Thorns on Wildflower Island

by Michelle Files

  After a minute, Eliza pulled herself out of the hug. “There’s more.”

  Eyes wide, Javier responded. “Honey, you need to tell us everything. We want to help.”

  “I know.” Eliza took Javier’s hand as she spoke. It was comforting to her. “I got a call this morning from someone that must know about Zachary.”

  “Who have you told?” Cecily asked her.

  “No one. That’s the thing. Not even Sebastian has any idea. Only you two.”

  “You never told him?” Javier asked.

  “No, of course not. I’m not even sure Zachary is his. Well I wasn’t until this morning. Now I’m pretty sure he is.”

  “What did the caller say exactly?” Cecily asked her.

  Both Cecily and Javier were watching her intently. They were dying to know where she was going with her story.

  “The caller was a man. I didn’t recognize his voice, because it was kind of muffled, I guess. He said that he just wanted me to know that he knew I had a secret. That’s it. I think I might know who it is, but I’m not positive,” Eliza told them.

  “Who?” They both said simultaneously.

  Eliza looked at her friends, but didn’t smile. By then she was too distraught to find any humor at all in the situation.

  “I think it might be the nurse that took care of Zachary when we took him to the hospital the other day. He was sick and we took him in for tests. The nurse called later and said that Zachary’s blood type was different than when he was born. I don’t know why that would be, other than from a clerical error, which is what he told us. Marshall said he sounded suspicious on the phone. At least that’s what he said. That’s the only person that I can think it might be. Until today, I have never told anyone about Zach and Sebastian.”

  “Wow. What are you going to do now?” Javier asked her.

  “I have no idea. Should I tell Marshall?”

  “Oh boy. I can’t answer that question,” Javier replied. “Cec, what do you think?” They both looked over to her for answers.

  Cecily, who was almost never at a loss for words, just looked back at them. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head back and forth.

  “Please, Cecily, I need your honest opinion. I don’t have a clue what to do.” Eliza was trying her best to mask the desperation in her voice.

  “I really can’t help you there. On the one hand, Marshall has a right to know that Zach may not be his. On the other hand, what he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him. I definitely wouldn’t say anything to Sebastian. He is not father material, if you know what I mean.”

  They knew.

  Eliza noticed the clock on the wall behind the bar. “Is that the time? I’ve gotta go. Zach’s been at the sitter’s house all day.” She jumped off of the barstool and picked up her purse.

  “Are you okay to drive?” Cecily asked Eliza.

  “Oh, yeah I’m fine. I only had the one drink.” Eliza waved her hand in the air as she spoke.

  “It was two drinks technically, but if you are fine, then okay,” Cecily explained.

  She gave each of them a quick hug and ran out the door. They stood there watching her leave.

  “That poor girl. I feel for her,” Javier said, as he turned his barstool back toward the bar and finished his drink. “Well, I’ve got some stuff to do myself, so I’ll see you later, Sweetheart.”

  “Okay, see you later. Love you,” Cecily replied, as he headed out the door.

  Chapter 8

  The very next day, right after she returned home from dropping Marshall off at work, Eliza received another threatening phone call from the stranger. He didn’t actually threaten her, it just felt that way, and she could feel her grip on the receiver tighten, knuckles turning white. The man didn’t say anything more than he had said in his previous call. That alone frightened her. His vagueness was unnerving, as if he were playing a game of cat and mouse, and Eliza felt as if she were about to lose that game.

  By the time she got off the phone she was shaking uncontrollably. Eliza dropped the phone receiver three times before she was able to actually put it back in the cradle where it belonged.

  “Get a hold of yourself. Don’t let him get to you. That’s what he wants.” There was no one in the room but Zachary. She felt pretty confident that he wouldn’t tell anyone her secrets.

  After she fed Zachary breakfast, Eliza dropped him off at the babysitter’s house and drove straight to the hospital. Even though it had only been a couple of days, she couldn’t live that way. She needed to have a talk with Nathan. They needed to have it out once and for all. She felt like she was going to lose her mind if she didn’t get the situation resolved one way or another.

  After she parked her car in the hospital’s parking lot, Eliza just sat there. She was angry an hour ago, when she got the call and was eager for a confrontation. But once she found herself actually at the hospital, she was beginning to lose her nerve. Who was she fooling? She wasn’t the confrontational type. Eliza pictured herself walking up to Nathan, stuttering a few words out, and then screaming as she ran for her life from the hospital.

  “Yep, that sounds about right,” she said out loud in her closed up car.

  After about 20 minutes of sitting in the car, almost to the point of hyperventilating, Eliza decided to get out and get it done before she completely lost her nerve and talked herself out of the task. Even so, she walked slowly through the parking lot, taking deep breaths as she made her way to the emergency room doors.

  “Excuse me? I’m looking for Nathan, he’s a nurse here,” Eliza asked the receptionist at the emergency room desk. “Do you know where I can find him? I’m sorry, but I don’t know his last name.”

  “I know Nathan. Let me check for you,” the young girl, no more than 17 or 18, told Eliza as she picked up the phone.

