“That’s the way it should be.Now get in the kitchen and make me something to eat.I’ve had enough of you acting out.I will take you to task if you don’t do what I tell you.”She just kept doing her puzzle, and when he slapped it out of her hand, she simply leaned up and picked it up.His angerwas getting the better of him, and when he drew back his fist and hit her, he knew that she was going to retaliate.
When she didn’t move, he kicked her with his foot.Telling her to get up and do what he told her did nothing.It wasn’t until he noticed all the blood that he thought he might have hurt her badly.Pissed off now that he was going to have to call her an ambulance, he just knew that he was going to be getting into trouble for knocking his wife around.Well, it was no less than she deserved for treating him like she was.
When the ambulance arrived, so did the police.He sat in his chair while the medics worked on his wife.He had to refrain from asking too many questions about her, as he wanted them to think this sort of thing happened all the time.She needed to be made to do her job, and he was just the man to do it.
“Mr.Gravestone, how many times did you hit your wife?”He told the young officer that he’d only hit her the one time, but she’d brought it on herself.“Did you know that you killed her when you called the ambulance?Your wife suffered from blunt force trauma that shoved her nose up into her brain, killing her where she sat.”
“That’s not possible.She’s just faking it, just like that Troff person.Just make her wake up and get to work.She didn’t want to make me breakfast, and I have things to do today.”He said he was taking him to jail.“For what?Knocking her around a bit?I told you that she deserved it for not doing as she’d been told.I don’t beat her all the time, but she needed to be reminded that I’m not going to be putting up with her bullshit.”
“I’m arresting you for the murder of your wife.”He was read his rights and kept saying that she was faking it so that she’d not have to work.He’d only hit her the one time, and that shouldn’t be enough to kill her.“I’m taking you downtown.Is there anyone that we can call for you?Do you have an attorney?”
“I work for the government.Call my boss.The President.This is all his fault for making me retire.I wouldn’t even have this problem but for him.You call him and tell him to come and bail me out.”Instead of doing what he’d been told, the officer put him in cuffs and took him out to the cruiser.There was no way that he’d just killed his wife.He’d only hit her the one time, and that couldn’t be right.Larry hit on his wife all the time with a ball bat when she needed it, and she never died.“I want to call my boss.The least he can do for me is to bail me out of this.I only hit her the one time, and that’s not enough to kill someone.”
After five hours, he was finally given his phone so that he could make a call.Peter didn’t have an attorney but knew that the president was one.All he had to do was make a couple of calls, and he’d be out of jail so fast that they’d wonder why they even arrested him.He’d done nothing wrong and was pissed off that no one was listening to him.John was finally on the phone with him when he got through.
“Peter, I’m to understand that you killed your wife.Why do you think that I want to have anything to do with you now?”He told him that it was his fault; had he been able to return to work, none of this would have happened.“I don’t believe you.Not that it matters.You murdered your wife, and now you’re going to have to pay for it.I’m thinking that you’re going to get what you deserve.”
“I only hit her the one time.People knock around their wives plenty of times, and they never die.I won’t believe she’s dead until I can see it with my own eyes.”He said that someone would have to identify the body, but he couldn’t do it.“She’s my wife by God, and I’m not going to prison because you decided that I needed to be retired.”
John was still laughing when the phone went dead.He didn’t know what he was going to do now that he was in jail.There was no one to help him out of this mess, and he didn’t like it.There was no way that he’d killed her with a single punch to the face.Someone was going to be kidnapping her soon, and then he’d show them.Damn it, this was all that Troff’s fault for being a woman.
Chapter 3
“I just heard about Gravestone.How are you taking it?”Mac told Aaron that she didn’t know what to think right now.“Understandable.He keeps claiming that she’s been kidnapped and that the president is at fault for his being in jail.He’s also blaming you for his being arrested.”
“What did I do?”He told her what he’d heard about her just being a woman.“I see.I guess I can understand his way of thinking.He thinks that women are beneath him on such a low level that they shouldn’t have the right to vote.”
Aaron laughed, and she smiled.“I just wanted to make sure that you heard about it before it hit the papers.I don’t know what they’re going to say about it, but he really only hit her the one time, and that’s all it took.”Mac told Aaron that she wasn’t surprised by his attitude towards women.He’d been saying the same thing to her since she’d been hired into his department.“He’ll be in prison for a long time.John is going to make sure that he’s punished to the limit.”
“John MacInyre, the president, called you to let you know?You must really be a good friend with him if he went out of his way to notify you.”He told her that they were good friends and cats together.“I must say I’m impressed.I had no idea…well, I figured that you knew him, but just not where he’d call you up about something like this.”
