by Amie Nichols
“Ugggg, you’re killing me here!” I grab his neck and pull him to my lips again kissing him with intensity. I don’t want to wait any longer. “I want you now and I’m not going to take no for an answer.” I pull off my shirt so I’m standing there in my lacy bra. I hear a low growl come from his throat as he takes in the sight of me. He grabs my face again, his kiss more intense than before, and I feel his erection push against my stomach as he brings me in closer. I fumble to try to get his shirt off, when he finally helps and slips it off over his head.
My hands run down his chest and I lightly run my fingertips over his abdomen. I feel him tense under my touch and he trembles a little. He grabs my behind lifting me up, and slowly carries me over to the couch kissing me all the way. He lays me down on the couch gently then lays on top of me, his elbows resting on either side of my head. My core tightens and I feel a pull between my legs that is consuming me with need for Luke. He leans up looking me in the eyes, brushing some loose hair from my face.
“Are you sure about this?” He whispers softly.
“I’ve never wanted anything more in my life,” I tell him my desire growing.
“Do you know how beautiful you are, Lilly? Your skin is so soft." His lips brush over the top of my breast. My body feels like it might burst into flames, every touch feels like fire. I moan then start to kiss him again, wrapping my hands in his hair. I feel his fingers move down and over my navel to the buttons of my jean shorts. With one hand he pops the button and unzips the fly. His erection is so hard I feel like he is going to burst right out of his jeans.
“Lilly?” I hear the shouts from the hallway. We jump to our feet hurriedly to get dressed. Luke looks at me as he is pulling on his shirt to see if I am dressed and hollers back “We’re in the study, Dad!” I run around and sit at the desk trying to look nonchalant. Luke gives me a wink and starts to study the safe again trying to look natural.
Jeffrey walks in, followed by Simon, and gives us a sideways glance. “What are you two up to in here?”
“Lilly found a safe,” Luke nods to the wall. He’s pulling his shirt down, while keeping his back to them, trying to hide his excitement. It still is not totally gone.
“Do you know the combination?” Jeffrey asks looking at me. I give him the same don’t-be-stupid look I had given Luke.
“No, I don’t know the combo! Jeez, people,” I snap, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
“Are you all right, Lilly? You look really flushed,” he says with concern in his voice and looks back at his son. Luke darts his eyes back to the safe, but I can see him trying not to laugh. “What’s going on, did I miss something?” He looks back at me.
“I’m fine, just excited to find out what is in the safe,” I say looking as serious as I can, trying not to think of what was about to happen, and how I can’t wait for us to be alone again. “We called a locksmith.” I look down at some papers on the desk.
“Did you need something, Dad?”
“I saw Emma pulling up the drive before I came in,” Jeffrey says looking back at his son. I can’t help but wonder if the whole reason for him coming in here was to check up on us.
“Well we had better get back to work,” Jeffrey states and they walk out never telling us what they came in for.
After Jeffrey is out the door, Luke steps to me swinging the office chair around, and places his hands on the arm rests. Leaning down into my face, he kisses my nose gently. “We’ll pick this up where we left off later,” he says giving me a wink. My heart flutters and lips part. His eyes are full of lust. I hear Emma in the house yelling, “Is anyone home?” Luke stands up straight and I can tell he is annoyed with the intrusions. I yell to her that we are in the study, and she joins us.
“I called you four times. Why didn’t you answer?” She scolds me.
“Well hello pot, I’m kettle. I think I’ve called you five times with no answer,” I scold right back.
“Jeez, for someone who lived such a sheltered life, you sure know how to have some attitude,” she teases. “Is that a safe?”
“Yeah, I just found it, I had no idea it was there,” I explain to her.
“Do you know the combination?” She asks and Luke starts laughing immediately. “What?”
“The next person who asks me that question is going to get shot by my pretend gun,” I say now laughing with Luke.
“Oh, duh!” She rolls her eyes realizing her stupid question.
