“That’s fine. No problem,” Sophie said, tugging Dee out behind her. “Thank you.”
She saw him radio something, and assumed it was just to alert security that he’d let two guests out the side door, but Dee had given up completely and started crying in earnest, so she couldn’t follow more of what the guard was saying as the door closed behind them.
“Over here,” she said, spying a metal bench seat. “Come on, sit down. Tell me what’s going on.”
In between sniffles and choking back tears, Delia said, “I—I overheard them. Talking. About me.”
“Who? His sisters? His mother? You know they haven’t come around yet, but they will when you show them what you’re made of. It will take time, but you’ll win in the end, I know you.”
Delia lifted her tear-and-mascara streaked face to look directly at Sophie. “Not them. I know they hate me. Adam. I heard him. With my own ears.”
“Who was he talking to? His friends? His mother?”
“I don’t think he ever loved me, Soph,” she said, her voice wobbling and a fresh wave of tears brimming over to trickle down her cheeks. “Adam—he was talking to his best friend, Trevor, his best man. He got into town last night with his wife, and I didn’t know he’d stopped by. I inadvertently walked in on their conversation, but they were out on the balcony, they didn’t know I was there. I—I heard him.” She buried her face in her hands.
“What was he saying? Because men get cold feet. You had cold feet, remember?” Sophie couldn’t believe she was supporting Adam, of all people, but she was trying to keep up with what Delia wanted and needed, and, right now, it seemed like she needed to believe this wedding was a good idea. Lord knew Sophie had wasted enough breath trying to convince her it wasn’t. Now wasn’t the time for I-told-you-so’s.
“Oh, he wants to marry me.”
“Okay,” Sophie said brightly, trying to grasp for any scrap of good news. “That’s a positive. What else did he say?”
“Trevor said he was surprised that Adam chose me given my lack of pedigree. That he couldn’t believe Arlene was letting him get away with it. And—and then, Adam said…” She sniffled again, then took a deep breath and blurted, “Adam laughed—laughed!—and said he’s doing it, marrying me, as a way to get even with his mother. Th-that he’s only marrying me to drive a wedge between them so he can get some breath-breathing room.” Delia looked up again, anguish clear on her face. “He’s using me, Soph. I’m just a tool he’s using to get out from under Mommy-dearest’s rule. He plans on shoving me at his mother to keep her occupied and off his back. He—he even said he’d knock me up—his words—if that’s what it took to get some space.”
Sophie didn’t know what to say. That was the hard part. Because nothing her friend was saying surprised her in the least. “At least you found out now, Dee. Before you said I do.” Sophie held her and rubbed her back, and let her get it out.
“He—he even told Trevor that he had no plans to remain faith-faithful to me!” she squeaked. “For all I know, he’s already cheating on me. And Trevor, he just laughed, and said, ‘Join the club, buddy. Join the club.’” Delia sat up. “Who are these people, Sophie? And where in the hell do they get off toying with others like this? I know you told me, but he was so sincere, and so handsome, and so willing, I was just swept away. But he—he…he never…” She broke down again.
“I think he did care for you, Delia. I don’t know when his plan kicked in about his mother, but I don’t think he chose you in some cold, calculating way.” Actually, Sophie wouldn’t be surprised if he’d done exactly that. “But now that you know where he stands, what are you going to do?”
“That’s just it!” she exclaimed on a sob. “What can I do?”
“Um…call the wedding off? I mean, Dee, you can’t marry the guy now. You know that.”
“I don’t know anything. What I know is that they’ve spent millions on this wedding. Millions, Soph. I know it’s hard to comprehend, but seriously, the money alone… And then there’s Arlene and her standing and how it would look. Oh, can you imagine, the ‘cocktail waitress’ ditching her son? Can you imagine?”
