Storm Conquered
Page 14
And that has him worried. “What do you mean?”
“She’s quieter. Too quiet. I miss the Bri that brimmed with energy, and the emotional one who cried at the drop of a hat. She’s matured.”
“She went through a lot in Brazil, Storm. Betrayed by her personal hire, someone she trusted. I imagine she’s going through a period of reflection to determine who she can trust and who she can’t.”
“No. It’s more than that.” His gaze zeroes on me. But before he can say anything else, Edward calls out my name. Glad for the reprieve from Storm’s interrogation, I stroll toward him. After I spend some time being reintroduced to his son and agreeing what a bright boy he is, I leave with the excuse I have a phone call to make. I don’t. Just don’t care to dodge any more questions from Storm.
Dinner’s a sumptuous affair as everything in this castle is. More wedding guests have arrived, including Sebastian Payne and his aunt, Lady Margaret Payne, an old friend of the family and Gabriel’s godmother. Storm and Payne seemed to have settled their differences. A good thing given Elizabeth plans to go back to work for Payne.
Lady Margaret Payne appears oddly uncomfortable. She only seems comfortable when she’s talking to Elizabeth. During her younger days, she visited at the castle often. Her brother and the old Earl were best of friends. Maybe she misses the older generation.
Brianna seems out of sorts. The nap she must have taken has done little to ease her. I need to remind myself she’s no longer any of my concern. After dinner, I go outside to the rose garden for a smoke. Since the fire which almost killed Elizabeth and her son, a new no-smoking rule’s been instituted inside the castle. Just as well. I need a bit of fresh air.
I step into the rose garden and light up. Minutes later, I spot Brianna walking toward me, staring at the ground.
“Good evening,” I say.
She startles. Clearly, the last thing she expected was me. “Good evening.” She rubs her arms as if she’s cold. She’s wearing only her evening gown. Why she stepped outside with no coat is beyond me. The temperature’s quite brisk outside.
I shed my jacket and drape it over her shoulders. “You’ll catch a cold.”
“Thank you. Should have grabbed something on the way out, but I just needed ...”
“To get away.”
“Yes.”
I don’t ask the reason why. She’ll tell me if she wants me to know.
“They’re so happy.”
I don’t need to ask who ‘they’ are. “Yes. They are. They deserve it after the hell they’ve gone through, don’t you think?” I blow out one last puff of smoke before I grind the cigar beneath my foot.
She nods.
“But you’re not.”
She shakes her head.
“Why is that?”
“It’s not in my nature to be happy, I think.” There’s a wistful tone to her voice.
“I don’t believe that. Everyone wants to be happy. No. It’s something else.”
“Maybe I want something I can’t have.”
“And what’s that?”
The air between us sizzles and I’m thinking for once she’ll be honest with me. Instead, she tears a rose from a bush and peels off the petals. “Legitimacy.”
And we’re back to that old bugaboo. “You have it. Your family will always acknowledge you as one of their own.”
“Except I’m not.”
Someone comes tripping down the graveled path. Anthea, her cousin by marriage. “There you are. The photographer wants to take a picture of the wedding party.” Storm and Elizabeth are recreating their wedding. And Brianna is a bridesmaid.
“Very well. Are you coming?”
“No. The stars are out. Think I’ll remain here and enjoy them.”
She removes my jacket and hands it to me. “Thank you, Jake. For everything.”
And that’s that, I suppose.
Anthea links elbows with her and they slowly disappear into the castle. So much I could say to Brianna, but what’s the use? I pluck out the note from my jacket, the one she wrote before she returned to Brazil. The words haven’t changed— “Thanks for everything. Take care.” They still have the power to hurt.
Chapter 25
______________
Brianna
THE WEDDING DAY dawns bright, clear and cold. Today more than ever I’m glad for the medieval gown with its long sleeves and velvet skirt. The stroll to the chapel where the wedding ceremony will take place’s bound to be bloody freezing. Inside the church will be only a smidgen warmer.
