An Aria for Nick (Christian Romantic Suspense) (Song of Suspense)

by Bridgeman, Hallee

  "Sexy," Nick said with a Spanish accent.

  Aria waved again, then caught the eye of a guy that was walking in her direction. She was nearly in front of Nancy now, and boldly threw him a kiss.

  Nick cursed loudly and aggressively in Spanish then said, "Do you think I can't see you through this thing?" He stormed toward her. The glare in his eyes looked real, and she almost thought he was serious as she backed away from him. "Can't you at least wait until my back is turned?" he yelled.

  Aria made herself trip and fall backwards, landing almost on top of Nancy and rolling over again very quickly. Her hand knocked the bag, sending papers flying out of it.

  "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, making to help her pick them up.

  "I got it," Nancy said harshly, snatching papers right out of her hand. Simmons sat up and tried to help gather papers, running after one that was blowing in the wind. "Leave it alone. I'll take care of it." Peter and Becky sat up, staring in shock. Aria would not look at Peter in the face, afraid he would recognize her.

  Nick reached the women and grabbed Aria by her arm. "Now look what you've done. Mujer estúpida!" He hauled her up and kept a hand on her arm as they went back up the stairs to the deck.

  Aria reacted in character. "Mujer estúpida?" She jerked her arm out of his. "Stupid? I'm stupid?" Then she let out a long line of Spanish so fast it surprised her she didn't trip over any of the words. As soon as they were out of earshot of the party below them on the beach, she stopped and took a deep breath.

  "Good job, Aria. Now, get angry at me and go to our room ahead of me," he commanded. She had started to shake and thought if she didn't get to a bathroom soon, she would disgrace herself by throwing up all over Nick.

  Aria jerked her arm from his and slapped at his hands, then she ran into the lobby. She glanced behind her one time while she waited for an elevator, and saw Nick at the bar, watching the beach. She entered the elevator and accessed her floor, pacing nervously inside it. Did any of them recognize her? she wondered. Had she known that she would have to get that close to them, she never would have agreed. Which, she told herself, was precisely why Nick didn't tell her.

  The hallway on her floor was empty, and Aria was eternally thankful, because she dropped her key three times before she was able to get the door open. She rushed inside and slammed it shut behind her, ripping the hated wig from her head as she went. She turned on the shower, wanting to wash the sand off, along with the makeup that made her Annalisse Rivera. If she could just get the makeup off, she would be okay, she thought, and she stepped into the shower before the water was even warm.

  The shock of the cold water calmed her down some, and by the time steam filled the room, she felt better. She wrapped herself in a hotel robe, and when she came out of the bathroom, she saw Nick was already in the room, and hanging up the phone.

  "Did they seem to know who I was?" Aria asked him.

  "No." He stared at her a long time, then said, "We've been here too long already. I ordered us something to eat. Go ahead and pack, and we'll leave after we finish the meal." He sat down in a chair and opened the little screen on the camera, playing back the recording.

  "Did you get what you needed?" Aria inquired, coming up behind him.

  "Yes. You did a great job, Aria. I have enough here that they can't deny what we saw."

  "Will it be enough to clear me?"

  "I don't know for sure, which is why we're going to drop you somewhere safe, and I'm going to take it in." He set the camera down and rubbed his face.

  Aria stepped back from him. "Where's safe?"

  "I'm trying to come up with that myself," he said.

  "You told Adam there was no place safe for me except with you," she said. "I don't want to be away from you. If something happened to you, I'd never know it." She stood there, wringing her hands, trying to keep herself from grabbing him or throwing something at him.

  Nick stood and paced the room a few times. Stopping in front of her, he stuck his hands in his pockets. "You can't go with me to Washington, Aria. And I can't bring them to you. The only other option is to put you somewhere else."

  Without a word, Aria grabbed clothes and rushed to the bathroom to get dressed. She thought about it as she threw off the robe and started pulling on her clothes. He was right. Think, she told herself. Think about where to go. Her family was off limits. She had no real friends outside work or church and Peter would know them all anyway. There had to be someplace no one else would know about. She started to pull a shirt over her head then stopped. Of course. No one would even think of it.

