But Rebecca showed him what he really wanted. It was more than sex. It was more than lust. What Austin really wanted was her beautiful mind, her unspoiled soul. His own life at that time was such a mess. He did not want her to be part of it. He wanted to save her from himself. How pathetic that seemed now, after all those years lost without her!
Austin felt so alive and hopeful. He opened the car window, punched in the entrance code on a security pad by the gate and wheeled in through to Villa Grande.
***
When Austin got to the villa, he parked his Jaguar at the back of the building, as he usually did, and went straight to the swimming pool area, hearing some voices and sounds of splashing water. As he closed the distance between him and the sounds, he thought he recognized the male voice. It clearly belonged to Joe Snowden. That surprised him. Austin expected Joe to be still in Geneva with Roman and Rebecca.
“Get dressed,” Austin heard a harsh male voice. ”We’ve got a problem here.”
“What?” the voice inquired. It was very intimate to Austin’s ears, too familiar.
“You’ll see in a minute.”
“I hope this is important.” She sighed with disappointment as her feet thumped onto the marble surface.
Austin was standing on a passageway leading to the open area of the outdoor swimming pool. He closed his eyes for a moment, giving Lidia some time to run to the lounge and grab her clothes. He cursed himself mentally for not letting her know that he was coming. Counting to five, he slowly walked forward prepared inevitably face her and her flavor of the day male companion.
“Austin, dear!” Lidia exclaimed. She gave him a flirtatious look, as if she was completely unaware that she was holding only a tiny towel wrapped around her waist. Her bare chest did not give away her age. It could have been the cosmetic surgery product. But her figure was lean and strong, gorgeous for someone in their later forties. Hard work and precise nutrition paid off.
“Joe?” Austin was speechless. “What’s going on?” He finally managed to squeeze out a few words, making them sound harsh and threatening. It was not really his business to interfere with Lidia’s private life.
The man turned around. “Well, yeah?” As it was, Joe face turned into the hard mask with his eyes cold and calculating. He gave Austin a once-over that was intended to intimidate.
“I’m afraid I have to explain.” Lidia quickly placed herself between the two furious men, facing Austin. Joe spooned her, putting his lean muscular arm possessively around her, covering her breasts. With his other hand he casually brushed the wet strand of hair off her face.
“Well, it could have been worse. I didn’t catch you two at a blow job.” Austin sounded bitter.
Lidia gave him a fuming look, but he was already striding back to his car.
“Austin, wait! Please, let’s talk.” Her plea trailed after him. Her confused voice seemed to fade into the thick humid air.
Austin drove fast, hoping that he can make it to the last ferry leaving the island. It was his own fault. He’d dug himself into this pile of crap. What the hell was going on with that woman?! The physical affection between Lidia and Joe made him sick. Joe’s openness about it riled him even more. They were not shy at all. Instead of being shocked or disgusted, Austin found his tension dissipate with every mile he drove away from the villa. He was not sure that everything Lidia told him about Rebecca was true. He knew now how deceiving Lidia could be. As for Joe, Austin was not in the least surprised to find him in a little dirt pile.
***
With a sharp intake of chilly night air, Austin reached for his mobile phone. Still holding it in his jeans pocket, he pressed the receive button. His thoughts jumped all over the last night events. His hand trembled as if a jolt of electricity was running through it directly to his scattered brain. He had not slept at all the night he came to the hotel.
“Are you all right?” Lidia’s voice was smooth and raspy. It brought a gagging feeling to his stomach. He was ready to be sick. Extremely sick.
Austin’s lips were sealed in an attempt to hold his churning insides from revolting. “I’m all right,” he spoke finally, trying to appear unaffected by his newly-acquired knowledge about her.
“Sometimes people we adore are not the same people who adore us, Austin.” Lidia was not about to give him a direct truth, deflecting as usual.
In the past Austin felt inevitably drawn to Lidia because of her sharp intelligence and good looks. She was the kind of woman that made a man tremble just listening to her purring voice. She made a man with healthy instincts want to rip her clothes off just to see what was underneath. Lidia Blackstone was unattainable for most men, even in her social circle. She could make men desperate for her attention.
But, Austin had never looked at her that way before last night. “Why did you tell me this?” he asked.
“I am honest with you. I want you to know that I love my son and I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I’d like you to promise me never bring up what you saw last night to Roman.”
“Don’t you think it will be obvious sooner or later without my help?”
“Not if you keep it quiet.”
“How about Rebecca? Do she and Joe…?” Then realization hit him. “That’s why you’d tried to make me to believe that Becca likes him, that they are together?” He almost screamed at her in disbelief.
“Maybe…”
Austin wanted to look at Lidia’s face, to shake her, to do anything to prove that she was real. The conversation they were having over the phone he could only classify as a bad dream.
“You told me that they were together in Bern, that night you called me,” he pointed out. “Was that a lie too?”
She did not let him finish. “Joe likes her a lot, but she would not give him any chance, not for his lack of trying. I wanted you to believe that she had fallen for him, so you would leave her alone. But I see, now, that you are up to your ears in love with that girl. And it’s pure. I can tell.”
