by Timms, Lexy
“That sounds like a no.” He straightened and grinned as he shrugged.
“How about a rain check?” She didn’t move. The turned-on her half hoped he would cover her with his body; the responsible half feared if she got out of the bed she would follow him to the shower.
He winked. “Like a swim tonight in the pool… or a skinny dip in the bay?”
He was killing her. All this mental imagery and they had to spend the day with strangers at a funeral. At least, they were strangers to her. “I’m looking forward to it.” She pointed at the door. “Now go. I need to get ready and you’re way too distracting.”
“So are you.” He stared at her before clapping his hands and rubbing them together. “Alrightie then. I’ll see you downstairs.” He turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
Charity collapsed on the bed and lay there a moment. It was time to stop thinking about what they would be doing tonight and focus on now. She forced herself to get up and clear her head.
Showering, blow drying her hair, straightening it, applying makeup and getting dressed took longer than she thought. She shaved while in the shower; her hair kept trying to curl instead of staying straight and trying to have her makeup look natural instead of overdone took forever.
She took one final glance in the mirror before leaving her room. She straightened her black dress and slipped on her shoes. She should have brought more jewellery. The leather on the shoulders of the dress made her neckline seem bare. It needed an antique locket or something to give it the right touch. She had forgotten to pack her mother’s necklace and the simple chain she wore would have to do.
She wiped her damp palms against her hips and made her way down the hall to the stairs. The noise and quiet laughter did not prepare her for the amount of people standing in the lobby. She squeezed the railing overlooking the floor below. From her room, she’d heard little floating up from the windows and nothing from inside the house. She couldn’t believe it. There had to be at least two hundred people just in the grand room and, looking through the large windows, the lawn between the house and water had to have triple that.
Definitely not the quiet memorial service she had envisioned. At least blending in to avoid being the stranger amongst the crowd wouldn’t be too hard. She could almost slip back into her room unnoticed…
Except she’d come for Elijah. And she couldn’t forget the New Zealand Conservation.
Scanning the faces as she walked down the stairs, she did not recognize a single face. No surprise there. Hopefully Margaret stood just outside with Elijah beside her.
At the bottom of the staircase, a large pair of wooden doors had been opened and even more people stood chatting and drinking in the large room on the left. Navy blue table clothes and blue hydrangeas sat on the tables. The massive hall should be in a rental building, not in a house. People would pay big money to host an event in there. The massive fireplaces were breathtaking and the chandeliers were miniature matches to the large one in the front entrance. Charity shook her head. She couldn’t get over the massive size of this place.
A waiter walked by and she grabbed a flute of champagne off his tray. She took a long sip and glanced around. Everyone spoke with New Zealand accents and for once, she felt too shy to speak to anyone and single herself out. She finished her drink and set the glass down on a table and took another one as another waiter came by. Slow down.
She smiled at a couple walking by her and made her way to the front door. Everyone here knew Elijah’s father and she wasn’t sure if she even knew his name. It all felt awkward.
A long line of guests stood across the lush green grass. Waiters in navy blue tuxedos served them champagne and finger snacks as they waited. Hadn’t Margaret said she wanted to do something small?
At the end of the queue Margaret and Elijah stood under a canopy tent close to the water. Charity stood undecided on the interlock. It didn’t seem right to cut in front of all these people to give her condolences so she walked to the end of the line around the side of the house. Two pretty girls stood in front of her, each holding a flute of champagne in each hand. They sized Charity up, looked at each other and giggled.
“Are you here for Elijah?” the brunette asked. She was shorter than Charity and carried a thick New Zealand accent. “I’m Tayler.” She held out her hand and laughed. “Here, have another glass. I’m on my third one, anyways.”
“Thanks. I’m Charity.” She accepted the champagne and set her empty one in the glass beside four glasses already piling up.
“Oh! You’re from America!” The curvy dark-haired girl squealed and several people turned around to stare at them. “I’m Amber.”
