Deadly Payoff

by Valerie Hansen

  Pacing, the plotter took care to keep from making too much noise. It would be nice to be able to shout, to throw things, to take aggression out on the surroundings. That wouldn’t do, of course. There were images to preserve, personas to maintain at all costs. Their importance went beyond any individual desires.

  Soon, it will be over. Soon, I’ll be done with all of this. Then they’ll all know the truth and they can thank me. It took a lot of courage to do what I’ve done so far. Courage and brains. But love will win out. It must. I’ll see to it.

  FIFTEEN

  Shaun was restless and perplexed beyond anything he’d ever experienced. He’d tried to hide his feelings from his father but Ian wasn’t fooled.

  “What’s the matter with you, son? You act like a man who’s lost his best friend.”

  “I don’t have best friends,” Shaun countered, busying himself by sweeping wood scraps and shavings into a pile on the floor of the workroom. “Not since my stint in the army.”

  Ian chortled. “Oh, yeah? You could have fooled me. The way you’d been spending all your spare time with Delia, I was sure you and she had taken up where you left off.” He paused long enough to laugh again. “What happened? Did she turn you down?”

  “No.” Shaun was scowling.

  “Then why the long face?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I imagine so. Love usually is. ’Course, that’s if you don’t have a good woman like your mom was. Seems to me you did have one, once. What went wrong?”

  Shaun’s frown deepened. He grabbed a chunk of scrap wood the size of his palm and threw it across the shed as if it were a baseball. It hit the corrugated wall with a tinny clang and bounced off. “You know exactly what went wrong. You lived through it with me. Ronald Blanchard waved his big fat checkbook and Delia trotted home like a puppy chasing a bone.”

  “She told you that, did she?”

  “She didn’t have to. I was there, remember?”

  “Yup. So you said. I just wondered if you two had managed to talk about it lately. You know, rehash it and get all the details straight?”

  “Why would I want to put myself through that again?”

  Ian shrugged. He’d picked up a tapering scrap of basswood and was whittling at it with a pocketknife while he spoke. “Don’t know. Maybe to see if there’d been a misunderstanding?”

  “You think I’m wrong? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

  “I thought that’s what I was sayin’.” Ian laughed again, more quietly this time. “You and that girl have been running all over tarnation, supposedly looking for the truth, yet you never bothered to look inside your own hearts. What kind of fool does that?”

  “This kind,” Shaun grumbled. “So, you think I’ve blown my chances?”

  “Not necessarily.” The older man whittled some more. “You ever have the urge to see Hawaii, son?”

  “I can’t go chasing her halfway around the world.”

  “Okay. Suit yourself. If this was about your mother and me, I’d already be on that plane.”

  “That’s different. You loved Mom.”

  Ian lowered the chunk of wood and his pocketknife and stared at Shaun. “Okay. Tell me you don’t have any loving feelings for Delia Blanchard and I’ll shut up.” He paused for a few seconds, then burst into laughter when Shaun didn’t deny it. “Hah! Thought so. Well, what’re you waiting for?”

  “I can’t leave Stoneley. You need me.”

  “I’ve done okay for the past ten or twelve years. I think I can manage to sell this place by myself,” Ian said. “Already got a couple of prospective buyers. Besides, if you’re right and Delia isn’t the woman I think she is, you won’t be gone long.”

  “What makes you think I’m the right man for her?” Shaun asked pensively.

  “Suppose we let her decide that.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Shaun said. “But I’m not promising anything.”

  Ian shrugged. “Suits me. If I were you, I’d do a bit of prayin’, too. Can’t hurt. Might help.”

  Touched, Shaun hid behind humor to protect himself from deeper feelings. “I tried it once. It didn’t do me any good.”

  “That’s probably because you treated your prayers like you were givin’ God a grocery list and expecting Him to fill it.” Ian was slowly shaking his head. “I learned the hard way that it doesn’t work like that. If it did, I’d of had a lot more years with your mother.”

