Part 4

Houston watched Trent eat the peanut butter and banana sandwich. She couldn't help, but smile at the way to boy ate with abandon. She knew where he got that and it made her heart beat fast with joy.

"Want a bite?" He held up the last bit.

Houston shook her head as she scrunched up her face and held up her beer. "No thanks, the three of those don't go together."

"I wouldn't know that. I'm not old enough to drink yet." Trent said as he shoved the last bite into his mouth.

"You're right, but you are just the right age for a glass of milk." The blonde woman stood up and reached into the cupboard for a glass.

"Hoothan?" Trent looked down at the table as he worked the sandwhich around in his mouth. "Can I ask you a question?"

As she poured the milk Houston responded. "Yes?" She put the milk away and grinned, when she sat the liquid filled glass in front of the young man.

Trent took a drink and waited a few seconds before looking Houston straight in the eyes. "Will my Mom and sister and me be okay?"

"Of course you will. Why do you ask?" Houston scooted her chair closer to Trent and rested a hand on his shoulder. "You guys will be fine."

"I just want to make sure. You see, my Grandfather is not the nicest man." He wiped the tear off his cheek that fell as he listened to Houston. "But you saw that, when he tried to come into the apartment you had us hid at."

"I promise that I won't let your Grandfather get that close to you, or your Mom and sister ever again." Houston wrapped her arm around Trent's slumped shoulders and gave him a hug. "You are a pretty cool kid you know that? But do me a favor will ya?"

"Sure!" Trent said without waiting.

"Let us grown-ups, worry about your Grandfather. You just continue to have fun and be a kid." Houston placed a kiss on the top of the boy's head. "Now I wonder where your sister and Mom are?"

"Oh, you know how it is. They are girls and they take forever when showering." Trent leaned back and smiled. "They have to smell all pretty and primp their hair."

Houston couldn't help but giggle at that statement from Trent and as soon as she started Trent joined in with his own small laugh.

******************************

Tara stood on front of her Mom as she dried her hair. She always loved this time of day, when she had her Mother's attention all to herself. "Mom, I love you."

"I love you too Baby." Cash smiled as she helped dry off the tangled mess of hair.

After a few more minutes of silence, Tara looked up into her Mother's loving eyes. "We're safe from Grandpa aren't we?"

"Yes. Houston, will keep us safe." Cash replied. "Do you feel safe?"

Tara thought for a minute. "I do, but he scares me." She sighed.

Cash knelt down, so she was face to face with the small girl. "He scares me too, but you have to trust me about that. I won't let anything happen to you, or your brother. You two are my highest priority."

"I know, but he found us at the apartment and what's stopping him from coming here?" Tara grabbed her nightgown and slipped it on.

Cash grabbed the brush and started to slowly run it through her daughter's hair. "I have no clue how he found us, but where we're at now, is the safest place on earth. No one can come up to the house without going through the security gates and with the security system Houston has, not even a bug could enter the house without setting off all sorts of alarms."

"That's good. You know how much I hate bugs!" Tara looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. "Thanks Mom for helping."

"Your welcome dear. Now how about we go down stairs and get you a snack before bedtime?" Cash followed the girl out of the bathroom and down the stairs into the kitchen. All the while, she hoped what she'd told her daughter was true, that her Father wouldn't find them here, or even get to them and they could go on with their lives. "But returning to living my life after he is in jail..." She mumbled to herself as both fear and joy ran rampantly through her mind, she trotted down the stairs.

******************************

Houston moved to the living room after the kids were done eating and Cash led them up the stairs for bed. She leaned her head against the back of the couch and watched out the window at the sudden rain shower that started several minutes ago. The night lit up from a streak of lightning that shot across the sky. It gave off the aura of an old horror show, where she would be waiting for the killer to come out from the corner.

The only other sound was the crackling of the fire that cast an orange glow over the tan furniture in the living room. Houston turned her head to watch the flames shoot up and around the log that sat in the middle. This was one of her favorite times of the day, black as pitch outside and the only sources of light and comfort were the burning flames that she'd built. It was safe and controlled by only her and if she wanted more heat, she just had to add another log. If she decided that it was too quiet and the snapping of the fire wasn't enough noise for her, she would turn on the radio just high enough to lull her into a doze.

