First Class Rescue (First Class Novels)

by Harmon, AJ

  “That’s silly,” Ella giggled.

  “It is, isn’t it?” Beth grinned. Ella nodded again.

  Tim introduced everyone that was in the room. There were a few outside on the beach and Ben, of course, hadn’t arrived yet. Ella was enchanted with Cleo. She hugged the dog tightly and Cleo patiently waited for the mauling to come to an end. It took several minutes.

  “Let me show you up to your rooms,” Maureen smiled and took Beth by the arm.

  “Rooms?” asked Tim.

  Katy let out a squeal of delight and Beth heard laughing as she and Tim went up the stairs.

  “This is your room Beth. It’s small but I think it will be fine for you, dear.”

  “Oh yes,” smiled Beth. “It’s just lovely, thank you.”

  “The bathroom is just there,” Maureen said and pointed at a door a few feet away. “And Tim,” she continued down the hall, “You’ll be in here with the twins. I’m not sure if they’ve already picked their beds yet.”

  Tim stood in the hallway dazed by his mother. “Mom! Um, we need a room together.”

  “No,” she shook her head. “You don’t.” Her voice said there would be no arguing. “Let me know if you need anything else Beth.” She smiled and headed back downstairs.

  Beth bit on the insides of her lips to keep from smiling. She turned and stepped into her room. It was small, about eight feet by ten feet, and on one side the ceiling was angled because of the pitch of the roof. There was a double bed under the window and a small dressing table and stool. Behind the door was a wardrobe with a mirror on one of the doors.

  “There’s no way that…” he began.

  Beth cut him off. “No. If your mother wants us in different rooms then we shall abide by her rules. It’s kind of sweet.”

  “Blue balls are not sweet,” he muttered under his breath.

  Beth laughed and slapped him on the arm. “It’s three days. You can go three days.”

  “We’ll see.”

  *****

  Throughout the afternoon the rest of the family was introduced to Beth, including Ray and Shelby. Tim leaned over and whispered to Beth that he would tell her about Shelby later, but Beth didn’t have much of a chance to talk with her as she and Adam were heading off into town to get some things Adam had forgotten to bring. It seemed a little suspect to Beth, but she kept her thoughts to herself.

  Within just a few hours, Beth already had her favorites of the family. She’d told herself she shouldn’t like one person more than another but she couldn’t help being drawn to Nic and Paul. Maybe it was that their ages were similar, or maybe it was the fact that she couldn’t get enough of baby Gregory. She could hold him all day long and never grow tired, but she would have to fight off all the other women in the family who waited somewhat impatiently for their turn.

  And then there was Matt and Janie. It was strange for her to think that just a couple of months before she’d looked out of the limo and gazed at them on the red carpet. She’d assumed their life was glamorous and that they were probably snooty. In her experience, rich people often were. But her stereotypes were shattered with these two; two of the most down-to-earth, kind, friendly, generous human beings she’d ever met. Janie had been thrown up on twice by Gregory and had laughed both times and when Matt’s son, Christopher, smeared his peanut butter sandwich all over his white polo shirt, Matt licked it off his shirt and continued playing cars with the boy. She didn’t consider that snooty in her book.

  The real test came when they heard Ben roar into the driveway and enter the house, throwing his bag on the floor and yelling a string of obscenities.

  “BEN!” Janie yelled at him. “There are children here than can hear you.”

  “Oh, sorry,” he muttered. He stomped in and flung himself into a chair.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Mark asked.

  “Just had a phone call from Jill.”

  “Ah.” It was a collective sigh from several members of the family.

  “And?” Katy asked.

  “Oh, she was just thinking about how lonely she was and decided to give me a call.”

  “Bitch!” Everyone turned to Rory. “Well she is!”

  “Don’t let that girl weasel her way back into your life, Benjamin.” Maureen said what everyone else was thinking. “She was not good for you. Remember?”

  “I know,” he muttered.

