My Sister Jackie Ch. 07

In this final chapter of My Sister Jackie there is no descriptive sex or sex acts. Instead I'm using this chapter to tie-up the story's loose ends and unanswered questions from the previous chapters.

If you're still with me I hope you enjoy. Thanks for your patience and understanding of the difficulty in writing this story.

Again, in advance please forgive any typos and the occasional grammatical faux pas.

Positive feedback and thoughts are always appreciated.

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I parked my car in the driveway and walked past the realtor's For Sale sign toward a gate on the side of the house that I remembered led to a large patio at the rear of the house. I was relieved that the gate was unlocked. A gentle gust of wind ruffled the leaves on the trees that surround the patio and garden behind the now empty house.

Architecture of the house is a good example of the Monterey Colonial style with thick white plaster walls, shuttered windows, and a large veranda around the second floor of the house. The patio was paved by large terracotta paving tiles that surround the swimming pool—empty except for a thin layer of dead leaves at the deep end. The house sits majestically on the hills above the city.

Sunlight occasionally broke through the clouds and filtered through the trees making patterns of dancing light and shadow on the stone walkway before me. I followed the walkway to the edge of the garden where I hesitated looking out at the city below. As usual, I felt as if I was looking for something but didn't know what.

I followed another walkway past the pool that led to the guesthouse at the edge of the patio. On my right there was a large neglected flowerbed full of weeds. As I stood there, lost in my thoughts I vividly remembered the day as if it was yesterday.

The last time I'd been to the house was well over a year ago, looking for anything that would help me find her. I wasn't really sure why I'd returned now maybe it was because I didn't know what else to do or where else to look. It was one of the last places that Jackie and I were together.

Jackie told me that the house belonged to friends that were out of town and we'd be alone. With a faint amount of pain, my mind still recalled the way we made love that day. Passionately giving, taking, and sharing ourselves with each other, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. I remember every inch of her naked body, the tenderness of her skin, the smell of her hair and every sigh and whimper she uttered as we made love here in this garden that August afternoon. Sometimes It seems like so little but it was all I had of her to hold on to.

I admit that, as I looked down at the city below, I couldn't help wondering if Jackie was still out there, or if she'd simply gone back to her old life on the East coast and, no matter how long I looked, maybe I'd never find her again? If I ever found her I wouldn't let her go. A decision, one way or another, had to be made, it was long overdue.

I'd try to run over in my mind what I would say or how I'd react if I ever did find her again. Could I be pleasant? Could I act as if I was indifferent about what we felt or shared with each other? Was all of that forgotten or without meaning any longer?

I can easily recall Jackie's face when she and I made love. I remember the way she looked when we made love here on this very patio. That day we swam, we lay in the sun made love; here in the pool, on the lounge chairs and even one time on the lush grass. I also remember how her eyes looked deeply into mine as if she was disturbed about something.

I was deep in thought as I stood at the edge of the patio. Suddenly I heard a soft clipping sound and I realized that someone was in the garden next door. I turned enough to see an elderly woman moving between flowering plants and neatly trimmed bushes. She wore a flower print apron over her cotton housedress, gardening gloves, rubber boots and a large straw hat that shaded her head and shoulders. She was carrying a small, almost flat basket and she'd stop, clip flowers from the stem and carefully place them in the basket. "Oh, hello, I didn't know you were there," she said as she looked up at me. Are you from the real estate office?"

"No, I saw the For Sale sign and thought I'd take a look at the house."

"It's a beautiful house inside," she said. "There've been a lot of people coming by to look at it. Before the owners put the house up for sale it used to be so beautiful...so many flowers." She looked past me and added, "The garden has a lot of privacy but," she shook her head softly and chuckled. "I don't want to sound like a broken record but it needs some work."

"My husband Carl and I were glad when the house went up for sale. They were a nice couple I suppose. They rarely had any visitors—not even family that I could tell." She suddenly looked embarrassed and laughed softly. "Listen to me, I sound like a nosy busybody." She chuckled softly. "If you and your wife decide to buy this house I know we'd be good neighbors." I smiled and nodded but I really was hoping she'd leave me to my own thoughts.

