Harsh whispers brought her to a stop at the intersection of two hallways, one of which led back to the main part of the house. She peeked around the corner to see Jacobs in close proximity to a young lady dressed in some sort of uniform. The girl was in tears. Jacobs didn’t seem the mean sort.
“You are never to give personal information about the family, do you understand?” Jacobs’ words bit into the air. “It is unacceptable.”
“Please, Mr. Jacobs. I’ll not do it again. She kept wafflin’ on about needing to get in touch with Mr. Wesley about his job, so I thought it was important.” The girl buried her face in her hands. “I didn’t know.”
“She’s using her past connections to gain information, and we can’t be party to it. She is quite forceful, Ms. Osbourne, but Mr. Wesley has ended his relationship with the lady and her father. If Ms. Craven and I could have notified the staff of Mr. Wesley’s decision sooner, we would have avoided this difficulty. However, we were only made aware of the change this morning.”
“I remember seein’ her here a few months back so I just thought it would be all right. I didn’t mean nothin’ by it, Mr. Jacobs. Oh please, don’t sack me.”
Jacobs gave the girl a stiff pat on her shoulder. “She’s the persistent sort and not too keen on being told no either. I spoke with her earlier in the week and she was quite put out that I refused to give the Harrisons’ whereabouts.” He cleared his throat. “However, I expect better choices should another occasion arise. Is that understood, Ms. Osbourne?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Jacobs turned then and spotted Eisley before she could sneak behind the curve in the wall. “Ms. Barrett? May I help you?”
“I’m sorry, Jacobs. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but since I did,” Eisley shrugged and took a few steps forward, palms out in surrender. “Sounds to me like the Harrisons might be getting an unwanted guest at the hospital.”
Jacobs looked as though a fifty-pound weight landed on his shoulders at the declaration. “I’m afraid so.”
Eisley offered a slow nod, filling in the pieces from the conversation she’d heard. She brought her hands together and narrowed her eyes up to him. “And I think the caller might be a certain sneaky, dark-haired beauty who works, or perhaps I ought to say worked, with Wes’s agent.”
Jacobs gaze locked with hers. “For certain.”
“And a red-lipped sneer ready to unfurl at any moment?”
His brow arched. “Precisely.”
“Wes isn’t responding to texts right now, but someone needs to warn him Vivian deVille is on the way.”
The firm line of Jacobs’ mouth inched up on one side. “Very good, Miss. I shall have the car brought around.”
***
The nice elderly lady at the desk had just turned to check her computer for a room number when someone bumped Eisley out of the way.
“I need Daniel Harrison’s room at once.”
Vivian Barry didn’t even acknowledge Eisley’s presence, but tapped her red nails against the counter with the impatience of a hungry toddler. She sported her usual top-dollar attire—trim and snug black suit, coat draped over her arm, and ten-inch heels that made Eisley dizzy. She must have been staring, because Vivian’s dark head swung around and froze her with a cobalt glare.
“Do you need something?”
Eisley opened her mouth to answer when the desk clerk interrupted.
“Stroke unit. Fourth floor waiting. For the both of you.”
“Thank you.” Eisley extracted a smile from the clerk, who proceeded to ignore Vivian and return to her work at the computer.
Vivian’s head turned slowly back to Eisley and studied her, recognition dawning with the downward turn of her ruby lips. “Eisley Barrett.” She hissed the s through her clenched teeth as her gaze skimmed over Eisley’s much less classy ensemble.
Call it being related to Nate Jenkins, but Eisley’s anger roiled against people who put on airs. She stood to her full height, proudly a good inch taller than Miss Prancy Shoes. “Vivian, I don’t think the family knows you are coming.”
“I don’t need an invitation, dear. I am connected with the Harrisons intimately.”
At the word intimately, the curl in Vivian’s snarl twisted right around the confidence in Eisley’s spine. She wouldn’t let Ms. Nasty get under her skin. She tilted her head and gave Vivian’s body the same type of condescending glare. “Forcing a poor maid to give you private information says you’re more of a bully than a close friend.” Eisley sweetened her smile. “Or maybe just desperate? I think for the sake of the family you should leave.”
