Entertainment

Can you guess the mystery author? (Chapter 17)

Read from the beginning – links at the bottom.

April 15, 2022

gregwake is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

After 17 chapters, do you think you can guess who the mystery author is?

Chapter 17

Friday morning about a month into the assignment, Paige woke up to find herself alone in bed. A note lay on the pillow where Jason slept.

Paige

I have to take care of some things. Sorry to leave you flying solo, but I know that you will be able to hold down the fort for a day. When I get back home, we will talk.

Love you,

Jason

PS: Please Don’t go home this weekend. Trust me.

It took Paige half the time to get ready, mostly because there was no hunk of a man to distract her, so She arrived early to work. Instead of heading to her station, Paige walked up the stairs to Victoria’s office. Victoria sat at her desk with a cup of coffee and some invoices. Nonchalantly, Winnie read the top of the papers from the window committing the names to memory. Pleasantly surprised, the older woman gestured to Winnie to come in.

“How are you doing, Winnifred?” She asked curiously.

“Fine,” she replied with a noncommittal shrug.

“We are all glad that you came back to us. The other day Joseph showed me one of your paintings. It blew us all away.” Victoria pulled out a photo of the design that had just been completed. Three beautiful white wolves stood facing each other with faces pointing, out, with the most realistically painted eyes gazing at the horizon. Behind them was a full moon canvassed on a midnight blue night sky. The Client was blown away and gave Winnie a generous tip. That design was a work of art and had even impressed her.

“We would like to include this image on our webpage, if you don’t mind.” Paige did mind because she would have liked to see it on a Jet liner or her own portfolio, however Winnie just nodded unassumingly. “And Larissa, is glad to have another female in the shop. I know that between work and school, hanging out at an auto body shop with her mother and brother is not a fun time to a teenage girl.” She put the papers down. “You are a good influence on her. Now how can I help you?”

Winnie pulled a stack of cash and handed it to Victoria who looked up startled. Jason, Paige and the team had discussed whether or not she should return the money. Half thought that it would be a step towards earning trust between the two and the family. Jason and the Major disagreed and felt that it was “owed” to Winnie due to her hardships in prison and returning it would be an insult to the generosity.

“Thank you for the loan. I admit that I needed it when I started, but I am doing fine now. I will not be beholden to you anymore.” Paige took advantage of the opportunity arriving to work without Aiden.

“I considered the money a deposit. You didn’t need to pay me back.” She tried to give the money back, but Winnie refused.

“I was always going to pay you back, I just needed some time. The last client gave me a generous tip and Aiden….” Victoria looked her in the eye and smiled.

“He really is a good man don’t you agree?” Winnie didn’t know what to say so she stayed silent. “Don’t let him slip away. By the way, where is he?”

“I don’t know. He left before I woke up this morning. There was a note taped on the door. Said that he wasn’t going to make it in to work this morning.” Victoria peered over her glasses expecting more but Winnie held her ground. Every word out of her mouth was the truth.

“Did he say when he’d be back?” Winnie felt as though she was being examined by an X ray machine. Paige knew for a fact that ‘Aiden’ had called in sick however no one at work realized that they had already gotten back together.

“No. The note said that he was not feeling well.”

“Ok, have a good day.” Winnie took her leave and walked down the steps into her retreat. Despite her feigning indifference at work, she missed the comfort of having him close.

Larissa dropped by around lunchtime and Winnie spent her break helping the young lady pick out a prom dress from various store websites. Though cloths, especially fancy dresses weren’t her thing, Winnie found herself enjoying the company and conversation. She worked late and picked up fast food on the way home. It was the first private and uninterrupted meal she had had in years.

Several hours away, Jason really did have business to attend to. First, he stopped off at his own home to retrieve some personal items and take care of unopened mail and unpaid bills. He then found himself knocking on the door to Paige’s home. Rachael opened the door surprised to see him. When she saw that he carried takeout food from her favorite restaurant, Rachael opened the door wider and let him in.

“Aiden’s at school right now. It is Friday.” Jason smiled and made his way to the kitchen.

“That’s fine. I came over to talk to you.” Suddenly nervous, he began to open the containers and spread them on the Island.

