White Lies Ch. 02

Somewhere in there Walker developed the ability to let his mind go blank, to avoid thinking about that. For quite some time, it made things easier.

It helped so much that one evening when Sara was at class, Carla came out of the bedroom wearing just a shorty sheer nightgown.

Walker kept his mind as blank as he possibly could, she was eager and fondled him, leaning down to suck on him like she had not done for ages.

"I need you, honey. I love you so much." She whispered. He reached out and stroked her familiar body, letting his own body function without thought.

The taste of her brought him to a complete erection, it was good, familiar. That always did it for him.

They were still very active in the bedroom when he heard the front door unlock, Walker knew that Sara was home. He could tell that she stopped and listened, then with a happy titter, she went to her own room.

For a short while, life became peaceful.

+++

Then once again, Carla became moody, first acting happy, then slipping into hours of acting sullen.

Walker began to check on her himself, not wanting very badly to spend the $2500 per month the Detective agency cost.

It was easy to get the time, his job now allowed him to do much of it with a simple hand held phone and a wireless laptop.

Several afternoons in a row, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Carla would come out, climb into the waiting taxicab and head home. Walker could easily beat her home with a couple of shortcuts, probably because the taxi always took a longer route to run up the tab.

One afternoon there was mayhem in the front entrance, several ambulances arrived. He knew she would be late that night, so he simply drove home.

Then one afternoon he saw Jonathan, the man came out and stood there waiting. He kept glancing impatiently at his watch. That was when it struck Walker how big the man was, he had only seen him sitting down that time in the hospital lounge when he had threatened him, and in the few photos.

Carla came out 10 minutes or so later, they spoke briefly, then went around behind one of the big pillars at the entrance. All Walker could see was her back, she was talking to the man for quite a long time. He saw the man's arms reach around her waist with obvious familiarity.

Carla stood on tiptoe, leaned forward out of sight. Walker knew she was kissing him, just a quick one. With a happy smile and a wave, she turned and walked briskly to the waiting Taxi, it quickly pulled away.

That was when he made a mistake. In a rage, he got out and stormed across the lot, Jonathan was just stepping out from behind the pillar. He saw Walker coming and flushed, then he put one foot slightly ahead of the other.

That looked odd.

"I told you what I was going to do, asshole." Walker blurted out, starting a swing.

His first mistake was to attempt an unprepared confrontation.

His second mistake was that he had never been in a fight in his entire life except back in grade school, and he had lost that one.

Jonathan ducked and hit him, making his head swim. He was hit the second time before he could recover, his legs failed and he went down. Something hit him in the ribs, tipping him over onto his side. He could see Jonathan kicking at him, there was then nothing Walker could do but cover up.

"How do you like that, fucker?" Jonathan was leaning over him. His face was a red mask of rage.

"Leave my wife alone!" Walker managed, grasping his sides.

"Up to her, asshole. If you can't keep up with her, I don't mind doing it! Who the fuck do you think you are? You come in and threaten me, you think you can get away with that shit?" He gave Walker a final kick, then turned away.

"I'm going to kill you!" Walker managed to gasp.

The man stopped and glared at him, then walked away.

Walker struggled back to his car, drove home. He was miserable, the man had handled him like he was a child.

Furious, he went into the garage, loaded the stun gun he had purchased, some rope, and his new hatchet into the trunk.

He had once again made up his mind. Then he went inside.

"What in the world?" Carla said, the instant she saw him.

"It's nothing." He got to his recliner, sat down.

"Let me see!" Carla demanded.

"Leave me the fuck alone!" Walker yelled at her. She glared at him, then stomped into the kitchen.

Sara was home, she came out of her bedroom.

Taking one look, she went and got some cool water, began pressing a wash cloth to his swollen face. She dabbed something that stung to the cut on his eyebrow.

"You and I need to talk, Daddy. Sometime when Mom isn't here." She whispered.

Walker just nodded.

+++

Carla acted angry with Walker for the next couple of days. He ignored that, ignored her pointed questions. He didn't mention what he had seen, there simply was no point.

But it was obvious that she knew what had happened.

"We aren't doing anything, Walker. We really aren't." She told him just once.

Walker didn't answer. Her lover had manhandled him, beaten him and he had done it easily. Now what did she think of him? He could not even defend his home, his family?

