Adored in Oman (Book 2 in Teach Me, Love Me Series): Interracial Romance (14 page)

It had been a busy week and Shan was ready for the weekend. From the moment the first bus emptied and children began filling classrooms, Shan and her sister teachers had been moving nonstop. With such young students, classroom routines had to be revisited after every holiday. This one was no different. At one point in the week, Shan and her sister teacher had looked up and noticed one of them was helping a boy remove sand from his hair and the other was helping a girl covered in paint from fingertips to elbows. All they could do was laugh.

It was now Thursday, the school was quiet and Shan was setting up her morning message board for Sunday. She really liked the Sunday to Thursday work week. It felt so decadent to have Fridays and Saturdays off. It seemed to her she had the entire weekend, versus her old stateside schedule. She had not had any problem with the work week change when she moved to the Middle East.

Her body was on auto pilot, while her mind was preoccupied thinking about her ex, Jack. It had been years since she allowed herself to thing about him. Her mind went back to the day their divorce had been final when she told herself she could have one last cry and then it would be time to move forward emotionally. She had memorialized the passing of their marriage. She had bought two bottles of champagne and raised toast after toast to their memory. She had shamelessly taken the slow route down memory lane and relived their landmark moments, from first meeting to buying the house. The last toast was to the closing on the house.

Then, full of champagne and fully drunk, she relived one more time the awful moment she walked in and saw him with his lover. That was when she cried. She cried as she washed her glass and threw out the bottles. She cried as she turned the music to the sounds of rain. She cried in the shower. Then, lying in bed, she cried until her digital bedside clock struck midnight. Speaking aloud to herself she said, “It’s over. It’s tomorrow. You survived.”

She stopped crying, smoked a special occasion joint that had been donated by a friend and went to sleep a single woman with no more tears.

Now, ten years later, in a different country, navigating a different career and reflecting on that time, she was glad to realize she really didn’t have any more tears. She wasn’t angry, anymore. She had forgiven and moved forward emotionally. The relief wasn’t even that strong; because she had known for a long time she had healed. She really couldn’t say why she hadn’t allowed another man in her life to get as close as Abdulla. She could only imagine her soul had been waiting.

She would email Jack tonight, hopefully his old address still worked. He deserved a note of thanks. His warning had helped save her a lot of trouble.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Re: Thanks

Jack,

I hope you are well. It has been a long time since we’ve talked. I guess an email doesn’t count as talking, but you know what I mean.

Mom told me how you called to warn her that Carmen was looking to start some trouble.

I very much appreciate you for that. She did, in fact, start a mess but because of your warning, we were able to manage it almost immediately. I don’t know if she is planning more, so I urge you to check your credit report.

Mom has kept me in the loop on your remarriage and the birth of your children. I am glad you are happy.

Thanks again and be well.

Sincerely,

Shannon

After sending the email, Shannon got up to get herself dressed because Abdulla would soon be there to pick her up so he could take her to her very first tennis lesson.

She was still trying to figure out how he managed to talk her into learning tennis. She just hoped she didn’t injure herself trying to learn a sport. She had never really been all that athletic, but she did keep herself semi-fit with walking, so it wouldn’t hurt to stretch her limits a bit.

Longview, Texas

Carmen was looking at the screen, fury building. She had been trying to order more items to donate in Shan’s name but each card she submitted for payment was rejected. This was odd, because surely she hadn’t already found out about the cards.

She then logged into the account for one card and clicked the icon for online customer service. Then, she found out through a brief chat with a service agent that the card had been closed by the owner. When she explained she was the owner, the agent apologized and said she was unable to help with this account. It was closed with a fraud code, if that was incorrect, she would have to call ‘Who the Hell Ever’ and file ‘What the Hell Ever Report’ and alert ‘No Agency She Wanted to Talk To’ that her identity was not stolen.

She thanked the agent and quickly logged out of the chat room. Her heart was beating fast and her breathing was erratic. One thought after another was whirling through her head, “How did Shan discover the cards so soon? Why was only one card working but with a much lower limit? Was that intentional? Did she think it was a card she used only when she was home? Did she know about the apartment? The car? What happened to the car?”

