Against the Wall (Stoddard Art School Series Book 3)

by Lisa A. Olech

  Beyond he could see the point house. Any sane man would wait for the tide to recede. Wait for daylight. Wait for the f-ing Coast Guard.

  His clothing was already frozen to his skin, but when he dashed into the icy waves, the shock to his system had him screaming obscenities into the wind. As if to scream back, the sea raised a watery fist and slammed into him.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Shoving his way into the point house, Bear nearly wept when he saw them. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. He gripped the edge of his counter to steady the sudden stagger in his legs.

  Shadow rushed him, head down, whining. His whole body wagged. Bear bent and pulled the dog against his leg and wrapped an arm around the dog’s neck. Shadow pressed into him.

  “Oh my God, Walter! Thank goodness. How—”

  Bear stood and pushed back the hood of the rain slicker. “It’s me.”

  “Bear.” His name fell from her lips in a gasp. “What? How did you…”

  Blood rushed in his ears. Adrenaline still pumped through his veins. He wanted nothing more than to cross the room, drag her into his arms, and kiss her senseless. He’d never been so relieved to see anyone in his life.

  “She had me ’til we reached Chicago. The second I found out what Diane was up to, I headed back.” His breath still came in short pants. “Would have been here h-hours ago. Hurricane Daphne had other ideas.”

  “You’re soaked. How did you get out here? The tide’s cut us off.” She took a step closer. “Don’t tell me you braved those waves?”

  “I had to find you.” Shadow was now sitting on his foot, gazing up at him. Bear stroked the dog’s throat. His tail thumped the floor “And him. Walter told me he’d taken off. I knew he’d head here, but I thought…” The words damned his throat. “They said you were gone. Then when I saw your car, and I couldn’t find you…the cat wasn’t talking…”

  “You swam for me?”

  “I had to get out here. Make sure you were okay. If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I would have done.”

  “You swam for me.” The firelight caught the tears in her eyes.

  Every fiber of his being needed to touch her. He took a single step closer. “I saw the mural, Kay. You erased the lovers. Erased us. And those fucking roses. I could have killed Diane when I found out she sent them and what she said to you. None of it—none of it was true. You have to believe me. I’m so sorry.”

  Kay stood shaking her head with an incredulous look on her face.

  A greater chill than he had just endured spread through him. Please say something. Anything. “Kay Winston, I swear, if you don’t tell me you forgive me and let me kiss you in the next ten damn seconds—”

  She flew into his arms, and he crushed his mouth to hers. His arms caught her. Locked her to him. Hours of desperation and fear crashed down on him harder than the waves outside. He didn’t care what it took, what he had to do, he was not losing her. Not now. Not ever.

  Holding her face in his frozen hands, he wiped away her tears with his thumb. “I never wanted to hurt you. I was trying so hard to keep all of that”—he used one hand to gesture pushing Diane and California back—“keep all the craziness from you. It’s why I left to start a new life here.”

  Kay kissed his cheeks. “I didn’t want to believe what Diane was saying, but then the flowers… The card…I’m sorry. I never should have doubted you.”

  “I hadn’t been totally straight with you, and it blew up in my lap. I should have told you what was going on long before then. But everything she told me was a lie. Every bit of it. Diane played us both.”

  “She still loves you.”

  He gave a bitter laugh as he pictured Diane’s florid face as she screeched after him in Chicago. How had he ever had feelings for her? Had she changed so much from the girl he married, or was it him? “Don’t worry. It’s over.”

  “That’s not what she thinks.”

  “Oh, she does now. It was a very short, intense scene in the middle of Chicago, O’Hare. She got the message.” He kissed Kay again, and all else fell away. The anger, the panic, the fear of losing her. She was safe in his arms where he wanted to keep her forever. There was just one more truth she needed to know.

  “You’re drenched.” Kay ran her hands over his chest. “Come get warm. I managed to find the fireplace and some matches in the dark, but I’ve been so scared. This storm is crazy. Shadow and I have been huddled together here praying the house doesn’t get swept away.”

  “Not a chance. We’re bolted to the rocks. And those windows are storm rated.” The fire would wait. Bear didn’t want another moment to pass with any more hurdles between them. He’d lost his flashlight somewhere between the cottage and the point. “I have some emergency candles in the kitchen. There’s one more thing I have to tell you, show you, but I need light.”

