We all agreed and decided to meet at a nice restaurant called Victoria’s, around seven.
Everyone showed up. Randall was there. Sylvia came and brought her husband Hal. All of the people were there from hair, makeup, and wardrobe, along with the stunt people and all of the camera crew. I think someone said the entire restaurant was booked for the evening.
I was on my way to the restroom when Jordan approached me. “Lily, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure.”
“I just wanted to say that I know I’ve been busting your chops a lot and all, but I really want to thank you for having such a strong affect on my life. Before I came here, I was really miserable. After meeting you, and after your accident, everything changed for me. I just wanted to say thank you for being such a good person, and for making Lucas so happy. He deserves it.”
“Jordan, thank you for saying that. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you.” I reached up and gave him a tight hug.
“Hey,” Lucas interrupted, taking me in his arms, “break it up, this is my girl. Go get your own,” he teased, patting Jordan on the shoulder.
It was a lovely evening, a perfect way to end such a memorable time in my life.
I can’t even describe how good it felt to be back at home. Lucas moved all of his things in. He insisted that the house stay just the way it was. There were just two big objects that he’d insisted on adding to my decor. One was a flat screen T.V. we added to the den. The other was a grand piano we added to the living room. It didn’t take much to make him happy and these two additions seemed to do the trick.
At least once a day, he disappeared into the living room to play his music. I, on the other hand, was feverishly busy finalizing all the details of my October twenty-fourth wedding, not to mention my own wedding on December twelfth. It was a busy, but fulfilling time for me.
My favorite thing was to be working upstairs in my office while Lucas played the piano downstairs. It gave me a strong sense of security knowing he was there and enjoying himself in our home.
I recall one day I was working in my office while Lucas was playing the piano, when he suddenly began playing the Star Wars theme song. I instantly smiled and stopped what I was doing. I knew he was trying to get my attention, and he did. The next thing I knew, he was standing at my office doorway, which doubled as a guest bedroom. “So—what’s on your mind, Mr. Lavender?” I asked in my sexy voice.
He smiled and answered, “Mrs. Lavender.”
“Oh, you’re thinking of your mother?”
“Funny.” Then, so quickly it made my head spin, he picked me up and carried me over to the bed. We made love all afternoon. I think it would suffice to say it was a fine day indeed.
Finally, the October twenty-fourth wedding was over, and I could focus solely on my own wedding, only seven weeks away.
Although the girls in Toronto helped me plan a lot of the details, it was Meagan who helped me the most. She helped me pick out the perfect dress and decide on the bridesmaid’s dresses. We chose one-shoulder, floor-length gowns in a cranberry color, with pearl chokers for necklaces and matching earrings.
I had booked the Jasper Country Club for our reception, and it would be decorated to the hilt, with trees lining the entrance and ballroom, decorated solely with white lights and a huge, cranberry colored ribbon on top. The tables would be decorated with white satin tablecloths and huge cranberry colored poinsettias with white lights scattered throughout as the centerpieces. The chairs would be covered with white satin tied back with a black ribbon. It was sure to be the wedding of my dreams.
Lucas and I had been celebrating every month on the twelfth as the anniversary of the day we met. Last month Lucas surprised me with a pair of his-and-hers Snoopy pajamas. My outfit was a tank top and matching pajama bottoms and his was just pajama bottoms, although we didn’t spend much time in them.
For our fifth month, I went with Meagan to a lingerie store and bought the sexiest thing I could find. It was black lace and didn’t leave much to the imagination. My only hope was that I was brave enough to pull it off. My plan was to wear it under my red wrap dress and reveal it after supper, if all went according to plan.
At about three o’clock, Lucas called and said he wanted to take me out to dinner. There was a new restaurant that had opened down town and it was supposed to be nice. It had three stories and even had an elevator.
Lucas was with Randall when he called. The two of them had been spending more time together since Randall had bought a small building and was renovating it into a recording studio. Randall and Lucas shared a passion for music and Lucas was excited about helping him.
The restaurant was lovely. We ate by candlelight on the third floor. A few people were brave enough to ask for his autograph, but most people just stared. For the most part, we were oblivious to everyone except each other.
