WindSwept Narrows: #20 Fleur & Liliana

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

Between the scents, textures and colors, it was amazingly easy to lose herself in her kitchen. Small sweet squares of cakes; large decorated cookies for children and delicate puff pastries filled with fruits or crèmes. Liliana followed a large cart of desserts to the Jamaica room, unaware of the two sets of male eyes following her progress. She was in the middle of directing the layout when a strong set of hands gripped her shoulders and spun her around.

  “Did you believe I wouldn’t recognize you?”

  “I…Hey! Let me go!”

  “Shut up!”

  “You’ve made a mistake,” Liliana stared wide eyed into the unfamiliar face, her head shaking numbly. “I don’t know you.”

  “If you value your hands, take them off my wife before I remove them for you,” growled a more familiar voice, dripping with icicles yet hot as newly formed steel.

  Thomas Benton tightened his hands until he suddenly felt a thumb crushing into his wrist, breaking his grip on the white tunic covered shoulders. He spun angrily on the figure holding his wrist only to find himself looking up from the floor, his bruised wrist barely flexing enough for his hand to massage his jaw. Security came forward, talking to one another until they recognized the man on the floor.

  “Liliana? Are you alright?” Oliver Kensington couldn’t remember a rage so solid, so palpable that he swore he could taste it inside his mouth. His palms ached and he scarcely noticed the fist he was still clenching when she nodded and stumbled forward, into arms that didn’t hesitate to open for her. His hand was up on her head, the small cap falling to the floor. His lips brushed her forehead. “They’re taking him out. You don’t know him?”

  “No…no. I…but I think he’s the man who’s been bothering Fleur,” she stopped speaking, suddenly realizing where she was, her eyes wide and flustered. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t…I didn’t mean to…”

  “Just relax a minute, okay? Maybe I need this more than you,” he said quietly, his cheek resting against her head. “I came to see if you’d have dinner with me, Liliana. Please.”

  It wasn’t hard to just relax in his arms. That had never been their problem. He smelled warm and spicy. His shirt was some kind of really soft silk and his suit smooth and almost delicate feeling beneath her cheek.

  “Miss Charles? Security wants to know if you’re alright?” Kevin looked more than a little nervous, his palms swiping over the sides of his tunic. “We have the desserts set up, ma’am.”

  “I’m sorry,” Liliana put a flat hand against Oliver’s chest and inhaled deeply. Somehow she managed to straighten up without looking at him, a feat in itself since she was practically cemented to the man. She looked at Kevin and then at the array they’d used as their presentation for the evening meal and nodded. “Take the carts back to the kitchen, I’ll be right there. Thank you.”

  “Security, Liliana,” Oliver took her elbow gently, guiding her to the two men who had returned after escorting the third from the resort.

  “We’re sorry, Miss Charles. He wasn’t supposed to get through,” one of the men shook his head.

  “It’s the man bothering Fleur, isn’t it?” She asked, looking from one to the other and watching them nod. “I’m told we look alike when I have my cap on,” she bent and retrieved the small white cap from the floor. “It’s alright. I’m fine, thank you.”

  “A friend of yours is being harassed?” Oliver waited quietly while she closed the doors behind her. He saw her fingers shaking when she removed them from the large stainless steel handles. “He frightened you.”

  “I don’t have a sitter, Oliver. I can’t just…just go off to dinner whenever I please,” she said softly, cursing the shaking she heard in her own voice.

  “I don’t think we’d have a problem dining as a family, but I’ll bring dinner to your apartment,” he answered immediately. “Just to talk, Liliana.”

  She heard the words the rest of the afternoon echoing in her head after she agreed to dinner. She had nodded numbly and returned to the kitchen, preparing for the next day’s requests, the regular desserts and mentally hoping there was nothing out of the ordinary happening. Liliana spoke with Cassidy when she came to the office, Fleur standing next to her.

  “We’re working to keep him away, Liliana, Fleur. He’s in custody of the police now for violating the restraining order to keep off resort property, but he’ll make bail, I’m sure,” Cassidy paced the office.