  He managed a smile as he gazed lovingly at his only son. “Besides, you can’t order from the store if you don’t have an account there. Why should the Good Lord listen to you if you don’t claim to be one of His children?”

  “More Murphy wisdom?” Shaun said. “It’s getting pretty deep in here, Dad.”

  “Just think about it. That’s all I ask. If you wait till you’re as old and set in your ways as I was before you let God into your life, you’re liable to miss out on a lot of blessings.”

  Like being married to Delia? Shaun added to himself. Was there really a chance for them?

  He supposed there was only one way to find out. He’d have to swallow his stupid pride, forgive her for whatever she may have done in the past, and go ask her, point-blank.

  Humph. Well, it couldn’t be any harder than walking barefoot over hot coals. Shaun smiled. That silly thought had reminded him of the way Delia had danced across the ruined sofa in her Aunt Genie’s apartment when they’d fought with Erik Evans.

  He sobered. He had prayed then, too, hadn’t he? It wasn’t the formal, religious kind of prayer he’d heard in church, it was the kind that came from the gut, from the soul.

  The truth hit him like a ton of bricks. He did believe. He always had, even when he’d gone out of his way to deny his faith rather than admit that there were many things about life’s journey that he didn’t even begin to understand.

  Father, forgive me, came directly from his heart and settled in his whirling mind. He wasn’t in this alone. He had divine help. All he had to do was access it. Trust it.

  One thing Shaun knew for a fact. Delia was in Hawaii and he needed to talk to her, face-to-face, not on the telephone.

  He wanted to see her expression, to look into her beautiful dark eyes when he told her he loved her and he wanted them to try again. If she laughed or rejected him, so be it. Nothing could be worse than the agony of wondering that he was experiencing right now.

  It took Delia several days to catch up on the backlog of paperwork and unanswered calls her teenage assistant had left piled on her desk. Lily was a dear but she was not the most organized person in the world. Delia doubted the girl would have been able to find the Pacific Ocean if it hadn’t been located practically right outside their back door.

  She had finally gotten tired of listening to the girl’s lame excuses and had sent her to Sunset Beach that afternoon to watch her latest boyfriend surf. The lanky teen had come to Delia for lessons and he did show promise but his infatuation with Lily had definitely been a distraction.

  “I am not jealous,” Delia told herself, making her way down the center aisle of the surf shop to lock up for the day.

  The denial echoed in the empty store, bouncing off the racks of wet suits, flippers, masks and carefully stacked fiberglass boards.

  Yes, you are, her traitorous conscience countered. You’re lonesome and miserable and as jealous as you can be.

  “Can’t very well win an argument when I take both sides, can I?” Delia grumbled.

  Well, so what if she was miserable. She’d had her heart broken before and it hadn’t killed her, even though she’d thought sure it would. She’d get over it this time, too.

  But, oh, how she missed Shaun. Every waking moment was filled with memories of their recent time together and there was no peace to be had in slumber, either. He was a part of all her dreams, awake or asleep.

  His smile had warmed her like the tropical sun on her face, his gentle touch reminding her of the heated sand shifting beneath her toes, car
essing the soles of her bare feet. Like it or not, memories of Shaun were as much a part of her as breathing.

  Delia flipped the open sign to Closed, slammed the door and reached for the tab on the dead bolt as she gazed out the window without focusing on anything in particular.

  Suddenly her hand stilled. Her breath caught. Her heart began to race. There was a man approaching whose walk seemed awfully familiar. His hair was dark and his eyes were shaded by sunglasses but there was something about him that caught and held her attention.

  Wishful thinking, she told herself. You want to see Shaun so you’re imagining him everywhere. You thought you saw him in the grocery store yesterday, remember? And what about the guy you chased down the boardwalk just because he was wearing a red ball cap like the one Shaun bought at the zoo? Get a grip, girl!