The ceremony and reception proceed without a hitch. Elizabeth’s particularly touched by Gabe playing the piano for her. Tears flow down her cheeks while he plays The Way you Look Tonight. She’s blooming with health and beauty. So well matched those two. I envy them their happiness. Wish I could find the joy they’ve found.
Without warning, nausea churns in my stomach, and I grow faint. Perspiration pops out on my brow. Desperate to sit before I collapse, I look for a likely spot and find it at a bench nearby. Hopefully no one noticed my sudden illness. All eyes are on the happy couple cutting the cake after all.
“Are you all right, dear?” Lady Margaret Payne, Gabe’s godmother. She’s been a fixture in the family since forever.
“Got a little dizzy.”
“Maybe you should have a bit of a lie down. It’s been a long day.”
I want to say no, but she’s right. If I stay, I could ruin the festivities, and that’s the last thing I want. “I should say goodnight.”
“I’ll have Edward offer your excuses. But I don’t think they’ll be needed. They only have eyes for each other.”
I nod. The nausea is growing into a crisis. “I need the loo.”
“Of course.” I make it into the bathroom just in time to spew my stomach contents. Lady Margaret makes commiserating noises while I hurl into the porcelain bowl. After I’m finished, I can barely stand by the sink. She holds me up while I rinse my mouth.
“Sit.”
The second I collapse on the bathroom seat, she slips a cool washcloth over my forehead and holds another one against the back of my neck. All I can do is rest my head against the sink in case another bout of nausea comes on. After a while it’s clear my stomach no longer wishes to revolt.
“Better?” Her gaze is filled with concern.
“Not really. But at least I don’t feel like throwing up again.”
She links arms with me once more and together we gingerly make our way down the long hall. The servants having seen my brothers in different states of inebriation think nothing of it going by their expression. Just one more Storm sibling getting drunk, except I haven’t had anything to drink.
One of the maids steps forward. “Anything I can do, your ladyship?”
“No. Thank you.” My voice’s barely loud enough to be heard, but I’m afraid of doing anything to start the spins again.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Jake. In front of us. All I need right now.
“Nothing.” I say. A lie. Going by my reflection in the hall mirror, I look like death warmed over.
“She’s not feeling well,” Lady Margaret says. “I’m escorting her to her room so she can lie down.”
Without asking my permission, he picks me up and cradles me in his arms.
Even though he’s holding me as if I’m something precious to him, my stomach protests such treatment. “Jake. Put me down.”
“I will once I get to your room.”
Lady Margaret follows while he makes his way down the hall, up the stairs to my bedchamber. When we get there, he stands me up and starts to unbutton the back of my dress.
“Jake!” I protest.
Lady Margaret steps forward to help me remove the gown. “I think I’d better be the one to help, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course.” He moves back to give Lady Margaret room. But he doesn’t leave.
“Please go.” I choke out, trying hard to keep down the nausea.
Too ill to argue with him, I allow Lady Margaret to lead me to the bathroom. She strips me of the medieval gown leaving me in nothing but an old fashioned shift. I’m wearing winter underwear since it’s too cold to be flitting about in thongs. She grabs my robe from the back of the loo door and I slip into it. The thing is flannel and long. I burrow into its welcoming warmth. By now I’ve achieved a semblance of normalcy. My stomach doesn’t feel like it wants to turn itself inside out. She walks ahead of me and turns down the counterpane while Jake stands at the foot of the bed not missing a thing.
“You’re pale and trembling.” His words emerge like an accusation.
“Of course I’m pale. I’m cold and just got sick. Now go.”
Of course he ignores my plea. Stubborn man. “Was it something you ate?”
“Probably.”
Lady Margaret Payne tucks my hands between her own. Mine are larger but the gesture lends me a bit of comfort. “Are you sure that’s all it is, dear?”
