It Had To Be You

by Francis Ray

  Laurel barely kept from blushing. “It’s so different here than when we were in Mexico. Except for a couple of times when I think back that he might have been recognized, no one bothered us.”

  Her mother brushed her hand over Laurel’s hair. “And you fell in love there.”

  Tears cresting in her eyes, Laurel leaned against her mother’s shoulder. “So much it aches. He tried to tell me he loved me once, but I was so angry I wouldn’t listen. After we made up, I thought he’d wanted to wait until the album was released. But then we started going out, and I don’t know what to think anymore.”

  Her mother handed Laurel another tissue. “I think you and Zach need to talk.”

  Laurel blew her nose and tucked her head. “What if he’s changed his mind and doesn’t know how to tell me?”

  “Zach doesn’t impress me as the kind of man who can’t make up his mind. If you love the man, you have to be strong enough to go after him. Make it work,” her mother said. “It won’t always be roses and moonlight, but it will be the happiest days of your life. Don’t waste a moment of life looking back with regrets.”

  Laurel instinctively knew her mother was thinking of her father. They hadn’t always agreed, but not once had Laurel doubted their love for each other. Love might not be easy, but it was worth fighting for. Laurel finally understood that. “Thank you, Mother.” Feeling better and more optimistic than she had in days, Laurel went to the phone and dialed Zach’s cell phone.

  “Hello.”

  Laurel straightened on hearing a woman’s throaty voice. “I must have dialed the—”

  “Were you trying to reach Zachary?” the woman asked.

  Laurel’s grip tightened on the phone. “Yes. May I speak to him please?”

  “He’s busy. Can I take a message?”

  “Please ask him to call Laurel.”

  “The little violinist?”

  “No, the classical violinist. Good-bye.” Laurel hung up the phone, her eyes narrowed.

  “What’s the matter?” her mother asked, coming to stand by her.

  “I think one of those women is at Zach’s house.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet, but I’ll think of something. She is not getting Zach.”

  Zach had misplaced his BlackBerry. He was lost without it, but grateful his mother had thought to call him on the house phone when she hadn’t been able to reach him on his BlackBerry. By nine the next morning, they were back home. He was barely inside the house when he heard a scream coming from upstairs.

  “Carmen!” Dropping the luggage, he hit the stairs running. He burst into her room, expecting to see her husband or some other threat, and saw her thrashing wildly on the bed. The top of the black lacy nightgown had worked its way up over her breasts. There was nothing underneath.

  He quickly crossed the room and jerked the sheet up to her neck. Sitting on the side of the bed, he reached for her arms. “Carmen, you’re having a nightmare. Wake up.” She made incoherent sounds and kept thrashing.

  “Carmen!”

  “Do you think slapping her would work?”

  Carmen jumped, her eyes flying open at the sound of his mother’s voice. She screamed again, threw her arms around his neck, and desperately clung to him. “Oh, Zach. I was so scared. It was horrible.”

  “It’s all right, Carmen.” He had to exert considerable force to pull her arms from around his neck. She must have been terrified. He quickly stood, pulling up the sheet that had slipped to her waist and handing it to her.

  She shuddered delicately, swept her tussled hair back from her face, and grasped the sheet. “Thank you.” Her voice trembled.

  “You’re safe here.”

  She touched the sheet to each eye, then looked up at him with moisture still shimmering in them. “Because you’re here. I feel safe with you.”

  “I’ll just bet you do,” his mother said.

  Zach frowned. He didn’t understand the irritated tone in his mother’s voice. She genuinely cared about people, and had known Carmen’s parents before she was born. “When you feel up to it, you can come down for breakfast. Just tell Kim, the chef, what you want.”

  “Where will you be?” Carmen asked, clutching the sheet to her, but one side slipped to reveal her breast.

  “In the studio or in my office,” he answered slowly, keeping his gaze on her face. He felt sorry for her, but he didn’t want her clinging to him or becoming dependent on him. He planned to call Shane later on that day and see what he could find out about her husband. Once they had the evidence against her abusive husband, Carmen could press charges and it would be safe for her to go home.

