Chapter 3: The Journey to Egypt

 

The rain pelted down on the taxi, as the driver took the O’Connells to the port.  In the back Alex sat between both his parents, making Teddy dance about.  In the front, Jonathan sat idly wondering just how he had managed to be talked into going back to Egypt, then remembered O’Connell’s promise to let him have the Manor for the weekend upon their return.  With that in mind, he thought of Angelique, and Josette, and sighed in complete contentment.

 

“Mummy I want out,”  Alex said sliding to the floor of the cab to stand.  He sided his way to her part of the car, and started to reach for the handle, but Evie moved his hand away.

 

“Baby, you can’t open the door while the car is driving,”  Evie explained as she lifted him to sit on her lap.  She pointed out different trees, and that kept him entertained until they arrived at the port.  While Rick and Jonathan paid the driver, and got their luggage, Evie took Alex to stand beneath the shelter while they waited for the time to board the ship.

 

“Mummy I make sand castle?”  he asked as he held his hand out to catch the falling drops of rain.

 

“I think we might be able to manage that,”  Evie said, giving him a kiss.  She looked past her son as Rick came with the umbrella.

 

“They said we can go ahead and get on board,”  Rick told her.  As they began to walk, Alex wanted down, and when Evie set him down, he ran for the boat, getting away from them.  Rick chased after him, pushing past the people who had gathered to wave at the passengers.

 

“Alexander O’Connell, you stop now,”  Rick yelled.  Alex just laughed, thinking that all of this was a fun game.  He jumped in a large puddle, and pushed through a group of people, then ran behind some crates.  Rick lost him when he got behind the group of people and bit his tongue, trying not to say a string of words Alex could pick up on and say .

 

“Alex front and center,”  Rick yelled.  Behind the crates, Alex stood waiting for daddy to find him, like when they played hide and seek, not realizing how angry he was making his father.  Evelyn caught up to her husband, and made him go cool off, then called for her baby.

 

“Alex darling, we need to get aboard the ship so we can go play in the sand,”  she reminded.  Too intent on finishing his game, Alex stayed right where he was.  The whistle blew, which meant they didn’t have a whole lot of time to board, and aboard the ship Rick walked to the end of the vessel, and found his son.

 

“Evie walk two crates back and turn right,”  he yelled.  She did what he said and found Alex, who started to run again, but she caught him.

 

“Nooo, play gain,”  he said tugging away from her.

 

“Alex the time for playing is over, we need to go,” she said picking him up.  he leaned back screaming, making it difficult for her to carry him and walk at the same time.  Then Rick came and took him giving him a swat on his bottom which caused him to cry, but also got him under control.  While all that was taking place, Jonathan had made a new friend with his bottle of bourbon in the ships bar area, glad to have time to himself.  The second blow of the whistle sounded, and the ship moved away from the port, carrying the O’Connells, and Jonathan to the hot sandy lands of Egypt.

 

~*~*~

 

By nightfall the rain was still falling, and for most of the day Evelyn had Alex to herself, wanting to spend quality time with him, something she had not been doing a lot of since the museum had been doing a restoration project in her department.  Now with Alex ready for bed, Evelyn sat on the little pallet with him, reading his favorite book, Peter Pan.

 

“Boy why are you crying? Wendy asked of Peter.”  Evie read.  Alex yawned, and answered.

 

“He cry cause his shadow runned way,”  Alex replied.

 

“Thats right,”  Evelyn said kissing the top of his head.  She continued on, and got to the part where Peter was teaching Wendy, John, and Michael how to fly, then felt his head fall forward which meant he was asleep.  Carefully she set the book aside, and laid him down on the soft blankets.  Instinctively, Alex reached for his Teddy, and once it was in his arms he relaxed.  Evie sat watching him with a great deal on her mind.  She had not gotten completely over the argument she and Rick had, and despite his reassurances, that he had just said those things out of anger, Evelyn wondered if Rick really did resent her for not being able to have anymore children.  The rapes, in combination with the stressful birth had hurt her badly, and she had been told anymore children would be to great a risk.  It was agreed that she would have surgery to keep anymore pregnancies from happening, and after that time, neither she nor Rick had spoken of more children.  Evelyn jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, then felt herself gathered in the strength of her husbands arms.

