Royce (43 page)

Two days later they dressed in their disguises.  Royce as an older man, his hair slicked back with the gray streaks and mustache, his signature style gone.  He wore an island shirt, black old man shorts, white socks and dress shoes.  Joy and the kids laughed when they saw him, he did too.  Joy was in a long yellow flowered sundress with her hair in a slightly messy ponytail, and Jameson tried to give her a Jamaican accent, “Say your name like this, Nahrinda it’s more of an “ah” sound, you’re too American,” and she did the best she could. 

“Okay Mr. Harrington we’re a couple traveling with our son.”  “We’re what?”  Royce asked giving him a look. “Yes, it’s just a disguise, we’re a couple,” and Jameson flicked his blonde hair like a woman, and they cracked up. “No you’ve got to be kidding me,” Royce said laughing, “I can’t do that.” “You don’t have too, I can play that role.” “Okay as long as it’s you,” and they all laughed.

Jameson called a cab, while he, Royce and Justin stayed out of sight Joy, Deon, Lindsay and baby Christopher loaded up, “To the ahport,” Joy said in her best Jamaican accent.  Once their cab was gone he called another.  They arrived at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay separately and pretended not to know each other, both Justin and Christopher were asleep from the cab ride and that made it easier not having them to chase after.  Royce was terrible, he kept looking at her and she’d turn away, hoping to give him the hint that he wasn’t suppose to know her, and Jameson playing his part would talk to him in an effeminate voice and she’d see Royce narrow his eyes and look at him as if to say, “
What are you doing?
”  And she had to hold back a laugh.

Finally they called them to board the plane, it was a giant British Airways jumbo jet flying nonstop to London’s Heathrow Airport.  Joy was excited, and the pictures he’d taken were for fake passports.  They all had fake names, she was Norinda Smalls, and Deon was Jonathan Smalls, Lindsey, Katherine Smalls and little Christopher was Nathan Smalls, and Royce was Calvin Henry, and Justin was Connor Henry.  They found their seats and they were five rows or so behind Royce, the plane was huge, seven seats across the middle, three seats along each side ran up and down the plane. Lindsey scooped up the window seat, Deon took the aisle and she was in the middle holding Christopher.  They coasted down the runway and took off, and about an hour into the flight Justin woke up.

Christopher had woken up long before and was standing on her lap and looking out the window clapping his hands.  She saw Justin stand up in his seat, at first he was facing the front, then he turned around and saw Christopher, “Baby brother,” he said loudly pointing, “Daddy, baby brother,” he said loudly.  Jameson tried to distract him, but he pulled away.  “Nooo, baby brother, Sissy,” now he wanted to get down.  Royce was trying to turn him around, “Nooo, nooo mommmy!”  Justin cried and Royce was trying everything, but he wanted nothing but to get back to them and now Joy realized what Jameson was talking about, now Christopher paused when he heard Justin.  He started making baby noises and Justin heard Christopher and screamed, “Baby brother!”  He cried and wailed and she saw Jameson put his head down, and finally Royce picked him up and scooted past Jameson. 

He came back to her, “I’m sorry miss my son would like to play with your baby is that alright with you?”  She could see the frustration, “Of course, my name is Nahrinda,” he smiled, “I’m…I’m, I’m Kev..Calvin,” and she almost laughed again.  Royce was no actor, he had to control his laughter too, he handed Justin down to her and he quickly went to Lindsey, who held him up so he could see out the window. “Do you have anything for him, juice, crackers?”  She asked in her Jamaican accent still playing her role, “Oh yes,” he went and got the bag she packed for Justin and now he was into the game, “My boyfriend made sure he has everything he needs,” he said almost cracking up, and she almost laughed too but she kept her composure but Deon couldn’t he thought that was so funny and laughed, and she saw Jameson shaking his head.

