Authors: Nancy Hopper
"Can you define 'comfort' for me, Rick?" Dana asked quietly, knowing that Tim was clenching his teeth, to keep still.
Rick looked insulted. "I just hugged her. I suggested that we leave. I kissed her cheek. You know, nothing that would seem inappropriate to a normal person. Tim is, you know, he's very jealous where this girl is concerned, Dana. He just overreacted, that's all. I've forgiven him for it. I know he can't help himself."
Dana saw the muscle along Tim's jaw tighten, and gave him a look. "Rick, did you kiss her?" Dana asked tiredly.
"I don't recall kissing her. Things got very confused when Tim showed up, though." Rick answered defensively.
Dana looked at him sadly. "Rick, I would feel so much better, if you could tell me the truth. Isn't it true that you asked her to marry you?"
Rick blushed beet red. "Look, Dana. I have told you things got way out of hand.
Way
out of proportion! It was just one of those things. I was trying to tell Tim about
us
! About you and I getting married -- not me and that
girl
! Come on, Dana! I don't want to marry any girl I barely know! I love you, and nobody else.”
He crossed his arms defensively. "I guess the bottom line is, do you trust me? Or, are you going to believe Tim? He's a lovesick fool with no judgment or perspective! He has to make this my fault, so that his precious little girlfriend won't look bad to the family. Are you going to throw me away, just because Tim misunderstood everything? Because he's upset with me?"
"Tim is my brother. I have trusted him all my life. He’s always been honest, and patient, and kind. To everybody, Rick. If he’s done with you, he has good reason. He has no reason to lie." Dana retorted calmly.
"Sure, he does! He's trying to protect his little sex kitten! Can't you see that she's nothing but a loose, come-on whore? Didn't you see the pictures? Dana, isn't it enough that she's ruined Timothy's ministry? Does she have to tear us apart, too? Look at this thing straight!"
Dana jumped up in alarm, and went to Tim's side. He practically had steam rolling out of his ears. “Rick, that’s enough! Don’t you dare try to make this about her!”
Rick looked at Tim with gleaming eyes, and laughed wickedly. "I feel for you, you poor, stupid sucker." He told him triumphantly. "You're going to spend your whole life trying to keep that little viper out of other men's beds. You think she's so sweet and innocent! Well, let me tell you something, buddy. She's hotter than a six-shooter; and if you're fool enough to marry her, she's going to ruin you again, and again! She came into your room wearing that skimpy little gown, looking to take you down!”
His eyes burned malevolently. "Do you really think you're the only one she came on to, with that routine? She takes whoever she chooses, with her hot little Paris nighties! She confessed to me that she’s been through the beds of a couple dozen high rollers. It's what she does for fun. We ought to be honored by the fact that she went after us, Tim." Rick accused slyly. He laughed wickedly. "And, after all. She's
real
good, isn't she? Such a
tasty
little squeeze."
Dana gasped and put her arms around Timothy in alarm. "Rick, please leave. It doesn't have to come to this. Please, go now."
"Oh, come on! Let him take a swing at me. He's been dying to let me have it, ever since he saw me making love to his woman. Tim, do you really think I'd come on to her without any provocation at all? Get real! She can’t wait to be alone with a man she’s set her eyes on."
Tim's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"How stupid can you be, Tim? I owe it to you to tell you straight. Sure; I took the bait. I couldn't help myself! She came out of her hot tub looking at me with those glittering green eyes, and I was lost. Her first question was to ask if I'd like to join her in the tub; and second, whether I'd like a drink. I took both. And that night she came to my room in that pretty little lacy nightgown, and she did me like I've never been done before. She's smooth as honey, and hot as a pistol!”
He licked his lips suggestively. "What a body! You know, I could hardly blame her. She was real lonely out there at that lodge in Idaho. And, she’s just too hot to be left alone and isolated; and rejected – the way you left her. She wanted a man, and I was
very
glad to oblige her!”
Rick grinned at him maliciously. “I even know where you screwed up, Tim. You made her just a
little bit
sore when you wouldn’t give her what she needed, that night at her place in Salt Lake. And she’s a woman who enjoys spite! I was happy to pay a mercy call, and keep her satisfied while you were away.
He sneered at Tim. “I just hope you enjoy her as much as I did, you sucker." He said spitefully. “That is, if you’re ever man enough to get her into bed. I do hope it doesn’t bother you too much to know that I’ve already been …
everywhere
you’ll ever go, with Tasha.” His leer was horrid.
With that, Rick turned on his heel and went out the front door, slamming it hard behind him.
"Timothy." Dana gasped in horror. "Oh, my God. Tim."
Tim just shook his head dangerously, and watched him leave. His face looked carved from stone. When he was sure Rick was gone, he closed his eyes.
Dana held onto him, but he was like a statue.
"Tim; darling, he was lying. Even I can see that. He just wanted to hurt you! He could see that he couldn't win, and he just saw an opportunity to try to make you miserable."
Tim let his breath out slowly. He opened his eyes, and looked at Dana. "I know. I’m going for a walk. I’ll see you later." He said quietly. He disentangled himself from Dana's arms, and went outside.
He walked for a long, long time.
Dana was beside herself with worry. "Mom, Dad!" she called. "What do I do? What do I do?"
