The hair at the back of Riley’s neck stood on end.
“Now, for her involvement in Heartland Diamonds. There doesn’t appear to be any evidence she was involved in their downfall. When I checked with the US Attorney General’s office, they said that the chairman of the board at Feranand Diamonds tipped them off. They said that Feranand hired a private investigator to check them out and then turned them in. Most of the information about Heartland Diamonds has been made public.”
“I wonder...” Riley said, deep in thought.
“What do you wonder?”
“I wonder if Feranand is the person Marissa is selling her gems to. She had to leave and go out of town to meet someone to sell her gems and gold. She was very secretive about it and wouldn’t say who this person was. She said he wanted to stay anonymous, and that she trusted him.”
“Do you want me to check into this?”
“Yeah, why don’t you? See if there’s a link between her and Feranand. My guess is that you may not find a thing. A man of his stature would cover his tracks real good. If Marissa did know about the smuggling and she reported it to Feranand, we have to think, what did Feranand have to gain by turning him in? Heartland Diamonds was taking up twelve percent of the market. Feranand’s must have at least double that. It would help his company if he could put the squash to Heartland Diamonds.” Riley stared off into space, deep in thought. “My gut tells me that Marissa, if she was involved in any way, it would have been relaying innocently or unsuspectingly a little piece of tidbit that Feranand grabbed on to and took off with.”
“Can I ask you something, Riley?”
“Yeah, sure.” Riley snapped his attention back to Len.
“Are you in love with this girl?”
Riley sat in stunned silence for a few minutes. He didn’t know how to answer Len. Because until now, he hadn’t thought about that. Did he love her? “Well, I don’t know, really,” Riley confessed.
“Well, if she’s innocent, she’s innocent, but don’t let your feelings cloud your judgment and get you thinking she’s innocent when she may not be.”
“I won’t.” Riley’s jaw tightened.
“I hope for your sake she’s innocent, but sometimes things are not what they seem to be. You understand what I mean?”
“Yeah, it’s time for me to have a sit-down talk with her.” His expression sobered
Riley left the restaurant. How am I going to approach her? He understood now why she was so resistant. The abuse was something he already suspected. Len only confirmed it for him, and it was more brutal than he imagined. But this thing with Feranand...if she was in on it, she could be in a very dangerous situation, and one that the ex-husband could come back after her for if he were to find out about it.
How could Riley protect her from these dangers if she didn’t talk to him? How could he get her to talk? He’d spent this whole summer trying to build up her trust in him. Did he love her? Now that he was faced with that thought, he knew that he did. He also knew that if he told her, she’d run away as fast and as far as she could.
But he couldn’t think of a lovelier person to spend his life with and to raise children together. He knew she would make an excellent mother. Now he had to convince her of it. The idea of having Marissa, married and living with him, with his children and toys under his feet, in his log home, gave him a sense of peace and contentment.
Chapter 20
Marissa came home from the hospital that night and was sitting at her dining room table eating dinner when there was a knock at her door. She opened the door and stood dead in her tracks.
“What do you want?” she asked icily. Panic raced through her veins.
“Please don’t slam the door in my face. I came to talk to you. Please, give me a chance to talk to you and beg for your forgiveness,” Mark said.
“I can’t forgive you for what you’ve done to me.” Her heart pounded.
“Can I come in discuss this with you?”
Everything in Marissa screamed no. Fear and anger knotted inside her, and she was shaking in her shoes at the sight of him. She refused to let him enter her house, so she stepped outside on the porch.
“Say what you came to tell me and then leave.” Her lips drew back in a snarl.
“Marissa, I’m so sorry for all the pain I caused you. I wanted you to know that I’ve been sober, and I don’t intend to drink again. I want to prove myself to you and beg for your forgiveness, and I hope you might consider letting me back into your life again.”
Marissa could tell he was faking it as he plastered on a smile and spread his hands. She noticed that he had a haggard appearance and his voice sounded odd. “That will never happen, Mark. No matter how much you’ve changed. I will not take you back.”
“Please, Marissa, just give me a chance.” He extended his hand toward her. She jerked away from him before he could touch her.
“I’m glad that you stopped drinking, and I’m glad that you’ve sobered up and changed your life, but your life with me is over, done with. There will be no Mark and Marissa. Please, just go away and don’t come back.”
“Marissa, there’s more. My father, he’s ill. He’s not expected to make it. I can’t handle his death alone. Please, stand with me on this. He said the one thing that I did right was marrying you. He really loves you. He would do anything to see the two of us back together again one last time. Would you do this for a dying man?”
Marissa’s thoughts went into a tailspin as she reflected on this for a few minutes. “I...I need to think about that, Mark.”
“Okay, let’s go out for a nice dinner someplace and just talk about old times and be together for a while, as you try to make up your mind.”
Everything in her heart screamed at her to say no, but her head was saying what harm could it do? She listened to her heart. “No. I need to be alone to think about what you’ve said.”
