Broken Together (14 page)

“
Bolo
Rei
.” He abandoned the bar of soap so he could work the lather into my
shoulders and chest with both hands.

“
Bolo
Rei
,” I repeated. I bit my bottom lip while suppressing a moan. I had to
force myself to continue. “We should take the children Bolo Rei, books, and
every board game we can find. We’re going to have to hit a lot of stores in a
short amount of time. I was wondering if you or Benjamim might have some
friends
who’d be interested in helping.” “Friends” was code for “knights.” Since
Benjamim worked for the Templar, and the Templar ran a charity organization, I
figured this would be right up their alley.

“Oh,
I think our friends would be very interested in helping,” Eva agreed.

“We
need help shopping and wrapping,” I murmured distractedly. I was trying to stay
focused, but Rafael’s ministrations had me longing for more elicit activities.

With
a low growl, Rafael grabbed the phone. He said something to Eva in Portuguese
and disconnected the call.

“What
are you doing?” I objected.

“Eva
and her recruits from the Knights Templar will purchase the
Bolo Rei
. I’m
sure they’ll wipe out every bakery in the city.” He pulled my thighs around his
waist before scrolling through his list of contacts. With one hand grasping my
hip, he pressed the phone to his ear. He thrust inside of me the second the
person answered the phone.

Desire
pulsed through my entire body. I loved how this man felt inside of me… how
thick he was… how consuming he was… and the way he so thoroughly possessed me. I
moaned when he pulled our hips flush.

Our
eyes locked. Rafael held a lengthy conversation in Portuguese while moving our
hips. Water sloshed all around us.

I
removed his hands from my hips so I could gain control. I wanted to see him unravel
in the middle of the call.

Rafael’s
eyes darkened. He rasped out a few more instructions before ending the call. He
latched onto my breast and the room faded to black.

My
head fell back. “What did you just do?” I panted. Half of me didn’t even care.

“I
just recruited the Lisbon police force and their families to help. They’ll
purchase the games. We’ll purchase the books, wrapping paper, and bows. Everyone
who’s available will meet at the station at six o’clock so we can wrap the
presents.” He thrust a little harder. “Does that work for you?”

“Yes,”
I groaned.

Rafael
lifted my hips and pulled me down. Hard. We both cried out. I locked my arms
around his neck as he spilled inside of me. The searing heat catapulted me
toward release. His hips moved ever so slightly while he wrung every last bit
of pleasure from me.

I
waited for our hearts to quiet. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“For
what?” he laughed.

My
arms tightened around his neck. “Everything. Thank you for everything.” I knew
then, I was hopelessly in love with this man.

*
* * * *

We
wiped out the children and young adult sections of every bookstore in town, as
well as the bookstores in a few neighboring towns. The PSP Rossio Station was
filled to bursting with officers, Templar, and their families. The gift
wrapping event morphed into a full blown party. The children wrapped the
presents while the officers organized the gifts into boxes marked for different
age groups. The women supervised the color coded wrapping, ran errands for
additional supplies, and served food. I made a number of new friends with whom
I visited long into the night. The boxes were loaded into police cars and vans
so they could be delivered the next day.

Rafael
and I stumbled into bed during the early morning hours, which is why we were
still lying in bed at ten o’clock in the morning. We were planning to join the
rest of the officers who were delivering gifts to the Casa Pia Orphanage this
afternoon.

Rafael
was drawing lazy figure eights along my back. “Would you like to attend mass tonight?
The Igreja de Sta Maria at Belém has a beautiful Christmas Eve service.”

I
thought about the mass Michael and I attended at Notre Dame in Paris, France. I
felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and loss. I’d been avoiding church for
far too long. “I would like that very much.”

Rafael
brushed my tears away after tucking me beneath him. “I love you, Kristine. I
love you so much it hurts.” His body trembled with the full force of his
emotions. “I don’t know how to survive this. You’re the only family I have
left.”

Tears
clogged my throat and flooded my eyes. In ten days’ time we’d be living on
different continents, an entire ocean apart. His sunset would be my sunrise.

Rafael
buried his face in my neck. He let the full weight of his body relax onto mine.
“Promise me we’ll survive this.”

My
hands tangled in his hair as I lifted his head and peered into his eyes. “I’m
not the only family you have left. The Templar, those other officers, Chief
D’Souza, Eva, and Benjamim; they’re you’re family too.”

“That
may be so, but you hold the other half of my heart.” His voice broke.

“I
know.” The ache in my chest told me that Rafael was hoarding the other half of
mine. “It’s only for a short while. I’ll come to Lisbon just as soon as I
graduate, and I’ll visit every month until then.”

“Promise
me,” he ordered.

“I
promise. Now, make love to me before we go. I want your child growing inside my
tummy by the time I return to Portugal.”

Rafael’s
eyes flared with desire and hope. He tugged the camisole over my head and ravished
my breasts before removing the rest of our clothes. We were naked, our arms and
legs seeking purchase, when he slammed inside of me. His lips consumed mine as
he thrust again and again.

I
locked my arms and legs around him as he drove inside of me. My back arched on
its own accord. We both screamed when he came. Rafael filled me with a searing
heat, shattering me. Twice. Then, with painstaking precision, he knit us back
together. He stole my breath, the other half of my heart, and my soul. Then,
and only then, did two halves became a whole.

*
* * * *

 
“You
do realize I’m going to want to take them all home,” I warned.

“All?”
Rafael repeated with wide eyes. He helped me from the car.

I
gazed up at the old historic building. The orphanage appeared to be housed
within a convent or a monastery comprised of multiple buildings that were
tucked behind a sharply pointed wrought iron fence. “Well, maybe not all” I
teased. “Maybe four or five.”

