Dictator s Daughter (7 page)

Sean looked at the back of Eli’s head and
wondered how a kid so young had so much wisdom. Eli had certainly
put a lot of thought into Sean’s life and this still concerned
Sean.

“You must have been hurt by a girl like
Chandra, right?”

“No, I’ve never had a girlfriend.” Eli
answered back, still looking out the window.

“You’ve watched other guys get treated
terribly?”

“No.”

“Have you read a lot of books about it?” Sean
was grabbing for straws.

“I’ve experienced it,” Eli said and turned to
look at Sean. This comment perplexed Sean even further. What did
Eli mean by it?

“Look Eli, thanks for being concerned about
my happiness. I know Chandra isn’t perfect, but what girl is,
right? Besides, it’s not like there are a lot of girls around here
to be selective over. I just need to learn to put my foot down,
that’s all.”

“Probably so.” With that, the conversation
was over.

Sara entered the bedroom the next afternoon
looking absolutely radiant. Eliwese stared at her and admired her
beauty. “How old are you Sara? I mean, you don’t have to answer if
you don’t want to.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m sorry; you look so young for having a
twenty-six year old daughter. I only wondered.”

“Forty-five and thank you.” Sara had to
admire Eli for her manners and perceptive mind. Knowing Eli was
female and precariously placed with Sean made Sara all kinds of
nervous. She was sure Sean hadn’t figured out his crosser’s gender
yet.

“You had Lyndee at nineteen?”

“Yes.”

“Sean told me you defected when you were
younger. Why did you cross?”

Sara didn’t like where the questions were
going. She had her own suspicions about Eli’s identity and the last
thing she wanted was to be linked to Rendier or Victor
Rawlings.

“Eli, I’ve never become comfortable here in
Baylend and neither should you. You’ll assume a new identity like I
did and you’ll forsake the old, never talking about it again. The
moment you let your guard down, you’ll regret it.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“I understand your situation Eli, more than
you know, but please understand, I don’t talk about my past life,
not even with my own children.”

“OK. Well, I have a different question. I
wonder if you could buy me some…supplies? I wrote a list.”

“Certainly, I’ll get right on it. I’d like to
invite you to join us for dinner, tonight. Sean can help you with
the stairs, if you need.”

“Do you think it’s safe?”

“Yes. Besides, being downstairs puts you
closer to an exit, if needed.”

“Alright.” The thought of seeing how a real
family operates and interacts excited her. In her childhood, dinner
meant sitting at an extraordinarily long table and eating yucky
adult food with an excessive amount of silverware. Talking was
prohibited unless addressed and no one left the table until they
were excused. This invitation from Sara to join her family would be
cherished by Eliwese.

Chandra joined them that night for dinner
too. Chandra and Eli were seated directly across from Sean, with
Sara and Paul on each end of the table and Ryan and Lyndee on
either side of Sean. Chandra dominated the conversation, like
always, and Sean saw the dislike in Eli’s eyes toward Chandra; he
heard an occasional snicker from Ryan.

Sean watched Eli as he sat properly and ate
his food like he was royalty. Was Eli royalty? No, Rendier didn’t
have royalty. Eli must have come from a very proper home with
severe etiquette.

“Sean, honey, have you thought about where we
will live after we get married?” Chandra asked in a high-pitched
pleasant voice.

“Close by, you know, so I can work here with
my family,” Sean replied and then thrust a fork full of food into
his mouth.

“Don’t you think,” Chandra asked carefully,
“it would be better to leave this place and start a new life of our
own?”

“Sean, pass the potatoes please,” Paul
asked.

Sean grabbed the bowl and handed it to his
father. This gave him time to think of what to say.

“Don’t you like my family?” Sean asked
Chandra. When she looked down at her plate, Sean darted a glance at
Eli only to see him staring at Chandra.

“What kind of question is that?” She smiled
looking up at him.

“In case you haven’t realized,” he spread his
arms out wide disrupting Ryan who was trying to insert his fork
full of food into his mouth, “this is my job. This is what I do,
and it’s what I will continue to do until there are no more
crossers to help.” Sean glanced at Eli who was looking directly at
him admiringly. Sean looked away, back to Chandra.

