Undeniably His

by Amanda Chayse

  Lauren and Peter sit on the couch across from me in the living room, and I tuck wet strands of hair behind my ears that are still drying from my shower.

  “How was the hike?” I ask.

  “What a hiking trail. So many beautiful birds,” Lauren says with excitement.

  “We saw eagles hunting by the bay, and we spotted a nest of eastern bluebirds.” Peter smiles and leans back. “What a beautiful place.”

  “What a beautiful sound. Do you get to wake up to these beautiful songbirds?” Lauren asks me.

  “I wish. I usually wake up to the sound of a fire engine blaring in my ear, or an ambulance, or the ugly snort of a diesel truck,” I chuckle. “I live downtown with my roommate Lia. Our lives are nothing like you see here.”

  “This must be quite a change,” Lauren adds.

  “It is. It’s so beautiful, and so peaceful,” I emphasize.

  “Have you seen the beautiful flowers?” Lauren asks with excitement. “The azaleas and rhododendrons are all over the place here. It’s so beautiful.”

  “And the sweet smell,” I rave. “It really is beautiful. Everything is better. The air, the sounds, the sweet smell of the flowers, the view, the food. It makes me realize…”

  “What dear?” Lauren asks.

  “Oh, it’s just…people want this. They’ll do anything to have it.” I feel my face downturn and my eyes shift to the floor.

  “Some earn it, and some steal it. Kalin earned it, and now others want to take it from him.” Peter grimaces.

  Kalin returns from his phone call. He sucks in a breath and rubs his eyes.

  “What is it?”

  “Atkinson managed to get the search warrant expedited. He not only showed probable cause that a crime may have been committed, but that lives are still in danger based on submitted affidavits from the first time Lia was injured, to the police report regarding the wrecked SUV. The search warrant was issued forty minutes ago. The police entered the lot listed on the warrant at ProEast Energy.” Kalin turns his head to me. “They found a truck matching the description you gave. The front was disassembled. None of the pieces involved with the crash were found. But police took small plastic fragments from the garage floor in for analysis.”

  Kalin takes a deep breath. “These could be the fragments from the front headlight protector they removed. It’s the part of the truck that would have hit the SUV. The inspectors are taking the fragments to the lab to compare with fragments left in the SUV.”

  I press off the couch and sit up with excitement. Kalin gestures with his index finger to emphasize the point. “It’s just a small piece. But it may be all we need to match the SUV with the truck.”

  Chapter Twenty Two

  “Kalin, that’s wonderful!” I can’t stop the grin spreading across my face as I jump off the couch and hug him.

  Kalin glances down at me and smiles. “The police think they were stripping the truck, one piece at a time, right under our noses.” Kalin turns toward his dad. “It was in the lot just like you said, Dad. Hidden in a garage and stripped. We still don’t know where the rest of the truck is, but we may not need it.”

  “Hopefully the arrest warrants come next.” Peter says.

  “If the fragments are a match, we have the bastards. All we need is evidence of the driver, and who ordered him to carry it out. From generous employment contracts, to expensive medical treatments, it’s pretty clear managers were paying Dale for something. If his DNA is anywhere on the truck, we have him too.”

  “What if he just says he worked at the company, and so he drove the truck?” I ask.

  “He better have a good record of it. They keep logs of which truck is going out to which driver. I’d be very surprised if they could produce a log of that particular truck assigned to Dale. After all, he drove his own truck on those fracking projects. We just have to wait and see what the forensic tests show for the fragments.”

  “Oh, my, God, Kalin. That’s incredible,” I say.

  “I think they were backed into a corner. Atkinson said the police had already notified collision and body shops in the area to be on the lookout for a truck matching the description and damage which we provided to them. It’s not easy to casually get a twenty-thousand-pound big rig repaired undetected. There are only so many places they can go, and their only choice was to keep it on the lot.”

  “Why didn’t they destroy it at a junk yard?” I ask.

