01 Untouchable - Untouchable

by Lindsay Delagair

  A nurse entered the room, “Miss Winslett you have more visitors, if you’re feeling up to it.”

  “We’ll leave you alone. We just wanted to share the good news.”

  We shook hands and they left.

  I wondered who was visiting me. There had been so many of the old Palm Beach crowd stop by and I guessed this was more of the same, but when the door opened the first person through was tall with extremely black hair—Ryan, followed by Jewels, Carlie, and Kevin.

  “Ah, I don’t believe it,” I said, a smile filling my face. “What are you guys doing down here during a weekday?”

  “Spring break, Leese,” came Jewels’ reply as she bounded to my bedside. “Wow, you like almost bit the big one, girlfriend,” she continued.

  “Yeah, that’s what they keep telling me. I’m a medical miracle. I keep telling them God is still in the miracle business and He wasn’t ready for me yet. So the four of you came down here, just for the day or what?”

  “Their staying at my house,” Ryan finally spoke, after staring at me for a moment.

  I looked at Jewels, “Your dad was cool with that?”

  “No, of course not. Not until Ryan’s mother agreed to play chaperone.”

  “Oh,” I smiled.

  “So, OMG, you’ve been like hanging with big time gangsters,” Jewels began. “They’re saying Evan, Micah or whatever his name is, is like some big time hit man…”

  She was prattling on not noticing that her words were hitting me pretty hard. Ryan picked up on it though.

  “Jewels, she might not want to talk about him right now,” he interrupted her, trying to bring her feet back to the planet earth.

  “Oh, yeah, right. Was he the one who…” She let her sentence trail off.

  I knew most of the stories on the news were keeping everyone in suspense as to ‘who shot the heiress.’

  “No,” I said, swallowing to keep my emotions down. “He got shot when I did.”

  “How?” Kevin asked. Somehow it didn’t surprise me that his analytical mind would be immediately drawn to that puzzling statement.

  “Oh my God, I didn’t know he got shot, too!” Jewels exclaimed. I could tell she had some concern for him in her voice, but it was mostly the excitement of a deepening story that she wanted to know more about.

  Ryan seemed ready to stop the group discussion about Micah, when I reached out and touched his arm.

  “It’s okay,” I simply stated. I proceeded to tell them about Sharon, Jack and Ricky. How she’d hired them, and that Micah was trying to protect me. How I had been grabbed by Jack at the hospital. My tale about what happened between me and Ricky was greatly abbreviated. I told them that Micah showed up and ended up killing them both. “But when it was over, and he was kissing me…” I watched Ryan’s face go dark with anger, but I continued. “Sharon walked in on us and put a bullet through my back; a bullet which traveled completely through me and buried itself into his chest.”

  “It’s amazing you both aren’t dead,” Kevin said with surprise. I could tell he was running anatomy through that mental marvel that he called his brain. “You’re lucky she didn’t use hollow points.”

  I rolled my eyes and gave a small laugh. My chest didn’t hurt quite as bad, and laughter was becoming possible, when I could find reasons for it. I almost told them that was what Micah used, but I didn’t think that would be appropriate. “Yeah, you’re absolutely right.”

  We talked a little more and then Ryan asked if he could have a few minutes alone with me. There was a small pang of something that crossed Jewels’ face, and I knew she was starting to consider Ryan differently from her other male friends. But, they agreed and left us alone.

  I had to tell him as soon as the door closed. “Jewels is starting to think of you as more than just a friend, you know that right?”

  “We’re working through that,” he sighed. “Neither one of us is really ready for a relationship, together anyway.” He pulled up a nearby chair and lowered my bedrail so that he could be closer to me. He reached out and put my hand between both of his.

  It felt so good, because they kept the hospital freezing cold and warmth was a rare commodity in here.

  “So when do you get to go home?”