Then a worse thought struck, “Had they been able to trace her computer? Were they able to identify her through her Host ID? Is that even a thing anymore?” It had been a long while since her computer science and entry level coding classes. In that field, everything turned over every six months. She had last tried her hand at coding several years ago. Who knew what they were using these days?

Carmen wondered if there was some way she could find out if the car had been found and decided to get in her car and drive down to the wretched area where she left it and see if it was still there. Calming down now that she at least had something to do, she climbed into her white S-class Benz and made her way to the hood. A white big body Benz is many things, but subtle is not one of them. Everybody in the hood saw when she drove through. It was noticed when she circled a particular block once, twice and then a third time. Someone wondered about this fancy lady and her intentions. When Carmen left the hood she had a tail and since he wasn’t driving an ostentatious luxury vehicle, she didn’t notice she had aroused someone’s curiosity. Carmen, having determined the car was nowhere in the vicinity, left unsatisfied and still wondering where it was.

On the way to her home, she ran through a list of likely scenarios and when it dawned on her, she was surprised she had been so long in figuring it out. Shan had one of those credit watch services! Everybody had one these days, all the banks were offering them in every other monthly statement. She might have even had some type of insurance to protect herself from having to pay anything. Damn it! She should have planned for this. It didn’t matter, there was always Plan B. Carmen decided it was time to escalate.

She made a call. Night fell.

It was a quarter past two in the morning. The nondescript sedan with stolen plates turned quietly onto the cul-de-sac. Its engine was a quiet purr; the flat black paint offered no reflection from the porch lights lining the street.

              Inside two people kept talk to a minimum. They both knew what they were here to do. The smell inside the car was sharp and metallic, adrenaline raced through them and anxiety made sweat pool in their armpits and run down their backs. There was no music. The dome light had been removed. The interior panel lights dimmed as low as they possibly could. Their hair had been covered with kitchen nets and gloves covered their hands.

They had decided to attack from the front of the house because neighbors on either side had dogs. They were hopeful that avoiding the rear of the home would keep the dogs from a frenzy of barking. Also, they needed to get this done in less than two minutes. In and out as quickly as possible, was the only way to get away with something like this. Two dark clad people approached the lovely ranch style house. A flick of two lighters and then two bricks are hurled through the bay window, followed immediately by flaming bottles. The dogs went crazy with barking.

The curtains went up in flames immediately. One of the bottles landed upside down on the sofa and it also began to burn. They were off the street and headed for the highway before the smoke alarms went off. Urgently wanting to speed but knowing that was a bad move, the driver kept to the limit. The passenger was breathing hard and grinning.

“Now, let’s see how little Miss Goody Two Shoes feels about that,” she thought.

Jack was on his feet as soon as the bricks broke the glass. He had been waiting for something, he just hadn’t known what. His sleep had been troubled for days. All he knew was if that crazy heifer had just broken the bay window in his front room, he was going to break his foot off in her behind.

Before he even had the bedroom door open he heard another thud. As he walked down the hallway, he smelled lighter fluid burning and immediately knew this was much more than broken glass. Moving faster, he went into his oldest daughter’s room and snatched her out of bed. His wife was out of the bed in the hallway looking scared.

She spoke one word, “Fire?”

He said, “Yes! Get out, now!” he handed her the oldest as he strode into the baby girls room and got her out of the brand new big girl bed.

His wife was already at the garage door exit and had her purse in her hand, which she snagged walking by the table, when he caught up to her. Unsure about the safety of using the auto garage door opener, he lifted it himself and watched her back out of the garage. He grabbed the fire extinguisher from the utility room and headed back inside to see if it was remotely possible to save his house. He headed for the living room and saw flames going up the wall by the window and the couch burning. He put the couch out first, because it wasn’t really totally engulfed. The throw blanket his wife put on it was burning quite intensely.

As he was putting the couch out, he felt water splash on him and turned to see his wife outside in bare feet and a short nightgown that said, HOT with a mug of coffee on the front, pointing the hose through the window.

Aloud he said, “God, I love that woman!” 

Then, he heard the sirens in the distance. The blanket was no longer burning, so he turned his attention to the curtains and wall. The water had helped there. It all seemed to be under some pretty decent control. Then the bottles exploded.

