The Year of Luminous Love

by Lurlene McDaniel

  For the first time in her life, Ciana didn’t want to be a Beauchamp, bound by rules of duty and honor. She wanted to be wild and carefree. She wanted to have what she wanted and damn the consequences. But she couldn’t and wouldn’t.

  She forced her exhausted thoughts onto Eden. A text message earlier had told her about the death of a girl they both knew from high school—Meghan Oden. Was Eden afraid of dying too? Tony’s possessive form of “love” was insane. Would Tony be the one to destroy Eden while no one did anything to help her? How could Ciana live with that on her conscience?

  When the long night ended, she went to the stables, saddled Firecracker, and rode the fields of the Beauchamp property. In the breaking light, a low mist clung to the dirt. In every direction the land looked desolate. There was a time when crops had been plentiful and a fall harvest awaited machinery and workers. Not now. Between Olivia’s illnesses and confinement to an assisted living center, Alice Faye’s alcoholic indifference, and Ciana’s youth, the fields of thriving crops had vanished. What a sad commentary on the Beauchamps’ once-grand homestead.

  Ciana reined in her horse and watched the sun rise over the haze. The sky glowed with yellow and blue streaks—autumn was knocking at the door. By mid-October, the whole countryside would be ablaze with color. Then winter would come and the land would turn frosty, and after that spring and summer. A farmer chased the seasons, a slave to sun and rainfall, a victim of hail and wind. Attending college meant that planting season for her would supply only enough alfalfa to feed her two horses. Without time and money, most of the land would remain dormant. Once, she’d had direction, a purpose, commitment to the certainty of her life. Now her heart felt like an empty cup. If only she’d never met Jon Mercer. He had awakened things inside her she didn’t know were there, never suspected she wanted.

  She watched the sun climb higher, watched it melt away the morning shadows. She had things to do back at the barn. She should take Sonata out for a ride too. She needed to check on Arie and see how the little boy she’d sat with throughout the night before was doing. She’d already decided she would only give the barest mention of going to see Jon after Pickens’s call. I went because you couldn’t, was what she’d say. She should think about packing up for college. In truth, she didn’t want to go, but she didn’t want to stay either. A conundrum.

  Firecracker stepped sideways, restless and hungry. Ciana lifted her face to the sun. It shone down on everything. Everything. Even on the far side of the world. And that was when a half-remembered conversation returned to her. She and Arie standing on a hot July sidewalk staring at a poster of Italy. And in the same instant, she thought of her college fund. Hers alone. She, Ciana Beauchamp, had the power; she had the means to change her life and the lives of her friends. Simple. Why had she not thought of it before now, when she was punch-drunk with fatigue?

  With the plan still taking shape in her head, she jabbed Firecracker in the flanks, shouted, “Yah!” and gave her full rein. At a gallop, the horse carried her across the fields toward the barn. Looking up, she shouted, “Thank you, Grandmother!” Olivia Beauchamp had given her the perfect answer from beyond the grave.

  “Italy? You want us to go with you to Italy?” Eden sat across the restaurant table staring at Ciana, wide-eyed. “Are you kidding?”

  “Is this the face of someone who is kidding?”

  Eden’s heart lurched into jackhammer speed. This was it. This was her way of escaping Tony, and Ciana was offering it on a silver platter. “And you’re paying for it? You’ve got the money and you’d use it for us?”

  “Olivia left me some money and this is the way I want to spend it—the three of us having a good time. A big send-off into the rest of our lives.” She saw no reason to tell them anything more. “Listen, I’ve already put a deposit on a small private villa outside Cortona in Tuscany. If we don’t go, I’ll lose my money. You two don’t want that to happen, do you?” She opened a file folder she’d brought with her. “It’s ours for three months—September through November. Here are photos of the place from the Web.” She spread out color prints of a lovely two-story stucco house boasting three bedrooms, each with a private bath, a stone courtyard, and a modern kitchen. “And it’s only a ten-minute ride into Cortona, one of the oldest walled cities in Italy. Thought you’d like that part, Arie. I’ve already talked to the travel agent on Main Street, and she says all she needs is a firm set of dates and then she’ll book our flight to Rome. She’ll get us a rental car and we’ll drive to the villa from the airport. I say we get out of here as quick as possible.” She glanced between the faces of her stunned friends.