“How is she?” Rachel asked and Jason relaxed.

“Really well. Both of us were accepted back with no questions asked.” He paused at the anxious expression on a worried mother’s face. “We are both working in an auto body shop.” He pulled out his phone and showed her some of the images that Paige had painted. Rachael looked at him Puzzled.

“She is working undercover painting cars? I don’t understand.”

“Paige was chosen because of her artistic abilities and her ability to airbrush vehicles. Also for her personality, trustworthy, likable with a slight edge. Not to disregard it but she is a she, so less obvious then a male agent going undercover.”

“What do you do? Can you tell me?” He figured that it would be ok to tell her the truth.

“I repair the cars on the other side of the shop.” She snorted and Jason smiled at the similarity between mother and daughter.

“Big Bad FBI agent fixing cars?” He laughed with her as they began eating lunch. After a few minutes of silence, she peered at him seriously.

“You are a Mama’s boy.” More of a statement then question.

“Yes.”

“Not a good relationship with your father.”

“Nope.”

“That is why you are becoming a good father to Aiden.” He sat stunned at her insightfulness. Jason didn’t know how much to share but felt that he should say something about his childhood.

“My parents separated when my brother and I were young. We lived with my mom but saw our dad on weekends. He used to pick us up and take us to get fast food or to fun places like the skating rink, amusement parks, movies. We were always excited to see him because he was the fun parent where Mom always made us eat healthy and do our schoolwork.” He paused.

“Something changed though, didn’t it.” Another statement.

“I caught my mom on the phone crying about how we loved him more than her. That she was being the responsible one and how he was like a big kid playing with us all the time and how he never helped her to raise us, just tried to buy our love. I guess that I was old enough to understand how true she spoke. I began feeling bad about having fun with my dad and tried to tell him to help her out by being more responsible. He didn’t like that much and disappeared soon after.”

“I didn’t want to like you.” Rachael admitted. “However, that admission might have just won me over.”

“I don’t want to just be the fun parent and undermine Paige. You two have been raising Aiden since before he was born. He is my son and I love him, however I just came onto the scene a month ago.”

“The first time you came over, you followed Paige’s lead with Aiden. I challenged you to share a room with him and you not only accepted the challenge, but you went far beyond what I was expecting. You were gentile and patient with Aiden and spoke to him as if he were a person, not a kid like other men had done.” She stopped in response to the look that he gave. “Yes, Paige dated not a lot but, Libby and I fixed her up with a handful of young men over the years, but she didn’t get serious with anyone for long.

“I respect that you asked Aiden how Paige explained things and then followed her lead even at 3-4 in the morning. You always take her side and speak of her with high regard. Each weekend, you and Paige come back and spend time with Aiden, reading him stories, sharing popcorn, talking and playing with him. Aiden loves having his parents together and looks forward to your visits all week long. He is always asking when you two can come back home permanently so that we all can be a real family.” She stood up an retrieved a child’s drawing from the refrigerator. On it was four stick figures, labelled Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and me.” Jason glanced at the picture, overcome by emotion that he rarely displayed.

“I want to ask your permission before I propose to Paige,” he said solemnly pulling out a small ring box. In it was a simple engagement ring with a small diamond chip in the middle. “I bought this six years ago. My plan was to take her to our favorite restaurant, tell her the truth about me and ask her for her hand. I had arranged it with my boss to grant her immunity and wanted her to come out of the assignment with me.” He paused and pulled out another ring box.

“This is the ring that I picked up on my way back from meeting Aiden for the first time.” This ring was quite different. There was a Diamond in the middle, however it was surrounded by a green Peridot and pink Rose, stone one on each side. Rachael recognized the Diamond represented Aiden being an April birthday and the Peridot represented Paige’s August birthday.

“You are an October baby,” she mused appreciatively.

“Life doesn’t happen the way you expect however I got a second chance with Paige. I don’t intend to lose her again, or Aiden.” Rachael knew that he spoke from his heart.

“Yes. As long as Paige says yes.”

“And Aiden?”

“He adores you.” Suddenly a weight dropped from his shoulders and the world became brighter and his future became much more clear.