Chapter 10
Cheri returned to Tampa to meet with Darius Markum. She stood with her hand on the door handle of Crabby Bill’s and gazed down the road toward Clearwater, her heart clenching. She let go of the door. She couldn’t do this. Half-way back to the hotel, she stopped herself. Darius Markum deserved an explanation. She turned around and headed back to Crabby Bill’s Beach Club restaurant. With another momentary hesitation at the door, she entered and approached the host stand. In less than a jovial mood, she told the hostess, “I’m meeting Mr. Markum.”
The hostess nodded. “He’s been seated.”
With lowered eyes, Cheri followed her through the restaurant and nearly ran into the hostess when she stopped. A chair scooted, drawing her eyes. She stared into Allen’s eyes. “Tell me you didn’t pay him off?” Her heart thudded in her ears. Hot, burning tears blurred her vision. “Why are you doing this to me?”
Allen walked around the table and cradled her face. “My name is Darius Allen Markum.”
“You…” Her eyes searched his. Her mind whirled with questions. How… she didn’t know how to react. He let her believe… He lied to her.
“Cheri, we need to talk.”
“What kind of game—”
He put his fingers over her lips to quiet her and dropped a twenty on the table before he led her from the restaurant. When they reached the end of the lawn, he jumped down onto the sand and patted the concrete wall. She remained where she was. “Please.”
Reluctantly, she sat on the wall and brushed the tears from her cheeks. Her head reeled. She stared at him unsure what to think or do. Her mother’s words came back to her and she realized Allen had told her mother who he was.
“Cheri, please. Hear me out.”
She looked away and out into the bay. “I’m listening.”
“What I told you online is all true. I am a single dad with a three year old son, and I’m not ready to raise another child. Not on my own. Erin, my wife, died two years ago.”
Confused, she stared at him.
“I perused ads when I felt lonely. None drew any interest until I saw your ad. When it disappeared and reappeared, twice, I had to contact you. I felt drawn. I can’t explain it.”
She looked past him down the beach. It all started to make sense. “It wasn’t a coincidence you came to my rescue. Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” He had played her. “All of this was part of some plan you cooked up. You thought because I went through the internet that I couldn’t possibly have feelings, be for real. I was honest concerning my purpose.”
“Yes, I had a plan.” He stepped toward her and she hoped he wouldn’t touch her. “I never thought I’d ever want to replace Erin. Not until we began to chat. Call it fate, instinct, whatever. But, I had to meet you and do whatever I could to show you that a relationship with or without a child could be beautiful. That what you wanted could be so much more.”
His eyes searched hers, but it was hard to read his in the shadows of her body. Her entire thought process had to shift and it wasn’t easy. This man, the man she’d… She hopped down on the sand and walked away.
“Cheri!” he called after.
She turned around and held her hands up. “I need some time.”
“I’ll wait.”
Cheri walked about a hundred yards, turned around and went back to him. He sat on the wall with his arms folded, looking down at her. “The last time I walked this beach I cut my foot and had the best sex of my life. Up until then anyway.” His eyes eluded her, but she tried to pierce them with hers. “I don’t know what any of this means, but I didn’t want to spend the weekend with another man.”
He hopped down. “The late dinner—”
“Let me finish.” He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and watched her. Half of his face now showed his worry. She almost wished he hadn’t moved to allow some of the light in. “You gave me hints and I didn’t get them. I don’t know how much of that was me not wanting to get close to you or not, but why didn’t you say anything before you left me?”
He came toward her and she backed away, not ready for his nearness. “For the same reason you didn’t talk to me the hundreds of times I called. You weren’t ready.” He came toward her and she wanted to reach out to touch him, but couldn’t. “I love you.”
“I was struggling. I prayed I didn’t carry your baby, but when I knew for sure I hadn’t conceived, I… It devastated me. Those are feelings I’ve never wanted to experience again.”