Sophie’s lips twitched, and then she smiled, and then she laughed. “I’m sorry, really, I am, but, oh my God, Delia, can you imagine it? Because I can. In fact, I can’t think of a better way for this to end. With you in the driver’s seat, calling all the shots. If I thought you could pull it off, I’d have you ditch him at the altar. He deserves the public humiliation for all he’s put you through, and I don’t just mean his little speech to Trevor. Hell, you could call Trevor out, too. And Arlene. Right there at the pulpit, with camera recorders blazing.”
She immediately started to apologize, but then she saw Delia’s lips twitch, and then she was spluttering, and laughing, and then they were both laughing until anyone passing by would think perhaps they needed an intervention of some sort.
But it was cathartic, and healing, and it just felt really damn good.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you,” Delia said, when they finally stopped long enough to draw in a breath. “It’s like I’ve been inhabited by another person all this time. Like I’ve been above myself, watching this happen, and being alternately amazed that I was getting to be Cinderella at the ball, but wondering who in the hell this person was I was becoming.” She stared at Sophie, heedless now of the black streaks on her face, and the red, splotchy cheeks. “I can’t marry him, Sophie. I can’t believe I ever wanted to marry him.”
“I know, Dee. I know.” She took her friend in her arms and hugged her tight. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’ll be there with you when you tell him, whatever you think you need. We’re all behind you, you know.”
“Oh God, you must all think I’m a total fool.”
“No, we think you wanted the fairy tale as much as we wanted it for you. We just didn’t want to see you hurt, that’s all. It’s a lot easier to see the big picture when you’re not the focus of all of it. We were just worried about you. We love you. You know that.”
She nodded and snuffled again. “What am I going to do, Soph? How am I going to tell him? I wish I could do the altar thing, he deserves it, but I don’t think I have it in me.”
“I know. I think you’re just going to have to sit down with him, and tell him you can’t go through with it.” Sophie thought about how controlling Adam was, how mad he was likely to be that his big plan was being thwarted, not to mention how he was going to look in all of it. “On the other hand, maybe you shouldn’t be completely alone when you tell him. Maybe you should tell the whole family.”
The horror that immediately leaped into her friend’s eyes had her quickly backpedaling. “Okay, okay, maybe not a good idea.”
“They’d railroad me, Sophie. I don’t think I could stand up to all of them. They don’t like me, and they don’t want me in the family, but they’re committed to this now and there is no backing out. I don’t know if I could take them on collectively.” She sighed. “Maybe it’s easier to just go through with it, then live with it until I can’t take it anymore, and file for divorce. I mean, at least I know what I’m getting into now.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I don’t know what I am. Except exhausted. I’ve been running on fumes for what feels like an eternity.”
“What you need is a good night’s sleep. Away from the Wingate influence.” Sophie pulled her tiny clutch purse onto her lap. “Why don’t you stay at my place tonight.” She handed Delia her apartment key.
“Why are you giving me the key? Won’t you be there?”
She thought of Simon, and the very strong possibility that by choosing to help her friend rather than help steal a priceless emerald, she might have very well screwed up her chance at the future she’d been allowing herself to envision for the past few days. “I—I’m not sure.”
Delia narrowed her puffy eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Trust me, you have enough on your pla
te without me cluttering it up more.”
“Sophie,” she said warningly. And she sounded so much like the best friend Sophie had thought she’d lost forever, she wanted to hug her and hold on tight.
“Later. I’ll tell you everything, I promise. But…just let me say that I’m far more sensitive to what it’s like to be making decisions while inside the whirlwind and it’s not easy. Nothing is simple.”
“No. It’s definitely not.”
She pressed the key into her friend’s hand. “Do you want me to come stay with you?” She smiled. “Keep you from jumping? Buy some almond rocca? I have ice cream in the freezer.”
Delia smiled through a fresh sheen of tears. “No. I think I need to be completely by myself for once. And do a lot of thinking. I know I need to end this. I can’t marry him. I just have to decide how I’m going to do it.”
“If you change your mind, if you need backup, or just some bolstering, or someone to bounce ideas and thoughts off of…” She grinned. “Or just someone to have a plain old bitchfest with, call my cell and I’ll be right there.”
