Khaat had not foreseen the scene that awaited her in the morning. She woke to find Brian was already up and had been to the gym and had dressed. And to her surprise, he had a bag packed. A rather large one this time.
"Brian?" she frowned sleepily,, suddenly feeling insecure.
"Good morning, Sleepyhead," he came over and kissed her.
"Did I oversleep?" she asked.
"No. Not really. We're not on a time table today. Its just a little after eight."
"Eight?" she echoed, confused.
"You needed the rest so I let you sleep," Brian said. "Besides, for anyone else, 8 am would be getting up early. For you its sleeping unconscionably late."
"Brian? Are you..going somewhere?" she asked, feeling afraid he was going to leave her for some odd reason.
"Not without you, I'm not," he smiled.
"Me?"
"Yeah. I don't share my bed with anyone else, do I?"
"No, but..."
"Khaat, we're just taking a few days away. You need a break. YOur health can't go on like this. We're picking up the whole lot and going to Tuscany for a few days. Angus has already gone and taken the girls. The men have equipped the place for us. The guards are going along with us. You are going to rest and relax and ahve some fun. That's what you're going to do."
"Daddy. He insisted, Didn't he?'
"Yes. Khaat, we're not playing with this anymore. We're going to turn this around while its still relatively easy to do. What would you like to wear today?"
"Uh...I don't know."
"Here," he said. He went over to the dresser and picked up a cup of coffee and a mug and poured her a cup of coffee. "Try this. This will start your engine." He handed it to her.
"Thank you," she said. She sipped on her coffee and onc eshe woke up, she showered and dressed. She chose just jeans, snakers, a white long sleeved cotton blouse with the sleeves rolled up, and tiny gold hoop earrings. It wasn't at all fancy, but it was a look she knew Brian loved because it looked sharp and clean and elegant. And she was already immensely self conscious of how badly she was bruised. She had severe, massive black bruises all around her neck. And that only added to the bruises she still had from Barker and the difficulty she had in walking. Once she was dressed, she picked up her coffee mug , her black walking stick with the amethyist stone in the top, and went downtairs. She was already in pain and she had just barely botten up.
By the time she got there, everyone else was already gathering in the living room with their bags.
"Sorry, Everyone," Khaat said. "I guess I overslept."