Family Reunion (35 page)

Lena's heart jumped at his threat but still she would not go to him. Taking deep breaths, she closed her eyes.
'Okay, this is what my life has come to…finally - an end to it all.'
As far as she could see, it was a no win situation. She looked back at the staircase and wondered if Rory had been able to get help but who in their right mind would even bother to help her? Maybe Rollo, if he made it there in time, yet…he was only one man. There were many after her.

"It ain't gonna work, don't even think about it!" Wilkes warned. "You're really pissing me off!" He growled.

Turning back to him, Lena taunted, "You want me, come and get me."

"You bitch! You bitch!" He spat viciously as he put his gun away, knowing he could not shoot her. Now shaking, he inched his way towards her. Time had run out, unbeknown to him, the fighting below was almost at an end and his men nearly beaten to unconciosness. He kept his eyes on the floor as he was inching sideways across and thought he must be crazy, especially since they were so high with no true support. He reached the corner of the wall and went to cross over to the floor edge Lena stood on, working his way towards her.

Suddenly he stopped, hearing a cracking sound.

"You're too heavy!! It's too much weight!!" Lena cried out and shook
her head with nervous laughter, "Oh my God, I'm gonna die! You stupid man and you're gonna die with me!" Panicking, she looked back at the staircase, and then down to see how far she would have to fall if she missed the stairs. She threw her head back as tears came to her eyes. It was too far to chance and then she felt the floor move. She started screaming, "Oh God! Go back! Go back! It can’t hold up both!! Go back!!"

Wilkes knew it too and turned to try and return from where he came but the floor began breaking down and slanting away from the wall with a loud cracking sound.

"Oh God help me make it! Help me make it!" Wilkes prayed.

It was too late; the wood shifted at more of an angle and broke, pulling and splintering all along the wall from his end to Lena's.

He screamed in terror as he tried to grab something to hold on to.

Their screams blended.

As the floor fell away, pealing from the wall towards Lena, she knew it was now or never. As it tilted downward from under her feet she launched her body across the open gap, reaching out for the wrought iron stairs, screaming as she went. Her hands made contact and grabbed, but her weight pulled her down. She lost her grip but then caught the next rail down, having fallen almost an entire floor trying to grab and hold the stair rail. Her grip was tight this time even though the sudden yank of her weight tortured her fingers and twisted her wrists painfully. A sharp pain shot down her arm to her shoulder, which felt as if it dislocated from the socket.

Wilkes held the long hanging board screaming. It swung as if on a single nail and then broke completely free from the wall. Wilkes hurtled to his death below. Lena turned her head into her arm as she clung for life. There was no way she would be able to hold on for long and she knew it. The thought to let go and drop flashed in her mind but she couldn't do it, neither could she pull herself up. To get on the stairs, she would have to shift over and move down a bit to make it to a place to climb over. Pain and exhaustion made the task impossible. Her arms were hurting too bad, her fingers were growing numb and her wrists were throbbing. A whimper escaped her with tears rolling, taking a deep breath, she resigned herself to her fate because she couldn't hold on much longer. Dizziness swarmed her mind, a sound like the buzzing of bees sounded in her ears.

Manny heard the screams of a woman as he looked down at
Moosey who was out cold at his feet. Stepping over his prone body, he sprinted toward the warehouse. It was completely boarded up, but when another piercing scream reverberated in the building he backed up and ran slamming his massive frame into the planked door. It gave immediately under the force of his body and fell away. The dark warehouse flooded with daylight. He ran within, covering not ten feet when he encountered Wilkes’ body pierced through by one of the boards from the fallen floor, a sharp splintered end standing up from his chest. Manny could see he was obviously dead as the lifeless eyes stared back at him. He turned his attention to finding Rory's mother. The further he went into the burned out shell, the darker it was, the only light shined down through the gaping ceiling further ahead, illuminating the spiralling particles of dust.

He was carefully stepping toward the light when he heard a whimpering moan. He stood still to hear it again. Slowly he turned his head viewing the area around him but saw nothing. His brow pinched in puzzlement trying to discern where the sound was coming from. Then he heard it again, this time it was a panicking cry that seemed to be coming from over head. Slowly he looked up; hanging there from the wrought iron rail was a woman, obviously Rory's mother. He could only see her feet dangling from beneath her tattered gown, amidst layers of frilly slips with only one shoe on, the other laying at
his
feet.

Lena's head lay resting against her arm, her teeth tightly clenched against the pain, as she strove not to faint with her head swimming in a dream like state. She groaned as her eyes rolled back, she couldn't hold a moment more, her arm was going numb and her fingers could no longer hold on, accepting her fate, she knew the end was there.

Before Manny could think of what to do, he heard her whimper, crying out, "Ohhh Go-o-od." Followed by a trapped scream deep in her throat, all he could do was brace and position himself beneath her to try to break her fall. Her skirt and slips billowed out and up covering her upper body, with her silk bloomers and stockings covering her lower.

Down she came, her skirt making a flapping sound as she dropped right into Manny's outstretched arms. His massive chest absorbed the impact as the momentum staggered him and her weight brought him to one knee with his other leg bent but braced. With his heart pounding in disbelief, he held onto her and slowly pushed himself up.

Lena's head swam and rolled, dropping to his shoulder as he shifted her higher to make it easier to carry her.