It was obvious Chandra was losing her
patience because her sweet toned voice went lower. “I know, honey,
there are plenty of crossers who can’t help themselves. But just
because they can’t handle their own problems doesn’t mean it has to
be your problem, too. Isn’t our new life together important to
you?”

Eli’s face paled and his mouth had fallen
open. Sean noticed it right away to be the result of Chandra’s
harsh words.

“It has never been a problem for me to help
crossers,” Sean stated in a low deliberate voice.

“Well, only because it pays so well,” Chandra
said under her breath.

Sean angrily slammed his fork down, “You
marry me, you marry my family and our business of helping others. I
have honorably helped people in need since my earliest memory.
These people are not helpless or spineless and they don’t run from
their problems, they run for their lives. I will always be in this
business until the day Victor Rawlings is taken down, with or
without you.” When he finished, he stared at Chandra with his
peripheral vision taking in Eli. Eli was looking at him. But then
again, everyone was.

“Here, here,” Paul held his glass of milk to
toast.

“Oh Sean, you misunderstood me,” Chandra said
super sweetly. “That’s not how I meant it at all, baby.” These
words echoed in Sean’s mind and he was reminded of Eli’s
interpretation. He knew what Chandra was actually thinking in her
mind. He was carefully formulating a response to Chandra and the
whole table was silent and frozen in their places, awaiting the
rebuttal.

“I know what you meant,” Eli said to Chandra
in a quiet stern voice. The attention turned to Eli and Chandra
now. The powerful tension emanating from the two was scary. Sean
thought about interrupting Eli but then thought better of it.
“People from my country should just put up and shut up and stop
burdening the overfed house cats, like you, with our problems. We
should not get so bent out of shape, and just look away when our
women are raped and beaten, and our men are taken from our homes
and are strapped up with explosive devices just to see what happens
when it blows.” Eli stood up, breathless, “Or how about the
children...you wouldn’t be able to handle hearing what happens to
them and you certainly aren’t capable of caring either.” Eli looked
toward Sara and asked, “May I be excused?”

Sara nodded and Sean watched Eli start for
the stairs.

Chandra’s mouth hung open for a few seconds
and everyone else was in a general state of shock. Sean stood up
and excused himself also; he knew Eli couldn’t get up the stairs by
himself.

“Sean, where are you going?” Chandra asked
sweetly.

“To clean up your mess. Good night
Chandra.”

Sean rounded the corner and found Eli
standing at the bottom of the staircase. Sean gently grabbed Eli’s
arm and helped him up the stairs. Eli’s whole body was trembling
and Sean worried he might faint.

“Let me carry you, Eli.” Sean scooped him up
under the legs and behind the shoulders before Eli could refuse.
Eli was so light! Sean was prepared for one-hundred fifty pounds
but nearly tipped over backwards with the one-hundred fifteen
measly pounds of Eli.

Sean tensed his shoulders as Eli reached back
and laid his arm behind Sean’s neck. Something didn’t add up and
Sean knew just what it was. Even though the shape of Eli’s body was
boxy and stout, he didn’t weigh enough to have the mass be muscle,
which meant it was foam padding, couple that with Eli’s strange
behavior toward Sean, the sound of Eli’s voice and it all equaled
one thing in Sean’s mind; Eli was a girl.

As Sean leaned forward to lay Eli on the bed,
their faces were very close together and Sean inhaled the unique
scent of Eli. Sean’s mind flipped into reverse; and upside down to
boot. Everything he had thought about Eli as a boy was now Eli as a
girl. The small nose, the brown eyes with copper shimmers, the long
lashes and the now perfectly kissable mouth; Sean’s own imagination
shocked him so suddenly he dropped Eli the last few inches on to
the bed.

He stood up quickly, “Sorry, didn’t mean to
drop you just there.”

“It’s alright, my broken ribs are only almost
healed,” Eli stated sarcastically.

Sean laughed and was surprised he was
suddenly aware of the chemistry between them. He knew with a
ninety-nine percent certainty Eli was female and it scared him.