“Why? Tell me why you fight relationships.” He caressed the side of her head when she shook it. “Ok.” With his thumb, he wiped tears from her cheek. “I want you to meet my son.”
She took his hand down and held onto it. “I think I should.” He pulled her into his arms and she laid her cheek against his chest. This is what I needed. His arms around me; the feel of his heartbeat to soothe my fears. Damn, how could I not love him? After a moment, she pulled away and wiped her face with her fingers. “I don’t want to frighten him.”
“You’re beautiful and he’s going to love you.”
Cheri looked up at him. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Let’s go see if he’s still up.” With his arm around her waist, he led her back to the restaurant parking lot to where his car sat.
“Allen, maybe you should talk to him first.”
“Or we could go to your room and make love and tackle my little man in the morning?”
“It’d be my luck, I’d conceive and he’d hate me way too much to want me in your lives.” He grinned at her and she realized what she’d indicated. She chewed on her lip. “Will he be up?”
“I’m sure he’ll be up.” He opened the door and helped her in.
* * * *
Cheri’s mind whirled while he drove down the stretch of road to Clearwater. If it wasn’t for the warm hand holding hers, she might have jumped from the car. It’d never occurred to her a man would have his own agenda. You’d think free sex would be all on a guy’s mind. She stared out at the ocean, wishing the rolling waves could sweep away the last of her worries. He needed to know what it was in her past that kept her from committing. Oh, fuck! It had to be done before this went any farther. Her eyes widened and she looked over at him. “Can we stop somewhere?”
“Yes. Are you all right?”
“I need some air. I can’t meet your son until you know some facts about me, then you need to decide if you want me anywhere near him.”
He slowed and turned down a side street when he reached his community. The car came to a stop alongside a park. She left the car and walked over to the swing set and sat down.
Allen followed and leaned against one of the metal poles. After a deep inhale, she told him, “My father died September 26, 1989 in Montreal.” She pumped her feet to start the swing when he stepped away from the pole. If he touched her, she wouldn’t be able to get this out and she needed to. He had to know why she fought him. “On my eighteenth birthday, he gave me two season tickets for the Chicago Cubs. He accompanied me for most of the games.” She blew out and rolled her eyes. “We were so hyped up over the chance of clinching the division title that he bought tickets to away games the last month. After the hoopla of clinching in Montreal, he collapsed. He had a heart attack on the way out of the stadium.”
The swing motion stopped and she wrapped her arms around herself. “Things didn’t go well when we came home. The family never said anything, but I know they blamed me. He went to all the extra trouble for me. I was on my way out into the world and he wasn’t ready to let me go or go without a big send off. I went into a depression.” Her eyes met his for the first time since she started talking. “I did thirty days in the mental ward for a suicide attempt. After that, I vowed no man would ever be allowed that close to me. I didn’t, don’t want a man to ever love me so much that I become the center of his existence.”
He came to her and cradled her head. “But, he left you with memories. Things you can share with others
. That’s something I had to come to terms with. There are things I’ll be able to tell Andy about Erin that no one else will.”
“Love has no guarantees, I know that, but I’m scared.” Allen pulled her up into his arms. It felt right.
“We can wait until tomorrow if you need time. I have tickets to the Devil Rays game, we can go and spend some time with Andy together. An ice breaker, if it helps.”
Cheri’s breath caught and she pushed him away. “No, no ball stadiums. We can’t do that.”
“Under the circumstances, I think it’s what you need to help heal.”
“No, I’ve been dreaming of you being killed on the way to the ball stadium.” He went silent and just stared at her. Damn the darkness. She couldn’t read his expression. He backed away and she stood. “Maybe you should take me back to the hotel.”
“Were you with me when it happened?”
“No, you were going to meet me there. I can’t deal with that again.”
“You don’t have to. I never intended for us to go separate. So—”
“Allen, I can’t—”
He came to her and grabbed her shoulders. “I don’t care if you dream the earth is going to open up and swallow us as long as we’re together. Do you love me?”
