"Listen to me, I'm talking as if I know for sure that he still loves me and I know no such thing. So before I go off on a further tangent let's leave it at this, when I tell him and I promise that I will, if he doesn’t want to be with me I'll accept that. But I hope and pray that he will want to be involved in his child's life because if he doesn’t, it will be a very lonely life for him."
"Indeed," Sterling said and hugged her.
At the moment, she simply wanted to be able to get through the rest of her pregnancy without having to worry about when, where and how she was going to tell Magnus that he was a father. She had decided that it'd be best to wait until after the baby was born before she told him anything. No sense in trying to get in contact with him now, she thought to herself. It's quite obvious that he's not ready to be found. Because if he was, he wouldn’t be making it so difficult for me to get in touch with him now would he? She asked herself. He's missed so much already, she sighed. She was thinking of how even though Sterling and Kelly had gone with her to most of her obgyn appointments, she'd wanted the father of her baby by her side. She had so very badly wanted him to share in the joy of becoming a parent but it seemed as if he had other plans.
She had not wanted to harp on it too much but she couldn’t help it, she had wanted him there to see the very first sonogram. She imagined him lying next to her in bed at night holding his hand gently over her tummy feeling for the baby's kick. She wondered if he ever thought about her while he was alone or having a private moment to himself. "Why is it so damn hard to stop thinking about him?"
Chapter Twenty Six
It was Tuesday, the first week of April and Magnus had managed to pack up all of he and Ava's belongings, put the plantation up for sale and book his flight to Vermont; he would be leaving Saturday morning.
"Son I think this is the best decision you've made in a long time," his mother said. And he agreed. "I don’t know why I let her go alone in the first place, I really don’t," he said and ran his fingers through his hair. His mom let out a soft chuckle, ever since he was a teenager, whenever something was troubling him; he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Son, you're worrying for nothing. And you already know the answer to that question. You said that she didn’t want to go back to the plantation, that she needed some space, time to spread her wings and follow her dreams. You understood that and you let her go so that she could do just that. Now why you elected to go on that book tour with that no good scheming agent of yours is beyond me," his mother scolded him.
He couldn’t help but smile, ever since he'd hired Steve to be his agent, Magnus found that he was the only one who'd liked the guy. But he had to admit, had they not been friends first, he would have thought twice about signing with him. It was as simple as that, and yes Steve did have a conniving side to him but he'd told Magnus that it was only when he was conducting business. It's a eat or be eaten world out there and I don’t know about you buddy but I'd much rather be doing the eating and I like to eat well my friend," Steve had told him one night shortly after he'd taken him on as his agent.
At the time he thought it was good that Steve was so aggressive. After he had pitched Magnus's very first novel and got him signed on with a big publishing house, Magnus knew that he had made the right choice. And it was all but solidified when the novel started climbing the best seller list. He remembered when he'd gotten his first royalty check and how he was sure that the comma had been misplaced. But when Steve assured him that it was correct, he thought he'd definitely made the right decision.
But the more books he wrote, the more Steve seemed to push. He was soon asking Magnus to produce novel after novel with no breaks in between and at first he could keep up, what with all the wonderful and creative ideas that he had stored in his head and the pages and pages of notes he had written down. With each new idea came a new book but after a while it got to be too much. He'd started dating Jeanette then and he found that he was spending so much time trying to meet his deadlines that he had no longer had time for a life. His creativeness went right out the window and the simple need to keep up with his agent's demands took over.
It wasn’t until right before he moved to the plantation that he told Steve that he needed a break, that he was feeling the strain and it was too much, way too much for a writer he told him. So Steve backed off, told him that he'd give him some time to collect his thoughts and in the meantime he would concentrate on his other clients, the one's he'd been neglecting. That's when Magnus began to see another side of him. Steve had been traveling far too much, he had started working as an agent when he lived in New York, but now that he was in New Orleans, things started to get even more hectic. He'd made the move to New Orleans so that he could take on some new and upcoming southern based authors without asking his wife first and that in itself was another unwanted strain. But Steve didn’t care; he figured she'd be happy once she saw the extra money rolling in.
His wife was unhappy with the move; he was still going back and forth from New York to New Orleans almost weekly. The man had clearly taken on too much and as a single agent he'd taken on more than fifteen clients. That meant that he was responsible for overseeing all of his clients publishing contracts, and practices, especially where television, film, or foreign rights were involved. This prevented the author's working relationship with his or her editor from becoming strained due to unforeseen disputes such as royalty statements or late checks. Another recurrent function of Steve's job was to sometimes act as counselor, advising an author on various aspects of how to make writing a paying proposition on a very timely basis. Added to this was query after query from new writers.
"It isn’t all that it's cracked up to be," Steve had told Magnus one time. But once his new book hit the shelves, Steve seemed to catch his second wind. He'd lined up the book tour, started making calls to movie and television executives; he spoke to them on Magnus's behalf even though Magnus had no idea of what direction he wanted to go.