Alera heard two loud noises, almost simultaneously and then she heard her husband screaming. Through the window she saw his shirt was on fire. She immediately forgot about saving the house and aimed her hose directly at him.

There were mini fires all around the room because of the explosion. The table cloth was burning, the artificial flowers and the lamp shade. Jack was on fire, screaming, turning in circles trying to get as wet as possible from the hose his wife was aiming inside. He felt like he was on fire all over. At this point, it was time to get out and hope the fire truck arrived. He aimed the fire extinguisher and used it to create a path to the door. Thank God the room wasn’t entirely in flames, but he knew fires grew fast and he had very little time.

He clawed the front door open and ran down the porch. As soon as the door opened he was being sprayed directly with the hose his wife was wielding. He surveyed his family, wife in her nightclothes, hair still wrapped, face tight, eyes wide with fear and his daughters in the car screaming and crying. The neighbors came running outside with cell phones and fire extinguishers to try and help.

The fire truck came screaming around the corner with lights flashing, adding to the already chaotic scene. An ambulance was literally on its tail and before Jack knew it, he had been hustled to the back of the bus.

In a fog of shock, he looked at his wife and asked, “Are the girls okay? Are you hurt?”

Struggling not to cry, Alera nodded, “Yes, the girls are perfect, not a hair on their heads disturbed. I’m okay.”

Alera looked at Jack and was afraid. The burns looked terrible to her eyes; she just hoped it wasn’t as bad as it looked. She hoped they didn’t get infected. He had glass embedded in his legs and probably other places she hadn’t noticed.

Sharing a moment before Jack was rushed off and Alera had to leave to follow the ambulance, he said, “Tell the police about Carmen. I know it was her.”

Nodding her head, she said, “I will.”

To herself she thought, “I’m going to kill that bitch.”

Walking back to tend to her girls and speak with the fireman who was waiting for her attention, she told him what she knew. She gave her cell number and told him she had to get to the hospital to see about her husband.

After getting the girls secured in their car seats, they fell asleep from exhaustion and fading adrenaline. It was the longest drive of her life.

Katy was pulled out of a deep sleep by the sound of the phone. Filled immediately with fear only a parent can understand she snatched it off the base and said, “Hello?”

There was a muffled sound, almost as if someone was trying not to cry, that only served to make her more nervous.

Again, she said, “Hello! I can hear you. Did something happen to Shan?”

“No, ma’am, Shan is fine. This is Alera. Jack’s wife,” were the words that drifted from her phone.

Puzzled and no less worried, Katy asked, “Did something happen to Jack, honey?”

With a sharp, barking laugh Alera said, “Yes. Something happened to Jack. Carmen. She set our house on fire with Molotov cocktails. The front living room is a charred mess. Jack was attempting to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher when the bottles exploded and he was set afire.”

Gasping, Katy was on her feet at “house on fire” and had pulled on the previous day’s jeans and t-shirt by the time Alera finished talking.

“What hospital are you in?” she asked.

“Good Shepherd,” Alera replied.

“I’m on the way. Have you spoken to his family?” she asked.

“Yes, but his parents are in Houston visiting extended family and will not be here for several hours. They are getting on the road now,” Alera explained.

“Where are your girls?” Katy asked as she began filling a mini cooler bag with bread, peanut butter, fruit, popcorn, candy, juice and bottled water.

“They are here, struggling to sleep in the waiting room,” was Alera’s dull response. She sounded as if she needed to be sleep, the adrenaline crash was surely leaving her feeling weak and she was likely in shock herself.

“I will be there in twenty minutes,” Katy said before disconnecting.

She spent the next five minutes putting throw blankets and travel pillows in a reusable grocery bag and then she was backing out of the garage faster than she should have been.

On her way to the hospital at 3:00 in the morning, she calculated the time in Oman and figured it had to be about noon. The children leave at noon and it is a Thursday so Shan should be getting ready to leave. Katy decided to get to the hospital, help the girls settle more comfortably, and get more details from Alera before calling Shan. Right now, all she knew is that Jack was in surgery, had been burned and the house was damaged but not destroyed.

