“We should get married.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said as he nuzzled her ear.
“I’m serious,” she groaned.
“So am I.”
“I’m tired of waiting.”
“So am I,” he said before kissing her lips again.
“Let’s get married tonight,” she said.
He pulled away just enough so he could look her in the eyes. “You can’t be serious,” he said.
“I am,” she said.
He brushed the hair out of her face. “I need you to think right now.”
She shook her head. “I think too much.”
“Usually, yes, but not now. Why do you want to elope tonight?”
“You know why,” she said, leaning forward to kiss him.
“Cindy, if that’s what you really want, we’ll go tonight,” he said, pulling back. “We’ll drive to Nevada and we’ll get married. But I need you to be honest with me. Is this just about wanting to have sex?”
“I want to get married,” she said.
“So do I, but I’m talking about right now. Do you want to get married tonight instead of next December because you want us to have sex?”
“Yes,” she said.
He closed his eyes and looked like he was struggling with himself. Then he opened his eyes again. “And afterward, will you be sorry we didn’t have a real wedding with our friends there?”
“I...I don’t know,” she admitted.
“I think you will be. And I’m not going to rob you of the wedding just so we both get what we want tonight. It’s not worth it.”
“I want you,” she told him, throat constricting.
“And I promise you that if I thought we wouldn’t regret it, you’d have me before the night was over.”
She whimpered low in her throat. He stroked her face. “I know it’s hard. I also know that in twenty months when we rip each other’s clothes off it will have been worth the wait.”
She licked her lips. She knew what he was saying made sense, even though she didn’t want to admit it.
“Back in Israel, after...everything...you told me that you belonged to me, that I could have whatever I wanted. I knew what you meant. You would have that night.”
“Yes, I would have,” he said. “And that night you were strong for both of us. Tonight I’ll be the one who is strong for both of us.”
“I don’t want you to be,” she admitted.
“Which is exactly why I have to be,” he said. He moved and then stood up. “And the only way I can do that right now is to go.”
“Please, don’t go,” she said, tears filling her eyes.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her, why she was feeling so vulnerable. She thought about him, them, all the time, but somehow tonight a feeling of desperation had crept over her.
He crouched down next to her. “Look me in the eyes and tell me that you will never regret not having a real wedding. You won’t regret standing in the front of the church and reciting our vows with you in a white dress and me in a tuxedo. You won’t regret everyone cheering and wishing us well. You won’t regret cutting the cake at the reception and trying to feed it to each other.”
“I would regret it,” she finally whispered.
He kissed her forehead. “Then let’s not do anything we’re going to regret.”
She nodded but stayed on the couch while he saw himself out.
~
Jeremiah barely made it to his car before his knees gave way. He leaned against it, shaking uncontrollably. He wished with everything in him that they were both there, heading for Nevada, about to be married. He didn’t want to wait. He wouldn’t regret not having the big wedding. All he wanted was to be with her always and forever. He loved her too much, though, to rob her of what she truly wanted.
Shortly after Jeremiah left, Cindy got ready for bed. She felt melancholy, but kept trying to cheer herself up with thinking about the wedding. It didn’t work, though, and she finally had to admit that she was just in some kind of funky mood.
Once in bed she tossed and turned for two hours, but sleep wouldn’t come. She finally got up and after getting a glass of orange juice sat down at her computer. She figured she’d surf the internet for a few minutes. Instead she headed straight for Facebook. She had an account although she never used it. She clicked on the search box at the top.
What was Rose’s last name? she asked herself as her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
She had seen it on several things that day, including the insurance documents sent to her. She tried to picture the envelope in her mind. A moment later she typed Rose Meyer into the search box with satisfaction.
A few names popped up so she added Rayburn NextGen Solutions to the search. It worked. A page came up and the banner was the same picture that she’d seen earlier of Rose sitting on Santa’s lap. Rose didn’t have the security settings on to keep non-friends from seeing her posts which was a relief.
Cindy felt a bit guilty for her own cyber stalking, but she couldn’t let it go. Not just yet. She hastily scrolled through the posts. It looked like Rose normally posted something on her page two or three times a day. However, the most recent post was Thursday night. There was nothing since then. Four days with absolutely nothing.
It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, she told herself in her sternest inner voice. Rose could easily be away from her computer, staying with friends or going on a vacation now that she had the free time.
She moved the mouse and the cursor hovered for a moment over the button to send a private message. She stared at it for several seconds. She could message her, ask if she was alright, and tell her that she’d be having her things sent to her. It sounded better than just asking if she was still alive.
Of course, she might not answer just because she doesn’t know who I am, she thought.
She moved the cursor and shook her head in disgust. Now that would definitely be taking cyber stalking too far. Besides, Beau had probably already done that. After all, he seemed like the kind of guy who left no stone unturned. If he confronted her again she’d ask him.
She closed down the page in disgust and forced herself to down her orange juice and head back to bed.
