Chapter 13 — Intuition
Thankfully Kaylee and Laura were off work the next day, so they could help me make phone calls to change the date of the wedding to the first of next month. I'm so glad the girls didn't ask why I wanted to bump up the wedding date. I suppose that they thought I just wanted it over with, which is more or less the truth. Bryan finally came home after spending the night in Oklahoma City going over all of the evidence I had collected from Ellis's safe.
"We went through all of the evidence that you collected, and we couldn't find the name of the person Ellis was talking to, so we are going to have him followed and see if we can't get one of our undercover agents in good with him to see if he can't get the name for us," Bryan informs me. "But there is a third option, which I told them you wouldn't be doing," I stood there staring at him with disbelief.
"What was the third option?" I ask sternly.
"It was for you to see if you can't get him to tell you the name of the leader, and I told them you wouldn't because it was too dangerous," Bryan advised. "Dangerous, really!? Bryan, I'm a witch, dangerous is what I do! What gave you any right to decide if I would or wouldn't do it anyway?!" I yelled.
"I'm sorry, I'm your friend. I don't want to see you hurt, or worse, killed." He replied as he sulked off to his bedroom. I sat there on the couch a little while longer to cool down, then called Mr. Johnson to tell him that I would try and get the names of the other people who are working with Ellis. I also informed him if he needed my help for anything else to please just call me himself. After hanging up with him, I went to try and smooth things over with Bryan, realizing that I shouldn't have blown up at him the way I had because he was only looking out for me, and in some ways, I do need someone to do that for me.
So I knock on his door. Swallowing my pride, I apologized. "I'm so sorry I blew up at you the way I did. I just can't stand people deciding what's in my best interest without talking to me about it first. I also know you were being my big brother and trying to look out for me, and I love you for that. Forgive me?" I say with my best sad look.
"Yes, of course I forgive you, I know I overstepped my big brother role, but in my defense, I really was thinking in your best interest." He replies. With nothing else needing to be said, I give my tall adoptive brother the biggest hug I could give. "So get your shoes on. We are going to the lake for a walk." I beamed.
"Umm, ok, sure," Bryan said as he turned to go put his tennis shoes on. While he was doing that, I found the little herb purse that I use when I go picking fresh herbs, and the ones I needed were for my truth spell. It took us a while to find all the herbs I needed, but we found them then headed back home. I cleaned the herbs, then boiled them together. After the liquid cooled down, I put a little bit into a vial, which I would pour into Ellis's drink later. When all is said and done, he should be singing like a little bird by the time supper is over.
Sunday evening came really fast. I had supper almost done by the time Ellis showed up. He still wasn't sure if it was a good thing that Bryan was taking them to the movies. He still really didn't trust him even though I had mentioned that there was no better bodyguard for Kaylee and Laura than an FBI agent, to which he had to add, "A gay FBI agent."
I just roll my eyes and finish up the pot roast that I was making for supper. I was just tired of getting into that argument with him, it was like a never-ending chase around a tree with Ellis over Bryan being gay, and he didn't like him hanging around.
I had my plan for Ellis ready for the night. I needed to get him to give me the name or names of the top people in his white supremacist group, and also get him to sign my prenup. I set about making his drink, mixing in the truth potion. I grabbed two bottles of beer, then when I opened one, I quickly poured the potion in. I then swirled the bottle so it would mix in well. After I did that, I opened my bottle and took a swig out of it as I entered the living room. Before I sat down, I hand him a spiked bottle. He ended up taking a big drink of it before saying, "Thanks."
I look at him with a smile on my face and reply, "No problem, supper will be done in a few minutes."
We sat there chatting about the upcoming wedding. When I told him when it was, he began to shift in his seat like he was nervous. He got worse when I asked for a guest list of everyone he wanted to invite. "You know the normal people: my mom, my sister and her family, also Mike, who you haven't gotten to meet yet, but you will," Ellis tells me.