  "I know a place," she said as she came out of the bathroom.

  Nick met her eyes. "Good. Where?"

  "In Virginia. Near Richmond not too far from Fort Lee."

  He nodded. She watched Nick set up the parabolic microphone then carefully aim it toward Peter's hotel room. He hit the button to turn it on and left it on speaker. Once finished, he said, "Checkout's in an hour. Go ahead and put Annalisse back on, and we'll get ready to leave."

  While Aria put on the wig and darkened her eyebrows, Nick packed his equipment, all but the microphone. As soon as Aria had successfully transformed, she packed up her computer. They listened to Peter and Becky come back into the hotel room.

  "What do you want to do for lunch?" they heard Peter ask.

  "I wish we could find a place to get cheese bread like at home," Becky mused.

  Peter chuckled. "You sound like Aria."

  "That reminds me," Becky said. "I saw a woman on the beach today who looked exactly like Aria, but with dark hair. It was kind of weird."

  "On the beach?" Peter inquired.

  Aria gasped and Nick's gut tightened so hard that it became painful. He had heard one time that the only people you couldn't fool were kids. No matter how old a fifteen-year-old thought she was, she was still just a kid.

  "Yeah. The one who almost stepped on me. Remember?" Becky clarified.

  Peter cleared his throat. "They say everyone has a twin somewhere, Beck. Don't worry about it. Go take your shower and we'll go get something to eat."

  Nick picked up every bag within his reach. "Okay, Aria, we are moving our timetable up by about fifty minutes. We need to leave right now. In thirty seconds we need to be out the door."

  As he reached to unplug the mic, he heard Becky's shower start up and heard Peter say very quietly into what Nick assumed to be his cell phone, "We might have a problem."

  Aria was ready in twenty seconds, and the two of them left the room, heading out the back way, down the service elevator and out the back door. Nick wanted to run to the car, but he kept their pace normal, and as they loaded the bags into the car, he looked around to ensure no one watched them. It had been one minute since Becky spoke and he knew there had been time for Simmons to call in the proverbial cavalry.

  Nick hopped into the car, started the engine, and put it in drive before either of them even had their doors shut. As they left the hotel parking lot, he fastened his seat belt. Aria had to try more than once to buckle hers because her hands shook so badly.

  "We were so careful. How did that happen?" she whispered to Nick.

  "Kids are hard to fool." Nick put on sunglasses and headed in the direction that would take them north and out of Florida. He slowly peeled the moustache and goatee off with one hand and handed them over to Aria. "Put those in my bag, and find me something to wipe this spirit gum off my face. There should be cold cream and wipes in there." She looked through his bag and found some wet wipes in his makeup kit, handing one over to him.

  "Who do you know in Richmond?"

  "My best friend from high school. We haven't really been close since your funeral but she left me a message before all this started. I didn't call her back." She leaned her head back against her headrest and took some deep breaths. Her adrenaline was still pumping full force.

  "Carol Mabry?" Nick asked.

  Aria nodded and, despite her tension, felt her heart ache a little with the know
ledge that Nick remembered the name of her best friend from high school. He had remembered so many details, from the names of everyone in her immediate family to her first car, that it shouldn't have surprised her but it touched her even so.

  "She never liked me," he remarked.

  "That isn't true," Aria defended Carol as if they were still sixteen years old. If she had to be honest, Carol the musician simply moved in different circles from Nick the JROTC cadet back then. Carol also never put Nick and Aria together despite Aria's feelings for him.

  Nick shook his head. "It's okay. I wasn't very likable in high school."

  Aria had more than liked Nick in high school. She decided to change the subject. "They'll know the drug cartel leader and his girlfriend by now. What will we do?"

  "I swiped this from a coed at the bar. She in turn stole it from her older sister," Nick said, pulling a Vermont driver's license from his pocket. At a glance, Aria could pass for the fuzzy blonde in the picture.

