Someone To Watch Over Me
by Purple Lacey
Part 25
“Here, Miz Nettie,” the little one said while handing a brightly wrapped and heavily ribboned box to the housekeeper with obvious pride. “I picked it out myself, and wrapped it too!”
“I’d have to say that’s some mighty fine wrapping,” Nettie told him with a smile.
“Go on!” Ezra told her, bouncing up and down eagerly as we watched her examine the gift. “Open it!”
Nettie chuckled and pulled off the long strings of curling ribbons and then ripped the paper to reveal a bottle of her favorite - and much hoarded - perfume. Nettie looked at the grinning boy with surprised delight. “How did you know I liked Shalimar?”
“I smelled all the bottles at the store,” Ezra paused to wave his hand in front of his face and grimace at the memory. “There were a LOT of bottles, but that one smelled like you did when me and Buck and Vin went with you and Cassie and JD to that Christmas singing thing.”
Nettie had to bite her tongue to control her laughter as she corrected, “You mean the cantata.”
Ezra nodded and replied, “Yeah, that thing. You smelled real good, just like this stuff.”
Nettie reached out and wrapped her arms around the smiling boy and pulled him in for a hug. “This is a wonderful gift, Ezra. I love it. Thank you, child!”
Ezra beamed with happiness knowing she liked his gift.
The boy turned slightly and handed the other package he still had in his hand to Casey. “Merry Christmas, Casey!” he told the young woman.
Casey smiled and reached for the present with eager hands. “I can’t wait to see what you got me, Ezra. I know what ever it is I’ll just love it!”
Ezra nodded confidently and replied in a very self satisfied voice, “I know.”
Casey laughed and tore off the paper. Inside she found a flat box and she slipped off its lid curiously. The rest of the group watched with amusement as Casey suddenly squealed and hauled Ezra close yelling, “No Way! No Way! Ezra...you...you... I can’t believe you did this!”
“What is Case?” JD who was sitting on the other side of her on the sofa tried to look in the box but the excited girl was now clutching the box to her chest with one hand while she hugged Ezra with the other.
Ezra fought loose and stood back grinning at her. “See, I knew you’d like them.”
Casey turned to her watching boyfriend and reached into the box to pull out two slim pieces of pasteboard. “George Strait tickets, JD! He got me George Strait tickets!”
“I heard you telling Miz Nettie how you really wanted to go see his concert next month but you didn’t think you could spare the money because you were going to have to buy books for school,” Ezra explained. “I know how much you like him because you’re always playing his songs when you’re over here. Me and Buck went to the place in the mall that sells all kinds of tickets and he helped me pick them out. Buck says they’re real good seats; real close. ”
“I love them, Ez. Thanks so much,” Casey had to pull the boy back in for another hug.
Ezra stepped back a minute later and ran to the Christmas tree for two more gifts. The boy hurried over to where Vin was seated comfortably in one of the recliners and the detective pulled at the arms to fold the chair back up as Ezra approached. ”Me next, huh?” Vin asked with a grin.
Ezra returned it and handed the man the long, thin box wrapped in gold paper and bright blue ribbons in his left hand. ”Merry Christmas, Vin!” Ezra told him.
“Thanks, pard.” Vin pulled the paper off the box and dropped it on the floor beside his chair, then wrestled with the many strips of tape that kept the box closed. He eventually was able to slide off the top. “This is beautiful, Ezra!” a surprised and very pleased Vin told the child watching him closely. The man pulled out the leather wallet that had a richly detailed wolf design hand-tooled on either side. “I’ve never seen one quite like this. It’s an awesome gift. Thank you.” Vin held out his arms and Ezra stepped inside them for a quick hug before disengaging and heading over to Nathan.
“I got this for you Nathan,” Ezra told him proudly and gave the pediatrician a flat, rectangular package covered in a red foil paper and green ribbons.
Nathan accepted the gift enthusiastically and didn’t pause before tearing into it. He looked at the hardback book he now held in his hands and then started laughing.
“Thanks, Ez. I promise I’ll make good use of it.” Nathan told him, still chuckling.
“What’d ya get, Nate?” Vin asked, trying to look at the cover.
Nathan held it up so everyone could see the cover and answered, “It’s a book of 1001 doctor jokes!”
“You’ll have to read some out to us later,” Raine told him with a smile.
“I have something for you too, Raine,” Ezra said quickly and headed back toward the rapidly dwindling pile of gifts remaining under the Christmas tree.
Santa’s newest helper handed the woman her gift and she accepted the five inch cube with alacrity. She turned it over to admire the child’s wrapping. Ezra had chosen a very non-traditional wrapping paper for her present. Instead of the usual foil or Christmas scene on the paper, it was scattered with rosebuds in various colors. “This is really pretty, Ezra,” Raine told him with pleasure. “I love roses! How did you know?”