  “Three months?” Eden asked. She imagined that Ciana’s inheritance was more than “a little money.”

  “Sure. Why go for less? We’ll be home by December first. In time for Christmas. And think of the presents we can buy.”

  Eden sidled a sideways look at Arie, who had yet to react. Eden would have expected an explosion of whoops from the girl who’d always wanted to visit European art museums. Instead Arie sat in silence. Frankly Eden was glad Arie wasn’t jumping up and down. It would have brought unwanted attention from the goon near the door Tony had sent to accompany her to the lunch with her friends.

  “Arie? What do you think? You haven’t said a word.” Ciana wanted this trip for all of them. “Are you in?”

  Arie blinked, numb from Ciana’s announcement. Her dream of a lifetime lay at her feet. She’d come today to tell them about her relapse—first telling her friends, then her family—a much more difficult task. She cleared her throat. “What about college? Are you giving up Vanderbilt?”

  Ciana shrugged. “Plenty of time for college. What’s wrong with starting in the January term? Would that be so terrible? I thought you’d jump all over going to Italy.”

  “Italy’s a lifelong dream, and you know it. I’m just thinking about what Mom and Dad might say,” Arie said. Her brain was traveling a mile a minute, delving into options and strategies. “What’s your mother saying about you changing the game plan?”

  Ciana had been surprised by Alice Faye’s reaction. Ciana told her about the trip, ready for a fight if she objected. But her mother had simply looked her in the eye and said, “Go and have a good time. I’m sure Bellmeade will still be standing when you return.” She’d added, “You’re lucky to be able to have such freedom and the money to make it happen. It was something I never had.”

  Now Ciana told Arie, “Mom’s okay with it. She says she’ll hire help to bring in the alfalfa and get it bundled and stored. What do you say? Want to come with me?”

  “I’m in,” Eden said too eagerly.

  “Good. Don’t we all have passports?”

  Eden knew she’d have to steal hers from Tony’s locked desk drawer and pack stealthily, maybe a piece at a time, but she would do it, positive that Ciana would help her. They’d plan her escape together and confess everything to Arie when they were safely over the Atlantic.

  “Arie? What do you say?”

  Arie weighed her options. Go to Italy or go back into treatment for a disease that kept dashing her hopes. Her horse was broken to saddle. Jon Mercer would be leaving. She had only to keep her silence about her relapse. Dr. Austin would honor it, too, what with the Hippocratic oath and patient confidentiality laws. He might even be able to help her find medical care in Italy, not for treatment but for pain management if or when she needed it. And who knew—maybe the spots would remain small and she could begin treatments once she returned. December wasn’t such a long way off.

  “You can count me in,” she said, flashing a radiant smile.

  The girls bumped fists over the top of the table.

  Eden plotted her getaway carefully, deciding to buy new clothes for the trip rather than attempting to sneak any she owned out of Tony’s condo. Since one of Tony’s men always accompanied her, she took Ciana with her on shopping expeditions to shield her purpose. Men recognized that women shopped together, so it would raise no questi
ons when the two of them took off to buy “a new college wardrobe for Ciana.” When the girls went into Nashville, Tony’s man waited outside of smaller boutiques. The dressing rooms were private, so Eden and Ciana gathered armloads of clothing and in the privacy of the room chose what Eden wanted. She paid using the credit card Tony had given her, then shifted the bags to Ciana, who took the purchases to Bellmeade. Once there, Ciana packed Eden’s new items in a new suitcase. Within ten days, she was completely outfitted for Italy. Eden knew she’d be long gone by the time the credit bill arrived. Sticking it to Tony in that way pleased her.

  “What have you told your mother?” Ciana asked

  They were in Eden’s car with the goon following in another. “I told her the truth, that we were going to Italy. And I asked her to stick around until after we left.”

  “She’s been around all summer,” Ciana noted.