  “Do you mind if I join you? If it’s all right?” Twin tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. “I don’t want to be a bother.”

  He could hardly reconcile the self-assured Carmen he once thought he loved with the cowering woman on the bed. “If I’m not in my office, the housekeeper will show you where the studio is. I’ll let you get dressed.” Catching his mother’s arm, he led her out of the room.

  “She doesn’t wear very much, does she?” his mother said casually once they were in the hallway.

  Zach felt the tips of his ears burn. “I’ll get your luggage.”

  Laurel repeatedly called Zach Wednesday night, but the calls always went into voicemail. By the time she woke up the next morning she had decided to go see him. They were going to talk. She loved him. If she had to be the first one to say the words, so be it.

  True love meant trusting the other person completely. Zach wouldn’t cheat on her, but that didn’t mean another woman wouldn’t try to tempt him.

  She didn’t know who the haughty woman was who’d answered the phone the night before, but Laurel wasn’t giving her the opportunity to take Zach away from her just because she was having a few doubts at the moment.

  Leaving her bedroom, she ran down the stairs wearing the turquoise bracelet, the one earring, and the outfit she’d worn that day in Mexico when they’d seen the jewelry. “I’m coming after you, Zach.”

  The doorbell rang when she stepped off the stairs. “Mother, the car service is here. Good-bye.”

  Moments later her mother appeared at the top of the stairs with a hardback novel in her hand. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks.” Grabbing her tote bag with her white bikini inside, and her hat, she put on her sunshades and opened the door, then abruptly stopped upon seeing Paige, Dominique, and another woman she didn’t recognize. “Paige. Dominique. What are you doing here?”

  “Helping you keep Zach’s old girlfriend from sinking her sharp, conniving claws into him,” Paige answered.

  “That is, if you care,” Dominique said.

  “If not, we can leave and I can go shopping.”

  Laurel’s gaze swung from Dominique to a striking woman with long black hair who had just spoken. “And you are?”

  A smile curved her beautifully shaped lips. “Sierra Navarone.”

  “You’re the one Sabra called, the one who made it possible for me to stay at Navarone Resort and Spa?” Laurel asked.

  “Yes.”

  Laurel put on her hat. “I’ll thank you later. Right now I need to get to Zach’s house. I think Zach’s old girlfriend is already there.”

  “She is,” Paige said. “Mother called us last night when she learned Carmen was staying at Zach’s place. She thought Carmen was up to no good and wanted us to come up and make sure whatever Carmen was planning didn’t work. This morning Mother called and told us to hurry and take you over there. She’s standing guard until then.”

  “My car service is on the way.”

  Sierra grinned and started back down the stairs toward the four-door Aston Martin Rapide. “No need to wait.”

  “I’m sitting in the backseat,” Paige said. “That way I won’t have to keep my eyes closed.”

  “Take the front seat, Laurel.” Dominique got into the backseat behind Sierra. “We’ll fill you in on the way.”r />
  Laurel jumped into the front seat and buckled up. “I didn’t like it when Zach mentioned they still talked. She was stupid to give him up, but if she thinks she getting him back, I’ll snatch a crook in her neck.”

  “It seems we won’t need Mrs. Albright’s Plan B,” Sierra said as she slowed for the gate to open.

  “What’s Plan B?” Laurel asked.

  “Shane, Trent, and Blade,” Paige answered.

  “They were backup if Zach wouldn’t listen and the woman proved difficult,” Dominique explained.

  “She’s not getting Zach,” Laurel said emphatically, then added with a wry twist of her mouth, “But if she proves difficult, I think we should send in Rio.”

  Shouts of approval filled the car as Sierra drove through the gate. “Thanks for helping us,” Laurel said.

  “You’re family,” Dominique said. “We help each other.”

  Less than a quarter of a mile farther, Sierra took a curve with the barest decrease in speed. The tires gripped the road.