  Delia stood very still and stared. The stranger seemed to be headed straight for her shop. Hands trembling, she reversed the dead bolt and opened the door.

  The man saw her and began to smile.

  Delia blinked in disbelief. It really was Shaun. And he was coming closer by the second!

  He’d never seen a more beautiful sight in his life. Delia was standing in the doorway as if she’d been waiting for him all along. Thank God, literally, that she hadn’t closed the store before he’d managed to find it. If he’d had to wait till the following morning to see her, to talk to her, he’d have been a nervous wreck.

  Removing his sunglasses Shaun quickly closed the distance between them. She did seem happy to see him, which was a definite relief. He wanted to sweep her into his arms and swing her around the way he used to when they were younger but he was afraid to overstep and frighten her off before he knew exactly where their relationship stood.

  “Shaun? Shaun! It is you. I thought I was imagining things.”

  “Hello, Dee.” She didn’t slam the door in his face or run, so he figured he must be on pretty firm ground. “Are you surprised?”

  “Astonished. What are you doing here?”

  “I had some unfinished business to take care of,” he said, stepping closer and lowering his voice.

  “Business? What—what business?”

  Gently, slowly, he cupped her cheeks with his palms, then bent to kiss her. Judging by the way she went kind of limp in his arms, he was doing well. So far. The tricky part was still to come. He’d rehearsed it and rehearsed it, changing his approach many times, and he had yet to be satisfied that whatever he said would be received in the loving way he meant it.

  “Shaun?” Delia’s palms had been pressed to his chest. Now, she pushed away just enough to gaze into his eyes.

  “You were right,” he said. “We should have talked about what happened twelve years ago. But you know what? I’ve decided it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about all that.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No. We don’t have to be victims of our past mistakes.”

  She gave him a harder push. “Whoa. Wait a minute, buster. Are you saying marrying me was a mistake?”

  Uh-oh. “No. I didn’t mean anything like that. I just want you to know I forgive you.”

  Delia’s eyes widened. “Forgive me? For what?”

  “For running off on our wedding night.”

  “I didn’t run off. You did.”

  Shaun frowned at her. “What are you talking about? I went out to get you the ice cream you’d asked for and when I came back, you were gone.” He could see the warring emotions in her expression. Finally, she stopped resisting his embrace and relaxed so he continued, “The hotel room was empty and all your things were gone, Dee. What was I supposed to think?”

  “Father said…” Tears filled her eyes and began to slide quietly down her cheeks. “He said he’d paid you off. That’s why you left. And I believed him, so I went along with the annulment.”

  “I tried over and over to see you. To talk to you. Your father insisted that you didn’t want anything more to do with me. When I learned you’d moved all the way to Hawaii, I finally gave up.”

  “Oh, Shaun. If only we’d believed in each other more.”

  His jaw clenched. “It wasn’t all our fault, Dee. We had plenty of help messing up our lives.”

  “My father has a lot to atone for.”

  “Forget Ronald,” Shaun said. “All that matters is you and me. I’ve never stopped loving you, Delia.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Shaun. I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.”

  A grin spread across his face. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He clasped her hand tightly. “Marry me, Delia? Marry me again? We’ll get it right this time, I promise.”

  “When? Where?” Her eyes were bright, her smile wide.

  “Is that a yes?”

  “Yes!”

  She threw her arms around his neck and Shaun finally lifted her feet off the ground and twirled her in a circle the way he’d wanted to from the moment he’d seen her standing there.

  “I don’t want you to get away from me again,” Shaun said, keeping his arms around her as he lowered her. “I know you probably want to go back to Maine so your sisters and Winnie can be part of our wedding but…”

  “I know exactly how you feel,” she said happily. “Come on. Let’s walk along the beach and talk.”

  Now that he’d finally gotten his wife back, Shaun was loath to release her, even for a moment, so he grasped her hand as they began to stroll toward the shore.

  “So, what do you want to do?” Shaun finally asked.

