And although it would have been normal for them, in elation and relief, to hug or shout or do a cartwheel, they did not. Instead, they stared at one another across the discarded steak and potato dinner in a kind of shock. Finally, Bella spoke. “What the hell just happened?”
“I don’t know but I wish he’d adopt me.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Peter dropped her off at the set less than thirty minutes later. As she suspected, they hadn’t yet started to film. They did only four takes of the scene and the minute they were done, Bella left, leaving Gennie and Cleo behind to watch the dailies. By the time she arrived at her brother’s, Ben, Peter, and Drake were sprawled on the couches in the front room with their feet on the coffee table. There was a roaring fire in the stone fireplace and several bottles of wine open. When he saw her, Ben stood, his face twisting with emotion. He came to her and brought her into his arms, lifting her off her feet and holding her tight against him. “Bella, I missed you.”
He smelled as he always did; she breathed in his scent, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I missed you too.”
Peter motioned for them to sit. “Bella, have a glass of wine. I just heard from Hayes.”
After they’d met with the Hayes, Hough, his lawyer at his side, was brought into the LAPD and questioned. He confessed rather quickly to, as he put it, “Sleeping with Tiffany. She liked it rough.” And yes, he’d gone to scare her, to put a stop to the blackmail scheme. When she opened the door of her room at a little after one in the morning, disheveled and still somewhat out of it, he’d pushed her inside and told her the reason for his visit. She denied the blackmail, saying she had no idea what he was talking about. She pretended to know nothing about the client book and told him she was broke. “I have the almost-empty bank accounts to prove it. If I’m blackmailing you, then where’s the money?”
During questioning, he’d become agitated at this point. “I just wanted the little bitch to own up to what she’d done and I had my ways of getting her to confess. What started out as a little physical intimidation turned into hot, rough sex. She liked it that way and so do I. Is this a crime? Not in my experience.”
Given the bruising and tearing, though, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind, according to Peter, that it was anything other than rape.
Regardless, Hough would not admit to killing her. He told them he’d torn the room apart looking for the book but adamantly denied murdering her, saying he left her a little before two o’clock in the morning, very much alive.
His brother, Carrot Cop, was also brought in for questioning and immediately admitted to pinning the entire thing on Ben Fleck in order to protect his brother. Peter said Hayes told him it was pitiful the way he gave in so quickly. “I just wanted to help my brother,” Carrot Cop said. “So he’d finally respect me.”
And just as it had begun in an instant, so it was done. Ben was free of suspicion. “This is really over?” Bella asked Peter.
“At least as far as Ben’s concerned. Proving Hough killed her may or may not be easy.” Peter smiled. “But it’s no longer our problem.”
“Ben, it’s done.” Bella held his hand and put her head on his shoulder. He was home where he belonged.
“Tonight, we celebrate,” declared Annie, bringing in a plate of appetizers. “I’ll invite everyone over and make whatever you want to eat, Ben.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Coq au Vin.”
“Done,” said Annie, hugging him. “I’m so happy this is over.”
“So am I,” he said, making eye contact with Bella. His eyes were laughing.
That night, the gang gathered once again around the long table in Drake’s dining room. Besides the immediate family and their houseguests, in attendance were: Tommy and Lee, Peter and Cleo, Ellen and Verle, Alder and Ellie-Rose, Mike and Sharon, Linus and his boyfriend John, Cindi, and Gennie and Stefan. Everyone talked and laughed. To Bella it felt as if nothing could possibly ever bother any of them again. Ben was free.
Before they began the first course, Ben rose to his feet, tapping his glass with a spoon. “I don’t know what to say in way of thanks, really, to any of you. I’d be facing a long trial if it weren’t for you all. I’m not sure why you all believed in my innocence without knowing me better than you do. But I’m grateful. Especially to Peter and Bella, obviously. Knowing how easily I could have lost everything that mattered to me brings everything into crystal clarity. Who I am. What I want. How grateful I am for my life, for freedom, for all of you.” He held up his glass. “To freedom. To friends. To life.” They all toasted, the table exploding with voices and laughter. Then, Ben set his glass on the table, wiped his eyes with the cloth napkin and reached inside his jacket pocket. “I have one more thing I want to say before we dig into Annie’s amazing food.” In his hand was a small blue box. Bella stared at him, her heart pounding against the fabric of her blouse.