The only thing that stopped him from just acting was Sara.

The next day he walked in the door from work, Sara sat there. She was home very early.

"It was that man, wasn't it?" She asked almost instantly.

"Yes. It was my fault, I tried to handle him, but I couldn't."

"It's not your fault. It's Mom's. I know about it, part of it anyway. Mom and I had a terrible argument this morning, I told her to stop seeing him, but she denied she even was."

"I think she is, or at least she was. I am not sure how or when but I think so. All of those trips out of town...."

"Are you going to divorce her, Daddy?" Sara asked.

"I haven't even thought about that." He said.

"I hate her! How can she do this to us?" Sara started to cry.

"Don't hate her, she is your Mother. Sometimes the flesh is weak, so we just need to figure out what to do."

"It just can't go on and on, I don't think." She told him.

"No. It can't." He said bitterly.

Sara sat there quietly for several long seconds.

"Daddy? I know." She said, finally.

"Know what, honey?"

"I went to see that man, I snooped and figured it out. I knew something was wrong for a long time, I can see it in you. As soon as I saw him, I knew. So I went in there...to the hospital. I was going to tell him to stay away from Mom, but as soon as I saw him? He has...?"

Walker sighed.

"The same red hair you do, honey. The same look, and he is tall. Like you." Walker said, resigned to it.

Sara sat there silently.

"Well, you are my Daddy. He might be part of my blood but he isn't my Daddy, YOU are!" She hugged him so tightly that for a moment he couldn't breathe.

"I'm sorry for lying to you about that, Sara. I just didn't want you to be hurt."

"Yes, I know. That's part of how I know you are my Daddy, that man doesn't care. He might as well have come from a test tube." She said.

"He knows about you now, doesn't he?"

"Yes. He already did, I am sure Mom told him because he wasn't surprised at all to see me."

"He wasn't?"

"No. He knew who I was the instant I walked in."

"What did he say?"

"Not much, really. He knew my name, and told me he was proud that I was...pretty. He even said he had seen me several times before, I didn't know that. He has pictures, he showed me. He has been right here, outside sometimes. When I told him I wanted him to leave Mom alone, he told me that was up to her."

"That's what he told me." Walker said.

"Then he told me that if he and Mom got together we would be a real family."

Walker felt a flash of anger again at that.

"I slapped his face. Hard, too, but he didn't even move, he just looked at me." She grinned.

"That's more than I managed." Walker laughed.

"Let's move out." Sara said suddenly.

"What?"

"Move out, get a place by ourselves. This just can't keep going on, you and I are happy together!"

"What about your Mother?" Walker asked.

"Fuck Mom!" She blurted out.

Walker blinked again at that, it was only the second time he had heard her use profanity.

"Such a dirty word coming from such pretty lips!" Walker chastised her with a gentle smile.

Sara just giggled.

+++

Carla came home to an empty house just three days later. There was a note sitting there, she picked it up and read it.

"You and Johnny have a nice life." Was all it said. Walker hadn't wanted to leave that but Sara insisted. She was really quite angry with her Mother.

Carla sat down and cried. Then she picked up the phone and called Jonathan.

"Walker left me." She told him.

"Good riddance!" He answered.

"No. It's not. I can't see you any more, it is over."

"Like hell it is! That's no man, you belong to me!" He said loudly.

"No! I belong with Walker and my daughter!"

"Hey, just let the asshole go, you and I can be together. It's been months, now you don't have any more excuses."

"We can't ever be together, Johnny. I already told you that was a mistake."

"Like hell it was, you belong to me, you always have!" His voice was angry.

"No! I love Walker." She said.

"How in the hell can you love that little wimp? I give you way more than he ever can. Besides, Sara is my daughter, not his!"

Carla hung up. The phone rang instantly, she ignored it.

She called Walker's cell phone, it went to voice mail. The next day she called his work, he wasn't there. Still fearful of driving, she took a taxi, having him drive up and down streets, looking. The bill was enormous.

A week went by, then two, nothing. Checking on the accounts, she discovered that half of them were gone.

She took the leave she had coming from her work, spent the time trying to find Walker, but came up with nothing. A call to the College met with the same results.

Jonathan kept calling, she ignored the calls.