  “You need to get warm and dry first.”

  “No. It can’t wait another minute. I’ve already waited too long.” Bear lit one of the short, white candles, dripped its hot wax, and secured it and two others to saucers to protect their hands. He handed one to Kay. “Follow me.”

  He pushed into the dark of the master bedroom. The storm was louder here as the room had two full walls of windows.

  Kay moved closer. “Storm rated and bolted to the rocks?”

  Bear set the candles on the long, low dresser. The wide mirror mounted behind helped reflect the light and washed the room in a soft glow.

  “We’re safe.” He took advantage and gathered her close. Breathed in the sweet smell of her. Shiver as the warmth of her body penetrated his icy clothes. “This isn’t how this was supposed to go. I had it all planned. Dinner. Wine.”

  “All to get me into your bedroom?”

  He smiled into her hair. “Yes, and no.” He’d practiced this speech a hundred times over the last few weeks. And now they were here, and all those carefully chosen words eluded him.

  “Do you believe in fate?”

  Kay shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “I do. I’m a firm believer now. It was fate that I met you, Kay. I was supposed to come here to Bell Harbor, find you, and fall in love with you.” Bear took a deep breath and released her. “Look.”

  Kay followed the direction of his outstretched hand and gave a small gasp. “M-my painting. You? You were the buyer in Boston?” She looked at him with wide eyes.

  Bear nodded. “Had I told you I loved you before I met you, knew you before I’d laid eyes on you, you’d have thought I was some creepy stalker art-fan guy. Hell, I would have. But I think everything happens for a reason. Being here. Choosing here. It was all so I could have you in my life.

  “I took one look at that painting and fell in love. It was perfect. As if the artist painted it for me. You painted this for me. My point. Our point.

  “I didn’t care what it cost. I wasn’t letting some woman stick it in her camp because it matched the new slipcovers. I would have paid ten times as much to have it. It was always mine.

  “Then there you were. You stepped into the sunshine out onto the beach. A day later, you walked into my inn. I put two and two together about the painting not long after I saw your portfolio. I knew I’d seen your work before. It was crazy. How was I supposed to tell you without it all sounding crazy?”

  Bear took her hands. “Fate brought me to Bell Harbor. Because you were here. I was supposed to find you. It sounds insane, I know, but there it is.” He kissed the back of her fingers. “I love you. I’ve always loved you, and now I finally found you.”

  Kay looked back at her painting. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you believe me.” In the flicker of candlelight, Kay turned back to look at him. Silvery tracks shimmered down her cheeks. “Dear God, don’t cry.”

  “I do believe you.” Kay reached out and placed a hand on his chest. “I’m not used to anyone loving me like you do. I never thought I’d ever have it or that I’d ever feel this way.” She pulled in a shuddering brea
th. “I’ve been running for so long, but I’ve always come back to Bell Harbor. It’s why I painted that. It’s where I feel I belong.”

  “You do belong here, with me. I’m just sorry it took me so long to get here.”

  ****

  Kay rolled over in the wide bed only to find the space where Bear had slept empty. She raised up on an elbow and marveled at the stunning room in the light of the new day.

  Daphne still churned a dull green sea but had moved far enough off the coast to allow the rising sun to creep below its clouds and bring the promise of calmer skies. Two banks of windows running along the eastern and northern walls of Bear’s sleek, modern bedroom made it feel as if you’d get your feet wet should you step off the rug. The view swept clear to Ireland.

  From where she lay, she could see the lighthouse out on the farthest rock. Standing as it had for hundreds of years. She turned her head to see its framed twin upon the wall. It still amazed her that Bear had been the one to buy it from the Bruce Gallery. Call it fate, serendipity, destiny…if she was seeking a sign that Bear was indeed who she was meant to be with…

  She swung her legs off the side of the bed and surveyed the scattering of clothes. The storm had nothing on them last night in the way of intensity. They’d made love well past dawn. Her body still thrummed with a well-sated hum.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Bear stood in the doorway with a black lacquered tray. “Get back into bed.”

  “I was coming to find you. Where did you disappear to?”

  “I’m pleased to report we are no longer an island. The tide has receded, and the breakwater still stands.”

  At one point last night, Bear explained he’d found Hope in the middle of his search for her, and she was safe. “I should go to the cottage. Check on Hope.”