“I take it you saw the article? I think we should press charges against her for being ugly,” Emma snorts.
“Ugly and stupid," I laugh with Emma.
“She’s such a cow. I can’t believe the nerve of that crazy woman.” Emma sits on the edge of the desk and I can see the cogs of her mind are spinning as she starts chewing on her thumbnail.
“What’s up?” I can tell something is on her mind. “What were you doing yesterday?” I get up moving passed Luke to take the conversation to the kitchen. He gives my arm a squeeze as I pass. I look up at my handsome man, and he gives me the warmest smile that makes my knees go weak.
I turn my attention back to Emma, giving her a look to let her know I am waiting. “Spit it out!”
“I was doing some research. I have some news about your birth mom,” Emma blurts out stopping me in my tracks.
“What are you talking about?” I look at her confused. “Who… what... birth mom?” I stare at her waiting for some more info.
“I talked to Maria about our encounter at Bon Dieu’s the other day, and I used the internet to translate what the crazy woman said. Samantha you’re dead, and ghost devil is what the words meant. I think Samantha is your mother!”
I feel darkness close in, and all I can see is a tunnel with Emma at the end. Then it’s black.
I awaken on the floor, my head in Luke’s lap with Emma on the other side of me. “Lilly… Lilly, wake up!” She’s shouting. Luke is rubbing the top of my head with a look of terror in his eyes. I look up and Jacob is hovering above us.
“Thank god, Lilly. How do you feel? We should get her to a doctor.” Luke stands, lifting me up, and I am cradled in his arms.
“What happened?” I feel disorientated, but I don’t want to go to the doctor.
“You fainted.” Jacob is studying my face.
“I’m fine. Can I stand?” I look up at Luke who hesitates, but finally lowers me to my feet. He keeps a hold of me till he is sure I have my footing.
“Let’s get you some water.” The three hover around me as they guide me into the kitchen.
“I’m fine, geez.” I swat at their hands as they try to help me up on one of stools at the kitchen island.
Luke sits next to me with his eyes planted on me. Emma hands me a glass of water. I remember what we were talking about before I fainted, and look up at Emma over the rim of my glass.
“What makes you think that Samantha is my mother?” I grate out of my dry mouth, and take a sip of the cool water.
“Jesus, Emma, I told you to leave it alone. It’s a bunch of voodoo mumbo jumbo.” Jacob scowls at her, and I wonder when they talked about this without me around.
“Does someone want to fill me in?” Luke’s face is filled with confusion. Emma explains to him what happened at Bon Dieu’s.
“So how exactly did you come to the conclusion that Samantha is her birth mother?” Luke repeats my question.
“See, my dad and Ted have been friends since school, and Maria’s family has worked for mine for years. I’ve always wondered how much they knew about Lilly, and why Jane hated her so much since my dad would never tell me. Maria’s familiar with voodoo lore and all that.” She stops when Jacob lets out a huge sigh, and they exchange looks. Jacob is warning her with his eyes, but she ignores him.
“I asked Maria to translate. When she heard the name Samantha, she turned white as a ghost and told me to forget about it.” She takes a breath. She is talking a mile a minute. “So I pushed, who’s Samantha? What do you know? I kept asking, and she
got mad at me. Maria has never gotten mad like this. She took my arm and told me, ‘This is none of your concern. I don’t want to hear that name again, and that’s final.’ I was so shocked by her tone that I stopped.” She finally stops and takes another breath.
Luke puts his hand on my knee giving it a squeeze.
“I agree with Maria. Why don’t you leave it alone? She just fainted. You don’t mess with this voodoo crap,” Jacob’s agitation increases.
“She didn’t faint because of voodoo, she fainted from the news.” Emma rolls her eyes at Jacob and he shoots her a dirty look.
“This still doesn’t explain how you came to the conclusion that Samantha is Lilly’s biological mother,” Luke presses. He seems to be getting agitated also.
