Authors: Randi Cardoza
Chapter 5
Kenzi surfaced moments later to hear Molly’s laughter. She sat soaking wet on the edge of a rock with Shawn besides her. He looked like he was ready to strangle her but kept his cool.
“Molly, why did you do that?” Kenzi asked as she wiped the water out of her eyes.
“I thought it would be fun. ‘Sides you said that the water was deep ‘nough to dive to from the cliff,” Molly said brushing Kenzi’s hair back.
“How are we going to get back up?” Kenzi asked looking at Shawn.
“There’s a path up the side, almost like stairs. I guess we can go back up after we’re done swimming,” Shawn said as he quickly grabbed Molly and dunked her and himself under the water.
Molly giggled and hugged Shawn’s neck so she wouldn’t lose her grip. Kenzi laughed and splashed them. They made their way up the rocks after about a half hour to find the Mortimer’s sound asleep and naked.
Kenzi covered Molly’s eyes while Shawn covered them with a blanket so they wouldn’t burn in the sun, although he secretly thought they deserved it. He glanced at Kenzi with a smile in his eyes. She smiled at him but kept her hand over Molly’s eyes.
After writing the Mortimer’s a short note, Kenzi, Shawn and Molly made their way back to the house on their horses while leaving the others to happily munch on the lush grass of the woods.
Molly had fallen asleep in her arms during the ride back and Shawn carefully took her from Kenzi when they got back to the stables. Toby helped her down and carried the saddlebags into the house for them.
Shawn took Molly up to her room and then went back downstairs to help Kenzi and Helen clean out the saddlebags. They were laughing in the kitchen when the Mortimer’s came back waddling into the house.
Kenzi’s eyes got round when she realized they were sunburned. “I guess we should have made sure they kept the blanket on,” Kenzi whispered to Shawn as the Mortimer’s headed up to their bedroom.
Shawn tried to control his laugh but it was bubbling out of him. Kenzi looked horrified at the prospect of being sunburned like the Mortimer’s had been.
“I suppose it happens all the time,” Shawn said stifling a chortle.
“Imagine being sunburned down there,” Kenzi replied with a stern voice and looked pointedly down at his crotch.
Shawn squirmed at the thought but noticed Kenzi was squirming at that thought too. Helen had decided to go to her room to finish watching her favorite TV show and left them alone in the kitchen.
Shawn looked at Kenzi and they both started laughing. Kenzi looked so good, finally laughing again. It had been a long time since she’d laughed this much in front of him.
“Shawn, what is it?” Kenzi asked looking at him with an odd expression.
“I want to kiss you,” he replied huskily as he moved towards her.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Kenzi said hoarsely as Shawn’s body pressed hers to the counter.
“I think it is, Miss
Evans
,” Shawn replied as he gently tugged on her hair and pulling her lips to his.
The touch of his lips on hers caused an explosion of memories. Them dancing on their wedding day, the day she gave birth to their daughter Layla, the nights they danced in the rain together, the pain of Layla being gone, and the divorce.
Shawn pulled his lips away when he tasted the presence of Kenzi’s salty tears. He knew she was remembering their past but he couldn’t help her with it until she was ready to face it.
“I still love you, my Kenzi,” Shawn said gently wiping her tears away with his fingers.
“I’ll always love you, Shawn,” Kenzi whispered as more tears seeped out of her eyes.
Shawn gently kissed her again and turned to go to his room above the garage. Kenzi didn’t try to stop him she just cried pitifully and turned off the light to go to bed.
Helen was sitting on the stairs when Kenzi started to go up to check on Molly and then to her room.
“What aren’t you telling me, Kenzi?” she asked grabbing Kenzi’s hand as she tried to pass.
“He’s so much like my ex-husband and I don’t think I could take losing someone I care about again,” Kenzi replied sitting down next to Helen.
“Are you in love with Shawn?” Helen asked gently as she handed Kenzi her handkerchief.
“It's only been a few days since we met. I don’t know. I just don’t want to be hurt again and if I do love him, I’m just opening myself to more hurt, Helen.”
“Love isn’t something that you can give up so easily. His face lights up every time he sees you, and yours too. I never used to believe in love at first sight until you two met,” Helen said as she gently squeezed Kenzi’s shoulders.
