A Girl in Need

This story of Pat and Jake seems to have taken on a life of it's own that I never foresaw when I started it.

We might even get to some passion in this, though if you are looking for quick sex scenes then you might do better with other stories. The characters and names except for certain places are totally figments of the writers mind, not based on real people, but people trying to cope with real people problems. Any incidents are again spin offs of real events, modified to become part of the story. If you are enjoying this tale please thank my voluntary editor Yellow Peril, who I am sure I drive to distraction. As always I include the warning that if you don't read from part 1 to now, you likely won't know what the story is about.

Pat

Well, the day of the picnic arrived. Sean and I were waiting for Jake while Aunt Chris had taken off for the day, and we were all set with swimsuits, towels, sun block and water. Sean was dressed in a tee and shorts as was I, but mine were a lot more figure hugging than his. I don't know what it is with this guy Jake; he has really gotten around my defences and into my thoughts without even trying. I even shaved last night to get nice clean lines for my bikini. While I was at it, my thoughts were humming and, if I had had a 'trusted friend', it certainly would have been put to good use. As I don't have one, I made do with a couple of fingers. That kiss on Saturday had really gotten to me; I could still feel the burning. I had to remind myself,

Pat, what has gotten into you? Here you are with your son heading to meet Jake's family, and all you can think of is when you are going to get the chance to jump into bed with him!

Just then Jake pulled into the driveway. He stretched out of the driver's seat, wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs shirt and blue shorts. Sean and I walked out carrying our bags, which Jake promptly took from us and put in the back of the SUV before turning to Sean.

"Hi. I guess you must be Mr. Sean Williams?" he asked with a grin, and held out his hand. Sean took his hand and I almost burst out laughing at the sight of the two of them gravely shaking hands in the middle of the driveway.

"Well, I'm Jake Rogers and I'm very pleased to meet you. Your mom has told me lots about you. I think that when you meet Tommy and Anne you are going to be great friends. Now hop up into the car and take the blue booster seat. The blue one is all yours, right by the window." Jake had installed an extra booster seat for Sean. There were three, all different colors.

Was there anything the man ever forgot?

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, but not too hot as we drove out of town. We headed in the general direction of the lake, but took a different road that went down the other side of the lake. Suddenly Jake said, "We are here! Welcome to the ancestral home of the Rogers family," and he turned left into a semi-hidden driveway. I gaped in wonder; ahead of us was a beautiful old farmhouse that had been extensively expanded until it now looked more like a mansion. I looked down at my casual clothes and felt like crying.

Here we are to meet an obviously rich family, and I'm dressed in old clothes.

"Jake, you should have warned me ahead of time! I'm not dressed for this."

He looked at me with sudden concern in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Pat; I thought you knew about it. I talked to you about the family construction business, and Rogers Construction headquarters is right next to your office."

I thought for a minute before replying. "It registered a bit, but I somehow never connected the company name with you."

He replied, "I'm sorry, I should have been more specific about it. But, don't worry, you aren't dressed any differently than Mom and Dad will be, or your Aunt, by the way." He pointed out the widow, and there was my Aunt advancing on us. She was certainly dressed no better than I was.

Oh, Chris, I will get you back for this one!

I swore to myself. Just then two young children, a boy and a girl, came running around the corner of the house. They saw the car and raced over to us.

"Daddy, Daddy!" said the boy, who I took to be Tommy. 'Uncle Wayne is here with Tammy and Aunt Joan. They came all the way from Calgary on a plane, a big jet."

Jake broke out in a big smile as his children ran up. "Great! We'll go see Uncle Wayne in a few minutes. First, though, I want you to meet some people," and he pointed to Sean and me. "First, this lady is Ms. Pat Williams, she has been working with me on a case for the last few days, and this young man with her is her son, Sean. What I would like you and your sister to do for me is to take Sean out to the backyard, if he would like to go, and introduce him to Tammy and your other cousins when they get here, while I introduce Ms. Williams to Grandpa and Grandma."