  “My doctors are arguing over that, but it looks like it could be this week if I agree to a live in nurse for a few weeks. I hate being in here…”

  “I missed you,” he added, quietly stopping me from speaking. He must have decided a different subject would be better. “What happened to my car?”

  “Ah, crap!” I had forgotten about his car, and the last place it had been at was the Inlet Motel. “We—I left it at the motel we were staying at so probably on a wrecker lot somewhere. I’m sorry.”

  He gave a little laugh, “Leese, I’m not worried about my car, I was just curious.” Then his face became serious again. “You didn’t forget about your promise did you?”

  “Well I might not be up for a date for a…”

  “Not that one.”

  “Oh.” That was when I remembered what he’d asked me not to do. My skin flushed pink with just the memory of how very close I’d come to breaking that one just before the call came in shortening my life span to twelve hours. “No.”

  He gave me a hard look. He evidently took the pink flush to my skin a different way.

  “Honestly, no—we didn’t.” But I couldn’t help feeling like he needed to know that Micah was the only man in my heart and on my mind. “Ryan, I don’t know what’s going to happen to him, but you’ve got to understand that I’m really and truly in love with him. I don’t want you to think I’m available when I get out of here.”

  Disappointment was written all over his face, but he attempted to smile. “You still owe me at least one date. Then you can tell me if you’re really off the market.”

  “I’m off the market,” I confirmed. “But I do owe you that date. I just don’t know how much longer this healing process is going to take.”

  “You can move around okay, right? She didn’t damage your spine or…”

  “No. There isn’t much room between the shoulder blade and the spine, but she managed to miss them both—it’s my lung and chest that are slow healing.” I lower my gown slightly and pulled away the gauze from the place where the bullet exited. I watched him wince. “Yeah, it’s pretty gross. I’ve got a good plastic surgeon who says after the lung is completely healed and they take out the chest tube, he’ll make it look almost like it never happened.”

  “Don’t think I’m gonna let you forget about our date. As soon as the doctor says you can do some ground flying, we’re going for that drive.”

  I laughed and then cringed in pain.

  He instantly looked worried.

  “It’s okay. It just really hurts to laugh.”

  He stood up and leaned over me, planting a very slow kiss on my forehead. “You rest and get better. I met your mom downstairs in the lobby and gave her my number and my parent’s number so you can get a hold of me when you’re ready.”

  My eyes had begun to tear. He was so sweet and so sincere. “Sounds good,” I said, swallowing and trying to keep myself from letting them spill down my cheeks.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  I was out of the hospital three days later, but home became my new hospital—infinitely more preferable, but still similar. Four weeks later, I was cleared to resume normal activities. I still had plastic surgeries to face, but they would wait.

  Mom, Kimmy, and I were happy together. Life was almost normal. It had been difficult to explain what happened with Robert to Kimmy, but Mom was incredibly sensitive. Kimmy came to understand that he had done some things against the law, and when that happens you have to pay for what you did by staying with the police.

  I had been trying my best to contact anyone in Louisiana to find out what was happening with Micah. I’d called his father’s restaurant, but no one from his family would return my calls. I hired a new attorney who was trying to get i
nformation for me, but had been running into the proverbial stone wall when it came to the Louisiana officials. The only thing we were both pretty certain about was that he was not being held in any jail or federal facility. I tried contacting Gwen through law enforcement, but she wouldn’t respond.

  Two and a half months after the last moment I had seen his face, I hired a private jet to take me to New Orleans. I rented a car and drove to Giorgio’s Italian Bar and Grill, but no one from his family was there and the employees were absolutely no help.

  I drove the familiar road out of town down I-10 to the exit that would eventually lead me to his house. I was so afraid; afraid I wouldn’t find him there, afraid I would find him there but he would tell me to go away, afraid of my own emotions, but I was becoming so desperate.

  When his house came into view, my heart soared. Memories hit me so hard I could feel physical pain in my chest; swimming with Micah, jumping out a window with David in pursuit, shooting lessons and quiet dinners shared between the two of us, a night of learning that Micah could keep his promises no matter how difficult they were.