  "You are now Emily Stafford. I am Gregory Thomas. There was a family emergency while we were down in Florida that requires us to cut our trip short. We kept our driver's licenses and some cash in the hotel safe, but our credit cards were stolen by pickpockets, so we'll just have to pay for our return tickets in cash."

  "So we're going to fly?"

  "Yes, but we need to make a stop, first."

  ¯¯¯¯

  Chapter 26

  NICK stood next to Aria on the little porch of the estate's cottage and looked around. The grass was healthy and lush, the front porch swept clean. Suspended from the porch was a hanging basket of spring flowers. It didn't look like any place he'd ever lived as a child.

  The main house, run by the Montgomery-Lawson Trust, stood several hundred yards away. It had once been a plantation house and now held thirty boys ranging in age from six to eighteen and ten full time staff. Raymond took care of the grounds and the vehicles, and acquired old vehicles, refurbished them with the boys, and sold them for a profit that then supported the estate.

  When the door opened, Nick had to stop himself from running away. A part of him didn't want to have this scene. Some very human side of him needed to hang on to the past, cling to resentment for the way he was raised. He didn't have room in his heart for forgiveness and acceptance.

  Right?

  Then he remembered the words of his Savior Christ Jesus the Son of God. "If you don't forgive, then I can't forgive you."

  His heart twisted in his chest, he felt a cold sweat break out all over his body, and nausea swirled in his stomach. He remained outwardly calm and collected and, as the figure of the man who raised him stepped out onto the porch with wide, disbelieving eyes, he stepped forward and said, "Hi, Raymond."

  Raymond Williams had aged. Nick remembered a tall, lean man with strength in his arms and a brawny back. This man was older, more frail, tall and thin with graying blond hair and a well wrinkled face. Who knew the kind of damage that had been done to his body after decades of serious alcoholism? Clearly, even after ten years of sobriety, his body still showed the effects.

  "Nick?" Raymond whispered. His pale blue eyes filled with tears and disbelief as he looked from Nick to Aria. "Aria, what in the world?"

  Nick watched Aria step forward and hug his father, but had to fight to keep from snatching her away from him. Instead, he watched his father's face, saw a genuine emotion of love wash over his expression as she hugged him. She turned, her arm around his waist, and smiled at Nick. "Surprise, Raymond!"

  Raymond looked down at Aria and back at Nick, tears falling unashamedly down his face. "My son."

  No. No. Not his son. Nick's mind screamed at him, but he shushed the voice and simply did not respond.

  "Come in. Come in," Raymond said, opening the screen door. "I am so shocked, I can't even think."

  Aria grinned further and stepped closer to Nick. Nick did not step into the house. He raised a hand in a halting gesture and announced, "We can't stay, Raymond."

  Raymond's face fell, a confused look entering his eyes. "Why not?"

  With a sour taste in the back of his throat, he admitted, "We need your help."

  The hesitation was very brief as Raymond processed the sentence. Then he looked at his son intently. "Of course. Anything."

  "We need a car. And we need to get rid of this car."

  "Is everything all right?"

  With a deep sigh, Nick said, "No. Nothing is all right. Aria's life is in danger and I'm trying to help her. If you care as much about her as she says you do, you'll help us, no questions asked."

  The old man nodded. "Okay, then. No problem." Raymond momentarily disappeared inside then reappeared holding a set of keys. "Follow me."

  They walked across the grounds of the estate to a large building with several closed garage doors. He used a remote control to open the closest one. Inside, a dark blue Mercedes gleamed back at them. "Take her. Tires are new. Tank is full. We just finished rebuilding it and were about to sell it."

  Nick walked around the car, then nodded. "Any kind of GPS?"

  "Not yet. This model is two years before they came standard."

  "Thanks. We'll take it." He gestured at his rental car. "I've disabled the GPS on it as well as the LoJack. Get it as far away from here as possible, then re-engage it. I'll leave this in Atlanta's long term parking lot. I'll get a message to you where to find it."

  They swapped keys. Nick opened the passenger door but Aria went to Raymond and hugged him tight. "Thank you," she said.

  "Anything for you or him," Raymond said, patting her on the shoulder. "You get in touch with me when you can." He looked at Nick. "I owe you years of apology, son, but that can wait until your business is handled. Just know that I love you and I'm so very sorry … for everything."