  Delia giggled and blushed. “Well, I hate to sound too forward but it seems to me we’re about twelve years late for our honeymoon. What do you say we get married here, in a simple ceremony, then repeat our vows later, maybe as part of one of my sisters’ weddings?”

  “That sounds great.”

  “We could get married on the beach,” Delia suggested. “I’m sure Pastor Jim, from my church, would be glad to officiate if we can work around his schedule. People hold services outside all the time here.”

  “What about a license? Blood tests?”

  “Hawaiians are a very laid-back group,” she said, smiling broadly. “All you and I need to do is appear together before the marriage license agent, pay the fee and we get our license. It’s easy. There’s no waiting, no residence requirement, no complications.”

  Shaun pulled her closer. “So, there’s nothing to stop us from making this official real soon?”

  “Nothing at all,” she said, “if you’re sure about it. You’ve told me more than once that you’re worried about my surfing. I’m not about to stop doing it, you know.”

  “I know. I’ll adjust. I can’t promise I won’t lose sleep over it but I know how much your career means to you. I would never try to take that away from you.”

  “Thank you. And speaking of careers, what about Ian? Doesn’t he need you back in Maine?”

  Shaun grinned. “Not according to him. He’s planning to retire. Now that I’ve seen this place, I think the climate might do him good. Would you mind if he lived close by?”

  “No! Not at all. That’s a wonderful idea. You might even want to start building things here. We have some wonderful tropical woods available.” She suddenly looked uncertain. “I don’t mean to be pushy. I mean, I wouldn’t want you to rush into anything if you’re not ready.”

  “That’s not a problem,” Shaun said, cupping her cheeks with his hands and gazing upon her with a depth of tenderness and love far beyond anything he’d thought he’d possessed. “Like you said, we’re about twelve years late beginning our honeymoon. I think I’m more than ready.”

  “Yes,” she replied with a telling smile. “So, am I.”

  They stood together on the warm shore, hands joined, beneath a flower-bedecked arch of palm fronds. The ocean was calm, the heavens cloudless. As the tide receded it left behind scalloped bands of froth that edged the gentle waves like lace on a traditional wedding gown.

  Delia wore a sarong of softly draped Hawaiian print
fabric in muted shades that echoed the sea and sky. She had bought Shaun a matching shirt and white slacks. Instead of the traditional bride’s bouquet she had tucked orchids in her hair and placed three leis around her neck.

  The pastor was also dressed casually, mostly in white, and his burnished face glowed with a spiritual aura and pure delight as he pronounced them man and wife.

  He raised a hand in benediction. “I ho’okahi kahi ke aloha. Be one in love.”

  Delia’s eyes filled with happy tears. The first time she and Shaun had taken their marriage vows they had done so in defiance of her father. This time, they were free to promise unending love without it being a result of lies and deceit. In contrast, the immense peace that filled her this time was truly amazing.

  She had spoken with her sisters and Shaun had called Ian prior to the ceremony so everyone would know what was happening. Delia’s Hawaiian friends were arranged in a semicircle around them on the beach holding borrowed cell phones that transmitted live video. One was sending pictures to the Blanchard estate for Miranda, Winnie and Juliet, one was sending images to Bianca in Boston, one was connected to Rissa in New York, one was going to the Coastal Inn for the Halls, and the last was Portia’s. She had volunteered to take her phone to Ian’s after she closed her shop so he could also be included. Thanks to the differences in time zones, the wedding could take place in the afternoon in Hawaii and their families could watch it in the evening on the east coast of the Mainland.

  “You may kiss the bride,” Pastor Jim said, grinning.

  “About time,” Shaun whispered as he bent to oblige.

  Delia agreed wholeheartedly. She slipped her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to return his kiss.

  In the background, the crowd of well-wishers, which included both friends and passing tourists, cheered.

  She and Shaun turned, still half embracing, and waved to their families via the cell phones.