I’m just trying to find excuses why I should quit this job, she thought to herself. You know, I don’t need excuses. I could just do it, tell the temp agency that the boss gave me the creeps or something like that.
She couldn’t do that. The temp agency might not want to risk sending her out on another job, even if she’d already successfully accomplished a few others. She couldn’t risk her future work possibilities.
As she crawled into bed another thought occurred to her. Maybe I’m not trying to find excuses to leave but I’m trying to find reasons to stay and not go out of my mind doing so.
Stranger things had happened. She had to admit that the possibility of a mystery surrounding Rose’s abrupt departure from the company had nicely pulled her attention away from just how much she disliked Mr. Cartwright and how miserable working for him for a few weeks was going to be.
She wasn’t sure which reason for her obsession made her more pathetic.
Blackie got up, stretched, came over and flopped down next to her stomach. As she scratched the cat’s belly he began to purr. She always found his purr to be a very soothing sound. She forced herself to focus on it until she drifted off to sleep.
15
There was no way Jeremiah was sleeping. When he’d gotten home he’d taken a cold shower then tried to watch some television. Every single channel, though, seemed to be airing a show or movie that had gratuitous sex in it. He finally gave up and took another cold shower.
He often suspected that most women had very little idea how they impacted men, drove them crazy. Cindy in particular. There had been times where she’d intentionally tried to turn him on, and, few as they were, they were quite memorable. What she didn’t reali
ze was that most days just being in her presence was enough. Hearing her laugh, seeing her skirt swish slightly around her knees when she walked, even the way she sometimes unconsciously flipped her hair all drove him to distraction.
It was going to be a long twenty months. That was okay. He would just try and focus on other things.
Like what it was Liam and Rebecca weren’t telling them. He knew he’d told Cindy and Mark that they should tackle the problem in the morning when everyone was a little more rested. That plan went right out the window, though. If he couldn’t sleep then he was going to share his misery with someone else.
It only took a few minutes to drive to the hospital. It was nearly midnight and the streets were deserted. Once there he walked straight through the lobby like he belonged there and no one questioned his passing.
The hospital had been transitioning away from having traditional visiting hours to a more open policy that allowed relatives to spend the night if they wished. It helped him since no one bothered to stop him and ask what he was doing there so late at night.
There was a policeman stationed outside Liam’s room. He wasn’t directly outside the door, but rather sitting in a chair about five feet away reading a newspaper.
With a disgusted eye roll Jeremiah didn’t even bother trying to be sneaky. He just walked right in.
Liam was asleep. Rebecca was sitting at a small desk with Mark’s papers spread out before her. She had a mug of what was likely tea sitting to one side. She was concentrating so hard that she didn’t even realize he was there until he cleared his throat.
She let out a yelp and jumped. “Oh, it’s you,” she panted in relief, placing a hand on her chest.
“A good thing, too, given how seriously the cop out there is taking his lookout duties.”
She grimaced.
Jeremiah pulled up a chair. “Any luck on the code?”
“No. I did some code work in the army, but this is just gibberish to me. Hopefully Liam will have better luck when he wakes up.”
“You mean if he wakes up,” Jeremiah said darkly.
Rebecca started as though struck.
“And, of course, if he doesn’t you know it’s your fault.”
“Why would you say that?” she whispered.
“Because, it’s true. If he hadn’t started dating you none of this would have happened to him, would it?” Jeremiah asked.
“I’m the victim here!”
“I’m sorry. You were the victim. Now that you’re refusing to speak up and help catch the guy who did this you’re looking more and more like an accessory.”
“That’s a lie!” she hissed.
“Okay, then tell me what the truth is,” he challenged.
She looked down and he knew instinctively that he had her.
“His name is Mason. He was special forces. I met him overseas. He seemed nice, attentive. Soon we were dating.”
“And?” Jeremiah asked.
“And then, after a while, his true colors came out. He was possessive, controlling, jealous. He put a guy in the hospital just for asking me what time it was. He was insane. I broke it off with him. He didn’t like that, but fortunately I was heading back home. When I made it back to the states I got out of the military and got as far away from my former life as I could, just to be on the safe side. You know anything about that?” she asked.
“I do,” he admitted.
“I thought I was fine. Life went on. I opened my tea shop and then I met Liam. It felt like I really had been able to start off fresh, leave the bad behind me.”
“Until it found you.”
She nodded.
“When did you know?”
“The last couple of days I’ve felt funny, you know when it’s like you can feel someone watching you, but you can’t tell who?”
Jeremiah nodded.
“There was nothing I could actually put my finger on. I thought I was just jumpy. Then Liam was attacked and I was just so scared I wasn’t even thinking about it.”
“Until?”
“Until I went back to my shop today to talk with the police.”
“What did you find?”
