PART OF HER WORLD

CHAPTER 6

Asher had spent most of the afternoon sitting with his little sister Crystal and his niece Hallie in the doctor’s office. Crystal had tried to ask why his fist looked as if he had punched out a wall and he lied, telling her he had hurt himself at work. He had paid Rick another visit and this time there had been no cops around to stop him from having a 'talk' with him. When he left, he had no doubts in his mind that Rick would never bother Sophia again. However, that worry was now replaced with a new one.

After listening to the extensive procedures his little niece would need to have done to repair a new problem with her heart, he was upset again. It was expensive, and they would have to fly to Baltimore for the procedure and it was more money than either of them had. Hallie couldn’t be covered under his medical because she didn’t live with him.

Like their mother, Crystal was a small round lady with a heart of gold and a temper that when flared was scary. Her long black hair was thrown up in a fast ponytail and her sweatshirt and torn jeans had seen better years. All their extra money went to Hallie’s treatments and they never seemed to be enough. Now if he couldn’t get Hallie covered under his medical, she could die without this surgery.

After her first surgery, they needed a special pump. No one had the money and Hallie would have died without it. His brother-in-law Mark, his older brother Vince and himself took it upon themselves to rob a bank; they were desperate and stupid. Mark was shot and killed by a cop and Vince had shot the officer whose partner had shot Asher in the leg. Vince was still doing life in the state pen. Asher had been released five years earlier for good behavior and prison overcrowding. When the reason behind the robbery had come to light an anonymous person footed the bill for Hallie’s pump, it was the only good thing to have come out of the whole fiasco.

His baby sister stood there her small fist on her hip as she stared up at him.

“Look if we lie and get caught both of us would be up for fraud and you’ll be back in prison Harrison!” Crystal told him using his first name.

“What else can we do ... she needs this treatment!" he said his voice breaking slightly.

“I can’t lose you again ... please just don’t do anything to get yourself into trouble,” she said as worry filled her eyes.

“Look I’ll get another job, pull extra shifts and sell the truck, but you’re not giving her up to the state!" Asher said after he learned his sister had thought about giving his only niece up.

“It might be the only way she will get the treatments!”  His sister’s voice cracked as she strained to stay in control of her emotions.

“Move in with me ... Crystal let me be her guardian then she’ll be covered on my medical,” he told her as the idea hit him.

“Harrison you live in a one-bedroom bachelor apartment!" she reminded him of his cramped living space.

“I go by Asher now and let me move in with you then,” he stated, and she looked at him oddly.

“Ok ... but I’m not cleaning up after you!" she told him. The grin on her lips widened.

Hallie came flying out of the small run-down trailer into his arms as soon as her mother had agreed to him living with them.

“Oh yes now we can play Free Fall Frenzy all the time!" she said with excitement.

“Oh no you’re still limited to an hour a day on the video game miss,” Crystal said as she ruffled both his niece’s hair.

“Good now I need a letter from your landlord, and I’ll give my notice at my apartment and she’ll be covered within a few days!” Asher smiled as he lifted Hallie up into his arms.

The seven-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl could have passed as a four-year-old, her growth severely stunted by the medications and treatments her fragile body had to endure since being born. There was nothing Asher wouldn’t do for Hallie and as he passed her another Angel figurine he had bought for her, he smiled as her face lit up with joy.

* * *~~~* * *

Sophia sat there with Officer Pamela Deeks and she could almost sense the other woman’s reluctance to be here. Pamela had been a long-time friend of her husband’s and this was the first time they had spoken since Jason had tried to kill her.

“Well Mrs. Jackson I suggest you change your locks, buy a dog, and have a friend drop by periodically to check on the place and yourself,” she said in a not so neutral tone. Sophia could tell the other woman had not wanted to be there.

Escorting her to the front door, Sophia grew angry. Ever since her husband had been convicted of attempted murder and the policing community learned he was not the man they thought they treated her as if she were a pariah. The evidence against Jason was marginal at best and the jury had been divided on the charges. Without Sophia there to tell her side, it had made a hard case for the prosecutors. It took days of jury deliberations before they finally got a guilty conviction.

Sophia had to even change churches as most of the police officers were also parishioners of her church. Many of them treated her as if this was somehow her fault and she should be held accountable for his actions. Turning from the door as Pamela left, she turned her music up and wanted to scream at the top of her lungs or kick something.