  It was then that Ben looked up and saw Beth. His eyes grew wide and his head tilted just a little. “And this must be the infamous Beth,” he said. “I apologize for that bad first impression. Please don’t judge me too harshly based on that?” he pleaded.

  The family looked over at Beth, curious as to how she would handle the moody brother.

  “Of course not,” she said smiling. “Woman can be just beastly sometimes.”

  “Amen!” replied Ben. “I think I need some fresh air. Anybody up for a walk on the beach?”

  Ella wanted to go so Matt hoisted her on his shoulders and ducked low to get through the French doors that opened onto a patio outside. Ben followed close behind.

  “Oh good!” sighed Katy with relief. “Matt can get him into a decent mood and then we’ll allow him to come back in.”

  Beth looked at Tim, eyebrows raised, but not verbalizing her question. Maureen saw and answered.

  “He was with Jill on an off for several years and then last year it was off…for good. I don’t know what happened but I, for one, was thrilled. I never liked that girl. I can tell a keeper when I see one…and you, my dear, are a keeper.”

  Beth blushed forty shades of red and Tim rolled his eyes. “And this is why I waited so long before I subjected her to you lot!” He shook his head as he spoke.

  “Careful,” said Peter. “Your mother doesn’t take kindly to being referred to as ‘you lot’,” he winked at Beth.

  “I’m going to get the lasagnas in the oven. Why don’t you come and help me Beth?” Maureen asked.

  Beth smiled and got to her feet. Janie and Lindsey offered to help too.

  Once in the kitchen, Beth learned a lot more about the dynamics of the Lathem family. Maureen was obviously in control, and as much as her children and their spouses rolled their eyes, everyone loved the matriarch dearly. Lindsey, a much celebrated chef in Manhattan, praised Maureen on the food going into the oven, winking at Beth as Maureen graciously accepted the compliment. They all catered to Maureen but over the course of the evening Beth came to understand that she deserved the respect she was given. She had already fallen head over heels for Tim, and now she was falling hard for his family too.

  Katy had been correct. Matt had been able to pull Ben from the dark cloud he was under and he was all but a different person at dinner. As Beth looked around at all the Lathem men, she could see the striking family resemblance. Tim, now sitting next to Matt, looked so much like his brother she was amazed she hadn’t realized it before he’d told her which family he’d belonged to. They were all exceptionally good looking men, but more importantly, they all had good hearts.

  Ella interrupted her train of thought by demanding that she sit next to Ray. Janie tried to dissuade her from uprooting bodies in the middle of dinner, but Ray, obviously a doting and patient caregiver to the child, was all too happy to move by his favorite newly-turned four year old.

  “We are raising a monster,” Janie sighed, shaking her head. “She can’t always get her way or else we’ll have a holy terror on our hands in a few years.”

  “Yep,” Ella repeated, “a holy terror.”

  Everyone laughed.

  *****

  “But I want to sleep with you,” Tim whined as he tried to get into Beth’s bedroom.

  She giggled and held the door open only a few inches. “Timothy Ward Lathem, you know your mother would disapprove.”

  “Oh don’t talk like her. You’re killing me here! All we have to do is sleep. I need you in my arms.”

  Beth laughed at her guy trying to sneak into her room, but she agreed with
his desire. She found it difficult to sleep when he was at work. She didn’t like being in the bed alone and Cleo wasn’t allowed on the bed. Everyone had gone to bed, except for Adam and Shelby. They’d gone for a walk along the beach. The temptation was strong but she stood firm. “No! I’ll see you in the morning.” She kissed him on the tip of his nose and closed the door.

  “Bloody hell!” she heard him muttering down the hall.

  Beth giggled as she climbed into bed. As she stared up at the ceiling, the light ocean breeze coming through the open window above her head, she acknowledged, for the thousandth time, how blessed she felt. For the first time in a very long while she was happy.

  Hearing voices outside, she peeked over the window sill to see two people walking towards the house. She thought they were holding hands but as they got closer she recognized Adam and Shelby and their hands were not touching.

  17.

  Hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, lemonade, and apple pie.