“You didn’t see her face when I said that name,” she defends herself. She looks at me and I am speechless. “Don’t you see Lilly, that crazy woman in the shop thought you were Samantha. Wouldn’t you look like your mom?” She throws her hand up in frustration, not understanding why we are not getting what she is saying.
“I don’t know who Samantha is, but I think it’s a huge jump to assume she’s my birth mother,” I contend.
Luke takes my hand and kisses the back, placing it in his lap. Very protectively, he places his arm on the backside of my chair.
Emma stares at us, looking from one to the other, and then at Jacob who still looks extremely pissed.
“What is going on here? Two days ago you thought Luke had a super model girlfriend, and now you’re acting like long lost lovers,” she blurts out, frustration in her voice, wondering why we can’t see the conspiracy she has concocted in her head.
“Emma, please!” I’m embarrassed by her candor. “By the way, I know about the two of you talking, and about the set ups. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!” I wave my finger at her.
“That would have kind of defeated the whole purpose.” She points her finger right back at me.
“Thank you so much for telling me about the security issue,” Luke jumps in scolding Emma, motioning towards Jacob.
“Hey, blame your father for that one. He’s the one who didn’t want to tell you,” Emma defends herself to Luke. “Why are we changing the subject? Can’t you see what I am saying?” She says frustrated with us. We all stare at her not sure what she wants us to say.
“Look, whatever,” she rolls her eyes. “I think we need to investigate this,” she says trying to sound convincing. “There’s something going on. I’ve seen two people turn white as ghosts to the name Samantha,” she pushes.
“How are we going to find out? Maria won’t talk to you, and if you can remember what that crazy woman said, she’s apparently dead,” I point out. I get an overwhelming sad feeling rush over me as I think of my birth mother being dead. I shake my head trying not to think about it. Why is it making me sad? I never met her, and she didn’t want me.
“Look, Lilly, has only had six months of freedom,” Luke speaks up. “Why don’t we let her settle into her new life a little bit, and then we can investigate Samantha, whoever she is.”
“I think that is a great idea,” Jacob chimes in happily, finally getting his way.
“Em, your dad is on me about going through the estate. I need to concentrate on that for now,” I say looking at her intensely. I try to tell her with my eyes to drop it for now.
“Uuggg. Fine,” she gives in. “I’m still going to work on Maria though,” as if this is her final say in the matter. Neither Luke nor Jacob is going to tell her what to do. “Oh, Daddy wants you to call him. He thinks he found someone you can trust with the books,” she says dropping the whole thing all of a sudden.
“I’m starving. Can we go get something to eat?” She says and we all laugh at her attention span.
“We need to stay here and wait for the locksmith,” Luke answers. I had almost forgotten the safe.
“Oh yeah, let me see it again,” she runs around the counter and grabs my hand dragging me with her to the study. Luke gets up and Emma turns around waving her hand at him like she says down boy. “I need a minute alone with my best friend, if that’s okay,” she smiles sweetly, but is telling Luke with her eyes to back off.
Luke ignores her and grabs my waist before I am drug off, pulling me to him. His lips meet mine and I am lost. His tongue slides across my bottom lip and enters my mouth, searching and exploring. I am limp against his body, his hard chest pressed to mine.
“Oh, for Christ sakes!” Emma barks.
Luke pulls on my bottom lip with his teeth as he breaks the kiss. He kisses my nose gently before he lets me go. “Off you go,” he says more than satisfied and pats my behind as I walk away.
“Spill it,” Emma orders as we walk into the study. “Obviously you guys have worked out that you are madly in love with each other.”
I blush. I know I am madly in love with him, but I can’t say if that is how he is feeling. She reads my mind and works to change the subject.
“That’s a big safe, I wonder what’s in it!” She draws her attention to the wall. “It could be anything. Maybe something about your birth mother,” she raises her eyebrows at me.
