by Mayes, June
“Joe got the phone call while we were talking. His colleagues had found Frank unconscious in the trunk of his car suffering from a substantial head injury.” David continued giving Beth’s hand a squeeze. He had been worried, she thought. In that moment when that call came in, David had started to worry that something was going to happen to her. Beth felt warm inside. She squeezed David’s hand back and smiled into his eyes.
“We thought he had to be involved if not completely responsible for Brian’s death. Especially after you mentioned a man had put the box of paperwork under Brian’s bed,” Joseph said running a hand through his hair. They had been close to nabbing the right suspect but nearly not close enough. “It was just a matter of time for the three of us to put two and two together. The only time anyone had seen Frank outside of the office was when he was with Anne.”
“Of course,” Beth said sitting up straighter. “He was the one who drove Anne to the funeral. I remember thinking that he was happy to do anything Anne wanted.”
“Once we figured it out it was just a matter of getting into the house.” Scott said. “I just kept thinking there is a killer in there with my wife.” Scott looked haunted. Those brief seconds it took for them to run into the house must have felt like an eternity.
“They arrived just in time.” Joseph didn’t look greatly impressed “They weren’t going to wait for back-up. They just charged in there like enraged bulls.”
“I was first through the door.” David said ignoring the detective’s pointed comments. “I didn’t even think. There was Beth and this gun.” He paused and squeezed Beth’s hand more tightly. “I just reacted.” David had tackled Beth just as the gun went off. Scott following closely on his heals managed to position himself between his pregnant wife and Anne as Joseph grabbed her. It had been a scary moment.
Chapter 44
Digesting everything that had happened was exhausting. Beth just couldn’t get her head around it. She got up to fetch more tea for everyone needing a minute to herself. In the kitchen, staring out the window, Beth realise how close she had come to loosing her life. How close had she had come to loosing Vickie. How much she truly loved the men that had saved them.
*
David watched Beth head into the kitchen. He still felt a kick in the gut every time he thought about how close he had come to loosing her. If he had been a second slower, if they hadn’t figured out that Anne was the one. David stood up. He felt sick to his stomach even thinking about it. He didn’t want Beth to leave his sight.
His every instinct was to protect her and David didn’t know what to do about it. He loved her but he didn’t know if she felt the same about him. Was it too soon to ask? Too soon to push for some kind of commitment that would allow him to be a part of her life?
David walked into the kitchen and looked at Beth’s back. She was looking out the window lost in thought. He smiled. All he wanted was her and if he was right, she wanted him. Nothing else mattered.
*
Two arms came around her as she stood thinking in the kitchen. Beth leaned back letting the body behind her take some of her wait. She looked up at David. She had known it was him, known from the minute he walked into the kitchen that he was there.
“Thank you,” she said catching hold of one of David’s hands.
He pulled her more tightly against him “I told you I wasn’t letting you go. You can’t be trusted not to end up in some mess without me.”
“Me? What do you mean??” Beth asked teasingly as she turned in his arms. She reached up and stroked David’s face. She looked at the strong lines of his face, his dark hair and vivid blue eyes. He was everything she could have wished for in a man.
“Well the first time I set eyes on you, you were dripping naked in my bathroom,” David started with a smile.
“That wasn’t my fault.” Beth insisted in mock outrage. If anyone was listening this was probably better then a soap opera she thought smiling and hugging David to her.
“Then the next time I spoke to you, you had conferenced in your numerous friends. I seem to remember that conversation was all about why you didn’t kill your brother, why you threatened to kill him and how he would have deserved it because he was a … what was it? Oh yeah seedy,” David continued grinning at the woman in his arms.
“I was flustered.” Beth shrugged nonchalantly looking at her nails. “And he was seedy.”
“Then when I see you again, it’s at the funeral of the biggest swindler in the business. He, I might add, was lying dead in your living room. A living room filled with pretty much every thief and hoodwink around. And you with this lacy red and silk thing. I don’t think one of the men in that house had a coherent thought all day.”
“Stop,” Beth giggled trying to put her hand over David’s mouth. She loved the feel of him against her body. She let herself enjoy the rush it gave her to have him so close. She loved David.
“I didn’t know if I should run for cover, take you over my knee or move in!” he said looking disgruntled as he grinned down at her.
“So what have you decided to do?” Beth asked holding her breath.
“Oh move in definitely… haven’t you noticed?” he asked raising a surprised eyebrow at her.
“Well, yes I noticed that you hadn’t left. I thought that it might be because you were looking for your money,” Beth decided to be upfront. It was the one fear she had with David, the only one. Was David staying with her for her or for the money?
“What money?” David asked looking perplexed. He tried to get his scrambled thought back into a semblance of order to concentrate on what Beth was saying. With her so close he had a hard time.
“The money Brian owed you,” Beth explained breathlessly. She hadn’t wanted to think about it too much but she had been thinking about it since she had seen David’s name on that list of people swindled. It was the whole reason that she had seen David again. He had been looking for Brian because Brian had owed him money.
