Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel
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Authors: Charisma Chloe
Love’s Protector
By
Charisma Chloe
LOVE’S PROTECTOR
Copyright © 2013 Charisma Chloe
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews, without written consent from this publisher.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to any real persons living or dead is purely coincidental and is not intended by the author.
This book contains explicit sexual content and adult language; it is intended for readers 18 years and older.
This book is dedicated to the true hero in my life, my mother, Valerie. You have been a constant inspiration to me all of my life. Stay strong and continue to fight! I love you dearly.
A special thank you to the lovely and very talented author Brenda Novak.
Thanks for blessing the world with your wonderful work and equally as wonderful presence! You have become a great friend and an inspiration to me. I appreciate all of the advice and support you’ve given me.
To my best friends, Aisha, Ronae, Keisha, Markisha and Robin. You guys are the best friends a girl could ever have! Thanks for all of your support! Lots of love!
Special thanks to the lovely Chandra. Thanks for allowing me to “use” you to my advantage
!
Table of Contents
HAPTER 1
Omaha, Nebraska.
Amour Graciette eyed her father as she sat next to him on the outside patio of Pleasanton Living Center, the small adult care facility she’d placed him in three years ago. “Hello dad. How are you feeling today?”
“I’m fine pumpkin, but it’s been a rough week for me; I had a hard time breathing this morning so they put this damn thing in my nose again. I wish they would remove it.”
“Dad, you know they can’t do that until your breathing stabilizes.”
The advance stage of his Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis better known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” was making life very difficult for her father. Just about every muscle in his body was weakening rapidly, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to eat, swallow and breathe without assistance. The “thing” he was referring to was the long, clear plastic tube that was held in place at his nose by a grey strap that buckled around the back of his head. It attached to a ventilating machine on the side of his wheelchair which made breathing easier for him. He didn’t need it full time, it hadn’t gotten to that point yet, but it was vastly approaching. All of the medications and therapy treatments were becoming less effective day by day and the disease was advancing at a rapid pace. The thought of losing him frightened her and she knew his condition was only going to get worse. Most people that suffered with the disease didn’t live past seven years after being diagnosed and he’d been five years ago. She tried hard to stay strong but that was hard for her at times. She’d lost her mother years ago so he was all she had, and knowing she could possibly lose him so soon made all of this a tough daily pill to swallow.
“Yeah I know. How are things with you?” he asked.
“Everything’s fine. I’ve been practicing my driving and I’m getting better and faster at it.”
He took in a deep slow breath. “Pumpkin, why do you even bother with driving those race cars? You know how hard it is for a woman, especially a woman like you to…”
“I know daddy!” she interrupted. “We’ve gone over this. I love racing and I’m not going to stop. I wish you would just accept my choices in life even if they’re not the ones you chose for me.”
Tired of hearing that same speech over and over be it from her father, the men that raced with her, and even strangers, she grew increasingly agitated. Her father was rather old-fashioned and had never
been too happy that she had shown such an interest in racing cars. He didn’t feel it was anything wrong with it, he just didn’t think it was something a girl should be doing. His motto was: “Anything that has to do with cars, the military, the police and fire departments, or any type of hard labor is man’s work.” She loved her father dearly; he was a very loving and good man, but she didn’t agree with a lot of his chauvinist beliefs.
As a five foot nine blonde with blue eyes and a slender but curvy built, she didn’t exactly strike anyone as someone that would be in her particular line of work. The people she met often took her more for some kind of corporate executive or one of those good-looking and much too young district attorneys like the ones on those television crime shows. Although she found the stereotype a bit irritating, she didn’t let it bother her too much. She was never the type to put much stock into what others thought of her or her actions.
He reached his arm out slowly and motioned for her to come closer to him, gently rubbing her head when she sat down next to him. “Pumpkin, you know I’ll always be proud of you, no matter what you choose to do. I just want you to be happy that’s all; I don’t want you to wind up an old maid.
