by Peggy Webb
“Toni, that’s enough!” Clive shouted. His face flushed a deep and dangerous red. Stephen feared he was going to have a stroke.
“You’re right, Clive,” she said, showing no remorse. “It’s entirely enough. In fact, it’s time for this to stop.”
“It absolutely is.” Stephen was not about to let his evil, so-called mother ruin everything he’d worked for. He was across the room and had lifted her off the sofa before she knew what was happening.
She weighed no more than a child. She’d starved herself to be runway ready-- pathetic, considering her age. And she smelled of booze and defeat.
“Put me down.” She batted at his chest, but the blows she landed were no more effective than swatting at a fly. He kept going, and her eyes widened. “Where are you taking me?’
“To your room so you can sleep it off, Toni.” He took the stairs two at a time, racing to get this over with before Lily returned.
He shouldered open her bedroom door, stalked inside and dropped her onto the bed. Then he sat down beside her and got a tight grip on her hand.
“Mother, dearest, I want you to listen to me and listen hard. Your time at Allistair Manor is over. Pack your bag. In the morning Graden will drive you to the airport. Be ready to leave at five. Your ticket for the early flight will be waiting at the gate.”
“My hair’s a wreck and my nails are chipped. I can’t possibly go back to Manhattan without professional repairs. While I’m at it, I might as well get a Swedish massage. Book the evening flight, and I’ll make my own plans to get there, thank you very much. This is still my staff, too.”
He didn’t miss her sarcasm. “Fine. Have it your way. But you are to behave yourself, before and after you leave here. Do you understand?”
“Yes. More than you can possibly know.”
Toni lived for money and the spotlight, always had and always would. He had nothing to worry about.
“Good. I won’t see you again before you leave for New York. Goodbye, have a nice flight. If you behave yourself, you can come back next year for the christening.” She turned her head and stared at the wall. “Nod if you get my drift.”
Her nod gave him a small surge of satisfaction. It never hurt to trot out the glamorous matriarch of the Allistair family. She’d make great press at his son’s christening.
He walked out and shut the door behind him. Problem solved.
When he got back to the library, Graden was already there with five cups of hot chocolate, but everything was not as it should be.
Clive’s breathing was shallow, and he said over and over, “That’s too many cups.”
Stephen squatted beside his grandfather’s chair and took his hand. “Clive, listen to me. Everything is okay. I’m sending Toni away. She’s leaving tomorrow, and she won’t be back unless I say so. You’re okay. We’re all going to be okay.”
He turned to his right-hand man and instructed him to take Clive to his apartment, put him to bed, then check his blood pressure and call the doctor if there was any cause for alarm.
“Then make plane reservations for Toni on the evening flight to New York. She might ask you to drive, or she might take a taxi. Whatever she does, you make sure she gets on the plane. I want her out of here.”
“No problem.”
Stephen wrapped the lap blanket around his grandfather’s shoulders, then stood by while Graden lifted him as easily as he would a baby.
“Clive, get some rest, and don’t worry about a thing. I’ve handled it all.”
“You’re a good boy, Stephen.”
“You taught me well.”
Alone at last, he sank into his chair and closed his eyes while the brandy and Beethoven restored his sense of well-being. By the time Lily walked into the library, he knew he was capable of dismissing her streak of stubbornness long enough to make sure she wore his wedding ring and carried his child. Then, his real work would begin, his two masterpieces, shaping his son and creating his Savage Beauty.
“Hello, darling.” He stood up, as a gentleman would, but he didn’t embrace her. He could still see rebellion in her eyes. She needed to be deprived of his love until she learned obedience. “You can sit by the fire with me tonight. Clive won’t be coming.”
She sank onto the sofa without even acknowledging his gracious manners. He’d overlook it tonight, considering the circumstances. But after the wedding, she’d learn her role as an Allistair wife.
When she said, “I’m worried about Clive,” she almost redeemed herself. But as she explained her frivolous concerns, he revised his opinion downward. He listened with polite interest until she’d finished her tale of his grandfather’s ill temper in the library, and then he dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
“He speaks his mind, that’s all. I admire that.”
“Do you?” What did she mean by that remark? “Then I’ll speak mine. I’ve given this a lot of thought, Stephen. I let myself be rushed into an engagement, but I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here. You and I have basic differences that won’t change with a marriage certificate.”
“What are you saying?”
“You and I no longer work as a couple. It’s not your fault, and I don’t think it’s mine. But I won’t enter into a marriage that is doomed from the beginning. I can’t marry you.”
He struggled to keep his face a careful mask. Maybe he’d been hasty not to greet her with a kiss. And he’d certainly made a mistake trying to protect her reputation until the wedding. If he’d done like that clod, Griff Perkins, he’d already be awaiting the birth of his son.
“Darling, I’m sure that’s stress talking.”
“No. It’s me talking. I don’t mean to be cruel or abrupt, but sometimes a crisis brings out truth in a way that going about your ordinary business cannot. I’m sorry.”
She reached toward her ring. She was actually going to pull a ten-carat diamond solitaire off her finger and hand it back as if it were a cubic zirconium knock-off. How ungrateful could she get?