“How generous of you, Lidia!” Austin felt exhausted, speechless. All the harsh words she’d said to Rebecca, all the doubts and regrets he’d had, were for nothing? It was just a wicked way of this fucked up woman to catch him like a helpless fly in her spider web of intrigue.
“Don’t be a fool, Austin. I’m not being generous at all. I have my own agenda. Don’t be naïve.”
“And it is…?”
“I would like you to take her away from Villa Grande and keep up your public relationships with Joe as if nothing had happened, so Roman won’t suspect anything. I need Joe now more than you can imagine. He is a rotten apple and I like that taste in my mouth. It makes him a bad boy. Just how I like them!”
His usually strong and confident voice faltered. “I can’t promise that I will succeed with Rebecca, but I do not want to hurt Roman’s feelings. I worked so hard to rebuild my relationship with him. I don’t wish to lose that.”
“Keep Rebecca away from me and you will. I want her gone.”
He hesitated for a moment before he finally said, “Good, then.”
“I want it to look like I really wanted to keep Becca here, but she left because of you. I am pretty sure she will indeed. That girl can keep a secret, but not for a long.”
What did she mean by ‘keeping a secret’? Did Rebecca also know about Lidia and Joe?
Austin’s collected his scattered thought and decided to use his sharp brain to his benefit. He was irritated with himself for feeling so out of place while Lidia sounded as if she was in full control. Was she trying to provoke him last night? Was it some kind of fucking test? And for what?
Now some things from the past made total sense to him.He had to decide what he was going to do about it!
THIRTY-ONE
They arrived at Villa Grande late in the evening. The place was uncharacteristically quiet.
Becca knew right away, as soon as she plopped herself on the living room sofa that something had changed here. She took one quick look at Lid
ia’s face as she came to greet them and knew, that Lidia had been crying.
“Hello, hello.” Lidia said weakly, hiding her eyes. ”Finally! I’ve missed you all.”
“Hi, mom.” Roman gave his mother a tender hug. “Is everything all right?”
“All good. I just wanted to say hello to all of you. I was on my way to the bed. I am a little tired today. Glad you’re all back. See you at breakfast in the morning. Good night!” Lidia quickly retreated to her suite.
“She doesn’t look very well,” said Cadence
Cadence said to Rom with a worried expression on her face, “Maybe you should talk to her in private?”
Roman shook his head disagreeing with his wife’s suggestion, “Mom can be like that sometimes. She’ll be fine. She just misses my dad sometimes—especially when she’s been left to herself for some time.”
The phone rang and Roman went to pick it up.
While he was talking, Becca stretched on the sofa. She felt tired after the long flight. She was glad finally to be home. Cadence was busy unpacking her bags containing the presents for the staff.
“You need to relax, Cadence. We’ll do it tomorrow. Everybody is sleeping already,” Becca told her.
“I want to surprise Maria. She will like this.” Cadence pulled a tiny box from her travel bag. Inside were adorable nineteenth century silver earrings shaped like baby cradles.
“I am afraid she will not,” said Roman, hanging up the phone receiver. ”Joe just told me that Mom fired half of the staff at the villa—including Maria.” His face was blotchy red and unmistakably angry. It made sense now why Lidia had hurried to bed. Nobody was aware of the changes.
“Why would she do that? Why would Joe tell you about it? It’s kind of weird.” Becca pondered in disbelief.
“Joe said he was worried about her after they met a few days ago. She had some arguments with Maria and Sam and threatened to fire them. I guess she did.” Roman could not hide his disappointment.
“Maybe it’s not true. Let’s just wait until tomorrow and see what Lidia has to say before we jump to conclusions. I am hoping she has a good reason.” Becca’s reaction to the news was surprisingly neutral.
“Joe also wondered if he could see us tomorrow for dinner. I’ve invited him.” Roman sat down, pulling Cadence to snuggle against him.
“Hard to believe,” she said quietly, while stroking his jet black curls.
Becca had not seen a more contrasting couple. Roman was dark, tall, and dangerously handsome. Cadence was a petite blond with straight, long hair and a quiet, beautiful face. She genuinely loved them both. Roman and Cadence were treating her like a family. She could not imagine her life without them.
***
Friday afternoon found Becca sharing teatime with Lidia and Cadence, while Roman left to meet with Joe before the dinner.
“When I met Austin, William was battling with his health issues. I thought everything I needed was another strong male figure in my life…” She shook her head in disbelief. “But I didn’t. Not really.” After taking a small sip of her herbal tea, she continued, “Everything became complicated, fast. Austin was a self-made man. I respected that very much. He was not looking for any handouts from his father. All he needed was a connection, blood ties and sense of belonging. He and I…we have so much in common...” She sighed. “We became like soul mates almost instantly. He helped me through the hard times and I also got myself involved in his private life. It was then that I learned about his mother and those deep scars and insecurities he is hiding so well.”
