BOMAW 1-3 (37 page)

"Yes! I just called him back after the police left. It appears that she somehow got a friend or someone to help her. She boarded a flight and is now at the Madison Airport. Shawn's on his way to get her. I'm on my way there now to bring her back home," she informed her mother just as her father stepped out of the study, hearing the tail end of their discussion.

"Why don't you just leave her there with him?" he suggested, very serious.

Deidre set her two bags down and looked at her father as if he'd suddenly grown two horns. "Are you out of your mind? She's my daughter, I'm going to get her!"

"She doesn't wish to live here, she's made that clear, so leave her to her father."

"I—will—not!"

"Oscar, you've lost all sense and reasoning!" Georgiana blasted, then turned to her daughter. "Ignore him, sweetheart. Give me a moment and I will grab a quick bag and go with you."

"I don't need you to go with me." Deidre stopped her at the stairs.

Oscar stood steaming and staring at his wife. She was so transparent to him, he knew the real reason she wanted to go. She was itching to find out exactly where McPherson was.

"Well, you're certainly not going there alone, I insist! I won't have that snake taking advantage of you," Georgiana insisted, ignoring her husband's heated glare. She didn't care what he suspected. Her stomach tingled in anticipation of seeing Shawn again, she'd missed him on his visit to pick up Angela, and again when he'd dropped her off. This was infinitely better. If she knew where he was, thankfully out of California, it would increase her odds of bargaining with him.

"Shawn has never taken advantage of me, Mother!" Deidre called from the bottom of the stairs looking up, waiting for her mother to stop long enough to listen. "Mother!" she shouted and received no answer. Snatching herself around, she cut loose on her father.

"I've had it up to here with you! I've had it up to here with her! Why can't you both just stay the hell out my life?"

"Ohhh, I don't know…maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're screwing it up so badly, we're trying to help you salvage something," he answered sarcastically, having little time for her dramatics. He was too busy burning up from the inside out. Right then, his decision became final...he would kill Georgiana, somehow…someway…he would end his humiliation, and then he'd figure out a way of getting the business from his daughter. Once he had full possession of it, she could very well bugger the hell off and do whatever the hell she wanted with McPherson—he would have what he wanted.

"Father, you know what...I mean this with absolute sincerity…go t'hell!" She ran up the stairs to find her mother.

"You little bitch! Probably not mine anyway," he mumbled heatedly, turning away from the stairs to re-enter his office. "One thing at a time, ole boy, one thing at a time," he went on, circling his desk to get on the phone.

"Mother...there's no need for you to go with me," Deidre began, entering her mother's room to stop her from packing.

"You think you're going to get a flight out of here fast enough? You know better, dear. Trust me, this is the fastest way for you to get there to see about Angela. You do wish to collect your daughter, don't you?"

Deidre sighed, sat on her mother's bed defeated, nodding she said, "I suppose so. I haven't even called an airline."

"There you go. See, you're so riled up and upset, you're not thinking clearly. Don't worry about it, go and give the police a call and let them know that she's been found. As soon as I'm done packing, I'll have our private plane waiting. Well, don't just sit there, get moving."

*

Shawn sprinted out of the parking ramp of the airport, hit an icy spot, slipped, slid and caught himself as he stopped suddenly gaining traction on the clear pavement again, continuing his sprint without thought. His life was turning erratic once again. He couldn't make sense of it. No matter how hard he worked to make his life simple, peaceful, normal, things seemed to always come up and wreck the calm world he was in the midst of constructing. He was still sulking from Sylvia not coming with him, making him wonder if she really did love him after all. He called himself a thousand different kinds of fool for going this far with her, especially considering the many women who would walk over hot coals for him. "Not you Sylvia Payne!" he grunted, breathing hard, entering through the electric doors, heading for the ticket counter.

"Excuse me, can you call security for me? I think the one on duty is named Phil Johnson?"

"Yes, that's his name," the young clerk answered, then picked up her phone, hitting four numbers with the receiver to her ear. Shawn crossed his arms on the counter and laid his head there looking toward the floor, his nerves shaky as he blew out to get control of himself.

"What's your name, Sir?"

"Shawn Everett McPherson, I'm here to collect my daughter."

"Yes..." she answered him, nodding that she understood and passed his identity over the phone. Hanging up, she informed him, "He'll be right out with her."

"Thank you," he gasped. Standing, he turned and walked towards the water fountain across the lobby, bending to get a drink of water, on the fourth swallow, he heard her. "Daddy!" Turning back, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as she ran into his arms from the far end of the lobby, the location of the security office. Breathing a sigh of relief, he watched the guard approach him with a smile of empathy. He was a man a bit older than Shawn, thin grey hair, slightly portly, white and his same height.

With his daughter's arms wrapped around his waist, his left arm over her, he held his right hand out, "May I please apologize to you for my brisk manner over the phone? My guts have been turned inside and out over th'lass, I swear." Shawn's overwhelming sense of relief made his eyes water, shaking the other man's hand.

"Hey, I understand. I have four myself, all girls! I know what you're going through," the other man assured him, squeezing and shaking his hand in turn. "That one’s sure a beauty, you got good reason to worry."

"Yeah, don't I know it. Hey, I owe you a drink or something."

"Naaaw, don't drink...but if ever one of mine is out like this one, and you're there, return the favor."

"You got it," Shawn promised and turned with his daughter, grabbing her large night sack from her.

"Daddy..."