“You are so beautiful, you take my breath away. I really like that red dress. It’s a good color on you.”
“You have no idea,” I said under my breath. He just stared at me in confusion, but said nothing.
As we got in the elevator to go to the main floor, I had a sneaky idea. When the doors closed, I reached out and hit the stop button. He looked at me in confusion as I unwrapped my dress and let it fall to my sides, saying, “Happy anniversary, darling.”
“Oh mama!” His mouth fell open as he took in the sight.
“Yes, come to mama.” But when he approached, he wrapped my dress back and hit the elevator button. When the doors opened, I stifled a giggle as he grabbed my hand and pulled me through the restaurant so quickly I almost lost my footing.
It only took seconds before we were in the parking lot, and even less time to reach the car.
What I thought was a cute idea, however, turned out to be not so cute as we spotted the blue lights flashing in the rearview mirror. Lucas was driving so fast to get us home that the local police pulled us.
“Sir, do you realize you were going 80 in a 40?”
“I’m so sorry, Officer. I was distracted and didn’t notice.” He glanced at me and smirked.
“Are you Lucas Lavender?” he asked in surprise.
“Um, yes sir.” I guess being famous has its advantages.
“Could you give me your autograph for my teenage daughter? She would never speak to me again if she knew I pulled you and didn’t get an autograph.”
“Yes of course, anything you like.” Okay, well he shouldn’t have said that, because then he asked me to take a picture of them together, then one of all three of us. Needless to say, the excitement of why we were rushing in the first place wore off, but at least we didn’t get a ticket.
When we arrived home, he walked around to my door and opened it for me, and then we walked at a normal pace to the back door. He unlocked the door and we stepped inside. I turned to him and said, “It’s obvious to me that you’ve clearly lost your motivation.” I unwrapped my dress, letting it fall to the floor, and turned around painfully slow so he could get every angle. Before I completed a full circle, his arms engulfed me and we went crashing to floor in a heated frenzy. The foyer is as far as we made it.
The next morning, Lucas was awake before me, so when I made it into the kitchen he was already having his coffee.
“Are you all right?” he asked, noting my slow movement.
“Yes, I just didn’t realize how hard our floor is.” He laughed, and I scowled at him.
“I’m sorry, but I guess it didn’t bother me so much.”
“Ha, ha.”
He smirked. “Here, have a seat, and I’ll get your coffee for you.” He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.
“Thank you. Since when do you read the paper?” I asked, noticing it unfolded on the bar where he was sitting.
“Since we landed on the cover. I guess nothing else eventful happened in Jasper last night, except that you and I went out to dinner.”
“You shouldn’t be surprised that someone in the restaurant had a camera
. I just hope they don’t have cameras in the elevator.” I smiled.
“That’s not funny,” he said, handing me a steaming cup of coffee.
“Hey, what’s this?” I picked up a white envelope with my name typed on it sitting on top of the mail pile. I opened it and pulled out a white piece of paper. I unfolded it and took a careful sip of my coffee as I read . . .
You ruined my dreams—now I’m going to ruin yours.
You might have dodged the drugs, but you won’t dodge
what’s coming next.
I gasped and dropped my coffee in my lap. I screamed as I jumped up from my seat.
“Lily!” Lucas ran to me and started dabbing at my pants with a dishtowel. “Are you okay? What happened? Lily?”
With my mouth still hanging open, I handed him the letter. As he read it, he took me in his arms and held me close.
Chapter Fifteen
Detective Rick Davis, from Charlotte, the largest city nearby, was assigned to our case. He contacted Detective Santiago, from Toronto, and got all the information on the case so far. It was obvious, from the letter, that the same person was involved in both incidents.
Detective Davis’s main concern was that since the letter didn’t go through the mail, it meant that the sender knew where we lived, most likely delivering the letter themselves. He also felt like the sender was a woman, possibly a fan that thought she was in love with Lucas and felt like I stole him from her.
My main concern and worry, however, was that the psycho was going to try to wreck my wedding day.