He went down on one knee. “Bella.” He choked, tears filling his eyes. “Dammit, I can get through this.”
Bella put her hands to her mouth, afraid to breathe.
“Bella Webber, I feel as if we lived a lifetime together the last week. You proved to me I can count on you during the worst of times. No one has ever gotten me like you have. There is no one I’d rather spend time with. From the moment I met you last summer traipsing around here in your bathing suit I have loved you. Everything’s brighter with you in it. My life makes sense with you in it. Will you give me the chance to spend the rest of my life trying to give you the best of times? Will you marry me?”
She couldn’t see through her tears. She nodded and whispered, “Yes.” He slipped the ring on her finger. The diamond was a blur of light. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Around them the room was loud with shouts and claps but it was nothing but a dull roar in her ears because it was only Ben and this moment. Destiny, she thought. This was her destiny.
“Do you like the diamond?” he said into her ear.
She spoke quietly, wanting the moment to be just between the two of them. “Can’t see a thing, you’ve got me crying so much.” She removed her arms from around his neck and held up her hand. It was princess cut and seemed enormous on her small hand. “It’s beautiful. But I could care less about the ring as long as I have you.”
“I know. But it’s important to me. I want the world to know how proud I am you decided to spend your life with a schmuck like me.”
“Can we live part of the time in Venice and part of the time here?” She would propose her idea of renting Lee Tucker’s farmhouse later.
“I will follow you wherever you go,” he said, pulling her close.
By the time they turned back to the rest of the table, Annie and Gennie were already planning the wedding. “I’m thinking here in June. Or do you want a church wedding?” Annie asked them. “Ben, we’ll have to invite your parents down for a visit. They should get to know us before the big day.”
“We should have a weekend in Portland for the bachelorette party,” said Ellen. “You know, stay in a fancy hotel and go out for, what do you call them, the pink drink, you know, Cindi.”
“Cosmopolitans?” asked Cindi.
Ellen snapped her fingers. “Yes, that’s it.”
Gennie waved her salad fork in the air. “We could have the wedding at my place in Malibu. Looks right out to the ocean, which is Bella’s special place.” She turned to Bella. “How big do you want this to be? Just us?” She indicated the room with a sweep of her hand. “Or big? Ben, what’s your family like? Will your mother want to invite a lot of people?”
Ben grimaced. “I think my mother’s still scarred from the wedding that never happened. I don’t think they’ll care one way or another.”
“Small,” said Bella. “Just us and Ben’s family.”
Gennie seemed not to hear her, pulling out her cell phone. “I’ll text Rico right this minute.” She turned back to Annie, holding her phone in the air as if it were evidence. “He’s my party planner.
An absolute genius. What date should I tell him?” She pushed a button on her phone. “Here’s the calendar for June. A Saturday? Like June seventh or fourteenth? Which do you prefer?”
“There’s my place up north in B.C., too, Bellalicious,” said Stefan. “In the woods. Very quiet and serene.” He gazed at Gennie with hooded eyes. “Gennie, you’ve been to B.C. Isn’t it beautiful there?” He said it, Bella could swear, like he was asking her to go there with him. Oh, Stefan, play it cool, she told him silently.
Gennie nodded as she texted something into her phone. “I love B.C. Gorgeous place for a wedding. And Rico could plan it anywhere. Whatever Bella wants. I’m paying for everything.”
“That’s my job,” said Drake. “No offense but the one who walks her down the aisle is also the one to pay.”
