Blind Loyalty - M J Marlow (i am reading a book .txt) 📗

pocket of his leather jacket. Genie was gone now, so he would have to do this himself. If he were caught, he would wind up like her, dead in a ditch somewhere; but he had made a promise to Joanna’s mother. He would protect this girl no matter what it cost him personally. When Joanna came to, she was in bed back at the Winbourne house and Rachel was seated next to her. Why couldn’t she remember? Rachel handed her a cup of water and Joanna sipped it slowly, her mind locked on her problem. She kept seeing that book and she knew it had something to do with her mother, but her mind wouldn’t let her go any further. She knew it was important. The pain started coming back. She put her hands to her temples and sat quiet for a moment. “If I look at the file that man has of my stolen memories,” she asked the woman finally; “will it change anything? Maybe it would be better for me not to know.” “Is that what you want, Joey?” Rachel asked as she stroked Joanna’s hand gently. “Because we can forget all about the past and just look forward if that’s what you want.” She saw Joanna start to drift off again. “We’ll talk about it later.” The doors burst open and Sarah froze as Rachel held up her hand. “Let her sleep, Sarah,” she told her niece. “Joey is not feeling well.” Rachel took her niece downstairs and the entire family was in the kitchen. There was not a happy expression on any of the adult’s faces. Sarah and her cousins could tell the news was not pretty by the dark look on their aunt Rachel’s face. She took a seat at the counter with her cousins and they waited to be told what was going on with Joanna. It was obvious her sudden illness was part of it. “Her father slipped her something today,” Rachel told the kids bluntly. “He wants her so ill she can’t testify against him.” “Is he in jail?” Ryan asked bluntly. His expression told the adults that he would very happily do more to the man than jail him if it were his choice. They were quite pleased to see how quickly their children had taken Joanna into their lives. “The only one who knows what happened is Joanna,” Lora said softly; “and the drug he gave her stole the memory of their meeting from her mind.” She saw Sarah’s shocked expression. “He is not a nice man, Sarah. We have to make certain never to let her out of our sight from this moment on.” “How far would he go?” Patrick asked; his fists clenched in anger at the thought of his sister being harmed. He had only known she was his sister since she had arrived, but he was already quite attached to her. “He wouldn’t kill her, would he?” “What he had planned for her was something far worse,” Adam replied. He saw Sarah’s curiosity engaged and shook her head. “You don’t need to know any more of the details. All you kids need to know is that you are to keep Joanna with you every minute she is not here in our home.” He thought about what Sarah had told him. “Joanna got away from you during a fire drill, Sarah. Where did she go?” “I never got a chance to ask her,” Sarah replied. She got up to get herself some juice. “She started feeling sick in French class and I took her to the Nurse.” She tried to think. “Mr. Dunne brought her to class after the drill. Maybe he saw something?” Adam nodded and pulled out his cell phone. He called the Aerie and told Braxton what had happened. He assured Adam the man would be questioned. The family turned their conversation to other matters then as Lora went up to check on Joanna. The Homecoming Dance was coming up in a few weeks and she and Joanna needed dresses. When she found out the theme Rachel smiled and took Sarah to her room. She pulled a box out of the closet. Sarah squealed as she saw the gown. Adam and the Judge took the boys out to the lake and continued discussing the situation with Joanna. “I wore that when I was your age,” Rachel smiled as she saw her niece pull the gown out of the box and hold it to her body in front of the mirror on the closet wall. “You’re just about the same size I was then. It should fit you.” “Aunt Rachel!” Sarah exclaimed as she threw her arms around Rachel’s neck. “You are the best!” Winbourne appeared in the doorway and the expression on his face told Rachel that her father had learned something horrifying. He was practically gray under his tan. She sent Sarah to her room and followed her father downstairs. They went into his study and she saw that Adam and Lora were already there. A mailer with a CD in it was resting on the desk. When she saw the return address, she knew why he’d waited until they were all present to put it into the computer. It was the address the former Aerie operative had used when she had sent information to Braxton. They watched in horror as the activities of the slave market were shown to them. On the last frame was a note. “If Leighton ever tells Joanna he is ‘taking her to London’,” it read; “this is what is going to happen to her. You’ve been warned. Keep her away from him.” Winbourne pulled out the CD and put it back in the mailer. He slid it across the desk to Adam. “You know he’ll want to see that.” Adam nodded and left it sitting there. Winbourne sighed heavily. “It was bad enough when I thought the man was just a heavy-handed disciplinarian,” he said finally. “But