 

“How about sharing with me what you were just thinking,”  Rick said, though he had a pretty good idea of what.  Evelyn let out a shuttering sigh, then stood taking his hand.  In the privacy of their own room, she turned and asked the question she needed to have an answer to.

 

“You resent not having more children don’t you?”  she asked.  Her question was said without anger or sadness, just a question, and Rick felt his heart beat faster, and his palms sweat.  Until the day he had held his son in his arms, Rick had not realized what an amazing gift he and Evie had been given, and until Eshe told them they could not have anymore children, he hadn’t realized he had wanted more.

 

“I never thought I wanted kids.  The whole time you carried him, I kept thinking how little we would be able to do with him around,”  Rick admitted as he sat on the bed.  Evelyn settled beside him, and was glad when she felt herself gathered in his arms once more.

 

“The same day you had him, the first time I saw him, his tiny hands, how helpless he was, I realized how lucky we were to have him.  I think he is the only person, aside from you who makes me feel so protective and complete.  That same day when you started to bleed, and I was sitting alone, I kept worrying about you, wondering what would happen if I lost you, and I had to take care of him on my own.  You of coarse healed, but we lost the chance to make the magic all over again, and I resent the two bastards who took that chance from us, and Egypt, but never you Evelyn,”  he said.  She turned and Rick found they both had tears running down their face.  He lifted her to sit sideways on his lap then kissed her tears one by one, then over her eyes, and cheeks, until he reached her lips.  Evelyn held to him, needing to feel his touch, needing to let that touch heal both their hearts as it always did.  When he parted from her lips he moved her from his lap, and she was confused until she heard Alex.

 

“Mummy I seep if daddy you gain,”  he said rubbing his eyes.  For now their love would have to wait, and for now once again they all shared a bed letting sleep embrace them.

 

~*~*~

 

While they slept, Jonathan was finding his usual sort of fun, playing poker into the wee hours of the moring with some fine mates he had met.

 

“I bet this gold Ring,”  Jonathan said slamming it down in the pile of cash that sat in the center of the table.  The ring was pure gold, from Hamunaptra, and Jonathan was too drunk to realize that he had drawn unwanted attention to himself.

 

“Hey now thats a fancy piece of Jewelry,”  One man said.  The other three nodded, and Jonathan grinned.

 

“That piece of junk is nothing compared tooo wha Got in my room,”  he said taking another swig of Bourbon.  The four men looked at one another and all nodded.

 

“Well pal, what say you take us to your room and show us what you have,”  Simon said as he grabbed Jonathan, and held a knife to his throat.  The feel of a cold blade at his throat quickly sobered him, and he realized he was in deep camel dung, for two reasons. One, these guys were extremely dangerous, and the second was that his room was in the same cabin as Rick and his sister, and he knew Rick would do more harm to him than these men.

 

“Come to think of it I left all that back in London.  Let me give you the address, and you fine chaps can drop in anytime,”  Jonathan said.  The knife at his throat pressed harder, and he winced as he felt the blade pierce into his skin.

 

“You have more than that ring, friend, and unless you want to end up as fish food, you will take us and let us have our fill,”  Simon replied.  They let him go, and followed him, acting casual so not to draw any attention.  It was still raining, and Jonathan counted to three then ran. 

 

“Get him,”  Simon yelled.  Jonathan ran down the steps and turned a hard right running as fast as he could past Rick and Evelyn’s cabin.