He
spoke briefly through the intercom at the gate. After a low hum, the gate
clicked open. Rafael left the gate open for the other officers.

A
petite woman with steel gray hair met us at the door. Rafael introduced himself
as we stepped inside the foyer. He spoke briefly in Portuguese before switching
to English. “This is my
noiva,
Kristine Stone, the woman I told you
about on the phone.”

She
reached for my hand. “I understand you organized this charitable donation, Senhorita
Stone. Thank you, and welcome to Casa Pia. I’m the assistant director, Benedita
Medeiros.”

I
shook her hand. “Thank you for permitting us to bring the children gifts. The rest
of the officers are outside unloading boxes. Would it upset the children if
they came inside? Some of them are wearing their uniforms.”

She
smiled. “I think it would be good for our children to see the officers doing
such a kind thing. Please encourage them to bring the boxes inside.”

“There
are additional officers en route to the other campuses. They should arrive
shortly,” Rafael informed Senhora Medeiros. The Casa Pia Orphanage housed
children on ten different campuses, which were scattered throughout the city.

I
handed her my cheat sheet when Rafael stepped outside to help carry boxes. “We
have color coded the gifts so it will be easier for you to distribute them. The
gifts wrapped in green and gold are for the fourteen to eighteen year olds. The
gifts wrapped in blue are for the nine to thirteen year olds. The gifts wrapped
in red are for children between the ages of four and eight, and the gifts
wrapped in white and gold are for the infant to three year olds.”

“Senhorita
Stone is extremely organized,” Chief D’Souza opined from somewhere behind me.
He set his box on a wooden pew before clasping Senhora Medeiros’s hand. “It’s
nice to see you again, Senhora Medeiros. I would like to make this an annual
event, with your consent.” I suspected he was speaking in English for my
benefit.

Her
eyes widened when twelve other officers poured into the lobby. Each of the
officers was balancing two or three boxes filled with gifts. “That would be
wonderful. The children at Casa Pia receive so few gifts.”

Benjamim
and Eva stepped inside the lobby. They were joined by a number of people carrying
large pastry bags. “
Feliz Natal,
” Eva greeted cheerily.

Senhora
Medeiros’s eyes misted over. “Please you must join us for
Consoada
and
Missa
do Galo
.”

Rafael
tucked me against his chest. “
Consoada
is a traditional Christmas
dinner, which is served on Christmas Eve. I think you’d like it.”

“We’d
love to join you,” Eva answered.

“As
would I,” Chief D’Souza replied.

Rafael
glanced at me.

I
nodded. “We would too. Thank you for inviting us.”

Some
of the officers had to work. Others were expected to join their families at
home, but three additional officers stayed behind to celebrate Christmas Eve with
us. We stored the gifts inside the office adjoining the lobby until the
children were called to the main dining hall for dinner. When Senhora Medeiros gave
the signal, we carried the presents to the recreation room so we could stack
them around the Christmas tree. A nativity scene was sitting next to the tree,
but the baby Jesus was missing. I thought it odd, but I was so busy unpacking
the gifts I forgot to ask about it.

We
joined the children in the main dining hall as soon as we finished moving the
gifts. We set a
Bolo Rei
in the center of each table before claiming our
seats. Each of us was offered a plate filled with codfish, cabbage, hard boiled
eggs, and boiled potatoes served with garlic sauce. Eva, Chief D’Souza, and the
other officers shared some of their family traditions while we ate.

“What
is
Missa do Galo
?” I finally asked.

“
Missa
do Galo
is a special Christmas Eve service which is held just before
midnight,” Rafael explained.

My
eyes widened. I hadn’t realized it was going to be such a long night. Chief
D’Souza pulled Rafael into another conversation. Eva was talking to Benjamim,
so I sat back and observed the children.

The
Casa Pia Orphanage was quite different from the orphanage I visited in Ukraine.
The children seemed happier and healthier here, but there were a lot more
children over all. The number of children in this facility was astonishing, and
there were at least nine other campuses housing orphaned children in Lisbon. I
wondered why so many children were being abandoned by their families in
Portugal. The people living in Lisbon seemed far wealthier than those living in
Simferopol. I reflected back on the decaying housing projects I’d seen on the
outskirts of town when we drove to Sintra. Clearly, there was poverty here.
Perhaps they were just better at hiding it.

I
studied the staff. They were firm but kind toward the children. I wondered
whether anyone who assisted the pedophiles in accessing these children was
still working here. I couldn’t fathom how someone who’d been entrusted to care
for these children could allow such a horrible thing to happen. I prayed the
PSP would be able to identify and arrest every last person involved in that
heinous crime.

I
turned around when I felt something brush against my back. A little boy,
somewhere around the age of five, had his hand in my hair. I crooked my arm
over my chair and smiled. “
Olá.
”

“Olá,”
he
repeated with a shy smile. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off my hair.

“
Falas
inglês
?” I inquired hopefully.

He
shook his head.
“N
ão.”

Rafael
turned and asked the boy a question in Portuguese.

The
boy asked his own question while pointing at me.

“
Sim.
Eu acho que ela é,
”
Rafael replied.

“What?”
I’d been working to improve my understanding of the language, but I hadn’t a
clue what either of them said.

Rafael
grinned. “He asked if you were an angel. I told him, ‘Yes. I think she is.’”

The
boy gaped at me before sprinting toward his friends. One of the staff members issued
a sharp command. He slowed to a brisk walk while glancing worriedly at me.

Rafael
laughed. He accepted a bowl of rice pudding from a young girl distributing
dessert. “
Obrigado.
”