  “There isn’t much you can do, Cassidy,” Liliana offered honestly. “I’m alright.”

  “I thought we could at least keep Fleur safe on the job,” Cassidy growled to herself more than anything. “I hadn’t noticed how alike you two are with the caps on until now. But I’ve increased security around you, so don’t be surprised. I’m hoping our attorney’s get through to them and they persuade the Benton’s to go home and if they do, we’re agreeing to drop charges.”

  “I understand,” Fleur offered a crooked grin. “I am positive they would not be so cocky or happy should Dorian or Oliver get their hands on them. It is one thing to be brave facing down an unprepared woman, but to face two men who see only rage at their assaults…” her head shook with a soft chuckle.

  “I’d almost wish for that if I thought it’d get it through their heads to leave and go home. What the hell they’re hanging around for, I don’t get.” Cassidy inhaled deeply. “I’ll keep in touch. Be careful, please.”

  “Thanks, Cassidy,” Liliana closed the notebook she was writing in for the next day, the cap slid off and dropped to the desk top. “What a day.”

  “I’m glad Oliver got in a solid punch,” Fleur confided in a little whisper.

  “I don’t remember seeing Oliver so angry before,” Liliana admitted with a slight wince when she absently rubbed her shoulders. She opened her tunic and stood up, sliding it down her arms and lifting her pack on the way to the laundry bin by the lockers. “See you in the morning.”

  Even as she walked, she told herself not to be surprised after she cleared her badge into the center to find Hailey being held on his lap. She didn’t make herself known, standing to the side of the room and listening to the deep voice reading a little book that the baby was gurgling at the large pictures and moveable bits inside the thick cardboard. Little fingers grabbed and patted with each new burst of color or noise from the small book.

  “Hmm…I’m not sure the storyline is real good, but the book seems to entertain,” Oliver said with a low chuckle. He let the chubby little fingers pull at his and turned the page, fascinated with the way her eyes and hands went straight to the object that would make noise for her. “You’re a smart little thing. And just as pretty as your mama.” He laughed a few seconds later when his words had her trying to imitate the ‘M’ sounds.

  Liliana felt the tightening inside her when she took the final few steps into the room, their eyes locking over Hailey.

  “I thought you were setting up an office?” She asked quietly, her voice getting immediate attention and little arms flapping and wild gurgles and laughter set free as Hailey bounced. She laughed when Oliver had to release the book to keep the little girl in his lap. “She’s energetic at the end of her daycare time.”

  “I suppose so,” he released her into the slim hands, his gaze hardening abruptly. “He hurt you.”

  “I…” Liliana let her gaze follow his to her shoulders, the finger stripes of bruises on both upper arms. She shrugged. “I guess so. Cassidy said he was being held by the police. It’s another charge he’ll have to answer to,” she went to lift the baby bag but backed away when Oliver held it in his hand and stood up to stand at her side. “Dinner?”

  “It’s being set up for us in my room here,” he told her easily. “I’m sure it’s good food, since I’m married to one of the chefs.”

  “Why are you, Oliver?” Liliana asked after several silent minutes of riding on the walkway to the resort elevator.

  “Why am I what?” He met the dark eyes that looked from the gurgling baby to him once they were inside the
elevator.

  “Married to me,” she said the words out loud and somehow managed to keep her head up. “Why are you?”

  “Do you remember the ceremony, Lili?” Oliver put his palm on her waist, guiding her out of the elevator to the suite at the end of the hall.

  “Yes,” she answered too softly. There wasn’t anything wrong with her memory. From the first time he spoke to her to the last look she had of him as she rode away in the cab.

  She could see the small chapel they found out driving in Vermont one afternoon. A hot sting struck her eyes when she remembered the look on Oliver’s face when he popped a set of wedding bands from his pocket and asked her if she liked them.

  “It was a very special afternoon,” she whispered.