“You mean am I sickening for something? No, I don’t think so. Although it can’t be ruled out.”
“No. Not sickening.” She glances between Jake and me. For a beat or two she doesn’t say anything, and then she asks, “Could you be in the family way?”
Bloody hell. “In the fam—” I gulp. “You mean am I preggers?”
She nods.
“No. That can’t be. No way.”
“Brianna.”
Now he calls me by my first name when I’m in the middle of a crisis.
“It’s not possible. I haven’t—Jake say something.”
He clutches the bedpost as if he’s holding on to it for dear life. “You could be. That one time, two times—”
Lady Margaret rises from the bed. “I better leave and let you ... talk.” And she drifts out of the room after detonating that bomb.
For a couple of beats, neither of us says anything. I’m too miserable to say much. But after a while, I can’t take the silence anymore. “I don’t know ... It never occurred to me ... I can’t be. I just can’t.”
“When was your last period?” He rifles at me in his usual military style.
“October 14.” Rosa’s birthday. I remember it clearly because I’d run out of tampons and felt bad about asking her to run to the commissary for replacements on her special day.
“We had sex at the end of October, unprotected sex.”
How could I ever forget? That night at The Majestic, and a few days later that hurried coupling on the boat just before he left to rescue Richard. “I know. But I’m on the pill.”
“No birth control method is 100% effective.”
“This can’t be happening. It just can’t.”
“This changes things between us.”
“We don’t even know if I am in fact pregnant, Jake. I’ll need” —I swallow hard— “I’ll need a doctor to verify it.”
He crosses his arms against his chest, the very image of a man who’s not going anywhere. “You do that. And when he confirms it, we’ll sit down and talk. Because if you’re pregnant, you’re not raising our child alone.”
Chapter 26
______________
Jake
IT’S BEEN MORE THAN A WEEK since I found out Brianna was pregnant with my child. A fucking eternity. I’ve called, texted, emailed her, but she’s ignored every last one of them. After ten days, I take the bull by the horns and pay her a visit. The Brighton concierge’s so used to seeing me he doesn’t stop me, but waves me right up. Guess nobody’s informed him I’m no longer employed by Storm Industries. Neither does the operative standing outside her door. But then he knows better than most I intend her no harm.
“Hello Hamish.”
“Hey, Jake. Dropping by?”
“Yeah.” Hoping Brianna doesn’t deny me entrance when she sees me, I knock on her door.
It swings open to reveal Brianna as beautiful as ever. For once she’s wearing conservative clothes, a pair of white flowing pants and a drapey kind of blouse.
“Jake.” Her lips tighten. She’s not happy to see me. But then I didn’t think she would.
Hamish goes into semi full alertness. The panicked look on his face tells me he hopes he won’t need to kick me out. Even though I’m still recuperating from my injuries, no question in my mind who’d win that tussle.
“May I come in?”
She widens the door opening and I step in. The place looks the same, other than she’s had the carpet replaced where my life’s blood spilled. The memories of the last time I was here rush in, overwhelming me. I’d laid semi-conscious, petrified Kurt would kill her. That thought had given me the strength to claw back from the edge of death and go after the son of a bitch only to find his gun pointed at her. One wrong move on my part, and her life would have been extinguished. So I did the only thing I could and shot the bastard. I don’t regret it for a second. As soon as he got his hands on her jewelry, he would have murdered her. And I was already halfway to being dead.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” she says.
I shake my head to banish the unhappy thoughts and get my mind back in this game. “You would if you’d picked up the phone.”
“I’ve been ... busy.” When I don’t say anything else, she breathes out a hard sigh. “I suppose you came to talk about the child.”
No. I came to talk about the fucking weather. “Yes. How are you feeling?”
Going by the color on her face, she’s the picture of health. “Fine. Great really.” She threads a diamond earring she’d been holding in her right hand through her left earlobe. Going by the purse on the sofa, she’s headed somewhere.