Suddenly, he saw his carefully laid plans circling the drain as if Lily had thrown them into the toilet and flushed them down. He couldn’t let her do that.
“Wait.” He was across the room and kneeling at her feet before she had the ring off her finger. “Darling, you’re upset now. This thing with Cee Cee has been too much for you.”
“It’s not just that, Stephen.”
“I know.” He crooned to her as if she were one of his rose cultivars. “I shouldn’t have asked you to redecorate this huge mansion before the wedding.”
“I’m sorry about all that. I can finish the renovations or recommend someone else to do the job, whatever you want.”
“I want you to stay here. You and Annabelle. She loves working with me, and we have her presents already under the tree. She’s so excited about seeing the sunset over the bay on Christmas Eve, I’ve made sure my boat’s ready down at the marina.” Was he trying too hard? Not hard enough?
“I’m sorry, Stephen. I see no reason to prolong the inevitable.”
“Wait!” He kissed her hand, even managing to linger over it as if he weren’t seething inside. “Darling, there’s no reason to rush off and ruin Christmas for her, is there? And what if Cee Cee gets to come home before then? Are you going to send her back to that impoverished hovel to celebrate the holidays with a foster mother Annabelle calls the Wicked Witch of the West?”
That almost brought a smile from her. Good.
“I suppose I could stay through the holidays. It would give me time to find another apartment.”
“Darling, I hope it will give me time to prove to you that I’m the man who can give you and Annabelle the future you’ve always dreamed of.” From her expression, he might as well have asked her to go mop the kitchen floor.
“Maybe I should just find another place, Stephen.”
He dug deep for the famous Allistair charm.
“Listen, Lily, my love for you hasn’t changed. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted,
needed and dreamed of. And I’ve come to absolutely adore Annabelle. She’s the daughter I’ve always wanted.” Her face softened. Was she thawing? When he sat on the sofa and put his arm around her, she didn’t pull away. “I’ll admit that I’m hoping you’ll change your mind.”
“I don’t want to encourage false hopes. And I don’t want to take advantage of your generosity.” She started pulling at the ring again.
“Don’t. Please.” He covered her hand, utterly galled that he’d been reduced to begging. “Just give me another chance. If you don’t change your mind, then after the holidays I’ll help you find another place to live. All I want is your happiness.”
“Stephen, I want you to be happy, too. You’re a good man, and you deserve a good woman who is right for you. Thank you for taking this so well. And for making it easy for all of us to get through the holidays.”
“Thank you, darling.”
She probably would have let him kiss her, but he decided to make her wait for it. After what she’d done to him tonight, she deserved to go to bed worried that her bad decision might cost her the best thing that had ever happened to her. Where else was she going to find a famous billionaire with his good looks and charm? Not to mention one willing to take on an obstreperous teenage daughter.
“Good night, Stephen.”
When she stood, the lights from the chandelier and the fireplace caught in her hair. It looked is if a thousand stars shone through the sunset-colored strands.
He would never let her go. Never.
Chapter Eighteen
When Lily arrived at the hospital the next morning, she found Cee Cee awake and more alert than the day before, but far too fragile to remember or talk about anything that had happened. Still, having Annabelle there overnight had put some color back into her cheeks. Her daughter was perched on the foot of the bed, chatting about her rose cultivar, while the sitter Jack had hired was in the corner knitting.
Ethel McCarter was an older woman with curly white hair and the sweet round face of the Pillsbury doughboy. She called both girls dear heart and looked as if she wouldn’t swat a fly. Even though two uniformed officers were guarding the door, Lily felt better knowing this motherly woman was always within Cee Cee’s reach.
As she and Annabelle left the hospital and drove home, she made a mental note to call and thank Jack.
“Mom, did you know Mrs. McCarter has a baseball bat behind her chair.
“You’re kidding me?”
“I’m not. She said if anybody came after Cee Cee she’d send them straight to Kingdom Come.”
It felt wonderful to laugh again with her daughter. And on such a beautiful day. Though it was still only nine o’clock in the morning, Annabelle had opened the sunroof of the Jeep, and the sun was shining through almost as if it were a spring day. The crazy thing about Ocean Springs’ winters was that the temperature could be in the forties one day and the sixties the next.
“I’ll bet she would, too,” Lily told her daughter. “Jack said she’d once coached a girls’ softball team at Mississippi State University.”
“No way! That’s awesome.”
“Do you want to go back to the house so you can rest?”
“Just drop me off so I can change clothes. I told Stephen I’d be at the greenhouses today.”
“You called him?”
“No. He came by the hospital, early this morning before you got there.”
So, he really was trying to repair their fractured relationship. Still, Lily felt nothing except curiosity.
“How’d it go?”
“Okay, I guess. Cee Cee had a bad spell when he first got there, but Mrs. McCarter managed to calm her down.”
“I’m glad.” Security waved her onto the estate, and she dropped Annabelle off at the front door, but not before leaning across the seat to hug her and say,” I love you.”
As she drove to her office, she thought of the many times she’d carelessly sent her daughter off with nothing more than a warning not to be late coming home, or some inane reminder not to forget her coat, her backpack, or her swim meet at seven.