Ezra grinned and answered, “Nathan told me you liked them. He said you have rosebushes planted all around your house and that they’re your favorite flower.”
Rained smiled at her husband and leaned over to give him a quick kiss. “Nathan is very right. I adore roses.”
“Open it!” Ezra urged her.
Raine obliged and began peeling off the pieces of tape carefully. “I really don’t want to ruin this gorgeous paper,” she admitted to the impatient child watching her. Ezra was about to bust by the time she finally stripped the paper away from the box and folded it carefully. She set in on the sofa beside her and then pulled open the lid of the box and folded it back. She reached inside and pulled out an object wrapped in a protective cocoon of bubblewrap. Raine found where the wrap was taped together and pulled off the strip then pulled off the plastic to reveal a crystal clear paperweight that had a perfect crimson rose suspended in the middle. Raine gasped at the sight of it. “Oh, Ezra! It’s wonderful. Thank you so much!” she gushed. She set the globe in her lap long enough to pull Ezra to her to embrace him before letting him pull away. She picked up her gift again and began examining if from all sides. “I absolutely love it! It’s perfect!”
Ezra smiled in satisfaction at her reaction. He then turned back to the Christmas tree once more and picked up a large box. He had to use both hands to hold it, but he managed to carry the present to where Josiah was sitting and handed the gift to the judge. “This is for you, Josiah,” he said proudly. Josiah reached over and scrubbed a hand over the boy’s hair affectionately.
“Why thank you, Ezra,” Josiah told him sincerely. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what you chose for me. You’ve done such a super job picking out just the right gifts for everyone else.”
Ezra beamed with happy pride at the man’s approbation. Josiah stripped off the paper slowly, then crumbled it up and dropped it on the floor by his chair. He looked over the large box in his hand with interest. “You know, I’ve always wanted to do one of these!” Josiah told the boy with his own happy surprise. “I thought they would be a lot of fun to build. Thank you, Ezra! I really, really like it!”
“Show us too, Josiah,” JD called across the room.
Josiah grinned and held up the box for all to see, “It’s a kit for building a ship in a bottle, a four-masted schooner to be exact. “
“Hey that’s cool!” JD said enthusiastically.
“That it is, my young friend,” Josiah agreed happily, “That it is!”
“What did Ezra get you, JD?” Casey asked curiously, still clutching her tickets protectively. JD had opened his gift from Ezra earlier that morning when it had just been the three of them present.
“Grand Theft Auto,” he replied with a pleased grin.
Josiah looked at him and questioned before he thought, “He stole a car for you?”
JD and Casey collapsed back onto the sofa there were sharing with laughter. JD managed to contain himself enough to reply, “Grand Theft Auto is a video game, Josiah!”
“Oh,” the judge said with a look of embarrassment before he began to chuckle at his own reaction.
Ezra headed toward the tree one last time to grab his final gift which was for Chris. The boy knelt before the tree to reach under it for the small red box when he was distracted by the soft chimes that signaled some one was at the front door.
As he had done all morning every time the doorbell had sounded, Ezra jumped up and ran to the front door to see who it was. Buck rose more slowly and followed. The little boy threw open the door and the words, “Merry Christmas!” were flying from his lips when he froze in horror.
“Have you completely forgotten all that I tried to teach you, Ezra?” said the smooth voice of the woman standing there looking down at the child with disapproval. “A gentleman would never answer a door in such a wild and uncontrolled manner. I see I have arrived just in time. I would hate to see all the lessons I have worked so hard to impart to you unravel as easily.”
“M...M...Mother!” the boy gasped, his hands strangling the doorknob in fright.
“What the hell are you doing here,” Buck growled as he approached the doorway. He laid a hand on Ezra’s shoulder and used it to pull the child back against him possessively. Buck bent down to give Ezra a reassuring hug and whisper in his ear, “It will be alright, Ez. You go stay with Nettie while I deal with this.”
Buck stood up and gently turned the child around by his shoulders and gave him a tiny push toward the den. Ezra looked over his shoulder at his guardian uncertainly then nodded and took off for the den at a run.
“Get the hell off this property or I’ll have you arrested.” Buck’s voice was stone cold as he addressed the woman standing on his front porch.
Maude Standish smiled with malevolent amusement. “I’ll be more than happy to depart, Mr. Wilmington...after I have received the proper recompense.”
“Recompense! Do you honestly believe I would pay you for abusing and abandoning Ezra? Do you think I don’t know about the way you allowed him to be beaten and abused and then covered it up? Do you think I don’t know about the way you systematically tore down that boy’s self esteem until he began to believe he was not worthy of so simple a thing as affection, or that he was stupid? You think I would pay you for depriving him of the simple, everyday things of a normal childhood because of your own selfishness? Are you really that dense? I won’t give you one thin dime. The only thing you’ll be getting from me is the boot.”