  “Yeah, and taking her meds, but that’s how she is. I’ll begin thinking everything’s going swell and then boom! She runs off. I need her to keep up the routine until we leave.”

  “I hope she does.”

  “She said she would.”

  “What about your passport?”

  “Have to wait until the last minute to snag it.” Stealing it had Eden on edge. She would have to break the lock on the desk, and if Tony saw it, he’d know she was up to something.

  “We’re leaving this Friday. How will you get away?”

  “Arie’s farewell party. I’m going to go and somehow lose my bodyguard. Just have my suitcase with you.”

  Ciana reached across the seat and squeezed Eden’s shoulder. “Arie’s hundred-plus relatives will be a good smoke screen. We’ll get you away.”

  Eden smiled thinly. “Who knew her family would figure into our escape? Must be nice to have a huge family.”

  “She called me all frustrated,” Ciana said with a smile. “She tells me, ‘You’d think I was going to the moon by the fuss they’re making.’ I told her they only want her to be happy. Arie will be the first to go out of the country since her relatives came over from Sweden.”

  “Well, for the record, you’re making both of us happy.” Eden made a left turn, checked her rearview mirror, and watched the dark SUV follow. She shook her head in disgust, wishing he’d have a wreck. “And speaking of happy,” she said, “how’s she feeling about leaving Jon behind?”

  “She told me that he’s returning to Texas in October anyway, so I’m hoping the offer of going to Italy will take out the sting of telling him goodbye.” For both of us, Ciana thought.

  “Too bad. I know she’s crazy about him. I was hoping he’d stick around for her sake.”

  Ciana drummed her fingers on the dashboard to the beat of a song, trying to distract herself from thoughts of Jon.

  Eden continued. “I guess he’ll have to find another horse.”

  “She’s letting him use Caramel while she’s gone. She really felt bad about not being available when he lost Bonanza.” Ciana had listened to Arie cry over the phone when she learned she’d not been there for him, and she’d squirmed uncomfortably while Arie thanked Ciana profusely for consoling him in her place. On the upside, the little boy she’d sat with all night at the hospital had rallied and gone home.

  “That’s Arie, kindhearted to the bone,” Eden said, turning onto Bellmeade’s tree-lined driveway. The muscleman stopped outside the fence and waited on the shoulder of the road.

  At the crest of the drive, Ciana exited the car, opened the back door, and scooped out packages. She leaned through the window and said, “See you on Friday.”

  “Count on it.”

  “Please be careful, girlfriend.”

  For Eden, the most difficult part was behaving as if nothing were out of the ordinary in day-to-day life with Tony. On Thursday before the party, she broke into the desk drawer, found the passport, and stuffed it under the desk blotter.

  “What are you doing?” Tony’s voice from behind her frightened a year’s growth out of her.

  She straightened and turned with a smile. “Just straightening up the piles.”

  “Stay away from my desk.”

  She draped her arms around his neck. “Now don’t get crabby. Not when you’re leaving me tomorrow afternoon.” Earlier he had told her that he had an important meeting lined up in Memphis and wouldn’t be home until very late Friday night. Her heart leaped, but she kept her cool. “I was going to ask you if I could go over to Arie’s Friday. It’s her birthday,” Eden lied, “and her family’s throwing a barbeque bash for her in the afternoon. I’ll be home before dark. In fact, I’ll beat you here.” She grew serious. “She’s my friend, Tony. I really want to go.”

  Tony considered her request while she simmered inside over how degrading it felt to ask for his permission to go out. “I guess I could send Tim-o with you.”

  “Please don’t let Arie’s family see him skulking around after me. They’d never understand and I can’t explain he’s just protecting me.” That was the line Tony had fed her when she’d wanted free of surveillance. But she knew the goons weren’t protecting her—they were watching her, making sure she didn’t split. That was what Gwen had insisted was happening with Tony’s around-the-clock “guard.” “Wouldn’t he be better off protecting you?” Eden asked.

  Tony studied her face with his dark eyes. “I don’t want anything happening to you.”

  She smiled coyly, even though she felt revulsion. “At Arie’s party? No way. I’ll be surrounded by scores of her relatives.”