  Nick stared into eyes identical to his own. His heart gave a painful tug and he realized he wanted to sit down with this man who fathered him, this man whom he had never called Daddy. "I hope we can spend some time together soon," he said, holding his hand out.

  Raymond took his hand but pulled Nick to him for a hug, openly sobbing. "My boy," he said, pounding him on the back.

  ¯¯¯¯

  "HELLO? Grandma?" A small girl's voice inquired.

  For a moment, Aria wondered if she had dialed the correct number. "Hello. May I speak to Carol Mabry, please?" Aria asked. She jiggled the extra coins in her pocket nervously, and bit the corner of her lip.

  She heard an exaggerated sigh. "Hang on." There was a long pause. Aria could hear an echoing "Mooommmyy," and she smiled in reaction.

  "Hello?"

  "Carol?"

  "Yes?"

  "This is Aria Suarez." She paused for a moment, waiting for Carol to respond.

  "Oh, my goodness," Carol said. "When you didn't return my call, I was sure I would never hear from you."

  "I, uh, I've been pretty busy since then." She licked her lips nervously, and decided that a pay phone at a gas station wasn't the place to delve into a decade of separation. "Listen, I'm in town for a few days. Can I come over to your house? We could catch up."

  There was another long pause while she heard Carol mumble something to someone about seeing her later, and Aria's stomach muscles started doing somersaults. Then Carol came back on the line. "Sure. Tell me where you are and I'll give you directions."

  A few minutes later, Aria hung up the phone and got back into the rental car. Nick sat patiently waiting on her. "How did it go?" he asked.

  "We're about five minutes from her house. She said to come over," she said. She gave Nick the directions Carol had given to her, and they pulled out of the gas station. "Are you going to come in with me?"

  "I've been trying to decide that myself, and I think I will. She may think you've gone off the deep end if you go in with your story without me." He pulled his portable contact case out of his pocket, and handed it over to Aria, then popped the contacts out of his eyes. She held the case steady while he put his contacts in fluid, then handed the case
back.

  "Nick, she has a kid. I didn't know," she said. "Let's find somewhere else to go. Take me back to your dad's."

  "Aria, you'll be okay, here. There's nothing connecting you to her for the last ten years." Nick reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

  "There's a call from her to my cell in the last week. Won't they check that when they try to figure out where I've gone?" Aria asked.

  "Doubtful." Nick pursed his lips. "Maybe you can hack into the phone company's system and remove the call. That might make you feel better."

  They pulled in front of a large brick house with a manicured lawn. They were in a nice neighborhood with large oak trees gracing the front of most of the houses. A dark green sports utility vehicle sat in the driveway under a basketball hoop. Aria stood at the end of the driveway and stared at the house, searching for the courage to walk up the long walk to the door. Nick finally took her hand and led her up.

  Before Aria could lift her finger to ring the bell, the door was thrown open and she was enveloped in a warm hug. She had to fight back tears at the tug of emotions the embrace created, and she hugged Carol back with the same enthusiasm, realizing how much she'd missed her.

  "I'm so glad you're here," Carol said, stepping back from Aria and wiping her eyes.

  Aria smiled at her. "I'll tell you the same thing we told Adam a few days ago," she said as she grabbed Nick's hand and pulled him closer, "you probably won't be in ten minutes."

  While Aria had cursed the mirror as each year passed, hating that she still looked like a teenager, Carol had changed almost to the point of not being recognizable. In high school, she had worn her auburn hair permed and bobbed to her chin, had holes cut in almost every pair of jeans she'd owned, and had worn nothing but baggy shirts usually "borrowed" from her dad's closet. Carol believed the shirts made her look shorter than her nearly six foot frame.

  Now she looked nothing less than elegant. Her hair was longer, stopping at her shoulders, and straight. Her frame could no longer be described as skinny, but still thin, and she was dressed rather stylishly considering all she had on was a pair of shorts and a shirt. Aria felt wrinkled and travel-worn next to her, not to mention short.