Now it was Magnus who had put a stop to it, he guessed that Steve had been using for quite a while now and things had gotten way out of control. The more he thought about it the more he began to realize that Steve had a much bigger problem than Magnus originally thought. The strange mood swings, the bloody noses, the feeling of paranoia. It all made sense now and he knew that if Steve wasn’t ready and willing to admit that he had a problem then there would be no sense in trying to convince his friend otherwise.
He hadn’t wanted to leave things on such a sour note but weeks after he canceled the tour, Magnus was unable to get in touch with Steve. His calls went unanswered and his door went unopened. In the end Magnus simply had his attorney draw up papers explaining that his contract was up and that it would not be renewed. At that moment, Magnus was glad for the contracts end. Had he signed a renewal, he would have been stuck for another two years.
He also decided that when he got to Vermont and if Ava took him back, he would self-publish his books from now on. No more need for the middle man, he told himself. Greedy middle men like Steve cause nothing but trouble.
"Saturday morning can't come fast enough," he told his mother.
"I know it can't son, I know it can't. But please call us and let us know if you'll be staying. Your father and I haven’t had been up North in years and we'd love to take a trip to Vermont. Besides, we are dying to meet your Ava," she said with a grin.
"Mom, she's the best thing that ever happened to me and I cannot wait for you to meet her," he beamed.
His parents had promised to take care of any and all affairs that dealt with the plantation while he was away. He'd given his parents along with the new realtor keys to the place and was to leave his car with them as well. He had already lined up a rental and was to pick it up at the airport the moment he landed in Vermont.
He even went so far as to check the weather. He'd bought some new clothes to go along with the New England forecast and even though it was the first week of April, he knew that weather in New
England was quite unpredictable and so he packed accordingly. He wondered whether or not Ava was adjusting to the climate change. He pictured her in sweaters and tight jeans, skirts and sexy knee length boots. A devilish smile crept across his face as he thought about taking them off of her.
"You sure you want to do this Ava?" Kelly asked. They were at the Personal Touch Hair Salon sitting side by side getting mani-pedi's.
"I only ask because you told me that you've keep your spiral curls for like ever and I'd hate to see you do something drastic and then not be happy with the results."
Ava chuckled. "It's just hair Kell, and I want something different. All I want is an inch or two cut off, and for my curls to be more relaxed looking, you know more loose. I want something a bit more easier to take care of, especially with the baby coming."
"Well I for one am proud of you, your finally pampering yourself and you deserve it Ava. We are going to have a blast at the dinner tonight, you just wait and see," she grinned at her.
"Oh yeah, it'll be a barrel of laughs, I bet I'll be the only single person there. Whoop- whoop, so exciting," she said. There was so much sarcasm in her voice that Kelly couldn’t help but laugh.
"Come on Ava, once the baby is born we need to see about getting you back out into the dating world."
Ava let out a loud snicker. "Yes because that's just what a guy wants, a woman who's just had a baby. I can see them lining up now, Not!" she blurted out to her friend.
"Well honey if you keep it up with that attitude you'll never find anybody," she said with a smirk.
"All kidding aside Kell, I think after the baby is born I'll be too busy taking care of him or her to care whether or not I have a man in my life. And right now, nothing sounds better than that."
"Well don’t start on the cat collecting just yet Ava, you're young and you may think that you'll be alone forever but I know that won't be the case. There are a lot of men out there who are quite fond of single mothers, especially single mothers who are as gorgeous as you. You my dear friend, turn more heads than I've ever seen another woman do so don’t give up yet Ava, there are still good times to be had."
By the time she had made it to the salon chair and was having her hair washed, Magnus had boarded his flight and was on his way to Burlington Vermont.
The six hour flight would put him in Vermont at around five in the evening and with the rental car awaiting him, he planned on being at Ava's doorstep no later than seven o'clock.
Burlington International Airport had seen its share of visitors of course, but there was one visitor in particular that wasn’t planning on staying much longer. It was evening when Steve landed at the airport some four days before Magnus and as promised; his connection had met him there. The skywalk was deserted and that's where the exchange had taken place. Steve was given two packages; one was a neatly obscured Ziploc bag full of cocaine. "Just to tide me over," he'd told the dealer. And the other was an easily concealable Smith and Wesson nine millimeter pistol.
"Serial number scratched off like I asked?" He said to the man.
"Hell yeah, don’t want that shit coming back to me," the young man replied.
After handing him a heavy envelope, Steve concluded his business with the young man and they parted ways.
He had rented a car and was staying at a hotel just outside of Dorset; he needed to get the lay of the land first and wanted to take close note of Ava's daily routine. For several weeks now he'd been ignoring all of his calls, including those from Magnus. For a while he simply holed up in his home in New Orleans, snorting cocaine and thinking of ways on how to get even with Ava. And in one night, he'd planned it all out. He'd fly to Vermont, lie low, keep an eye on Ava, get to know her routine and then when he was sure that she was alone, he'd take her down.
Once Ava was out of the picture, he'd collect his wife Kelly, get her on the plane and be back in New Orleans before anyone was the wiser. He'd simply dump Ava's body on the way to the airport. "And that'll be that," he said to himself.