Sophia, however, knew that wouldn’t help and she fumbled with the new prescription Bentley had given her yesterday over the phone when she told him what had happened at the river. He had wanted her to call the police and she laughed at him, telling him they wouldn’t do anything. After Pamela’s curt tone and attitude to Sophia’s place being entered, she had no doubt they wouldn’t believe her about her brother-in-law either. Sophia was going to take one of her anti-stress medications, but as she thumbed the pill in her palm, she realized it was the wrong one. Someone had moved her medications around.

* * *~~~* * *

Asher's mind was so full of thoughts that he barely saw the cop car as he pulled into Sophia’s at lunchtime. A female officer was just getting inside it and was leaving. After she left Asher headed for the door and knocked, a bit concerned for her. Listening, he could make out soft music playing inside and as he stood there he found himself fidgeting. It was if he were a teenager all over again, he thought, and smiled to himself. He enjoyed the feeling and he liked spending time with her.

The door opened and Sophia stood there in a pretty white summer dress. The dark circles under her eyes told him she hadn’t slept well.

“Hello?" she said, almost sounding nervous.

“It's me."

“You’re a little early,” she said with a smile.

“You didn’t hear the truck this time?" he asked.

“Oh, no I couldn’t over the music playing. I was just starting to make lunch, come on into the kitchen. I have a fresh pot of coffee on, would you like a cup?" she asked as she moved out of the doorway so he could come in.

“Yeah coffee sounds great, can I help with anything?" he asked.

“Sure, you can hull the strawberries and peel the kiwi for me,” she grinned as she said it.

Glancing around the kitchen, he could tell at one time this had been an old country house with its tall ceiling and large windows. The layout of the kitchen was like the rest of the house, designed so she wouldn’t walk or trip over anything. There were small strips of dotted tape on the microwave buttons, the setting on her stove and on each cupboard door, a set of salt and pepper shakers also had the black dotted tape on them and he noticed the raised dots were in a different pattern for each one.

On the counter were a cutting board and a large bowl of fruit, a loaf of bread, mustard and varieties of smoked meats and thin slices of cheese, tomatoes and a head of lettuce.

“So tell me, chef, what else I can do to help?" he said as he washed his hands.

“Well let’s see, you can do all the slicing for me if you don’t mind and I will fix our coffees,” she told him as she took two large white cups from the cupboard.

“So was there some sort of trouble?" he asked as he plucked the green tufts off the bright red berries.

“Oh yeah I think someone was in my house,” she said.

“Really, did they take anything?”

“No, but things in my room were moved around and a chair was not where I left it,” she told him as she began to build their sandwiches. The aroma in the kitchen was an odd mix of sweet fruity scents intermingled with the smoky mustard from the sandwiches.

He watched her work and worry began to take a hold of him. She was so pretty and alone, anyone could come in and take what they wanted from her. They could hurt her, and it had his hands shaking. There was no one here to protect her and it had visions of all the different horrible things that could happen to her running through his head.

“Did the security company come by again?" he asked suddenly, hoping she hadn’t dropped the idea of an in-home alarm system.

“Yes they did and I’m all installed and secure,” she said with a not so reassuring smile.

“So what did the cops have to say about someone breaking into your house?”

“Oh well they didn’t find any forced entry, so she told me to change my locks and get someone to come check up on me once in a while. I think they thought I was being paranoid,” she told him as he started peeling the kiwi.

“Well, when does Charlie come to stay with you?"

“Not for at least another week and a half, he had to have a cyst removed and so we need to wait."

“Um, you want all this fruit sliced up ... there is a lot of it."

“Oh yeah, my friends Dave and Clarisse are coming for supper tonight, so I was making enough for us and them as well. You're more than welcome to drop by if you like,” she said as she moved to go sit at the table.

“Um I don’t think I can but thanks," he told her, he wanted nothing more than to come back but not with Dave here. He might slip and say something about Asher to her, and he didn’t want Sophia to know about those things in his past.

Asher finished the slicing and washed up again before he sat down to eat, he had brought the paper and when he was done his sandwich, he read it to her. Sophia seemed to like it when he read the paper for her and it made him feel good. As she laughed at one of the amusing articles, his heart did a little flip. God her laugh was intoxicating he thought and then all too soon he was saying bye as he had to get back to work.