  While the young woman made some inquiries regarding the whereabouts of Nathan, Eliza stood at the desk waiting. When she turned around, she glimpsed Sebastian and his brother walking down the hall, straight toward her. They were having an animated conversation and didn’t notice her standing there.

  Without thinking about what she was doing, and whether anyone might see her strange behavior, Eliza bolted across the lobby and hid inside the first room she tried. Her hands were trembling as she pulled the door closed. She stood quietly, just inside the dark room, listening for them to pass by. To her great relief, they hadn’t noticed her. The last thing she wanted was to be stopped by Sebastian. Not that he had any inkling of what was going on in her life, but she had done her best to avoid him in the almost two years since they had been together. She was embarrassed by the whole incident and hated that he was a constant reminder.

  “This island is entirely too small for my own good,” Eliza whispered to herself as she waited like a thief in the dark exam room.

  The brothers continued their conversation without a beat as they passed within inches of the room Eliza was hiding in. Once they passed, she realized that she had been holding her breath and let it out with a gasp.

  What she didn’t see was Piper and Mary Carmichael. They walked in the lobby just as Eliza slipped inside the empty room. The twins looked at each other with bewilderment. As they turned back toward the room Eliza was in, they watched Sebastian and Andy walk by, and then Eliza walk out of the room, looking a bit distraught. She had only been in there about 30 seconds.

  “Hi Girls,” Eliza said nonchalantly to the twins, who smiled in response as they continued on their way through the lobby, toward the business office.

  Piper was there to pick up her paycheck. She worked occasionally at the hospital as an aid, which was code for ‘gopher.’ She did pretty much everything that the nurses didn’t have time for, such as running samples up to the lab, fetching blankets, food, and water for the patients…you name it. And Piper loved every minute of it. She had spent her entire life working at the Wildflower Inn for her parents and loved being able to get out in the world and work at something new and different, and
meet new people.

  One of the greatest perks she found by working at the hospital was that her sister didn’t. She loved having a twin, but needed to be her own person too. At the hospital, she was just that. Her co-workers all knew she had a twin, but most of them had never met Mary, so Piper never had to be compared to her and was never mistaken for her sister.

  “What do you think that was all about?” Mary asked her sister as soon as they were out of earshot of Eliza.

  “I don’t know. That was weird. Do you think she was hiding from Sebastian? Or maybe Andy? Or do you think it was just a coincidence that they happened to be walking by right at that exact moment?” Piper questioned.

  Mary shrugged her shoulders.

  “Excuse me, Miss?” It was the receptionist at the lobby desk speaking to Eliza. “Nathan is at the third floor nurses station. He said to go on up.”

  Eliza nodded and caught the elevator just as it was closing.

  While she was making her way to the third floor, Piper and Mary doubled back and questioned the receptionist about Eliza. They knew the girl from school. She had no qualms about telling the twins what Eliza’s destination was.

  When Eliza reached the third floor nurses station she found Nathan sitting behind the desk. He was alone. She was thankful for that. Trying to get him away from prying ears might have been a challenge.

  She summoned all the courage she had and walked right up to the desk. Don’t wimp out now, she told herself. And stop shaking, for heaven’s sake.

  “We need to talk,” Eliza told him without greeting him first.

  Nathan looked up at her, recognizing her immediately. “Well sure, Mrs. Porter. What can I do for you?” He stood up, holding a clipboard to his chest.

  Piper and Mary saw Eliza and Nathan talking the moment the elevator opened. In fact, if Eliza had turned around, she would have seen them too. They made a quick right and stood around the corner from the nurses station, where they could hear everything.

  “You need to stop calling my house.” Eliza looked him straight in the eyes as she spoke. Looking weak at that moment could be her downfall.

  “Excuse me? I just called the one time and talked to your husband. What is the problem?” Nathan frowned at Eliza.

  “You know what the problem is. The harassing phone calls need to stop. Right now.”

  “Um…look, I don’t have any idea what you are talking about,” Nathan replied, laying the clipboard down on the desk. He folded his arms in front of his chest while he waited for her to continue her barrage.

  Eliza paused and looked him straight in the eyes again. “Sure you don’t. We’re done. Got it?” She raised her eyebrows for emphasis.

  Nathan didn’t know it, but Eliza was trembling inside. It took everything she had to keep her voice from shaking, giving away her true self.

  Nathan shook his head. “If you say so.”

  “And stay out of my family’s medical records,” Eliza told him as she turned and walked away. “They are none of your business.”

  She knew she had gotten her point across. She expected no more calls from the likes of him. Nathan just stood and watched her walk away. Eliza needed to get out of there as fast as her legs would carry her. She felt that if she didn’t, she might pass out, right there in the hall. She turned toward the elevator and the doors were closed. There was no way she could wait for the next one to show up, that could take several minutes. Without turning around, she could sense Nathan’s eyes staring into the back of her head.

  The stairs. That’s it. Where are they? Eliza looked down the hall, first right, then left. At the far end of the left hall there was an emergency exit sign on the door. It had a picture of a person running downstairs and a flame on his heels. She made a beeline for the door and hit the metal bar that opened the door hard, barely slowing down in the process. The door hit the side concrete wall with such a racket that Eliza jumped in response. It didn’t slow her progress though.