"Well, um, no wife yet," I said with an awkward pause. "I was here once visiting a friend, she was housesitting for the owners. Do you remember her?" The woman hesitated trying to remember. "Oh, do you mean the pretty brunette girl, Jackie?"

"Yes!" I said too eagerly as I turned towards her.

The woman's features softened. "Yes, of course I remember her. She loved my garden." Sometimes she'd just come and sit and we'd talk as I planted. Sometimes I'd see her just sitting alone over by the Iris—the Iris were her favorites."

"Do you know where I can find her, maybe a phone number?"

"No." She paused and looked disappointed before looking down and delicately rearranged some of the flowers in the basket. Lifting her head she looked directly at me and said, "That poor girl, so pretty, and so troubled. She was in love but something wasn't right. It was none of my business and I thought she might want to talk about it but she never did."

"Yes, that's her. Unfortunately, I lost contact with her.

I felt the woman might know more but was suddenly cautious about giving out too much information to a stranger.

"Oh." My disappointment had to be showing on my face. Another dead end, I thought.

The woman struggled to remember for a moment but gave up with a sigh and a pleasant smile. "I must seem like such a nosy busybody," she laughed with slight embarrassment. "My husband Carl say's I should just tend to my garden...the roses don't like to be ignored," she said with a soft laugh.

"No, I'm glad for your help, really." I turned to leave and got several yards away.

"Oh, umm, I just remembered something else. She talked about a secluded beach—no, it was a cove and a seafood restaurant somewhere up the coast. I had the feeling that something must have happened there...something important."

I let myself out through the patio gate and got in my car and I just sat there for a few moments thinking about what the neighbor mentioned about the cove and my friend John's restaurant. I started the engine in my car and decided to search for some answers. I wasn't sure why and I headed for John's restaurant. I could make it there well before dusk. As I drove an occasional heavy raindrop would hit my windshield with a sharp snapping sound.

Except for a few cars belonging to the waiters the parking lot was almost empty when I pulled in. John's vintage Mercedes was parked near the back door. I went into the restaurant and found him in his tiny office squeezed-in next to the freezer.

"Jesus, look what the surf just washed in," he said with a loud laugh when he saw me. "It's been a while buddy, what brings you all the way out here?"

"Where's your manners?" I asked. "Aren't you going to offer me a drink?"

John got up from his chair and said, "Com with me, I think I have some of the cheap stuff left over that barely passes for Scotch but you won't know the difference!" John laughed as I followed him to the bar. I sat on the end barstool as John went behind the bar.

"Scotch up?"

I nodded.

"What brings you all the way out here on a day like this?"

"I'm not sure; do you remember the brunette I brought in here—"

"Jackie? Sure. Who could forget her?" I noticed John's attitude seemed to change slightly. "She comes in a couple of times a month. I think they must live close-by. The last time they were here was just a few weeks ago." He paused as he set the glass down in front of me. "I thought you and Jackie had a serious thing going."

"It's a little complicated," I said.

John shrugged his shoulders as he took a drink.

"Jackie always comes in with a group. Her husband is a total jerk, a big spender that can't hold his liquor or his mouth. He treats her like shit!"

"Husband?" The word slammed into my head.

"Yeah. Well, I mean as far as I can tell. They're always together when they come in."

"When you stand behind a bar for as long as I have, you begin to realize that people can't hide much. But, my guess is that she doesn't like him—there's not much to like. They came in not long after you brought her here that first time. They're always with maybe three or four other couples, never just the two of them. That first time she came in, she managed to slip away from the table and she came into the kitchen and asked me not to mention that she'd ever been here before or that we've ever met. She looked scared I knew it was something important and I told her not to worry about it, she was relieved and she wanted to say something more but her husband came in to find her. He was angry and wanted to know why she was in the kitchen and why she was talking to me."