  “Salvage yards were also notified of the truck’s description with the likely damage done to it, so it would have been better to just stay low, and try and remove the bumper and other parts. But one fragment is all it takes.”

  “And all this time I thought they weren’t doing anything,” I chuckle.

  “Honestly, it took some coaxing, Annabelle. I don’t think we would have gotten this far without Atkinson. He kept the police updated, expedited the search warrant based on the evidence, and contacted the media and reminded them of their…options. They will have a new story to print now,” he snarls. “This is cause for a celebration. Mom, Dad, you haven’t even been on my yacht. It’s such a beautiful day. Why don’t we take it out for a spin in the ocean?”

  “That sounds like quite a treat. I wasn’t expecting all of this,” Lauren says excitedly.

  “I use it so much for clients. It’s time we live a little.”

  “Especially since you’re still alive,” I say with a soft stroke of my hand over his jaw. Kalin clasps my wrist. “Since we’re both alive.” Kalin kisses my knuckle and turns to his parents. “Put on your best sailing gear. It should be warm most of the day.” Kalin slides his finger across his cell phone screen. “Eighty-two degrees, with a gentle breeze from the southwest. Perfect.”

  “Uh oh, he’s already going into skipper mode,” I snicker.

  “I usually have my crew operate this boat. Although she accommodates a crew of sixteen, today it’s just us.”

  “Are you sure, Kalin?” Peter asks.

  “I’m fully licensed,” Kalin says with a comforting smile. “We just need to make some lunch first. Annabelle, what do you say we make some sandwiches?”

  “Sure.”

  “Oh, let me help you, dear,” Lauren insists.

  “No, Mom. This is for you. This is for you and Dad.”

  “It’s such a beautiful yacht. I’ve never been on a yacht,” Peter confesses.

  “Me neither,” Lauren and I say together, causing us to break out in laughter.

  “That’s about to change,” Kalin says with a glint of anticipation.

  “We certainly have much to celebrate,” Peter says.

  I watch them interact. Kalin and Peter are about the same height at six feet two, and Peter’s thick, wavy hair is grayer. They are so much alike, but have lived very different lives. Peter and Lauren married shortly after college, and have been married for over thirty years now. Kalin fell in love, became insanely rich, and then lost the one person who he was madly in love with. I knew he would give every penny he had to have Rebecca back. In all of his pain, he never stopped believing in people or in himself. After everything that has happened, it is the most remarkable thing about him.

  I watch his parents smiling and laughing appreciatively with him, and wonder if that’s where his undying faith in love comes from. Or maybe some people are just born with something that keeps them above it all, like a buoy that cannot be pressed underwater for too long, believing against all odds in something better an upside-down world, and Kalin just happens to be one of them.

  “Annabelle, we have some sandwiches to make before our excursion.” Kalin reaches into the fridge and grabs two bottles of lemon ginger sparkling water and hands them to his parents. “Please just enjoy the house. There are gardens in the back, a deck, library, rec room. Anything you want. Leave the lunch to us.”

  With soft expressions, they thank Kalin and he watches his parents make their way to the view of the gardens on the spacious deck. Peter pulls a chair out for Lauren, and Kalin smiles
as Peter sits next to her and places his arm around her.

  Kalin turns back to me, washes his hands and grabs an assortment of vegetables and confit from the fridge. It suddenly dawns on me that Kalin is setting up some alone time for us to talk.

  “Your parents look like they’re still in love after all this time. It’s amazing.” I take some of the veggies from Kalin, set them on the counter, and begin to slice and dice.

  “Yeah. It seems they were made for each other, if you believe in that sort of thing.”

  “Do you?”

  Kalin shrugs. “It seems like it happened with them. Not sure if that means it happens for everyone.”

  “Were you in love with Madison?” I blurt out, somewhat surprised at my sudden boldness.

  Kalin slices up a tomato like he knows what he’s doing, and then sprinkles some seasoning over the diced-up pile. “I was hurting at the time, Annabelle. I just needed someone. Madison has a big heart. She was there for me.”

  “We’re you in love?”