Vivian’s ebony brows tipped upward. “You are telling me to leave?” A joyless laugh crested. “Don’t start a battle you can’t win. You are woefully unprepared and have no idea with whom you are dealing. I will always find my way back into Wesley’s life because I know him and, despite what he may tell you, he needs me.”
Eisley didn’t even try to hide her eye roll. She turned and started to the elevator. There was no use trying to talk to her. Two-year-old boys listened better. Unfortunately, the quick clip of Vivian’s death-heels nagged as constant as a headache. She passed Eisley on the right, chin up, and attempted to cut her off at the elevators. However, as a woman with six siblings, evasive living was a necessity. Eisley easily sidestepped her, leaving Vivian nearly tumbling to the glossy hospital floors from her misstep in defensive walking. Vivian pushed the Up button, lifted a saucy smile as if to gloat, and then almost mowed over a poor nurse on her sprint through the elevator doors. Yeah, Eisley was dealing with a real grown-up here.
And her initial intimidation over Vivian’s beauty and elegance? Well, looks certainly weren’t everything. The doors closed on the two of them. Alone.
Fantastic.
“You’re wasting your time, you know.” Vivian’s warning sliced through the matchpoint tension.
Eisley feigned ignorance. “Yeah, I know the elevator takes longer in a hospital, but I wasn’t up for the stairs.”
The elevator stopped, doors opened, and two people entered.
Vivian’s eyes narrowed to chilling slits, very serpentine, as her words even slid into a snaky slither. “You’re a mere distraction in his life, a harmless flirtation. He will be done with you in less than three months and leave you heartbroken. You’re not the first, nor the last.”
Eisley lifted a brow and felt one corner of her mouth twitch. “Well, then, if I’m a mere distraction then you should have nothing to worry about, right?”
The elevator doors opened again, adding three more people. Eisley’s arm brushed against Vivian’s suit jacket and the woman recoiled, elbow jabbing into Eisley’s ribs and buckling her over. Some of the contents of her bag spilled onto the floor. She bit back her anger and bent to retrieve her things.
“I see you’re well prepared for a man of high class and sophistication. I don’t even give you three months. Maybe one.” Vivian’s voice dropped to a hiss and she unexpectedly lowered to Eisley’s level at the floor. “It’s a useless dream, darling. You’ll never fit into a life of his caliber.”
The thick sarcasm in her voice lit a fuse in Eisley’s chest. She snatched up a few more items and stood to her full height. “However, Vivian, I do fit into his heart just fine without ugly threats, manipulation, or perfect makeup.”
“You think yourself quite clever, don’t you?” She pulled in a breath through her teeth. “Do you suppose a few walks down a country lane and a handful of family dinners give you a future with someone like him?”
Eisley tilted her head. “No, I don’t.” Her smile itched wide. “But they might give him a future with someone like me.”
Vivian’s eyes widened. “You can’t be so naive to believe it could ever last. His roles with tantalizing women, long weeks away in exotic places filming, and an expectation of wealth and class will dig into all your insecurities and expose you as the poor, simple country girl you are.”
“Well, that argument is a
nticlimactic. I am a poor, simple country girl, but I’m also smart, brave, and completely unconcerned about your opinion. If that’s the best insult you've got, I think you ought to give up altogether.”
“Oh, I can do much better.” She tapped her finger against her chin and the look in her eyes started a chill on Eisley’s skin. “Are you willing to accept a man who is as much a betrayer as your ex-husband?”
Eisley’s newfound confidence quivered, and Vivian saw it. “How did you know about—?”
“I have connections in many unexpected places, my dear. I know how to find information when it’s useful to me.” A smile crept onto her face, slow and wicked, like the Grinch whose heart was three sizes too small.
The doors opened and three people exited, leaving space for Eisley to take a few steps back from Vivian’s venom.