  “I’d like to have Tim-o with me,” he mused thoughtfully. “Maybe just this once.”

  Her heart raced. She rose on tiptoes to gently kiss his mouth. “I’ll bring you a cupcake.”

  He cradled her face. “I love you, Eden. I wanted you since the first minute I laid eyes on you. I still want you.”

  Obsession isn’t love, she thought. Slowly she began to unbutton her blouse. He watched her fingers, following the slow process, desire rising in his eyes. She removed the garment and with a practiced toss, threw it atop Tony’s desk, making sure that the blouse draped over the lock of the drawer. She spun in a circle to further distract him, took a few steps backward, and, holding out her hand, whispered, “Prove it.”

  Ciana arrived at Arie’s in her mother’s borrowed Lincoln. The party was already in full swing. She thought it would be more comfortable riding to the Atlanta airport than in her rattletrap of a pickup truck. Alice Faye said she’d figure a way to get the car home later.

  Ciana parked the tank-sized car, and once in the crowded backyard, she searched for Arie’s brother, Eric, so that he could put Arie’s luggage into the car’s trunk already packed with hers and Eden’s gear. They were on a tight schedule. Their flight left Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at ten-thirty p.m., but they had to be checked in at least two hours before their international flight left. The drive took two hours, another forty minutes for parking and baggage check-in, and who knew how long to get through security? To be safe, she wanted to leave the party in less than an hour.

  Eden caught up with Ciana while she was searching for Eric. They hugged quickly. “You made it,” Ciana said.

  “Goon-free,” Eden said with satisfaction. “Tony won’t begin to miss me until he returns tonight. Last thing I’m doing before we get on the plane is tossing my cell phone in the trash. I’ll be free.”

  Arie joined them, bubbling over with excitement and dragging along her brother and his girlfriend, Abbie. Ciana handed over her keys to Eric, who had agreed to put his sister’s bags into the car.

  Once the couple left, Arie searched the crowd. “I’m looking for Jon. He said he’d come.”

  Ciana’s heart lurched. The last person she needed to see was Jon. The excitement of the past several days had eased the memory of him from her head and heart. Almost.

  “I see him,” Arie cried, dodging through a group of people.

  Ciana turned her back and asked Eden, “Want anything to eat or dri
nk?”

  “I’d throw it up. Too nervous to swallow. I’ll eat when that plane’s high in the air.”

  Ciana nodded. “Think I’ll get a hamburger.” She walked to the grills, which were set up in the far corner of the yard. After waiting briefly in line, she stopped at the condiments table beside washtubs filled with iced soft drinks and beer. She grabbed a soda and was deciding where to sit when a hand reached out and took her plate.

  “Let me help,” Jon Mercer said.

  Her knees went weak, but her back stiffened. “I can carry my own food.”

  He ignored her. “Why are you taking Arie to Italy?”

  His question confused her. “Because she wants to go, and always has.”

  “But why now?”

  Her voice stuck in her throat. Had his heart turned toward Arie? “The timing was good for all of us. What’s wrong with her going?”

  “And Beauchamp money gets you whatever you want,” he said acidly, without answering her question.

  Little did he know of the truth of the dwindling Beauchamp money. “I don’t think it’s any of your business,” she said, her temper rising. “Who are you to judge a gift I want to give to my best friends?”

  “ ’Scuse me.” Eric stepped between Ciana and Jon, fished for a beer in the tubs, and straightened, separating the two of them. “Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

  “You’re interrupting nothing. I was just going to find a place to sit and eat.” She couldn’t understand why Jon was acting oddly about the Italy trip.

  Jon glanced at Eric, handed back Ciana’s plate, tipped his head, and walked off.

  “What’s his beef?” Eric asked.

  “No idea.”

  Eric fidgeted, then finally asked, “This trip … it isn’t all about my sister, is it?”

  His question startled her. “Why are you asking?”

  “You’re nervous, twitching around like a cornered cat. Abbie noticed.”

  Ciana blew out a breath, hoping Eric would drop his grilling. When he refused to move, she said, “No. The trip’s for all of us.”