I’ll never again be that careless.
She entered Lily’s Designs determined to catch up on the work she’d neglected during her search for Cee Cee. She opened her computer to the makeover designs she was creating for the Forresters. They were a lovely family of four who had moved from New Jersey to Ocean Springs in November and had hired Lily to renovate their house overlooking the beach.
The morning passed quickly, and she grabbed a sandwich around the corner for lunch. When her phone pinged with a text from Stephen, she was shocked at how fast the afternoon was flying by.
Don’t wait dinner for us tonight, darling. Annabelle and I are going on a secret Christmas shopping expedition. We’ll grab a bite afterward. It will be a great way to have some private father/daughter time.
Lily had mixed feelings, but the shopping trip showed how hard Stephen was trying. And Annabelle deserved some fun.
Okay, she said in the return text. Where?
Anywhere she wants to go.
Have fun.
We definitely will. See you soon, darling! Until then, all my love.
Lily couldn’t return a sentiment she no longer felt. She let Stephen’s text be the last in the conversational chain then turned back to her work on the Forrester’s design. She was deep into color selection for the sunroom overlooking the water when the call came from Detective Yancy. He had a lead on Debbie Waycaster and needed her to drop by the station to look at some video footage.
“Of course. I’ll be right there.”
Lily parked at the Ocean Spring Police Department and went inside.
Detective Yancy wasted no time getting to the point. “Follow me.” As they wound through the bowels of the station, he continued his explanation. “We’ve found video footage of Debbie Waycaster at the Lucky Strike Casino in Biloxi.”
Biloxi was only two miles across the bay bridge, but Lily rarely went there, particularly since Mississippi gambling laws had transformed it from a beach town with nothing more than gift shops, hotels, and great restaurants along the man-made, white sand beach to a gamblers’ paradise where massive casino boats blocked the view of the water.
“I don’t frequent the casinos, and I don’t know Debbie.”
“I thought you might recognize somebody on the footage.” He opened the door of a conference room with a long scarred table and eight chairs, a screen set up in the front and the lights dim.
He started the film, and the interior of the casino was exactly as she’d imagined, except gaudier. Throngs of people crowded between the red velvet walls where ornate sconces competed with even more ostentatious chandeliers in an attempt to throw some light through a fog of cigarette smoke. Row after row of slot machines lined up like sentinels watching over a giant roulette wheel and the felt-covered tables, where men and women across the strata of society tossed dice in hopes of beating the house.
Lily hadn’t a clue what she was supposed to be looking for.
“There.” Detective Yancy froze the video on a bank of tables where card dealers played against small groups of people with money to blow and the desperate hope that lady luck would be on their side. His pointer highlighted a young woman with dark hair, holding her red parka over her arm and standing behind a man in jeans and a cowboy hat. “Debbie Waycaster. The date on this footage is the last reported time anyone ever saw her.”
“You certainly have lots of witnesses.” As Lily scanned the screen, she suddenly felt cold. There. Sitting at a corner table in the bar facing the card tables was a man with long silver hair, his right hand wrapped around a glass, his face turned toward the table where Debbie stood.
“You see him?” Yancy asked, noting her attention on the man.
“Yes. But I’m not sure who he is.”
“Watch this.” The detective enlarged the screen and focused on the man’s left hand. The little finger was missing. “It’s Clive Allis
tair.”
“How do you know? He can’t be the only gray-haired man in the world who lost his finger in an accident.”
“When I was twenty, I got tired of being beat up in the wrestling ring and worked a couple of years on Clive’s security team.”
“Why’d you quit?”
“I didn’t see a future there. My old man was a cop, and I decided to give it a try. I’ve never looked back.” He hovered the pointer over Clive’s finger stub. “Until now.”
“I don’t personally know if Clive has ever been to a casino.” Lily felt lightheaded. Toni had been telling the truth about his gambling habits. Regardless of whether it was relevant to the case, she couldn’t keep it a secret. “But I did hear he likes to gamble, so I’m not surprised he’s there.”
“Look at this.” He panned to a dark corner near Clive. The man standing in deep shadow was tall and dressed in black. She couldn’t make out his features, but his dark hair was unmistakable. “See the angle of his body? He’s positioned so he can see both Clive and Debbie. Do you recognize him?”
Stephen? She tamped down her growing apprehension. But then she noticed the man in the video was far bulkier than the aristocratic-looking third generation Allistair. And there was something about his arrogant stance that was all too familiar.
“I can’t be certain that’s Graden Young, but I think it is. If Clive went to a casino, he’d most certainly have his most trusted staff member with him.” The room suddenly felt too hot, and Lily‘s heart was racing. She lifted her hair off her neck and fanned it with her other hand. “You have your man. I don’t understand what you’re doing.”
“Our suspect passed a lie detector test, and we’ve found no evidence in his apartment or in hours of questioning his friends and neighbors that links him to any of the missing girls.”
“He had Cee Cee’s phone.”
“He said he found it in an alley over in Biloxi, and I’m inclined to believe him. Please take a hard look at these two men, Mrs. Perkins. Can you positively identify either of them?”