Page 19 of Audon

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Audon was told what happened at his house three times before he finally got it. Pete had come to his house to shoot Trinity full of holes because she was married to him. He read over the report again and was dismayed to find that Pete Jacobson was still out to make the marriage between his son and Audon’s wife happen. He looked up at his dad when he said his name.

“Pete has been arrested. He hit his wife badly enough that she had to go to the hospital. She has stitches in her mouth as well as a concussion.” He asked his dad what had happened there. “She filed for divorce. She’s going to have Axel represent her so that she can get him for misuse of her funds. I guess she had a prenup that he had signed when they were first married.”

“Christ.” His dad sat down. “There’s more?” His dad just nodded. “I’ve listened to Joey. He said that Bruno is pressing charges against him for pulling out his gun. Where did he get the gun in the first place?”

“More importantly, why was he thinking that shooting Trinity would do him any good? I mean, if he killed her, then she couldn’t be married to anyone.” There was that. He talked about how he didn’t have a permit for the gun and would be charged with that as well. “Do you think he’ll be able to pay bail and get out?”

“He won’t have bail until the judge comes through sometime next week. And even then I’m betting that he doesn’t allow him to have it. He’s been a problem before this. Once he knocked around the papergirl when she told him that she wasn’t going to get her brother to do her job. She spent three days in the hospital while she recuperated. This was just a couple of weeks ago. He doesn’t have a very high opinion of women or girls, I guess.”

“I guess not.” Dad told him how he was going to be willing to hit Trinity to keep her in line with the way things he wanted to go. “You mean he was going to beat her because she was a woman?”

“Pretty much.” He didn’t know what to think, but he wanted to find Trinity and hold her. She’d been talking to the police as well until he’d had enough. Pete was deranged if he thought that he could bring Trinity to his way of thinking. She’d kill him first if it came to that. Just as Trinity came into the room with Lizzy, Dad took the baby from her, and she sat down next to him. She looked as if she’d been crying.

“I’m so sorry.” He asked her why she was sorry. “I never outright told Peter that I’d not marry him, and he somehow got it into his head that we were set up. Not that I would have married him, but when you came into my life, I never thought about Peter again. Not in any way but to knock his noddle off when he thought that I should be married to him. He and I would never have suited.”

“No. Neither would you nor Pete. He has it in his head that you’re going to need training to be the sort of wife that Peter needs. Then when you get out of line later, Peter will know what to do to keep you from opening your mouth. I don’t see that happening too well.” She said the first time he hit her, he’d be dead. “I have no doubt about that at all. That’s the way that April Jacobson is thinking now. She’s been a battered wife for years now and is just now coming to her own. Dad said that she’s filing for divorce too.”

“Good for her. If she needs anything, I want to help her.” He told her how she has Axel as her attorney. “Good. I’ll pay for him if that comes down to it. I have no trouble at all seeing that she’d be better off without either one of them in her life.”

“Us as well.” They talked about how he’d been in their home and how much that upset her. There really wasn’t much they could do about that other than to turn the recordings over to the police. Burno had allowed him in thinking that he could calm the man down, but that didn’t happen. He seemed to have gotten more pissed off than before.

“He’s in jail now with his son, so things should be better now. As soon as the judge comes into town, we’ll have to go to court to tell them our side of the story. That won’t be a problem; we have plenty of witnesses to how he’s treated us.” She said that Joey had told her to write down what had happened before so she’d have notes on it. “That’s a brilliant idea. We’ll both do that. I’ll talk to Burno when he gets back and have him do the same thing.”

“Good.” She looked around the living room. “I feel like this room has been tainted in some way. Like him being here, sitting on our furniture, had made it seem less like we own it now. I want to redo the entire room. I’m not sure that this is all to my tastes anyway.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” She smiled at him and asked him if he was humoring her. “Not at all. I feel the same way. Like him bringing his gun into our home has invaded us in some way. Like he’s taken some of the safety we feel in this room away from us. We’ll do what we did to the bedroom. Just get rid of whatever is in there and start new. I’m sure that your sister wouldn’t have wanted you to leave everything the way that she left it. At least we can change out this room because we spend a lot of time in this room.”

“You’re right.” They decided to look at things on the internet before going to the store. If they had an idea of what they wanted, then shopping for it would be so much better. “If nothing else, we’ll be able to make this our home one room at a time. I love that we’re doing this.”

