Times of Peace

Graceona

Leonard and I ate our breakfast silently, the once violent pounding rainfall on the window now gone. The window rolled up, allowing the smell of the freshly cut grass and crisp air. It was relaxing, as the sounds of the night creatures come from their homes that they were bound to during the boiling temperature that we had just hours prior.

Leonard sighed as I looked at him. "Is something wrong? Are you in pain? Should I go get Charmaine?"

"No, I'm fine, I'm just worried about Riley being in Nantucket by herself, though you said the Jarrod is no longer a threat, I can't help but worry about a ten-year-old child when her father is out to destroy her, and will stop at nothing to see that he gets what he wants."

I looked at him. "She'll be fine. Tell you what. You get healed, and next week, we'll go get Riley and we can raise her ourselves. Trust me, Jarrod will not bother you or anyone else by time I get through with him."

He looked at me. "Grace, I do trust you, but still. That doesn't stop a brother from worrying about a defenseless child who knows nothing of what is going on, but still she has a target on her back from a deranged psycho who wants her gone. Don't you have any younger siblings that you would worry about if they were in her spot?"

I looked at him. "You have a point. I'll see what I can do, try to relax and eat your food before it gets cold."

He took a sip of coffee as the meal between us got silent again. However, the meal once again got chatty. With a sigh. "Who are you, Graceona? You have these ties that none of us have. You have connections that none of us knows about. Should I worry?"

I looked at him. "Why would you worry? I've been truthful with all of you for the past four years. We've got things done. Why would you be wary of my occupations when I have used them for the benefits of this mission?"

He looked at me. "You joined the Calvary four years ago, saying that you were a hacker and a former sniper. You've allowed pieces of your personality to come out here and there, but as for us knowing anything about you, we don't really know much. You are a big mystery to all of us."

I looked at him. "I have no intentions on harming any of you, Leonard. My goal in this is to keep you all safe, and see that you have the answers and the justice that you all deserve. I'm not the bad guy in this, but if you want to know about me, I suppose I can tell you, since I am working for the calvary." He looked at me. "I'm an undercover FBI agent, we have been tracking Jarrod for five years, we had gotten a lead on the murderer in your mother's death, one cop seemed to have an interest in the case and reported it to our division, Trent my boss, would not take the case with the lack of evidence surrounding the events, however, I had stepped up to offer temporary help. At first, I had zero funding and assistance from the FBI. But I had been sending various reports to Trent, and he became fully supportive in the case. Once he uncovered more of this mystery, he became conflicted with the case. And thus, this is where we stand. My occupation is an FBI agent. I had used the jobs as a hacker and former sniper as jobs to disguise the truth of what I was and who I was." I reach into my pocket, getting my badge showing him. "I now have the evidence to end this and Jarrod won't be able to torment anyone, as for Natasha, she will be in prison for life, with her killing Audra. Jarrod will receive the death sentence. I just have my final report to fax to Trent and the nightmare will be over. So you can relax. I'm still the same Grace that you knew in high school. That's why I took the case. I knew that your mother wasn't a woman who would kill herself. Everyone in the town knew the situation was off, but they never suspected that Jarrod would resort to this. It dumbfounded me when I learned the truth dumbfounded. however, once I got to thinking it didn't come as a shock."

"You were always a mystery, Grace. So you could say that you formed the Calvary." He looked at me.

"Nicolae formed this group. I had shared the information that he had told you. The two of us would get together at the bar and talk about what steps we wanted to take. We had someone who has been following the company, Darin. It would appear that Jarrod had more enemies in his company than he would think his own son and nephew hate him. Christian asked me to give this back to you, saying he got what he needed from it, stating that this belonged to you."

I got the deed to Shepherd's Manor from the stack of papers, handing it to him. He opened it and looked at it. "What about the bank he wanted to build? What was that about?"

"He wanted to build a bank there, however, Audra got him to change his mind."

He smiled. "Annette was furious when she found out. Did she know you were an FBI agent? She trusted you with a lot of information that it would seem that she wouldn't share with any of us."

"No, the two of us were always close. When she would have a problem with someone, she would always tell me because she knew I would get stuff done. And that carried over to adult years." I smiled. "Nicolae and Charmaine are leaving for their honeymoon tomorrow. I told them we would probably go back to my home in the city until you have healed, and while we do that we can work on getting Riley in our custody." I stood up, getting his plate and cup. "You need to rest. We have a big day tomorrow. You will need your strength for the moving you're going to be doing."

He sighed. "Laying down seems like the only thing that I do, can't I get up and walk around a little?"

"Absolutely not. I'm already worried about tomorrow. I will not allow you to do work until I know you will be alright, just try to be patient. Give your body a break. I don't want to see what

Charmaine saw earlier. I will tie you to the bed if I have to and I see I need to. You should have known better than to ask me a silly question like that, Leonard. What were you thinking?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "A long shot question."

"Apparently so. And the answer is still no, now get rested."

He sighed. "Fine."

I walked from the room, closing the door behind me.