  Running down the two flights of stairs, in a cold sweat, she was thankful that she had worn sneakers that day. If she had been wearing high heels she would probably be lying in a heap at the bottom by then. Reaching the door to the exit, she was blanketed in warmth as she squinted in the bright sunshine. Relief washed over her.

  “So that was really weird. Eliza took off like a shot to the exit door,” Mary said to her sister as they waited for the next elevator down. “What do you think that was all about?”

  “How should I know,” Piper replied as the elevator opened. “I heard exactly what you heard.”

  Early the next morning Eliza made a phone call.

  “Hi, it’s Eliza. I need to talk to you.”

  “Why are you whispering?” Cecily asked her, with a whisper back. She didn’t even realize that she did it.

  Eliza looked up the stairway to make sure it was clear of her husband.

  “Because Marshall is still home. I need to talk to you about the nurse and stuff. What time will you be at work?” She was still whispering and partially covered her mouth and the phone speaker with her free hand.

  Two hours later, Eliza had dropped Marshall off and walked into the Wildflower Bar with Zachary in her arms. The babysitter was not available that day, so Eliza had to bring her son along. She didn’t like it, but was secure in the fact that he was much too young to understand and repeat anything he would hear that day.

  “Oh hey, come here Little Man.”

  Cecily reached for the baby and took him from his mother’s arms. Eliza was happy to be relieved of the weight. He was getting so heavy to carry, and getting heavier every day.

  The two women sat down at one of the tables in the bar. It was still early and they were the only ones there. Eliza was grateful for that. She didn’t need prying ears. Eliza spent the next few minutes telling Cecily all about her conversation with Nathan, and his reaction.

  “You know,” Cecily said as she handed Zachary his sippy cup, “it sounds to me like he is not your guy.”

  Eliza’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about? Of course he is. You wouldn’t expect him to stand there and admit it, would you?” Eliza couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She fiddled with her gold hoop earrings as they talked.

  “No, I wouldn’t expect that. But, from what you’ve told me, it sounds like he had no idea what you were talking about. And…I kind of know Nathan. He’s not the type of person to harass anyone. He’s a really nice guy actually.”

  Zachary let out a screech that lasted only a second, but caused both women to stop their conversation and look at him. It worked. He got the attention he wanted. Cecily smiled and bent over to kiss the boy on the top of his head. That seemed to satisfy him and he reached for a cracker that was lying on the table in front of him.

  “How do you know Nathan?” Eliza looked around and whispered, though there were no other people in sight. “I’ve never once heard you mention him.”

  “He just comes in here once in a while. Well…actually kind of frequently. I think he’s lonely and just wants someone to talk to. People like that about me,” Cecily informed her.

  Eliza resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her friend. It was just like Cecily to make the whole situation about her. It was certainly one of her annoying traits.

  “Okay, whatever. So you don’t believe me?” Eliza was beginning to sound confrontational.

  “No, that’s not it. I think you are just barking up the wrong tree with Nathan. It’s gotta be someone else,” Cecily explained as she handed Zachary back to his mother. “Look, I think you need to tell Marshall what is going on. About the possibility of Sebastian and all that. He has a right to know and he needs to be able to help you in all of this. It’s really an issue between the two of you.”

  Cecily stood up. She had been sitting there too long and needed to get back to work before Roxanne wandered through the bar and saw them with their heads together.

  “Sweetheart, I’ve got to go. I need this job.”

  “Yeah
, okay. You are probably right. I’ll think about telling Marshall. I’m just afraid. You know?”

  “Yeah, I get it. But it’s something I think you really need to do,” Cecily replied.

  The two women hugged and Cecily patted the little boy on the head. He smiled at her and offered her his cracker. She took it and did a silly exaggerated show of pretending to eat it in front of him. Zachary started clapping and they both laughed.

  Chapter 9

  “Marshall, get down here. We need to talk!” Eliza yelled up from the bottom of the stairs.

  Several minutes late, when Marshall finally came down the stairs, Eliza put Zach on the floor with a snack, so they could talk. She had decided to tell him about the harassing calls. The man was still bothering her and she knew he would not just go away on his own. She had received another call after her confrontation with the nurse. She was surprised by his nerve.

  It took her a few minutes, as she gathered herself together, a piece at a time. But once she trusted her voice, she finally told him.

  Once she told her husband about the phone calls, she told him about her trip to the hospital to have it out with him, and how Nathan had acted like he had no idea what she was talking about.

  The two of them were sitting at the kitchen table, keeping an eye on the baby while they talked. Marshall sat there in his chair, contemplating everything that his wife had just told him.

  “Do you think it’s about, well…you know?” he asked Eliza.

  Eliza recognized the fear in her husband’s eyes. She felt the same fear, deep down in her core. The two of them were attempting to navigate a tangled web of deceit. She had no idea how it would turn out, but she knew…they both knew…the consequences would be quite detrimental. Life changing, in fact.

  “What?…No. How could it be?” She shook her head adamantly. “No one knows about that. It has to be something else,” she replied.