“I am too.” He held her hand while they talked about what was going to happen with the judge coming to town. They were also going to see April to make sure she didn’t need anything. As they were getting things settled in their minds and hearts, they also made a decision on the adoption of Lizzy. “I want you to do it. Adopt her. She and I both will take your last name and be better off for it. It’ll be a lot of work to get everything changed over, but I think in the long run we’ll save us a lot of time.”

After everyone left but his parents, they sat in the living room with them and discussed what had happened. Dad was of the opinion that they should get a gate put in and someone to man it. He’d never thought of that before, but it had merit. Just as they were talking about getting a fenced-in backyard, the grandfather clock in the hallway told them that it was two o’clock. Another late night for them.

“See that you get that yard fenced in. I don’t want to have to worry about my little granddaughter getting kidnapped while in the yard playing. You know as well as I do that there are some crazy people out there and when they figure out you have money, they’re going to want some of it.” He told his dad that they’d start on it as soon as tomorrow. “See that you do. And if you need any help finding someone, I’m sure that Mac will have a good name for you to use. She seems to know everyone in that community. She’ll steer you right.”

“I’ll talk to her in the morning about it.” He made a mental note to talk to her about having the gate put in too. Their driveway was a long one that curved around the front of the house so people would be able to get in without much in the way of trouble. “We’re both going to take this threat today very seriously and get us some much-needed protection in. The rest of the family should do it as well.”

“I know that Mac and Axel have security. And with Gil working on his house, it won’t be a problem for him to have security added in while he’s doing the rest of the house.” Dad shook his head. “I can’t believe that we’ve never thought of this before. It seems like the world has become a darker place than when you boys were little. Your mother and I will upgrade too. If we get to watch the children from now on, we’ll have to make sure that they can be as safe with us as they are at home. I just never thought it would come to this.”

“No, neither did I.” They talked about other modes of security as they walked to the door. Dad would go home and look up other measures to use to keep them safe, and he’d be emailing the information to all of them too. Audon hugged his dad extra long before he left. He asked what that was for. “Because I don’t tell you enough how much I love you. And I do. With all my heart. You and Mom are the best.”

“I love you too, son.” Dad hugged him again, and they laughed. “It’s not funny really, but you’ve said to me before that you don’t say that enough to me when you’re around, and I’ve only just realized that I don’t say that I love you to you boys all that often either. I’m going to work on that.”

“You never know what’s around the corner.” Dad nodded and left. Mom seemed to be confused, but she left as well. Dad would tell her, and that would be fine. She’d understand and make it a point to tell them that she loved them as well. Not that Mom needed any help in that area, but she’d encourage Dad to say it, and that would be well worth it.

He and Trinity locked up the house. They both checked the doors twice to make sure that they were safe in the house. As they were going up the stairs, they didn’t talk much, but what they did say was profound. Trinity told him that she had never loved until she’d met him, and he thought the same. They both would spend the rest of their lives together, and that would be wonderful. He couldn’t wait to grow old with Trinity and have lots of kids. She said that she wanted as many as they could have, and he thought that was just fine.

“I love you.” He kissed her on the nose and told her that he loved her. “I can’t believe that we’ve been married a whole week now and we’re just telling each other how much we love one another. I mean, I’ve said I love you before, but this time, I really mean it. You’re the owner of my heart and soul; Audon and I don’t know what I’d do if you were to leave me.”

“The same here.” He took her hand into his and kissed it. “I love you more than the next breath I take. And you make me want to be a better man.”

“Same here. I want to be the best, someone you can be proud of and love. I can’t imagine my life without you by my side.” He picked her up in his arms and went into her bedroom. “In a couple more days we’ll have the master suite and have a much bigger bed. Then after that, we’ll plan out the rest of the house, then someday maybe make some babies. Lizzy needs a sister or brother.

Chapter 9

Audon was seated right behind his brother Axel in the courtroom. He’d been there to represent he and Trinity. By his side was Debra, who was there to help him. Not that he seemed to need any help. He’d been researching the crimes against Pete and Peter Jacobson for the past two weeks. Now with the judge in town, it was going to be easy to see that he was out to get them and cause them harm. The gun that the older Jacobson had was evidence of how much harm he was going to cause them. He was surprised, however, to see April Jacobson in the courtroom too.