Page 54 of His Virgin Vessel

Chapter Twenty-One

Corinne

Regardless of how much it was part of the plan, it was nonetheless difficult for me to watch the man I loved being led away in handcuffs by the father whom I also loved.

"Are the handcuffs really necessary?" I asked.

"Maybe not necessary," Porter admitted. "But when you bring someone in to be an informer, the last thing you want is any appearance of chumminess. And that goes double when the informer is sleeping with the sheriff's daughter."

"It looks like preferential treatment?" I suggested.

"For sure," acknowledged Porter. "There is also the safety of the man himself to consider. If Asa comes in looking like the sheriff's best buddy, or prospective son-in-law, then how are his enemies going to react? Or his friends, for that matter. In Asa's world, the one thing you don't do is talk to the cops. If it looks like he's coming in willingly, then they'll skin him alive in jail."

I nodded. "I get it. Although, I don't think there's much chance of him looking like my dad's prospective son-in-law."

Porter shrugged. "Maybe not yet. Give it time. They're actually pretty similar people."

"That's what I said!"

"Don't tell your dad I said it," Porter said seriously.

"Asa wasn't that wild about me saying it either," I admitted.

"Another thing they have in common." Porter put his hand on my shoulder comfortingly. "It is all for the best, you know."

"You think?" It was hard for me to believe that now.

"I'm not saying it's the ideal situation," Porter hedged. "But, given the situation, this is what needs to happen. And I think it'll all work out."

"Based on what?"

Porter shrugged again. "Blind optimism? Come on, let's get you home."

Between us, we had decided that, while Dad took Asa to the station, Porter would take me home. It wasn't ideally what I would have wanted. Obviously I would have preferred to stand by Asa as he went through this. On the other hand, I could see an upside. Given all that I had been through in the last few days, the idea of going back home to see Risa sounded pretty good. Looking back, I wasn't even sure how many days it had been. They had all blurred into a haze of travel, talk, and sex. There had been some bad moments and some wonderful ones, and, when you put the whole thing together, it was emotionally draining.

# # #

Risa met me at the door and waved goodbye to Porter as he headed off to work, then we went inside. This time I managed to hold off from crying when unburdening myself to my sister, who simply sat and quietly listened throughout. I think I told her everything. I never felt the need to leave out anything when talking to Risa. I told her what had happened and why, I told her how I had felt, and I told her how Asa had urged me to try to better understand Dad's point of view in all this.

"You really love him, don't you?" Risa asked, when I was finally done.

"I told you that already."

"Yeah, but ..." Risa paused. "You know, Cor, there's love, and there's love. It's easy to fall in love with the first guy you sleep with, because he opens a whole new world to you. But this sounds a lot more like actual love. I'm sorry I didn't believe it when you first told me."

Leave it to Risa to apologize for something perfectly understandable. "Maybe it wasn't then," I admitted. "Or maybe I got lucky. I don't know. Seems to me like the odds of finding the person in the world who's perfect for you are pretty slim, and, yet, somehow people make it happen."

Risa nodded. "It's starting to sound to me like maybe you weren't the only one who got lucky."

I knew what she meant and looked up hopefully. "You think?" It meant a lot to me that Risa might think something good about Asa.

"The guy seems to have given up his whole way of life, just to please you. And maybe his freedom too."

I sighed. "I hope not. And that's not why he did it. Not for me. For himself. He was always a decent man. He was just a victim of circumstance."

"Maybe," Risa mused. "Maybe he didn't do it for you, as in, to make you happy. But I don't think he'd be doing any of this if it wasn't for you. You seem to make him want to be a better person. And that's not nothing. You've saved him from himself."

"Or doomed him to jail," I said ruefully

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