The Adventure Continues

[abrightboy]

For thatsfascinating.



The villa Malcolm rented was in the Languedoc, not far from Marseilles, south of Avignon. It was a very historic region, though Malcolm was particularly not interested in visiting Marseilles again. There was a charming village nearby the villa and if they were going to go to an historic city for a day, he'd rather make the trip over to Montpellier, where he'd never been at all, much less with Dr Whitly.

The villa had six bedrooms. As the driver brought their luggage inside the bright and spacious main room, Malcolm handed him some folded Euros and thanked him and shut the door behind him.

"First choice of a room is yours," he told Edrisa with a smile. "But you might want to explore first."

Comments

[thatsfascinating]

With every day on this trip, Edrisa was feeling more and more like she was in a fairy tale. That feeling got a hundred times stronger the minute she saw the place, and just kept on growing when she stepped into the place.

"This is ours? This? All of this? Just for us?"

And she thought their suite in Paris was impressive!

"Really?"

[abrightboy]

He smiled broadly and nodded.

"Just for us. A week and a half and a sprawling paradise all to ourselves."

[thatsfascinating]

She shook her head in wonder, still taking in their surroundings, going to the windows looking out over the vineyard and the pool.

"This is incredible," she breathed.

She came back to Malcolm, wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him.

"All to ourselves. It's perfect."

He was definitely spoiling her and she was loving every minute.

[abrightboy]

"I've arranged for a cook from the village to come in tonight and prepare a private meal," he told her after kissing her back. "And maybe tomorrow we can go down into the village and check it out."

[thatsfascinating]

"That sounds so wonderful!" she said, and kissed him again. "When do you want to give the pool a try?"

[abrightboy]

"Whenever you want," he said with a grin, pressing his forehead to hers. Then he lifted his head and glanced at the bags. "Well, I guess we should put our things away first." He looked at her. "Six bedrooms. There could be four between us and you might actually get a good night's rest," he pointed out.

[thatsfascinating]

"I don't want to be too far away from you," she said, pulling his head down to press her forehead to his. "What if you need me? Or I need you?"

She hadn't had any more nightmares since leaving the hospital, but that was barely a week ago.

[abrightboy]

After a light breakfast the next morning, they headed into the village on foot. There was supposed to be an exquisite bakery and it was nice to walk through the grapevines, in the midst of their bloom, in the sunshine and the light breeze, past pleasant locals.

"We should have lunch in the quaintest cafe they have," Malcolm was suggesting as they reached the edge of the village.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa was wearing a pale blue sundress, an ivory white cardigan, and a pair of white tennis shoes, and her buoyant mood was a perfect match for her cheerful clothing. She was smiling happily as they walked, her hand in Malcolm's, fingers threaded together, and took great pleasure in everything around them...the sun and the breeze and the vineyards and the locals.

"I can't imagine any of the cafes won't be extremely quaint!" she remarked, squeezing his hand. "We might have to have more than one lunch!"

[abrightboy]

He laughed lightly. "Over more than one day, I hope!" he teased.

[thatsfascinating]

"Maybe we should just have a series of small lunches," she responded playfully as they continued walking. "If we were in Spain we could go into every bar and order their signature tapas. Is there a French equivalent?"

[abrightboy]

He chuckled. "I don't think there is, but I will eat a bite of as many lunches as you want," he said, tugging her hand to bring her close enough to set a kiss on her temple. "I mean, you're not in France every day."

[thatsfascinating]

She leaned against him warmly, smiling at the tenderness of that kiss.

"I intend to make the absolute most of it," she agreed, and turned her head to kiss his cheek.

[abrightboy]

When they returned to New York, Malcolm scooped her up after unlocking the door to the apartment and elbowed the door aside to carry her over the threshold. He pressed a kiss to her mouth as he set her down.

"Welcome home," he said with a gentle smile.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa giggled a little as Malcolm scooped her up, holding on tight. She returned the kiss and beamed at him.

"Thank you! It's so good to be home."

She turned around to look at the apartment, taking it all in, a place that was of course deeply familiar but at the same time strangely new.

"It's ours," she sighed happily. Sure, they had been living together for awhile, but it had still in some ways always been Malcolm's place. Now it was theirs.

She reached for his hand, threading her fingers through his.

[abrightboy]

"It's been ours for a while," he told her. Maybe not on paper but... he hadn't seen it any other way in a long time. He used her hand to tug her into his arms to give her a kiss. "But it's nice to be home," he conceded.

[thatsfascinating]

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back warmly, taking her time. When the kiss finally broke she pulled back, took his hands in hers, and tugged him toward the bed with a playful smile.

[abrightboy]

He was guided easily, pulling her into his arms as they stepped up on the riser, about to tug her down onto the bed with him.... when he heard keys in the lock.

He sighed heavily, letting go of her with one arm to run a hand through his hair, but keeping the other around her waist.