It took only two days of driving around Dorset at different times before he spotted her, from the back she looked the same. But when she turned around, he cursed. "Fuck, the fuckin bitch is pregnant," he said. His fist beat the dashboard of the rental car with such force that the small car swayed a bit.
"There's no going back now," he growled. He was determined to carry out his plan. "Baby or no baby, you have got to go bitch," he said and gunned the engine before speeding away.
The sight of a pregnant Ava seemed to make him even more angry and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he had to get rid of her. She was pregnant and there was no doubt that it was Magnus's baby. And if she had planned on telling him, he knew that Magnus would drop everything to be with her. And he knew that he could not contend with the love that a man like Magnus would have for his child.
He suspected that she hadn’t told Magnus the news yet because if she had, he'd already be by her side. "Thanks to me and the book tour you weren’t able to tell him the news. But don’t worry Ava, your precious Magnus has put everything on hold just so he can come and see you," he said with a sarcastic grin on his face.
"Once I get rid of her and get Magnus and Kelly back to where they belong, things will go back to the way they were. I'll get Magnus back on track, back on the tour, make that movie deal and be sitting on top of the world in no time." He was standing in front of the mirror of his hotel room. The Weathervane Motel was a comfy and affordable hotel that held few guests and he liked it that way. No one paid attention to his comings and goings and that was just the way he wanted it to be. He wanted to be inconspicuous.
The more inconspicuous the better and when and if they found Ava's body, no one would think to question him about his whereabouts. And if they did, he'd simply tell them that he'd gone to visit his client Magnus DuPonte per his request. And he wasn’t the least bit worried about Kelly, he knew if he told her what she wanted to hear, that she'd back him up one hundred percent. During his surveillance of Ava, he'd seen Kelly too, and so far he'd seen her when she was alone.
He was glad to find her alone though, he couldn’t fathom the thought of another man owning her, possessing her like he did. In his mind she still belonged to him and no divorce papers, or court was going to change that. He'd gone through a slump that's all, a slump caused by her best friend Ava. "Everything will be alright babe, you'll see," he murmured before sniffing a line.
"You look amazing!" Kelly said. She had turned in her chair and was viewing the finished results.
"Thank you so do you," Ava excitedly replied. She loved her new look and swung her head around to show it off. Gone was the heaviness of the spiral curls. Her hairdresser, Sheila managed to give her exactly what she wanted, versatility along with a big splash of sexy. Long luxurious loose sexy curls bounced around her as she turned from side to side.
Her hair was no longer waist length, Sheila had cut several inches off and thinned out the thick hair before setting it in curlers and placing her under the heated hair dryer. The results left Ava extremely happy, so happy that besides giving her a hefty tip she couldn’t help but hug her too. "Thank you so much," she said once again before leaving the shop.
"I'm jealous," Kelly joked. "Why did I opt for an updo?" She whined.
"Because you have the most graceful and longest neck that I've ever seen and Adrian happens to love your hair when it's up with the sexy tendrils falling around your face that's why."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," she teased and both women started laughing.
Ava had thought she'd forgotten how to laugh but during the past few days, she couldn’t help but notice that she was laughing more and more. "I think I'm starting to enjoy life again," she told Kelly as they made their way home.
"Life really does go on after a break-up or no-show or no-contact," she said.
"Whatever you want to call it, life moves on and so should you Ava and you can start tonight at the dinner."
"I
think you're right Kell and I will start tonight. Out with the old and in with the new. Spring will be here soon, not to mention this little one and I've got an incredible group of friends that I love like family, I need nothing else, nothing else."
Steve hadn’t managed to get her routine memorized yet; all the coke was causing him to become quite forgetful. It was Saturday and he figured he'd get a fresh start on Monday. No sense in wasting the rest of the weekend, he thought to himself as he made his way into Mulligan's Pub. He hoped that he'd get lucky and be able to pick up a lady or two. And, there's no sense in spending the entire weekend alone either, he grinned and ordered a drink.
She'd just gotten out of the shower when a feeling at the pit of her stomach made her stop what she as doing. It wasn’t a labor pain nor was it Braxton hicks, it was something else. The feeling was one she'd never felt before and she sat down for a moment and tried to figure it out. It felt as if there were butterflies tickling her insides, as if she was about to experience something good, something extraordinarily wonderful.
The pains of labor will not be that something good, she thought to herself. She knew that she wasn’t in labor but just to be sure, she made a quick call to her doctor. When she reached the service and described what she was feeling they told her that the doctor on call would get back to her as soon as possible.
A moment later her cell phone rang, she smiled when she heard her doctor's voice. And by the time she got through explaining to him what she'd felt, he assured her that it wasn’t contractions. He told her that if anything it was Braxton hicks and since there was no discharge of any kind and no sudden onset of pain in intervals, she could safely attend the dinner. "You're not due for another month Ava, and during your check up two days ago, everything was fine, so go and enjoy yourself but don’t overdo it," he then said goodnight.
Echoes in the Bayou Page 25