John paused as he looked directly at me. "Look, I don't know what's going on but that guy is bad news, and not someone to mess around with—he has friends that are a hell of a lot worse than him." John took a drink and looked at his glass for a moment before saying, "Look, these guys are way out of your league—they like to hurt people who want what they've got."

I walked out the backdoor toward my car as a strong gust of cold wind came off the ocean causing me to glance out at the choppy gray sea. The sky above was filled with angry black rain clouds. I stood by my car for a moment more disappointed than ever. I drove out of the parking lot and instead of returning down the coast toward the city I headed up the coast toward the cove; expecting nothing. I pulled my car off the roadway and followed the wide path along the top of the bluff as far as I could go. There was a new Cadillac parked beside the road. I cursed softly at the thought that someone else was there. I got out of my car and walked to the edge of the bluff as a few more heavy drops began to fall.

My gaze turned from the dark horizon to the undisturbed sandy beach below. My whole body jolted as I saw what appeared to be a woman fully dressed standing knee-deep in the powerful surf below. It was too far to tell for sure who it was...but in my heart, I was positive that it was Jackie!

"NO! My mind screamed! It can't end like this! "NOT LIKE THIS...NOT WHEN WERE FINALLY SO CLOSE!"

I ran down the narrow and slippery trail toward the beach. I shouted with everything I had in me. But the wind was too strong and my voice was lost as it was carried away inland. I shouted again as I ran toward her. I could see her as she stood facing the ocean, the surf raced up and back swirling around her thighs. The rain began to fall harder as I ran into the surf behind her. I splashed through the water until she was only a few yards away.

"JACKIE," I called out as I reached her.

She turned her head toward me with a shocked look on her face. Our eyes held each other's. Her clothes and hair were wet from the rain and surf. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here!" She looked around fearfully before taking a step back. She raised her hand and covered her mouth as she began to cry, that quickly turned to deep sobbing as I put my arm around her waist and pulled her toward me.

"Go away, let me go!" She tried to pull away.

"Jackie, this isn't right whatever it is we can work it out. I've been searching for you. You need to come with me now, for good."

"You don't understand," she screamed over the loud roar of the wind, rain and pounding surf. "Please go away!"

"I don't care about the past and who we really are to each other."

"It's not about our past," she sobbed as she pulled away from me causing her to lose her balance falling in a sitting position in the shallow water.

I reached for her hand and pulled her up supporting her as we struggled up the beach toward the trail on the bluff. Our clothes were soaked and I could feel Jackie shivering against me. She didn't say anything all the way back to the cars. She simply looked at the ground in front of us. When we got to the cars the rain had letup for a moment and I got a wool blanket out of the trunk of my car. I helped her take her clothes off except for her panties and bra and wrapped the blanket tightly around her. She sat in the front seat next to me and neither of us spoke on the drive back to my apartment. She was exhausted; Several times I heard her crying softly.

When we got back to my apartment I helped her into a hot shower and made sure she was alright before I took off my wet clothes and put on my sweats. After her shower she wrapped-up in my robe and laid on my bed. I needed some answers and it was time for us to make some decisions. I sat on the edge of the bed and asked the one question that had been burning in my mind since I left my friend John at his restaurant and drove to the cove.

"Are you married?"

Her eyes were heavy and she struggled to keep them open as she looked at me and shook her head no in answer to my question.

"No, remember I told you about my ex-husband Roger? We divorced years ago but he never accepted it. I'm his weakness—he won't let me go," she answered. "He's a powerful and violent man that will stop at nothing to get what he wants. He especially enjoys making someone pay." Jackie was silent as she looked at me. "

"There are ways to deal with that—"

She just looked at me and shook her head softly as if I didn't understand the severity of what she was saying. "No there's not, not now or ever.

"Some things have happened in the past that would destroy him. But if it was handled wrong, innocent people might be in danger. It's a standoff of sorts but kept me alive. I've tried to get away before but he won't let me go. He says he loves me but he's cold and incapable of feeling love. I'm a dangerous possession and liability to him. He thrives on it like some sort of game.