  I pulled into the circle drive, noticing that there was a Lexus parked around the side by the garage door. Someone was here and I was going to get some answers.

  I was a bundle of nerves and anticipation. If he opened that door, I had no clue what I would do. I rang the door bell and simply held my breath. I heard a distant male voice, but it was muffled and hard to hear; my heartbeat jumped higher. Then I heard a female voice laughing and getting closer to the front door. That scared me—Dear God, don’t let him be here with another woman. Now my heart was beating so rapidly my scar was hurting.

  The door opened and a beautiful young woman, older than me but still in her twenties, stood there looking surprised. She was red haired and fair skinned, wearing a bikini top and a pair of shorts. “Hi,” she finally said. “Can I help you?” But something told me she recognized me. “You’re Annalisa Winslett, aren’t you?”

  My picture had been on television so much over the last several months that it wasn’t unusual for people to recognize me—but she was in Micah’s house! Without a whole lot of clothing on!

  “Yes—I’m—I’m trying to find Micah…”

  “Oh, Mr. Gavarreen.” she stated.

  The way she said it gave me a moment of relief. She evidently wasn’t here as his—guest.

  “Yes, is he here?”

  “Oh, no. We bought this house from him,” she stated as a man came up behind her and said hello.

  “He sold his house?” That just didn’t seem possible. This was the only place in the world where I knew I could find him. He couldn’t cut the tie to the one place I had counted on to secure his memory to the planet.

  “Yeah, we closed last week.”

  “Do you know how I can get in touch with him?”

  “No, I’m sorry. We only met his attorney at the closing. I have his attorney’s number.”

  “Yes, please—if you don’t mind.”

  She invited me in as she went to retrieve it. He had sold the house with all the furnishings and a flood of emotions hit me.

  She gave me his number and I thanked her and left. I dialed it before I pulled out of the driveway and got a receptionist. I didn’t identify myself, but simply told her it was a matter of extreme urgency that I speak with him. When I got him on the line, and he discovered who I was, he didn’t want to talk to me. I was begging for all I was worth for him to please at least tell Micah that I needed to find him. He reluctantly took my phone number and then hung up on me.

  I was almost back to New Orleans when my phone rang. I pulled off on the side of I-10 because if it was him, I knew I wouldn’t be able to drive. But it wasn’t Micah; it was Celeste.

  I was sobbing and crying asking her to please tell me what was going on and that I had to see him.

  “Where are you, Leese?”

  “I’m on I-10, almost back to New Orleans.”

  “I’ll meet you at the restaurant in twenty minutes and we’ll talk.”

  It didn’t take me twenty minutes to get there, but I waited outside for her car to pull in. We never made it inside. When she saw me she came over and sat in my car. I was trying to keep it together, but I was failing miserably.

  “Is he in jail?” I managed for my first question, mopping the tears off my face.

  “No,” was her short response.

  “Can I see him? Can I meet him somewhere?”

  “Leese, he’s going through something that is very difficult for him.”

  “Well, it certainly isn’t easy for me!” I was trying not to snap at her, since this was the closest I’d gotten to him since he left the hospital.

  “Leese, did you ever think that it might be wrong for you to come chasing after him? Did you ever think that if he wanted to, he would find you?”

  The words were like she had slapped me in the face. They had the same effect and I felt my composure coming back to me. “Celeste, I love him and I…”

  “Stop it! I thought you were someone who was unselfish and caring. Don’t do this. Stop looking for him. Call off your attorney and leave him alone.”

  “Couldn’t he at least tell me himself to leave him alone?”

  “No, he can’t! You’re going to kill my son if you don’t back off. Do you understand me, Leese?”

  She was truly angry with me, and I still couldn’t understand why I had to stop.

  “If you love him,” she took a breath, sounding as if her anger was softening. “And I mean really love him, then forget that you ever knew him.”