  Kalin stops what he’s doing and turns to me. His expression is solemn. “I was too hurt to fall in love. I wasn’t even capable of it. In many ways, it was unfair to her.”

  “Was she in love with you?” I peer up at him, surprised at my insistence but pleased that I am taking this opportunity to ask.

  “She was there for me, Annabelle. You have to understand I was still sorting through my feelings. I couldn’t mix the love I was feeling for Rebecca up with the affection I was feeling for Madison. She was there for me, but I had to step away from it and sort everything out before we became too serious. She understood that. She understood what I was going through, and I will always be grateful to her for that.”

  “How do you know the difference?” I ask.

  “Between what?”

  “Affection and love?”

  Kalin lets out a slow breath and stares at the counter for a moment. “Annabelle, don’t you know what love feels like?”

  “I’ve never been in love before, Kalin. I mean, I never knew what it was.”

  “How about now?”

  “I guess that’s why it’s scary. With you I feel something I’ve never felt. But I don’t want to find out I’m just another notch, another bump in the road.”

  “Is that what you think this is?” Kalin turns to me. There is pain in his expression that tears at my heart. “Maybe you’re the cynic, Annabelle. Maybe you don’t believe in love even when it’s right in front of you?”

  I feel tears well up in my eyes, and I try to fight them off. “That’s not fair. I never said I didn’t love you, Kalin.”

  “Then what is it?”

  I take a breath and find myself searching for the reasons for my doubt. “I’m afraid I won’t measure up. I’m afraid of what you had, Kalin. Real love. With Rebecca. And maybe even Madison. And I wonder if I can ever measure up to that. It was so deep. It was so real.” I feel a tear stream down my face, and Kalin turns to me, and presses his large hands on my shoulders.

  “Annabelle, don’t ever say that. Don’t ever say you can’t measure up. What I had with Rebecca will always be a part of me. It will never die. But you can’t compare yourself to her or anyone else. I love you for who you are, not because you remind me of someone.”

  “I thought it was because you wanted a part of her back, and I could never be that to you.” I wipe my eyes and Kalin wraps his arms around me.

  “No, sweetheart. Shhh. I love you for you. Not because I see someone else in you.” I sniffle on his sleeve, and Kalin pulls me back. “Do you understand?”

  I glance down and wipe the tears from my eyes, and Kalin lifts my chin with his finger. “Do you know that I love you for you?”

  I shake my head and only manage to choke back a sob, and Kalin hands me a tissue from the kitchen counter. I dab my eyes, and glance up at him. “How is it that I deserve any of this? How is it that I deserve you?” I glance down and pat my nose with the tissue. “I guess it seems too good to be true sometimes, and I think I’m going to wake up one day and you won’t be here,” I sniffle, staring at the floor. I lift my eyes to meet his. “All that will be left are my foolish dreams that this was for me.”

  My eyes drift down, and Kalin lifts my chin again so that my eyes meet his. His eyes are warm and inviting, and that irresistible smile plays across his lips. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. And yes, this is real. What we have is as real as anything I have ever felt.” He presses his forehead to mine, and I am lost in the depth of his love and warmth of his eyes. His strong hands caress my shoulders, and the tension in my body gives way to the warmth of his touch. The words leap out of my throat before I can hold them back. “I do love you, Kalin. I have never been in love before…until I met you. And it scared me. I just wanted to know that I wasn’t going to lose you. With everything that’s happened, it scared me even more.”

  “Well I’m still here, aren’t I?”

  I wind my arms around him and smile up at him. “Yes.”

  “No one is going to take me from you, Annabelle. Certainly not these lowlifes.”

  “Kalin?”

  “Yes. What is it?” His eyes are warm with concern.

  “What about Madison? Why did the reporter say it was Madison?”

  Kalin turns from me and runs his hand over his neck.

  “Madison didn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “How do you know?” I ask.

  “Because I know Madison. They gave the paper her name to cover for themselves.”

  “What if she’s still in love with you?”

