The helicopter took off, taking Kevin and his friends to their new lives, and I will admit to feeling a tiny twinge of compassion, but not much, and not for long; they’d come to kill me, they’d blamed me for their own failings and come for revenge and failed, and now they were going to suffer the consequences for years to come. I can’t say I was sorry to have that worry out of my life.
I went back into the barn with Andy and Rex, and we started packing up all the gear they’d brought out, stashing everything in anonymous fibreglass transit cases racked up in the back of Georgy’s Land Rover. We worked quickly, in silence, no conversation was necessary, dawn was breaking and the kids would be around in a few minutes; they had already had their night disturbed by being taken into the cellar, they didn’t need to see any of that stuff and start asking questions I wasn’t quick enough to lie my way out of.
I was busy packing the radio comms equipment when I looked up and Georgy was standing in the barn doorway. She absolutely took my breath away, limned as she was in the golden-pink dawn-light, slim and willowy and looking like a dryad, a fairytale wood-nymph in her gauzy white robe and modest nightgown, her hair unbound and billowing in a mass of ebony curls. She seemed to glow, her pale skin almost ethereally translucent in the pale golden light bathing her, almost as if the dawn light and moonbeams had conspired together to make the perfect woman, the personification of morning beauty and grace and show her to me. All I could do was stare and wonder at her beauty, and thank whatever listens to our prayers that she chose me at all.
“Will, is it over now, baby? I heard noises… gunshots, and there was a helicopter, what happened? Did they come here? Who were they?”
Andy nodded, so I handed my packing to him and gathered her in.
“Yes Georgy, they did come here; it was that same lot that from back before we got married. One of them committed suicide in prison and they blamed us, so they came looking for revenge. The people Rex and Andy work for sent in the cavalry, they bailed us out, and the short version is: they rounded them up and took them away; they’re gone for good. They won’t ever be coming back.”
I would give her the full story when there was no chance of the kids overhearing us, those same kids I could see watching us through the dining room windows. I didn’t want them to know what I’d done, and maybe glorifying it, or worse, hating me for it; the full story would come for them when they were old enough to know the why’s and wherefore’s, and understand the choices we’d had to make this night.
*****
The three of us were allowed to sleep undisturbed through the day while Megan and Aunt Kay kept the kids occupied. For the first time in a long, long time I slept deeply and well, no dreams of what we’d done, none of the nightmares and no revived bad memories of what had happened in the sandbox that I’d been plagued with when I’d first returned from that place. Georgy stayed with me, she’d been up all night distracting the children from what she was sure was happening and making the whole ‘camping in the cellar’ an adventure for them, and for the first time since this whole odyssey had begun, she’d slept completely peacefully, her mind finally at rest. When I woke, refreshed and fully at ease, it was to Georgy’s quizzical stare.
“What really happened last night, Will?” she murmured, “It’s just you and me here, and you’ve never lied to me before, don’t start now, please.”
I sighed resignedly; I’d expected this moment to come soon, just not this soon. I’d had every intention of sharing with Georgy, I kept nothing from her, ever, and this was too big to try and sugar-coat and let time diminish, I’d just needed to do it in my own time, in my own way. She was right though; even lying by omission was still lying, and I loved her far too much to ever do that to her.
“Before I say anything, Georgy, please understand I never wanted any of this, I never went looking for this, and none of what happened was any of my doing. Can you understand that, baby?”
She looked deeply into my eyes, holding my eyes as she searched for any hint of holding back or deception and after a few seconds of her very own probing ‘Georgy-stare’ nodded her head.
“I understand, Will; you know you can tell me everything and I won’t judge you. You said it had to do with those three men who broke into the house back then, what did they want now, why did they come after us? Just tell me, Will, I’m ready.”
I took a deep breath and began.
“They were brothers, one of them couldn’t cut it in prison and he killed himself. The other two blamed me, and they came back with some friends to kill me, and probably you and the kids too. Andy and Rex work for the government, one of the security agencies, and when they shot the house up, because they were there at the time, it was seen as an attack on the agency. The guys wanted us out of the firing line, somewhere safe that they could see any intruders coming from a long way away, and I brought us here. You know how we prepared for any eventuality, how the guys got me back in shape, well it paid-off last night.”
Georgy cupped my face in her soft little hands, her face calm but shock and fear in her eyes at learning she and the kids were being targeted too.
“Go on, please baby, finish it…” she murmured.
