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Chapter 11

"So Miss thang. How was your date?" Max asked once Elise entered the house from taking a round in the pool.
   "It was good."
   "Just good?"
   "Okay wonderful. I really enjoyed myself."
   "That's good. So there's another date in the future?"
  "Yes there's another date."
   "I'm happy for you Elise."
   "I'm happy for myself. Tim is a really good guy and although I knew that I didn't give him enough credit."
   "Yeah he is a good guy. So..." She continued. "You're no longer thinking about John?"
   "I mean I can't lie and say I don't completely think about him but I can say I am definitely moving on and honestly I'm kicking myself for not doing so sooner."
   "Good. That's really good Elise." She went and gave her sister a hug. Well as best as her plump belly would allow. "I love you girl and I'm happy for you."
   "I love you to."
   Elise smiled when she seen who was calling her on the phone.
   "Hi Tim."
   "Oh I love the way you answer the phone when it's me."
   "Oh don't flatter me young man." She said smiling deeply as she spoke.
   "It's true. You sound happy."
   "It's because I am."
   "I hope I have something to do with that."
   "Of course you do. You have no idea."
   "Good. I'm glad I can make you smile."
   "Always."
   "So when are we going to see each other again?"
   "You trying to hang with me?"
   "Of course."
   "See how I be rolling?" Laughing he said.
   "Yeah. I want to roll with you."
   "Okay you can come with me to see my kids."
   "Your kids?"
   "Yeah I have eight beautiful kids."
   "Where are these kids that I never seen?"
   "I'll come get you and I'll show you."
   "Okay cool. I'm definitely excited now." Twenty minutes later she was watching as he made his way to her car. He immediately felt awkward because he didn't know if he should lean over and kiss her after he slid into the passenger side. He smiled when he noticed she was giving him a sideways glance.
   "What?" Shaking her head she said.
   "Come here." Leaning over the armrest in her car she lingered once they're mouths connected.
   "Umm I've been thinking about that all day."
   "And yet you didn't kiss me when we see each other again." She said jokingly as she shook her head. 
   "I'll make note to kiss you everytime we see each other then." He said with a chuckle.
   "Good. I would like that."
   "Really?"
   "Yes really. I love the way you kiss Timothy." He blushed a little. With that she backed out of his driveway and begin the way to the orphanage.
   "So these are your kids?" He asked once the children calmed down with excitement from seeing her.
   "Yes these are my babies."
   "When did you start working here?"
   "When it opened about three years ago."
   "Do they come and go? Like do any of them get adopted?"
   "Yes thank God. They come from really bad places. So glad that they find there way here where it's safe." He looked around at the kids. They seemed to all be from different countries. He really noticed a little boy who was fixed on the television even when everyone rushed to see Elise he still remained sitting he just smiled at her but it was so quick you might have missed it if you weren't watching.
   "What's wrong with him?" Tim asked as he watched the little boy.
   "He's afraid of you."
   "Me? Why?" He asked as if that was bogus.
   "Men hurt him in the past. It's hard for him to trust men."
   "Oh. That's sad."
   "Yeah. I was there when they found him."
   "Where did they find him?"
   "Puerto Rico."
   "You've been to Puerto Rico before?"
   "Yeah. I've been a lot of places." She said with a smile.
   "Why?" Laughing she said.
   "Work."
   "What's funny?"
   "Inside joke."
   "Are you going to share?"   
   "No."
   "Why not."
   "I hate the word why..."
   "Why?" Laughing she said.
   "I just do. But I do understand you have to ask why to know an answer."
   "But why do you hate it?"
   "John made me hate it."
   "Oh." He said shutting up after that. He didn't want to talk about that man. "So what requires you to travel a lot with the kind of work you do." She hesitated. Should she tell him that she worked with the police to catch rapist and human traffickers? She knew that she could trust him but how far could she trust him? Her job also wasn't really a secret but the less the people she cared about knew the better especially with what happened in Barbados.    
   "I just go help with the children?"
   "I know you hate this word but "Why?"
   "I'm not sure I understand."
   "If your job is to work here why travel to where the kids are? Don't they have people that bring them to you?" She hesitated and bite her bottom lip. In any other situation that would have drove him crazy but something told him that there was more to this story. A lot more. Should he be worried? She wouldn't make eye contact with him. "Elise."
   "I'm the one that bring them here."
   "What do you mean by that?"
   "I just go and get the kids. They can't travel on the plan themselve."
   "And that's all you do? Pick them up from the airport?"
   "Yeah." She said without looking at him and he instantly knew she was lying.
   "Elise." Telling the kids that she would be back Tim followed her out to the back yard. She slowly turned to face him.
   "My job is a little bit more complicated than just babysitting kids."