It was a long flight, almost ten hours or so from what the in flight information said, and about halfway into it she still had both boys, Lindsey and Deon in three seats, and she’d done everything to keep them occupied and quiet.   They’d stepped all over her, she had one on one knee the other on the other, they’d played in her hair, and laid against her, Christopher bumping his little head against her breast as he laughed at his brother.  They were content and she looked up at Royce and Jameson and both of them were knocked out, head resting back sound asleep, and after five hours she was done for she needed a break.  She loved her boys but she’d never been confined in such a tight space with them for so long, “Let me out Deon,” she said.  Deon gasped, she’d said his real name and she didn’t try and sound Jamaican, “Okay Jonathan,” she didn’t care at this point and he moved out the way stepping into the aisle. 

She took Christopher and placed him on her hip and took Justin by the hand and walked the few rows up and tapped Jameson, “Wake him up,” he shook Royce, Royce woke up. “Look sir I’ve had your child now for hours you think you could return the favor,” she dumped both boys on him and Jameson and Royce chuckled, “I think your mommy needs a break,” he said to both boys, “Were you good boys huh?”  He cooed at them.  They smiled and laughed with him, and this time Jameson pursed his lips and gave him the, “
What are you doing
” look.  Joy walked straight back to the bathroom, she needed to stretch her legs.  She splashed water on her face, relieved herself.  She didn’t realize how bad she had to pee until she was in there and now she did look like a harassed Jamaican mother.

Royce and Jameson would keep the boys until they became too much or wanted to get back to her and Royce would bring them back to her and she let Deon go up there with them and she took his seat and let the boys have the center seat and that helped not having both boys stepping all over her and when they landed a lady in a row between them said, “That was the nicest thing I’ve seen you helping them out,” and Joy smiled and then the woman looked at Royce and Jameson, “That should tell you two a child needs a mother,” she humped at them.  And Jameson still in his role smirked in his effeminate voice, “I am his mother,” and he flicked his hair, and Joy, Lindsey and Deon had to hold their heads down as they tried to conceal their laughing and she saw Royce turned towards the window trying not to laugh too.  now they’d set the hope of equality for same sex parents back to the dark ages in that lady’s eyes.

When they got off the plane they had a connecting flight to Madrid, Spain and Royce tried to play his role, “Let me walk you to your gate I’m heading in that direction.”

“That was a disaster,” Jameson said as himself now, “We might as well have not bothered.”  They laughed, “Well Jameson, the boys play together most of the day, you can’t expect them to ignore each other,” Joy said.  He softened, “You’re right, I didn’t think of that, I usually don’t have children in my plans,” and he hadn’t thought of that little tidbit and he should have as much he listened to her on the bugs Valerie placed in their home.  Bugs he hadn’t been able to destroy even after Tammy's trial was over, “It’s the little things that get you,” he said disappointed this didn’t work and nervous too many people noticed. “Okay on the flight to Madrid once we’re settled we’re have to work it out so the boys are together.” “Sorry but we’ll try to do better,” Royce said, he understood what Jameson was trying to do and they’d just blown it, but he couldn’t help but laugh, it was so funny.

And they did do better, the flight wasn’t as long, about two hours and they kept the boys together and before long they were in Madrid. 

A Spanish man in a big old beat up white van was there to pick them up and they loaded everything in the van and hopped in and drove hours away to a small picturesque town by a beautiful beach, mountains on one side and a beach down below called Isle de St. Mary’s.

The man in the van was Ricardo, he was older and weather beaten, his skin dark and leathery. “How is the casa?  In good order I hope,” Jameson said in Spanish, “Si senor, perfecto!”  Ricardo said.  On the long drive Royce asked, “Is this the final stop Jameson or are we moving again?  I need to know, I need to be in on a little more and not kept in the dark so much.”  He had to remind Jameson he worked for him and if he’d just told them more the mishap on the plane might not have happened. 

