From This Moment (20 page)

“Where’s Rona?”

“Cade, calm down.  She’s okay.  Listen, I think he hit her across the side of the face, a bruise is forming.  She’s limping slightly, so I think maybe she’s banged up on one side.  She’s agreed that the paramedics can check her out when they arrive.”

“Dad, are you okay?
  You look white,” Anna shouts, as she catches up to me, putting her hand on my arm.

Patting her hand, “No.
  Not now Anna, please.”

“Cade, Rona needs to get into some warm clothes and she’ll probably need help.”
 

“It’s okay Daniel, I’ll help her.”
  Anna replies.

“
I’ll see to her.  Where is she Daniel?”  Anna looks shocked.

“Cade, you should know it wasn’t just Tom.
  Nick is involved.  He went to get the car, and they were planning on taking Rona with them.”

I curse a blue streak, until I see the look on Anna’s face, which shuts me up.

“Go to her Cade, she’s in front of the fire trying to warm up a bit, but she keeps asking for you.”

“T
hanks for everything.”

I head into the house with Anna and Justin trailing me, I can hear Anna in the background babbling on about me and Rona.
  Right now all I need is to see Rona and have her in my arms.  And then there she is.  I freeze momentarily.  She turns her head in my direction, I can see her composure crumble and she starts to cry.

Moving quickly towards her, she stands up to move towards me.
  Before I can think, she’s wrapped in my arms crying her heart out.  I feel tears rolling down my face, mingling with Rona’s.  I bring her face up to mine and place a tender kiss ~ifycsut.&nbson her lips.  “Hell love.  Are you hurt anywhere other than your face?  Daniel mentioned you were limping.”  I shake, as I caress her face.

“My left hip, leg and head, he kept dragging me by the hair.”

“God!” I take in some deep breaths to try and calm down.

“Cade, will you help me upstairs?
  I need to put some dry clothes on.”

“I will.”

I pick her up in my arms and just hold her for a minute as she hugs me tight.  Lifting her hand to my face, I lean down and put my lips to hers in a lingering possessive kiss, not caring who sees us.  Taking a deep breath, I rest my forehead against hers, “I love you.  I’ve never felt as helpless in my life as I did knowing that bastard had got to you.  I never should have left.”

“I’m glad you weren’t here, he had a gun.”
 Rona starts to cry again.

Arriving at the bedroom, I can see the broken door and hesitate, “It’s okay Cade, let’s just get some clothes.”

With Rona in my arms, I don’t want to let her go, “What do you want to wear?”

“My jazz pants, in that drawer, some thick socks and one of your long sleeve t-shirts.”

Loving the fact she wants to wear a t-shirt of mine, I help her undress and there is a huge bruise from above her left hip going half way down her thigh.

“Jesus Rona...
. let me get you something for the pain.”

“Yes, please.”

After she takes the tablets, she takes hold of my hand, “Will you just hold me.”

“Oh love, always.”

Sitting next to Rona on the bed, I take her in to my arms and cuddle her close.  She feels so good.  “I love you, so much.”

“I love you too.”
  She pulls away slightly, “I think we better go back downstairs, Daniel wants to talk to me.”

“Y
ou ready?”  I pick her up again.

“Yes.
 I can walk, slowly, but I can still manage.”

“Humor me, I want you close.”
  I kiss her.

“Can we sit on one of the cn ojustify"hairs?
  I want to stay with you.”

“That’s fine, I was planning on that.”

Arriving back downstairs, I can see Anna, Justin and Daniel talking in the kitchen to a guy I haven’t seen before.  Ignoring them for now and the questions I can see on Anna’s face, I head to the lounge and sit down in the chair closest to the fire with Rona sitting in my lap.

“I’m so tired.”
 She looks at me sleepily.  After kissing me she puts her head down and within seconds is asleep cuddled against my chest.

A few minutes later, Anna comes over to sit opposite me.
  “Are you okay, dad?  You looked really shaken before.”

Looking at Anna, I can see her concern for me.
 “Now Rona’s in my arms I’m fine.”  After a pause, “I’ve never been in love before.... until now.”

“I can see that dad.
  I should be mad with you because of her age.  In fact if you had told me about you both, without the drama of today, I probably would be.  After today and seeing your reaction and hers when she saw you, I can’t be mad.  You deserve someone to love you as a man and not a father.  Rona does, I can clearly see that.”

“Oh, honey you have no idea how much that means to me.
 What about Beth?”

“She knows.
  I rang her and told her what happened here and what I suspect between you and Rona.  Justin rang Jake to tell him about Tom, so I think Jake probably got the third degree about you both.  He’s taken Elise to Beth’s house until everything’s cleaned up here.”

