by Adler
“Wait, you almost punched an orderly and my ex?”
“No, I only told your mother it was an orderly who was gawking at you. I did not want to explain the situation to your mother. She is too nice and would have probably allowed him access.”
I shake my head, “Don’t be so sure, she is convinced you walk on water, and she doesn’t like him for what he did to me.”
“At any rate, Danielle, the nursing staff was confused and allowed him to visit you on several occasions, when I wasn’t there. He is a crafty one. He’d go when there was a shift change and I wasn’t there. When I learned of this, I made arrangements for you to have a private nurse in the room with you.”
“So, then was my phone really missing, or did you simply get me a new one so he couldn’t contact me?”
His brow is furrowed, “No Danielle, your phone was really missing.”
Darn! I had hoped that was the reason and not that someone had really taken it.
“Listen, I’m sorry I got so mad at you about your ex. I just want him away from you and out of our lives. I don’t have any use for him and let’s just leave it at that. There is no reason to keeping hashing this out.
“I couldn’t agree more. Besides, it’s you whom I planned this romantic evening for, not my ex.”
I get up from the couch and walk over to his chair, hiking my dress up; I straddle his lap and begin kissing his firm, supple lips. He responds with vigor and darts his tongue in my mouth, seeking my tongue. I grind my sex against his hard cock. I feel his body burning under me, while I grab his head and run my fingers through his hair. He moans and moves his hands to my ass, as I continue to grind myself on him. I reach down to remove my dress, pulling it over my head, revealing the sexy lingerie. He sucks in his breath and moans as he kisses the tops of my heaving breasts. I take my hand and rub his cock, through his pants. That was enough for him. He picks me up off his lap and places me on the ottoman. He stands up, as I kneel on the ottoman. I take his shirt in both my hands and rip it open as the buttons fly off. He removes his pants quickly and unleashes his eager cock. I am so turned on by his arousal. I can hardly contain myself. It has been about six weeks since I have felt him in me. My loins ache with need.
I take his hardness into my hand and run my palm up and down the shaft. He moans and then rasps, “I need to be in you. I want to feel you from the inside.” My pussy is pulsing; my juices are flowing, making me sopping wet and ready for him. I lie back on the ottoman and peel off my panties, slowly to turn him on even more. It backfires on me. He is impatient and takes his hands, ripping my panties off, as he has done so often. He takes his fingers and pushes them into my hot heat, swirls them around, leans forward, and laps at my clit. I arch my back and yell out his name. I grab the sides of the chair to hang on. Taking that as encouragement, he nibbles at my clit and moves his fingers in and out of me quickly. I start moving my hips under his assault, as he pulls his fingers out. He picks me up and carries me over to the bed. He disappears into the closet. I hear him open one of the built-in drawers, and then the light goes out. He climbs onto the bed with me and I hear a click and smell a familiar mandarin orange scent. He moves his hands from my tummy down to my sex. I feel a warming sensation as he leans down and blows on me. My core heats up like a raging inferno. He inserts his tongue into my hot pussy. I arch my back, writhing under his command. His finger is in me, alongside his probing tongue. The warming liquid is incredible on my body, but now I want him in me. All of him. I reach down to grab onto his cock, to prime him for pumping me.
With only the light from the fireplace, I look up into his face and see nothing but passion. He moves into position, and I help guide his cock into my waiting wet heat. As he slams himself into me, I yell out in pleasure. He slows himself down and grinds his hardness into me with his pelvis causing friction on my clit. I toss my head from side to side, as the pleasure is almost more than I can bear. Harrison takes his hand and moves my face in line with his. He moves into an upright position and groans loudly. I watch his fire-lit face and feel waves of passion escape my lips. I am moaning his name, and it sounds foreign. It’s as if some temptress has taken my body over as I move my hips in rhythm with his. He grabs my hands in his and laces his fingers with mine, while his hooded sex eyes lock onto mine. The intense connection is more than I can handle, tears start spilling from the corners of my eyes, as I feel my body convulse uncontrollably one explosion after another in my hot core. Harrison picks up his pumping and with one last thrust, he joins me in my euphoric haze. He stays in his sitting position, locking eyes, as we both cum. The tears still streaming down my face, he leans over and releasing one of my hands, he wipes the tears away, and then he collapses next to me on the bed, removing himself from me.
He leans up on one arm and looks at me with eyes that I don’t recall having seen before. It is probably the most intense look that I have yet to see from him. “What is it Harrison?”