Mark dropped his gaze downward to the floor. “I understand. I’ll be here for a few days. Can I stop by on Sunday and visit with you?”
“I guess that’s okay.” Marissa rubbed her forehead.
As Mark turned and walked down the porch steps, he said, “I really loved you, Marissa. I hope we can work this out.”
Something in the way he said that pricked her senses. She couldn’t figure it out quite yet.
Everything about Mark scared her. She wasn’t going to be able to do this with him, and she wasn’t sure if he was being entirely truthful. She wished she knew for sure if he was sober or not, and if his father was dying.
She thought about Riley and how different he was from Mark. She knew she was safe with Riley. He made her feel loved and cared for. She could tease him and play around with him, be serious with him, talk to him, all the things she couldn’t do with Mark.
She wondered if Riley could discreetly check out Mark’s claims that he was sober and that his father was dying. To ask him to do this meant that she had to be honest with him about a few things.
She called Riley on his cellphone, but it went into voicemail. She called the sheriff office and asked to speak to him. She was put on hold for a few minutes before he came on the line.
“Hello, Marissa, what’s up?”
“Hi, Riley. I was wondering if you’d be able to stop by for a few minutes tonight on your way home. I…I have something to ask you,” Marissa said haltingly.
“Yeah, I can stop by. I’ll be heading home in about fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, thanks.” Marissa let out a deep sigh as she snapped her cellphone shut.
Twenty minutes later, she heard a knock at her door and she went to answer it. “Hi, Riley.” She opened the door for him to enter.
“Hey, Marissa. What’s this all about?” Riley asked as he walked over and sat in the chair at her dining room table.
She sat next to him and started talking fast. Too fast. “Uh…I had a visitor today, and I don’t know if I can trust this person or not. I was wondering if you could discreetly check ou
t his story and tell me if any of it’s true, or not true.”
“Well…that depends. Who’s the person?”
“My ex-husband.”
“Your ex-husband?” He stared at her, a surprised expression on his face.
“Yeah. Riley, my ex-husband, whenever he drank, he got mean and violent. He…he used to beat up on me when he was drunk. Now he’s in town, and he says he’s sober and no longer drinks, and he said that his father is dying and wants to see us together one last time before he dies. Is there any way you can check his story and find out if he is sober, and if my ex-father-in-law is dying? I don’t want Mark to know I’m checking on him. I don’t feel I can trust him.”
“You should always go with what your gut tells you. But yes, I can check him out. In the meantime, I suggest you not have any contact with him until after I find any information out about him.”
“He wants to stop by and talk with me on Sunday.”
“Hmm, are you busy on Sunday? We could go to the car show.”
“I…You know, that’s a great idea.”
Riley smiled at her, and she felt bedazzled by his beautiful white teeth.
“Thank you for helping me with this, Riley.”
“There’s something else you and I need to talk about, but we’ll table it until after we get the situation with your ex-husband out of the way.”
“Okay.” She looked at him, confused. “You can talk with me now it if you’d like. I’d like to get my mind off my ex-husband.”
Riley looked at her for a few minutes. “What is your relationship with Feranand?”
“Feranand? How did you find out about that?” Marissa asked, startled.
“Never mind about that at the moment. Marissa, this could get dangerous for you. Were you acting as a mole for Feranand Diamonds?”
“No, I wasn’t. Mr. Feranand only bought gems and gold from me.”
“How did he get information that he was able to tip off the US Attorney General’s office?”
“Um… Some time ago, I mentioned to him that there were rumors going around the company that Mark and his father were smuggling diamonds, but I had no proof of it, nor did I know it as fact. He had them investigated.” She bit at her nails.
“And he found something and took it to the US Attorney General,” Riley concluded.
“Yes, but he said that he would never reveal his source and it would never fall on me as the person that provided that information.”
Riley drew in a long breath. “I see. Do you think your ex-husband is on to this?”
“What? That I gave Mr. Feranand that little bit of information?” She pressed a hand to her throat, icy fear twisted around her heart.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think he knew that Mr. Feranand and I had any contact.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“As sure as I can be, yes.”
Riley blew out his cheeks. “Marissa, this is big stuff.”
“But I’m not a part of any of it. All I did was have a discussion with Mr. Feranand, just as I’m doing with you now, and I said I heard they may be dealing in smuggling diamonds.”
“Mr. Feranand was the person you went to see a few weeks ago about the sale of your sapphires and the gold?”
“Yes,” Marissa finally admitted.
“Why all the secrecy?”
“He keeps it a secret because he’s well-known. He has the biggest share of the diamond market, next to De Beers, and he doesn’t want the attention he’d get if anyone knew he was investing in sapphires and gold. I’m not his only contact, but the United States has the best quality when it comes to those gems.”