“On your way out?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, I am. I’m having tea with Lady Margaret.”
“I can give you a ride if you wish. My car’s downstairs.” It’ll give us time to discuss the baby.
“My guard will drive me, Jake.”
“Yes, of course. Hamish.” I nod. “Don’t want to hold you up, but we need to talk.”
“About what?”
What’s wrong with her? She’s not that obtuse. “The child you’re carrying.”
“Oh. About that.” She grabs her coat from the hall closet. “No need to worry about it.”
Not worry about my child? Is she insane? “Why not?”
“I’m not ... preggers any more.” She shrugs like the thing means less than nothing to her.
Her statement’s like a punch to the gut. “What the hell happened?”
She slips into her coat, takes her time buttoning it up, while checking out her reflection in the hall mirror. “Miscarriage.”
“When did this happen?”
“Five days ago. Just as well, don’t you think?” She turns to me while slipping into her white kid leather gloves. “I can’t see myself as a mother. Too much partying to do.”
“Partying?”
“Well, yes. Now that Edward’s child is secure, I can go back to my life. Good thing too. I’m having a party tonight. You’re more than welcomed to attend.”
The old Brianna. How could I for one moment think that she would have changed? Edward’s child brought out some protective instinct in her. Maybe she felt she owed her brother something for the hell he’d gone through, but now she’s glad to return to her life.
“No. Thank you.”
“Well, if there’s nothing else?”
“No.”
“Thank you, Jake. Truly. Couldn’t have rescued Edward’s child without you.” A polite smile flits across her lips as she holds out her hand for me to shake. We’re nothing but polite acquaintances, her gesture seems to say.
My hand’s not quite as steady as hers when I grasp her palm. “You’re welcome.” Reeling from her dismissal, I step out into the hall.
Hamish’s concerned look tells me I’m not quite hiding what I’m feeling right now.
“See you around?”
“
Doubt it.” I cough to relieve the sudden lump in my throat. “Take care of her, will you?”
“You bet.”
And with that final goodbye I stride away from the only woman I’ve ever loved and head down the elevator to find the nearest bar. My place’s too fucking far to get rip roarin’ drunk.
Chapter 27
______________
Brianna
TEA WITH LADY MARGARET PAYNE is a study in contrasts. I’d accepted her invitation not only to be polite but because I wanted to thank her for her help on Gabe’s wedding day. I also wanted to talk about my father, and she out of everyone else knew him best.
When the tea tray arrives, I react the way I normally do, with distaste.
“You don’t like tea?” she asks.
She caught that, did she? I shake my head. “I must be the only Brit who doesn’t like the stuff. I’d prefer a good strong drink. But of course now . . .” I let the thought drift off.
“No alcohol for you.”
“Not until the baby’s born and even then I will have to abstain. I plan to breastfeed him. Or her.”
She pats my hand. “Good for you.”
“Tell me about my father. When he was younger I mean. He never”—I gulp—“he never talked about himself.”
Her eyes crinkle at the ends. “Of course, dear. I love to talk about your father. It’s one of the reasons why I invited you here. I was sixteen when he dropped in on Dickie out of the blue. He’d just returned from another of his madcap adventures and couldn’t wait to tell my brother about it. Oh, I’d seen him before since they’d been the best of mates, but that day when he showed up ... something changed. He was beautiful and strong and he took my breath away. It was like the day had been dark and dreary and he made the sun come out again.” She laughs and her laugh is that of a young girl, not the fifty something woman she is. “You’ll think me foolish.”
“No. No. I don’t.” I’d felt the same, that night Jake showed up in Brazil. I just didn’t realize it at the time. “Go on.”
“Well, I was still the younger sister of his best friend and he was a man about a town. Can’t say he paid much attention to me. But I never got over him. He came and went in and out of our lives, always the bon vivant. I heard the tales of course.”