He has a finger tracing the lace of the corset that I am still wearing. He takes in a deep breath. “Nothing, it is nothing Mi Amore.” He lies on his back and turns away from me. I put my hand on his shoulder and gently pull him toward me.
“Harrison! I can see something is wrong. Please! Tell me!” To my surprise, he sits up quickly and pulls me into an all-encompassing embrace. He is mumbling something in my ear, but I can’t hear him. He releases me and I see the terror in his eyes. Harrison looks terrified. My heart is racing, in fact, I feel like it is going to spring out of my chest!
“Oh, Danielle, I have to tell you; I can’t keep it secret anymore.”
“What Harrison? You have me about to jump out of my skin!” I am grabbing at his arms, practically shaking him.
“Danielle, you were almost D.O.A when they brought you into the hospital. They worked on you for nearly a half hour before they brought you back with vital stats.”
“What? I don’t understand Harrison. Why, what….I was dead?”
“Not exactly dead, but you were on the brink. Your body was in shock from the blunt force trauma. They had to resuscitate you in the ambulance, and then they had trouble stabilizing you in the ER. When they did get you stabilized, they rushed you into surgery to relieve the pressure and swelling on your brain.”
“So, what you are saying is that everyone lied to me, and I was a thousand times worse than you all led me to believe?”
“Danielle, you have to understand where I was coming from.” He reaches out to touch me, but I pull away.
“Why is it always about you and what you want? Don’t you think that is an important piece of information? Why haven’t the doctors or any other medical staff said anything? Did you bribe them with a new wing for the hospital?”
I lean over and switch on the lamp on the bedside table. I turn to Harrison, who is looking up at the ceiling, not me. I walk into the closet, grab my robe and return to sanding by the bed.
He reaches out his hand to me. “Come here, Danielle.” I shake my head no and stay standing beside the bed, with my arms crossed. I am trying to keep my anger in check until I hear him out. I will then decide if he is sleeping in the guest room tonight or not.
“You are not being fair. I did not bribe anyone. We discussed the pros and cons of telling you. Your parents, Simone, and the doctors all agreed that you would be told once you were recovered. There is a lot of information that suggests that trauma patients need to work through the shock of the accident, or in your case, the attack and then deal with the physical ramifications. If you were to have known as soon as you were conscious, it actually may have hampered your progress. Look at you, after only six weeks, you are almost back normal.”
I uncross my arms but don’t join him on the bed. He is now sitting on the edge of the mattress.
“Harrison, I feel like I was lied to by a whole lot of people. I find it hard to swallow. The one I am most disappointed in is you. When we said our vows, I am pretty sure honesty was implied.
“Damn it, Danielle. T
hat is simply bullshit. I was protecting you. If you had taken Albert with you on the run, as I told you to, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Things have happened that are out of my control, and I have been doing the best that I can.”
“Stop, Harrison! It sounds like you are blaming me for the attack. Please tell me that I misunderstand because I don’t think I will ever be able to forgive you otherwise.”
“Dear God, Danielle” He is shaking and shouting. ‘Don’t you understand….I almost lost you! I almost lost the woman I love...again! I would not have been able to live with myself, if I had lost you.” With that, he is off the bed and has me in his arms as his whole body is shaking and convulsing against me. He is hanging onto me and crushing me with a ferocity that releases all of my anger and replaces it with compassion and understanding. This man loves me, and he wasn’t trying to deceive me, he was terrified of losing me.
After several minutes of holding one another like this, I feel his body relax. He finally pulls away from me. Without looking at me, he turns and walks toward the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. I hear the water running in the shower. I decide that I should go in and join him and I turn the handle only to discover he has locked me out. Now I am confused.
I lie down on the bed and crawl under the covers. I must have fallen asleep because when I wake up, it is pitch black in the room, and I hear the gentle rise and fall of Harrison breathing. I look at him in the moonlight, and my heart begins to burst with love for this man. My eyes fill with tears, as I think about what he must have gone through while I was in a coma. If roles were reversed, I would have felt so helpless and desperate. I can’t imagine how I would have coped, had he been the one in the hospital. Harrison is so in control and capable where I am so unsure of myself and still getting my legs firmly planted beneath me. I look to Harrison as my rock and my foundation. If he were taken away from me, I don’t know how I could live without him. I am sore at him for not telling me sooner, but I cannot be mad at a man who would part the Red Sea for me, if he could. His breakdown tonight showed me a side of him that I never knew existed, but I had hoped it was there. It scares me to see him so vulnerable. I almost hope that I never see that side of him again. It was intense grief and terror that brought that side of him to the surface, and I hope for rest of our lives we never experience that again. I wiggle closer to Harrison and wrap myself around him. He makes a contented cooing sound, and I drift back to sleep.