T and A? Charity almost burst out laughing at the synonym that went with that. It suited these two perfectly. She wondered how many young women were here to see Elijah. When was the last time the prodigal son had been home? Charity took a swig of her drink and smiled at Tayler and Amber. “Yes, I’m originally from New York. Elijah works at my father’s hospital.” Might as well play the connection card with these two. She’d be spending the next hour at least in line with them.
“Squee! Isn’t it beyond sexy that he’s a doctor now?”
Squee? How old was this girl? Or maybe her IQ was lower than her age. Charity did not want to have this kind of conversation. “Did you know…John?” John! That was his name! She needed to slow down on the champagne. Her lips had numbed and a light buzz running around her head did not involve any bees or other insect.
“He played golf with my father.” Tayler waved her hand and leaned close to Charity but didn’t bother trying to lower her voice. “I never spoke to the guy. I just want to see Elijah.”
T and A giggled. Charity tried hard to not let her eyes roll. Fifty minutes later, they had moved up the line but the conversation did not change. Quite a few people now stood behind them with more women similar to Tayler and Amber. Apparently Elijah had been quite the dynasty playboy in high school. She learned he played every sport, was an all-rounder in cricket, which then needed to be explained to her that he excelled in batting and bowling. She still had no idea but nodded her head like she knew. It wasn’t hard to figure out he’d been popular because of his personality and abilities, but also because of the money and prestige that came with his parents’ money.
Another fifty minutes passed before they finally reached the tent. A large picture of Elijah’s father stood on an easel with flowers around it. Charity hadn’t seen a picture of him and nearly stumbled when she noticed it. Elijah looked like the younger version of the man. Same bright blue eyes, strong jaw and even their laugh lines where similar. That could be Elijah in forty years.
She watched Elijah as he smiled, shook hands and hugged well wishers. He wore expensive styled clothes which seemed different to the ones she’d seen him wear back in New York. It was like the tux he’d worn to the Christmas Extravaganza; she had thought it simply belonged on him and she bet now it had some seriously expensive designer label on it. He looked quite comfortable in his surroundings. The doctor image she carried in her head seemed lost – like it didn’t belong here.
He looked up and met her gaze. She stood about ten people away and his smile made her breath catch.
“Did you see him smile at us?” Tayler elbowed Amber and the two girls giggled and started fixing their tiny dresses and touching their hair.
They didn’t see Charity point at them and give Elijah two thumbs-up the next time he looked at her. He squinted and leaned slightly to see who she pointed at. She nearly laughed out loud when Elijah’s eyes went huge followed by a you’ve-got-to-be-joking look.
“Finally!” Amber muttered when the person in front of them let go of Elijah’s hand and turned to talk to Margaret.
“Elijah!” they cried in unison and hugged. Charity half expect one leg on each of them to bend at the knee and bring their heels up towards their bums. They both gushed and chatted at the same time to him making Charity dizzy from their annoy
ing dialogue. Or it might have been from the glasses of champagne.
“Call us.” Amber slipped a piece of paper in his pants pocket and giggled as she patted his bottom. The two girls finally let go of him and walked right by Margaret, not even acknowledging her.
“Charity.” Elijah’s voice snapped her attention back to him. He hugged her tight. “You didn’t have to wait in line.”
“T and A kept me entertained.” She grinned at his raised brows and nodded beside her. “The brunette is Tayler and the dark-haired one is Amber. Apparently they met you at different times but have become fast friends. I believe at one point during our two hours together there was an offer to join their posse, but I think it’s been retracted.” She enjoyed hearing his chuckle, but stopped joking and put on a sympathetic face when the person behind her coughed purposely. “I don’t want to hold you up. I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry about your dad. I would have liked to have met him.” She reached for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you for inviting me.”
