Payback Pt. 04

We arrived at the hotel and went to our room and relaxed with a gentle sex session and a lot of cuddling. We had dinner at the same restaurant as the first time we were there but ate different food, returning to the hotel to make love again before going to sleep. In the morning we lay together before deciding to go down for breakfast, just talking about things in general, when she suddenly asked,

"Please tell me what happened to that girl?"

"Why the hell do you want to know about that for?" I asked, surprised.

"Because you were re-living it in your sleep last night and I didn't know whether to wake you or not but you were obviously in great distress," she explained.

"I did not watch all of that scene but some of it was similar to Carmen's attack by her father" I said.

"Go on, I can't help if I don't know, Danno" she continued.

"Okay," I said and I repeated what I had seen, "He shouted something about her bitch of a mother fucking with him."

"Oh you poor man" she said quietly, wiping the tears from my eyes, "No wonder you are having nightmares, I would have liked to do the same to him but with a baseball bat."

"Yeah, me too but it's too late for that, this is why I have written to the girl's parents, I want to give them and their daughter closure, if possible, because at the moment the little girl is just 'missing'" I replied sadly. Conchita hugged me for a while and I didn't even get hard, I was so upset but we had to get up, I didn't feel like eating much but I needed a shot of strong coffee.

She made me eat something and we went back to the room to pack and pay on our way out, we put our bags in the trunk of the car and walked to the clinic, and arriving in plenty of time. We filtered our way from the main reception to Mr Carlson's waiting room where we first saw him at the beginning of the year and waited for half an hour, before being called in.

Conchita was asked to strip to her compression suit and underwear and put on a robe, while he asked us questions about pain and any problems etc. She lay on the examination couch and he carefully un-poppered the bottom of the suit and pulled it to view his handiwork.

"Oh that's looking really good, I can tell you have been following the instructions correctly, because there has been no stretching of the wound or the stitch holes." He said, obviously pleased with the result, "I will just trim off the ends of the stitches, the rest will dissolve over the next week or two.

You will be pleased to know that you can have a bath now, most of my clients say that this was what they missed the most, just be careful getting in and out of the bath for another week or two, otherwise just follow the instructions in the notes.

I will not need to see you again unless you have a problem with it, you may get dressed now and enjoy your flat stomach." Conchita dressed and when she came around the screen, fully dressed, she was beaming.

"Thank you doctor, I feel wonderful, Daniel has even bought me a bikini to wear on holiday in May" she cried. We shook hands and made our way back to the car and drove north, stopping to eat at the same rest stop we used the last time but I kept out of the female facilities this time.

We arrived back at Duncellin at just before three pm and Conchita showed Stella the bikini that 'She had' bought for the holiday, then invited the girls and I to the Guest House so she could show it off and her flat stomach.

She came out of her bedroom and into the lounge, turned her back and dropped the robe, turned to face us, smiling, the scar couldn't be seen and he stomach was flat and showing slight signs of a four pack. She then pulled the bottoms down a little and showed them the scar, the girls hugged and kissed her and then did the same for me, especially Carmen who said,

"Thank you Danno, for all you have done for us and especially for Mama, if it wasn't for you she would still be fat and frumpy and now she's slim, fit and sexy" she said and kissed me again.

"I am not so sure about the frumpy bit Carmen, but the rest is true, you have changed my life and I am very grateful, I just hope you can do something for that family but I know that you will try your best" said Conchita and she kissed me too.

"What's that all that about Danno?" Maddy asked.

"I will tell you about it tomorrow Madeline, don't ask him now" Conchita said.

I left them to it and went back to the house, Stella was waiting for me and asked,

"How did it all come out Daniel, how good was the final result?"

"It looks really good, the scar is fairly straight and thin although it's still a bit pink, he trimmed the stitches and she can have a bath at last, her stomach is very flat and you can even see the outline of her abs, so the result was really worth it" I explained.

"To change the subject, I have decided to change the name of the Guest House to 'The Haven' because that is exactly what it is, the Velasquez family haven." Stella said.

"Good idea, I'm sure they will love it and I've got an idea about that, I need to see Dad about something" I replied. I found him raking leaves around the bar-b-que area.

"Dad, do you still have that slice of wood in the garage and could I use it" I asked.

"Yes, it's on one of the shelves at the back, help yourself" he replied. I looked for it and found it where he had said it would be, then I found his chisels, a pencil and ruler and got to work. I marked out the words and carved them out carefully and looked for some quick drying black paint and painted the letters.

It was dry in half an hour, I drilled a couple of holes through the two inch slice of wood for fixing and then gave it a coat quick drying varnish on the face and edge all round, an hour later I varnished the back and later I coated the front and edge again.

Tuesday morning after everyone was up and either working or studying, I screwed the new name plate to the wall of the now ex-guest house, it was officially 'The Haven' now and Stella and Konrad came over to look at it.

"You've made a good job of that son" said Konrad.

"I'm sure that Conchita and Carmen will appreciate it too Daniel" Stella added.

I stayed for lunch and showed Maddy the name plate and the other two loved it too.

"Thank you Stella and Daniel yet again, it truly is our Haven" Conchita said with tears in her eyes. I drove home feeling good about the last few days, there was quite a bit of post but most were flyers and companies trying to sell me things I didn't need, even a pizza menu or two, but there was a letter stamped New Orleans so I took them all into the house and threw all but the letter into the recycling bag, I made myself a coffee and sat down to read the letter, this is what it said.

Dear Mr Cross

Your letter came as quite a shock, I did realise that he had died but since my granddaughter was kidnapped, he had stopped paying maintenance for her so we had to survive as best we could. I cannot imagine your shock at finding those pictures and films and I don't want to, I hope they didn't give you nightmares.

I would appreciate any further information you can find on what happened and who was involved but since my husband died a couple of years ago, I cannot afford to research myself as all my resources go towards paying the bills and helping Alicia.

She is mobile and can do the basics for herself but needs to be told what to do and then she does it, it's her memory that's fuzzy, she often asks when Rosie is coming home, which is quite upsetting. There is a therapy that could help her but it's too expensive so we get by as best we can. She loves to paint and is quite good and while she is doing that, she is perfectly normal but when she stops, she reverts back to her fuzzy stage. I appreciate your concern and thoughtfulness and have told Alicia about you and she says 'thank you' although she has forgotten what for already.

I will be calling that detective in charge of the investigation to see if he has discovered any more information. I've sent a photo of Rosie as she was then and one of Alicia when she was sixteen, to your email address if that will help you.

Thank you for your help

Yours sincerely

Caroline Carver

and Alicia

End of Part Four.

Part Five begins with Chapter Thirty-Nine.