  “I do not think you can get any more American than this,” Beth chuckled as she served herself dinner on the fourth of July.

  “Oh dear,” Maureen frowned. “I didn’t even think to ask if there were certain foods you wanted to have today.”

  Beth grinned. “I love all of this,” she said as she surveyed the buffet set before her. “I may sound English but I love American food. This is perfect. ”

  And it was. They sat outside at tables, on blankets, and Paul was even sitting on an overturned garbage can because Isabelle, his niece, wanted his chair. They laughed and reminisced about holidays gone by, with Peter embarrassing each of his sons one by one.

  “He really did!” he was saying. “No backpack for Matt for second grade. He wanted a briefcase!”

  Andrew laughed the loudest. It was definitely the wrong thing to do.

  “You think that’s funny?” Peter asked his son. “Let’s not forget that you wanted to be a cheerleader for Halloween! For three years in a row!”

  Everyone roared with laughter over that. Beth looked a bit concerned. Rory came to her rescue.

  “Peter says that making fun of Andrew and me and our gay lifestyle is no different from him making fun of, say, Tim for rescuing a cat from a telephone pole,” he said, defending his father-in-law.

  “Is rescuing a cat from a telephone pole funny?” Beth asked.

  “Have you ever seen a dead cat on a telephone pole?” Peter asked.

  Beth shook her head.

  “Have you ever seen a cat skeleton up in a tree?” he asked.

  “No.” she said. She was slightly confused.

  “That’s because cats can get down from trees and telephone poles on their own. But no! Tim goes out in the middle of the night, positions his truck and ladder and climbs up to the top of the pole to rescue a cat that some woman had called 911 to report. But what happens when he gets to the top?”

  Beth shrugged her shoulders. She had absolutely no idea.

  “The cat ran down the pole,” Peter laughed. “So there’s Tim on the ladder and there’s no cat to rescue.”

  Several of the family had heard the story before but still thought it was very amusing.

  “First of all,” Tim rebutted, “it was a traffic light pole, and the cat had jumped onto the steel bar from the balcony of the apartment building. The woman called because she was afraid the cat would fall off the pole into the traffic on the street below.”

  “But the fact is,” Peter interrupted, “the cat was able to get down just fine without your help.”

  “He just needed a little prompting -- some encouragement,” Tim grinned. “I think I still rescued it.”

  “Of course you did Tim,” Maureen agreed.

  “So you rescue dogs and cats?” Beth smiled.

  “Yep,” he said with pride. “And beautiful English women.”

  *****

  The sun had set and the sky grew dark. It was time for the fireworks. Matt had purchased a truckload of fireworks and had hired a pyrotechnics company to facilitate the show. They had been setting up on the other side of the house for the last two days, and Matt promised a spectacle to rival the Macy’s New York City display.

  Gregory, Isabella, and Christopher had been put to bed. The two toddlers were worn out after the day of playing in the sand and the surf. Blankets and chairs were taken around to the sand dunes to view the colorful show in comfort. Beth and Tim held Cleo by a leash close to them. They knew she wouldn’t wait patiently in the house for them, but they didn’t want her to bolt at the noise.

  Matt gave the signal and the first explosion happened high above them in the sky. Ella shrieked with glee and Beth couldn’t help but smile as burst after burst turned the blackness above them into a kaleidoscope of erupting color. Cleo settled into the blanket between Tim and Beth, each of them stroking her and calming her with their soothing voices.

  After several minutes, and everyone’s attention was high above them, Tim leaned into Beth’s ear and whispered, “Marry me.” When she didn’t respond, he thought she hadn’t heard him, so he said it again, a tad louder. “Marry me. Please?”

  Her heard turned slowly and a smile spread across her face, her eyes sparkling in the dazzling light overheard. “Who knew you were such a romantic?” she grinned.

  “Who knew that rescuing a German Shepherd named Cleo would lead me to the woman of my dreams?” he said and rubbed the dog’s back. “Is that a yes?”

  “That’s a yes,” she grinned and kissed him soundly.

