All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (36 page)

"I don't believe you, but that's alright. We're
leaving all of that behind. When I finally get a ring on your finger, the whole
world will know that you are taken and that I have the
right to ensure your safety
. No one will ever lay a hand on you again," his
eyes got dark as he looked her up and down, "
except
me. And then, I am going to enjoy every minute I have
with you. I've waited a long time for this. And I agree that it was smart of
you to make us wait to get physical. It will be that much better when we're
finally married. You will find out how much I can give you pleasure and how
much I want to do that for you."

Polly shuddered. She couldn't help it. Something in
the deepest part of her heart must have kept her away from Joey physically
all those months
.
He'd never tried anything with her, but she'd never encouraged anything either.
There had been plenty of other boys in her life
who
had received her kisses and a
little passion, but not Joey. As she thought about it, it occurred to her that
was weird. Wow, her brain was smarter than she gave it credit. Or her heart or
something
like
that.

Joey was still blathering at her about all of the
functions they would attend together and how he would dress her in beautiful
gowns and then enjoy taking them off of her. He went on and on about the nights
he wanted to spend with her until she completely shut him out. She didn't want
to hear it, but she wasn't going to argue any longer with him.

Polly drove and kept trying to figure out how she was
going to get out of this. It was beyond anything her imagination could come up
with. They drove through Des Moines and she turned onto Interstate 80 heading
west.

It had been years since she'd been to Omaha and that
time her Dad drove. He had taken her and two friends from high school over to
the Joslyn Museum for a doll house exhibit. They'd thought they were so uptown.
He'd made it a big weekend for them. The Joslyn, the
z
oo, a big
steakhouse with Christmas tree lights all over. They'd walked around downtown
and had ridden in a horse drawn carriage. It had been a wonderful weekend. She
barely remembered those girls now and wondered what they were doing on this
Sunday.

Her truck made a beeping sound and she realized they
needed gas.

"What was that?"
Joey asked.

"We need gas. Ca
n I pull off at the next exit?"

"Well, of course! You stay in the
truck and I'll fill the tank."

"Joey. I'm going
to have to go to the bathroom,
"
she said.

"We'll deal with that. Let's get gas first and
then pull up to the front and we'll go inside."

She did what he asked. She pulled up and he reached
over and took the keys. He ran inside and paid for gas, then came back out and
pumped it himself. When he got back in, he told her to pull up to the front of
the store. They both walked inside, his hand firmly on her elbow. He walked
with her to the bathroom and said, "I'll wait right here for you. Please
don't do anything stupid. I won't hurt you, but I don't want to hurt anyone in
here, either."
Before she could walk
away, he nudged her with the gun in his pocket.

Polly went in, sat down and tried to think. How was
she going to get out of this? She'd heard of
kidnap victims who left
messages
on bathroom stalls, but realized
didn’t
have
any way to make that happen. She was
going to have to think about that at the next stop
, so s
he got up
and went back out. Joey hadn't waited. He was checking out at the cash register
and when he saw her, he stepped away
and
took her arm again. Walking back with him, she waited while he paid for the
items and they went out to the truck. The clerk never looked at either of them
and Polly couldn't signal anyone around her.

"You're still driving. I don't trust you. Now get
in. I promise things will get better when we get back to Boston. I really do
promise, Polly." He tried to reach across the seat to kiss her on the
cheek, but she backed up and pushed him away. He moved to his side of the truck
and pulled his seatbelt on.

Polly pulled onto the interstate and Joey took two
bottles of water out and opened one, placing it into the well in front of her. "
Here.
I didn't want to get you any caffeine. We're going to
make as few stops as possible."

She
didn't say
anything. She didn't want to talk to him
and w
hile she drove, she tried to come up
with any possible remedy to this situation. No one knew she was even gone. The
clock on the dash
read
eleven thirty
. Lydia
was supposed to pick her up at one o'clock to go to Boone, but until then she
was on her own
and they’d
be in Omaha by then. Joey had thrust her purse with
the phone in it behind her seat and set the over
night bag and suitcase on top so it was out of easy reach
. There was nothing she coul
d do without provoking him, so
she continued to drive.

They drove into Council Bluffs and he directed her to
cross the river into Omaha. "We've got a couple of errands before we head
south," he said.

He directed her through several streets of the city
and th
en told her to stop the truck
in front of a used car lot. Damn it. He'd done some
thinking about this.

"Do not leave this truck," he
instructed
,
taking the keys. Then he pulled her purse out and dumped the contents on the
seat. He slipped her phone into his back pocket and shoveled everything back in
to the purse
.
"Just in case you decided to try to contact your friends.
I will let you call them when we get home, but not
until then. They don't need to be involved in
this,
it's between you and me. I want you to know how much I am willing to sacrifice
in order to make you part of my life."