Immediately, a familiar fragrance alerted Lena's senses making her
breathe in deeply. She felt light as a feather, as if she floated on air, her head still buzzing. A solid, strong warmth so familiar brought a contented smile to her face as one arm hung, yet she wrapped her other around the strength she found holding her. She gasped as a sharp pain made her wince. A shiver raced through her, trembling she curled into the warmth surrounding her as her nose encountered Manny's neck. She inhaled and exhaled and could only wonder at the painlessness of letting go. She had no idea whose powerful arms she lay in, perhaps an angel sent by God to lessen her fall to death. Had she known it would be like this, so easy to give in, pain free, she would have given into it minutes before. With her eyes closed from exhaustion, not caring of the next moment, she held onto this tower of strength with the front of her body just about wrapped around his chest, as he held her securely.

Manny held her with his heart pounding, glad that he'd gotten to her when he had. One second all he saw were skirts and bloomers, the next she was wrapped around him in a hold that even he could probably not break. With soft whimpers, she brought her other arm up, forcing it around him, needing to hold in tighter. He could feel the shivers in her small body and the warm moisture of her breath, mixed with tears, against the skin of his neck.

Holding onto her slight form brought to mind a feeling of familiarity. So much so, he found he didn't want to have to put her down and so for that moment, as they stood in the dark shadows of the dimly lit warehouse, he held her, and reassured her.

"Shhh, it’s okay, it's all over, you're safe now. I swear to you, no harm will come to you now." He spoke to her softly to ease her fears, wishing he could see her face. At first he thought that she’d fainted but he knew that was not the case, because she moved to draw closer to him. So many crinolines and silk surrounded her; she seemed swallowed up in the fabric. He also noted the instant she heard his voice, her body stiffened as she sucked in a quiet breath as though she sensed something strange.

Lena knew that she was awake, knew that she was aware, the pain in her arm as she tried to use it, said – she was alive. Yet she was unsure of what was happening. That she was in the arms of a strange man in the most intimate position was apparent and unsettling. Slowly she loosened her hold as if by doing so carefully he would not notice. His voice sounded kind enough but there was something about it that sent chills down her body as she clung to his wide shoulders. She could feel the vibration of his deep voice from his chest and the rumble in his throat as he tried to soften it to ask her.

"Did he hurt you ... are you all right?"

Lena swallowed with her heart
fluttering for a different reason. Her heart beat so strongly, Manny could feel it against his chest. "Don't be afraid, calm down, come on, calm down, I won't hurt you, I swear, I’m not one of them, they can’t hurt you, nor will anyone else." He soothed as he began shifting her to move the yards of material covering her up. A powerfully protective instinct swelled and overcame him, surprising him. He hadn't felt that protective over anyone since Lena. Yet this woman, Rory's mother brought that out in him. He wanted to know who this little lady in his arms was and was determined he would. Unable to restrain himself, he turned his face to her, breathing in her delightful scent of wild flowers. He loved that fragrance and found himself closing his eyes to inhale the pureness of it. It was such a pleasure compared to the sometimes harsh and heavy perfumes that assailed his senses from women he had encountered before. This one, reminded him of Lena. Lena had always smelled like a fresh burst of spring after a rain shower. He also noticed that she was even as small as Lena and fitted against his chest much like she had. She used to cling to him that way when needing his strength to hold onto.

Lena could not talk and could not bring herself to move.

Accepting this, Manny continued. "Are you wondering how I found you? Your son, Rory, he called for help, we came. I'm his boss; he works for me on my ship. He was so frightened for you."

Lena closed her eyes and swallowed, slowly she began lifting herself up and away from his neck, pushing away from his shoulder until her eyes lit on the pale color of his blonde hair at his nape. As if by its own will her hand went up to touch it, her palm smoothed over the back of his head, over his hair.

Manny froze, a shiver ran the course of his spine, he felt his breathing disrupted by a touch so stimulating were it not for the circumstances he found them in, he would be on the verge of arousal, the gesture stirred him to the core. At that moment, both slowly turned their heads to face the other.

They were so close that only a couple of centimeters of air separated their noses from rubbing. Her eyes locked in on the mustache of tan mixed with strands of grey. She felt an increase in his heartbeat. She felt her breasts tingling from being held so tightly against his hard chest. Manny's eyes were on the smooth texture and brown color of her skin. Grappling with the wonder of what his eyes took in, his heart jumped so hard he grew short of breath. Swallowing convulsively, Manny snatched his eyes from her soft cheek to her eyes.

Eyes that were wide and staring right into his, eyes that
were unmistakably ... gold.

The shock of what each of them saw reverberated throughout their entire bodies. They were so still, both only able to draw their next breath because the natural will of life dictated that they must.

Lena's mind was trying to find the reason for it. Staring into those eyes, she knew right then, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this was indeed a dream. Reasoning with herself, she knew that most certainly she had fallen to her death or was still at home, in bed and asleep. She’d had the same kind of dreams before; they’d always seemed so real at the time. She started reasoning with herself,
'Should I just wait it out? Any moment now, I'll wake up, and it will be all over. This whole day will have been just a dream. I can’t afford to enjoy it – yet – I cannot bring myself to end it – to wake myself up… no – I will wait it out.'

Afraid to believe his eyes in the dimmed light, Manny turned to retrace his steps back outside into the broad daylight. Slowly, as if he carried something that might shatter at one false step, as if he carried fine crystal, or, something highly explosive, he moved with care as he exited the warehouse.

Chapter Eight