“Maybe after I tell him,” Delia said, a smile wavering through the tears. “I will definitely need some artificial sweetening by then, for sure.”
“Sugar high, here we come.”
Sophie stood and pulled her friend up by the hands. “Come on. I’ll sneak around front and direct a cab here to the side of the building for you.”
“What about Adam?”
Sophie wanted to tell her he’d probably hardly miss her, as taken as he was with Marcelina, but what she said was, “I’ll tell him you didn’t feel well, your stomach or something.”
“He’ll demand to know where I went.”
“Yes, well, maybe it’s time he stopped having the right to know your whereabouts every single second.”
“He’ll go crazy trying to find me.”
Sophie smiled. “Yes, he will.”
Delia smiled then, too. “Right. You can just tell him you have no idea where I went.” Her shoulders straightened and her chin notched up a bit higher. “I hope he has a very, very long night ahead of him.”
And Sophie knew right then her friend was going to be just fine.
16
SIMON WATCHED AS ADAM and Marcelina started their slow trek toward what he assumed was the bar for a drink. Glancing back, he also noted that Delia and Sophie had vanished from Tolliver’s immediate circle and had disappeared somewhere. He started making a circuitous route toward the bar himself, hoping that Sophie spied him and steered clear. For safety’s sake—hers more than his—he didn’t need anyone at the event to put the two of them together. As much as he wanted to meet Sophie’s friend, this was not the time or place for introductions.
He was still impressed with how well and quickly Sophie had managed to get her job done. She’d gotten into Tolliver’s circle quite easily. He’d been a little worried that she might be out of her league and not fully realize who she was dealing with, but she seemed to have held her own. He’d recognized her friend Delia and Adam Wingate immediately—hard not to when the two lovebirds were being splashed across every local paper and magazine—and had worried that their sudden appearance might cause problems. But moments later, Marcelina had been successfully cut from the pack, allowing him the kind of unmonitored access he could have only dreamed of.
As he moved closer, he scanned the crowd around the groom-to-be and the supermodel, but didn’t see any obvious hired muscle. Which was just as well. The level of security covering the gala was already at an all-time high for what would be typical of events of this caliber. He didn’t know if that was Tolliver’s doing, so he didn’t have to have hulks shadowing his and Marcelina’s every move during the gala itself, but he would certainly bet on it.
He worked his way closer, keeping an eye behind him as well, but Tolliver was still ensconced in his throng of admirers and hadn’t so much as looked Marcelina’s way, as far as he could tell. He was a paranoid man where it came to security, but Simon also knew he was rather smug about his power and control. Once safely inside the confines of the Institute, surrounded by security, and relishing his place as the star of the gala, he was certain Tolliver was quite happy reveling in the attention he—and his collection—were receiving. The more coverage he could gain out of it, the better. And having Marcelina and the emerald being escorted around the room on the arm of the other feted star of the night—Adam Wingate—was like double-teaming the event.
“Well,” Simon muttered, “we’ll see what we can do to ruin that for you.” He thought of Guinn, reading all the press coverage and knowing that not only had Tolliver found a way to snatch his heritage from him, but now his pride and dignity as well, by wrongfully claiming Guinn’s birthright as his own for all the world to see. He might not be able to do anything about what was in the cases, but it was the Shay that Guinn wanted more than anything else, and what Simon had personally kept him from having. One way or the other, it was going back to London, back to Guinn.
He gave a quick scan of the room, but still no sight of Sophie or Delia. He prayed she wouldn’t suddenly turn up, and was trusting that he had it under control, but wished there had been some way to keep in contact during the event. Phones, cameras and all other recording devices had been banned from the gala floor and were being held in the security office for those who couldn’t leave them at home.
Adam had just handed Marcelina a drink as Simon started to close in. She wouldn’t recognize him, and he hoped he might be able to distract the model long enough to entice her to a more private place before she headed back to Tolliver’s side. As for the higher profile Adam, he figured he could find a way to shame the man into going back to his bride-to-be, leaving Marcelina in his care. At least, that was the plan.