He walked into the dealership and in a few minutes
walked back out. The dealer led him over to a green SUV and put the keys into
his hand. Joey walked back to the truck and told her to get out. He gathered up
the bags from the back
seat and nodded at
her purse, so s
he picked it up and
followed him to the SUV with tears in her eyes. That was the last vestige of
her Dad and she couldn't believe it was going to end up in a slimy used car lot
in the middle of Omaha, Nebraska.

"Joey, why are you doing this?"
she asked. “That was my dad’s truck. I can’t believe
you just did that!”

"Don't worry, Polly. You won't miss anything once
you are back in Boston. I'll make sure you have e
verything you need. Get in. You’re driving again.”

She drove off the lot and once again, he directed her
through the streets of Omaha, looking closely at a laminated map. “
Wait," he said. “Pull over here.”

There was a food truck serving tacos in a parking lot.
She pulled in and he got out, made the transaction and came back. "We're
lucky they were open. They usually aren’t
on Sundays, but there was some big run happening in
town today. They were just getting ready to close."

He opened the paper wrap on the taco into a pocket and
handed it to her. She pushed it back at him.

He took her hand and wrapped it around the taco, then
said,
"Honey, I love you so mu
ch. You're going to have to eat because y
ou need to keep up your strength. We still have a long
day ahead of us. Now, if you don't eat this, I will make you pull over to the
side of the road and force you. I don't want you being faint or anything. So,
either
eat
and drink on your own or I will help you, only
because I want you to be okay."

She took a bite. It wasn't the worst thing she'd ever
tasted, but she was certain it was going to sit in the bottom of her stomach
like a rock. He kept
watching
her until she took another bite. Then, he opened the
bottle of water and handed it to her. "This will help wash it down. I wish
it were a lobster dinner, but, like everything else, that will have to wait
until we get home."

They crossed the river back into Council Bluffs and
headed south to Kansas City. Joey tried to engage in conversation with her, but
she was having nothing to do with that. She remained silent. Enough time had
passed that by now someone knew she wasn't where she was supposed to be. Every
once in a while her emotions tumbled up into her throat and a tear squirted out
one of her eyes. She reached up to brush them away and once, Joey tried to pat
her leg. She pushed him away and said, "Don't you dare touch me."

"I'm sorry you feel badly, Polly. I want to make
you happy. One of these days, you'll see. You will have everything you want and
I will be the one to give it to you."

Polly ignored him again and kept driving. When they
got close to Kansas City, he directed them to the airport, where she put the
car in long-term parking.

Now what! She started to panic. She had no frame of
reference for the Kansas City area and couldn't imagine how she was going to
get help. Joey couldn't take a gun into the airport, but she didn't know what
else he would do. If she tried to flag down a security guard, all hell could
break loose and she didn't want to be the cause of that. Polly sighed. Maybe
she should just get on the airplane and try to reach out to her friends in
Boston. She knew plenty of people there and she knew the city well. So far,
Joey hadn't hurt her and that was a good thing.

Joey pulled the gun out of his pocket and pushed
it into the glove compartment. "I hope that gun
wasn't the only thing that kept you behaving like a normal person today,"
he said and she rolled her eyes.

"There are only a few hours left before we're
home. If you can hold out until then, I promise you will be able to call your
friends and tell them where you are. Everything will be alright
then
. Can I get
you to promise me that or do we have to sit here a while longer."

She didn't say anything.

"Polly,
” he
said
“
I don’t want to hurt you, but if you try anything,
anything at all, I will make your life a living hell and I promise you I will
go after every person you've ever known in your life. Now, do we have a deal?"

Polly set her jaw. Her lips were moving over her teeth
as she pursed them together. One more time for the weekend, she breathed deeply
and tried to collect her thoughts.

Then she said, "I will go with you today because
you seem to be in control. But, I promise you, your life is over. This is the
last day you will ever see freedom. I will do everything I can to see you rot
away in some hole. Yes. I will go to Boston with you. Yes, I will stay quiet in
the airport. And this is the very last time you will get any acquiescence from
me. Do you understand?"

"That's all I needed, sweetie. We have a deal."

She looked at him in astonishment. Her threats hadn't
penetrated his mind at all.

They got on a shuttle to the airport and it seemed
Joey had already purchased their tickets and printed them out. The flight was
taking off in one hour. He carried her bags onto the plane for her, stowed them
in the compartment above their seats,
then
sat beside her.

"I bought three seats for us so you would have
room to stretch out and relax. I didn't think you would want to sit by some huge
, ugly
person
who smelled bad."

"No, because I want to sit by some crazy person
who hurts people," she retorted.

"We're going to have the best life," he said
and tried to take her hand.

She pulled it back and snarled. "I told you not
to touch me."