  “And all the words we spoke still ring inside my head every time I think of you,” Oliver exhaled deeply. He could easily see the pair of them wandering through the fall gardens the justice of the peace had set up at her home. They’d rented one of their rooms and spent their wedding night in the middle of no-where and it couldn’t have been a better.

  “We shocked a lot of people. They expected you to have a grand, extravagant wedding,” Lili had the flowers he’d bought for her pressed in the back of Hailey’s baby book.

  “It was our wedding. No one else’s,” he said firmly. “It reflected us, that’s something too many people didn’t understand.”

  “Your parents were very angry with you.”

  “You think so? You should have been there a couple months ago when I began liquidating things and made it clear what my plans were,” he told her flatly, the barest edge of fury in his words.

  “Why are you doing this, Oliver?” Liliana hated asking the question. She hated all the possible answers. She sighed and moved into the room when he slid the keycard into the slot and held the door open for her. She set her jaw, about to turn and demand he give her an answer or she was leaving immediately. Then she saw the things he had spread around the large suite. Her head swiveled. Dark lashes blinking as if trying to digest all she saw in the large open space.

  The look of pure distress and confusion on her face would stay in his memory a very long time. Oliver took Hailey from her, holding her close as he crossed the room.

  “Look what we have here, Hailey,” he settled her in the center of the large playpen, pale lashes wide and blue eyes shining as she tried grabbing for toys from her precarious sitting position.

  “Where did you get all this stuff, Oliver?”

  “It’s yours, Lili. From your friends,” he said easily, shrugging out of his suit jacket and dropping it to the back of one of the chairs around the dinner table already set up for them.

  Then she began to recognize things. She knew the names of the people who had given her the things. She’d sent out very sweet thank you notes to each and every one of them. All the friends she left in New York City when she fled. All the friends from the catering business she’d worked for almost four years.

  Her hands moved absently, opening the baby bag and lifting out the dinner bottle she had prepared. She opened it and added the rice cereal before moving to the microwave after shaking it vigorously. She pressed buttons but stared at Oliver Kensington as if she were seeing a stranger. And yet another part of her knew this was the man she had known when they were alone. This was the man she knew when no well-meaning friends or relatives were around him.

  “You brought all of these things…across country…” she held up a palm, her head shaking when he made a move forward, that tall muscled form coming to a halt. She felt her chest rising and falling rapidly, her head shaking.

  “I have all of our things in storage, Lili. Once I get the office set up and settled, I’ll deal with the issue of a place to live,” Oliver swallowed the hard lump in his throat. “I want it to be a place where we can raise Hailey together. I don’t want to be out of our daughter’s life, Lili.” The words came out strongly, firmly, but he hoped not threateningly. He never wanted her afraid of him. He’d never expected her to run from him, and yet, she had.

  The chime from the microwave broke the spell and Liliana turned to open it, shake the bottle and check the temperature before capping it and walking to the baby that looked up at her with a bright, toothy smile. She laid the child back, positioning the dancing butterflies and turning the music on above her head. Two little hands wrapped around the bottle, feet up and then down as the child latched onto the nipple.

  Oliver sighed thickly, the sight of her tight hands gripping the edge of the playpen had him moving carefully forward. He put his hands over hers, gently opening them and turning her toward the dinner table. He held the chair for her, his hand gently brushing the thick, dark brown hair that fell over one ear.

  “I like your haircut. I’m sure there must be something wrong with me since it makes you look about twenty,” he met the wide eyes and felt his heart thump painfully against his ribs.

  “You…you aren’t talking about taking her from me,” she said raggedly, tear filled eyes meeting his, her hands up to hastily swipe at them. She knew his family had the money if that was what he wanted. “You…they don’t believe she’s yours. Please, Oliver…you wouldn’t do that to me…”

  “Lili,” her name was pulled from deep inside him. He pulled a chair to the side, their knees touching. His palms went to her face. “I am not taking Hailey away from you. Not now, not ever. I promise you that,” his thumbs went beneath her chin when she seemed to almost melt in relief. “I fucked up, Lili. And I know I have a shit load of things to make right.” He paused at the shocked, wide eyes.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Don’t use words like that around Hailey!” She whispered shakily, gulping air when he laughed deeply and covered her parted lips with his. For a long, steamy minute she was back in time. Back a year ago. She loved the feel of his mouth moving over hers. The sweet way his tongue caressed her lip after nipping it so she’d part her lips for them to toy with one another. So many memories, so much love that had never gone away.