Tommy turned to me and asked, "Ms. Williams, do you have another name that we can call you? It sounds like we are talking to one of our teachers in school."

I couldn't resist the little charmer. I bent down, put my arms around both Tommy and Anne, and said to them, "You are welcome to call me Pat; I hope I am going to see you lots, so you can use my first name."

Tommy smiled and replied, "Thank you, I hope we see you lots too. Don't worry, we'll both look after Sean."

That really made me smile, a nine year old promising to look after an eight year old! Then I thought to myself,

Look at him, I bet I'm looking at Jake at the same age.

The good looks were certainly there.

Whoever mothered him was going to have to watch the teen years.

Anne was also a beauty; slightly built, with long dark hair and a friendly face. The pair of them made my heart ache for them, growing up without a mother. They took off around the house with Jake yelling after them, "Stay away from the pool till I get there!"

I looked across at my Aunt and put on a big frown. "You have some explaining to do, lady! You may be my Aunt, but that was a really dirty trick you played on me. Look at the way I am dressed! I would at least have made myself up more carefully."

Chris just grinned, "Relax, you'll do just fine. Come and meet May. We were in the same class at school and have been fast friends ever since. Those nights out I take once in a while, well, mostly I'm over here, and almost always I'm with May." She walked with us around to the back of the house. I couldn't help but notice that there were a boat and a twin engine float plane tied up at the dock.

We continued on to the patio where I saw a tall auburn haired woman with a small girl, holding her hands. Sean was playing with Tommy and Anne on a swing set in the yard. A blonde woman, who appeared to be about 25, was with the little girl as well.

Jake looked after the introductions, "Mom, Joan, this is Pat Williams, Aunt Chrissie's niece. We have just started working together on a case; she works for Children's Services, as I'm sure you already know! Pat, this, shall I say mature lady, is my mother, May Rogers, and this younger lady is my sister in law, Joan. She hails from Calgary where she roped in my younger brother, Wayne. Why she bothered is still a mystery. Maybe one day she will explain."

"Hey, I heard that!"

I turned to see a younger version of Jake standing in the doorway. "I prefer to say that she had good taste. It's good to see you Jake! Once in a while when I miss that old face of yours, I just have to look in the mirror and I figure it will be staring back at me in a few years." He walked across the patio and the two hugged.

Jake turned to me, "Just in case you missed any of that, meet my younger brother, Wayne. He lives in Calgary and looks after the western end of the business. Wayne, meet Pat Williams, she is Aunt Chrissie's niece and works for Children's Services. We are working together on a case."

Wayne turned to me with a smile, "Hi, Pat; don't let this brother of mine fool you, he needs someone like you in his life."

A voice behind me said, "Yes, he does! Wayne, you may have been joking, but you are absolutely right. Jake! It has been too long."

I turned and saw a short, slim dark haired woman, and my thoughts went right back to the picture on the wall at Jake's. The resemblance between her and the picture of Jenny was unmistakable. Jake said, "Pat, I would like you to meet Ella James, my mother in law and Jenny's mom."

She held out her hand and took mine, saying, "I'm very glad to meet you. May, Chris and I are old friends, and Chris has told us so much about you over the years. Though she likely won't say it to you, she is as proud of what you have done in your life as your mother would have been."

A husky voice broke in, "As the hostess of this shindig, can I get a word in edgeways?" May came forward and enveloped me in a hug. "Pat, welcome to the Rogers' family home. I really wanted to meet the woman who put the smile back in my son's eyes. I was beginning to think it would never happen. Regardless of whatever happens in the future, I owe you big time just for doing that. I have heard so much about you from Chris, from Jake, and most of all from your Mom. Chris was in my class and Ruth was a year behind. Other friends came and went, but the three of us were pretty inseparable. Even when I married John and your mother went away to school, we kept in contact. We wrote many letters to each other over the years, and she was always very proud of you. I've wanted to meet you for a long time. You look so much like her! I kept all her letters, if you ever want to read them."

With a guilty feeling, I remembered the bundle of letters that I had thrown away without even looking at when I was clearing Mom and Dad's things after they died.