"There's nothing you can do, honey." Jerome informed her sadly.
"Did you
hear
? Did you hear what he did to Tim?"
"We heard." Her father assured her.
"Oh, my God." Dana moaned. She sat on the couch, and cried.
"Jerome, go after him. He can't be out in this weather without a coat." Gloria urged her husband.
Jerome just shook his head. He knew better. "No, Gloria. It wouldn't do any good. You're gonna have to let Timmy deal with this one on his own. A coat ain't going to help a darn thing."
Tim went to his own house when he was done walking, half a mile or so from his parents' house. He didn't want to be around anybody, for awhile. He had the sense to run a hot bath.
When the water got cold, he got out and dressed, then he sat on the porch. He was still kind of numb. He'd held himself in check so hard with Snyder, that he’d kind of shut down. Now, he couldn't seem to pull out of it. He knew that when he did let go again, he wouldn't want anybody around.
He sat on the porch most of the night. He didn't answer the phone, he didn't do a thing. He just sat. He couldn't help letting the pictures that Rick Snyder had painted for him, come before his eyes. They came again, and again. Tasha in her hot tub with those inviting, green eyes. Tasha in that sweet, little lacy nightgown. Tasha in bed, with Snyder all over her. Having her. His mouth on her lovely curves, with his filthy, greedy hands, defiling -- his woman. Moaning in ecstasy.
Tim knew that these images weren't true. They couldn't be. Tasha didn't want Snyder, she had made that clear. There had been shock and disgust in her eyes when Snyder attacked her at the television station. And she hadn’t even known that Tim had been standing there, watching the whole thing.
But -- wanting a woman for so long did strange things to a man. Tim had had pictures in his mind for so long, of Tasha inviting him to do the very things Snyder had talked about; he'd fantasized about her so many times, that it was easy to see Snyder doing them – and it was almost as bad as if he really had.
He couldn't argue that he wasn't a sucker. He was the biggest sucker on the face of the earth. He didn't have any choice! He was madly in love with the sexiest, hottest woman he'd ever laid eyes on, and he knew that just about every other man that looked at her, was thinking the same things he was. He dropped his head in his hands miserably.
Sometime that night, he heard a voice inside asking, "How deep does the root of your faith go, son? Can you stand?"
"I don't know. I'm really not sure anymore." He answered miserably.
"Timothy; son. What would it matter, if all these things were true? You'd still love her. Could you forgive and take her, anyway?"
"I don't know." He lied. He knew darn well he'd have to! He couldn't live without Tasha. The realization hit him hard. He had to have her. He had to marry her, and love her, no matter what hell he had to go through. He'd given her his heart, and his pledge. His life. He wept until he was empty, and then he went to bed.
After a cup of coffee the next morning, Tim began to get his head on straight, again. He kicked himself for leaving Dana alone, but he thought she knew he couldn't have done anything else. He would have simply exploded, if he'd stayed.
He shook his head and sighed. "Lord, what do I do?" he asked wearily. "I don't know what to do anymore."
"Timothy, I told you I'd give you this desire of your heart. I tried to prepare you for all that you'd have to go through. But you gave this woman your heart, and she has given you hers.”
"Give no place to this nonsense. Go to Salt Lake and go right on, as if nothing had happened. Buy her a beautiful ring; take her roses. Do all the romantic things that mean so much to a woman's heart, and do it properly. Go to your knee. Kiss her hand. Make her feel special."
Tim chuckled. "So it's romance she wants, is it?" he mused. "That, I can provide." He promised.
Jerome, Gloria and Dana were all relieved to see Tim's Cherokee pull into the yard that afternoon. They were more than elated to see a smile on his face.
"Hey. Where is everybody?" he called.
"We're here, son. How are you?"
Tim joined them in the kitchen. "Never better. Listen, I have to go to town. Anybody need anything?"
"No, I don't think so, but let's make sure about Dana." Gloria suggested.
Dana bounded down the stairs, and threw herself into her brother's arms. "Take me with you, Tim. I'm dying to get out of the house." She begged.
Tim was relieved to see that she was almost herself, again. It almost seemed that Snyder’s filthy diatribe about Tasha had shaken Dana out of her melancholy. He grinned at her. "All right. Hurry up, then."
Dana ran back upstairs, and Tim took off his Stetson and his sheepskin coat. "I wanted to apologize to you both, for yesterday." He said with embarrassment staining his cheeks. "If I'd thought he was going to behave like that, I'd never have allowed him in the house."
"He was not the Rick I thought I knew." Jerome admitted. "Son, we didn't mind, except that we knew he was hurting you. If you'd tried to take him outside, it wouldn't have been pretty. I was proud of you for not losing your head."
Tim shrugged. "It took all I had." He admitted readily.
Gloria looked up at her handsome son. "What now, Tim?" she asked worriedly.
Tim shook his head. "Now, I go to town and buy the best ring they've got. And when I'm sure Dana can handle it all, I'm going to Salt Lake and get on my knees."
Gloria just looked at him, and grabbed her throat.
Tim laughed at her, his eyes twinkling. "Mom, you don't think I'd let Rick Snyder send me off with my tail between my legs, do you?" he chided. “Tasha is
mine
. Nothing anybody can say will ever change that.”
He put on his coat, hearing Dana coming down the stairs.