“I’m scared of what might happen. I’ve had these feelings before and nothing protected me from the hurt when it all ended,” Kenzi said wiping her eyes.
“What happened?”
“I married my husband when I was twenty-two, right out of college. We had some good times, too many to count. We had a baby girl, named Layla,” Kenzi said as she folded the handkerchief over and over again.
“What happened? Where’s your baby girl now?” Helen asked gently.
“She’s gone, I’m not ready to talk about it. After it happened, my husband and I just couldn’t connect again. We were both so tore up about what happened and eventually we realized we were better separate than together,” Kenzi replied as tears dripped down her cheeks.
“So much sadness for someone so young. Maybe Shawn can help you, love tends to do that. Think about it, huh?” Helen asked gently chucking Kenzi under the chin.
Helen and Kenzi both got up to go up the stairs. Kenzi checked on Molly and then made her way to her room. Her eyes felt gritty and her head was pounding from all the tears.
Helen hadn’t made her think of it purposefully but think of the past Kenzi did. Her eyes finally closed and she drifted off to sleep.
Shawn saw the light go off in Kenzi’s bedroom and he began to pace. They hadn’t talked in a real sense since Layla had been gone. Kenzi was just starting to realize her emotions towards what had happened.
Kenzi had been so happy that day playing with Molly/Janey in the water. It was like she’d forgotten what happened for a short while. Shawn hated to be the reminder of what had happened but they needed to talk about it.
“This isn’t the place to do that, though,” Shawn said to himself as he turned off all the lights and flipped on the television. He fell asleep dreaming about Kenzi with her hair long and dripping wet.
Chapter 6
Kenzi could feel her heart beating fast. She could hear Layla calling out to her in her babyish voice.
“Mama!”
Kenzi ran towards her voice but couldn’t find her. Suddenly, she was back at Farmington Place in the crowded square with Mimi and Danielle for the Independence Day festival. They were all cooing at Layla and laughing as she giggled at them.
“Mama,” she cooed at Kenzi.
“Oh, she said Mama. Is that the first time she’s said it?” Mimi shrieked.
Kenzi nodded proudly. A car accident in front of Farmington Place distracted all of them for a moment. Kenzi turned back and let out a terrified cry.
Layla was gone! All that was left of her was the stroller and Kenzi’s shopping bags.
“Oh, my god! Layla’s gone! Call the police! Call Shawn,” Kenzi screamed as she raced through the crowd looking for her baby.
After looking for hours, Kenzi finally sat down as a police officer told her that they hadn’t found Layla. Kenzi’s shoulders slumped and sobs tore through her body.
Kenzi came awake instantly and she stifled a scream. She hadn’t had a dream about the kidnapping in a long, long time. It still hurt to think about it. The police, the FBI had never found Layla.
Kenzi looked at her calendar and realized that in a few days it would be Layla’s fifth birthday. Kenzi pulled her knees to her chest and rocked slightly back and forth. It had been over four years since her baby had disappeared.
Molly was standing in the doorway to her room looking at her helplessly.
“Miss Kenzi, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, sweetheart. I just had a nightmare,” Kenzi said gesturing for Molly to join her in the bed.
“I have those all the time. Was it really bad?” she asked cuddling into Kenzi’s side.
“I have the same one all the time. It probably shouldn't still upset me but it does,” Kenzi said gently brushing Molly’s hair out of her face.
“Oh. Mommy used to tell me that a nightmare was how my mind told me the scary stories I didn’t want to hear,” Molly said looking up at Kenzi.
“Your mommy is a very wise woman,” Kenzi said gently tapping a finger to Molly’s nose.
“What were you saying about her mommy?” asked Mrs. Mortimer walking in the room dressed in a loose fitting shirt and shorts.
“She was just telling me how you told her that a nightmare was just a way for her mind to tell her the scary stories she didn’t want to be told when she was awake. I told her you were a very wise woman,” Kenzi replied before Molly could answer.
“Oh, well thank you, Kenzi.”