David knocked his forehead against hers. “Honey I have more money then I know what to do with. I stayed to keep an eye on you. And as for moving in… if there were any room in your closets I would have unpacked that suitcase half a day after I arrived.”
Beth took a deep breath and looked at David. She cupped his face.
“I love you,” she whispered to him. David pulled her tight against him and kissed her deeply.
When they finally pulled apart, he smiled and let his eyes rove around her face
“I feel like I’ve waited forever to hear you say that,” he said.
Beth laughed and shifted against him. He groaned and grabbing her hips.
“I loved you from the minute you plastered that naked body against me in the hotel bathroom. Spend the rest of your life with me,” he murmured unable to stop himself. He wanted to be with her. It was as simple as that.
“Yes.” Beth kissed him as he leaned closer. “I think it will take a lifetime to get my fill of you.”
Epilogue
Five weeks later, it was a sunny and brisk November day. Beth was in the study doubled over in laughter. She couldn’t get her breath with the tightly clinched dress and the hysterics going on in front of her. Stationed in front of Beth were three disgruntled friends and a frustrated neurotic wedding planner. Charlotte, Bee and Karin were standing in elegant royal blue silk designer suits with pencil skirts and high heels with tiny pink bows sewn on. Under their suit jackets they were wearing nothing but bright silk fuchsia bras.
“Why not?” Charlotte asked stamping her foot with her hands on her hips.
“You can’t seriously walk her up the aisle with your breasts hanging out,” the wedding planner wailed practically pulling her tightly upswept hair out. Beside her the make-up girl was quietly laughing as she tried to get Beth to sit upright long enough to put on the finishing touches.
“But they sell lingerie, it makes sense to show off some of their pieces,” Karin tried to explain while the wedding organiser frantica
lly attempted to pull Charlotte’s jacket closed. Given that the jacket was slightly smaller then it should have been and buttoned with only one button at the front, it proved an impossible task. The wedding planner looked at the other two and back at Beth who was still having a hard time stopping the laughter.
“What do you think Beth?” Bee, ever the pacifier, asked with a grin. Beth had to admit once she had had a chance to catch her breath that the three of them looked striking. She turned to look at her sister. Vickie had tucked herself into one of the over stuffed chairs by the fireplace. In her fuchsia suit, the royal blue bra she was wearing would be equally remarkable. At the moment of course it was tucked to the side as she fed her veraciously hungry daughter before the ceremony. Said daughter was wearing a matching fuchsia dress with royal blue shoes and bow in her hair. Beth turned and looked back at her dear friends.
“I like it,” Beth decided. “It really is appropriate,” she said with a grin at her friends. Gently she patted the hand of the wedding planner who was leaning against the table. The woman looked like she was about to expire on the spot. Beth laughed and stood up. This was going to be a wedding the neighbourhood would never forget.
Beth looked in the mirror positioned by her desk. Her dress was simple and elegant and perfect she decided. They had chosen an ivory heavy brocade silk material patterned with a stylish motif that caught the light just so. The dress was a form of wrap and the design was simplicity itself. The cut allowed the skirt to fall in a wide A line cut to the floor, her bodice was strategically tied allowing the intricate multi facetted beading of her bra to add a touch of colour. With her hair falling in waves down her back the veil helped to set off her creamy skin, vibrant blue eyes and auburn hair. She looked perfect. With a touch of a smile at her friends and a nod, Beth was ushered into the hallway.
Waiting for them were the groomsmen who were to escort the exquisitely dressed bridal party. Joseph Serrate stood glowing with health as he offered his arm to Karin. David had asked him to be a groomsman because he, in David’s mind, was credited with starting the whole escapade. Without Joseph and Brian, they might never have met the first or second time.
Karin was more than pleased to have Joseph there and he looked remarkably more then just pleased to see Karin. In his morning suit he even looked like a normal everyday kind of guy.
Thomas, David’s best man, wound up escorting Charlotte and couldn’t take his eyes off her. Having met her once before it seemed only to have struck him in that moment just how alluring she was. The fuchsia bra alone seemed to mesmerise him. Beth wondered if he was going to be able to string two words together when the time came for the best man’s speech. She tried to stifle a giggle and leaned down to smell her bouquet to distract herself.
Bee and her husband, having arrived back from honeymoon the day before, stood to the side, fairly glowing with happiness. They looked to the world like a couple who had had their every wish fulfilled. Beth didn’t doubt it for a minute.
As Beth walked outside she couldn’t help feel that this was the start to a wonderful future. The bridesmaids walked through the garden with their escorts and Vickie followed with Mary in her arms. Together they walked down the garden to the sound of gentle music and the occasional chirp of the resident birds who had not yet flown to warmer climates. As the bridal party arrived, everyone stood and turning watched as Beth, escorted by Scott, walked down the garden path. She smiled, glowing with happiness.
At the end of the path standing under the autumn leaves of the trees was David. The garden around them was filled with the season’s flowering plants and in every corner there was a riot of colour. Packed amid the flowers and outdoor gas heaters were friends, neighbours, ex-team mates, colleagues and family. They had gathered to celebrate two very special people finally tie the knot.
No one there missed Brian.
***