She nodded. “Introduce me to your son.”
“My pleasure, but first…” His head came down and seared her mouth with his. Her arms wound around his neck as he pressed her body to his. When his tongue danced along her lips, she welcomed him. Welcomed the fire in the pit of her being, but he pulled away. “That’s an appetizer.”
She hoped so. The throb she felt as she walked with him back to the car needed his attention. God! How I’ve missed feeling his tongue. Her grip tightened on his hand as she forced her thoughts back to now.
“Don’t be nervous. He’s harmless.”
Cheri laughed, but she knew how three-year olds could be. Her nieces and nephews were in constant mood swings while trying to become independent.
* * * *
To her surprise, he rounded the park and pulled into a driveway. “This is my mother’s house.”
His mother’s house? I’m meeting his mother, too. “Allen, this is awkward.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “Trust me.”
When he came around and opened the door for her, she sat frozen. What if she had liked his wife too much to give another woman a chance? Especially, someone her son met on the internet.
He kneeled. “Would it help if I told you they are expecting us?”
She stared at him for a moment. “You’ve already talked to them about me?”
“Of course.”
“When this is over, I’m going to need a doctor to stop the spinning in my head.” He picked up her hand and kissed it.
“Come on. Let’s go inside.” He led her up the walk to the door and opened it, allowing her to enter first.
She glanced around the cozy room. Browns and greens seemed to fit the small room.
“Daddy, you’re here.” A little dark haired boy ran up to him.
He picked him up. “I sure am, pal. I want you to meet someone.”
The two of them when they faced her—the same green eyes, same stunning smile watched her. Her heart raced. Allen reached out and touched her cheek. She stepped back away from it. “Are you all right?”
Oh, God, what a duo. She nodded, but she wasn’t sure.
“Cheri, this is my son, Andy. Andy, this is Cheri.”
“Hi, Cheri. We talked about you.”
“You did?” She swallowed, unsure of what to say. “I hope he didn’t tell you all my secrets.”
“No, it was man-to-man.” He reached his arms out to her.
She took him and he whispered in her ear. Tears choked her up.
Allen reached for his son and set him down. “Andy, run and get Grandma.”
He tipped her chin up. “Hey, you ok?”
“He said he wanted me to be his mother.” Her vision blurred and he pulled her to his chest.
“Your psychic never said you’d have a baby. She said a child with dark hair and green eyes.”
“I feel bombarded, Allen.”
“I want you to come home with me.”
“No, I need to digest all this.”
“No, we need to break your habit of analyzing and running away from the moment.”
Wiping her tears with his thumbs, he asked, “Will you marry me?”
“When you dump, you do it all the way, don’t you?”
“I told you we’re alike, that I go after what I want.”
“If I don’t say yes, a lot of people are going to be disappointed.”
“Cheri, this has to be what you want, not something to please someone else.”
She wound her arms around his neck. “I want to marry you.”
“You’re supposed to say yes,” Andy said.
Both of them looked over at the two people they hadn’t heard come in the room. “Yes.” She looked back up at Allen and whispered, “Yes.”
A PSYCHIC HITCH
THE END
WWW.BEKKILYNN.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bekki is the proud mother of four wonderful sons, and a wife of a very patient man. If there were a ‘tolerant’ award, her guys would win it hands down. While they now reside in the Midwest, she dreams of returning to Arizona. She loves the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Vikings, movies, music, and reading. Her favorite description of herself is 'predictably unpredictable', but she's very much a frustrated perfectionist.
As a youngster, when the library couldn’t acquire new books fast enough to feed Bekki’s hunger for fresh and new reads, she reread them all. She soon became bored with forced marriages and secret babies. She hungered for depth and complete characters with relationships where women weren’t afraid to stand up for themselves, both in and out of the bedroom. So, she began writing her own stories.
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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