“We’ll find out soon enough,” Luke says entering the study, followed by an elderly gentleman carrying a toolbox. He’s in his sixties and completely bald, except for a patch of gray hair that extends the back of his head. “This is Mr. Thomas,” Luke introduces us to the locksmith.
“That’s an oldie. Might take me awhile to crack her,” he exclaims heading to the safe. We all just stand there watching him like we think he can just touch it and it will open. “I need complete silence,” he says as if that’s a cue to leave him be while he works.
When we walk back into the kitchen, Miss Finnegan has started supper. She and Jacob are conversing quietly. They stop talking as soon as we walk in, and Jacob walks around the counter taking a seat on one of the stools.
“What are you two talking about?” Emma questions as we notice the instant silence.
“Nothing dear," Miss Finnegan chimes to Emma, her grey hair pulled tightly in a bun. “Are you alright Lilly? Jacob told me you fainted,” she asks me looking me straight in the eyes. So they were talking about me, of course. “I must say, Emma, I think you need to stay away from this voodoo business,” she says. Emma shoots Jacob a dirty look for telling on her.
“Yes, I’m fine. We have already agreed to let it go for now,” I tell her. Luke sits at the kitchen table and takes my hand to lead me sideways on his lap. Miss Finnegan looks up at us and gives us an approving smile.
Chapter 14
Sitting around the kitchen table eating Miss Finnegan’s gumbo, Jacob and Luke have found they both have something in common, that they both seem to hate Simon Booth. Jacob is telling Luke that it takes about a week to get a background check back and that he is going to be keeping a close eye on him.
Emma distracts me with conversation about how I should redecorate the master bedroom. We are interrupted by Mr. Thomas walking into the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel.
“Well, she’s open,” he says, “Wasn’t as bad as I thought!” He hands Luke the bill.
We all simultaneously stand up and sprint for the study.
There’s the safe, its door sitting ajar. I look around at everyone and they are all staring at me with anticipation. Mr. Thomas is just standing there with his toolbox in hand. I realize he is waiting to get paid. I grab the bill from Luke’s hand and quickly scribble out a check.
“Have fun!” He says as I hand him payment, “I’ll show myself out”. With that he is gone.
“Well!” Emma’s fidgeting. “Let’s see what Ted was hiding,” she says not able to contain her excitement.
I walk over to the front of the safe and grab the large metal handle. It’s a heavy door and I use all my strength to swing the door open. I hear gasps behind me. The first thing I see is stacks and stacks of cash, one hundred dollar bills wrapped in neat little bundles.
“There’s go
t to be five million dollars there!” I hear Jacob gasp.
“At least, and the rich just keep getting richer!” Emma teases behind me.
On the second shelf there are some insurance policies, and what looks like some bonds.
On the third shelf there is one newspaper article lying there all by itself, and a single folder underneath it. I sit on the floor in front of the safe and pick up the article. It reads:
Remains of a Girl Found In Lafourche Parrish
A body has been found in a wooded area near Bayou Cane along South Rutledge RD. Authorities are working to identify the remains. Deputies on the scene report the body has been badly burned. A search party has been walking the grounds for clues.
A local hunter found the remains and contacted authorities.
Authorities estimate the body has been there two days. Coroner’s preliminary examination of the remains yielded some very disturbing results. Dr. Harrison, local coroner, reports that, “It is a female that has recently given birth, and from what I can tell by the uterus, the baby was close to full term.”
Authorities are confident that there is no evidence of the baby at the scene. They believe the baby to be alive and have no evidence to suspect otherwise at this time.
Local authorities seem to think that this was some sort of voodoo ritual gone wrong. Items left at the scene are what have led them to believe this.
We will bring you more information as it becomes available.
If any person has information about the baby or missing person, they are encouraged to contact the Sheriff's Office Investigation Section at 555-652-3025.
The name of the newspaper, and the date, has been removed from the clipping. Why is this in here? What in the world does this have to do with my father? Emma’s looking over my shoulder reading the article aloud to Luke and Jacob.