“Daddy, please don’t. Your illness scares me as you know. That and work is all I can focus on right now.”
“I know you worry about me honey but I’m being well taken care of here. You need to get out more, see what’s out there. When you’re not here with me, you’re either working or sitting in the house curled up in bed with a book. You’re only thirty years old Amour, you’re much too young to be living like this. Hell, I’m fifty-four, not to mention ill I get out more than you do!”
“Daddy, I won’t be lonely. I’ll find someone; I’m just not ready for that kind of commitment now and you know I’ve never
been a partier.”
He kissed her on the top of her head like he had since she was a child. “Ok my love, I concede; just think about what I said and promise me that you won’t let what you’re doing break you down again baby girl.”
His words were starting to slur more and more these days so it was becoming increasingly difficult to understand him at times; but she understood
that
loud and clear. She could sense the concern in his tone; he worried about her. He feared the stress of competing and her lack of a decent social life would cause her to fall back into old habits; habits that were
very
destructive. She knew her father wasn’t necessarily disappointed in
her
, just the way she’d chosen to live her life. He didn’t realize just how much pressure he put on her to find a husband. She went on a few dates every now and then, but the contact rarely went past the first date. She just wasn’t interested in dating. Her father’s health and her career were her top priorities. A romantic relationship just was an added stress that she didn’t need right now.
She lifted her head and looked into his brown eyes. “I promise. Don’t worry about me; there’s no need to go
there
.” His lips curved in a smile, and for the first time since she’d chosen this career path, she saw approval in his eyes. “Daddy,” she said as she flicked off a leaf that had fallen onto her jeans.
“Yes darling.”
“How come you never like to talk about mom?”
He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then slowly opened them. “What do you mean?”
“Well, every time I bring her up you tell me so little and quickly change the subject. I’d like to know more about her.”
He inhaled, and then slowly let it out. “I’ve told you everything there is to know. She supposedly died from a heart attack. You already knew that. She worked, took care of you and pretty much lived a normal life. There’s really nothing else to it.” He took in another deep breath, this time letting out a low cough. “Why do you insist on talking about this Amour? You know it’s just going to upset you and I personally don’t like discussing it.”
“I know dad!” she said in a much louder tone but quickly lowered her voice so she wouldn’t sound hostile towards her father. “I’m not talking about her death. I’m talking about her life. I was only a little girl when she died and I never got the chance to get to know her, what she was like, what she liked to do, her favorite color, foods, you know things like that. Is that too much to ask? I’m grown now dad; you can’t dismiss me so easily on this subject anymore.”
After being silent for about five minutes, he turned to look at her, his brown eyes low and sympathetic. “Call the nurse and tell her to bring my duffle bag from out of my room to me. There’s something I want to give to you.”
“What is it dad?” she said with excitement coupled with confusion in her voice.
“Just go and tell her. I’ll explain everything when she comes back with the bag.”
The nurse arrived ten minutes after Amour had gone inside to give her the instructions and handed Ted an old green duffle bag that was slightly faded and barely able to zip closed. He unzipped the bag pulling out a small black velvet pouch that was tightly closed by two sliver strings.
“Here pumpkin, this belonged to your mother. I was going to keep it, but I want you to have it.”
She sat back down next to him grabbing the tiny pouch from his hand, studied it for a few seconds and then pulled the two strings apart. Sliding her thumb and index finger inside the pouch, she pulled out a silver linked charm bracelet. It had six small silver crowns and a total of ten of what looked like round and square ruby stones attached to each link. The biggest of the stones, was a heart with the initial “C” in the middle of it that was formed out of what she guessed were diamonds.
“Wow! This is beautiful daddy!” she said as her blue eyes became larger and gleamed at the sparkly bracelet. “Is this real?”
