Family Ties [Sequel to She Belongs To Me]

Fear

Emily:

The weekend had passed and James was back home.  I decided to wait until he returned before telling him the news about Vincent, and when I did tell him he maintained the same calm composure he always had.  "I don't want you to worry about him."  He said, "I promise you that he won't get anywhere near you or Cora."

I reached out and grabbed his hand.  "Please don't make a promise you can't keep."

"Emily...."  He was visibly hurt by what I said, but it was the truth.  If Vincent somehow did find us James would be no match for him.  I wanted to believe that the police would capture Vincent swiftly, I really did, but I knew Vincent would stop at nothing to get to me.

Then again, it has been seven years.  There was always a chance that he'd forgotten all about me.  Amy did say that she believed that his nurse had helped him escape.  Hell, maybe the two of them fell in love and ran away to Cancun.

I shook my head.  It was a nice thought but I knew it was too good to be true.

"I want to buy a gun." I said.

James stared at me apprehensively and ran a hand through his red hair.  "You know how I feel about guns." He answered, "I don't want one in the house with Cora."

"Are you serious!?"  I cried, "There is a psycho path out there looking for me and you can't put aside your liberal bullshit for one second to even consider it!" 

"But you don't know that he is looking for you. Maybe he-"

"I cannot believe you! You know good and well that he is looking!"

"Baby, calm down. Please..."

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. I laid my head on his chest and began weeping. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that-"

"I know." He said, rubbing my hair with a trembling hand. "I'm sorry, too.  And if keeping a gun in the house will make you feel safer then I will go and buy one first thing in the morning."

"Thank you..." I breathed. I knew I shouldn't have went off on him like that. He had been my rock, my strength, during the last seven years. I leaned my face towards his and gave him a small kiss.

"Eeeew!"

I turned around and saw Cora standing there with a disgusted look on her face. Hope had taken her out for ice cream while I broke the bad news to James.

"Stop kissing daddy! He has cooties!"

"Hey!!" James pouted, "I had my cootie shot years ago, little lady!!"

"Yeah, right!"

James grinned and lifted his hands above his head, pretending to be a monster.  "That's it! I'm gonna get you now!!"

Cora screamed and giggled as she high tailed it towards her bedroom. James smiled at me before chasing after her. I sighed and sat down on the couch, pinching back another flood of tears. Our life together was so perfect and now it was being threatened.

I couldn't even bring myself to think about what would happen if Vincent found out that Cora was his daughter.

"Hey..." Hope said, stepping into the house and  plopping down on the couch next to me.  "How did he take it?"