“I suppose your sweetheart didn’t tell you where he was the night Jane died?”
Eisley couldn’t look away. The moment unfolded in slow motion, no way to stop the certain disaster. One more floor.
“Or with whom?”
Eisley steadied her palm against the elevator wall, refusing to buckle under Vivian’s scrutiny. Wes? A betrayer like Marshall? Her lungs squeezed through another breath. With Vivian? She closed her eyes, blocking Vivian’s sardonic expression, and pressed her hand against her stomach to push back the swelling nausea. Flashes of memories shot in quick succession through her mind.
No!
Eisley barely found her voice, forcing more confidence than her shaky knees felt. “Desperate threats again, Vivian?” She shook her head as if sorry for the vicious woman. “You had to reach back two years for that one. Wes doesn’t live there anymore. He’s outgrown you.”
The elevator door dinged. Vivian’s presence shifted closer. “He’ll always belong to me. No matter what he may say or do, how charming he may act, he’ll always come back to me in the end. I know him.” Her words slithered to a whisper. “Intimately.”
If Eisley hadn’t been so close to tears, she would have knocked Vivian’s triumphant declaration right back down her throat, but at the moment her heart beat an uneven rhythm in her ears and her legs barely kept her upright.
The Wicked Witch’s theme from The Wizard of Oz played in Eisley's mind in time with the annoying click of Vivian’s heels as she disappeared down the hallway. She snatched up the rest of her items from the floor, but the elevator door closed before she could catch up with Lady Red Claws.
Tears stung her eyes and tingled the bridge of her nose, warning of showers to come. She leaned her head back against the wall, pressing the tears into submission, thankful for the privacy. This was ridiculous. She didn’t care about Wes enough to cry over him, did she? She’d known him a grand total of a week. How could this news sting so badly? Besides, it was in Wes’s past. Done. Forgiven.
Just like Marshall?
The ugly whisper beat the bruise of her failure like a heavy metal drummer. How could God want this for her? A man with a past like Marshall’s? A man with a world so far removed from hers? What was God thinking?
Did she really believe all those things she’d told Wes? That his past was in the past and he was a new man? She squeezed her eyes closed and sighed. Help me, Lord.
She shook off the voice of insecurity, which sounded a lot like Vivian’s, and pulled herself together. If nothing else, she cared for Wes and his family enough to push her inner turmoil behind her and find a way to comfort them. It was not time to bathe in a pity party. But later? Maybe—or at the least, bury herself in a heavy indulgence of great chocolate.
She pressed the elevator button to return to the appropriate floor and focused on her goal. Directional signs pointed to a waiting area down the hallway, so Eisley followed them. A bowed head in the waiting area looked strangely familiar. Dark brown, shoulder-length hair with stripes of bronze nestled on bent shoulders. A smaller, darker head appeared over her shoulder, laugh in full bloom and a giggle to squeeze her weary heart with girdle strength.
She shoved her own hurt to the side and walked to the couch. “Cate?”
Cate jerked her head up, gray eyes red-rimmed. A tired smile broke into her pale face. “You must be Eisley.” She gave Simon a little bounce. “Wes will be glad to see you.”
“I’m sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.” Eisley took a seat next to Cate.
“I only came to warn you that Vivian is here.”
“Vivian? What is she—” Cate closed her eyes and released a long sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “How did she learn about it?” She lifted a palm and tossed a wearied shake of her head. “Never mind. Vivian Barry finds information out better than Lizzie Worthing and Mother combined.”
Eisley offered a sad grin, still a little unnerved by Vivian’s awareness of her personal information. Everybody knew everybody in Pleasant Gap but rarely shared it with outsiders. “How’s your dad?”
“The doctors took Mum and Wes back to speak with them.” She nodded toward Simon. “I’m afraid Simon wanted to talk to the doctor in baby speech, which wouldn’t make the conversation easier to hear, so we stayed in Waiting.”
Eisley ran a finger across Simon’s round cheek. He reached up to take her finger and she nibbled on his hand until he giggled. “Would you feel comfortable leaving him with me so you can be with them? My resumé with kids is pretty extensive.”
