Many Blessings

Chapter Twenty-Nine

A deputy fished the keys to the dead man’s car from his pockets and moved the vehicle so they could clear the way for the ambulance to get through. The first three cruisers to respond had simply plowed through the palmetto bushes and thin saplings next to the driveway to get around the vehicles.

Another deputy accompanied Mandaline and Sachi to the hospital in the ambulance. Ellis and Brad stayed behind and answered round after round of questions until the detective in charge was satisfied. Ellis’ gun was taken into evidence, as was Sachi’s shotgun.

Ellis successfully stifled a snicker. They better hope they give it back soon or she’ll be livid.

The good thing was the bullet had only been a .22 and luckily gone through Sachi’s right shoulder without hitting any bones or a lung. Two hours after Sachi was admitted, Mandaline had completely sobered up and was allowed to rejoin her friend at her bedside after they’d both been questioned again by deputies.

With a good dose of painkillers in her, Sachi’s eyelids drooped as she looked up at Mandaline. “You okay, boss?”

She choked back a sob and grabbed Sachi’s good hand. “You damn idiot! What the hell did you think you were doing trying to draw him away from me? And throwing yourself in front of me?”

Sachi smiled. “Job security. You can’t ever fire me now. Not only do you luuubs me, you’d feel too damn guilty.”

Mandaline let out something between a sob and a laugh as she laid her head on the bed and laughed until she cried, then laughed some more.

“Hey, boss. Don’t drown us,” Sachi mumbled.

Mandaline sat up and blew her nose. “You okay?”

“No, I’m not okay. How the fuck am I supposed to shoot skeet with a bum shoulder? Fucker. Couldn’t have shot me in the ass or the leg. Nooo. Had to shoot me in the shoulder.”

She knew what Sachi was trying to do. Mandaline realized she had to short-circuit her now, or her friend would struggle later trying to keep it buried.

“Sachi. He could have shot you in the head or the spine.”

She fell silent. “Yeah,” she softly said. “That would have sucked.”

She grabbed Sachi’s good hand again. “Let. It. Out.”

She looked into Mandaline’s eyes and took a deep breath. She started to speak, stopped, then tried again. “He’s really dead?” she softly asked.

She nodded. “Really.”

“Dead-dead?”

“Dead-dead. I heard them talking about needing the Medical Examiner to be called. Everyone’s said he’s dead. Dead-dead. Really dead.”

Sachi took another deep, shuddering breath. In barely a whisper, she asked, “Can you please call my father for me?” Tears welled up in her eyes.

Unable to hold back her own tears, she nodded, fumbling the phone from her purse. She had to keep blinking back tears as she punched in the number Sachi gave her, then Mandaline held it up to her ear for her.

Sachi’s eyes met hers. From where Mandaline sat, she could hear a man answer the line.

“Daddy?” Sachi sounded like a lost little girl. She closed her eyes and began sobbing. “Daddy, it’s Miki. I need you. Please. He found me… He…he found me…”

When Sachi couldn’t talk anymore, Mandaline took the phone out to the hallway and talked to Michael Bloomfeld.

“Is she really okay?” he asked, sounding shaken to his core. “She’s not bullshitting me, is she? Trying to downplay it?”

“She’s really okay, sir. They might discharge her tomorrow.”

“I…I’m on the computer now. I can get a direct flight from Spokane to Tampa.”

She dug a pen and notepad out of her purse. “Give me the info. I’ll either meet you myself or have someone meet you.”

They got it arranged. She got his cell phone number, and she gave him not only her cell number in case he couldn’t retrieve it from his phone, but Ellis and Brad’s, too. When she got off the phone, she returned to Sachi’s bedside.

She was asleep.

Exhausted, she collapsed into the recliner chair next to her bedside, put her feet up, and turned on the TV.

It was almost four in the morning when Brad and Ellis appeared in the doorway, where the deputy on guard as a precaution stepped aside to let them in when Mandaline nodded at him that it was okay to let them in. Cried out, Mandaline let out a relieved sigh at the sight of them.

They moved across the room as one. She sat up, and they both dropped to their knees in front of her, their arms around her as she cradled their heads against her. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

“Are you okay?” Ellis asked.

“I’m fine. Are you both okay?”

“He’s a little banged up from the stairs,” Ellis said, “but other than that he’s fine.”

Something felt off with Brad. She stroked the back of his head. Stupid! she chastised herself. His PTSD.