But it was immediately thwarted when Adam didn’t lead Marcelina back into the throng, but took the opportunity himself for a more private conversation. Simon wanted to clap Adam on the back for inadvertently doing the hard work for him, but wasn’t as certain of his plan to dismiss the blond Adonis if there were no crowds around to help ensure the guy’s good behavior.
He saw them duck into a display and had to do some nimble dodging to wind his way into the same area while not losing sight of them. Most of the guests were in the larger, more open rooms, but there were a number of couples wandering the outer exhibits as well. Many looked more interested in each other than the artwork on display, but that could work to Simon’s advantage. Later, when the emerald went missing, if people were questioned, hopefully no one would remember him.
He finally turned the last corner…only to discover no one there. There was no way out of this particular area without backtracking, so he wasn’t sure where they could have gone. Then he heard the giggling. And it sounded remarkably like what Sophie had described after bearing witness to the shower scene in Tolliver’s suite.
He casually used his body to block the entrance to the small display area, keeping other wandering couples from entering…and giving the wandering hands of the couple he had now targeted as being behind one of the display panels a chance to get further involved with one another.
The giggles diminished, replaced by a short groan or two…. Simon waited a bit longer, until he heard a bit of a scuffle, saw the panel vibrate, and one of the movable walls wobble a bit as body parts bumped, and more giggles were finally stifled by a series of soft moans.
Checking to make sure no one was in the general vicinity of the area, Simon moved closer to the shaky panel, until he could hear the unmistakable sounds of two people climbing quite rapidly toward…completion.
Perfect time then, to poke his head around the corner. “Hullo, there. I wasn’t aware this was an interactive exhibit. Well done.” He stepped around the partition and clapped his hands slowly.
There was a short, stifled scream as Marcelina clung to Adam, who had his tux pants around his ankles and Marcelina’s legs wrapped around his hips. “Get the hell out of here,” Adam barked.
Not, Simon noted, doing the least bit to help preserve the modesty, much less the reputation, of his famous partner-in-amore. “Why, I’d be more than happy to. Just as soon as I relieve your partner there of another piece of attire.”
Marcelina swiveled as best she could to get away from Simon’s reaching hands, but as her back was closest to him, there was little either of them could do without risking getting tangled up in the pool of Adam’s trousers, falling over and knocking the partition over in a sprawling display, revealing their furtive activities.
Thankful for her upswept hairstyle, Simon unclipped the emeralds and slid them from Marcelina’s neck before she could do anything to stop him.
“Wait,” she screeched. “Thief! You can’t just take them! Tolly will kill me! “
“Oh, but I can. And they aren’t Tolliver’s to begin with. Ask him about it. Tell him Guinn sends his regards. And I don’t think you’ll want to shout for the guards. At least not until you’ve gotten your pants up there, mate,” he added, nodding to Adam.
“You’ll pay for this! I’ll have half of Chicago after you,” Adam threatened, trying to disentangle himself from Marcelina, whose bunched-up gown was caught on his tux jacket.
“And here it will take only two people to bring you down,” Simon said as he slipped the emeralds into a specially prepared pocket inside his tuxedo. “I imagine your fiancée won’t take the news kindly. Or worse—” he smiled “—your mother.”
Adam blanched, but quickly regrouped. “Tell a single soul and I’ll have you hunted down,” he called out as Simon waited for a gap in guests and quickly slipped out of the display area.
“You do that,” he murmured. “And we’ll just see who pays the bigger price.”
He felt the weight of the emeralds thumping against his chest, keeping time with the pounding of his heart as he made his way through the exhibit, plotting just how he was going to make his escape. With the heightened security, it was going to be quite the challenge, but given he was carrying the only piece on display tonight not wired to an alarm system, other than the mouth of the woman who’d been wearing them, he had about a sixty-second window to find an exit and get himself on the other side of it, before all hell broke loose.
Simon Says... Page 19