 

“Come on he went that way,”  Sanders yelled.  The three men ran past the cabin, and inside Rick woke up listening, and closed his eyes realizing that Jonathan was likely in trouble.  Very carefully he eased out of bed, managing not to wake his wife or his son.  After slipping into a shirt, and slacks, as well as his boots, Rick grabbed a gun and walked out of their room, and out of the cabin getting rained on.  He heard more yelling further down the ship and went the other way, knowing that they would eventually meet up.  Carefully he climbed the steps and kept close to the wall listening past the pounding rain.  He heard foot fall and cussing, and knew it was Jonathan.  When his brother-in-law passed, Rick reached out and grabbed him putting an hand over his mouth and pulled him into the little crevasse he had found.

 

“Hold still damn it,”  Rick said.  Jonathan sighed relief, then realized it was Rick, and knew he was dead.  The four men passed them by, and once they had, Rick let Jonathan go.

 

“Lets go,”  he said.  Both men took the long way to their room, making certain that the men in pursuit didn’t find them, then once inside the cabin found Evelyn awake.

 

“I’ll take care of him,” she said.

 

“No thats okay, he and I need to have a little talk,”  Rick said keeping his eyes locked on Jonathan.  Evelyn left, and Rick pushed Jonathan to sit on the couch, then got right in his face.

 

“Now, I’m not sure what the hell you just did to piss those guys off, and I don’t really give a damn.  What I care about is my wife and my son, and I warn you Jonathan, if you pull your usual shit, and any harm comes to either of them you will have me to deal with,”  Rick said.  Jonathan sat as far back in the couch as he could and only nodded.  With that Rick moved away from him.

 

“I’d also advise you stay in the cabin, those guys looked pretty pissed,”  Rick said, then left going back to his room.  For long moments, Jonathan let his heart beat go back to normal rhythm, then got up and headed for his room.  Despite being wet, he plopped on the bed, and soon sleep came for him, the usual lonely sleep, with only the dreams of being with all the girls at his favorite hotel to keep him company.

 

~*~*~

 

The next morning when they woke up, Evelyn found a note from Jonathan basically stating that he had gotten his own room, and that they didn’t need to worry over him.  Now she was grilling Rick on what had happened.

 

“Evie he got into trouble, and had four rather large looking guys after him, I just told him to watch out, or he would have me to answer to.”  Evelyn sighed looking over at Alex who was too into his cars to pay any attention to them.

 

“I just wish for once you two would get along.  I know my brother doesn’t think about things, but he really does mean well,”  she said.  Deciding not to get himself in another jam Rick simply kept his mouth shut, finishing breakfast before she did.

 

“Well I think I might go for a short walk,”  he said.

 

“I think Alex and I will go try to find Jonathan,”  she replied looking up at him with purpose in her eyes.  Rick left without a word, and Evelyn’s heart ached.  The more she thought about it, the more she wished they would never have started this trip.

 

“Come on darling, lets go find Uncle John,”  Evelyn said as she picked her son up.  In their room, she got him dressed in slacks and a warm shirt, then got his shoes on him, and together they left to find Jonathan.

 

~*~*~

 

On upper deck, Rick sat sipping a glass of cold tea, thinking about a great many things.  Every since marrying Evelyn, Rick had noticed how she took Jonathan’s side in most things, as far as his gambling was concerned, and it was not something he liked.  He knew if she would put her foot down, instead of making up excuses for him, such as it was just his way, then Jonathan would likely snap out of it.  Then he thought about how she had changed him.  One example of the change was his like of cold tea, before Evie a bottle of bourbon, or an ice cold beer suited him.  Now it was tea or a glass of water.  As he finished his tea, he looked out on the water noticing that it was much calmer than the day before.  He had also noticed that it wasn’t nearly as cold as it had been, and that was a nice change.  After having his tea, Rick went to the top deck where all the lounge chairs were set up.  People were there catching the sun and talking.  Children were playing, and he knew he and Evie should be among them, but here he was alone, with his thoughts and he was beginning to wonder why he had agreed to come along.

 

~*~*~

 

Hand in hand, mother and son walked the lower decks trying to find where Jonathan was bunking.  They were below the decks now, in the lower part of the ship where the lower class slept.  To Evelyn there really wasn’t a difference between herself and anyone else, she and Rick selected the upper class tickets because they could afford them, but both were just as comfortable with either ticket.