“They came last night, five of them, armed. We were ready for them, all that night-patrol stuff we’ve been doing finally paid off. Andy had some kit, stuff I’ve used before way back in the day, and we got into it with them out in the dark. Andy and Rex had night-scopes and they were able to talk me right up to them, just like we’d done back when we’d been brewed-up out in Helmand and had to dodge the Taliban find our way back to MOB Lashkar Gah. We captured three of them, Rex put two of them down, injured, and there was one trapped in their overturned jeep. The other two…” I paused, not knowing how to say it.
“Go on, baby, it’s alright…” murmured Georgy.
“That gunfire you heard, that was me. I killed them, two of them, Georgy; they came to kill my family and I killed them, I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to, they gave me no choice, it was so quick, if I could have…” but she put her finger on my lip, silencing me.
“Stop it, Will, just stop it. Those men came to kill us; you were a soldier once, and you stopped them the only way you knew how. Don’t ever apologise for keeping your family safe any way you could. Listen to yourself, baby; what you did is what any father would do to protect his children, it’s what your father would have done for you, and what daddy would have done for me. We’re safe because of you, remember that. Remember what daddy used to say? “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword”? They got what they deserved for trying to harm my children. You did the right thing, my Soldier-Man, and I’m proud of you.”
I looked directly into her eyes and saw nothing but truth and love there, no drawing away from me, no blaming me for the blood on my hands, just trust, and faith in me, and love. I had truly struck the jackpot with this girl. Georgy smiled at me, and kissed me just once, a feather-light peck on the lips.
“Anyway, as I was trying to say before you got all facey-grabby on me, the people Rex and Andy work for, that helicopter you heard last night, they came in and cleaned-up, took the… them away, and the three who survived are in for a tough time a long way from anywhere, but they asked for it. We’re officially off the hook, baby; it’s over for good.”
“So now the baddies have been dealt with, and we’re not in any more danger, can I ask one question?”
I smiled and nodded, pretty certain I knew what she was going to ask.
“Can we go home now, Ty? We’ve been here all summer long, the kids have had the best summer-holiday they could ever have had, but the new school term starts week after next week, only ten days away, and the kids need to go back, well not so much Jerry, he’s still pre-Reception, but definitely Edie and Jamie. I miss work, too; we should have all the Land Registry title-search and conveyancing on the two new project houses completed by now and the houses ready for us to get stuck into, and I was thinking I might get a small pony for Edie, maybe a Shetland, she keeps asking and I think she’s ready. I miss my horses, too, Willie; I need a good, long horseback ramble, my thigh-muscles need some work. Let’s go home, please?”
From what I could tell, her thighs felt just fine to me, just as sleek and firm and satiny as ever, and a little exploration soon uncovered other things that felt just as firm and juicy.
“Stop it Ty, not unless you mean it!” she play-scolded me, so I ignored her; I had my hands on a delectably naked Georgy-Girl all of my own and I wasn’t letting go…
“Quit it, Will, let me just go and lock the door at least…” she giggled, squirming delightfully, so I reluctantly let go of her, and she slid out of bed in a luscious whirl of long, pale limbs and wild black hair, darting over to the door and flicking the catch before bounding back into bed with me. I caught her mid-air, rolling over with her so I could smother her with kisses and gentle tickles, making her giggle even as she kissed me back just as wildly.
“Are trying to do things to me, you naughty soldier-boy?” she teased, pouting in a way I found totally irresistible, before once again tempting me with her silvery, tinkling giggle. I responded by slipping my hands down from her waist to hold, squeeze, and then pull apart, her tight little bottom-cheeks, something I know she likes.
“Oooohhh you bad man, Tyler Wilmot, naughty, naughty… do it again!” she giggled, so I did, enjoying hearing her sigh as she ground against me.
“Eat me, Will; taste me and eat me…” she murmured, urging me to do what I’d already had every intention of doing, so I kissed and licked my way down her body, enjoying the clean, sexy smell of her skin unmasked by soap or deodorant, just the fresh scent of clean skin. Georgy sighed and relaxed, quivering slightly as I worked my way down her body, swirling my tongue-tip in her sexy little navel before exploring further. Georgy trims but she doesn’t denude, and the feel of my tongue-tip brushing through her soft curls is one of my greatest pleasures. Georgy stirred and murmured, soft, liquid sounds, as I swirled my tongue through the silky, lush forest of her Mons, before delving between the rich-tasting folds of her labia, making her start and gasp with pleasure.