"Is he the one you are in that group with?" I ask nonchalantly.
"Oh, did I tell you that I was in a group?" He replies, acting a little disoriented so I knew my potion was working.
"Yes, you just mentioned that you had some group meeting every so often, that's all. Did you want to invite those friends to the wedding?" I encouraged.
He looked at me with a questioning look then said, "Sure, I'll ask them, but no promises." He said as I get up one more time to check on my pot roast, which I already knew was done.
As we sat down at the table to eat, he started talking more about the people in his group. I learned that there were twenty members and that he was in fact the leader, along with Mike as second in command. It was becoming the perfect night. I had just one more task to do.
We finished up the night with a little television where I excused myself and returned with my prenup papers, which I told him were papers for him to have ownership of the café if I passed on before he did. Ok, so I lied to him, big deal. He still signed the papers before he fell asleep on the couch. Maybe I put a little too much potion in his drink.
I put a blanket over him then headed to bed myself, but not before texting Bryan so he wouldn't wake him up when he came in from the movies and to let the girls know that they were welcome to stay, I had their rooms ready. When I awoke the next morning, everyone was still asleep, so I quietly made some coffee then went back to my room, where I sent an email to the FBI director telling him everything I had learned from Ellis the previous night, plus letting him know that I was sending them invitations to the wedding and that I would let him know if they were coming or not. After a while, everyone else in the house woke up, so I decided I would make everybody some breakfast. I even had Laura call Preston and invite him over. Poor Ellis had woken up stiff and sore since he had slept on the couch. I sent him to take a shower so he would feel better. By the time he was done, I had breakfast done, and Preston had already arrived. We all sat around the table, eating and chatting about the upcoming wedding. Preston was happy he didn't have to wear a suit. He was happy wearing jeans and a white shirt, and he said he could handle wearing a blue sports jacket. Ellis agreed with him; he was grateful we weren't making them dress up in suits. The only child I hadn't heard from was my eldest son, who lived in Ardmore, so I decided I would take a little ride to Ardmore after everyone left for work.
The first place I stopped at was at his work, but when I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed his car wasn't there, so I went to his home across town. Sure enough, he was home. Jarred answered the door with a yawn as if I had woke him up. "Good morning, did I wake you up?" I ask concerned.
"No, I've been up for a little bit." He said.
"I must've fallen asleep on the couch, what's up?"
I hand him one of the invitations that I had ordered for the wedding, "Your dad and I haven't heard if you were coming to the wedding. I tried to set the time, so if you had to work that day, you would only have to take off a couple of hours. He just looks at me, "Come on, mom, really? why are you marrying dad again?"
All I could do was smile at him and say, "So which one of your sisters told you?"
He just rolls his eyes at me. "Kaylee told me." He tells me with a laugh. "But come on, mom, he hurt you before. Why are you putting yourself through this again?" We sit there talking for hours. I told him what my plans were for their father and what the FBI had asked me to find out for them. When I left, I felt better knowing he was on my side. The only child that didn't know, as far as I knew anyway, was Preston. I hope that Kaylee didn't tell him. Preston has pretty much been his dad's boy, so I have a fear that if he knew, he would tell his father and ruin everything that has been set in motion.
As I enter Ringling, I pull into my café to check on things and also to talk with my daughters. I call Kaylee and Laura into my office so I could talk to them privately.
"Why didn't you tell me you told Jarred who I was?" I ask them. They look at each other, then look at me.
"We're sorry, mom, but we knew how close you and Jarred were. Also, he knows how dad treated you." I let out a deep breath.
"It's ok, but promise me you won't tell Preston."
With a little look of sadness in their eyes, they promised not to tell him. "Girls, I'm not mad, but you know how close your dad and brother are."
They shake their head and say, "Yes, we do, we're sorry we didn't tell you that we told Jarred."
I stand up and give each one of them a hug and tell them, "It's ok."
Then they went back to work while I went home.