Then she saw him driving by slowly several times, but he only looked at the house and drove on.

Carla felt slightly nervous about that.

On impulse, she got out her old bike, and rode it down to the night club where they had first met. Walker's car sat in the parking lot. She pulled in and went inside.

Walker and Sara were sitting at one of the tables talking to an old woman. She walked up to them and sat down.

"Hello, Carla. This is our friend Helen." Walker introduced her, he didn't appear to be even surprised to see her.

"Well, everyone is here, it seems." Helen said with a smile.

"How did you get here, Carla?" He asked. The bar was several miles from their house.

"I rode the bike." She said.

"Really?" He was mildly surprised at that, knowing Carla was afraid of the cars while on it, and that she didn't drive either.

They looked at each other, she saw no trace of anger or anything in his face.

"What in the hell is going on, Walker? You just leave and take my daughter with you, saying nothing?"

"Sara is my daughter too!" Walker said.

"No, she isn't she is...." Then her face flushed as she realized what she was about to say. She still wasn't sure how much Walker knew.

"Sara IS my daughter. She is all grown up, she can decide for herself. We have decided to live together for awhile. We need to get a lot of things sorted out, our friend Helen here has been helping." Walker told her in a calm voice.

"Who is this woman, what does she have to do with anything?"

"I have been seeing her for some time now, we talk. Now Sara and I are both..."

"You need to come home!" Carla blurted out, ignoring that.

"No, honey. Not yet." Walker said.

"I'm not...I won't...I love you, I want to be with you! You need to come home!" Carla insisted.

"Honey, love means that you stick no matter what, you can't be with a man like this and have a toy on the side." Helen told her.

"Who in the hell is this woman, it's none of her damned business!" Carla yelled.

"Actually it is, Mom. Daddy has been talking to Helen for a long time. He and I have been seeing her for over a week now together, he needed to get things sorted out and so did I." Sara told her.

"Sara, I....please?"

"Mom. We are not coming home, not now and maybe not ever. You will always be my Mom but I am ashamed of you right now, so Dad and I will live together."

"You can't do that!" Carla said.

"Oh, yes we can." Walker told her.

Carla jumped up, glared at them, then stormed out.

"That's about what I figured, Walker." Helen said.

He just nodded. The old woman was right, sometimes all there is to do is move on.

"I wish I had met you years ago." Walker told her.

"Maybe my life wouldn't be so messed up?" He added.

"Oh, it probably would be, but it's never too late, tomorrow is a new day. Anyway, leave the boyfriend alone, he isn't worth the effort." She grinned at him, patting his hand.

"One other thing, you have lots of things to fix in your own head, and just a few hours sure isn't going to do it all. You come and see me, I will talk to you. Maybe at my house so we can have more privacy since your wife now knows where you might be?" She pressed a card into his hand, then gave one to Sara.

Walker and Sara got up to leave. It had been a couple of weeks well spent, the old woman had helped him once before.

She was right then, and perhaps if he hadn't been a bit too late getting home that night, things might have turned out differently.

"Show her you love her, let her know you care." Was her advice. That night Walker had rushed home, ready to talk with his wife, ready to forgive and move on.

Instead, he had found them together in the hospital, all they were doing was sitting there talking but that had been ugly.

His idea of attacking Jonathan, actually killing him, then lord knows what came next? Sure, he could perhaps hurt the man if he got a jump, but then he would lose everything.

He had told Helen about his plans, she listened and did not even appear surprised. Then she explained that doing something like that would destroy not only the man but his own life, his daughter's, everything.

The real problem was with his wife anyway, and she was the person he had to come to terms with.

Helen was right, he knew that now.

Insanity. He had contemplated murder. He had even lied to Sara about the DNA results, that wasn't him, either.

Helen had explained to him about hate, emotions, how they can only damage what really matters.

Walker knew what mattered to him, and that was his Sara. He now felt mostly at peace, so he took her hand and they walked out of the bar to go home.

Yet he still felt the anger, and he knew it would take him a long time to let that all of that go.

+++

Walker had just touched the key fob to unlock the car door when his head exploded. He felt his face hit the gravel in the parking lot. He tried to roll over, hearing screams somewhere in the distance.

He knew the screams were from Sara.