“I’m sorry Chandra was such a… well.” He
pulled a chair over from the table and placed it backwards next to
the bed. He sat down, straddling the back of the chair and folding
his arms across the top. He liked the wall he’d built between them
even if it was just thin spindles. Sean suddenly felt the need to
keep a mild distance from Eli.

Eli said, “Most people in your country aren’t
aware of what we live with on a daily basis.”

“Yeah, but she didn’t have to act like that.
You sure put her in her place.” Sean smiled in admiration. He saw
the color of embarrassment flood Eli’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I was out of place. I need to
apologize to your parents for ruining dinner.”

“No, you don’t,” Sean reassured her. “If
anyone needs to apologize, it’s Chandra.”

Eli closed her eyes and Sean felt sorry for
her.

“Eli, can you tell me about your family?”

“It depends on what you want to know.”

“Do you have brothers or sisters, and are
both of your parents alive?”

“I have one sister and yes, both parents are
alive.”

“How old are you?” his eyes showed complete
sincerity and longing for an answer.

“I don’t think—”

“Eli, I know you’re not a teen. How old are
you?”

“I’m twenty-two.” She closed her eyes knowing
what he must think. He would figure out her gender, if he hadn’t
already, and next he would guess her identity.

Twenty-two! Sean couldn’t believe his ears.
She was nearly his age. Yet, she looked so young.

“How old are you, Sean?” She looked in Sean’s
eyes and held his gaze.

“Twenty-four. Is this a wig you’re wearing,
Eli?” His eyes roamed up to her head.

Yep, he knew! “No wig, just short hair.” His
nearness seemed to be pressing hard on her chest, making it
difficult to breathe.

He reached with his hand and touched her hair
as if he needed to be sure. She flinched as his hand brushed her
forehead accidentally.

“Sorry.” He pulled back and stood up and then
pushed the chair back to the table. He turned around and looked her
over.

She watched as his eyes moved from her hair,
to her mouth, then further south. She knew what he must be
thinking. He must be wondering how she conceals the rest of her
body.

“Why are you running, Eli?”

“I can’t tell you. Please understand.”

“Why isn’t anyone searching for you?”

“I’m not missed yet. Sean, please don’t say
anything to your fiancée about my gender.” She looked deep into his
eyes, pleading with her own.

Her desperate plea touched his heart. The
severity of her injuries from the first day flooded into his mind
and made his eyes mist over. “I won’t tell her. I’m... ah... going
to go downstairs... and make sure she found her way out.” He turned
and left the room.

Lyndee sat in an armchair in the living room
writing a letter to Brock. “You alright, Sean?”

“Yeah.” He slouched into an adjacent
chair.

“Dinner was interesting.”

“Yep.”

“Eli sure admires you.”

“What?”

“Eli, he couldn’t take his eyes off you. A
bit of hero worship, perhaps.”

“Something like that.” Sean ran his hand
through his hair. Hero worship would have been easier to deal
with.

“Chandra is a bit on the spoiled side, don’t
you think?”

“Yep.”

“Well, I can see you’ve got a lot on your
mind and I’d like to finish my letter before my next crosser
arrives, so I’ll let you get back to your brood.”

Sean got up and went outside for a walk.

By the time he came back up for bed, Eli was
sound asleep.

Deep in sleep, Eliwese dreamed about
horrific, traumatizing events that were her past. She found herself
alone in a dark cold room with only a small window to let in light.
The door opened and three large muscled men came in the room and
boxed her against the wall. She tried to get a good look at even
just one of them, but it was too dark. They began kicking and
punching her all over her body. The blows were coming so fast she
wasn’t able to refill her lungs and she knew she would
suffocate.

Sean awakened to the bed shaking with the
jerked erratic movements of Eli. Flutters of excitement filled his
stomach as he remembered Eli was female but then were quickly
replaced with concern as he became aware she was having a violent
nightmare.

Eli was curled up into the fetal position
with her hands up over her head. She let out a high-pitched shriek,
over and over again. Sean could almost see the invisible attacker
swinging or kicking, and she would get the wind knocked out of
her.

It seemed like it went on for some time when
in reality, it lasted only about a minute. Sean scrambled over to
try to awaken her from the nightmare. This proved harder than he
thought it would be.