  Laurel looked at Sierra who wore a satisfied smile, then Paige in the backseat. “I see what you mean.”

  “I drive fast, but I never take chances. I have too much to live for. We all do.”

  Sierra held up her hand, and the women high-fived.

  Zach had a headache. The reason was sitting across from him in his office. Although he felt sorry for Carmen, he was tired of the poor-me tune she kept singing. At least she had on clothes that covered her up, although the dress was so tight he didn’t see how she was able to sit. It was a wonder the zipper all the way down the front held. He definitely planned to call Shane.

  He frowned. When he did, he planned to ask him if there was a way to locate his BlackBerry. He could have sworn he’d left it on his desk last night. He’d seen Carmen come out of his office, but she said she hadn’t seen it. He was expecting a call from the director of the Venice opera house. Laurel would have her dream, even if that dream didn’t include him.

  The doorbell rang, and his mother sprang up. She smiled for the first time since Carmen had joined them thirty minutes ago. “I’ll get it.”

  Zach picked up the phone on his desk to call the director, wishing again that he knew where his BlackBerry was. He was lost without it. He slowly put the phone down. He was lost without Laurel.

  “Zachary.”

  He glanced up, and Carmen stood in front of his desk. Taking her to a hotel today was looking better and better. “Yes?”

  She came around the side of the desk. Her perfume was a strong exotic musk. He was sure it was expensive, but he preferred Laurel’s softer, sweeter scent.

  “I can’t hold it back any longer. I wanted to wait, but then your mother came.” She put her arms around his neck. “I love you. I’ll do anything to prove it.”

  He was so startled that for a moment he couldn’t move. Reality returned when she tried to kiss him, sit on his lap. He grabbed her arms to keep her from leaning closer.

  “Anything,” she breathed, her red lips slightly parted in an open invitation.

  His grip on her arms tightened. “Carmen, what’s wrong with you?”

  “I realized my mistake. I should have accepted your proposal. We can be together.”

  He came to his feet and set her away from him in distaste. “I think you should go pack. I’ll have Toby take you to a hotel.”

  Her fingers reached for the front zipper of her dress. “I can make you change your mind?”

  “Not in a million years,” he said, fed up with her. “Go pack, or I’ll pack for you.”

  “You heard the man.”

  Zach looked over Carmen’s shoulder at the sound of Laurel’s voice to see her with Dominique, Paige, and Sierra. Love and happiness swept through him. He rushed across the room to Laurel.

  “We’ll talk later.” She stepped around him to glare at Carmen. “I don’t suppose you told Zach your husband tossed you out of the house for cheating?”

  “What?” Zach swung back around. “He didn’t abuse you?”

  “Oh, Zach,” Paige said, shaking her head at him.

  “She suckered him, just as Joann thought.” Dominique folded her arms. “Caught him at a weak moment and moved in.”

  “I bet she cried all over him,” Sierra said with a sneer. “She better be glad she wasn’t clinging to Blade that way.”

  “Trent, either.” Dominique held up her hand, and the other woman slapped it.

  “Laurel, I—” he tried again.

  “We’ll talk, but first there’s the matter of a little housecleaning.” Laurel walked to Carmen, who was seven inches taller in her heels and twenty pounds heavier. “I believe Zach told you to pack.”

  Carmen took a few steps back. “If you touch me, I’ll press charges.”

  Laurel smiled coldly. “Who do you think they’ll believe? Someone whose husband caught her in bed with a business associate and tossed her out, or four respected women?”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  Laurel got in her face. “You have three minutes to get your things and get out of this house or you’ll find out. I never shared. Not even in kindergarten.”

  Carmen stuck her nose in the air and flounced to the door. “I didn’t want him anyway. I can do better.”

  Paige and Laurel started after her. Zach caught both their arms, but the other two women looked at each other and followed her out of the door.

  “It doesn’t matter what she said or thinks,” Zach told them and then faced Laurel. “I love you. I love you. You’re probably the only person who doesn’t know it. I believed Carmen and wanted to help her, but she means nothing to me. You. Just you. It had to be you.”

