawing everyone’s attention. “I need some direction to go in. Someone needs to tell me what I’m looking for. We need that old guy to tell us what area to look at.”
Silence fell in the room; you could hear a pin drop.
“That’s not going to be so easy to do. We never know where the hell he will be. The last place we saw him was at a graduation party about two hours from here. They don’t have a home base anymore either. Shamrock is over six hours from here, and Sam sure as hell won’t contact him unless absolutely necessary. There’s some bad blood there.” James explained carefully.
“Well, in the meantime, I’m kind of stuck. Which is a good thing for now because there’s a job fair in the next town over that I’m going to; I gotta go.” She said as she stood and stretched.
Her t-shirt rode up over the soft curve of her belly, exposing her porcelain white skin. My eyes feasted, and I wondered if the freckles that used to be on the curve of her breast were more pronounced now than they used to be.
Pulling her shirt down, she turned and looked at me with a troubled expression. Her eyes caught on my ring finger where I’d slipped the wedding band back in place. “I’ll see you later tonight?”
“Absolutely. Would you mind using my truck? I want to make sure yours isn’t tagged in any way.” I asked hesitantly.
She was always horrible about taking handouts. It wasn’t until the day before my deployment that she agreed to stay at my place. She’d drawn a line at me buying her a car, however.
Her mouth pursed, but she nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, I can do that. Do you have groceries?”
I snorted in amusement. “That would be a big, resounding no.”
“I’ll pick something up and make us dinner later.” She whispered.
I picked up a Sharpie from the desk and wrote my number on the palm of her hand. “Call me when you’re on your way home.”
“Sure, I’ll just stop by the local telephone booth and do that.” She snickered.
Rolling my eyes heavenward, I took my phone out of my pocket and handed it to her. “Call the office then. It’s in the favorites list.”
“Sir, yes sir!” She saluted me and then pecked me quickly on the lips.
Following her out to the parking lot, I handed over the keys to my truck when Payton and Ember pulled up in Ember’s car. They piled out, laughing about whether or not morning breath would keep you from having sex or not. They spied me but were unaware of Winter directly behind me, sandwiched in between James and me.
“Jack,” Payton began. “Laura wants to see you again. She said she had a great time…”
Payton trailed off as Winter made her way out from behind me. Payton smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Hi, who are you?”
Winter’s chilly demeanor didn’t bode well for Payton, so I intervened. “This is Winter. My wife.”
“Your what?” Payton and Ember shrieked.
Lifting my hand, I used the knuckle to rub at my right ear where their screams nearly busted my ear drums.
“We’ve been married for seven years now.” Winter said tightly, shifting back and forth from foot to foot. “So you can tell this Laura chick that he is most assuredly taken.”
On that announcement, she snatched the keys from the palm of my hand, unlocked the truck, climbed in, started it, and backed out of the parking lot.
“You know, I told you last week that I wasn’t interested in Laura. Why would you make it sound like I’ve seen her before?” I asked Payton.
She grimaced. “I’m sorry. She was bothering the shit out of me at work today, and I thought it would be funny to see the reaction on your face. I didn’t know your lovely wife would be hiding behind you.”
I gave her a pointed look. “Be nice. She hasn’t had it very easy.”
“Well, obviously, she’s a bitch, or she wouldn’t have left you. She’d have been here with you. Where has she been the last couple of years?” Payton said petulantly.
Payton was by far my favorite, yet I loved each and every woman that had married into our Free family. Payton’s spunk was what singled her out; that and she reminded me of Winter. However, I wasn’t going to permit her hurting Winter. I sure as hell didn’t want her to think badly of her either.
“We got married while I was deployed. It was about three months after that I received news that my apartment was broken into and Winter was gone. There was so much blood at the scene that everyone thought she was dead. Hell, they’d even found a body outside the city limits that fit her description. The corpse…” My eyes squeezed shut and I swallowed roughly as I saw the crime scene photos in my mind.
They were truly awful. Blood was on the goddamn ceiling, and the walls. Hair and fingernails were imbedded in the molding around the door. Large dents in the drywall from where a body was thrown against it stood out in stark relief. Then there were the pictures of the body. There was no head nor hands, only the torso and legs. The body itself was so swollen that you couldn’t even tell what the person had looked like before death.
I’d stared at those photos for hours, and my mind could never move past the green and white striped pajama bottoms that were on the mutilated corpse. Those pants were Winter’s favorite pants. The first present I’d ever gotten her, and she’d worn them every day after that.
“It was bad. When Winter screamed my name today, I’ve never been so happy in my life. I’ve wanted to hear her voice for the past seven years and when I saw her, she looked at me as if I was a stranger. .” I rasped.
“Wow.” Ember said quietly.
I nodded. “Try to be nice to her. I don’t know what happened. But I do know that if she leaves, I’m going with her. I won’t lose her again.”
“Balls.” Payton sighed.
My sentiments exactly.
“That’s why you followed that cute little waitress around, wasn’t it?” Payton said softly.
I grimaced. It wasn’t that I followed her around, per say. It was that she looked so much like Winter that it was hard for me to stay away. I’d had the same problem four other times in my life.
I would think I saw Winter in a grocery store or a gas station, too much. So, I’d stop what I’d been doing and checked it out. Just to make sure. I’d excused it as just some natural thing that everyone did; it wasn’t until Adam was with me once that I really realized what the heck I was doing.
I was searching for her, just in case. I’d never really stopped.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “That’s why.”
Payton’s hand went up and cupped my cheek before turning and walking towards the car once again. She paused just as she opened the door, then looked over her shoulder. “Bring her by. I’d like a chance to get to know her.”
I would too.