  The clapping started as the show came to an end. Matt’s promise had been fulfilled.

  “Oh, please!” Ben cried. “You two knock it off.”

  All eyes swung to Tim and Beth who sheepishly pulled away from each other.

  “We can’t knock it off,” grinned Tim. “We’re celebrating!”

  “So am I, but you don’t see me making out do you?”

  “Really?” Tim asked. “You’re getting married too?”

  It was the screaming of the women that scared Cleo more than the fireworks.

  Eventually everyone had left the beach. Mark and Katy took Cleo with them into the house leaving Tim and Beth alone.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier,” Beth grinned.

  “I’m glad.” He kissed her again. “But there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  “I would like meet your family and let them get to know me a bit before we make our engagement public. Of course, mom is probably on the phone right now sharing our news,” he chuckled.

  “Well, once Emma knows you’re a Lathem, she’ll convince them you’re good enough for me,” she sighed.

  “I doubt I’ll ever be good enough for you,” Tim admitted. “But I’m going to bloody well try.”

  Beth giggled. “I love that you swear in English now.”

  “I can do a whole lot more in English. Take off your clothes and I’ll show you.”

  *****

  Three weeks later, Beth and Tim dropped Cleo off at his parents’ house and they boarded an airplane bound for Gatwick International Airport. Beth had telephoned her mother to say they were coming and received a lukewarm response.

  “Twice in one year?” she’d asked. Beth didn’t elaborate, just gave her the time of their arrival. She said someone would be there to pick them up.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Beth said as the Captain announced their decent into greater London. “I don’t want it to be too hard on you, but I don’t want my parents to like you just because you’re the brother of one of the richest men in New York. I want them to know you like I do and respect you for who you are.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I don’t want to tell them your name…well, your last name. Not straightaway anyway.”

  “Okay. You know your parents better than I. I don’t want there to be any deception, but I don’t really care whether they know I’m a Lathem or not.”

  “I know. Just don’t e
xpect them rolling out a red carpet for you.”

  And Beth was right. Her brother Rupert was the someone sent to fetch them. He was polite but stiff. He gave Tim the once over and then nodded hello to his sister. He was obviously unimpressed.

  Emma on the other hand, much to Tim’s surprise, ran from the house as they pulled into the driveway and hugged them both with what Tim thought appeared to be sincere joy at seeing them. It caught him off guard, but he admitted to himself it was a pleasant surprise.

  They had driven on the gravel driveway up to the front door. The house was grand, in the shape of a ‘U’ and three stories high. It was built of stone and appeared to have stood for centuries, weathered and wise. Surrounding the house, at least what Tim could see, were fields and fields of green on rolling gentle hills. Trees were scattered along fences and borders and it was something out of a painting. Mom would love it here. The skies were blue with billowy white clouds scattered overhead. It was warm, but nothing like the sweltering heat and humidity they’d left behind in New York.

  They were shown into the drawing room and offered tea, to which they accepted. Just as Tim brought the putrid liquid to his lips, he’d never liked the stuff - he was a coffee drinker and always would be, Mr. and Mrs. Collins appeared. Saved, he put the cup back onto the saucer placed them both on the side table and stood to meet his future in-laws.

  Like Rupert, they were polite but stiff. Mrs. Collins sat on the edge of the chair and sipped the tea Emma had poured and after what seemed like an eternity, she spoke to her daughter.

  “What brings you home Beth?”

  “I wanted you to meet Tim. He is very important to me and I thought that you would like to get to know him.”

  “This is the fireman?”

  “He is a fire fighter with the FDNY. He rescued Cleo. I believe Emma filled you in on that.”

  “Yes. Yes she did,” nodded Mr. Collins. “So tell me Tim, do you plan on being a fire fighter for long?”

  Tim chuckled under his breath. “Yes I do. It’s the career I have chosen and I love it. I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.”

  “Well, I’m sure you are tired after the long flight. I’ll have Mary show you to your rooms.” Mrs. Collins stood so Tim jumped up as well.