When Brad did speak, he sounded like the “other” Brad, the “less there” one. “Is Sachi mad I took her car?” he asked.

She somehow managed to suppress her laugh. “No, sweetie. She’s not mad at all. I’m sure when our Queen of Snark wakes up, she’s going to want to give you a hug and a kiss.”

He let out a deep breath. “Okay.”

Ellis looked up at her, locking gazes. He pointedly looked at Brad, then back to her, and gave a subtle shake of his head.

She understood. He’s not doing well.

She released Ellis and wrapped both arms around Brad, drawing his head into her lap. He curled his body around her legs as Ellis draped an arm around his shoulders.

She kept her face buried in Brad’s hair. “You did good,” she told him. “You did really good, sweetie.”

He shivered. “Julie told me,” he mumbled. “She came to me at the store. Told me. Oh. Ellis?”

He cocked his head. “Yeah, buddy?”

“I dropped my phone and broke it. I need a new one. I’m sorry.”

Mandaline pressed her lips together to force the laugh not to break through. She could tell Ellis struggled to win the same war.

“It’s all right, buddy,” he finally told him. “When you’re feeling better, we’ll go get you a new one.”

“By the way,” Mandaline said. “Sachi’s father is flying in to Tampa tomorrow. I told him someone would meet him.”

Ellis nodded. “I’ll go.”

“I’ll go,” Brad mumbled.

“You can’t drive,” Mandaline and Ellis admonished together before laughing.

Brad lifted his head up. “I’m not supposed to drive. I can drive.” He lowered his head again.

She stroked his hair. “Yes, sweetie, we know you can drive. I think I need you to stay behind with Sachi. She’ll want to be downstairs working and I need someone who can keep her planted on the couch.”

He was quiet for a moment. “Oh. Okay.”

She kissed the top of his head again. “You all right?”

He slowly shook his head.

Ellis looked conflicted. “Do you want me to call Dr. Solomon at the VA and see if I can get you an emergency appointment?” He looked up at Mandaline. Psychiatrist, he silently mouthed.

She nodded.

“No,” Brad softly said. “I can get through it.” He took a ragged breath before lifting his head again. His voice changed. Mandaline felt the shift back to “more there” Brad. “I’ll be okay.” His brown eyes met Mandaline’s. “I won’t shut either of you out. I promise.” He laced his fingers through hers and kissed her hand. “Julie had faith in me. She knew I could do it. If she could have faith in me, I can have faith in myself.”

She sensed Ellis wanted to say something. “This is the moment of truth,” she told him. “Say what’s on your mind.”

He pursed his lips before finally speaking. “Julie came to me twice the past few days. In dreams. She told me to keep my .38 close and showed me a shotgun. I didn’t know what it was about. When Sachi took me out to shoot skeet, I realized it was her gun in my dreams.” He shook his head. “Want to know how I came to be there at the right time?”

“How?”

He glanced over at the bed where Sachi was sleeping as he related how he’d put the information together and realized Sachi was in danger.

A nurse knocked on the doorway. “I need to get her vitals.”

From the bed, Sachi mumbled, “Tell her to fuck off. I’m sleeping.”

The three of them burst into laughter. “She’s baaack,” they said.

The deputy assured them he or another deputy would stand guard until they returned in a few hours.

Ellis drove them back to the shop. “Now explain to me, exactly, why you and Sachi were butt naked, please?”

She felt her face heat. “I wanted to dance skyclad in the rain,” she mumbled. “Hey, you told me if I wasn’t hurting anyone, you didn’t care what I did.”

He looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh. “That’s right. I did. And I meant it. But…why?”

She sighed. “It’s fun. And it’s not like I can exactly do it behind the shop.”

“Well, you could,” Brad spoke up from the backseat, “but I suspect you’d get arrested eventually.”

“Exactly.” She looked at Ellis again. “Any more questions?”

He smiled. “So, you always dance outside naked in the rain?”

“Not always. Just when opportunity presents itself. Needless to say, Sachi and I didn’t think we had an audience.”

He glanced at her, a tired smile lighting his face. “Babe, feel free to run around naked at the house anytime you like. You don’t need to wait for it to start raining.”

Back at the shop, Mandaline needed to climb into the shower. When she fell into bed with the men, she thought she’d fall asleep, but instead she rolled on top of Brad and kissed him, hard and deep.

Next to them, Ellis moved close, draping an arm over her back and kissing her shoulder. She lifted her head to kiss him, too.