“And sorry, Gennie, but I’m planning this wedding,” said Linus, looking uncharacteristically flustered. “Bella belongs to us now. And I think we should have it at the inn. We could make the lobby into the perfect location for the ceremony. White chairs. Rose petals.”
“Me flower girl,” said Ellie-Rose, poking into her chest with her thumb.
“How do you know about that?” asked Alder before glancing at Lee. “She’s getting way too smart.”
“That’s what we think about you.” Drake chuckled.
“We can have the reception at Riversong,” said Lee, her eyes dancing. “Annie, we could do a formal sit-down if it’s a small wedding.”
“Our band will play, Bella, if that’s what you want. Or not.” Tommy looked sheepish for a moment. “Whatever you want, of course.”
“Me flower girl,” repeated Ellie-Rose, biting into a cherry tomato.
Gennie was flushed. “Linus, Bella will always belong with me. She’s my best friend. We’ve known one another for over ten years. I should get to plan her wedding if I want to. Or, if she wants me to.” Her eyes brimmed with tears.
Mike, very mayor-like in his diplomacy, cleared his throat and leaned forward in his chair. “Of course she belongs to you, Gennie, just as she belongs to us, and the Webbers here, and to Ben. We all love her, just as we love you and Stefan. Loving one another means we belong to one another. We’re like family here and that means sometimes we fight over what we think is best.”
“Sorry, Linus,” said Gennie, wiping tears from her eyes. “I guess I got carried away.”
“No, I’m sorry, sweetheart. I get a little territorial about events.” Linus picked up his wine glass. “Truce?”
“Truce,” said Gennie. She put her head on Stefan’s shoulder for a second before appearing to realize what she’d done and straightening in her chair.
“Bella, honey, whatever you want is what we’ll do,” said Sharon, with a glance of pure adoration at her husband.
“I think she wants a big wedding. Huge. Major guest list with all of Hollywood invited,” said Peter.
“Laugh it up, Ball.” Bella gave him the middle finger. He laughed and toasted her with his wineglass. “Ben and I will talk about it and let you all know what we decide. Now, let’s eat, drink, and be merry,” said Bella.
She hadn’t seen Drake leave the table but he’d come back with three bottles of champagne and some sparkling apple cider. “Let’s have a toast to my sister’s engagement.” He handed a bottle each to Ben, Linus, and Tommy. “Open them up, boys.”
“Let’s get this party started,” said Alder, pouring a glass of the cider for Ellie-Rose and then one for Annie. “Sorry, Mom, but you’ve got to stay off the sauce until the baby comes.”
“What did you say?” Annie, mouth slightly open, stared at her son.
“Come on, Mom, I wasn’t born yesterday. There’s only one reason you wouldn’t be imbibing at a dinner party, especially one where your friend has just learned he no longer faces incarceration for a crime he didn’t commit. Not to mention you’ve been tired and sick. Totally knocked up.”
“Don’t call it that, my goodness,” said Lee, trying to look stern, but the sides of her mouth twitched.
Annie continued to stare at him, obviously at a loss for words.
Drake smiled, his eyes darting first to Annie and then to Alder. “Yep, you’re going to be a big brother. What do you think of that?”
“I think I already feel like one with munchkin here.” He put his hand on top of Ellie-Rose’s strawberry blond curls. “So I’m prepared and ready for service.”
“What I want to know is how you know the word imbibing,” said Tommy.
“From a book, of course,” said Alder. “This is why it’s important to be well-read. Right, Dad?”
“That’s right,” said Drake, laughing. “One of the reasons, anyway.”
“We’ll teach the baby that too,” said Alder, looking over at his mother. “Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried.” Annie was gazing at her son with so much love it caused Bella’s chest to ache. The love one felt for their child was like no other. This is how her mother had loved her. Someday she would love her own child this way. She glanced at her brother as he leaned toward his wife, brushing a curl from her forehead. Bella looked away, swallowing the lump in her throat. This ordinary gesture of love was extraordinary given Drake’s losses. The unimaginable pain that came from loving a daughter and losing her was too much to bear for any father. And yet he continued forward, choosing to live, to love again, to laugh, to participate in the ordinary cadence of life, eating and drinking and taking a shower and tending roses, despite the gaping hole. Surely this was the greatest act of courage? And to create a new life, a new child, with what remained of your torn, tattered heart? Surely this was the essence of hope. Surely it was a whisper of light in the dark night. Yes, we go on, we live, despite our sufferings.