“Can me and Kenzi go shopping today?” Molly asked unknowingly distracting Mrs. Mortimer from the subject. “I saw a pretty purple dress in the window when we went to town a couple weeks ago.”
“I suppose but I’ll go with you. After all, I do love to shop. Why don’t you spend some of that money I’ve been paying you to watch Molly, Kenzi?” Mrs. Mortimer asked.
“Okay, I think I will, Mrs.—uh—Patsy,” Kenzi amended.
Molly and Mrs. Mortimer left her room and Kenzi
talked to herself
about going shopping and what she was going to buy. She knew her room was bugged and didn’t want to give anything away by talking to Shawn openly.
Kenzi dressed quickly in the bathroom, the only room that hadn’t been bugged and hurried down the stairs. She grabbed a piece of fruit for breakfast and left to go shopping.
It was a wonderful day but she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder for a faceless person after her nightmare. Molly skipped from one store to another while Kenzi followed her closely.
They headed back to the Mortimer’s estate loaded with bags and Molly was chattering a mile a minute.
“We’re going to have a birthday party for Molly next week. She’ll be six on Monday, you know. That peach dress you bought would be perfect for it, Kenzi,” Mrs. Mortimer was saying as they entered the gate.
The date gave Kenzi a jolt, it was Layla’s birthday but she tried to keep her emotions in check. Quickly she agreed that the dress would be perfect and almost jumped out of the car when it stopped.
“I’m sorry, I tend to be claustrophobic and I never know when the feeling will come on,” Kenzi said in apology when Mrs. Mortimer looked at her questioningly.
The bags were taken into the house and Kenzi separated hers from Mrs. Mortimer’s and Molly’s to take to her room. Something was odd about her room but she couldn’t quite place it.
She looked in her bedside table and realized her
journal
was missing. It was really mundane and she had only detailed what she and Molly had done during the day. There was really nothing personal in it and there was nothing about the cliff incident or the Mortimer’s sunbathing habits.
Kenzi was muttering to herself when she heard Shawn’s voice talking to her.
“Mr. Mortimer went through your room. He took a few things but nothing important. Just pretend that nothing is missing,” he said and then his voice was gone.
Kenzi walked out on the patio to find Molly dressed in bib overalls and a grungy t-shirt and helping Shawn weed the carefully tended flowerbeds. Mrs. Mortimer appeared to be interested in her notepad and Mr. Mortimer looked to be very interested in a book.
Upon closer inspection, Kenzi realized it was her journal but pretended not to notice. Walking over to Molly and Shawn she grinned down at them.
“Molly, I am going to have to give you a bath or you’re going to be growing flowers. Did you tell Mr. Shawn about your nice new dresses?” Kenzi asked kneeling next to them.
“Yep, and I told him all about those lacey underpants you and…mommy…bought, too,” Molly said with a smile.
Kenzi blushed and tried to look stern but Shawn’s lecherous grin almost made her laugh. She grabbed Molly’s hand and pulled her into the house to give her a bath.
“Miss Molly, it’s not nice to tell Mr. Shawn what kind of underwear I bought,” Kenzi said sternly as she ran tepid water into the bathtub.
“I’m sorry, Miss Kenzi. He asked me what we bought so I told him, I didn’t know it was bad,” Molly replied and her lower lip quivered.
“It’s not bad, Mr. Shawn just isn’t interested in my underwear. He would probably much rather hear about your pretty dress for your birthday party,” Kenzi said lying because she knew by the look on his face that he was more than interested in hearing about and
seeing
her underwear. Or more specifically, her in her underwear.
Kenzi quickly gave Molly her bath and took her down to kiss Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer goodnight. She retired to her room and found that her journal had been replaced but her favorite pair of underwear, the first pair Shawn had ever given her were missing. She had the feeling she didn’t want them back.
Quickly she went into the bathroom and whispered, “Shawn, did Mr. Mortimer go through my room again?”
“Yes, why?” came the hushed reply.
“My journal is back but, well, you, uh, remember that lace thong you gave me for our first anniversary? It's missing,” Kenzi whispered as she turned on the shower.
She could hear Shawn’s disbelieving laugh, “You still have those?”
“Of course, they’re my favorite pair,” she said as she stripped out of her clothes.