She wanted them both, right then, to end the evening on a good note.

To prove to her heart they were all alive and well and had made it through.

She reached over to the bedside table drawer and grabbed condoms and lube. She handed one and the lube to Ellis and ripped the other one open to roll down Brad’s now-hard shaft.

As she settled down on him, his cock easily sliding deep inside her pussy, a peace washed through her.

She looked down into his eyes. “I love you,” she whispered.

He smiled up at her. “Love you, too.”

She held still for Ellis, tipping her head back to meet his gaze. “I love you,” she whispered.

He smiled, kissing her. “Love you, too, babe.”

A satisfied sigh escaped her as he slowly and carefully worked his cock inside her ass, the familiar pinch as he stretched her tight rim with his shaft soon turning into delicious pleasure that made her clit throb.

She draped herself over Brad’s chest. “Fuck me, boys,” she said. “Please.”

Together, the men set a slow, steady rhythm her body responded to with no additional help needed. She closed her eyes and pictured their energies swirling around her, joining with hers, forming an unbreakable bond between their souls.

Never in her life had she ever dreamed she’d go through what she’d been through in the past couple of weeks, but she knew with these two men by her side, as well as her friends, she could make it through anything.

I can do this. It will be okay.

She understood.

As she felt her release build, she pictured her fear as a balloon on a string. And when her climax started, bubbling from her clit and spreading throughout her body, in her mind she snipped that string with a pair of scissors and watched the balloon soar free.

She thought she heard Julie’s voice whisper, “Namaste, sister.”

Mandaline let out a cry as another, more powerful orgasm hit her, slamming her back into her body. “Now!” she gasped.

Both men sped up, catching up and coming with groans of their own. Her eyes dropped closed as a peace the likes of which she’d never felt before settled over her.

“Namaste, sister,” she whispered.

They didn’t get more than a brief nap before daylight overtook them. With a little sleep under her belt, Mandaline shooed Ellis to work instead of going to the airport with her to pick up Sachi’s father later that afternoon. Paige ran her back to the house, which had been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape, to pick up the Element.

She stared at the house for a few minutes in the daylight.

Her house.

Her home.

With her men.

Yes, something horrible had just happened there, but they’d come through it on the other side. And in some ways, far better off than before. Sachi, once healed from her physical and emotional wounds, wouldn’t have to live her life looking over her shoulder.

She nodded. Matt and Sami would also have a beautiful house when they finished their restorations. Despite the bad history, as Julie had said, things couldn’t be bad.

And Mandaline refused to give negative energies any power over her any longer.

Her own soul felt lighter for having finally released her fear—and in the process Julie’s spirit.

She drove back to the shop where Brad helped her load all of Sachi’s things. There wouldn’t be any reason Sachi and her dad couldn’t go back to her house now. She’d drive him out to the house to pick up Sachi’s car after they got back from Tampa.

She stopped by the hospital before heading to Tampa to check on her. The deputy was still on duty at her door. She was sitting up in bed, a frown on her face, the remote control in her good hand, and a half-eaten plate of something Mandaline assumed was supposed to be lunch on the tray in front of her.

“Do you believe this shit?” Sachi said. “No fucking decent cable channels. And look at this slop!”

Mandaline tilted her head. “I see you’re feeling better.”

“Only if you’re here to spring me.”

“Not yet. I’m going to go get your dad. You’ll be ready for discharge by then.”

A frown flitted across Sachi’s features before she schooled her expression again. She wouldn’t meet Mandaline’s gaze. “I feel bad I called him,” she softly said. “I shouldn’t have. I’ll be okay. Just a flesh wound.”

“Sachi!” she snapped, harsher than she meant, but it got her attention. “Fucking cry it out already, okay? If I can cry, so can you!”

She closed her eyes for a moment, but the tears began to spill from under her lids. “I thought we were both going to die,” she whispered. “I couldn’t have lived with myself if he’d hurt you when he was after me.”

Mandaline sat on the edge of the bed and held her as best she could with Sachi’s right arm in a sling. “It’s okay,” she said. “Let it out. It’s my turn to be the sponge.”

That got a short laugh out of Sachi.

“Listen. Mandatory minimum of one week paid vacation for you, lady. And when I bring your dad back here, we’re taking you to your house. I think we all know who was behind the break-in. You two need some alone time. You don’t come into the shop unless it’s you bringing your dad in to meet everyone. Got it?”