   "What do you mean by that."
   "I shouldn't be telling you this."
   "Telling me what?" She noticed that he grew more stiff and his jaw was set.
   "Know what; nevermind."
   "Too late for that. I want to know what's  going on."
   "Nothing to be concerned over."
   "Then why can't you tell me?”
   "Because I changed my mind about telling you." She made an attempt to go back inside but he blocked her way.
   "You're doing something dangerous aren't you?"
   "Not dangerous enough not to save a kid."
   "What is it that you do Elise?" Sighing she said.
   "I work with the police."
   "You're a cop?"
   "No I'm not a cop I just work with them."
   "I don't understand. How are you not a cop but you work with them?"
   "It's complicated."
   "Are you risking your life?"
   "No." She quickly said.
   "Then what are you doing?" She rest her hand on his chest.
   "It's okay Tim."
   "Obviously it's not. You're beating around the bush. Talk to me. What aren't you telling me?"
   "Don't be so serious Timothy." She smiled trying to enlighten the situation but it didn't work. It was too late. He was already in his protective mode and that meant he wanted to know everything. Sighing she said.
   "Just let me help feed the kids then I'll tell you what you want to know." With that he allowed her to enter the house. Once the kids were fed and watching tv she felt his eyes on her. Looking over at him she motioned for him to follow her into one of the bed rooms. She closed the door behind them. Turning to face him she said.
   "I need to know that what I'm about to tell you won't leave this room."
   "You have my word." He said and she believed him.
   "Seven years ago I put together a team. We basically track down men that prey on kids and we put them in jail. The more popular the internet got the more in danger our children became. It started off with me talking to a man whose sister was kidnapped and rapped. They found her body the next day just blocks away from his house. She was going to see him and she never made it because some pervert took her life after rapping her. It begin with me and him finding creeps like him and putting them away. Then we begin looking on the net and found that there were thousand of people out there like him. Prey on little kids and it's become easier because of the internet. So we added a few more people to our group and begin traveling to save these kids from sex traffickers. They sell these kids to sick people who does god knows what to them and we're just a small team trying to put an end to this."
   "You know how dangerous this is Elise?"
   "Of course I know. But they need us. Those kids need us Tim."
   "How do the cops fit into all of this?"
   "Theodore is a cop. He basically got us connected and now I get paid to put these sick perverts behind bars. All those kids out there come from some form of sexual abuse. Shaun the shy guy in there...he doesn't trust men because his own father was sexually abusing him. The one man that was supposed to protect him was hurting him. He would forever be scarred by that."
   "Theodore started this orphanage for the kids?"
   "I did."
   "You?"
   "I bought this place and fixed it up and made it like a safe house for the kids. A lot of the kids that we rescued had nowhere to go so this became their safe heaven. With the connections we have it's easier to get the kids here."                               
   "You did a great job with this place. I'm impressed."
   "Thank you."
   "But I do have another question."
   "What's' that?"
   "What's the reason for you to be doing this?"
   "What do you mean?" She asked now looking away like she always did when she didn't want to answer a question.
   "What was your childhood like?"
   "I had a good childhood."
   "Look at me and tell me you had a good childhood Elise." He said when she still refused to look at him. He went to her and took her hand into his but she still refused to look at him.
   "Where you rapped as a child."
   "No." She said pulling away from him.
   "I'm not here to judge you Elsie. Talk to me." When she still didn't respond he decided to go a different route.
   "Where are you from? I could hear an accent sometimes."
   "Haiti."
   "When did you come to the U.S?
   "I don't know. I was maybe three?"
   "You don't remember what age you were?" She pulled away from him but he quickly grabbed her.
   "I don't remember okay." She looked up at him tears in her eyes.
   "Don't cry." She closed her eyes not wanting him to see her pain. He caressed her cheek. He didn't know he could hate seeing the pain in someone until now. He pulled her into his arms. "Sorry I brung back such bad memories for you."
   "It's okay." She was taken by surprise when he picked her up. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. He then sat on one of the beds and held her.
   "You must have had a bad childhood."
   "It wasn't all peaches and cream." She said with a light chuckle as she rest her head on his shoulder.
   "I know you don't want to talk about it now but I am going to ask you about your past again."
   "That's the army and cop instinct in you." She said smiling.
   "That's the I care about you instinct. I want to know everything about you."
   "I don't take that as a good thing."
   "Nothing leaves this room remember? I will never talk about anything to anyone else."
   "Not Barbara or Maxine even John."
   "There your family. I wouldn't say anything."
   "They're not really my family."
   "I figured as much but I figured you were adopted."
   "In a since I was. Barbara took care of me since I was twelve."
   "What happened to your birth family?"