“In my purse I had a picture of Liam and me. It had been torn in half and the half with Liam stolen. Then there was a section of teas that was undisturbed. It seemed odd to me since everything else seemed to have been jostled. When I went to take a closer look I saw that someone had left me a message, written in loose tea leaves, on the top of the boxes.”
“What did it say?” he asked.
“It said, Miss me? That’s when I thought that it had to be Mason. I don’t know how he found me, but I think he searched my shop and I think he beat up Liam.”
“And why didn’t you want to tell the police this?” Jeremiah asked.
She cleared her throat. “One of the officers who was helping me spooked me a bit. He kept saying the oddest little things, weird, chilling comments. I started to think that maybe he knew Mason in some way. I even wondered if he’s how Mason found me.”
“Which officer?”
“I don’t know his name, but it spooked me. I told Liam. He got really strange about it, muttering about not trusting cops. He didn’t seem in his right mind, but he was so adamant...that’s why I didn’t want to say anything to Mark.”
Jeremiah just stared at her.
“I know it sounds weird, believe me, I get that, but I’m telling you the truth.”
“I believe you. I’m just not sure that Mark will.”
~
It was a new morning and Mark felt better. Traci had blessedly handled the children all night so that he could just sleep. At her insistence he’d worn a pair of earplugs and hadn’t heard a thing until she woke him in the morning because his alarm was going off.
He planned to swing by the hospital first to check in on Liam and, presumably, Rebecca. Then he was heading to Ruth’s house to check on her and Casey.
He pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked. He got out of the car and headed toward the front doors only to stop in his tracks.
Jeremiah was standing there, arms folded across his chest. He saw Mark and dropped his arms as he walked toward him.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Mark asked.
Jeremiah looked like he’d been up all night. “Just thought I’d save you the trip inside,” he said.
“Why?” Mark asked suspiciously.
“Because it’s going to be a busy day. The name of the man who’s likely stalking Rebecca is Mason Dunwoody, former special forces.”
“Uh huh,” Mark said, reaching into his pocket for his pen and notebook to write it down. “And why, pray tell, could she not have divulged that last night?”
“She’s a bit paranoid. She thinks one of the officers who was at her shop yesterday kept acting odd, saying strange things until she wondered if he knew Mason.”
“Which one?”
“She doesn’t know his name and she’s not much help with a description either. She was just too freaked out.”
“Okay, but he wasn’t the one in the hospital room last night.”
“That’s where things get weirder.”
“Oh, great, I always love it when that happens,” Mark said sarcastically.
“She told Liam and he started muttering about not trusting cops. She said he was acting oddly and that it was him who insisted they not involve the police.”
“That makes no sense,” Mark said.
“It doesn’t make sense to her either.”
“How about to you?”
Jeremiah shrugged. “I’ve been wondering just how bad his head injury is.”
“I’m not sure I can deal with this right now,” Mark admitted.
“I know, which is why I’m trying to help.”
Mark sighed. “You got anything else for me?”
“Rebecca can’t make sense of the coded pages. She’s hoping when he’s a bit more luci
d that Liam can make something of them.”
“Alright. Well, I’ll get people looking for Mason Dunwoody. Keep me informed of any changes.”
“I’m actually heading home to grab a shower and then go to work. I’ll be swinging by here for lunch, though, and again after work.”
“Good to know. Okay, I’ll keep you informed about any changes. How’s that?” Mark asked.
“Works for me.”
~
Cindy was at her desk in the morning five minutes before she had to be. Even though she didn’t have a time card to punch, at least not yet, the memo she’d had to send out the day before had made her a bit paranoid.
Leo staggered in looking a bit worse for wear and gave her a nod. He fell into his chair rather ingloriously.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He yawned so hard it shook his entire body. “Bachelor party last night.”
“Yours or a friend’s?”
He grimaced. “Heavens, not mine. It was for ...more of an acquaintance really.”
“On a Tuesday night? Isn’t that a bit odd?”
“He’s a bit odd,” she heard him mutter. He shook himself. “Nah, it was something about the only day the best man could make it work. To be honest, I don’t think I even remember half the night.”
Cindy didn’t say anything even though she wondered how drunk he must have been. She couldn’t help but wonder what Jeremiah’s bachelor party was going to be like. She was pretty sure that heavy drinking would not be a feature of the evening. Jeremiah didn’t drink. With his background that was definitely for the best.
She then thought about her bachelorette party. She had been responsible for Geanie’s which had gotten hijacked by the crazed killer that was trying to ruin Geanie and Joseph’s wedding. The party had ended up being even tamer than Cindy had imagined. Just as well given all that was going on that week.
She couldn’t help but wonder if Geanie was going to take the opportunity to go over the top for hers. Her friend had a history of loving big, theatrical things.
She sighed. There was plenty of time for worrying about that sort of thing later. After all, they had an entire twenty months before they were getting married. There were days where that didn’t feel like enough time to really plan and other days where that seemed like the most interminable wait in the world.
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