Maude’s smile didn’t dim under the man’s tirade and she faced him boldly. “I will be compensated, or I will take my son and you will have to find someone else to shower with your ‘affections’ won’t you?”
Buck stared at the woman in disbelief as he realized what she was inferring. “I would never do something so heinous! The very idea of what you are suggesting disgusts me, but the fact that you would suspect that was going on and still offer to leave your son in that situation in return for money goes beyond disgusting. It’s just plain evil!”
The woman shrugged off the term uncaringly. “Ezra exists to serve my purposes. What becomes of him is immaterial. All that need concern you is that he belongs to me and if you want to keep him you will pay for the privilege.”
“You are one cold hearted bitch,” Buck ground out through clinched teeth.
Again his words seemed to have no effect on the woman. “You may think of me as you choose. I do not particularly care what opinion of me you hold, but you will either give me back what is mine or you will pay to keep it. Those are your only two choices. Why don’t you invite me in and we will discuss terms.”
Buck was so angry he was having a hard time not reaching out and strangling the woman. He started to step back and allow the woman in with the thought of leading her to Vin so he could arrest her when suddenly Chris was by his side.
“NO!” The angel cried and stepped up to stand between Buck and the woman. His arm was raised in front of his former charge protectively. He seemed to grow in stature as he faced the woman, his face taking on a mien of ferocious protectiveness, and ordered in a voice of inexorable power. “Leave this house. Everything inside the walls of this estate is forbidden to you. You are not welcome here. Be gone!”
For the first time since her arrival, Maude showed emotion. She was enraged and she started at Larabee with pure hate in her eyes. “You think you can win but you won’t. I WILL have what is mine! I can not be defeated. If you challenge me you will bring down destruction on your own head as well as those you care for. Think very carefully about that before you try to interfere!”
Then she turned away and started down the steps to her car. She never made it. A plain brown car followed by a police patrol car had been coming down the driveway toward the house. One pulled in front of her car blocking it from leaving, and the other parked behind her car so she was unable to back up. Susan Torrance climbed out of the brown car parked in front of Maude’s vehicle and walked over to the seething woman staring at her malevolently.
“Move your vehicle at once,” Maude snapped. “I have been asked to leave and I am attempting to do so.”
“Maude Standish, you are under arrest for child abandonment and felony child endangerment, as well as accessory to a whole bunch of other charges that we’ll be more that happy to go over with you at the station.” Detective Torrance spun Maude around and was placing her handcuffs on the woman before Maude could react. “You have the right to remain silent,” Susan began reading the woman her Miranda rights.
Maude didn’t deign to lower herself enough to struggle but glared maliciously at the police arresting her then turned eyes burning with controlled rage on the angel and the others who had come out to the front steps to watch as she was hauled over to the patrol car and put in the back seat for the ride to the station to be booked.
Susan Torrance got her settled then had a brief word with the officers charged with driving her down. When the patrol car with Maude drove away Susan and another plain clothes officer walked over to the watching group.
“How did you know?” Buck asked as she approached.
The woman smiled with satisfaction and replied, “We’ve had an APB out on her ever since we arrested her husband. An officer recognized her when she was driving this way and called it in. I guessed where she must have been headed to when I heard about the area of town where she was sighted.”
“Thank you,” Buck told her sincerely. “After meeting her, I have to say that woman is even more of a monster than her husband.”
“I’m going to need statements from everyone,” she said almost apologetically. “I know it’s Christmas but the sooner we get it out of the way the sooner you can get back to your celebration.”
Buck sighed and said “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go first, then Ezra. I know you won’t want us talking to each other before you talk to us, and I really need to see to Ezra as soon as possible.”
Susan agreed and Buck led her to his den. It was almost two hours later when Susan finished taking their preliminary statements and arranged for them all to come down to the station the next day for formal ones. After what seemed like eternity, Buck finally shut the front door behind the departing police officers and returned to the den where he had left his foster son while he showed Torrance and the other detective out. Ezra was seated on one of the sofas in Nettie’s lap, Raine on one side and Casey on the other. Buck walked over and reached out his arms to the boy. Ezra practically leapt into them at the invitation. Buck had kissed his forehead and took a seat in one of the den’s recliner’s.
“It’s time for some explanations,” Buck said with his head swiveling around the room as though trying to find something.
Chris materialized in an unoccupied chair and looked at him seriously. “You’re right.”
“Why didn’t you warn us that she was coming here?” Buck asked angrily.
“I didn’t know,” Chris replied grimly.
An awful silence filled the room.
“What?” JD whispered, “But...how?”
