Blood Is Thicker...
By
Christine

Part Three

Chapter 27



An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Pik appeared to wait for Fouchon to make some sort of move against him or Madeleine, but he had so easily given Jason to her when he cried.

Fouchon broke the silence, "Madeleine, would you mind leaving me with your husband for a while? I have a few things I'd like to discuss with him."

"Pik?" She awaited his response.

Pik answered her, "Why don't you wait with Jason in our room. There's no need to alarm my parents."

"Are you sure?" she worried.

"Go on, Maddie," he answered.

After she quietly slipped down the hall to their room, Fouchon began to speak. "We've known each other a long time, Pik. We were good together. It would be a shame to bring that all to an end."

"It is at an end," Pik answered.

"Is it? Is it, Pik? Tell me, how long do you think you can stay happy in this….domestic cliché? How long before your lust for danger and adventure starts to tear you from them? Till you resent them for what they took from you…"

"Enough!" Pik roared, but he knew there was truth in Fouchon's words. He had both loved and resented his brother and parents for years, and hated the thought of feeling that way about his wife and child.

"That's enough," Pik repeated, quietly. "That life is over."

"Yes, yes, it wasn't suitable to carry on that way any longer once Madeleine came into the picture, much to dangerous. I realized that, almost too late, when those lads of yours started firing at both of you when you jumped into your Jeep."

"They were fresh, they didn't know they picked the losing team."

"Well," Fouchon grinned, "they're not so fresh anymore."

"What are you here for then, just say it." Pik nearly raised his voice again.

"I want my business partner back, and my daughter."

Pik told him, "You mistreated her, you nearly gave her a nervous breakdown. As for me, I've retired."

"Retired, you say." Fouchon continued scathingly, "Seems to my you've been spending a great deal of time at the ancestral family textile mill."

"What else would you have me do. I have a family now."

"As do I, and I would like to keep it. Take a look at this." Fouchon pulled a poster bill from inside his coat. It was a "wanted" poster for a fugitive, with a reward posted. Fouchon spoke as Pik perused it, "The reward is inconsequential, of course, nothing like we used to make. But this character is here in this country. His last known whereabouts is Durban. That's not too far from here"

"Are you suggesting we become bounty hunters?" Pik asked incredulously, but he felt his heart race at the thought of a hunt.

Fouchon replied, "Are you suggesting you continue to work at the family mill?" He paused, and then stood and walked toward Pik, excited. "We can do this, Pik! We can work from here, or move from time to time. Most of your dogs are alive and well, we only lost a few that night, they could work for us."

Fouchon went on, "Madeleine can be our business manager, we can run our own agency, free lance, of course…bail enforcement, fugitives, who knows?! Some are even wanted 'dead or alive.' Pik, we can be great at this. As great as we ever were. And it would be the legitimate this time, ridding the world of people like us."

"You've certainly put a great deal of thought into this." Pik said, genuinely intrigued.

"There are many details we'd need to iron out, and certain countries we would have to avoid alltogether, of course." He held his hand out for Pik to shake.

Pik accepted his hand. "Of course," Pik began, "But what about Maddie? The way you treated her?"

"Yes, what about 'Maddie,'" Fouchon said, and swung a left hook at him, which connected solidly with his jaw. Pik, stunned, fell backward but Fouchon, still firmly gripping his hand, pulled him upright again and steadied him. "That," said Fouchon, "is for Madeleine, for going behind my back the way you did. With my daughter, under my own roof. I owed you that." He began to pump his hand up and down to continue the handshake, and Pik returned the shake while rubbing his jaw with his other hand.

"I guess I'll give you that one," Pik said, "But are your going to change as far as Maddie is concerned?"

"I really do need to talk to her," Fouchon replied.


She dressed slowly, applied her cosmetics and worked on styling her hair, even knowing dinner with Pik was off for the night, and wondering what the two men were discussing. Jason was resting on the bed, propped up by the pillows. She had carefully picked up the shards of glass and placed them on the face of the mirror, and set it along with the comb and brush on her dresser. One of the most tender moments she had shared with her father was when he had given her that gift, and she regretted she had broken it. She was relieved to know for sure he father was alive, and knew it had been him who gave Jason the silver dish set as well as paying off the insurance company.

She also knew her husband, and knew her father was right…he wasn't the white-picket-fence type. She knew he would love her, but she was realistic enough to know he could resent her at the same time. She had seen the excitement in his eyes that first day he had dragged her into that alley. Even she had to admit their escape to the roadhouse that last night in New Orleans had been a bit of a thrill for her. She had heard the beginning of the conversation on the baby monitor, but had turned it off when her father began tormenting Pik about working at the plant.

Several minutes later, the door opened slowly, and to her surprise it was not Pik, but her father who entered the room. He sat beside her on the bed and held her hand. "I've made a lot of mistakes," he began.

"I've told you before, I am not a very nice person. And I've told you before, I'd like to start over with you. But this time, I want to do it right. I know I'll mess up, and I'll probably try to control you like I did before…" They both glanced up to see Pik leaning in the doorway. "But Pik here will help keep me in check. And you too."

"Do you mean it? I won't be swallowed up by you like I was before!" she asserted.

"Madeleine, I want to know you, really know you and be a part of your life. And Jason's too. He's so incredible."

"Thanks, I know…I'm…I'm glad you weren't hurt…in the woods that night. I really am."

"You had asked Frack not to kill me. And he made sure that didn't happen, out of respect for you and Pik."

She stood and pulled him up to embrace him, and he gently stroked her hair. "I love you Papa, and I want you in my life, too. I know we can make it work." She stood back and looked to Pik. "So, where do we go from here?" she asked.

Pik stepped all the way in the room. "We," he indicated Madeleine and himself, "go to dinner. You," he indicated Fouchon, "go to where ever it is you are staying. But come back tomorrow evening at six, so you can meet the rest of the family, properly. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Now, why don't you go out the way you came in?" Fouchon kissed Jason on the forehead, Madeleine on the cheek, and slid past Pik out into the hallway.


***


In the hours before dawn, Pik pulled Madeleine closely to him, their skin was damp with sweat after their lovemaking, and he raised the soft quilt up over them to keep off the night's chill. They were both exhausted from talking all night about Fouchon's new business idea, and their intimacy had been a welcome distraction, but they again returned to the subject.

"What about when Jason's ready to begin school? We can't be moving around then," she asked.

"I'm sure we'll all be ready to settle down for a while by that time."

"Do you really think you will be?"

He pulled her closer, "I know I will be. I really love what Owen has with his family. I just need a little while longer to settle into it. Besides, we can eventually run the agency from here, and have the men who work for us do the legwork. Not right away, of course."

"Of course."

"Are you sure you're allright with all this, Maddie?"

"It's who you are, Pik. It's who I fell in love with. And this seems like a way you can have the best of both worlds….Do you really think my father will change?"

"He wants his family, too," Pik explained, "and I guess he's realizing the blood is thicker than water, or money, or his pride, or anything else that would keep you from wanting him in your life."

He rolled on top of her and took her mouth with his, whispering, "Enough talking about this, we have better things we can do with the night."

She wrapped her arms around him and welcomed his kiss, but stopped and asked, "One more thing, what are we going to call this new 'business' of ours?"

"That's an easy one," Pik said, "'The Professionals.' Now, not another word until I'm finished with you." His mouth traveled down her neck, and she arched into him.

"It's a deal," she sighed.


The End


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