   "I don't know. I don't remember my birth family." Making her look at him he said.
   "What happened to you as a child?"
   "I don't remember." She lied. "I only remember from when I was twelve."
   "Something tell me you know more.” She rest her forehead against his.
   "My past is just that the past. I force myself to forget about it." Not questioning it further just yet he leaned further in and kissed her. She slowly deepened it slowly pressing her body against his making him lay back. "What are you doing to me?" She asked and he laughed.
   "I should be asking you that." She rest her forehead against his again.
   "This shouldn't be happening."
   "What?"
   "Nothing." She tried to sit up but he stopped her.
   "What?" He prompt.
   "I expected it to happen but not so fast." Leaning back over she kissed his neck making him moan. She found his mouth and the way she kissed him was different from the others. It was more passionate. More sensual like the way you kiss someone when you were in love with them. Once she broke the kiss she smiled down at him and his heart skipped a beat. She was falling in love with him. He felt the need to jump for joy but contained himself.
   "What do you say we get out of here." With that she stood and after they said their goodbyes to the kids they left.
   "Where to?" He asked.
   "I'm starving."
   "So we eat then. Where would you like to eat?"
   "My place." Se looked at him for confirmation. "That is if you don't mind waiting for me to cook."
   "I don't mind waiting at all. I haven't had a home cooked meal in so long."
   "Cool. Let's go." Once at her place she threw together a meal and they ate in silence until.
   "Who taught you how to cook?"
   "Barbara. She taught me everything I know."
   "How did you come about meeting them." She smiled.
   “I was trying to steal Max's car."
   "Really?" He asked surprised.
   "Yeah."
   "Why?"
   "I was hungry. A guy told me that if I  stole a nice car and brung it back to him then he would pay me. I just wanted somewhere to sleep and eat that's all. Max caught me roughed me up then drove me to her mother's house and the rest is history from there." When she looked at him she didn't see the humor in his eyes that she expected. Instead she seen sorrow.
   "What put you in the position where you had to steal a car?" Sighing she said.
   "I just remember running from somewhere I didn't want to be. I did things that I'm not proud of today just to eat."
   "Like what. Besides stealing cars."
   "It started off with ordering food and eating then leaving without paying and once the restaurant's caught on to me it lead to pickpocketing. I would steal wallets and take the money. Sometimes there was enough to get a motel room other times just enough to eat. Max car was the first and last time I tried to steal a car. Up until then I was successful in robbing people. After Max caught me I never took from anyone again. I worked my ass off after that. Barbara gave me a chance to live a normal life."
   "And you don't remember your past?"
   "No." She was lying. He knew because every time she did she couldn't look him in the eyes.
   “I'm the only one that ever asked you about your past?"
   "Barbara and Max did of course but that was when I first came into their life. After months of asking me and me not saying anything they eventually gave up and Barbara raised me as her own and Max accepted me as her sister. They are my angels. Without them I don't know where I would be right now. Probably dead."
   "That's scary to think about."
   "Yeah."
   "You're just giving me bits and pieces."
   "All I know is bits and pieces." She stood took their plates and placed them in the sink. Turning back to face him. She said. "I don't remember my mother. My birth mother. She may have died while giving birth to me I don't know. I remember bits and pieces of my birth father. I remember him being a sweet but rough guy at the same time. He was tall. I remember just breaking my neck to look up at him."
   "You remember how you two got separated?"
   "No. I just remember one day he was there and the next he wasn't. I think I was three years old. I don't remember.
   "Where you go after that?" He watched as she racked her brain.
   "I know I was in Miami for a bit.”
   "Did you end up with another family?"
   "Yeah. They weren't my family. Just people who tolerated me.”
   "So between age three and twelve you don't remember?"
   "No. I just remember not liking where I was at. Just pain. And..."
   "And what?'
   "Always being scared and wanting to get away."
   "Sound as if you been threw a lot. I have just one more question."
   "What's that?"
  "Is Elise your real name?" She looked away again. "What's your real name?"
   "I rather not say."
   "Why not?"
   "Because I left that part of me in the past including my name."
   "How did you get away with changing your name all this time?"
   "Barbara changed my name legally for me. And I got a social security because of her. She did everything for me."
   "She cares for you."
   "I never knew love until I met Max and Barbara."
   "You had a bad dream the other day. What was that about?"
   "Someone is chasing me. No matter how fast I run they gain up on me and just as they grab me I wake up. It's always the same dream and always end the same way.”
   "I'm sorry you went threw so much in your childhood."
   "Me to." Sighing she said. "How was your childhood?"
   "I'll tell you on one condition."
   "What?"
   "You kiss me."
   "I think I can do that." With that she stood on her toes and kissed him.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please vote and comment. Let me know what you guys think.