Chris turned his head toward the shocked young man and answered, “Something has changed. I can’t focus on her any more. There is something blocking me, something dark.”
“How is that possible?” Josiah asked, half worried and half curious.
“There’s only one way to explain it.” The angel’s face was as grim as his tone of voice. “She’s gone over.”
“Gone over?” JD’s face was screwed up in thought. “Like to the...the dark side? Like in Stars Wars?”
The question caused Larabee’s face to lighten for a moment with amusement at the reference, and then the angel answered, “Nothing quite so spectacular, but the concept is very similar.”
“Why don’t you stop being so damned cryptic and just spit it out,” the irate Buck told him, his arms wrapping protectively around the child sitting in his lap.
Chris nodded then began, “I don’t have to tell you that there has been a battle raging since time began between Good and Evil, Light and Dark, Heaven and Hell, call it what you will. It exists in a balance of one against the other. As a Guardian Angel I serve the Light of Heaven, and my job is to protect and guide those under my care toward the side of Light. But just as there are Angels of Light, here are also Angels of Darkness whose job it is to destroy and lead men to damnation. I believe Maude has aligned herself with of one of these Dark Angels. Her presence is being masked by whichever one is shielding her.”
“And you can’t break through it?” Nathan asked.
Larabee shook his head no. He made eye contact with each of them. “If she is being led by a Dark Angel, there is no telling what she might be capable of doing.”
“You mean she might be able to, you know...take over our minds or something?” JD asked in a shaken voice, scenes from various movies playing in his head.
Chris couldn’t help it, he laughed. Then he got serious again. “No. That’s not what I meant. She’s still completely human. She hasn’t acquired mystical powers or any of the other things you are imagining. She won’t be able to do anything that she couldn’t have done before. I just meant this Dark Angel will be pushing her to go past whatever limits she might normally have had before.
Thoughts of self preservation would have stopped her from going too far when she was on her own, but the Dark Angel will convince her that nothing and no one can touch her, whatever she does. She won’t find out until it’s too late that it isn’t true because a Dark One isn’t there to protect her but to wreak destruction and chaos. It will shelter her only as long as it suits its purpose, and that purpose is to cause maximum damage to everyone around. Until this Dark One decides to finish playing with her, she will be a dangerous enemy because she won’t recognize any boundaries and every evil thing that she was capable of before will be magnified three fold. None of us can afford to take her threats lightly.”
“Well, hell!” Vin growled. “This just keeps getting better and better. It least she’s in jail now.”
“She won’t stay there for long,” Chris warned, face carved into a grim mask as he spoke. “The Dark Angel may take delight in torturing her by making her stay in jail for a short awhile but will get her out soon. It won’t suit its purposes to have her in jail when she could do so much more damage out of it.”
“You make it sound like she’s unstoppable; like we should just give up!” Buck said facing the angel down.
“No,” Chris told him, “She’s not unbeatable. In fact, you have the advantage over her because you are not alone. There are six of you bound together through me. That makes us seven strong, and seven has always been a special number for the Light. It’s a thing of power. Together we can win against her and her Dark Angel, but we’ll have to be careful and stay alert. Remember, the power of Darkness lies in its ability to conceal. It can hide someone’s true motives, or allow a predator to lie unseen until it has a chance to pounce on the unwary, or it can mask wrong until it looks like right, but it can’t stand up to anyone shining a light into that darkness.”
“Why did you pull that ‘Get thee gone’ shtick at the front door?” Buck asked, suddenly remembering the angel’s earlier behavior.
“A Dark Angel can’t enter a place where it is not invited. If Maude is in league with a Dark Angel then letting her come in is also an implicit invitation to the Dark One to enter as well. If you had allowed her to enter you would have also allowed the Dark One in and provided it with access to everyone in the place. By forbidding Maude entrance and laying the boundaries of your home as everything within the estate walls you can be reassured that neither one can intrude here.”
“You’ve provided a safe haven then,” Josiah said slowly and thoughtfully.
“Not completely safe,” Chris disagreed. “They may not be able to cross the boundaries, but that can’t stop Maude from hiring someone who can.”
“But this estate has security in place to stop a normal person,” Buck said confidently. “We’ll just have to make better use of it.”
Chris looked at the boy in Buck’s arms watching them silently and gave a smile full of reassurance. Then he looked back up at the man. “It should be safe,” Chris said evenly, hoping to give Ezra a sense of safety, but the adults could clearly hear the warning that they shouldn’t be too complacent.
“Well, now that the excitement is over,” the practical Nettie stated firmly, “I still have presents to give out. Why don’t we see about opening the rest of the presents and then getting that fancy Christmas dinner that Buck had catered for us on the table. It’s time to get this celebration back on track.”
The others were only too happy to try to put the disturbing episode behind them.