 

“Mummy it tinks here,”  Alex said as they walked.  She smiled at her little boy.

 

“It’s just musty is all,”  Evelyn replied.  A feeling of unease hit her as they turned the corner, as if they were being watched, and memories that she had buried in the past surfaced.  Quickly she picked Alex up and turned going back the way they had come.  She rounded another corner and ran into a rather large man.

 

“Pardon me,”  she said, and started to move past him, but he moved in her way.

 

“Please I need to get my son changed,”  she said.  Alex clung to her, his face buried against her neck.

 

“I’ve been looking for you,”  he said, and with that grabbed her arm pulling her with him.  Evelyn started to shake, and Alex began to cry.

 

~*~*~

 

The moment he had gotten to his new room, the four chaps who had been pursuing him the night before, paid Jonathan a visit.  Now tied up in a closet, he tried to listen to what they had planned, then heard Alex’s cries, and knew it was bad.

 

“Put the kid with him, we will use her as bate,”  Simon said.  Alex tried to fight, and Paul shook him hard which made him really cry.

 

“Now then, you sit with your friend,”  he said as he opened the door.  Jonathan caught a glimpse of Evelyn’s shocked state as one of the men ripped at her dress, then Alex was thrust into his arms and the door shut.

 

“DADDDY,”  Alex cried.

 

“Shh, everything will be all right,”  Jonathan tried to reassure, as both of them heard Evelyn cry out.  Last night, Jonathan guessed that he and Rick must not have been careful enough, and that the bastards had seen them, and found out about Alex and Evelyn.  Alex cried a long time before he finally fell into an exhausted sleep, and by then only silence met them.

 

~*~*~

 

In another room, the men had taken Evelyn, and had her tied to a chair trying to get information from her about where all of Jonathan’s gold had come from.  She refused to tell them, despite threats to herself.  So far they had only ripped her dress, and as she sat there she began to realize Rick was right.  Jonathan needed to know that his gambling was not going to be a part of their lives, not while they had Alex around.

 

“Maybe we should go get the kid,”  one of the men said.  Evelyn shuttered praying that Rick would hurry up and figure out they were all in trouble.

 

~*~*~

 

By Lunch, when Evelyn and Alex had not returned, Rick got a bad feeling that something was not right.  His usual manor of doing things was to fight first and ask questions later, but the fact that Alex was somehow, or could be somehow involved, made him realize this once he needed to let the captain and crew help him.  Now he sat in the Captains office waiting for any word on his family’s where abouts, itching to go help.

 

~*~*~

 

When the door opened, Jonathan instinctively held on to Alex, but his efforts were futile as his nephew was taken from him.  The men did as they pleased because hardly any of the crew members ever came to the lowest part of the ship, so Paul took Alex back with him, not realizing that the captains man at arms, and a few other men had heard the commotion.  In the small room Evelyn looked up when she heard Alex’s cries.

 

“Now then tell us where the treasure came from, or we will start by breaking his arms,”  Paul said as Simon grabbed Alex’s hand, holding his arm straight.  Alex screamed and cried, and Evelyn was about to tell them, when the door slammed open, and the room was filled with people to help them.  Paul held on to Alex using him as a shield.

 

“You shoot me, and the kid dies,”  he said, as he backed out of the room, not seeing Jonathan approach with a gun of his own.  It wasn’t until Paul felt the cold metal barrel pressed against his back, that he realized he was in trouble and dropped Alex to the ground.  He turned and grabbed the gun from Jonathan, pointing it at Alex.

 

“He dies lady,”  Paul said clicking the gun into place.  Evelyn screamed when she heard a shot fired, and then when Alex cried, and the man fell nearly ontop of him she realized that it was over.  Rick ran in, and held his son who was now histerical as was Evelyn.  The rest of the men were taken out of the room, and Jonathan got Evie untied, then they all went up to their cabin together.