Margaret stepped close beside her son, her face appearing friendly but the fire in her voice did not go missed by Charity. She spoke quietly so only Charity and Elijah could hear. “Can you stop chitchatting with my son? Some of us have to be here till the end.”
Chapter 15
“I’m so sorry.” Charity side-shuffled so she stood in front of Margaret. “I didn’t realize… My apologies.” Had Margaret even noticed T&A walk right by her? The fierce woman probably thought it had been her holding up the line the entire time. Charity squared her shoulders and held her hand out. “My condolences with the loss of your husband.”
Margaret shook her hand. She smiled politely. “Thank you, but you never met the man. You can’t possibly commiserate or sympathize with how I feel.”
Charity blinked in surprise. Seriously? Could the woman be anymore rude to her? She’d brushed off the earlier comments and made excuses for her harshness but now, in the hot sun with a few drinks in her, she had to physically bite her lip to stop a retort she would regret. She glanced at Elijah but he was quietly chatting with an older gentleman and hadn’t heard. So she forced a tight smile as she pulled her hand out of the woman’s cool fingers. She turned and muttered, “No wonder Elijah left.”
“Excuse me?” Margaret spoke loudly. Nearly everyone in the tent area turned their heads to watch. “Did you say something?”
Cheeks burning, Charity thought quick and lied. “I said: I wonder how Elijah felt. How he feels, you know, with being so far away and losing his father.” She met Margaret’s glare and blinked innocently; meanwhile her heart pumped a furious rhythm so loud she was sure everyone could hear. Could this trip feel anymore awkward? Margaret’s Jekyll and Hyde personality seemed aimed directly at Charity. Either the woman wanted to use her as her punching bag or … Charity refused to let herself finish the thought.
Out of the corner of her eye a large white truck with a green and blue symbol on it pulled along the parking area near the grass. The New Zealand Conservation had arrived. She spoke quietly, not sure if Margaret would be angry if she gave the “secret” away. “The endangered birds have arrived. Why don’t I go speak with them and see where a good spot for their release will be?”
“Yes, check with them. Tell them we’ll be ready in about an hour or so.”
The way she spoke made Charity feel like someone hired to set this up. She walked over to the tall, thin driver who had already gotten out of the truck and had opened the back doors of the trailer. It took a bit to get to the parking area from the tent.
“Hi, I’m Charity Thompson.” She held out her hand. The man wore a tag on his shirt that read Bobby. “I’m the one who called you guys and set this all up.”
Bobby smiled and shook her hand vigorously. “Cool. These guys are ready to get out of this heat cabin and off into the wild.” He glanced across the lawn and gave a low whistle. “They said this place was a palace. Man, they were right.”
Charity laughed. “I thought the same thing when I got here.”
“You American?”
She nodded. The smell coming from inside the van wafted over with the breeze. She crinkled her nose. “I was thinking it would be cool to release them on the beach and let them fly over the water.”
Bobby laughed. “You sure are American. Kiwi don’t fly, sweetie. These little suckers just run, like an ostrich. ‘Cept loads smaller.”
Could this day get any worse? How in the world had she not known that? So they would be releasing basically brown, rodent size birds which were going to run around the grass until they found somewhere to hide. Margaret was going to love this special send off for her dearly departed husband.
“Mrs. Bennet would like to do the release in about an hour if that’s alright. She had mentioned to do it along the beach but if you have another suggestion?”
Bobby shook his head. “We can’t keep these guys in here for an hour. They’ll be cooked kiwi in this heat.”
“No, we can’t have that.” Crap! What was she going to do? Disappear. The thought hit her and as much as she wished to just not be here, it wouldn’t work. “Let me go down to Mrs. Bennet’s son and see what he thinks.”
“Sure, I’ll start getting all my gear out. They’ve all been tagged but I need to make sure their chips are working and all the data’s coming in.”
His comment just flew right over the top of her head. “Sure.” She jogged back over to the tent and tapped Elijah on the shoulder from behind.