Cash began to quietly make her way back down the stairs after she had put the children to bed. They were both a little scared about sleeping in a different house with a storm going on outside. So being the good Mom that she is, she said that they could stay in the same room for the night. After reading a story and staying with them until she was sure they were asleep, she walked out and closed the door. Not hearing any noises, she made her way down the stairs, but stopped at the sight of Houston with her eyes closed and the shadows from the flames dancing across her body.

Her eyes moved down her neck to her chest. Not wanting to linger with those kind of thoughts just yet, she looked down to the strong fingers that were folded on the small, sleeping woman's lap. There was always something about Houston's fingers that drove her to distraction. The way they moved as she talked, or the way that they were strong when she was working on something around the house. Or the way they made her body come alive with the touch of a single finger tip.

Not ready to go to bed, she made her way down the rest of the steps and sat in the chair watching the fire. Before she knew it she was lulled to sleep too.

******************************

Houston rolled her head and squinted her eyes open to see where the bright light was coming from. "Guess sleeping in front of a big picture window is not a good thing to wake up too." She scooted up and as she stretched her arms over her head, she noticed Cash sleeping in the chair; her legs straight out in front with one foot over the other and her arms crossed over her chest.

Her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders and covered up most of her face. Houston leaned over and rested her elbows on her bent knees and just watched the woman breathe. She always found that just the sound of the beautiful woman, each time she took in air and let it out slowly, would hit her in the heart.

Houston heard an upstairs door opening, so she quickly stood up and headed for the kitchen. She figured that it was Tara, since it seemed that Trent liked to sleep in as late as he could. As soon as she saw the still waking girl, she smiled and sat down a cup of orange juice for her. "Good morning." Houston said while pouring some for herself

"Morning Houston." Tara replied with a small yawn. "What are we going to do today?"

"Well I need to run into the office and the stop and do some other things." Houston sat down next to Tara and drank her own juice. "Do you want anything specific for dinner tonight?"

"Sushi." Tara answered.

The older woman blinked her eyes several times. "Huh?"

Tara looked over at the stunned woman. "You know, sushi. It's really good and it's been a while, since I've had any and I would really like some."

"Um, how do you cook sushi?" Houston stammered. Then waved her hands in front of herself. "I don't mean cook. I meant, prepare it? You know, put it together?"

"You order it from some place dowtown. I'll get you the number and you can let them worry about how it all goes together." Cash said from the hallway with a grin. "I take it, you still don't like fish of any kind?"

"True, like I always said, 'if it lives in the water, let it stay in the water.'" Houston stated and stood up to get Cash something to drink. "So what about you? What do you want?"

"I don't care. If Tara wants sushi, that's fine with me and it won't matter with Trent. He'll eat whatever is put in front of his face." Cash leaned over and placed a kiss on her daughter's head. "Morning Honey."

"Morning Mom." Tara looked up at Cash with love in her eyes.

"Well, I guess, I'd better get ready to head out. I would suggest that you all just stayed in today." Houston placed a glass down where Cash was sitting. "Call my cell phone if you find we need anything else."

"Where are you going?" Cash asked as she sipped her drink.

Houston stopped in the hallway and turned back around. "Just need to go to the office and then the court house. I have to meet with the DA and fill him in on, what happened with your Father."

"Okay," Cash nodded. "Be careful out there. I have no clue what he has up his sleeve for next."

"No worries. I can handle anything he tosses at me." Houston replied before making her way down the hall and up the stairs.

****************************

"Morning Houston, how are things today?" DA Buckner asked from behind his desk.

"Things are okay." Houston sat down. "A lot better than they were a few days ago."

"Yes, I heard about that and you'll be glad to know that I've had charges brought up against Mr. Dunn. Although, you do need to know, that he got out on bail last night."

"I figured, he wouldn't be in long. I just hope that he stays away and the trial date gets here fast." Houston leaned her elbow on the chair's arm and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Then you'll be glad to hear that the date has been moved to next Monday, at nine in the morning." Buckner stated as he looked on his desk for some papers. "I have some things here that Ms. Dunn needs to look over and sign. Also, I'll need you to bring her in here around seven that morning, so I can talk with her."

"Okay I can do that." The small blonde replied. "What do you think his chances of getting convicted are?"

"With her testimony and other evidence we gathered, we have a really good shot, but no one knows what the total sentence, or out come will be with these kinds of cases." Buckner slipped off his glasses and looked Houston straight in the eyes. "But I'll put my career on the line and say, that he'll be going to jail for a very very long time."