“Yes it’s the final destination, you will be staying here.”  Now Ricardo pulled into a beautiful golden stucco two story house off the beach side.  It had a courtyard with beautiful flowers, an ornate Spanish fountain was in the center with soothing water sounds and through the courtyard was the front door.  Inside the courtyard a beautiful dark leafy green bougainvillea vine covered the house obscuring the front.   They unloaded out the van and she loved the house and the quaint surroundings.  They were on a street that wound its way up the base of the mountains but on one side the beach and the other the community.  Houses of different sizes and colors lined the street, light orange, turquoise blue, white, dark red, gold, the one consistency a black tiled roof.  She even saw goats in front of a bungalow about four houses down and across the street was some kind of horse business. 

The sign was old and worn but it said, “Ecuador Ecueste Entremaniento y Centro Equitcion,” and underneath in smaller writing, “El Mejor en el Entrenamiento de los Caballos Anduluces,” and Joy had no idea what it said, but the horse on the sign and in the field told her it was a horse business.  She only noticed it because of the setting.  It was a low ranch house, but unlike the others that one had seen better days, the stucco was old, peeling and water stained.  The house was set on the bend of the road, and its wooden railed fence followed the curve around the road and went further down a ways towards town, but in its background tall, luminous, majestic and serene mountain peaks loomed.  She saw horses grazing lazily out in the field the mountains behind and the scene made her heart soar from its beauty.

The family and Jameson walked through the little iron gate and into the courtyard and it took Joy’s breath away, from the van it was beautiful but inside it was lush and overflowing with plants, trees and flowers, she saw begonias, red oleander, hibiscus, and lavender. There was beautiful and tall leonatis or lion’s ear, an avocado tree, and there was anise and cascading rosemary hanging from pots, all beautiful and well maintained. 

They trooped inside the house, and inside was just as spectacular.  It was all tiled floors and decorated in heavy dark Spanish furniture and bold deep colors, “Oh, this is lovely, just lovely,” Joy said. “It’s beautiful, the color reminds me of your house off Guadalupe Street,” Royce said. “Yes, but my house was just a poor imitation, this looks so much more authentic doesn’t it?”  Royce didn’t think so, this house was beautiful, but the other house had Joy written all over it.

“Well if we’re going to live here we’d better check it out,” and they walked the house, “This house was built in 1910 by a German architect who wanted a summer home,” Jameson said, “But since then it’s been owned and renovated several times.  I thought you might like it here and this place is far away, most people don’t even know about it.” “Yes, I can see that, how’d you find out about it?”  Royce asked, and they saw Jameson blush.  “I came here to convalesce after I took a wound,” and they looked at him, “It was many years ago,” he said turning away, “But I discovered this town then, it was quiet and beautiful, perfect getaway.”  “Where are we?  What part of Spain are we in?”  Royce asked, he needed some sense of direction.  “We’re in northern Spain, in Basque country, near the southern border of France actually, that body of water you see is the Bay of Biscay and the mountains behind us are the Cantabrian Mountains.  Most towns around here are very old, from Medieval times, but Isle de St. Mary’s is new in comparison, it was started by rich tourist building homes in the mid 1800’s,” he said as he showed them the house, and out of nowhere came the blonde woman.

Jameson had done what he could to make them disappear, and other than her sister showing up, but it turned out to be a better diversion for the boyfriend to say he was with her than trying to make something up.  His only problem was her sister was more outgoing than she was and she talked a lot.  He hoped she would keep her mouth closed, and the boyfriend, man he was a big guy, none of them knew potentially what kind of people they might be dealing with.  At this point even he didn’t know for sure, but he wasn’t going to take any chances and let something happen to Mrs. Harrington and those boys.  
Man she was pretty
, he’d never looked at her up close like that, and the plane ride,
Oh god,
that was a huge failure.  Mr. Harrington was awful in disguise.  He just couldn’t play a role and he had to smile, it was funny but so dangerous.  They had no idea, but he’d done what he could and after the night of the shooting he knew where he had to take them. 

