My All

Part 31

"Just think about it." July said following Shawn out of the room.

"July, I said no. This is the perfect place for us." He said going through the mail.

"Look, my parents are paying for it. What's the problem, Shawn?"

"That's the problem, July. I don't take handouts. All I have is because I've earned it myself."

"We are a family. This place was fine for when it was just you. But now there's three of us. Honey, please. Plus, this place reminds me of when you were unfaithful to me." She said, crossing her arms.

"You can't keep using that. I don't remember any of it, it's not fair." He said, kissing her forehead.

"Daddy!" Andrew came running out of his room to Shawn's arms.

"Hey, buddy. What are you up to today?"

"Can we play soldiers?" The little boy asked.

"We are going to grandma's and grandpa's. Maybe when we get back. Go get your shoes." He said putting the boy down.

"Shawn. Please, let's take my parents' offer. They say it's a late wedding gift. They already paid for the house. What if we have more kids? We need a bigger house, and I don't feel safe with the river so close. What if Andrew wanders off one day? I don't even want to think about it."

"July, I built this place with my own two hands."

"I'm not telling you to get rid of it. You can rent it out. Come on, what do you say?"

"Fine! We'll move to the bigger house."

"Oh thank you, thank you." She said hugging him. "I love you." She said and he kissed her.

"Andrew, come on." Andrew came out and gave his shoes to Shawn.

"I'll be outside." She said leaving. Shawn bent over and put the shoes on Andrew. And the phone rang.

It took Helga over a week to finally find that piece of paper with Shawn's number where she had hidden it in her purse. She waited until Serge and Bobby left to run some errands and went to the phone to call Shawn. He picked up after the second ring. "Hello? Andrew, go wait outside with mommy."

"Hi, is this Shawn?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"You don't know me. My name is Helga. I'm friends with Deborah. She's in real danger. And she has lost all hope."

"What do you want me to do about that? I don't remember her."

"What? She told me you two were close and that you cared about her a lot."

"I'm sorry."

"She's beaten and raped everyday. He keeps her chained in the room with no contact."

"That's horrible. Why don't you go to the police?"

"Because they have friends in the police department and as soon as I say something they'll know it was me and I'll have to pay for it. I'm risking right now calling you. But I don't care about that. She needs to be rescued. I don't know what happened between you two, but she really needs you. Look, this is the address." Helga told him the address and Shawn wrote it down. "He leaves her by herself between three in the afternoon and three in the morning. I have to go." And she hung up.

Shawn looked at the phone and at the address he had just written down. Why did he write it down? July came inside the house and he put the piece of paper in his pocket. "Who was it?"

"Wrong number."

"Wrong number? You were on the phone for so long."

"Yeah, nothing important. Let's go."

All through dinner, he kept thinking about that call. How desperate the woman sounded. And what horrible things the Deborah girl was going through. It wasn't his problem, yet, why was he so worried. "Shawn!" July nudged him.

"What?"

"My dad asked you a question."

"I'm sorry, my mind seems to be somewhere else. What's up?"

"When are you giving us another grandchild?" Anthony asked.

Shawn smiled and rubbed July's back. "I think soon. I always said that if I had kids I wanted them close in age."

"That's wonderful news. You hear that Andrew? You might be having a little brother or sister soon." Camila beamed.

July leaned into Shawn and whispered something in his ear that made him smile. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard and kissed it.

When they got back to the cabin, he put Andrew down on his bed and walked to the room. July was facing the wall as he walked in. He stood behind her and kissed her neck. "Thank you for the wonderful news."

"At first I was a bit hesitant, I didn't know how you would take it." She said, turning around to look at him. "Hence we need more space."

He grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her softly. That's how she liked it. Everything had to be soft. He planted soft kisses on her neck and shoulders. She unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor as he took off his shirt and pants. He picked her up and laid her down on the bed. He got on top of her and continued kissing her body. Suddenly images started appearing in his mind. A girl was bloodied and screaming. He stopped and sat up. "I'm sorry." He said, grabbing her hand.

"What's wrong?" She sat up next to him.

"I have a terrible headache."

"Oh, no. Lay down. Let me get you some aspirin." She said running to the bathroom as he laid down. "Here. I forgot to tell you. Tomorrow we move to the new house. Everything is set up already. All we have to do is pack our bags."

"Excellent." He said as she kissed his lips and laid next to him.

That night he kept having nightmares about that girl. Who was that girl? He's never seen her before. He needed to help her. Was that Deborah? He woke up in the middle of the night as everyone slept and packed a bag. He took a piece of paper and wrote a note. "July, I need to get away for a few days. Don't worry, it's nothing serious. There's just something I need to do. Go ahead with the plan of moving to the house. I'll meet you there. Shawn." He couldn't even bring himself to say love, why? He left the paper on his pillow and left.