Pulling out of the driveway, he eyed a small black car parked on the curb about a hundred feet from her driveway, there was no one inside and as he passed it he made sure he got the license plate number. Maybe he was being paranoid too but after seeing the bruises on Sophia and the way she acted, he knew there was something she wasn’t telling him. He had still to build up the nerve to get her phone number from her again and even though he had promised himself today was the day he was going to ask her out ... he got cold feet. What if she only liked him because he was a stray as the doctor said.

* * *~~~* * *

Sophia laughed so hard that tears had rolled from her cheeks. Dave and Clarisse had always been a hoot to hang around with. As they drank wine and sat on Sophia’s overstuffed sofa, the couple kept her in stitches with their sense of humor. She was so glad she’d invited them out for supper. Now, however, they had said their goodnights and promised that they would go to the fundraiser dance on the weekend.

Sophia poured herself another glass of wine and began to straighten up. Clarisse had left her shawl on the back of the couch and Sophia had placed it on the kitchen table. She would return it to her on the night of the dance when they met up. The house now seemed empty and the quietness was unsettling after having company. Memories of the large barbeques, house parties, and social get-togethers Jason and she used to have filled her mind.

Everyone had thought they were such a perfect couple, Jason the loving doting husband and her, the prim and proper wife. They had no idea what had gone on behind their closed doors. The two had been married shortly after high school, Jason became a police officer and she became an accountant. They had wanted children but after trying for a year with no success they went to the doctor for help. Jason was devastated; he was sterile and would never be able to have kids of his own.

Sophia had tried to suggest adoption or even in-vitro fertilization, but he wouldn’t hear of it then he began to drink and then the rage came. At first, it had been a shove here a push there, then he slapped her that was followed by profuse apologies and him swearing it wouldn’t happen again, but it did. Nothing she did seemed to help and every time they argued it would end with her getting a backhand and Jason trying to make up for it.

When his partner Derrick Banks had been killed during a bank robbery five years ago, Jason went off the deep end. She started wearing more makeup and long sleeve shirts, the cracked ribs she blamed on falling down the stairs. The broken wrist was a little harder to find an excuse for, but she did.

The increasing frequency of black eyes, split lips, and his constant rage had taken their toll; she was leaving him without telling him. Jason, however, had come home early that day and caught her packing. He had nearly killed her, left her lying in a blood-soaked bed beaten half to death. Of course, he told everyone that someone broke in and did it, that he had found her that way. She lost her eyesight and partial hearing from the damage to her brain swelling and an inoperable blood clot that was pressing on her optic nerve. Her hearing she’d recovered but not her vision, they told her she may never regain.

Most of the police force stood by him through his trial, he had been a stand-up officer, volunteered at the youth center, was an active member in their church and never had Sophia ever accused him of violence before. Sophia never went to the trial, never gave her side of things. She couldn’t, she’d laid in a coma for months and when she came out of it had not been able to completely form a coherent sentence. It had taken her nearly a year and a half before she was released from the hospital.

Trying to stay away from those thoughts Sophia poured herself another glass of wine and put on some relaxing soft music before slipping out of her clothes. She let her thoughts turn to Asher and what it would be like to let her hands explore his flesh. Was he tall and thin, or big and beefy? Did he have dark hair or light, was he well-endowed or average. Her mind began to give her an image that she knew was most likely wrong, but she didn’t care. He was sweet and kind, always worried for her and he was her hero.

Sophia let her fingers trail over herself teasing her skin with feathery touches, imagining it was Asher’s lips. She quivered as her fingers twisted and pulled on her n*****s and she began to gasp. Touching herself more intimately had her nearing an orgasm. The dirty thoughts she had running in her mind of Asher’s tongue plunging into her made her extremely wet and ready to climax. As she pushed a finger into herself, she groaned out loud with the building tension, relishing the sensation, she teased herself holding off on her climax.

The chiming of her doorbell made her stop. s**t, she thought and quickly got up off the bed and grabbed her robe, and she slipped into it and then tried to fix her hair. Sophia carefully grabbed her glass of wine from the night table.

“Come on in, it's not locked yet!” Sophia yelled as she came down the stairs believing it was Clarisse coming back for the shawl she’d forgotten. I must remember to set the alarm too, she thought to herself realizing she’d forgotten to do that after Dave and Clarisse left. The soft click of the door opening was barely audible. Sophia froze halfway down the stairs.

“Um Sophia,” he said.