“He knew that he’d been harassing you, so that’s partly it.I think he wanted me to let you know so that you’d know that he’s not bothering you anymore.They won’t allow him to make calls like the ones he’s been doing at the house.”She said that would be a relief.“I thought as much.I talked to Zeno, too.We’ve made up.”
He told her what they’d talked about and how it had ended.When he said that they were having dinner with his family tonight, she’d forgotten all about it.Aaron told her that they usually eat at six when the grandparents were coming over because they went to bed at nine.
“I’ll have to get ready.”She asked about the boot.“I don’t have to wear it when they’re all around, do I?I mean, they all know that we’re mates and that you’ve healed me.”
“No, you’ll be fine.We don’t have to go anywhere, so no one will see you but us.”She said that was wonderful, she hated wearing it in the first place.“It won’t be too much longer, and you can stop wearing it altogether Dad said.He thinks another couple of weeks, and you’ll be fine to not wear it at all.”
She’d broken her ankle when she’d been walking along the sidewalk when Aaron had come out of his office.It was actually the second break, as when she’d fallen the first time, the doctor had told her that it was only a sprain.Falling into Aaron’s lap when she’d fallen the second time, she knew that she’d hurt herself worse than before.The pain had been nearly too much for her.Now she was healed because of being mated to Aaron, and she was thrilled.But she had to keep faking it because even though the town knew what they were, tigers, she wasn’t going to flaunt that his magic had healed her within days of meeting her.
After getting off the phone with Aaron, she decided to see if she could help with dinner.She knew that when they all got together, LouCinda would do the cooking, and perhaps she could peel some potatoes or something.Anything to stay busy.When she entered the kitchen, she found her crying and rushed to see what had happened.
“It’s nothing really.I just get to thinking about my age, and I get sad.I really wanted to have a grandbaby by now, but I can wait a bit longer.No pressure on you, my dear.I have these fits every once in a while.Especially when the boys are coming over.I’m so glad that you’re a part of the family now.It’s so nice to have someone to talk to.”She asked her if she could wait a couple more months.“Are you trying to have a baby now?I didn’t know that.”
“Yes.Aaron said he’d tell me when I was ovulating and then he’d ask me again.But I want to hold his child so bad, I know just how you feel.”They hugged.She couldn’t believe how much she loved the older woman and got along with her.“I’m to understand that Frank and Milly, Aaron’s grandparents, are coming over tonight as well.You’re going to have a full house.”
“We’re used to it.I never thought to ask you what you thought about them coming over.I’ll have to be more careful from now on.”Mac asked her why she had to do that.“It’s your home, too.I don’t want to step on your toes.What if you’d had plans for this evening?I would have messed them up.”
“You have the family over anytime you want.I know too that Saturday night is the night that you hold dinners on, so I’d never make plans on that night.It’s our house, not just mine and Aaron’s.You have to do what you want without thinking that you’re going to bother me.We are going to be living together for a long time, and I don’t want any tension between us.”Getting another hug, she sat down to peel potatoes.“I was going to make baked potatoes, but Zeno asked for mashed, and I can’t turn down a request from them.You’ll understand when you have your own kids.”
“I can’t turn down Aaron, so I’m getting a glimpse into what it might be like.”The two of them laughed.“I know nothing about babies.Especially not cubs.I think that’s what Aaron said they’d be called.”
“Yes, that’s right.It’s not so different than having a regular baby.Except, of course, they do change into kittens when they hit about ten.Some go earlier and some a little later.Aaron changed the first time when he was seven.It scared him badly enough that he didn’t shift again until he was eleven.He didn’t expect it happen, so he was afraid that he’d done something wrong when he had.”She said that Aaron was going to change her after talking to their leap leader.“Yes, he will have to approve it.I don’t know why he’d turn him down.Aaron and this whole family has been a part of the leap since he started out being the leader.Aaron could be one if he wanted, and I think that’s what the leap lead is going to try to talk him into it one day.But for now, we follow the rules and pay our dues so that there is no trouble from any of us.”
“Good.”She was about halfway through the potatoes when Milly showed up.Milly and Frank were the boys’ grandparents, and they loved Aaron so much that he was spoiled from them.Frank would get himself into trouble once in a while, and Aaron would have to come over to fix whatever he’d done to get it back to working order.But they loved him, so they didn’t have too much to get him to fix things around the house.
Just before dinner was ready to be put on the table, the men showed up.They not only set the table for their mom, but they also brought the bowls of food into the dining room.There was going to be plenty to eat, and she was glad for it.The smells alone were enough to have her salivating at the mouth for some of it.By the time they were all seated, she thought that she could eat everything on the table and not feel the least bit bad about it.