  “Shadow and I checked on the cottage. You’ve lost a couple branches, but everything looks okay.” He set the tray aside while he added his clothing to the chaos on the floor.

  Kay’s breath still caught at the sight of him. With or without his clothes, he truly was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. She cleared her throat and struggled to remember what they’d been talking about.

  “Hope,” she blurted.

  “Hope is fine. You may have to give her a bit more food later. Shadow helped her finish her breakfast, but he paid for it. She’s a feisty one. Puffed up and danced under his nose before she batted at him. Put him square in his place. I doubt he’ll be stealing her food again.”

  Bear picked up the tray and joined Kay in bed.

  The smell of fresh coffee made her sigh. Seeing the rest of the tray, she gave him a coy look. “You brought me pie?”

  “Haven’t you ever eaten blueberry pie for breakfast?” He broke off a piece of crust and fed it to her, giving her a wicked smile before his gaze turned more serious. Bear moved the folded napkin to one side revealing a small blue velvet box

  “It’s not Dottie’s recipe, but I was hoping it would bring me luck.” He cracked open the lid and held it out to her. Inside cushioned in snowy white satin sat the most perfect diamond ring. “There’s only one thing I want to wish for.”

  Epilogue

  “Where are you?” Bear’s voice reached through Kay’s phone.

  “I just got out of Girard’s glass class.” She slipped into the warmth of her car. The fall air was still heavy with the last of the Indian summer heat. “He didn’t care if it was a long weekend, he kept us late pulling stringers for our paperweight lesson.”

  “I can’t wait for you to get here. How’s Mom?”

  “She’s doing okay. The doctors at Dartmouth are amazing. Her treatments are going well. They’re cautiously optimistic. I’m heading back to the apartment to pick her up now, and then we’re heading over.”

  “Hurry.” The low huskiness in his voice rumbled clear to her knees.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Honey, I’ve been sure about this since the day I met you.”

  “But you’ve an inn full of people.”

  “Who are almost as excited as I am that there’s going to be a wedding here this weekend.”

  Kay couldn’t help the rush of bubbly nerves to rush through her as well. It had all come together so quickly. Almost as if their Labor Day wedding was fated to happen. “I love you for doing all this.”

  “Just remember that when we’ve been married thirty years, and I’m still leaving the cap off the toothpaste.”

  It was to be a tiny affair held on the back patio of the inn. “It means a lot to Mom, too.”

  “She wanted to see her daughter married.”

  A lump caught in Kay’s throat. Her mother’s health was stable for now, but Claire Eustice Fenton Winston was determined to see her daughter happily wed. According to her, “The sooner the better.”

  She and Kay had come together after the storm. As if it had somehow blown some of the discord from their relationship. They talked. Set aside some of the hurt and anger. There were still some conversational landmines between them, but at least now they both tried to avoid them.

  Kay moved into the point house after deciding Bear was right all along. It was stunning. Her treasured cottage became her full-time studio until it was time to head back to Stoddard. But instead of renting a place close to the school, Kay made the decision to find an apartment farther north, with two bedrooms, close to one of the finest hospitals in the Northeast. Claire wasn’t the worst roommate she’d ever had. Kay wanted to be there to help her mother, and the commute to Stoddard wasn’t bad at all.

  Not that Claire allowed her to take care of anything. It just made Kay happy to be there should the need arise.

  “Are you sure you want Shadow to be the ring bearer?” The question pulled her back to the wedding plans. Walter and Dottie were standing up for them. Claire was walking Kay down the aisle.

  “Yes, I have his bow tie all packed. If I could just convince Hope to be a flower girl, it would be perfect.”

  “I can’t wait to see you in your wedding gown.” Bear’s voice did the caramelly thing that made her thighs ache.

  “I can’t wait for you to take it off me.”

  “And don’t worry, the florist has been warned. The entire town of Bell Harbor, Maine, has been scrubbed. This wedding is rose free.”

  Who knew Shadow would be so allergic to lilies?

  A word about the author…

  Lisa is an artist/writer living in her dream house nestled among the lakes in New England. She loves getting lost in a steamy book, finding the perfect pair of sexy shoes, and hearing the laughter of her men. Being an estrogen island in a sea of testosterone makes her queen. She believes in ghosts, silver linings, the power of a man in a tuxedo, and happy endings.

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