He glanced back.
She began cracking her knuckles. “Do you mind helping me for a moment?”
She must have had a worried look on her face because Elijah didn’t hesitate. “Sure.” He stepped back and brought her around the back of the tent. “What’s up?”
Charity began walking back to the Conservation truck. She moved quickly. “Did you know kiwi can’t fly?”
Elijah snorted. “Uh, yeah. Everyone knows that.” He grabbed her elbow to slow her rapid pace. “Sorry, people from New Zealand know. Relax Charity, it’s no big deal.”
She blew her bangs away from her face. “It’s no big deal? You’re freakin’ mother hates me, half the women here you’ve slept with, and I’m about to have little ugly brown birds released onto your property in memory of your father! Twenty-five wingless things your mother is going to so enjoy. They can never fly away so she’ll always be reminded of what a mess I made of this day.” She shook her head and huffed. “I should never have come! Such a stupid idea.”
“Why do you care what my hard-ass mother thinks?” Elijah’s brows furrowed together. “Even if you released a hundred flamingos that did a dance and spelled out my father’s name, she’d still find a reason to complain. That’s who she is. The kiwi are a really neat idea. My dad would have liked it – isn’t that the reason you did it?” He forced a short breath through his nose. “And I didn’t invite these people to come!”
“Oh, so your mother invited them? She knows everyone you’ve slept with? Or it’s probably not that hard to figure out… just look for every pretty girl in New Zealand.” She’d gone too far. She knew it but couldn’t take the words back. The frustration from her own mistake on not reading up on the birds and just going after whatever sounded good was her fault, not his. Who he slept with before meeting her was also not something she should be judging or exaggerating. Especially not today.
Elijah’s lips tightened and his jaw muscles twitched. “Release the damn things! Just get it over with.” He spun around and stomped away.
She sighed, and let her shoulders fall as she dropped her head into her hands. Ahhh crap. She wanted to find a rock and crawl underneath it.
“Ma’am?” Bobby came up beside her, holding four cages. “I apologize if this is a tough time. Where would you like me to set the birds? I’ve a remote which will open all the cages at the same time so the kiwis can exit altogether. It’s really quite remarkable how they will run and start to pair off immediately. Shall I find
a spot?”
The man spoke so sincerely, it made Charity feel worse. He mistook her posture for grieving. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Bobby walked behind the tent and around to the area where the trees came close to the water on the property. She watched him make four trips back and forth from the truck to the grass area.
Margaret came up silently beside her. “I guess your true colors are showing.”
Charity swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m so sorry, I…” She’d misunderstood. Margaret was so casually cruel it took a moment for her words to sink in before Charity realized what she had meant. She stared at Bobby bringing the last cages over. “I apologize that you didn’t want me here. Your son is a great doctor and a very nice guy. My father does not give praise out easy and he hired Elijah as chief to take over his hospital. He wouldn’t give that job to just anybody.” She thought back to the day she said goodbye to her mother and how hard today must be for Elijah. “I’m going to head back to the house and pack my things. I’ll call a taxi and switch my flight. Please tell Elijah I’m sorry.”
“Don’t call a taxi.”
Charity’s breath caught.
“I’ll have Albert bring you to the ferry. Meet him ‘round the back in fifteen minutes.”
“Th-Thanks.” She didn’t know what else to say and wasn’t sure she could hold back the tears much longer. Charity slipped back into the house and collected her things. The grand room stood empty when she came back carrying her suitcase and bag. Through the windows and across the lawn, people had gathered by the birds. She couldn’t watch and quickly made her way through the kitchen to the back of the house.
Albert stood waiting by a little silver car. He didn’t say a word as he loaded her things into the back. They drove down the lane and off the property. When he turned onto a main road he glanced at her. “Everything alright back home? I thought you weren’t heading back for another two days. Elijah mentioned he wanted to take you to our place for dinner and show you around the island.”
