Chapter 14

Chapter 14
“I will never let anyone hurt you again. I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect you and our family.” She then bends down and kisses my hand and we go back to looking into each other’s eyes. Her words take my breath away because I know that she means what she is saying. I lean in and begin kissing her passionately yet gently. I want her to feel the love that I have for her at the same time letting her know that I believe she will do her best to keep us safe. I pull back before things go any further and we’re both breathing hard.
“Jay, I know you will keep us safe, and I want you to know that I feel the same way. I will do whatever I have to do to keep our children, you, and our family safe.” After I am done speaking there is a light knock on the door.
“Who is it?” We say this is unison and begin to laugh once we realize what we’ve done. The feeling is strange because I can’t remember the last time we both laughed.
“It is Gary. Mr. Fontenot called me and said that he sent ten men to be escorts for you and the family while we’re here. No one is to go anywhere without security.” We both look at each other and she gets up to open the door.
“Why is he sending so many men? I mean we already have you here so I don’t see why we need ten additional men.” They both turn and look at me as though the answer to my question is so obvious.
“What?” I ask them since they are just standing there looking at me saying nothing.
“Baby the reason for the extra men is so that anytime someone leaves the house, there are enough to protect them without leaving the rest of us unprotected. I’m sure we are not always going to be leaving the house in one big group. I know that I am looking to spend plenty of alone time with you. I don’t want our lives to change just because we aren’t in our own home.” I blush as she says that she is looking forward to spending time alone with me. After all these years, she is still able to make my heart race and my body tingle without even touching me. No time to think about that now though.
“Well when are they going to arrive and will you be able to recognize them? I don’t want anyone sneaking in here that doesn’t work for Mr. Fontenot. My babies are here and so is the rest of my family. They can do whatever they want to me but I will not have Jay, my children, or the rest of my family hurt.” They both look at me and I can see that Jay has sadness in her eyes and I know that she is thinking about my past experience.
“Jay stop it. Don’t look at me like that. One thing that I’ve learned from that horrible time is how strong I am and how much pain I can actually endure physically and mentally before I snap. I rather go through it again knowing that, than to have one of you go through it not knowing what you can or cannot take in that situation.” Gary turns and heads back down to the room that he is sharing with Abigail. She took a different plane to get here but I didn’t find that out until we were here and she was waiting in one of the limos. I just shake my head at my wife and her secrets. Little did I know that there was an even bigger secret that I would be finding out soon enough.
Later that evening, we all are downtown in New York heading to Macy’s to do some shopping. Normally I would want to sight see and find out everything that New York has to offer, but the crowds are making me more nervous than usual even with all the security we have with us. All of us women head to our section while the men and Jay head to their section of the store. I also get the children some clothes, shoes, and underwear. They hate shopping about as much as I do, but right now it is a necessity so we all have to deal with it for now. My sister and mother are in heaven picking out outfits and shoes while I’m walking around moping and pouting. I would have much rather stayed back at the house than do this but I had no choice. They laugh at me cause they even with all my money, I’m still not into shopping. Suddenly I hear Alexa yelling and Nicholas crying. I rush over to where they are and see that he has a bright red mark on his face in the shape of a tiny hand and my daughter is standing there with a toy in her hand.
“What is going on Alexa? Why is your brother crying?” I know that she hit him because I can see the mark but I want to know what led up to that part. I make a habit of giving my children a chance to tell the truth before casting down punishment. I want them to learn to be good people by telling the truth and owning their wrongs when they’ve committed them.
As a typical six year old, she tries to lie before telling me the truth, so I stop her before she even gets started. I begin speaking in my stern mother-is-not-playing voice,
“Alexa, it would be in your best interest little girl to tell me the truth. You’re already in trouble for hitting your brother, so don’t add to your punishment by lying.” She puts her little head down and when she looks back up at me her beautiful green eyes are shining with unshed tears.
“I saw that toy first and Nicholas took it from me. I told him to give it back but he wouldn’t so I slapped him. I didn’t mean to hit him in the face momma but he made me mad.” I took a deep breath while picking Nicholas up and kissing his face to try and soothe him.
“I am not going to deal with you right now, but when we get home little girl you and I are going to have a little talk. I told you about hitting especially your little brother. Nicholas you are in trouble as well. If you knew your sister wanted that toy why did you go after it and don’t lie to me.” He looked at me with his brown eyes still shining from crying and tells me that he wanted the toy also and that it wasn’t his fault that she wasn’t fast enough to get the toy first. I put him down and examine his face one last time.
“Well it looks like I’ll be buying a belt to go along with the rest of the clothes.” I watch as both of their faces get pale and they begin looking around. Yes, we do believe in spanking children in our house. My mother and father raised me that way and so did Jay’s parents. ‘You spare the rod, you spoil the child’ is what is says in the bible and we don’t spare the rod. Now we don’t beat our children. There is a difference between spanking and beating. There are never any bruises, or marks of any kind left on our children when we are done and they learn their lesson for the most part. They will not grow up to be thugs, criminals, spoiled brats, or uneducated. I tell Gary to take them to Jay so that I can have time to cool down. My sister comes over to me as they are being led away looking sad.