He knew lots of places, but he knew that once he walked that house and when he walked in the living room and saw the portrait.  It was a huge portrait of their wedding day, and Mrs. Harrington was stunning, absolutely breathtaking, her dress showing off her beautiful curves, her dark hair pulled to the side, her red bouquet brilliant and her smile said it all, “I’m happy, so happy,” but it was Mr. Harrington that struck him, he couldn’t take his eyes off him, he was a man striking in his bearing, but his expression, the look in his eye said something, it spoke to you, his bold blue eyes sparkled, his smile so easy but it held all the answers to something and he stared at him.  He’d never seen that man before.  The first Mr. Harrington he met was sad, sad over his love for a married woman, then angry at her husband, then worried, concerned, scared even of what was going on in his life, but on his wedding day he was who he was supposed to be.  It was there captured in that portrait and he knew then he had to protect that man and his family and he hoped one day when this was all over he’d see the man in that picture again, and he thought of the house in Spain. 

The house was a vacation rental property now, anyone who could afford it rented it by the week, the month, to spend their holiday in and he’d basically taken it off the market. He’d sent Valerie to set up the surveillance equipment and plant bugs and he rented the house next door for them. 

Joy and Royce walked upstairs and into the master suite, the windows were open, “Oh my, would you look at that view?  The water isn’t that clear turquoise of Jamaica, but it’s gorgeous, just gorgeous!” Joy said.  The windows opened like double doors and there was a beautiful wrought iron enclosure so you could stand there for hours letting in the sea breeze and bay sounds, it had a spectacular view of the beach and dark blue waters of the bay and you could see far off for miles into the horizon and she saw nothing but miles and miles of beach.  She looked to her right and saw wooden stairs leading down from their new home.  She let her eyes follow the stairs, it stopped at a small wooden landing, then continued down to the beach, a retention wall was built as the steps reached the sand, it kept the beach below and the property above from encroaching on each other and at the bottom of the stairs there was a table and chairs under a blue beach umbrella so she assumed that must belong to this house. 

She saw people on the beach, most weren’t swimming, but walking or laying out, a few brave souls were in the water, it was March and the end of winter so she assumed the water was cold.
This is going to be my new home until this thing blows over,
she smiled,
yeah, I can like it here
.   “I think Jameson did alright on this one.  The house in Jamaica wasn’t bad, but this, yeah I can be on the run in this,” they laughed and Royce smiled and the only thing missing to him was that portrait over the mantle, to have it here would be a great reminder on what he was striving for.

Valerie showed Jameson the equipment in the closet, she flicked through screen after screen and he checked the sound on the bugs, he could hear the Harrington's up in their master bedroom, he took off the headphones.  “Okay everything is set then,” Jameson said, “So what’s the word from Reggie?”  He’d left Reggie in charge of the office and placed an undercover prison guard to get close to Tammy. “So far cold,” that was good and bad, good no one was looking and bad nothing new had come from the undercover.  “Okay, I need you to go into town, hang out see if anyone is interested in the new arrivals.”  He saw Valerie smile, he knew she liked disguises as much as he did, he’d see her leave in a few minutes looking like a Spanish lady on a night on the town, he was over talking to Royce by then.

“Valerie and I are ensconced in the house next door.  We are constantly surveilling the premises, so you might see us pop up out of the blue.  Let your family know this, so we won’t alarm them, and Mr. Harrington one of us must accompany Mrs. Harrington wherever she goes, please advise her of that.” Royce nodded, “She won’t like it, but she’ll understand,” and he was feeling more relaxed and safe, and now he was glad he had the off shore account in the Cayman Islands. 