"That's great!" Houston stood up and reached for the papers the DA held up. "See you Monday."

******************************

Joseph Dunn, paced around his attorney's office with a sour look on his face. "I cannot believe this. All my life I have built up my company and suddenly I have the IRS and FBI and who knows what other agencies coming in and telling me, I'm doing something illegal." He loosened his tie. "They don't seem to understand that this is my company, NOT THEIRS and they need to keep their fat asses OUT of my business."

"Well Joseph, stealing from your employees is illegal and considered a felony." The attorney sat back in his black leather chair and puffed on his cigar. "I still cannot believe, you would even try something like that and think you could get away with it."

"I didn't hear you complaining about it, when you got your share of it." Joseph turned to glare at the man. "Or was that big ass grin you had on your face just a ruse of some sort."

Mario Lopez nodded his head. "No, it wasn't a ruse. You just never told me the whole truth on where, you'd received the money from."

"Like it mattered to you. As long as it was a large amount, you didn't give a rat's ass, where it came from." Dunn spat out. "No! I suggest you figure a way out of this mess by Monday, or I swear you'll go down with me."

"Don't threaten me Dunn! I have things on you, that would make this case look like a walk in the park." Lopez stood up and stormed toward his client. "I've done nothing, but watch your back for years."

"A lot of good it's done me, considering that next week we go to trial." Joseph poked the smaller, Mexican man in the chest. "Now do, what you are getting paid for and find a way out of this!"

"I've been trying, but nothing I do to postpone this, or try to push it under the rug is working." Lopez stated as he grabbed the man's hand to stop him. "Then you go and get a trespassing, with assault charges against you! How do you think that looks?"

"It looks, like I am trying to get my daughter away from heathens." Joseph said. "I could use that, as a way to show that she is not in her right mind. That whatever she heard was false and put into her head by those bitches!"

"Wrong. She wasn't even around them, when she heard it. So try again." Mario moved to pour himself a drink. "Just stay out of trouble and maybe, I can come up with something this weekend. Otherwise, make sure you are prepared for Monday."

Joseph stormed to the door and pulled it open. "Just remember, if I go down, you're coming with me." He slammed the door behind him.

******************************

Carol sat behind her desk and looked up from what she was doing when the door opened. "Well hello there."

"Hi. What'cha doing?" Houston waved, as she went to sit down on the corner of the other woman's desk.

Carol held up some papers. "Oh you know, paper work, paper work and more paper work."

Houston nodded and laughed. "It is never ending." She looked over to the empty desk and raised an eyebrow. "Where is your partner in crime?"

"She had to go get something notarized for court on Monday and talk with the DA about the charges being brought against Dunn."

"Yeah, I heard about that. I just left from there. I guess, I just missed Karen." Houston said casually.

Carol looked Houston over and she knew by the way she was acting, that the blonde needed to talk about something. Knowing she would have to take the first step to get her usually quiet and private friend to start talking, she asked. "So what's on your mind?"

"Nothing." Houston stated as she picked up a pen and twirled it around in her fingers.

"You never were a good liar." Carol snatched the pen and stood up. "So spill it."

"Would you think I was totally insane if I tried to get back together with Cash?" Houston finally said after a few seconds of looking at her shoes.

"Honestly, I would think you were insane if you didn't try." Carol walked around her desk to stand in front of Houston. She placed her hands on the woman's shoulders. "You've never loved anyone the way you do her. Sure, she ripped your heart out and didn't give you a chance to help her, when her Father started his shit, but maybe now she's strong enough to believe in what you two had together."

"I don't know. I'm scared that he will some how get to her and she will run back and I'll be thrown into limbo again." She reached up and held on to one of Carol's hands. "I don't think I can do that again. Once it nearly killed me."

Houston's mind drifted as she was assailed by the memories of her drunken nights, with faceless women she didn't know. The fights that she'd started, using them to get her anger out, when the sex wasn't working. She cringed at the memories of the pain; the cuts and bruises that she used to wake up with, or the two broken bones she'd gotten, when she missed the person she wanted to punch and hit a wall instead. Plus, the long nights she'd spent in jail for public intoxication and worse than that, the almost total alienation of her friends and family.

"Oh honey." Carol wrapped her arms around the teary eyed woman. "Everything will be okay. Just take your time and go slow."

"I know." Houston wiped her face with her hand as she came back to the present. She pulled back from her friend. "She found that box I had with all the torn up pictures."