"Wait until we get in the car," he stopped her, still holding onto her as they made their way to the exit, stepping out into a cross wind that took their breath away. That was when he realized she only wore a little jacket for California, nothing suitable for the cold winter winds of Wisconsin. He stopped, took off his jacket, and dropped it over her shoulders. Her long hair flew up and across him as he turned back and led her to the ramp car park. They made it to his SUV, with him opening the door for her. She jumped in grabbing her seat belt right away. Shawn slammed the door, got in on the driver’s side and threw her bag in the back seat. As soon as he buckled his own seat belt and started his vehicle, a haunting song came on the radio,
Forbidden Colours
by David Sylvian. The tune made him bend over his steering wheel a moment to get a grip on his rioting emotions.

"Daddy..." Angela tried again, her eyes moist.

Shawn reached over and switched the radio low. "Why did you do this?" he asked, not looking at her.

"I wanna be with you. Please…can I be with you?"

He sat back, wiping his hand over his face, pinching his eyes, they were tired and burning.

"Why didn't you call me first?"

"I was so angry with mom, I just wanted to go. If I had called you, you would have tried to talk me out of coming."

"I told you you could come this summer, did I not?" He finally looked at her.

"I don't want to be with you just in the summer, I want us to be together all the time! So does mom! She wants it too, but—"

"Angela, don't start! I told you—"

"Daddy, please...please give her another chance! She's willing to give you another chance! She still loves you! She told me she did!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Mom...she wants to be with you again! She wants us to be a family again, she told me! She was looking for property to try and move here to Wisconsin so we could finally be together, but then, granddad said something to her, he made her change her mind. I was so angry with her, and him! So, I just…I just left!" she blurted it all out, and then sank sideways in her seat facing her father in the dark running vehicle.

Shawn was quiet a few minutes, letting it all sink in. He was quiet so long, Angela thought he refused to believe her. He snatched the stick into reverse and backed out, righted himself and pulled out of the parking ramp, his mind in a whirl. Angela chewed on her lip, trying to patiently wait for him to say something. It was a quiet ride through Madison as he made his way towards the interstate. When he finally came around to saying something, it was not what she expected. "Did your mother put you up to this? Is this some kind of game she's playing?"

"Nooo—no, it was me! I did it!"

"So how did you get a flight here?"

"Remember my friend Zayna?"

"Yes."

"Well, her sister goes to Madison University. She was home from school and I went there all upset. I told Zayna I was running away from home. She talked me out of it, said I should just come to you. She went to her sister, told her if she didn't let me come with her, I would run away and get killed or something. Anyway, she agreed..."

"You want me to believe, that on short notice, she just got you a ticket and a seat here?"

"Yeah...there were a few cancellations."

Shawn blew out, exasperated.

"Yeah, well, she better hope we don't meet, she just leaves you at the airport! Angela…don't you ever,
ever,
do this again. I mean it! Not ever again!"

"I told her I'd be alright, she was there when you answered the phone. I told her she could go."

"Yeah...well, still, you cannot be doing this!"

"Then let me stay with you and I won't."

"I'm not going to be negotiating with you, Angela!"

"Daddy, don't you see? If you and mom would just get back together, all our problems would be solved. What about that?"

"It's not going to happen."

"Why not? Mom wants it, I want it, why can't you want it, too!"

"It's too late, Angela."

"No, it's not!"

"Yes, it
is!
" he corrected adamantly, pulling up to a red light.

She sat hurt, angry, and desperate. Before he knew what she was about, she unbuckled her seatbelt and bolted from the SUV, darting out into the street, running pell-mell in whatever direction was clear.

"Fuck! Angelaaa!" he shouted, and was forced to cut his wheel to the right, blowing his horn because he had to cross a lane in front of other vehicles to get over with his car door wide open, scratching other vehicles as he went. Speeding and breaking, he pulled onto the street she ran down, slamming his door, rushed to the other side doing the same, clicking it locked with his key remote switching on his alarm at the same time he sprinted off down the street shouting her name, trying to catch her, leaving behind car horns blowing and angry people shouting at him.

Stress, tension, fear, and anxiety coursed through Sylvia's system as she paced back and forth, waiting for a phone call from Shawn as to whether he'd made it to Madison or not? Did he have Angela or not? Was she safe, secured with him or not? Waiting...waiting...waiting. Her guts tied up in knots. Adding to that worry was the fact that in every room of her house she walked into, there was a calendar hanging on the wall, and for the last two days, she had avoided looking at them. That night, right then, they seemed to come alive and mock her. As if they were connected to a spring loaded behind them, they seemed to eject themselves away from the wall at her if she dare walk by them and not look.

"Look!"
they kept calling out to her.
"Look at me...check...check...check."

"No! I won't...I won't." With her arms crossed over her breasts, Sylvia suddenly turned and glared at the radio. Phil Collins’
In the air tonight
had the nerve to come on at that moment. Her clock chimed, it was midnight.

"Where are you? Call me!" she cried out. "Something's wrong. Something is
wrong!
I should have gone with him! Why didn't I go with him? Damn you Sylvia! You should have gone with that man, and you know it." She sat down and grabbed her hair, frustrated. She sat up as a thought came to her. Coming to her feet, she went and grabbed her coat, putting it on and snatched her keys.

Using the key Shawn gave her, she entered his home and went straight to the table by the sofa and picked up his phonebook and went back out, heading back across the road to her house. Once inside, she ripped her coat off and went to her sofa, sitting down she flipped through it to the M's. There was a list of McPherson's.