Bella spoke quietly in her future husband’s ear. “I don’t want to wait to marry you. I don’t want to waste another moment. I’m thinking Vegas. Eloping.”
He chuckled. “Really?”
“Maybe.”
He sobered, looking into her eyes while holding her chin with the tips of his fingers. “But whatever you want, whenever you want. I’m here. For the rest of your life.”
Chapter 17
The next day on set Bella was starving. Apparently her appetite had returned intact. She filled her plate with two sandwiches, chips, and a diet soda and grabbed a Caesar with chicken for Genevieve. Holding onto the food with one hand, she knocked on Gennie’s trailer door with the other. “Come in,” she heard Gennie call.
“I brought you salad.” She tossed it all onto the table and looked over at her friend. “And don’t tell me no. You need to eat something or you’ll never get through the rest of the shoot.”
Genevieve was sitting cross-legged on the small bed near the back of the trailer, with the script in her lap. Her makeup was smeared and her eyes were red. Had she been crying? “I’m not hungry.”
“I don’t care. Just eat some of the chicken at least. You need protein.”
Genevieve stood, stretching her arms over her head. “Okay.”
Bella pointed to one of the chairs at the small table. “Sit. Eat. Then I’ll fix your makeup.”
Genevieve picked at the chicken, finally taking several bites before pushing it away. “I’ll eat afterward. I feel sick.”
“Were you crying?”
“I guess.”
“Is it nerves?”
“That, and Tiffany. I know it’s silly since I hardly knew her but I can’t stop thinking about her last moments. The rape, that is.”
Bella sighed. “He’s a monster. Sounds like he always was, according to Lee.”
“Here’s what I don’t understand though. If he went up there to kill her, to keep her from blackmailing him, why would he rape her first?”
“Power, maybe? Punishment? I don’t know. Who can understand someone like that?”
Genevieve shuddered, as violently as Bella had ever seen someone do. She took her friend’s small hands. They were like ice. “Don’t think about this right no
w. You have an intense scene to film. Just focus on that, okay?”
“God, I hate these love scenes.”
“But Stefan will take care of you. It’ll be all right.”
After she coaxed Genevieve to eat a few more bites of chicken, she pulled out her makeup kit and began repairing her face. She reapplied foundation, patting the area around her friend’s eyes gently so as not to hurt the area, probably tender after crying.
There was a rap on the trailer door. “You want me to see who it is?” asked Bella.
“That would be nice. I don’t really feel like talking to anyone right now. Except you.”
It was Stefan. He carried a bouquet of flowers in his arms. “Hey Bellalicious.”
“For me?” she teased, motioning for him to follow her back down the steps to the wet ground below.
“Well, I should’ve gotten you some as well, now you say that,” he said, following her. His face was dark, unusually serious.
“I’m just teasing. Walk with me for a minute?”
“Sure.”
They strolled toward the house, where the crew was busy setting up for the interior shot. The love scene. Forbidden love. Never goes out of style, thought Bella.
“Stefan, she’s having a tough day. She’s a wreck over the scene. I found her crying just now.”
He flinched. “I figured as much. I’ve been worried about her. I tried to call her earlier but she didn’t answer the phone. It’s awful, really, even for me. But she’s, well, she’s sensitive and hates to be touched. Isn’t that right?” He paused, looking Bella in the eyes. “There’s something more to it, I know that. Something from her past.”
If he only knew what had caused Gennie’s marriage to fail. She averted her eyes, lest she give away too much information.
The River Valley Series Page 77