Sachi tearfully nodded as she wiped at her eyes. “Got it, chief. Thank you.”

“No problem.” She kissed the top of her head. “And that’s sister to you.”

Sachi let out another barking laugh. “Sister.” She hugged Mandaline even more tightly. “I like the sound of that, sister. I like it a lot.” She looked up at Mandaline. “You’re my sister, too, even if I can’t get you to shoot skeet.”

Sachi had gotten her blue eyes from her father. Instead of going to the cell phone lot to wait for him, Mandaline opted to park and go inside to the main terminal and wait by the airside shuttles. When his plane landed, he called her and she told him where she was waiting.

He looked worried and exhausted as he hurried over to her after craning his neck looking for her. Barely taller than Mandaline, his skin was tan from many hours spent outside, his short grey hair peeking out from under a Cessna baseball cap. “Mandaline?”

She hugged him. “Hi, Mr. Bloomfeld, it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Please, call me Michael. Miki. How is she?”

“She’s about ready to take the hospital apart piece by piece.”

He froze before he burst out in tearful laughter. Putting down his backpack, he pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose. “That’s my Miki.”

On the way back to Brooksville, she related what happened to him from the start. He slumped against the door and stared out the windshield as he listened. “You must think I’m a horrible father for letting her leave home the way I did.”

“No! Not at all. Sachi…Miki is a very independent woman. I don’t see how you could have made her stay.”

“I’ve thought about moving down here the past few years. It gets so damn cold out there and I’m not getting any younger. And there are a lot of airports down here, small ones. I could find work I’m sure.” He looked at her. “Do you think she’d have me?”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“I’ve always wondered if she maybe blames me. For moving us out there. For not being home when it happened.”

More hidden pain. More unspoken fear. “Sir, not that it’s my business, but I don’t think she does. I think you and her need to settle that issue now, before you think about flying home.”

“She’s always so…you know how she is. She brushes things off. Never thinks about herself, always worries about others. I’ve been worried about her even before now that she’s not as good as she says over the phone.”

She made the turnoff to Brooksville. “Then I think that’s a great place to start the conversation. She’s got a spare bedroom at her house. And I’ve ordered her to take a week’s paid vacation, so she’s going to have to do something since, as she’s already bitched, she can’t shoot skeet.”

He nodded. “Thank you, Mandaline.” He paused. “She told me about your friend, Julie. I’m really sorry I didn’t get to meet her. I know Miki loved her.”

“Thank you.” She mentally braced herself for a wave of grief that didn’t hit, surprising her. “We’ll all miss her, but she’d want us to move on with our lives.”

It was nearly five o’clock in the afternoon when she returned to the store to find an unmarked sheriff’s cruiser parked behind the store in her spot.

Heart racing, she hurried inside through the back door. There was what sounded like a noisy crowd gathered in the front of the store. She pushed her way through people until she found Brad being held back by Detective Haines while he still tried to take a swing at an older man cowering away from him.

“For fuck’s sake!” she screamed at the top of her voice, making everyone else fall silent and look at her. “What in the name of Hecate is going on?”

“I was going to ask you that,” Haines said as he struggled to hold on to Brad.

She stepped in front of Brad. “What the hell is going on?”

He tried to look around her, but she grabbed his head and made him look at her. “Just let me take one fucking swing at him,” he said. “That’s all I ask!”

She glanced at the man and back at Brad. “Who is he?”

“He’s my goddamned father.” He stopped fighting the detective. “Just one punch, that’s all I need.”

Anger flared from deep within her. She whirled on the man. “That right? You his father?”

Somewhere behind her, it sounded like a lightbulb in one of the store display cases exploded with a loud pop, making a couple of people jump and even a few let out startled cries.

The man nodded. “I just wanted to talk to him. I saw the news story and thought I’d—”

“OUT!” she roared. Everyone behind her took an involuntary step back, including the detective, who pulled Brad with him.

The man’s eyes widened. “But, I—”

Another lightbulb exploded and, somehow, the front door flew open. The thought that a sudden gust of wind must have pushed it, as it sometimes did, swept through her mind. She stepped forward as the guy stepped back toward the open door.

Her hands balled into tight fists. “You didn’t just see a news story. That fucking reporter sent you. Get. Out. Of. My. Store. And if you ever come back or say anything to that fuckface slimy reporter about Brad, I will forget I’m not supposed to hex people!” She walked over to the door and pushed it shut, even though the pneumatic arm on it wouldn’t let her slam it in his face.