  “Whether she is or not, she would never do that. I know her too well. The board, on the other hand, may use our relationship against her. Madison knew I was vulnerable, and she was there for me. And I will always be there for her. But I’m not in love with her. I’m in love with you, Annabelle.”

  The words wash over me like sunlight after a rainstorm, and any remaining resistance that I feel evaporates. I turn to Kalin and rush into his arms. Kalin laughs, and picks me up by my behind, probing my eyes with his. “If that is all it took, I would have said that a long time ago,” he says with a husky whisper.

  “You did. I just wasn’t listening,” I whisper back. His lips claim me with the familiar strength and fiery possession that I have come to know, and I can no longer resist what I have been feeling. I close my eyes and tip my head back, letting him have all of me this time. Kalin sets me down and threads his fingers through my hair, tilting his head and searching my eyes. He presses his lips to the curve of my neck, and I sigh and let my head fall back to expose my skin to his wandering mouth. Every lick, nibble, and kiss from his hungry mouth sends a wave of heat over me. Kalin licks my bottom lip like he’s tasting me for the first time. He presses his mouth over mine, and his tongue moves inside of my mouth to send another wave of heat that bathes my body in the warm wetness of his kiss.

  Kalin pulls back from me and shakes his head. “I should know better by now that I cannot just kiss you once without wanting more of you.”

  His expression turns somber and his hands move to my waist. “We have to be there for her, Annabelle. They are trying to set her up.”

  My eyes meet his and I feel my face tighten. “Madison?”

  “Yes. They’re going to try and use what we had against her. We can’t let them do it. We have to stay together on this.”

  “How would they use it against her?”

  Kalin curls his lips. “They’ll make it appear that she was hurt, or jilted. The fact is, we shared something special and moved on. I need you to know in case they try and pit us against each other.”

  “Okay.”

  “Really?” he asks with raised brows.

  “Yes. I wouldn’t want Madison to get hurt. I just had to be sure.”

  Kalin plants a kiss on my forehead and pulls me to him. “We have to look out for each other now until these guys are in jail. You will have to trust me now.”

  “I do.” I smile up at him,
and his mouth claims mine with another delicious kiss.

  Feeling like the cloud of uncertainty has cleared, Kalin and I get back to preparing lunch for the cruise. We prepare a mix of sandwiches with honey rolls and French baguettes with brie cheese, sweet onion confit, tomatoes, lettuce, and a sprinkle of walnuts. We place them into a cooler bag and check on Peter and Lauren, who are enjoying the lush landscape, songbirds, and scenery.

  “All aboard. New Beginnings sails in five minutes,” Kalin shouts from the kitchen.

  We gather the lunch and head out with Peter and Lauren to the yacht docked in the bay. Kalin uses a remote to extend the hydraulic boarding stairs from the rear deck to the dock. He proceeds to gives Peter and Lauren their first tour of the yacht that he purchased shortly after the house, after he returned from Europe.

  “She’s sixty meters, with modern features including a visual entertainment center, WiFi, and even a gym. Anything we can do in an office, we can do in here,” he says with a pleased smile.

  Kalin leads us to the deck, draws the anchor in and begins to course the yacht through the bay. “She is built with a steel hull and aluminum superstructure complete with an ultra-modern stabilization system that reduces motion. It is perfect if you get seasick.” He glances at his mom and smiles.

  “I don’t feel a thing,” Lauren acknowledges.

  “The place was ransacked several weeks ago before the accident,” I blurt out.

  Lauren and Peter glance at each other. “Do these assholes ever stop?” Peter scowls.

  “Soon, Dad. That’s what we’re celebrating.” Kalin steers the yacht through the bay, and we admire the view with content smiles as the warm breeze caresses our skin.

  “You know you could make a fortune chartering this boat, Kalin.” Peter laughs.

  “We use it mainly to woo clients, Dad. The clients we seek are worth a lot more than this boat, which is worth about forty-one million dollars.”

  “Don’t tell me what you do on this boat to get them to sign on, Kalin,” Peter jests while smiling at Lauren.