Page 77 of His Virgin Vessel

Dugas shook his head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea - contacting people from your criminal past. You could be masterminding anything from in here. For all I know, you're planning a jailbreak."

"You damn-well know I'm not."

"I know that me informing the officials here about your meetings with Joseph Hartman would be part of my job and would probably see those meetings stopped."

I don't have any family. And those friends I have are all connected to War Cry in some way. Call me weak, but I couldn't go all those years without some sort of human contact. No one could. Dugas obviously saw that I was weakening.

"I know this is going to feel like I'm forcing you to do something you don't want to..."

"That's because you are."

"...but this is what is best for Corinne. I know you don't agree, but I think that, when you've had a chance to think it through, you're going to see that this is what is best for her - to have a normal life. That's what we both want. I'm sorry it had to go this way. This isn't what I wanted. But, if our positions were reversed, I think you'd do the same thing. We have that in common. We'd do anything to protect her."

He was right about that. If I thought it would safeguard Corinne, then there was no threat I wouldn't make. Maybe he was right about this. After all, he'd known Corinne her whole life. I barely knew her really.

"I'll tell her to move back in with you."

"Thank you."

Dugas left, and I went back to my cell to stare at the ceiling. She would be safer at home. And there was no denying that she might be at risk at Fiona's. Maybe all this was for the best. And maybe if I kept telling myself that for long enough, I might actually believe it.

# # #

However much the circumstances were not ideal, seeing Corinne enter the private visiting room made my heart leap and lifted every cloud that had settled on my mind. She looked great, just as I remembered her, and it was wonderful to see my smile mirrored in her own. She ran across the room and threw her arms around me. We hugged, and then she pulled away.

"Why have you been refusing to see me?"

"I just want you to be safe."

"I can make my own decisions, Asa!"

"Do we have to argue now?" There would be plenty enough arguing to come.

Corinne grinned. "No."

She kissed me.

And I realized that I couldn't go through with this. Maybe Dugas was right, maybe I was right, but the bottom line was that what we two men thought wasn't what mattered. What mattered was this vibrant, brilliant woman I now held in my arms, who didn't need us to tell her what was best for her, and didn't need our permission to live wherever the hell she wanted. Corinne could make her own decisions, and I wasn't about to stop her. To hell with the consequences.

I decided to go ahead and break the bad news to Dugas straight away.

"I hear you've got yourself a new place," I said to Corinne.

"Yeah, right above Fiona's bar. I'm thinking of picking up a couple of shifts there, as well, to get some cash coming in."

"You're still painting though, right?" I didn't want her giving up on her dreams.

"Oh, yeah."

"Good. Well," I said, taking a deep breath, "Congratulations. I really hope it all works out for you in the new place."

Corinne beamed, but my eyes were drawn to Sheriff Dugas. His face barely moved, but I spotted the slight tightening of his features that spoke of a deep displeasure at what he had just heard. There would be consequences, which I would no doubt hear about when Corinne wasn't around. For now, I was determined to make the most of yet another 'last meeting' in a relationship that had already been full of them.

"Tell me everything that's been going on with you."

"I'm not sure we really have time for that," Dugas spoke up. Now that this meeting had failed to fulfill the purpose he had envisaged, he was keen to keep it as short as possible.

"Well, I could catch you up on what's been going on with me," I suggested, "But that wouldn't really take very long. Why bother coming at all, if we're not going to talk? Unless there was something specific you wanted to discuss?" I targeted that at Dugas. If he wanted to tell his daughter how he had tried to threaten me, then he could be my guest.

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