  I opened my mouth, but I was so desolate inside from her words, I couldn’t speak.

  “You don’t know anything about our lives and the people we deal with. You two got too close, and that isn’t good for someone who…” Her frustration level went back up as she attempted to find the right words. “You were together because he was supposed to kill you! Don’t you understand that? Leave him alone. Don’t come back here to New Orleans. Stop bothering Gwen and end this, now.”

  “I’m not trying to hurt him or any of you, Celeste.”

  “Good, then you’ll listen to me and do as I ask. Go home. I’m sorry.” She was moving from anger to tears.

  I wrapped my arms around her and told her that, even though I didn’t understand, I trusted her enough to do as she asked.

  She cried on my shoulder and thanked me, and then got out of the car.

  I flew home. It was all over now; my search had ended. I had never been so hollow, so empty, and so barren as when that plane touched down in Florida.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Mom was concerned over how depressed I was, but I couldn’t snap out of it. I’d come so close and he was now out of my life forever. My eighteenth birthday was coming up on Wednesday and I had decided, rather than living with Mom and Kimmy, I’d take my inheritance and find some place quiet to buy a house and spend some time in seclusion.

  Ryan had called me several times and left messages, asking about our date. I finally relented and returned his call. He was in Palm Beach for the summer and he openly told me that, if nothing else, he could be a good distraction for a little while. He wanted to know what I was going to do for my senior year, and I said I was finishing up my credits online because I just wasn’t ready to dive back into public life.

  I agreed that we would celebrate my birthday together the following weekend; just me and him, the Trans Am and my new car, and a big stretch of desolate airstrip on the north end of Lake Okeechobee.

  Sunday morning we left for church, traveling in separate vehicles because I needed my private drive time. I had traded in my Porsche for an Aston Martin Volente. It was the only time I really didn’t think about Micah, when I was traveling too fast for the memories to catch me.

  I was back to being someone who exuded the fact that I had money. I was back in my designer clothes and had my good jewelry and expensive Louis Vuitton purse, and Prada shoes, but it was window dressi
ng and on the inside I was painfully empty. I’d give it all up to be just any other eighteen-year-old girl who had the man she was truly in love with, the man of her dreams.

  I pulled into the tree covered lot of the Baptist church. As much as I loved the little church in Pensacola, this was my home church. I’d learned to sing my heart out for God standing on their stage; I’d praised, danced and worshiped inside these walls most of my life. I believe that nothing is chance. God has His hand in everything, even in my deepest pain. He had a reason for what I was going through. I didn’t like it, but I accepted it as His will and that was the only thing left to keep me moving forward.

  I stood outside, leaning against my car in the shade, early as usual because of my driving. I’d pulled my long brown hair back into a pony tail with just a couple strips loose by each ear and waited for Mom and Kimmy to show. A few people were arriving, but they knew I hadn’t been in much of a mood for being social lately, so they simply smiled at me and went inside. I watched a postal truck pull into the parking lot and a young man took a package and went inside the office. I thought that was a little odd. I knew they advertised that they would deliver on Sunday, but I’d never seen one actually do it. The pastor stepped out of the office and pointed my direction.

  The man approached me smiling, carrying a small box. “Are you Annalisa Winslett?”

  “Yes, I am,” I replied cautiously.

  “I have a package that I need you to sign for.”

  “Addressed here—to the church?”

  “Yeah, that’s what it says and it was specifically noted to be delivered here at nine a.m.” He handed me the box with the green signature card attached to the top. I signed. He removed the card and told me to have a nice day and left.

  Okay, I don’t know what anyone else would do, but lately my life had been on the crazy side so I shook it and then listened to it, looked for wires sticking out—yeah, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was getting a mail order bomb.

  I cautiously opened it and lifted the lid. Inside was a sleek new iPod. I lifted it out and underneath the iPod was a note that read, “Happy Birthday, It was the only song that could possibly say how I feel about you. Love, M.”