 

~*~*~

 

The ships doctor had come by, and found Alex had broken one leg from being dropped.  He had set the bone, and put a cast on him, and now Alex slept in his uncles room with Jonathan looking after him, giving Rick and Evie time alone, time they needed.  In their bed, Evelyn watched as her husband lit candles, and tried not to feel afraid, but was having a difficult time with that.  When he came to her, he was dressed only in a pair of boxers.  He settled on the bed beside her and kissed her lips gently.

 

“Why does this keep happening to us?”  she asked wanting to cry.  Rick lay beside her gathering her into his arms.

 

“I’m not sure sweetheart, but I think Jonathan realizes that he can’t keep up his old ways,”  he said, glad for that.  Evelyn lifted her head from his chest to look within his eyes.

 

“He won’t gamble, not while he lives in our home,”  she said with conviction in her voice.  She reached out and traced his lips with her fingers, smiling as she realized that once again Rick had saved her life, and Alex’s as well. When she felt her finger drawn into her mouth, all thoughts of anything but pleasuring her husband fled her, and after a moment she moved away from him.  After removing her nightgown she pushed on his chest, and he rolled on his back putting his arm behind his head, letting her explore this time.  When she moved to stratle his stomach, Rick watched her, moaning as her lips came against his, as her tongue licked just the outer part of his mouth. When he felt her slide herself lower on his stomach, in combination with feeling her wetness, Rick felt himself harden immediately.  Evelyn slid further down trailing her lips over his chest, then down his belly until she came to his boxers.  She looked up at him as she began to pull them down, and Rick groaned out her name as he felt her lips move over his highly sensitive, very hard penis.  Evie reached down, and grasped his balls squeezing them as she suckled.  Her husband began to arch his hips up, thrusting into her mouth, not surpressing his grunts and gasps as he did.

 

“Oh god what you do to me,”  he said as he continued to rock in and out of her mouth.  As much as he loved what she was doing to him, Rick preferred to be a part of her, and after a few more moments, he sat up and helped her move over his penis.  Evelyn took his hands and he held her as she slipped over him, then slid down on him.  Both of them cried out at the intense feeling of tightness, wetness and warmth, as two became one.  Still holding both of his hands, Evelyn began to push away from him, then come back to him, and for a little bit she kept up a steady rhythm.  Rick knew how much that tired her, and reached both hands around her waist pushing her further onto him, then turned them so she was laying on her back, and he was over her.  He began a steady rhythm of loving her, and then pulled out which caused her to gasp and cry out for him.

 

“Shh,”  he whispered as he kissed her lips, and moved away from her.  He lay on his side, then brought her to spoon against him with her back pressed against his chest.  Reaching over her, he moved his hand against her firm stomach, then lower to the soft thatch of wet curls.  Evelyn leaned her head back against his shoulder, and Rick leaned down kissing her lips.  His fingers found home at her clit, and Evelyn cried out softly needing more from him.  He reached down with his free hand to his penis and scooted her closer to him then slid into her from behind.  As he pumped into her, Rick found it easier to give her pleasure, both from making love to her, as well as finding easier access to her breasts.  It wasn’t long before he had her wiggling against him, crying softly at each thrust he gave her.  When he felt her tighten around him he gave out his own soft cry of pleasure and began to move faster.  Their joint orgasm was powerful, and for a few moments all that was heard in the small room was their heavy breathing.  Rick pulled her closer to him kissing the side of her neck, content now, as was she.  As the started to drift off to sleep, their duty as parents was announced by the approaching cries of their son.  Evelyn gasped as Rick slid from her, then both got out of bed pulling a robe around them, just before Jonathan brought Alex.  As Evelyn took him, Rick stopped Jonathan, thanking him for helping to save their lives.  Jonathan just nodded and left them, and Rick turned to find both mother and son already cuddling in bed.  After putting out a few candles, Rick joined them hoping the rest of the trip would be less of an adventure.