They must have been from May.

May said, "Pat, come sit with us. Jake, Wayne and John, when he is done working on the plane, are in charge. Barbecues are the men's job around here, and that was decided many years ago."

We went over to a set of chairs in the shade. The only child around was Tammy; she was too young to take off on her own. Jake and Wayne started getting ready to fire up the barbecue, and I was told it would be just hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. May said that Jake would be grilling spare ribs for dinner later.

Chris interjected, as she gave me an elbow, "See! The man cooks, as well! What more could you want?"

May turned to me, "Why don't I show you the boat, and if he isn't covered in oil I'll introduce you to the guy who thinks he's the head honcho around here."

We started towards the dock and Jake called out to me, "Pat, while you two are talking, get Mom to tell you how she managed to get Dad kicked out of the Army."

May just turned and laughed, "No, I think I'll let Ella tell that one, it was her fault."

We walked out along the edge of the dock, and I soon realized that there was a man working on the plane. His face was spotted with oil, as were his hands. We walked over and May said, "Pat, let me introduce the father of my kids and the boss of Rogers Construction, John Rogers Senior."

He looked up and grinned, wiped his hand on his pants and held it out to shake mine, saying, "Pat, it's great to meet you! Ever since the day you started working with Jake, he hasn't talked about anything or anyone else. We are really glad that you could bring Sean out to meet us all, too. He sure is a cute little guy. It's so rough that his Dad passed away so early. May, I'm all done here, so I am heading for the house to clean up."

I replied that I was happy to meet him and his family, too. With that, John headed away up the dock toward the house with three young children chasing him; Sean was fitting in pretty well so far, though I was wondering about myself.

If something more permanent developed between us, could I fit in with this high powered family?

I just wasn't too sure of myself, and things were moving so quickly.

May sat down on the edge of the dock, trailing her feet in the water. She pointed to the space next to her, "Please sit a while." I sat beside her, dangling my feet in the cool clear lake water.

May asked, "Pat, can I talk frankly?"

I wondered where she was going with this but said, "OK."

"I meant every word of what I said earlier, I owe you big time. For a long time after Jenny's death, Jake was just like an automaton, doing as much as he had to and no more. All that he was interested in were his job, the kids and the project he has worked on with his dad. For the last few days he has been like a new man. Somehow you broke through that wall he had put up around himself. I have to know, what do you think of Jake?"

"May, frankly I'm almost split down the middle; one part of me sees the mystery of him, each day he shows a new part of his character. Sometimes it makes it hard to keep up. To be brutally honest, the other half of me just wants to take him to bed, strip him and make love to him forever. I've never before felt that way about anyone."

She replied with a little smile, "The Rogers men seem to have that effect on some women. I know, because I was one of them! I was a couple of years behind John in school. I was always popular, but I wasn't interested in the boys. I planned and was capable of going to university and doing big things. I had already known John; after all, he had been one of the star athletes of the school. After he graduated, he worked on the construction crews for a bit. I finished high school and, for the summer before I went to University, I worked in the diner downtown."

"One day this young soldier walked in. It was John; he had been in the Army almost a year, and had just finished his combat engineer training. He was on home leave for a couple of weeks before he moved to another base. That was it! Somehow I knew that my task in life was to be Mrs. John Rogers. I fell like a ton of bricks. He asked me to go with him for a date that night. I said I would. When he asked where I wanted to go, I told him, 'Anywhere you go, I want to be right there with you.' I couldn't believe myself. Anyway, John took me out to dinner and we ended up finishing the evening in a room at the same hotel. He is still the only man I have ever slept with."

"We went out just about every night he was home. When I told Mom, she went nuts, saying I was throwing myself away on a soldier who wouldn't appreciate me, that I was giving up a career. She also said, though, that she wouldn't stand in my way if I was determined. She wasn't at all impressed when I said that was a really good idea, because I thought I was pregnant. I was, too. Jake was born seven and a half months after we married, and he wasn't premature, either. It took us eight weeks to marry from when we met, and I have never regretted it for a minute. Even when John was on assignments where he could have been killed, I was still proud to support him in his wishes."