  “She’s barely eight months old,” he laughed, glancing at the baby balancing a bottle and trying to grab the butterflies above her head. “Alright. I’ll watch my language. But that means until we’re alone, we’d better talk about any other topic in the world except my associates and relatives,” he informed her, the hard edge in his words stinging.

  Liliana nodded and worked to digest the words he’d spoken. She lifted covers from the food and poured dressing on her salad. Dark eyes peered up after several bites of the salmon and wild rice.

  He wanted her.

  He wanted HER! She heard yelled with a happy shout inside her heart.

  “Do they know where you are?” She asked cautiously.

  “I haven’t kept it a secret, Lili. I haven’t kept you a secret,” he told her firmly. He took several bites hungrily before setting the fork down and removing his tie.

  “It’s difficult not to talk about them, Oliver. I don’t understand,” she said quietly.

  “I know and I’m sorry. I don’t know if I’m handling things right or not, Lili,” he reached for the wine and poured some into his glass, offering some to her. She shook her head. “Why did you stop breast feeding Hailey? That was very important to you,” he asked gently, wondering if she would ever stop blushing when they talked about personal things.

  “I went to work. I was tired and,” she shrugged slightly and looked down at her plate, prepared for a reaction she knew would happen. “As you pointed out, I lost a little weight. Frannie says it was from stress and things leveled out, but…” she shrugged again. “I was worried she wasn’t getting enough nutrition.”

  “Frannie’s your physician?” Oliver kept his thoughts to himself. He couldn’t be angry at her. She hadn’t planned to go back to work until Hailey was a year old. But that had changed when she left him. He’d allowed people around them to create the stress she was under and he was too wrapped up in listening, to hear.

  When Hailey was bor
n, things were already strained because of his family and associates. She went through it alone because she didn’t get the message to him herself when the labor began. She’d made the mistake of asking his mother to call him for her. One of her friends from where she’d worked was with her, not her husband. It would take a long time before he forgave himself for that misstep.

  “She’s a natural practices physician and midwife. Hailey visits the baby wellness clinic,” she glanced over at the baby who had finished her bottle and rolled to her side, hands busily playing with gripping toys that were brightly colored and made appealing noises.

  “She’s so tiny,” Oliver commented. “Built like her mother, but with my coloring. We made a very beautiful baby, Lili,” he said with more than a trace of awe in his voice. He saw the question in her eyes at his words. “I know she’s my daughter, Liliana. I’ve always known that.”

  “That isn’t what…” she stopped herself, eyes closed tightly. “I’m sorry.”

  “Lili, you can’t call me anything that I haven’t called myself over the last eight months,” Oliver waited until she opened her eyes. “I’m sorry I let those words hurt you.”

  “You aren’t returning to New York?” She asked quietly.

  “I’m not returning to New York. My office is a block or so from something called Paddington’s,” he saw recognition flicker in her eyes, her smile sending streaks of warmth through him.

  “We were there at Christmas,” she told him, leaving the table and lifting Hailey to sit on her lap at the table. “We discovered a fondness for the carousel. She really loved all the animals so we go there every weekend for a ride.” She put a piece if broccoli in the tiny fingers, watching Hailey play with it on the table. “The flowers you sent were beautiful, Oliver. Thank you.”

  “I know how much you love the smells of fresh flowers,” he started playing with the tiny fingers beating the small tree of broccoli on the table. “Maybe we can go there this weekend. The carousel, I mean,” he wasn’t used to floundering, in anything in his life. “I meant what I said, Lili. All I’m asking for is a chance to fix things. Hailey deserves two parents and we deserve another chance. When other people aren’t screwing with us…”