if we are to believe this, Leighton is involved in white slavery as well as drugs. He is not allowed anywhere near her unless it is in the company of one of us, or Sheriff Murphy from this point on. Are we agreed?” They all nodded. He let it go then and smiled at his daughter. “So have you two set a date?” “We’ll think of that, Father;” Rachel told him firmly; “when Leighton is no longer a threat to Joanna.” She saw his disagreement. “No,” she shook her head. “The child is in danger, Father. We need to concentrate on her for now. Adam and I have talked this over and we are in complete agreement.” Winbourne nodded and was quite pleased. Hannah had never been the right woman for Adam Jeffries. He needed a strong woman who knew how to set the right priorities. He was happy to see that woman was his other daughter, Rachel. He could hardly wait to see what their children would be like. It took three days for Joanna to recover from her father’s attack on her. When she could finally think again without the blinding headaches, she was allowed to go back to school. She was in the library with Sara and the others when George joined them. He slid into the seat next to hers and she looked up from the textbook she was reading, frowning at the interruption. “Has anyone asked you to the Homecoming Dance yet?” he asked bluntly. He looked over at her brothers and saw them giving him the silent warning. Patrick and Ryan had obviously declared themselves her protectors. But he could get around them easily enough. “Because if not, I would like…” “She’s going with me,” Patrick broke in. He knew George was up to something and he was not going to let it happen. Not with his sister! He would break the guy’s arm before he would let George touch Joanna. “Aren’t you, Joey?” Joanna saw the scowl on George’s face and a flash of memory struck. She saw Aidan and her father together by a car as her father gave Aidan something for bringing her to him. He had been there when her father had given her that poison! There was no way she was letting anyone near her. So she smiled and nodded. George scowled and left the table without another word. Patrick took the chair the other boy had vacated and smiled down at his sister. “You wouldn’t have accepted his invitation, Joey,” Patrick said. “Besides,” he smiled impishly, “it gave me a chance to needle him. Jensen has always been far too full of himself.” He put his hand on hers. “I meant it, Joey. You will come to the dance with me.” She hesitated. “You wouldn’t want to make me out to be a liar, would you, little sister?” “Of course not, Patrick,” Joanna shook her head. She saw his hopeful look and knew she couldn’t disappoint him. “All right,” she nodded. “I’ll go to the dance with you.” It was probably better for her to go with her brother anyway. She saw the time and got up to go. “I need to go. I promised Miss Dearborn I’d help her with her lesson plans.” She liked the French teacher and had been happy when she had been told that Miss Dearborn was her faculty counselor. She got her things together and hurried away. But as she approached the classroom, Aidan stepped out of hiding and cut her off. “Miss Dearborn can wait,” Aidan said as he grabbed her hand and took her outside. Joanna didn’t see her brothers or cousin following, but why should they? She had told them where she was going and they probably expected her to be there when they came looking later. She allowed Aidan to drag her along, hoping he was not planning on doing anything nasty. They went out to the football field and she stopped as she saw a picnic set up at the 50-yard line. “What is all this, Aidan?” Joanna asked as she looked up at him in confusion. “What are you up to?” “A little bird told me it was your birthday,” Aidan smiled as he led her there. He opened the picnic basket and took out a small box. “Happy 16th Birthday, Joey.” As Joanna opened the box, the birthday song began to play. She looked over her shoulder and saw the marching band coming out onto the field in uniform. She was overwhelmed as they surrounded her and Aidan. She had been given parties before, but this sincere outpouring of well wishes from people she had only just met was too much. She burst into tears and Aidan put his arms around her and let her cry. She was too overwhelmed to think how inappropriate it was for her to be in his arms. “I told them it was for you,” Aidan said to her as she saw her watching the marching band move off. He saw her confusion. “You’re not used to people caring about you, are you?” Joanna shook her head. Rachel was the first person since her mother died who sincerely cared for her. She leaned against him and smiled briefly. She was going to have to get used to the idea that people could care for her without being paid for it. She picked up the box and opened it. Inside was a music box of varnished wood with a blue green flower enameled on it. A “J” was enameled in white in the center of the blue green flower that nearly matched her eye color. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Does this mean I’m forgiven?” Aidan nearly choked at her enthusiasm. He turned the key on the bottom and smiled as he saw the joy in her eyes at hearing one of her favorite pieces of music. He could so easily take advantage of her right