She's My Mom
Page 23
A SOFT NIGHT BREEZE WAFTED through the open doors of the hotel room balcony. The balmy air of the islands acted like an aphrodisiac on Grady’s senses. An exhilaration he’d never known before kept him awake.
Susan lay in his arms with her face buried in his neck. For the last eight hours, their need for each other had been insatiable. It would be morning soon. He was afraid he’d worn her out.
Knowing she was pregnant, he should have been more careful. But tonight was like their first honeymoon, their passion so overwhelming, they couldn’t get enough of each other. They’d lived through those agonizing six months of separation, and their marriage was more precious to them than ever.
“Do you have any idea how much I love you?” she whispered, pressing kisses against his jaw.
He’d thought she’d fallen asleep. Thrilled that she hadn’t, he pulled her tighter against him and kissed her hair. “I think we’re both pretty clear about how we feel.”
“Oh, Grady,” she cried softly. “What if Brett hadn’t gone down those stairs when he did—”
“Then it probably would’ve taken you longer to recover your memory before you came back to me. It’s a strange irony that the man who separated us unwittingly united us, too, when he invited Brett to have dinner at the Etoile that night.”
She raised her head to look at him. “Now that I remember everything, there’s so much to tell you.”
He kissed the mouth that had done the most wonderful things to him all night. “We’ve got the rest of our lives.”
“I know, but I’d rather tell you now to get it out of the way.”
“This sounds serious.”
“It is, because it caused you so much pain when there was no need.”
Grady raised himself on one elbow. “We’ve already discussed Jennifer, and we don’t ever need to mention her name again.”
“I agree. What I’m talking about is the reason I never discussed the Drummond account with you.”
“I can guess. You suspected Ellen was involved.”
“Yes. I knew she handled Jim’s books. But even before that, I was given Mr. Beck’s notebook. In it, he’d raised some questions that bothered me, too.
“The more discrepancies I found between the schedule of values and the purchase orders, the more I realized he’d discovered some problems before he died. After some additional digging on my part, it looked to me like Jim and Ellen had been working a con for years.
“I didn’t want to believe it of either of them. Anyway, the day before I was to meet with Mr. LeBaron at the plant, I checked into a room at the Etoile to do some snooping.”
“What?”
“Yes. I took my camera and some tools with me. First I lifted the bathroom ceiling cover to see what type of fan had been installed. Sure enough, the cheapest kind had been put in, though a much better one had been specified by the architect. I took pictures before I put the cover back.”
Grady couldn’t believe his ears. “Where’s the film?”
“I guess it’s still in my camera on our closet shelf.”
“You mean all this time vital clues have been sitting there and I had no idea?”
“I’m sorry, darling. My whole intention in keeping quiet was to impress you if I uncovered hard evidence. The next thing I did was chip the tub with the hammer.”
“Good grief!”
“Guess what? I discovered steel, even though cast-iron tubs had been designated. After taking more pictures, I went in the other room and removed some trim from the wall. At the hardware store the man told me it was poplar, with a maple stain.
“When I returned to the hotel, I took a picture before I nailed the trim back. Later at the front desk, I told the receptionist I dropped my metal hair dryer in the tub by accident and it chipped the enamel. I offered them $400 cash to pay for a new tub.
“They were very nice about it and said the hotel carried insurance for mishaps of that type. So I paid cash for the room and checked out.”
Grady didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “If Brett could hear this, he’d say you make a scary detective, my love.” He rocked her in his arms. Wait till the guys down at the station heard about this.
“No matter how terrible I felt about the Stevenses’ involvement, I was excited about my finds. My plan was to meet with Mr. LeBaron the next morning, then come home and tell you everything so you could take over from there.”
He clutched her to him. “Never doubt that you’ve impressed me. What I want to know now is if you’re ready to talk about what happened at the plant.”
“There’s very little to tell.”
“What do you mean?” He eased her away from him so he could see her expression.
“When I arrived there, I saw a car and presumed it was Mr. LeBaron’s. As I was getting out of mine, somebody must have crept up behind me. All I remember was this hand clamping a cloth over my nose and mouth. It had a suffocating smell. My next memory was of waking up at the reservation clinic.”
Tears stung his eyes. “Thank God you were spared the horror of knowing what went on after you passed out.”
She cupped his face in her hands and kissed his eyelids. “I agree it was a great blessing. Until Jim’s trial when it all comes out, I don’t want to think about it anymore.”
“Neither do I. So, how soon do you want to go back to your job with the Lytie Group? After your brilliant handling of the account, they’ll probably promote you to vice president.”
“I don’t want that job, at least not in the foreseeable future.”
“Why not?”
She pressed a passionate kiss to his mouth. “Because I’d rather stay home and take care of you and our children.”
“You don’t have to say that to please me.”
“I know. However, you need to understand that the only reason I went to work before was to help with our financial situation. Since I’ve found out that isn’t necessary, I’d rather stay home and pamper myself during this pregnancy. I’m not getting any younger.
“When our child’s in school, I’ll probably do some work at the women’s shelter. It’s a place where I know I can make a meaningful contribution. In the meantime, all I want to do is luxuriate in the excitement of carrying our baby.
“We have important things to discuss, like turning the guest bedroom into a nursery and picking out names.
“If it’s a girl, I was thinking Kristy Ann Corbitt after your mother and grandmother. If it’s a boy, Richard Payne Corbitt in honor of your father and grandfather. We could call him R.P. for short. Brett would love it.”
After a long pause, he whispered, “You won’t get a dissenting vote from me.”
“Good. Now that everything’s settled, what do you say we fool around?”
His body quickened. “For how long?”
She slid her hand over his chest. “Poor Grady. You must be tired. There was a time when you would’ve gotten down to it without asking that question. I’m afraid your age is showing.”
His Susan was back.
He grinned in the darkness before taking her in his arms.
Much, much later, as sunlight streamed into the room, Grady’s last thought was that the human experience didn’t get better than this. A son sleeping peacefully in the adjoining room, a baby on the way, and the love of his life nestled against his heart where she’d always belonged.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7838-1
SHE’S MY MOM
Copyright © 2002 by Rebecca Winters.
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