“Oh, I couldn’t.”
“I don’t mind one bit, and then you won’t miss out on too much of what the doc says, plus you can warn them of the coming storm in heels.”
Cate even had her brother’s dimple. “I think you and I are going to get on quite well, Eisley Barrett.”
“It’s that mom connection, right? Insanity loves company.” Eisley repeated her munching motion on Simon’s hand until it produced another giggle and he reached for her to do it again.
Cate perked a brow. “I’ve never seen Simon respond to a stranger so quickly.”
“I bet he knows I’m a mom. I probably have some sort of residual spit-up on me, or something comforting like that.”
Cate’s laugh rang out. “I see my parents weren’t exaggerating about you. One can’t be certain with Dad. He’s fairly extravagant with exaggeration.”
“Your dad is wonderful.” Eisley covered Cate’s hand and the woman’s gaze shot wide with a second of surprise. “Why don’t you go ahead? I have some sort of weird kiddie game on my phone if he wearies of my other games.”
“I didn’t believe Wes at first, you know, but you are exactly as he described.”
Eisley grimaced. “What was the description? Uncouth and classless?”
“Charming and utterly lovable, I believe is what he said.” Cate’s smile softened and those stormy eyes misted over. “Are you certain you wouldn’t mind?”
Eisley teased Simon into her arms and he didn’t even whimper. “I’m really just being selfish, you know. I get to have some much missed baby cuddles, plus when you get back, I can find out how your dad is doing, too.”
“Thank you, Eisley. I’ll not be gone long.”
The dark-headed boy rolled his big blue eyes to her, his butterball cheeks so squishy Eisley was pretty sure he held at least three hundred calories in each one. Tasty.
She played a game of peekaboo until his little giggle became so loud it distracted the nurses at the desk behind them. Oh man, he was a cutie-pie. She reached over in her purse for the stress ball she kept for Emily to play with when they were out. After digging she handed it to him and he promptly said, “Ball.”
Probably most boys’ first word. It had certainly been true for Pete.
A sudden surge of homesickness had her diving in her purse for her phone to look at her kids’ pictures, and possibly show them to Simon, but her phone wasn’t there. Weird.
She hadn’t used it since texting Wes at Harrogate and she was certain she put it back in her bag. Simon threw the ball across the room so she snatched him up on her hip and danced with him over to it, giv
ing him another reason to share a contagious giggle.
Oh wait! The elevator crash.
A quick recap of her steps revealed nothing, but the visit back to the elevator had her reliving Vivian’s unnerving declaration. The past is in the past, right? Wes wasn’t the same man he used to be. Besides, scenes from his personal life had been splattered all over the media, so it shouldn’t be a surprise—except that it was with Vivian, his fiancée’s sister. What sort of man betrays like that?
Can you see me as a new man, Eisley?
His heartfelt query came to mind as if nudged in place by God. Her newfound faith in fairy tales tripped on all the what-ifs. Their argument back at Harrogate, his assumptions, and this recent information slammed against her need to believe. Everything within her wanted to run like a coward whose heart couldn’t take the familiar grip of betrayal. Oh Lord, help me trust you with my heart again…today. Give me courage to believe.
Chapter Sixteen
A remnant of fire burned in the pit of Wes’s stomach. Vivian? Here? When he saw her in his father’s room, evidently allowed in by some unsuspecting nurse, he was barely able to contain his fury enough to keep from upsetting his mother.
Mother.
Her face had paled at Vivian’s unexpected and unwanted presence in their fragile moment. Wes pinched his eyes closed. The nurse hadn’t removed his father’s breathing tube from the previous procedure yet, and there was the simple courtesy of respect for his father’s privacy.
He made certain Vivian left with a clear understanding of his anger and disgust in her astonishing disregard for his family, and of the simple fact she was no longer welcome in his life.
Just the Way You Are (A Pleasant Gap Romance Book 1) Page 19