"He's a powerful and violent man that will stop at nothing if someone gets in his way or threatens him." She paused, took a deep breath and said, "I was with him when he murdered two men that tried to double cross him. If it was anybody else but me, they'd have disappeared and never been found. I've hidden photo and audio proof where he'll never find it. If anything were to happen to me everything would come out and he couldn't control it.

"At the beach, I wasn't trying to commit suicide, I don't know...I was trying to see if I could leave my car and some of my clothes on the beach at the cove—and simply disappear. Go someplace where he couldn't find me."

I hesitated, thinking about what she was telling me. "I thought this was all about our situation...our relationship to each other—the fact that we are brother and sister."

"In the beginning maybe it was but I hoped that we could make it work. We could deal with it and live with our decision. No one ever needed to know. I know we can make difficult decisions and be happy about it." She paused. "Then Roger found me. Like a monster filled with evil and darkness."

"I'm so tired.

She reached down and pulled the covers over her bare legs. I sat on the edge of the bed holding her hand. In just a few moments she put her head back on the pillow closed her eyes and I watched her beautiful face as she slipped into a much needed sleep.

After a while I went into the kitchen and poured some scotch into a glass and sat in the living room wondering what to do next. It was raining heavily outside that only deepened my mood. Wondering what would be needed if we were ever to be together.

I checked on her several times only to find her in a deep sleep and by late in the night I'd dozed off several times only to wake up with a shock thinking that she might be gone. Each time as I checked my room I saw her sleeping peacefully in a tangle of covers looking even more beautiful than I'd remembered.

I poured another Scotch and stood at the sink thinking about what she'd told me, unsure about what to do. Then the name of one of my first clients came to mind. "Mel Barad," I whispered to myself. Mel gave me the start I needed in business. His accounts and personal dealings were large, complicated and often times close to the edge legally. Mel was an unassuming powerful man that moved in a dark underworld where anything that needed to be bought, fixed, or eliminated could be, depending on the price.

I went back through some old files and found Mel's phone number and called him. I was surprised that he actually answered the phone.

After chatting for a little I said, "Mel, I have a problem want to discuss—"

Mel interrupted me with a chuckle saying, "A business matter? Meet me at that Peet's coffee store by your office at nine in the morning," and hung up.

I spent a very restless night mostly keeping an eye on Jackie and periodically having some serious doubts about contacting Mal.

Jackie woke about six in the morning. She was embarrassed about the way she looked and I admit that she did look pretty rough but I told her that she looked wonderful to me (she did).

I brought her a large cup of coffee and I sat on the edge of the bed with her. We chatted lightly, avoiding the obvious, elephant in the room, that was anything about what happened the day before.

I handed her the sweats and told her that I had to meet with someone at and I wanted her to go with me adding that she could wait in the car. She protested saying that she looked terrible, needed to get a change of clothes, and that she needed to get back home for fear that her ex-husband Roger would work himself up himself into an even more irrational and dangerous level of paranoia.

It was at that very instant that I knew I was ready to deal with whatever might happen in order for us to be together. Even if it meant that I would have to deal with Roger myself.

I told her that I wouldn't let her out of my sight and explained that I had a meeting with a client. After finishing our coffee we had just enough time to get dressed and ready to make it to my meeting with Mel.

Jackie didn't speak once during the drive she just looked out the car window. She was quietly crying.

When we got to Peet's there was a parking place directly in front of the store. I swung the car into the space and after turning off the car I turned to Jackie, telling her that I was meeting a man that might be able to help us and I made her promise that she'd wait in the car until I returned. She promised—I hoped she'd keep it.

When I entered Peet's I immediately saw Mel sitting at a small table at the back of the shop. Typical of Mel, he was impeccably dressed in a tailored beige suit and a green and brown herringbone vest, matching silk hand kerchief, a beige wool Ascot cap and an expensive looking walking stick. The result was that he looked like a kindly, highly learned, and trustworthy college professor. As I walked toward his table, behind my smile, was the uncertainty that I was doing the right thing but I didn't know what else to do.