"She did?" Carol rubbed up and down Houston's arms. "What did you do?"

"We talked about them a little." Houston took in a deep breath and I told her that I would be there for her."

"How did she react?"

"Guilty and ashamed by her actions." The short blonde haired woman sighed. "In a way it felt kind of good, seeing her that way." She looked at her friend. "I should feel bad about that, but I don't."

Carol brushed several strands of hair behind Houston's ear. "You have a right to feel the way you do. Especially with the history you two have and what all happened."

"Yeah I know, but I feel really bad for her and what she's had to live with all her life." Houston sighed again and stood up. She wrapped her arms around her friend and gave her a hug. "Thanks for the small chat, but I should get back home and check on them."

"Okay. And remember that Karen and I, are always here for you." Carol returned the hug and squeezed Houston tight. "We love you."

"I love you guys too. Why don't you two, stop over for dinner. I'll order out for something." Houston said as she walked to the door. "Plus, if something is going to happen, which I don't think will. It should go down this weekend. I know her Father is not going to just go to court, without trying one last time to get to Cash."

"Okay, we'll be at your house around six?" Carol stepped back around her desk and sat down. "See you later."

"Bye." Houston waved.

******************************

Cash and the children sat around and watched some TV, but after a while the tall brunette was getting bored, so she decided that she would go paint. Now she stood in front of a blank canvas without a clue as to what to paint.

"Okay, I need an idea. What is the first thing that comes into my head?" Cash closed her eyes and the first image that popped into her mind was Houston's tattoo. "No, I don't think I can do that." Then she remembered the way Houston's hands rested on her lap as she slept last night. "That will work."

Within minutes, two hands suddenly appeared on the canvas. As the time ticked by, the hands being painted were entwined with each other along with a red rose. Before she knew it the painting was done and Cash stepped back. She smiled to herself. "Pretty good, if I do say so myself."

"I'd have to agree." Houston said from behind her. "I always knew you had talent."

"Oh stop." Cash's face turned a slight shade of pink.

Houston stepped into the room and really got a close up look at the painting. She raised an eyebrow and then looked down at her own hands. "Damn, you should think about doing this for a living."

"No, it's just a hobby. Something I want to do just for me and no one else." Cash stated as she wiped some paint from her hands.

Houston nodded. "Good."

The silence filled the room as the two women stood and looked over the still wet painting. Cash wondered what the small woman was thinking. She finally decided that the only way to find out was to ask. "Give you a penny for your thoughts."

Houston held out her hand. "Give me a penny first."

Cash laughed and reached into her pocket. Only finding a quarter, she laid it on the other woman's palm. "Guess you owe me twenty-four, more thoughts." She gasped when she felt the tips of her fingers tingle from the shock she'd received from the small touch of Houston's skin.

"I could just say inflation has made the price jump." Houston smiled.

Cash rubbed her hands together to get her mind off the sensation she got from Houston. "Can't do that. The deal is struck. So spill it."

"Well I've been thinking about out talk we had last night and it's really scared me." Houston turned to look at Cash. "I said, I would be there for you and I will, but I have to be perfectly sure that you won't run again." She heard Tara and Trent laugh at something they were watching. "Those two in there have stolen my heart again and I don't want to get in any deeper, unless you are absolutely sure that you can be your own person."

Cash set down the towel, she had in her hands and stepped closer to Houston. She was afraid of what she was about to do, but given that the woman before her has always held her heart and needed the reassurance, she couldn't refuse. She had to prove that she was strong enough to be, the woman she's always wanted to be. Not just for herself, or her children, but for the love Houston still had for her. She leaned down and placed a tender kiss against the trembling lips of the slightly shaking smaller woman. She moved not a hairs breath away from her and said, "You said, you believed in me last night. Please don't loose that now."

Houston opened her eyes to see strength in the blue eyes before her. "I'll try."

"That's all I can ask for." Cash replied and stepped away. "I promise you, with every ounce of my being. You won't regret giving me a second chance." With that said, Cash moved around Houston and left the room.

Houston stood there in the silence and let a tear run down her cheek. "I hope you're right." She mumbled.

******************************

Continued in part five..

Thanks to everyone who sent me feedback for part one. I hope you all continue to like the story and the character development.

2005 © All Rights Reserved T. Stratton


Feedback is good. Did you like it or hate it?? Come on, let me know.

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© 2005 All Rights Reserved T Stratton