I didn’t sleep well at all that night. I tossed and turned for hours, thinking about the letter, about what she said, “You’ve ruined my dreams, now I’m going to ruin yours”. I kept hearing it over and over again. Finally, I came to my senses, sitting straight up in bed and proceeded in giving myself a speech of encouragement. “Just let her try and ruin my wedding. I have Lucas, Meagan, and God on my side. Who does she have? I’m going on about my business just like I always do. I’m not giving some loser control over my life. I have the wedding of my dreams to plan and by-golly it’s going to be perfect.” I looked over at Lucas, who was sleeping soundly, and whispered, “And I refuse to let you hire me a bodyguard. No matter how hard you try to convince me.” He mumbled a response in his sleep and rolled over, but I couldn’t make it out. Hmm, had he heard me? I didn’t think so.
I began to relax a bit as I buried myself in wedding preparation, only two weeks left. And—only one week until the in-laws arrived from London.
I was feeling nervous about meeting them, though I’m not sure why. I knew they were wonderful people and would love me if for no other reason than the fact that I loved their son. Six of them were coming. Richard and Barbara were his parents. Abigail and Hannah were his sisters. His Uncle Dean was coming as well as Lucas’s best friend from childhood, Nicholas. They were all staying in three of our guest rooms. As nervous as I was, I enjoyed the idea of having the house full of people, and these people were my family now.
Ruth, from the dress shop, called and said she had the alterations finished on my dress and needed me to come in for my final fitting. I called Lucas to let him know and then scurried out the door.
Meagan couldn’t go with me so I called Kristen and asked her to meet me there. I just needed one last opinion.
My dress fit perfectly and Kristen agreed it was perfect for me. Everything was starting to fall nicely into place. I was very excited as I walked through the parking lot to my car, singing the song, I Will Survive.
Suddenly, I heard a loud screeching noise followed by a deep voice yelling out to me, “Lily, watch out!” I turned quickly to see a white car speeding toward me. I dove to the ground beside my car, just barely avoiding the impact. As the car sped away, a man rushed to me and rolled me onto my back. “Lily, are you alright?” he asked.
I gazed up into the face of a man I’d never seen before and, in my daze, I just stared at him blankly. “Lily, my name is Cody Stiles. Your husband hired me to watch over you. Are you okay?” he asked again as he reached for me. I pulled away from him in confusion. He grabbed my arms and pulled me to my feet.
“Oww,” I groaned. I couldn’t seem to get clear from the daze. I vaguely recall seeing Cody pull out his phone and call someone.
“Mr. Lavender, this is Cody. Your wife was involved in an attempted hit and run….No, she’s fine, a little banged up maybe, but I can’t seem to get her to focus on me. Maybe if she hears your voice she’ll snap out of it….Okay, here she is.” He put the phone up to my ear.
“Lily! Lily, honey, can you hear me?” I thought I recognized the desperate tone.
“Lucas?”
“Yes, honey, it’s me. Are you okay?”
“Lucas?”
“Lily—honey?”
“Oh, Lucas.” I began to cry as his voice finally penetrated.
“Lily, where are you? Are you all right?”
“I—I think so. I’m in the parking lot of Ruth’s Dress Shop, at Jasper Park Strip Mall. Lucas, someone tried to run me down!”
“I’ll be right there. Let Cody help you, okay?”
“Okay.” I snapped the phone closed and handed it back to Cody.
“Lily, are you hurt? Do I need to call an ambulance?”
“No, I think I’m okay. I feel a little sore though.” My palms were bleeding slightly.
“Did you see the driver, or recognize the car?”
“No, I didn’t see the driver, it all happened too fast, and I didn’t recognize the car either. All I saw was that it was white.”
“Well, I saw the car. It was a white BMW, but I couldn’t get the license tag number.”
“Thank you, Cody, for saving my life. If you hadn’t yelled at me, I wouldn’t have seen the car in time.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad I was here and that you’re okay.”
Lucas’s black Mustang came flying into the parking lot and to a screeching halt beside mine. “Lily!” he yelled as he jumped out and ran over to me, taking me in his arms and holding me tight. Without breaking our embrace, he reached out and shook Cody’s hand. “Thank you, Cody, I owe you.”
