Page 71 of His Virgin Vessel

I blanched. When was I going to get to see him again? "When are visiting hours?"

"I'm sorry, Corinne."

"What?!"

Dad stood up. "I think this is for the best. There's no telling for how long Asa's going to be gone, and I don't want you to waste your life pining away for him."

"I love him!"

"I know," Dad said sincerely. "I do know that. And I know this must be incredibly difficult, but please try to see this from my point of view. I came so close to losing you, all because of him, because you were close to him and became a part of his world. Maybe, if he wasn't going to prison, Asa would be able to walk away from that. Maybe. I don't know. But people in jail for any length of time do what they can to survive. They make friends, and they make enemies. And those enemies have friends on the outside. If you stay connected to Asa, then you're going to wind up in danger again."

"I don't care!" I practically shrieked. I thought that dad and I had put all this stuff behind us, but here we were again, at each other's throats, and I didn't know how to fix it.

"But I do."

"You can't stop me from seeing him."

"Asa won't see you."

I saw in his eyes that he was telling the truth. "You spoke to him."

Dad nodded. "I told him what I just told you. He knew that I was right."

I stormed out.

# # #

In a strange way, the immediate threat of the mafia had held War Cry together in the absence of their president. But now that threat had been neutralized, and with Asa looking at serious jail time, there was no longer anything to keep the group together, or anyone with the force of character necessary to lead it.

"Did you never think about leading?" I asked Fiona, as we watched Joseph Hartman carrying boxes of my stuff from my car.

"Me?" Fiona shook her head and laughed. "I was a biker groupie. Just liked the idea of the danger, I guess. It's easy to get addicted to that. But the gang itself? Don't tell Asa or Joseph that I said it, but I think there's something a bit childish about it. We're all grown-ups, for goodness sake. There are better ways to solve your problems."

It would have been too much to say that Fiona and I had become friends in the wake of all that had happened, but she understood me very well and was willing to help. When I had told her that I needed somewhere to stay, she had volunteered an empty room above her bar. It would do for now. I'd find something more permanent later. Right now, I just needed to not be living in the same house as Brian Dugas. I had hoped we were past all that, but his attitude toward Asa had doomed the burgeoning reconciliation.

"I think that's the last of it," Risa said, coming down from my new apartment and dusting off her hands.

Fiona shook her head. "I can't believe you let her just stand here while you did all the work. My sister wouldn't do that for me."

Risa just grinned. "Cor has always been the baby of the family. I guess I'm used to spoiling her."

Of course, the real reason that Risa had insisted I do nothing while she and Joseph did all the heavy lifting was that she knew I was pregnant. She was the only one, with the possible exception of Asa, whom I had told in hospital. I wasn’t sure if he had heard. Probably not. Of course, if I had told him, or my Dad for that matter, then maybe things would have been different, but I didn't want Asa to be with me because I was pregnant, or for Dad to accept Asa because he had gotten me pregnant. This baby wasn't going to be a pawn in a strategic game of chess, and I certainly didn't want to use it as a means of trapping a man.

At that point, I was almost as pissed at Asa as I was at Dad. He refused to let me visit, turning down my applications even after his trial. Did he think he was doing what was best for me? Perhaps. But I was twenty-three years old and about to become a mother. I didn't need a father or a partner to decide what was best for me. I could make my own damn decisions.

"It's like everything is falling apart," Risa said sadly, hugging me. Finding out that she was becoming an aunt had made Risa over-protective and a bit emotional.

"It is a bit," I admitted. I didn't think that War Cry disbanding would affect me that much, but, symbolically, it seemed a huge deal. They were no longer such a necessity in the area with Rassi's gang gone, but there were always others about trying to prey on the disadvantaged. It was only a matter of time before one of them stepped up to fill the void, and then the absence would be felt. "I guess things have to fall apart so they can come back together."

Risa half-smiled. "Look who got smart just in time to pass it on."

"Oh, she'll be relying on her aunt for wisdom I can assure you."

"You think it's a she?"

I did, actually. I didn't want to know, but I had been calling it 'she' from day one. Did that mean anything? Probably not.

"She deserves to know her granddad, too," Risa said, tentatively.

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