“That’s probably for the best.
  Did he say how Elise is?”

“She’s upset that Rona got hurt, but okay about Tom, at least that’s what Jake said.”

“Thanks Anna.” I run my fingers through Rona’s hair.

What a day this has turned out to be.
  It started out amazing and has ended in near disaster.

“Hello Cade.
  How is she doing?” Daniel asks coming over, taking a seat.

“She’s hurting, but I guess it could have been a lot worse if you hadn’t gotten here so quickly.”
  I place a kiss on Rona’s forehead.

“I was on my way to you to let you know Nick had been released, when the call came through.”

“Thanks Daniel, for looking after her until I could get here.  She means everything to me.”

“I know.
 I need to get a statement from her Cade, you know that.  The guy over there is with the DEA and he needs to talk to her as well.  I’m sorry, but can you wake her up?  The paramedics can check her out first though, but you know we have to talk to her tonight.”

“Okay, but she needs some privacy.”
  I start to caress Rona’s face to wake her up.

~~ Rona ~~

Waking up slowly in Cade’s arms, which are wrapped around me, while he caresses my face, is heaven.  I want to keep my eyes shut.

“Hi.”
 I open my eyes and look straight into Cade’s.

“Hi.
  I’m sorry to wake you but the paramedics want to take a look at you and then you need to talk to Daniel and another guy.

“
Daniel’s nice.”

“He’s not that nice though,” Cade scowls.

“Don’t worry; you’re the only one with my heart.”   I give Cade a kiss, but he pulls away, much to my disappointment.

“We have company love.”
  Pointing away from me.  I turn and see Anna, Justin, Daniel, two paramedics and a couple of Sheriff’s deputies, if I’m not mistaken and the same strange guy as before, all looking at us.

“Oops
!.... let’s get this show on the road,” I try to stand up off Cade, but I’m unable to manage.

“Let me carry you to the sofa.
 Alright, everyone to the kitchen apart from the paramedics.”  At this order from Cade, everyone heads out.

Once everyone moves away, one of the paramedics moves forward, “Hi, Rona right?
 I’m Lucas and my partner over there is Graham.”

“Hi, it’s mainly my left thigh and hip that’s painful.
 I don’t think anything is broken, just badly bruised.”  I try to explain there is no way I’m going to the hospital.

Cade helps me get my jazz pants down and the bruising on my hip and thigh is a huge and ugly mess, making me wince in pain.
  Cade pales.  “Cade, are you okay?”  He looks at me with tears in his eyes.  Reaching out, I take hold of his hand, holding tight through the whole examination.

Fully dressed once more, I hold onto Cade’s hand.
  “I’m okay.  Sore but okay.”  I pull him closer.  “Tell Daniel he’s up.”

“Hi Rona, I’m
going to record this if it’s alright.  It will also get it over quickly, because I’m not writing everything down.” Daniel puts a tape recorder down on top of the coffee table.

The other guy walks over and sits next to Daniel.
  He’s a tall guy with broad shoulders, flat stomach, strong thighs and looks out of place in a suit.  He looks more like a jean kind of guy and looking up he has a huge grin on his face.

Shit.
  Caught ogling.  I hope he doesn’t get the wrong idea!

“Rona.
  Is it okay to call you that?” Seeing my nod, “I’m Josh Mitchell and I work for the Drug Enforcement Agency.  Do you mind if I ask you some questions along with the Sheriff?”

Holding Cade’s hand, “No, that’s fine Mr Mitchell.”
  He looks too young to be an agent.  I wonder how old he is.

With a slight smile, “Mr Mitchell is my father; Josh will do fine.”

As I’m giving Daniel my statement, Cade’s grip on my hand keeps getting tighter.  A couple of times I have to squeeze his hand to loosen his hold.  After about thirty minutes Daniel asks his last question.

“Rona, you said Nick told you that the big boss was after him.
  Did he give you any names, places?”

“No, I’m sorry nothing.
 I really wish I could help you more, but I didn’t hear anything like that.  Although, he did say that he was selling drugs with Tom and a couple of other guys, but he didn’t mention any names or anything.”

“Okay, thank you for your time,” he says, smiling.

“What about Grace, Tom’s sister?”  I ask.

Josh frowns.
  “What about her?”

“Well, is she okay after Tom’s attack?”

“She’ll be fine and it wasn’t Tom, it was Nick who attacked her.”

“Wow.... he has been busy.”

“Thanks Rona, we may need to follow up on a few things with you, but that’s it for now; we’ll leave you in peace.”  Daniel starts to gather his things together.