“You’re welcome, but I was just doing my job.”
“Now, tell me everything.”
From that moment on, it was impossible to escape Cody’s always-watchful eye. He took his job very seriously, and I’m sure Lucas was paying him shamefully well to do so. He ate every meal with us and went with me everywhere I went, even staying in our guest room downstairs. I guess it was safe to say he had become my shadow.
I have to admit I liked Cody instantly. He was big and muscular and shaved his head. He was a little older than Lucas and I, maybe twenty-five, and kind of reminded me of Vin Diesel.
Meagan was so worried when she heard about the accident that she began coming over every evening, though I’m sure her attraction to Cody had something to do with it too. I definitely felt some chemistry between them.
I decide to spend the rest of the week cleaning out my mother’s room, making it another guest room. Since Cody was staying, we were short one room for my new family. I really didn’t like the idea of using my mother’s room. I preferred to leave it alone, but it had been a year and a half since she left, so the time had come, and my family’s comfort was important to me.
I transformed it into a cozy cottage for Richard and Barbara, and they already had access to their own private bathroom.
One of the guest bedrooms upstairs had two twin beds for Uncle Dean and Nicholas. The other bedroom next door dubbed as my office. It had a queen size bed just right for Abigail and Hannah.
After the barely missed hit and run, Lucas refused to leave the house. He was working on something that I think he didn’t want me to know about, making phone calls in secret, but I didn’t push the matter. I figured he would tell me when he was ready.
Lucas’s family arrived from London, and just like I thought, I loved them instantly. Richard was heavyset with th
inning hair, but very loveable. Barbara was short and thin, with shoulder length, mostly gray hair. She had an exuberant personality, very full of life. Abigail was the oldest, twenty-seven, and married with a toddler back home. She was tall with long, blond hair. Hannah was the one I related to the most. She was quiet and sweet, with shoulder length brown hair. She looked a lot like Lucas, and they seemed to be very close. Uncle Dean was the one who surprised me the most. When I first saw him in the airport, I thought the sophisticated looking Dean was Lucas’s father. He was tall and thin with wavy, brown hair and blue eyes. Finally I spotted Lucas’s best chap, as he called him, Nicholas, talking to a girl at the coffee bar. He looked just as I pictured him, handsome, in a boyish sort of way, and smart. Lucas said he was a schoolteacher and loved the ladies.
Everyone seemed very comfortable in our home. Barbara quickly assumed cooking responsibilities, which suited me just fine considering my nerves were shot anyway.
Lucas was fine until the day before the wedding when he started getting a little antsy, saying it was all the attention that made him uncomfortable. Was he really an actor?
His dad, uncle, and Nicholas all tried to talk him into a bachelor party, but he refused. He insisted he wasn’t interested in any celebrating that didn’t involve me. What was the point in that? I totally agreed, so we decided to have a little celebration at home.
Barbara cooked a huge feast, and we ate until we felt sick, then we sat around the den while his family told funny stories of Lucas’s childhood. I didn’t realize how much trouble he got into as a child, though he blamed most of it on Nicholas, who didn’t deny it. It was a fun and enlightening evening, and by the end of it I had a much better concept of my husband and his history.
Meagan insisted that Lucas couldn’t stay with me that night, since it’s customary that the bride and groom not see each other the day of the wedding. So reluctantly Lucas went home with Randall and slept on his sofa.
I didn’t sleep well that night. Lucas and I hadn’t spent a night apart since we got married in that hospital room over three months earlier.
As I lie in our bed, thinking of him, I wondered if he was lying there, wide awake, thinking of me. I hoped he wasn’t worrying, which was a characteristic that was becoming more and more a part of him. After all, no one would be crazy enough to try to hurt me here. The house was full of people. I couldn’t help but wonder if the psycho would try to ruin my wedding, but I wiped that thought away as quickly as it appeared. It was my day and no crazy, slaphappy monkey was going to ruin it for me. I would enjoy the day, even if I missed Lucas so bad my heart ached.
Loving Lily Lavender Page 13