Page 42 of A Mother’s Love

“Yes, it is,” she said, feeling overwhelmed for a moment.

She had been trapped in this dance with a thief ever since he had stolen the bag from her.

He had stripped her of her identity and all the personal things in the bag, stolen an object of great value, and was making her risk her life.

She had been there before. She had to keep reminding herself of what Dr. Thacker had said, that she wasn’t helpless, the thief wasn’t in control, the police would protect her, and she wasn’t a child anymore.

When Maduro threatened her on the phone he took her right back to those helpless days when there was no one to protect her from her mother.

She could feel all her old scars again, and the shock that another human being wanted to kill her.

And in her mother’s case, the person who was meant to protect her.

At least Tomás Maduro was a stranger. He owed her nothing.

Her mother had broken the sacred trust between mother and child.

Not in a million years would Halley have done anything to risk or hurt her own children.

It had been incomprehensible then, as it was now, that her own mother hated her enough to want her dead.

It was something she knew she would never understand.

It was the curse she had tried to break all her life.

It was the mystery she could not solve or explain.

And her father had let her mother do it, and then violated his own obligation to protect her as well.

They had left her alone in a cold world of terror, and then battered her themselves, each in their own way.

The conclusion she had inevitably come to then was if her own parents didn’t love her, who would?

There had been no answer to that for years, in all the groups she had gone to and the therapists she had seen, she hadn’t found the answers.

She had found them with Robert, who had loved her so purely and so simply, no matter what, unconditionally, with all her flaws and scars, just as her mother should have, and was unable to.

Halley had been innocent, without guilt.

And now she had to prove to herself that she was whole, and healed.

No one else could do it for her. She had to trust the police and the FBI to protect her from a man who didn’t even know her but wished her harm.

In a way, it was easier to survive that kind of hatred from a stranger than a parent.

But now was her chance to prove that they hadn’t damaged her forever.

They had disappeared into the past and were dead.

Halley was alive. The grown-up Halley. The woman she had become.

The mother of her twins. The woman Robert had loved so generously, and whom Bart might love one day.

She had to prove to herself and to them that this man who meant nothing to her and was a stranger had no power to hurt and control her by making her afraid.

She thought about it all through the meeting.

Bart was the first to arrive, and the special agent and the major came together.

They explained their plan to Halley and Bart, who listened intently.

The entire area would be teeming with undercover agents, in the alley where they would meet and in the other alleys by which he planned to escape.

There would be no way out for him. The flea market was a maze, full of pickpockets and petty thieves, and no matter how well he knew it, they knew it better.

It would be a minefield of FBI special agents and Major Leopold’s undercover agents.

Halley would be well protected the entire time.

“We will have you covered at all times,” Major Leopold told her.

“And we’ll be backing his people up,” Special Agent Dexter said confidently. He was a dedicated ally now.

“You want your bag back, and we want our man. We want to put him out of business.” And they only had two more days to wait. Her bag was just a detail now, even to her. She wanted to prove he had no power over her. She wanted freedom and justice. The bag was just a symbol.

—

Halley tried to maintain an aura of normalcy for the next few days.

She spoke to her daughters, but didn’t tell them what was happening.

It was as much an internal battle as an external one.

She had something to prove to herself, that she was not a child anymore, and she couldn’t be controlled by threats and abuse.

Bart was free in the daytime, while Ryan and Véronique were at work.

He spent all the spare time he had with Halley, then left her in the evening, to spend time with his son.

He hated to leave her, even then. And she edited her manuscript at night, since she couldn’t sleep anyway.

She was almost finished, and the book was smooth as silk.

She had worked on all the rough parts. Her editor had done a good job, editing her and asking her the right questions, to make the novel tighter and the flow more natural and true to life.

The police, the FBI, Bart, and Halley were all waiting for something to happen, but they had to wait until Saturday.

There was no going any faster. Only a few of the stalls were open on Thursdays.

Business picked up slightly on Friday, and on Saturday, whatever the weather, the flea market was teeming with activity.

It was one of two days that people went there to shop or browse, buy or sell, and the day that would provide the most cover for the thief to make good his escape, and he didn’t doubt for a minute that he would get the money and get away.

Bart kept Halley company leading up to Saturday.

They went for walks, and sat in her house talking quietly about the plan and other things.

Sometimes they read, or sat in comfortable silence.

Memories kept flashing into Halley’s mind, good ones, of when Valerie and Olivia were small, and her happy days with them.

They went for walks in less populated areas.

Her stride almost matched his but not quite.

He was very tall with long legs. He had a sense that she was fighting some kind of personal battle.

The thief had somehow invaded her space, mentally and physically, and he had taken away more than her passport.

He had taken her freedom and self-confidence, her sense of balance.

Half the time now, she felt like a compass gone awry.

She knew that the only way out of the darkness was through it. She was inching her way along.

