Faithfully

“I was there,” I murmured looking over at Betty, I grabbed her hand that she held out.

Of course she had a bad childhood, her mother was put into a mental hospital when Betty was twelve and her father was never home because he worked three jobs to support Betty and her three younger siblings. Betty had to be the mother figure while she was there. There were plenty of times I carried a box of food by bus to her small two bedroom apartment in the Bronx because Betty would accidently slip up and tell me she didn’t have food or that she hadn’t ate in two days, I tried to take care of her like she protected me but her stubbornness towards help stemmed from her hard working father, and sometimes it was damn near impossible to help her but I always tried.

“Yes you were there, thank God,” Betty smiled, a genuinely affectionate one. “You were the reason we didn’t starve a few dozen times.”

James didn’t say anything; he turned in my arms and kissed my forehead softly. “An angel with a heart of gold,” he whispered, after a second he held an arm out for Betty. “Come here.”

“I hug you and I’ll start crying,” Betty warned, pointing an accusing finger at James but she walked into our hug without a second thought. As she had said, she started bawling her eyes out. It took a while for James to calm us both down because as soon as she started, I cried with her.

“I love you,” I hugged Betty tightly around her neck; she squeezed me around the waist and dug her head in my shoulder.

“I love you too, Gracie,” she whispered and kissed my head before she stepped back and tried to fix her make up. When she failed to get some mascara that ran down the side of her face, I reached over and wiped it away. “Thanks, I bet I look like a rat.”

“A pretty rat,” I joked, making her smile and playfully pushing me.

“Okay she’s at a bed and breakfast in Ashbourne until we can find her a place,” Colin walked in through the front door and I could see the blood rush from Betty’s face. When Colin turned around, he surveyed us all with a hesitant stare. “Is everything okay?”

“Reminiscing,” I explained glancing away from Betty. “Colin, did you say something the other day about motorcycles?”

“Yes, I have a collection,” he nodded his head slowly. “Why?”

“Why don’t you take Betty out for a ride, she loves to ride motorcycles,” I gestured towards Betty, hoping maybe that he'd get the hint that she needed a little R&R and that he could possibly give it to her. “Don’t you, Bets?”

“I do but you don’t have to-“Betty gave me a scolding look before she turned to tell Colin that she didn’t want to intrude into his day when he interrupted her.

“I’d love too,” he smiled, I watched the connection between the two and could have sworn I seen a spark in the air. “Do you want to go grab a jacket, it’s quite cold out.”

“Oh,” Betty smiled, pleasantly shocked with the offer. “I’ll be right back, stay right there, don't move I'll only be a second.”

“I’ll be right here,” he smiled charmingly at her; I recognized the smile with a realization that it had to be a Beast family trait, heartwarming and sexy smiles.

“Don’t let her drive,” was the warning I gave Colin before I drug James into his office. I shut the door (which I finally learned to do) and sat in the black leather chair across from him.

“We have a few things to discuss,” James started, looking at me with a hint to start but he couldn't seem to find the words he wanted to say, but I waited until I figured he was waiting for me.

“I’ve been eavesdropping on Marguerite, because I knew something wasn’t right,” I answered simply and then added. “I like how you handled it.”

“That was easier than I thought it would be to get you to fess up,” he stared at me curiously, he leaned forward on the desk and raised his eyebrows. “Anything else before I start explaining things?”

“Nope, nothing else,” I shook my head, crossed my legs comfortably and gestured for him to begin.

“When I enlisted, my commander in the Air Forces was hell bent on making my life a living hell, or that’s what I thought. It didn’t take me long to realize he was making a soldier out of me and I respected him greatly for pushing me so hard, because he cared enough to think I had it in me. We grew to be close friends after I switched to the med evac section, I’d have dinner at his house with him and his daughter every Friday we had available," he paused and cleared his throat. "One night while I was on duty, I received an urgent call off the coast, a practice plane going down without shoot deploy. By the time we made it out there I had been briefed that it was Frank, my old commander. The rescuers on board brought him on my chopper barely alive, he just kept saying you take care of her, Beast take care of her and I knew he meant Marguerite because we had discussed it before since he had no family left to take care of her in case something did happen.”

“That was very noble of you, James,” I complimented with a smile, now knowing the reason she was here but not the reason why she was here so long. “But now that she’s older and able, why was she still here?”

“Honestly I didn’t have the heart to say I didn’t care anymore,” he shrugged while shaking his head. “And she never gave me reason to make her leave until recently, she has always been well behaved and helpful.”

“Sounds like a good enough reason for me,” I uncrossed my legs and went to stand up but paused when a thought came to me. “Is there a way you could take me to the closest pharmacy?”

“There closest one is on Trinity? Yes,” he looked at me with a confused scowl. “Why?”

“Can we go now?” I asked nicely and refused to answer why, even though he asked two more times until we arrived at the cute little brick building with the sign displaying the name Freeman’s Pharmacy in big white letters above the double sliding doors. James stayed in the car as I arrogantly marched inside without giving him an answer.

“Good morning, darling, how may I help ya?” the sweet old Irish man behind the pharmacy counter was all smiles. I instantly liked him, and his accent was the strongest I'd heard so far.

“Hi, I called down here a day ago and Mr. Freeman said he’d set a bag on hold for me,” I leaned against the counter smiling back; I was in a good mood now that Marguerite was out of my hair. Plus it helped that I knew James wouldn’t cheat on me and that Colin was showing interest in Betty, everything seemed to be going good.

“I remember ya calling, I couldn’t forget that American accent if I tried, I have what ya need Queen Grace,” he winked as he sat the white bag down on the counter that he pulled from under the counter.