Page 42 of Refuge for Ailsa

The dog sat down, then sprawled at Ailsa’s feet.

He shrugged. “Well, I guess that’s my answer. You’ve stolen my dog.”

“Yes. I have. Now go. Nap. I’ll see you in a little bit. Love you.”

“Love you too.” He stopped in the doorway, walked back to her, gave her a kiss, and headed back out the door. In a couple of minutes, he was lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling.

He never got any sleep. He just lay there, thinking about everything. Something was wrong with that picture, and he wasn’t sure what. Truth was, he hoped they never had to find out.

* * *

She was pleasantly surprised.The apartment he’d said was the gateway to hell really wasn’t bad at all. The furniture was nice enough, the walls were a good neutral color, and the little kitchen was modestly well put together. “Sure you’ll be okay here while I’m gone?”

“Tav, I’m perfectly okay here. You’ve got a TV, a kitchen, and a bathroom, for god’s sake. What else could I possibly need?”

“It’s not much.”

“This is a perfectly okay apartment. No, it’s not fancy, but it’s fine. I mean, it’s clean and comfortable. Just stop. Hell, it’s bigger than my boat.”

“Is not.”

“Yes, it is. Now get ready for dinner and I’ll be fine. Starlight will be here with me. It’s not like I’m going to be alone.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes. I’m positive. Go! Have a good time. I’ll be right here when you get back.” Then she grinned. “You do realize I’m going to check everything out, right?”

Tavish rolled his eyes. “Oh, you mean like I did to your place when you weren’t there? Go right ahead. I don’t have anything to hide. Love you, babe.”

“Love you too.”

After he was gone, Ailsa sat on the sofa for a minute or two, her eyes closed, and committed the feel of his lips on hers to memory. Drawing in a deep breath, she opened her eyes and looked around. Every square inch of the apartment held clues to the contents of the mind and the heart of the man she loved, and she planned to mine for information.

On the coffee table were several books. The one on top was a bird identification book, followed by a plant identification book. Under that was a book about water conservation practices. The fourth one surprised her. It was a book on vegetable gardening. Did Tavish intend to plant a garden at his house? Oh, yeah. She could definitely see him doing that.

The movies in the entertainment center were mostly eighties and nineties hits. There were a few from the early two thousands, but only a few. With a grin, she reached behind them and pulled out another movie?Tits of Wonder. She giggled as she put it back. Reaching in again, she only found one more. It was entitledStretch and Burn with Gigi. “Now doesn’t that sound lovely?” she said aloud to herself as she laughed. Instead of putting them back, she put the first one in the DVD player. Yeah, all women with huge boobs. That figured. Then she thought of what he’d told her, and she fast-forwarded through the whole thing. Nope. No multiple-partner scenes. When she’d finished that one, she put the second one in and did the same. It was actually pretty funny, using what were supposed to look like exercise moves as sex acts. Again, no threesomes, foursomes, or more, and no gang bangs. She put them back where she’d found them and looked around. On an end table was a stack of magazines, but only one was porn. The rest were well-known publications likeNational GeographicandScientific American. As porn magazines went, the one in the stack was far more artistic than most she’d seen, something calledBlack & White. All of the photos were exactly that?black and white?and the poses were actually very classy while still being erotic. She knew what guys did with those magazines, but it wasn’t one she would think any man would beat off to. Of course, not being a man, how would she know?

His bedroom wasn’t as she’d imagined. There were tasteful pictures on the walls and the furniture was simple. The closet door was open, so she didn’t feel like she was prowling as she looked at his clothes. Those were simple too. One end of the closet held jeans, polo shirts, button-down cotton blends, and tees. The other end had long-sleeved tees, plaid flannels, and a few sweats. When she spotted the gray sweatpants, she realized she would really be looking forward to fall. Yum. He’d look amazing in those, but only at home. She didn’t want any other women looking at him in those!

There was one pillow, and it was right in the middle of the head of the bed. Ailsa lay down and pressed her cheek to it. The scent of his shampoo and cologne engulfed her, and she loved it. The nightstand on her left had very little on it, so she rolled that way and opened the top drawer. It was almost as barren as the top, just shoelaces, a pocketknife, and some playing cards. When it was closed, she rolled to her right and opened that nightstand drawer. “Ah-hah. There you are, TavishStewart,” she whispered as she sat up and looked down into the drawer’s interior.

There was a watch with a broken crystal, and it looked really old. A couple of ring boxes were with it. One held a Boy Scout ring, and the other a very old Masonic ring. It made her wonder if that ring and the watch had been his grandfather’s. That was likely. He had several pamphlets from hunting lodges and fishing tour companies, and the one that surprised her was for deep sea fishing off the coast of Texas. Had he ever been? That would be a great gift for him for a special occasion.

There was a small flashlight, and it clicked on when she touched the button, so he obviously kept fresh batteries in it. There were nail clippers, tweezers, an emery board, and some manly-looking hand cream in a flat, green tub. An unopened pack of clove gum was pressed up against the front of the drawer, and she smiled as she remembered her grandfather always carrying the same brand in his pocket. That was her dad’s father?she’d never known her mother’s people. They’d disowned her mother as soon as her parents had married.

Toward the back was a small cloth drawstring bag of some sort, and she pulled it out. It wasn’t knotted tightly, so she untied it and drew the bag open. What fell out shocked her. “Well, well, well, TavishStewart, what do we have here?”

They were rune stones, and they were gorgeous. The set was made up of eight or nine kinds of semiprecious stones, flat and polished, with the engraving highlighted by gold paint inside it. She counted them?they were all there. Even more interesting was the fact that the bag looked well-worn. She couldn’t begin to count how many times she’d seen her mother lay out the stones. Probably thousands. Did Tavish use them frequently? She didn’t want to ask. Maybe he’d eventually volunteer the information.

Back in the far, far corner of the drawer was a box, and she laughed when she pulled it out. It was a partially-used box of condoms with maybe six missing. The laughter was because of the age of the box. Based on its condition, it was pretty old and had been moved around a lot in the drawer. Then she looked at the date on the box. “Shit, boy, you need to throw these out,” she barked aloud. Looking closer, she saw that they didn’t have spermicide. The expiration date was five years prior, and the things weren’t usually freshly-made when the stores got them, so they were old?really, really old. She shook her head. “Jesus, I hope that’s not what he was wearing when we did it.” Maybe he’d bought new ones. She sure hoped so. At least she was on birth control, so that was something.

She couldn’t see as well into the closest back corner, but there was something back there, and she dug it out. It was a tiny Bible, a New Testament, and she opened it. It had an inscription in Edwardian script in the front, but the personalized information was handwritten.

Presented to

Alastair Tavish Stewart

on the occasion of

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