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“I should indeed.” He held his hands out for his son, and Sharlee leaned in closer so Jac could lift their son from her arms.
“Mmm, breakfast smells wonderful, Robert. Thank you,” Sharlee said as he poured coffee for her.
After taking a sip of her sweet, creamy coffee, Sharlee leaned back in the chair and sighed. “I have to go into the office today, so I can go dumpster diving with Kaden, but what is today’s goal?”
Monroe, who was always the keeper of the plans, explained what they would work on and what they needed from Sharlee and Kaden.
“And what about me?” asked Mallory.
“Nothing. You are to be a woman of leisure until we have eradicated the threat.” Monroe took another bite of his cooling breakfast.
Mallory replaced her fork on her plate and pushed her plate away. “I can’t do that. I’ve not had a list of tasks to complete since the ninth grade. That was when I learned if I worked hard, my grades would equal college money.”
Monroe took his last bite of toast. “Well, then you can put together a list of places you have been in the last two weeks prior to your abduction, highlighting any routine or multiple stops. Then I need a list of the employees at your work, adding any strange occurrences or strange people you have encountered, not just customers.”
“Then what?” asked Mallory.
“Then you show it to me. We’ll work on those lists to see if there’s anyone that might have been connected to this guy or you.” Monroe turned to Jac. “Did you get verification on the perp’s name and demographics?”
Jac paused in his play with his son. “I did. Craig Romaine is correct. I’ll send you the rest. Does that name ring a bell, Mallory?”
She thought for a moment and then shook her head. “I don’t think so. I will always remember his face, though, and it seems like I should know him, but I just don’t. Do we have a picture of his wife?”
Jac shook his head. “No wife. He has never married, it seems. Guess your thoughts that he had a wife were off, or he has a significant other, and they haven’t married.”
Monroe leaned back in his chair. “Could she have been the woman who dropped her groceries, like you wondered?”
“I don’t know, do I. The name seems familiar, but it isn’t, and yet his face haunts me. He said there was a wife, but I can’t verify enough to prove it. Someone could be out there looking for me because I got away, and I have nowhere to look. We don’t know if Romaine has an accomplice, and I can only sleep when I’m with you. Now, how worse can my life get?”
“Mal…”
“Don’t Mal me. It’s not your life that’s been turned upside down. Not you who’s afraid of your own shadow unless someone is close by. My life is in ruins, I need to set it to rights, and I can’t see a way to fix t.”
Sharlee reached out her hand and lightly touched her thigh. “I think I get it. My experience is like yours. It takes time to figure things out, and I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. What you aren’t accepting is that you aren’t Superwoman. It isn’t something you did or said to make you a target, and just because you have head knowledge doesn’t mean you can accept it.”
“I’m a broken mess. I can’t even go to work the job I love. I don’t even want to go back to The Apothecary, maybe never.”
Monroe placed his hand over hers on the table. “You will as soon as we’re sure you’re safe. But until then, I’m not taking any chances, so it isn’t you can’t go because you are incapable, but because I won’t let you, not yet.”
She yanked her hand back. “You don’t understand. I can’t see people I don’t know for fear someone else tries to steal me off the street. It’s illogical, I know, but I still feel it. My chest hurts just thinking about it.” Mallory’s voice cracked in the fierceness of her emotion.
“Maybe not intimately, but I do,” said Sharlee. “I understand the terror at the thought that it might happen again and how you measure every interaction, every step to see if it opens you up, makes you more vulnerable to being taken again. You analyze every move you made before the abduction to see where you misstepped. What judgment call caused you to be kidnapped. It’s worse when you find there is none because that means that you don’t have the power to prevent it from ever happening again.” Sharlee paused. “How close am I?”
The sobbing that suddenly erupted answered her question. Monroe’s arms surrounded Mallory, and he automatically drew her into his lap. The dining chairs were generous because of the men that frequently sat in them, and Monroe was never more thankful than right now. He had a fleeting thought that he needed to ensure they had generously sized seating in their place.
Mallory had not broken down like this since he saw her in the hospital, and he figured it was about time. Everyone else left the room as Monroe held his girl tight and let her mourn the loss of her safety, the fear of her continued protection, and her lack of control. While Mallory had never mentioned it, she was mourning her loss of power in her life.
Not only when she was kidnapped here, but now after the event was over, she still didn’t choose where she went, what she did, or where her thoughts and fears took her. Romaine may not have violated her sexually, but he violated every other part of her mind and body. Monroe’s fury was erupting in him. It was a rage that he could do nothing about until they knew everything about this Romaine guy and who the accomplice was because Monroe believed Mallory when she said there was someone else. It was a matter of discovering who that person was and apprehending them.
Having his capable woman fall apart was good in that he could build her up from here on, but bad because it wounded him that he wasn’t able to protect her then and, in some ways, now. The outside world wasn’t a problem, but her inner demons had to be demolished as well. That would take more than him to kill them off. It would take her hard work, coupled with his and her new friends’ support.
“Mallory, baby, are you feeling better?”
Her laugh was wobbly. “In some ways, but not in others. I was a blubbering idiot. I’m sorry. You have to be so embarrassed.”
“Stop it. Look, sweetheart. There is nothing to be ashamed of, and I’m so proud you allowed me to comfort you. Our relationship started off different in that we played a little before we ever went on a date. Our first meaningful discussion was to negotiate our limits in play.”
“Are you saying we did this backward?”