Jameson brought Ricardo and his wife Rosa over to introduce them. “These are the caretakers, she cleans and cooks and he does the grounds.  She will come every day and cook, clean and do laundry, dishes, so don’t worry about any of that,” Jameson said.  “Well do they speak English?”  Joy asked, they were bowing and saying, “Hola Senora.” “Hablan Ingles,” he said to them, “Si, poco Ingles,” Rosa said. “Si un poquito mas,” Ricardo said. “He speaks more than she does,” Jameson said, and Joy looked at him, "You speak Spanish?"  He looked shy, "Yes ma'am."  “Okay, well then Jameson we need to learn too.  Can you get us a Spanish tutor or do you want me to find one…” “No Mrs. Harrington, no I will find a tutor,” and so far he hadn’t decided what to do with them and their names.  The plane ride showed him it was going to be impossible for them to pretend to be other people and even if they did the children would surely give them away, but if they kept their names it was a flashing beacon to whoever might be looking for them so for now he was perplexed.

And that night when Valerie came back she said, “No, nobody cares.  They see so many people coming and going in this house they expect it, but they think she’s Spanish,” and he raised an eyebrow, “They say a Spanish lady and her Anglo husband are now vacationing in the house.”  Jameson shook his head and walked the perimeter and saw the big house quieting down. 

“Come here woman,” Royce said, “No, stop it Royce, stop it,” Joy said giggling and laughing.  Royce kissed her, “Oh I love you woman.”

Joy had done the thing Royce loved.  She had finally unpacked her suitcase and she found the leopard print camisole and thong and laughed when she saw it, “How in the world did he think to pack this?”  She fell on the bed laughing so hard, he was talking to Jameson then, and as she unpacked her suitcase and saw what kind of packing he had done she couldn’t understand what he was thinking, “This shirt, I haven’t worn this in years,” and then almost at the end she pulled out the leopard camisole and thong and she fell out laughing.

That night after they’d showered and put the kids to bed she closed the bathroom door, brushed her hair until it was bouncy and full of body, she put on the leopard print camisole and thong and a pair of black high heeled pumps he’d packed.  She opened the door and walked sexily out in front of him and he nearly died, he laughed so hard, but he was also turned on, “Where did that come from?”  And “Damn you look good woman.” “You packed it,” she teased him. “I did not, did I?”  He questioned, “Yes, you know you did,” and Royce had no idea he’d packed it, he just opened a drawer and saw underwear and dumped it in her suit case, he laughed, “I guess I knew what I wanted, come here woman,” she ran from him, twitching her beautiful behind.  He chased her around, grabbing her and throwing her on the bed, tickling her. “Stop it Royce, stop it,” she said laughing.

Royce untied the red ribbon that held the top together and opened it exposing her breast, “Oh baby,” he moaned, this took him right back to The Club when she was his then too.  They’d left all their toys.  He guessed they’d have to replace those while they were here.  He sucked her, and caressed her bare round swells, “Oh baby, oh you feel so good,” Royce wanted to savor this moment with her.  They were safe, and loving Joy was the only thing that mattered, and right now he didn’t want to think about who was after them or why, they were safe. 

After their first night they settled into living in Spain and made a home in Isle de St. Mary’s and had become totally and wholly Spanish.

Joy thanked god for Rosa, it was Rosa who taught her how to cook the Spanish way and how to live the Spanish lifestyle.  “No, no senora,” she would say, “You must learn to cook slowly.”  Food and lifestyle went hand in hand in Spain.  Joy learned that breakfast and dinner were small light meals, breakfast or desayuno usually consisted of strong café con leche (coffee with frothy milk) and bollos (sweet rolls), and dinner or la cena is usually an omelet or fish with a green salad or arroz cubano (white rice with tomato sauce and vegetables, topped with a fried egg), but lunch or la comida was the main meal, it was long at least two to three hours with multiple courses, from soup, like vegetable, bean, seafood, gazpacho or salad.  Then the main course is accompanied with many dishes like paella (a seafood rice), goat cheese stuffed peppers, roast suckling pig, pisto manchego (a ratatouille), potatoes bravas, fresh fruits, rabbit stew and bread is always on the table and to follow up there is a dessert of flan, fruit, or ice cream.