She turned, stunned silence and wide eyes meeting her. Someone started applauding, and before she knew it, the whole room of twenty or so people were applauding her.

Breathing hard, she walked up to Brad again. “What the hell?”

“I was here getting another statement,” the detective said. “About last night, when that man came in.” He looked around her. Brad’s father was scurrying down the sidewalk and out of sight. “You walked in about twenty seconds after it all started.”

She pulled herself up to her full height and nodded. “Is Brad under arrest for anything?”

“No. Like I said, it’d just happened when you came in. I’m not going to arrest him for not taking a swing at someone. I’ve got enough paperwork.”

“Good.” She looked at Brad and pointed to her office. “Now.”

Without a word, he went.

She took another deep breath to calm herself. “Please, detective, feel free to use my office to take his statement. You can close the door for privacy.”

“Thank you.”

She didn’t know if he looked scared or like he admired her.

She turned to everyone else. “Well? What are y’all waiting for? Get back to doing whatever you were doing. Show’s over.”

Paige, wearing a look of awe, followed her down the hall to the washroom where Mandaline splashed cold water on her face as the shakes hit.

“Holy…holy shit!” Paige whispered. “Sachi is gonna crap herself when I tell her what you just did!”

“What’d I just do?”

“You…Jesus, Mandaline? Seriously? You blew two fucking bulbs out and made the door open!”

Heat filled her face again. She splashed more cold water on it. “That was the wind that made the door open.”

“It’s not windy!”

“And with all the storms lately, it was probably just some sort of power surge or something that did the bulbs in. Weakened them and they coincidentally blew.”

When Paige didn’t respond, Mandaline looked at her in the mirror.

Paige’s jaw gaped. “Fuck. Me. Mandaline, quit trying to play the Queen of Denial! You did that!”

“I’ve never done anything like that before!”

“You’ve never been as angry before as you were out there. I’ve never seen you that angry!”

Mandaline grabbed a paper towel to dry her face. “Maybe Sachi’s right,” she muttered. “Maybe I should take up skeet.”

She didn’t mention what happened to Ellis when he returned from the office around six thirty. Exhausted, she placed a quick call to Sachi to check up on her before going upstairs. “You guys, please, just fend for yourselves for dinner. I’ll make myself something if I wake up before morning. Someone please walk Pers.”

Ellis looked concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Just tired.” She gave him a kiss and headed upstairs. After stripping, she fell into bed and crashed immediately into sleep.

She found herself standing in a sunny, gorgeous bedroom full of IKEA furniture. At first she didn’t recognize it until she heard a laugh and saw Julie spread out on the bed.

“Good choice, sister.”

Mandaline smiled. “Thank you, sister.” The walls had been painted a cheerful pale yellow that perfectly matched the decor.

“That’s ‘Seaside Yellow,’ by the way,” Julie noted. “Don’t forget it.”

Mandaline laughed. “I won’t.” Her smile faded. “About today…”

Julie waved her comment off as she sat up. “You did it. Quit being bashful. You had a lot of anger and fear and energy pent up.” She stood and walked over to Mandaline, where she put her hands on her shoulders. “And thank you for releasing me.”

Mandaline sighed, but she didn’t feel sad. “I guess I won’t see you again, will I?”

Julie shrugged and looked around. “You’ll see me everywhere. In the trees, in the breeze.” She touched Mandaline’s chest. “In your heart.” Then she touched Mandaline’s forehead, between her eyes. “In your mind.”

Mandaline smiled. “Thank you, sister.”

Julie hugged her. “You’re welcome, sister, but I didn’t do anything. You did it.” She kissed Mandaline’s cheek before stepping back. “And the world moves on and on. Namaste.”

As the dream faded from her mind, Mandaline whispered, “Namaste.”

She awoke to find Ellis and Brad trying to carefully get into bed on either side of her without disturbing her.

“Sorry,” Brad said.

“Sorry, hon,” Ellis echoed.

She smiled at them. “It’s okay. I want to paint the master bedroom ‘Seaside Yellow.’”

The men exchanged a confused look before bursting into laughter. “Okay,” Ellis said, “that’s an odd thing to wake up and state, but whatever.”

Brad, however, smiled. “Julie?”

She nodded. “She’s free.” She snuggled between them after giving them both good-night kisses, sleep already dragging her back down again. “And now, so am I.”