  Paige cleared her throat. “Mother thought it best if she wasn’t in here. I think I’ll join her and then see if Sierra and Dominique need any help with Carmen.” Paige slipped out the door, but neither noticed.

  Laurel slid her arms around his neck. “My family knows I love you. I’ve loved you from the first.”

  “Aaaahhh.”

  Neither bothered to look up at the sound of the high-pitched scream. “I love you, but I didn’t like going out every night,” she admitted.

  “I don’t, either.” He placed his forehead on hers. “I wanted you to see how crazy it can be, to learn if you could be happy living this kind of life with me.”

  Her heart thumped, but she said, “You were testing me?”

  “I want you to be happy, even if that’s not with me.”

  Her heart melted. Her head lifted. “My mother helped me realize the media frenzy didn’t bother me as much as all the women.”

  He touched the single earring she wore. “I told you that you were the only woman for me.”

  “I guess I forgot.”

  “I’ll tell you more often so you won’t forget.” His arms tightened around her. “I’ve missed you. I couldn’t concentrate on anything.”

  “Me, too. I don’t want us to be at odds again, but Mother said that’s part of a relationship. We just have to make sure we talk and tell each other what we’re thinking and feeling.”

  “Sound advice. I was thinking today that there are a lot of great recording studios in Nashville and it’s closer to Atlanta.”

  She had to swallow before she could speak. “You’d move to Nashville?”

  His smile was tender and full of love. “Husbands and wives live together. Will you marry me?”

  Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Yes, but you’re not moving permanently to Nashville. I couldn’t be happy unless you’re happy. We’ll look at our schedules and work something out.”

  “You love touring,” he said.

  “I despise touring. I love playing before a live audience.” She kissed his lips. “But it doesn’t compare to being with you and in your arms. That’s a happiness I refuse to give up or go one day without.”

  “What about the media? The women?”

  “The media is a small price to pay to be with you. As for the women, I’ll keep you so h
appy and satisfied, you’ll be too worn out to even look at one,” she said, leaning more fully into him.

  He moaned slightly. “Works for me.”

  “In fact, I think we should go out tonight to remind people about the release party Saturday night. And if everyone can stay, we’ll have a get-together just for the family at my house Friday night. My mother and yours would love to plan a dinner party for us,” she told him.

  “You’re incredible and I’m one blessed man.” He kissed her, his mouth grazing her ear just before he put the other earring on. “Beautiful. It’s finally where it belongs.”

  “Just like I am.”

  He kissed the woman who would hold his heart forever.

  Cameras flashed, women screamed as Zach stepped out of the Bentley, then reached back inside. Smiling, Laurel emerged, grinning and waving. She leaned over and whispered to Zach. “I’ve always wanted to do the royal hand-wave thingy.”

  “It’s R.D. and Laurel Raineau!”

  “Oh, my goodness, there’s Sabra Raineau! She’s up for an Academy Award!”

  “Is that Blade Navarone? He never goes out!”

  “There’s Dominique Falcon-Masters! This is huge. Her collection of Native American black-and-white photographs are in the Smithsonian.”

  Sierra leaned over to Paige. “I guess you, Shane, Trent, Pierce, and I are nonentities.”

  Blade’s arm tightened around her waist. “No, you’re my world.”

  “Same goes.” Dominique leaned against Trent.

  Pierce kissed Sabra on the cheek as the five couples posed for pictures. “Ditto.”

  Paige laughed and said, “Ditto for me and Shane.”

  Shane laughed with her, then looked over his shoulder at the silent and watchful Rio. “Smile.”

  Rio’s expression remained stoic.

  Laurel laughed and turned to go inside the restaurant. “Let’s go eat.”

  “Ms. Raineau, what’s going on between you and Rolling Deep?”

  Laurel glanced over her shoulder at the man who’d asked the question and winked. “Be at the release party Saturday night for A Father’s Love and find out. But I will say, R.D. is a man of many talents.”