"May, I feel the same way, but I look at what Jake does and I look at you all as a family, and I wonder, can I do what I would need to do? It would be so different from anything else I have done in my life."

She looked at me closely, "Pat, don't forget, Chris is my best friend. She has told me all about what you had to do, first losing your parents so suddenly, and then, with a young baby, you nursed your husband until he passed away. You are exactly the woman Jake needs beside him. I don't want to put any pressure on either of you, but I really hope that you two get together. I think you are perfect for each other. Jenny was a beautiful person and became a great member of the family, but she couldn't find the strength that Jake needs, either as a cop or, as one day he will be, the head of Rogers Construction. Now let's rejoin the others, they will think we are planning something down here. Remember, just get him into bed and let fate work out the rest."

What a woman, she certainly said what she thought!

She definitely left me with a lot of thinking to do. I had no doubt that I had her support, and I thought she was a remarkable woman. She decided what she wanted and went after it. I had lots to talk over with my Aunt when we got home.

During the afternoon, I met Jake's sisters Jan and Pamela and their husbands Paul, who was head of the accounts department, and Gerry, who was head of the IT department, or as Pamela put it, "The Chief Nerd." I looked at her with some amazement at what she said, so she continued, "The first time I met him my thought was something like 'What a nerd'! That was before I found out that nerds have some pretty nice points."

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to one of Jake's family or another, and they all seemed to be happy that Jake had met me. Some of the 'hints' were pretty blunt! I was sitting by the pool, watching the kids swim when Ella came and sat down beside me. "They are really fun to watch. I just love it when I am here. This is one thing I miss by living in Ottawa."

I looked at her and replied, "That is why I brought Sean to live up here, where he has time to be a child. He certainly has made some new friends today."

She went on, "I'm really glad to meet you too. I can see that there is a tremendous attraction between you and Jake, and I'm really glad. He has been too driven since Jenny died, as if working kept his mind off things! I've known him since he was in diapers, and he was never like that. All he has cared about has been the children, and his job, plus his project. I know that he has blamed himself for Jenny's death, and he shouldn't have."

"My husband Jim's death in Cyprus hurt Jenny far more than any of us realized. That's why she came back home. We had talked that out though. She hadn't realized that, even had Jim known that he was going to die, he would have gone anyway. That was his sense of duty, just like John, just like Jake. Something that the people in their lives have to learn to deal with. Once she realized that, she was ready to come home. Really, the result was that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could well have been that she would have gone shopping anyway; it was getting on for Christmas. Who knows why these things happen?"

"Anyway, should you and Jake decide to get married, I'm absolutely sure that my grandchildren will be in good loving hands. Just remember, I like to see them sometimes. The two of you certainly have my blessing."

"Ella, thank you. Believe me, I would treasure those children, and if I have anything to do with it, you will always be able to see them."

"I know that, and so does Jenny, I can feel it!"

There were seven children running around, and we adults were having a lot of fun, too. The kids were yelling in the pool and chasing each other around the yard and the swings. Until they got tired, that is. Then Sean and Tommy just lay down in the grass together and dozed off alongside Jake's dad. That was a wonderful experience for me to see.

Then for some reason, Anne made a beeline for me and asked if she could sit in my lap. She climbed up and whispered to me, "Are you going to be my mommy?"

I whispered back, "I'd like to be, but that depends on how things work out between your daddy and me."

She whispered back again, "I hope you do." Then she nestled her head down on my shoulder and went to sleep.

After a few minutes, I sensed someone looking at me. I looked up and Jake was taking a photograph of us. He said in a low voice, "I want to remember this minute for the rest of my life." I looked over at May; she just winked at me with a grin. I grinned right back. I had just heard some words that made my heart sing. I was sure that Jake was falling in love with me, just as I was falling for him.

After supper, Ella and May began a full court press on Jake. They wanted Tommy and Anne to stay with them for a few days while Ella was there. As May put it, it wasn't very often that they had two grandmas to hug them.