"We've been home for five minutes, Mother," he said wearily as she walked through the door with a click click of her stilettos.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa turned at the sound, leaving her arm around his waist as well and squeezing him, giving him an encouraging smile. Maybe it was good she was here so soon! They had so much to tell her.

"Hey, it's good to see you!" she said, smiling at Mrs. Whitly.

Then Ainsley walked in behind her mother, and Edrisa blinked.

"Wow, both of you! Quite a welcome home!"

[abrightboy]

After they arrived from from their trip to revelations about Eve's motivations, Malcolm elected to take the conversation to Eve's office.

He wasn't sure if she'd see them, but he knew one thing: she'd only ever been there because she wanted answers as badly as he did.

To his surprise, the receptionist showed him right into her office. Eve smoothed down her skirt as she sat, gesturing for the Brights to take a seat.

"I thought you might come," she told him. "Your mother, as persistent as she is, claims you're the stubborn one."

"It's about more than that," Malcolm told her. "The woman my mother is looking for? She's trying to find her identity because I saw her. I saw her when my father had her, when I was a child."

He watched her face carefully and he saw the tiniest of telltale quivers.

"She said you offered to help her with that search. It's not because of your work, is it? It's personal."

She took a breath and looked down at her desk, straightening a pen laying there.

"I've been looking for her all my life," Malcolm told her. "We can help each other. This woman that you think it might be... my mother said you have a picture of her. Let me see it. I can tell you if it's the woman I saw. If it's not, we'll leave. If it is... we'll find her."

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa might not have had a lot to offer in the conversation between Malcolm and Eve, but there was no way she wasn't going to be by his side as he walked into this. Malcolm was strong, and maybe he wouldn't need her, but if he did, if things went bad, she was going to be there.

Seeing Eve for the first time, Edrisa couldn't help but remember how Mrs. Whitly had been angling for Malcolm to become involved with her. How terrible would that have been, if the realization that the woman was taking advantage of Malcolm's family had come within the context of Malcolm allowing himself to be intimate, and therefore vulnerable, with her. He dodged a bullet there, and Edrisa was glad of it.

She sat as Eve bid, watching the woman carefully. Edrisa didn't have Malcolm's talents when it came to reading people, not by a long shot, but she still wanted to keep her eyes open, to be able to do all she could to protect Malcolm if necessary.

Eve looked up and considered Malcolm for a moment as he asked for a photo. Then she reached for her purse and pulled out a photograph. She looked at it for a moment, then handed it wordlessly to Malcolm.

[abrightboy]

He needed Edrisa there. Nothing was more fraught for him, emotionally, than the search for the girl in the box.

Malcolm took the picture and looked at it and then just stared at it in silence, his hand already starting to shake faintly.

She was there, in the box, stripped to her underwear, groggy, blinking at the sudden light from the trunk opening. Something covers his mouth; it smells of chemical. He's in the back of the station wagon. Something is moving, squirming in the back, in the dark. He reaches over the seat and pulls back the blanket. He sees her face. He's grabbed from behind again.

It seemed like his whole body was trembling by the time he set the photograph reverently on the desk. Slowly his eyes lifted from where he'd carefully set it to Eve's face. She had stilled and was watching him. She had to have known what the answer would be but she said nothing.

"It's her," Malcolm said, barely above a whisper.

Eve's face crumpled and she covered her face with her hand.

"I'm sorry," Malcolm told her sincerely. "Who is she?" he asked gently.

Eve took a moment to collect herself. "Her name is Sophie. She's my sister," Eve explained quietly. "We were separated when our mother died. I went to an orphanage; she ran away to New York. But she used to write to me, until one day, she stopped."

"You thought she was a victim of human trafficking," Malcolm surmised. Hence her work. "Until you didn't. What changed?"

"I worked on taking down human traffickers for years, but I've never found a single clue to where she went. Then I saw a documentary on the Surgeon and her disappearance happened a couple of weeks before his arrest."

Malcolm nodded, reaching almost absently for the comfort of Edrisa's hand.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa saw that tremor and knew instantly that the girl in the picture was the girl in the box. She moved her hand over to touch his leg, reminding him she was there, offering support and grounding. When he reached for her hand she took his and squeezed firmly.

"We need to talk to him," she said softly, mostly to Malcolm. "We need to talk to the Surgeon."

She knew it was the last think Malcolm wanted to do, but as far as Edrisa could tell, it was the only thing to be done.

[abrightboy]

He looked down at their hands intertwined and nodded tightly.

“But we can’t just go there and ask him. He won’t tell us. I’ve asked him a hundred times and he won’t even admit she exists.”

[thatsfascinating]

/*-"But he can't deny it now," she pointed out, then looked at Eve. "Not to both of you." She turned her gaze back to Malcolm and squeezed his hand. "He can't just say you were imagining things. You have evidence. The Surgeon might be your father, but in this case he's a murder suspect. We know how to deal with suspects."

She looked at Eve again. "Do you think you could face him?"

Eve tightened her jaw and nodded firmly.