“Yes pumpkin. I had it appraised shortly after her death.” He took another long deep breath into the tube in his nose. “I didn’t have a lot of money at the time so I figured if it was worth anything I could pawn it and at least we would’ve had money to eat.” Her father worked as a janitor at a local high school in town so money was very tight and he often struggled to make ends meet. “There were times when we desperately needed the money, but I could never bring myself to sell it. I found it lying next to her body that day. It’s painful to look at some days because of that particular memory, but your mother didn’t own much so it’s one of the few things of value I have of hers. It meant too much to me to part with it.”
As she fiddled with the bracelet admiring it, she also cringed at the thought of her father finding the woman he loved in such a way. “Why didn’t you guys ever get married? I mean, you’d already had me, so why didn’t you guys just make it official?”
“I wanted to pumpkin. I proposed to her, but she never accepted it. I wasn’t sure why exactly, especially since we were living together and had you. She would just tell me that it wasn’t the right time for marriage, so I just respected her decision and waited.”
“How was she as person?”
“Oh she was a lovely woman,” he said with a smile. “She was beautiful just like you. In fact, you look like you could’ve been her twin.” He placed his hand underneath her chin and stared into her eyes. “You have her blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes; not to mention her angelic face and gorgeous smile.”
That made her grin
and also slightly embarrassed and her face turned a rosy shade of red. She’d seen pictures of her mother; she’d known how beautiful she was. It wasn’t hard to see why her father was so smitten with her. Her own looks were never of any importance to her though; sure she took good care of herself, but she was more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl and dressing up and looking pretty was neither one of her strong suits nor interests. She never really had a reason to; she didn’t have many friends and outside of work, she rarely socialized.
“Tell me more about the time you met,” she said.
“She was working as a cocktail server at a lounge were I used to do odd jobs on the side. I did repairs, maintenance, plumbing, things like that and then one day, I went there to fix a bad leak in the bathroom. I walked into the seating area to grab more tools and saw the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life carrying a tray full of drinks. She was only about eighteen but she was so breathtaking. She looked up at me and when those beautiful blue eyes met mine that was the moment I fell head over heels in love with her. I introduced myself and asked her out.”
“What did she say?” She slid the bracelet around her wrist, fiddled with the stones a few seconds longer, and then removed it before dropping it in the velvet pouch.
“She said she’d think about it.” He laughed. “It took her a while, but she eventually came around; you know the rest.”
She raked her fingers through her tousled hair and fidgeted. The concrete bench she was sitting on was starting to get uncomfortable. “Was she happy dad?”
“Yes,” he said with a grin. “Yes she was. One of the sweetest girls you’d ever meet. But don’t get me wrong now; she had a feisty streak in her. Get on her bad side and she would go off on you out in a heartbeat.”
Amour laughed.
“Really?”
“Oh yes! That is something you definitely got it honestly. You are Carly Graciette reincarnated. Much like you, when your mother was mad, all hell broke loose and when she had her mind set on doing something, she did it, no questions asked even though it sometimes got her into trouble. But at the same time, she was definitely nobody’s fool.”
“So she was ambitious.”
He coughed several times and his eyes began to get lower.
“Very much so.”
She was starting to get more and more concerned about him. Her father often tried to take on more than his condition would allow him to handle even though he was advised not to do so. “Are you alright daddy?”
“Yes pumpkin, I’m just a bit tired that’s all.” He spoke again through a yawn. “It’s time for my nap.”
“Ok dad. I guess that’s enough for today.” She got up from the bench. “I’ll let you rest now; I know you’ve had quite a long day today. We’ll continue this conversation next week okay.” He’d spent most of the day having various physical therapy sessions and breathing treatments which can be quite exhausting for someone in his condition.
“Okay pumpkin.”
“Promise daddy? I still have lots of questions and I don’t want you clamming up on me when I bring mom up again.” When he didn’t respond, she lowered her head and looked him in his eyes. “Okay?”
“Alright sweetheart, I promise.”
“Great! I’ll go get the nurse.” She stood up from the bench and walked toward the entrance to the lobby. Pausing, she turned around to face her father again staring down at him.
“Dad?”
“Yes,” he replied through another yawn. This time it was much bigger.
“One more thing.”