Chapter 27: Trouble Move from Me

Tennyson calls her 'Mama', and that is, of course, the lie Tearney and Aiden tell people, including his daughter. Still, it takes her by surprise sometimes when this little girl, who looks so much like her real mother looks at her with her big blue eyes full of trust and repeats the lie back to her.

"Yeah, Aiden said his wife was hot, but he did not do you justice," Kanoa Parrot says, introducing himself, "Lady, you are smoking hot!"

"Okay, well, thanks," Tearney laughs, "Aiden's waiting for you inside." Kanoa goes in, and Tearney heads out for her evening of ghost hunting.

Aiden invited Kanoa over to discuss a side job he wanted to do.

"I talked to my contact in the Valley," Kanoa says, "She's willing to do it. But you have to do something for her."

"Of course," Aiden says, "Anything it takes."

"Yeah if I had a wife like yours, I might work for love. But I'm in this for money. So, just make sure I get a cut."

"I'll pay you, don't worry," Aiden assures him, avoiding any discussion about Kanoa's wife or his mistresses.

Kanoa's contact pulled through, and Aiden was able to present the prize to Tearney. "You've had to become a fugitive for this," he says when he shows the golden cobra statuette to her, "I thought you should at least get to keep it."

"You went back to Sunset Valley to nick this?" Tearney asks "When? And isn't that a huge risk going back there?"

"I didn't steal it myself," Aiden admits, "Someone in Sunset Valley did a favor me, and I did a favor for them."

"Do I want to ask what favor you did?" Tearney laughs.

"No," Aiden says, "Just know that I did it for you."

"Thank you," she says, her voice a sultry sigh, "I love it. But I worry about you. I don't want you to end up in jail, or worse. Maybe you should find another line of work?"

"Baby, Bedlington owns my ass. She knows who we are, knows we're on the run. If I cross her, she could just turn us in, easy as that. But you don't have to worry about me, I was raised in this business, my father was a master thief. And this town is a small time operation compared to what we were involved in back home. I'll be okay, I promise."

Aiden also got a gift for Tennyson, legally acquired. The kitten, named Frenzy, was adopted from the local shelter.

When the weekend rolls around, Aiden takes Tearney out to one of the local bars. It's not much compared to the clubs they were used to in Brooklyn Heights, and the country music played here isn't their favorite, but this town offers little else in the way of entertainment, so they make do with what they have.

While Aiden heads to the restroom, Tearney orders drinks at the bar.

"Honey, you better keep an eye on that man of yours," Gracie Loveland purrs, "Or someone is likely to snatch him away from you, tasty as he is."

"Back off, bitch. You go after him, and I will take you down," Tearney responds aggressively to Gracie's passive-aggressive taunts. Anyone who's lived in Appaloosa Plains more than a day will have heard of Gracie Loveland, the local temptress and destroyer of marriages.

Aiden comes out of the restroom to find Tearney engaged in a shouting match with Gracie. The decision to get involved or not is always difficult.

When Tearney is done shouting, it seems like the argument will blow over. Aiden sits at the bar. "Sweetheart, come have a drink with me," he suggests.

"Yeah, 'sweetheart', do as your man says," Gracie sneers.

Stupid bitch, Aiden thnks, it could have ended there. But she had to say something to escalate it.

"That's it!" Tearney roars, "You go down tonight, bitch!" Her hand balls into a fist, and she swings a punch before Gracie can lift a hand to defend herself.

"Tearney, stop this, right now!" Aiden shouts into the dust cloud.

Gracie rises from the floor, bruised and defeated. Tearney's anger is now directed at Aiden.

"You're on her side?" she rasps at him.

"I don't give a shit about her," Aiden says through clenched teeth, "I don't want you getting hurt, or getting picked up for public brawling. Now, c'mon, we're going home." Aiden takes her arm in a firm grasp and leads her back out to his truck. She fumes silently at his side for the short ride back to their house.

Once they are inside and the babysitter has left, Tearney lets loose. "How dare you intervene in my fights? How dare you tell me what to do, like I'm a child?" she shouts.

"Tea, it was getting out of hand. I had to step in," he explains, his voice level.

Her hands flex instinctively, balling into fists. Her anger has made her irrational, and there's no reasoning with her in this state. "You want to hit me?"" he asks, his voice gentle, conveying to threat, "Go ahead, I can take it. Take it out on me."

He braces himself; for a moment it looks as though she's going to punch him. But after a minute's struggle with herself, her hands unclench and hot tears fall from her eyes. "I don't want to hit you," she sobs raggedly, "I love you."

He kisses her tears away and holds her close.

"I try so hard to control it," she sobs against his chest, "But I can't. I feel so awful."

"I know it's had for you," he whispers, soothing, "You fight it all the time, and sometimes you're going to slip. Don't be hard on yourself, you do your best. And I'll always be here to pull you out when you get in too deep."

"Will you, really?" she asks, "After all the trouble I cause you? Gracie was right, you could have just about any woman you wanted, you don't have to be stuck with me."

Aiden's breath comes out in a laugh, "I've only ever wanted one woman, Tea. And I think I just heard her tell me she loves me."

Tearney blushes, "I do love you, Aiden," she says, "You're the only thing more important to me than myself."

"Let's get married," he suggests.

The whole town believes the couple already married, so their wedding is just a private exchange of vows, and just like that, the lie they've ben living becomes the truth.

They've kissed many times before, but their first kiss as husband and wife is better than all he others put together.

The newlyweds celebrate their wedding with a traditional pillow fight.

"Say it again," he murmurs dropping his pillow to take her into his arms.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me you love me. I want to hear it again."

"I love you," she answers.

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Challenge Notes:
Fight #2 down.
I got the cobra statuette from buy debug. Normally I like to acquire these things through the game. But I'm not planning to travel unless I roll Adventurer (and maybe not even for that), so I'm not going to get access to any of these special goodies otherwise. And, it doesn't bring any special benefit to the family to have one treasure placed in the house, so I allowed it. I'm just sad that the Chinese Zodiac figures, the large jade ones, aren't available in buy debug. I love those most of all.