He managed to get to his hands and knees, then something hit his side and he went down again.

Rolling over onto his back, he looked up and saw Jonathan standing there. He had something in his hand.

"Threaten me, you motherfucker? Carla is mine now. I will KILL you!" The man yelled. Walker tried to scoot backwards, get to his feet but he was kicked again in the face and went down backwards. Blood filled his mouth, he was trying to get a breath but almost could not.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sara. She seemed to be running away, he was grateful. He tried to yell at her to get away, get as far as she could but no words would come out. He felt another blow strike his hip, his leg went numb.

Looking up, he saw the blur of the man, then his big fist being drawn back. Walker braced for the blow he knew was coming, he had no way to avoid it.

Jonathan hesitated for a second, his mouth came open, then down he went. Walker scooted backwards away from him with his arms, expecting him to follow but he didn't.

The man seemed to be knocked down from something, he was on his knees and elbows for some reason. Then he saw Sara, she drew back a leg and kicked Jonathan from behind. Her aim was very good, he screamed and then began to retch.

"Don't you hurt my Daddy, you motherfucker!" She yelled.

Sara drew back and kicked him a second time, much harder. The man went down onto his face and lay still.

"Daddy! Are you all right?" She was by his side.

"Yes, I think so. You are sure getting quite the mouth on you, Sara." He said.

That sounded completely crazy at a time like that.

Walker managed somehow to get to his feet, his leg would barely work and his side felt like it was full of something.

"What in the hell? Where did he come from?" He asked, each word a struggle to get enough breath.

"He must have been following Mom." Sara said.

"What happened to him?"

"You dropped the key fob, I grabbed it and unlocked the trunk. That stun gun thingie really works good." She grinned.

"So does your right leg." Walker tried to laugh, spitting up some more blood.

"Well, you know I played woman's soccer in school." She grinned. She had her hands on his mouth trying to peer inside.

Jonathan moved, then moaned.

"Just a second." Sara said. She went over a jerked up his shirt, stuck the stun gun against his bare skin and held it there for about 15 seconds.

Walker stood there and watched that as the man jerked, then lay still.

"That should do it until the cops get here!" She grinned. Walker almost couldn't believe she just did that.

"Maybe we should just keep doing it until the cops get here!" He tried to laugh again, that didn't work very well. Suddenly he realized he couldn't get a breath at all. The world began to spin and he passed out.

+++

Walker was resting in the hospital, Sara sat by his side. Nothing in the world hurts more than broken ribs and he had six of them caved in. He was wrapped up like a mummy, they had operated and repaired his punctured lung.

Sara and he were talking about her plans for when she finished school.

He let out a groan when he tried to move.

"Just lay still, Daddy. It won't hurt so much." She told him.

"It's sure a hell of a note, two scraps with that guy and I get the short end of the stick both times." He managed.

"That doesn't matter, we got him."

"Well, you did anyway. Say, how did you know the stun gun was there?"

"I didn't, I was looking for a tire iron. I cut my finger on your axe, though. For a second I was going to use that, then I saw the taser thingie." She held up her bandaged finger and giggled.

Just then a policeman appeared at the door.

"How are you doing, bud?" The moment he opened his mouth Walker recognized him as the same one that had stopped him out on the highway months before.

He looked over at Sara sitting there, hesitated.

Sara looked at the man, then she smiled. Walker looked at him, then at her. He certainly was a good looking young man, perhaps a half dozen years older than Sara.

"OK, I am fine I guess, all things considered, Officer."

"Well, I am glad to see your friend still has his arms and his legs!" He laughed at that, finally turning to look at Walker.

"You know about that?"

"Yea, I am a cop. I already interviewed Doctor Hansen. He says you attacked him, made threats? Anyway, Officer Tim Herrington, at your service."

"I didn't...not this time."

"We know. Man did this little lady here mess him up. He spent quite a long time in surgery, they had to operate..on his testicles." He glanced at Sara for a moment.

"Oh! I didn't mean to...." Sara put her hand to her mouth.

"Remind me to not make you mad." The policeman just shrugged.

"Is Sara going to be in trouble?" Walker asked.

"Nope. Self defense and defense of another person is perfectly legal. Heck, I think she should get a medal. She probably saved your life." He was looking at Sara with interest, grinning now.