Bart was impressed by how solid she seemed.

He knew that she was struggling, worried about the confrontation with the thief, but he couldn’t see the inner turmoil, the things she felt she had to conquer herself, that last vestige of her broken childhood.

Humpty Dumpty had been put back together, but she wanted to be sure the glue would stick.

It was the day before she was to go to the flea market. Bart could sense how tense she was and nothing seemed to relieve it.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, as they sat down to the lunch of pasta and salad she had made.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. But he wasn’t convinced. She was wrestling with her demons, trying to still their voices.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” He wanted to know, but there wasn’t. This was her war now, but she was grateful for his presence and support.

“You’re already doing it, by being here.

” It didn’t seem like enough to him. It seemed so little.

He spent so much time with her, and he was going back to Ryan and Véro that night.

Being with Halley was something he wanted to do for her, to help give her strength to face the confrontation with the thief.

She was dreading it, and almost sorry she had agreed to it, instead of just letting it go.

But walking away from an object of such great value, and that she loved, seemed like a shocking waste to her.

The bag was the symbol of her battles with herself, to recover from the past and move forward to freedom and lead a good life.

She couldn’t let another abuser win and taint her future, and mark her forever as a victim.

It was a war between the two of them, a fight between good and evil.

Halley and Bart were sitting on the couch on Friday afternoon, lost in their own thoughts, when Bart moved closer to her and put an arm around her. He could sense that she was thinking about Saturday. It was heavy on her mind.

“By this time tomorrow, it’ll all be over. You’ll have your bag, and he’ll be in jail,” Bart reassured her.

“Do you suppose I’m just doing this for revenge because he took it?” That troubled her.

“You’re doing it because it’s right, and if you don’t stop him, he’ll do it to someone else.

” She nodded agreement. Bart had been reading old copies of The Wall Street Journal , to keep abreast of what he was missing while he was away.

He felt peaceful sitting beside her, and was trying to share his sense of peace with her.

And this time when he kissed her, he seemed more passionate than before.

He wanted to hold her in his arms and hide her, so nothing could harm her.

They were breathless when they stopped kissing, and Bart didn’t want to stop.

He wanted more. They’d been spending so much time together that his desire for her was becoming overwhelming, and he knew she had other things on her mind.

All she had to do was get tomorrow over with, and start living her life again.

Bart felt young when he was with her, and stronger than he had in years.

He wanted to use his strength to protect her and keep her safe.

He wished he could go in her place, but the police wouldn’t let him.

He didn’t like their plan. In effect, they were using her as bait, which upset Bart.

It seemed way too dangerous, but Halley had agreed, and Bart knew he couldn’t stop her.

At least they’d have a nice weekend afterward, with all of it behind her.

And hopefully, Tomás Maduro would be in jail.

They kept kissing as they lay on the couch together, and the kisses only fueled their desire for each other, it didn’t quench their thirst. They were alone in the house.

The housekeeper had left. They gently took off each other’s clothes, and their bodies found each other.

They couldn’t stop and didn’t want to. There was no reason to.

They abandoned themselves to the passion they had felt almost since they met.

Everything he had learned about her told him that his feelings for her were right.

They tiptoed upstairs naked in the empty house, laughing like children, and made love in her bed.

They were lying on her bed afterward, as he admired the long, graceful lines of her body, and he was overcome with desire for her again, and didn’t try to stop himself.

He hadn’t done that in years, and he was smiling when they stopped.

“You make me young again,” he said to her.

“You are young,” she said, laughing, and so was she. They still had so much life to live, so many things to do that they wanted to do together.

He texted Ryan that he wouldn’t be home for dinner, and called him later and explained that he wouldn’t be home that night, and Ryan laughed.

“The tables are turning, now you’re calling me, Dad, to say you’re staying out for the night. What am I supposed to say to that?” They both thought it was funny, and Bart was laughing too.

“You’re supposed to say that I’m a lucky guy. I just didn’t want you to worry.”

“Thanks, Dad. Enjoy it, you deserve it.”

“Was he shocked?” Halley asked him after the call, looking slightly worried.

“No, he was happy for me. So am I.”

“Yeah, me too,” she giggled.

He wanted to spend the night with her before she had to face her ordeal on Saturday. Their timing had been perfect. The phone didn’t ring that night.

It was a perfect first night. They had dinner in the kitchen together, and then went upstairs and made love again.

He could feel her tense whenever she thought about the next day, but everything was different now.

She wasn’t alone. She felt strong and brave, and they had each other.

The past week had proven that. It had put both of them to the test, and they were still there, closer than ever.

She knew that Bart wouldn’t let her down, and he knew she was a good woman, the best woman he had ever known, and he wanted to explore the future with her.

The only thing standing between them now was the meeting at the flea market, and the risk to Halley.

Major Leopold said he would keep her safe from harm.

And Bart prayed that he could live up to that promise.