He turned to her and kissed her forehead. “I’m not sure what that was. I was thinking of something and now it’s gone.” He felt than uneasy sensation in the back of his mind and shied away from it. “Let’s clean up the kitchen.” he said rubbing his hands together. He led the way into the dining room. Tina followed with a concerned look.
Later that night Ben headed off to bed and Tina said she had a little more work to do in the kitchen. When she heard his deep breathing noises she went to the kitchen and picked up the phone. She dialed Hannah’s number. It was late but she thought the woman might still be awake. After the third ring the phone was answered.
“Hello?”
“Hannah? This is Tina.”
“Hi Tina. What’s wrong?”
“Ben had a strange moment tonight and it worrying me.” Tina said.
“Can you explain ‘strange moment’ a little?” Hannah asked.
“We had the new neighbors over for dinner and they are very nice. The husband wasn’t there. Just the mother and three kids. They all behave a little differently. Nervous maybe? Anyway after they left Ben said something about there being too much fear then he just froze. I asked him what he meant but he didn’t answer. He wasn’t moving. He just looked at something far away and I took Christopher from him. Then he came back. He said he was thinking of something but he couldn’t remember.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOO!” came angry screams from down the hall. Tina dropped the phone and raced back to the bedroom. She burst into the room and Ben was sitting up in bed panting, his eyes wild. She crawled onto the bed and took his face in her hands looking into his eyes which were now just showing confusion.
“Tina? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You were screaming in your sleep, Ben!” Tina gasped.
“I was?”
“You don’t remember why?” she asked.
Ben shook his head. He looked exhausted. He kissed Tina and apologized then flopped back down.
Tina watched him slip back into sleep then she hustled back to the kitchen. She picked up the phone and heard Hannah’s frantic voice. “Hello!”
“I am sorry for dropping the phone but Ben was screaming in his sleep!” Tina said.
“Screaming frightened?”
“No, screaming angrily! He screamed NO twice. When I got to the room he was sitting up and his eyes were frightening but he again does not remember screaming or why. I am frightened for Ben!” Tina said, tears coming to her eyes.
“Tina, it’s OK. These are likely suppressed memories resurfacing. Something in Ben’s past triggered by the new neighbor’s behavior maybe. There are still too many holes in his past. I will call Dr. Granger in the morning and let her know. When he gets up tomorrow tell Ben to call me at work. And Tina? It’ll be alright. If he’s suppressed something that’s coming out now then that’s a good thing. We can help him heal if we can access the memories.”
“Thank you Hannah!” Tina cried.
“Hang in there, Tina!” Hannah said and Tina hung up. She rushed back down the hall and snuggled in beside Ben. She felt his body relax and she trembled with relief.
Chapter 25
Ben drove Ashley and her kids to the bank the following morning to set up the local accounts and to ask about her credit card limit. Ben went in to speak with the manager regarding Tina’s house and discovered the Bank was ready to put it on the market. The bank had attained legal ownership over the house and its contents so it was no longer tied to the lawsuit. Ben found out how much they were going to ask and told the manager he could have a sale today if he’d let him buy it at asking for house and contents. The manager contacted head office and got permission to accept the offer. Ben called his lawyer who already had the paperwork ready and they made the transaction happen.
With a big smile on his face Ben walked out into waiting area and saw a despondent woman sitting with her kids. His mood dipped. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t understand. I was sure I had a credit limit of $3000 when I left Texas but now they tell me the card is limited to $600. I don’t know what I did to make that happen. I can’t afford to do anything I need to do before Eli gets here.” Ashley said, her lips trembling.
Ben thought for a second. “Are you authorized to change the limit?”
“What?” she asked.
“Can you call in and ask them to increase the limit? Are you authorized on the account to do that?” he asked.
“I didn’t set up the card. Eli did.”
Ben caught the eye of the bank manager who was also feeling really good because Ben had saved his branch a lot of money in realty fees and headaches. The man came over with a smile. “What can I do for you Ben?”
“Dan, is there any way to find out when a credit card limit is changed and by who?” he asked.
“Sure, I can just speak with the credit card company and ask for an activity report.” the manager said.
“Can I ask you to check for activity on this card for the past three days?” Ben handed him Ashley’s card. Dan nodded and walked away.
Ashley was looking at Ben with a worried expression.
A few minutes later the manager returned, handed the card back and said that the card had been reverted to the initial credit limit at the request of the primary card holder at 10AM yesterday morning via a telephone request.
“So the primary card holder called the credit card data center, gave his validation information to prove he was who he said he was, and then requested the limit reduction? And he is the only one who can do that?” Ben confirmed.
“That’s right.” Dan agreed.
“OK, thanks very much Dan!” Ben smiled and shook the man’s hand.
He turned back to Ashley with a grim look. “Do you know of any reason why your husband would send you all the way up here to deal with opening the house and getting your services online only to take measures to ensure you didn’t have the required funds to do it?”
Ashley looked scared and the girls were wide eyed as well. Ben realized he was growling. His face dropped. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t angry with you. Please forgive me! As you heard from the manager this wasn’t your fault at all. I just don’t understand your husband’s actions. I haven’t met him yet so I’m trying to not form any impressions but this is very confusing.”
Ashley nodded and bit her lip as she tried to think of what to do next.
“When is your husband going to be arriving?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” she said, sounding lost.
Ben looked stunned at the woman. She had no money because her husband had limited her funds. She was in a strange town with her three kids. There were loads of things she had to do to get their lives started in this new location, she had no money to do them, and no idea when the man who could resolve the money issue would arrive. Ben couldn’t help her set up the services as they had to be set up on her own working credit card but he could make sure she and her family were fed… wait a minute. “There’s no power on at your place is there? Heat? Water? Telephone? Cable?” he asked.
She shook her head with sad eyes. “So you can’t cook the food you bought at the grocery store. You haven’t had breakfast!” The girls looked at him nervously but hopefully. “Let’s go take care of that now.”
Ben led them out of the bank and across the street to a family restaurant. He told them to order whatever they wanted, his treat. The teens ordered pancakes and bacon and chocolate milk. Ashley was going to have coffee but Ben insisted she needed to keep her strength up for her family so she ordered scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with her coffee. Ben didn’t order anything as he’d had breakfast. While they ate Ben discussed next things they could do including registering the girls for school. He sent a text to Catherine quickly explaining Ashley’s situation at home and asking if he could order some pizzas and bring the neighbors to her place to visit.