She also knew who had done it and that made her even more concerned. This was not spite. This was crazy, bone deep and body wide. Fifteen hectic minutes later, Katy was rushing through the hospital looking for Alera. She found her sitting with the youngest sleeping in her lap and a dazed look on her face.

Gratitude shown from her eyes when she saw Katy, “Hey Miss Katy, thank for coming.”

“Of course, I came. Now give me this baby,” and with the ease of a longtime mother, Katy created a pallet and transferred both of the sleeping girls to the makeshift bed.

For a moment they just stood there looking at the girls and then Alera turned to Katy and said in a tone of disbelief, “That woman set my house on fire while my girls were sleeping inside.” At this moment, the reality set in that for a few terrifying minutes tonight, her girls had been inside a burning house and Alera cried.

Katy wrapped her arms around her and sat her down while she cried it out. Alera’s girls were safe, her husband was in surgery and her house may or may not still be burning; this was a cry long delayed. Katy didn’t rush her.

After a few minutes, Alera managed to run out of tears and was wiping her face with tissues provided by an observant nurse.

“Here Alera, have some chocolate and a water. You really need the sugar to guard against the adrenaline crash. Have you been checked for shock?” asked Katy.

“Yes, I’m not in shock. I mean, not medically anyway. Am I in shock a woman from ten years ago has fixated on my husband and his ex? Yes. I would think she should be satisfied at having destroyed one marriage. Is she trying to destroy this one? Did she want to kill our children? Why? Because he won’t tell her where Shan is? He doesn’t even know! Or does she just want to make him miserable for some reason? People don’t behave this way. I don’t understand,” Alera was unable to comprehend the breadth of this woman’s venom.

“Oh Alera, there is no real answer for you, we don’t really know what Carmen’s motives are, but they don’t matter,” Katy assured her.

“What matters is that the police find and arrest her for this and if they can’t deal with her, we will find a way to rid our lives of this pestilence,” Katy said.

“Now, what happened?” she asked Alera.

Alera retold as much as she could.

“We had been in the bed close to five hours, so we should have been sleeping deeply. Lately though, Jack has been doing a lot of lying quietly and pretending. I think he has been worried about Carmen doing something else. I haven’t been sleeping because I can feel his tension. I’m so grateful for that.”

“The breaking of the bay window is what woke us up, initially. I was a little confused by what I heard, but Jack was already on his feet and walking to the bedroom door. By then, I was getting up to see about the noise too. As soon as Jack hit the threshold, we heard two more thumps and a whoosh. We smelled burning immediately. Jack had already started down the hall.”

“Lord have mercy!” exclaimed Katy, then “Go on, I’m sorry.”

“Basically, Jack went into emergency mode and grabbed Maliah, then Noel and rushed me out of the house. While I was backing out of the garage, he ran in with the fire extinguisher.”

“I went to the front and parked the truck, then ran to the water hose so I could spray the roof down and then started spraying in through the broken window. I guess we are lucky it didn’t break just a few panes, whatever they threw left a gaping hole. I was able to spray the hose on Jack when the bottles exploded and he just ran out the house at that point,” Alera finished her tale.

“I am grateful you and the girls suffered no injuries. I am sorry I didn’t think to bring some clothes, bless your heart you are wearing scrubs,” said Katy.

“The nurse, may she be forever blessed, brought them to me because I showed up in my nightgown. The Red Cross is apparently on the way here to set us up in a hotel. I can’t leave though, because I need to know when Jack gets out of surgery,” Alera said tiredly.

“Don’t worry about any of that. I will take the girls with me, until his folks arrive and then you and the family can make whatever plans you need to and I will pitch in however you need it,” Katy assured.

Then, “What is Jack’s condition?”

“To be honest Miss Katy, it was all so much at once, but the best I can understand is that he has suffered second degree burns on his back from his shoulders to his hips. There are some small patches of skin that have third degree burns.”

Alera continued, “He is in surgery because apparently he also has glass embedded in some of his burned skin. This is a very big deal because they need to get every shard of glass out to avoid future infection.”

“Okay, Alera. We will pray there are no shards of glass in his skin and that he has no infection and that he will heal as quickly as medical technology and the Lord’s will allows,” Katy said.

Then, each in her own thoughts, they settled back to wait a while longer.