Lidia took a sip of her herbal tea and continued. “Roman did not know, at first, that his father was a sperm donor for Austin. After I told him that, he refused to believe me. He accused me of making up the story so William would look better in his eyes. It made things worse between them. Their relationship was already tainted by inheritance issues. It broke my heart to see those two men I loved to go through useless battles. Before William died, he made Roman promise to give Austin a fair chance. Austin tried hard to gain my son’s acceptance, but Roman did not let him. Even at his wedding Roman would not bend and accept Austin as he should, as his older half-brother. Only after Roman learned about your relationship with Austin he softened. Roman started to pay Austin more respect when Austin revoked his right to the inheritance from his father. They started to figure each other out. Two of them even worked out a business deal together. How that happened is still a mystery to me.”
Becca could not understand why Lydia all of a sudden told her that. She was more inclined to talk about the sudden departure of half of her stuff from the villa. Becca had already run into problems with being short staffed. The garden was overgrown and needed some trimming immediately. The grocery shopping was a disaster unless she did it herself. She had a lot of things to take care of after their arrival from the trip to Europe and searching and interviewing people for the job was not on her priority list.
She was so busy that se almost forgot about her own pressing issues and all the possible consequences
“Lidia, just tell me what exactly you want from me.” Becca’s throat was dry. But, she felt that there would be no better chance to clear the air with Lidia. She could be bold and direct too.
“You are right, and, as always, smart and attentive,” Lidia smirked.
Jesus. She could just poke at her as much as she wanted, shred her to pieces. But Becca was not about to become all personal with her. She preferred to keep their working relationship professional. Besides, employees had their rights too. There was no law against having a family. Was Lydia trying to pry into her private affairs? Had she somehow discovered that Becca was expecting the baby? It was not possible. Cadence would never tell.
“I need something from you, Becca. As broken as he is, deep inside Austin is a very good man. He is very dear to my heart. I cannot stand to see him hurt. You can help him in a way you don’t yet know. You will learn something you don’t know about him. Please don’t let it stop from loving him. As far as I can see, he is desperately in love with you.” Leaning over to get closer to Becca’s ear, Lidia lowered her voice and said, “Austin always had excellent taste…except for his preference for much younger women.”
This information prompted Becca to sink into her chair and try not to torture herself with the images of teenage girls on Austin’s arms.
It was a big step for Becca to let this conversation get into her personal feelings about Austin. As much as she wanted to avoid it, somehow Lidia had managed to steer their conversation in this direction.
They both looked up as Roman and Cadence appeared. Becca was so deep in her thoughts about what Lidia had said that she hardly noticed them.
Austin loved her? She could help him? But in what way? Why wouldn’t Lidia tell her directly?
Becca wanted to clear the air with Joe. It was also a good reason to get away from Lidia.
“I assume our guest arrived too?” she asked Roman.
“Yes, Joe is now taking a dip in the pool. He said he was too sweaty to show up here in front of you women.”
“We should all go and join him,” Lidia offered readily.
Everybody joined Joe by the swimming pool, except Roman who decided to hit the newly constructed gym before the evening meal with its much anticipated desserts.
Becca really needed some comfort food too. She was low on sugars and felt almost like fainting. She would not have a chance to talk to Joe during the dinner. Their talk had to be in private. She still was circulating in her head the endless what-if scenarios.
“You wanna come in?” Joe waved her in from the middle of the pool.
“No. I probably need to help in the kitchen. We are low on staff tonight.” Becca was not making excuses. It was a fact she had to deal with from now on. “See you all in a dining hall soon.”
THIRTY-TWO
Becca stood still in front of the porch doors before entering the sitting room. Cadence was sitting there alone, and seemed to enjoy her
mandatory morning decaf coffee. They used to do it together, just a week ago, before that stupid incident had happened.
“Hi,” Becca said quietly, not wanting to startle her friend.
“Oh, finally,” Cadence voice sounded a bit shaky. “I’ve been sitting here for a week, I mean, every morning, waiting for you to come.”
“I know,” Becca made a sad face, the way they used to show each other they were sorry when they were younger. It used to work between them, always.
“I did not do it on purpose. It just slipped out of my mouth. Lidia knew it, instantly. I am really sorry, Becca.” Cadence had changed. She was not that twenty-year-old girl Becca had known before.
Lidia’s presence in the household had made a big difference to all their lives. The woman was like a tropical hurricane nobody expected coming. She was a nice and thoughtful mother-in-law. But she was a very competitive and demanding woman.
She wanted Cadence to follow a strict schedule and have a set structure for properly bearing her grandchildren. This drove both Cadence and Roman crazy. The intention was good. But the execution was borderline impolite and unacceptable.
Becca was rightfully upset with her friend for that casual conversation, when she had accidentally told Lidia about Becca’s high school crush on Austin. It was something that Becca tried hard not to reveal to anyone, especially to Lidia. And especially after that strange revelation about Austin’s life she had pushed on Becca.
Was that even her secret to tell?
Becca did not like the outcome either. After the conversation with Lidia more than a week passed and she hadn’t heard anything from Austin. She kept thinking that Lidia simply was nosy and was fishing for information from her. Giving something private back was expected from Becca. But it never happened. Until, of course, that unfortunate moment when Cadence, her friend, accidentally told Lidia about Austin and Becca’s shared past. It was way more than the woman needed to know!
Time After Time Page 16