“I’m afraid your ex may have found out,” Riley said grimly. “Okay, tomorrow I’ll go into the office and investigate. Maybe you should hang out with Heidi or Barb for the day so you’re not home if Mark decides to stop by. Then tomorrow evening, I’ll fix us dinner and we’ll do something—perhaps we can watch a movie at my house. Then Sunday, we’ll go to the car show for the day. How does that sound?”
“That sounds fine, Riley. I appreciate you helping me with this.”
“Even if what he says checks out, I still don’t think you should hook up with him again.”
“I don’t want to,” Marissa admitted. “But his father had always been kind to me.”
“Not kind enough to keep his son from abusing you.”
Marissa nodded sadly. “That’s true.”
* * * *
Marissa got up early Saturday morning and called Heidi. “Hey Heidi, have you got any plans for the day?”
“I’m spending the day planting flowers, why?”
“I need to be away from my house today. Would you care for some company?”
“Sure, come on over. You can help me plant.”
“Okay, be there in a few.” Marissa arrived at ten in the morning, and Heidi was already outside digging holes in the yard near her house to plant the flowers.
“What have you got here, Heidi?” Marissa asked.
“Oh, I got more annuals and perennials to plant. With you helping, it relieved Dan from having to help me and he’s greatly thankful for that,” Heidi said with a smile.
“Where do you want me to start?” Marissa looked around the yard.
“I got the perennials planted over there, so if you could plant these along as a border, that would be great.”
Marissa grabbed a shovel and dug holes to plant the marigolds along the edge of the garden as a border. After they finished with that, they continued to work on planting flowers along the fence line.
“I’m late getting these planted this year. I ran out of time and money,” Heidi commented.
“I understand how that is,” Marissa said.
“Let’s take a break and have lunch,” Heidi suggested.
“Okay.”
They went into the house, and Heidi made sandwiches for all of them. After the kids got their sandwiches, they went off to play and Heidi and Marissa sat at the table to eat.
“So, tell me, why did you need to be away from the house today?”
“My ex-husband came visiting last night.” Marissa tugged at her earlobe.
“Uh-oh. What did he want?”
“He claims he’s been sober, and he’s sorry for all he did to me, and his father is dying and wants to see us together one last time before he dies.”
“Do you believe that?” Heidi asked. She leaned back in the chair with her eyebrows raised.
“I don’t know what to believe. I have Riley checking into it. He suggested that I stay away from my house this weekend in case my ex decides he wants to visit with me again. I’ll be spending the evening with Riley, and we’ll be going to the car show on Sunday.”
Heidi smiled. “Mmm-hmm. You’re in love with the guy, aren’t you?”
“What? Me in love with Riley? I don’t believe in being in love.”
“Okay, so you love the guy.”
“I admit that I have feelings for him. I’m not sure it’s love.”
“Oh, come on, why don’t you admit it and get it out of your system? Once you admit to it, you’ll feel much better.”
“Really, Heidi. I don’t know what love is. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. I mean, I like being with him. I like that he’s protective, yet gentle and kind. When I came back here, I was determined to stay by myself and not be involved with anyone ever again. He broke down all my defensive walls and it left me feeling vulnerable again. I’m afraid to trust these feelings.” Marissa hugged herself.
“As your friend, I think you should, and I think you’ll be fine. I’ve known Riley as long as you have, and I may even know him better than you, since you were gone for years. I’ve never heard of him ever being confrontational or abusive. It’s just not his nature to be that way. But you have to come to that conclusion yourself. You have to admit your feelings for him, and your love for him, before you can go on to the next level in your relationship.” Heidi i
nclined her head toward Marissa.
“What’s the next level?”
Heidi shrugged. “I guess it would be some kind of a commitment.”
“I vowed that I would never get married again.”
“I think you will. Riley will want that, and he will want to raise children, and he’ll want to do it with you.”
“I admit, when we went down the river that day together in the inner tubes and Stephanie asked if she could ride in Riley’s lap, I thought it was so beautiful, seeing how he handled her and how close they appeared to be together. It made me think that he’d be just as gentle and loving with our children, and it made me wish we did have children.”
“How are you going to have children if you don’t marry him?” Heidi sat forward in her chair and shoved her hands into her blue jean pockets.
“I…I… Well, for starters, he has never admitted to loving me, and he has never once brought up the subject of marriage. So I don’t want to jump the gun here.”
“I’m sure he’s been thinking about it, Marissa. He has love in his eyes when he sees you. That much I know. It’s just a matter of time, and he’s taking his time with you.”
“You could be right. One night we did get to my bedroom and started to make love, but I pulled away and said I needed time, and he said he’d give me all the time I needed.”
“Why did you pull away?”
“Um, he touched my scar, and I had a flashback of Mark and how it got there. I didn’t want him to see it, I didn’t want him to be repulse by it, or to pity me.”
“The scar is not going to turn Riley off. He’s not that way.”
“It’s pretty ugly-looking. I certainly can’t wear a bathing suit or any kind of halter top or short top, that’s for sure.” Marissa’s shoulders sagged.
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