Chapter Twelve
Three days later, it is Thanksgiving Day and our home is abuzz with activity in making final preparations for our family feast. My parents have driven into town from the beach. They are staying, once again, at Harrison’s Hotel downtown. Simone is going to join us after her family function this afternoon. She is taking Garrin with her as her date. It will be fun to have Garrin here at the table with us, as Harrison’s brother, not employee. Marion’s claims were confirmed, and the whole story about Garrin being Harrison’s half-brother turned out to be true. It has caused some drama, but it is my understanding that Harrison’s parents seem to be handling it well. I am willing to bet that behind closed doors, it might be another matter, but they are not letting on otherwise.
Harrison had the little metal piece that I found in my jacket pocket delivered to the detective yesterday. He received a phone call from the detective that it was an exact match to the cuff link found in my condo. Since I have left Simone’s, there haven’t been anymore odd happenings there, much to my relief. She claims that it’s because she has Garrin there to protect her. I just have to laugh at her.
I put the finishing touches on my makeup and carefully arrange the clip of hair to cover my bald spot, courtesy of Clarke. I find it creepy to be pinning someone else’s hair onto my head, but I must admit, the patch of missing hair is even creepier. I guess it is the least of the two evils. Speaking of evil, we have not heard anything from the Wine Witch lately, so it has been peaceful for the last few days. That is enough in itself to be thankful for today.
It’s now early evening; I hear a raucous noise coming from down the hall. I surmise that my parents must have arrived. Smiling, I head out into the foyer. Sure enough, my crazy and boisterous folks are here. My mom turns to me and her eyes grow wide.
“Oh, baby girl, you look simply lovely!” She takes me into her arms and plants a big kiss on the side of my cheek. I feel my dad patting me on the back.
“Now don’t hog her, Donna!” I giggle, as I turn around and find my dad motioning for me to give him a hug, by doing a funny thing with his hands.
What has gotten into these two? I wonder if it has to do with my having been near death recently. After I was sufficiently squeezed by them both, they decide to go on the hunt for my unsuspecting hubby.
I head down the hall, toward the kitchen and notice, once again, that Harrison’s den door is open. I peer inside and there is Alicia, again. What the hell?!
Surprised, “Alicia! I thought we gave you the day off?” I say, as I push through the door into the room. She drops her phone on the floor and is clearly taken aback.
“I uh, yes I do have the day off, but I knew you were having guests, so I came to help Philippe. I already had a thing with my family earlier.” She blurted out without taking a breath.
I reach down and pick up her phone. Before I can hand it to her, she quickly snatches it from my hand. I give her a questioning look. “What are you doing in here, anyway?”
“Oh, I was making a call.” She puts her phone in her pocket and then looks at me. Brazen little thing, if you ask me.
“Please find somewhere else to make your calls. My husband would not be happy to find you in here doing anything other than cleaning.”
As she turns to head out of the room, I swear I hear her mumble under her breath, “I doubt that.”
“What did you say?” I demand.
“I just said I’ll do that,” she hisses without looking back as she leaves the room.
Harrison is going to hear about this! I will not have this snit working in our home any longer.
Locking the door behind me, I step out into the hallway and hear happy voices and laughter filling my ears. I decide to speak with Harrison about Alicia after our family dinner. For now, I want to enjoy our first Day of Thanks together.
“Ah, there you are, honey. Here, I was just about to propose a toast.” My dad is in fine spirits today. He hands me a glass of champagne, and I take my place next to my love. Harrison looks down at me beaming. He looks happy, which makes me overflow with joy.
“Everyone raise your glasses and let us toast to a wonderful day, on which we all have a lot to be thankful for. Harrison, thank you for welcoming us into your home and putting us up in that beautiful suite.”
Before he could say any more, my mother chimes in, “Yes, thank you for having us and for making our daughter so happy and taking such good care of her.” She looks straight at Harrison, and they seem to exchange knowing looks.
Philippe walks in with Simone and Garrin following behind. Simone rushes forward, hugging her way around the room. I forgot that they had all spent a great deal of time together when I was in the hospital. Everyone pairs off, with Simone and my mother chatting on the sofa, and Harrison and my dad discussing restoration details of the manor house. Philippe and Garrin disappeared into the kitchen. I am standing in the middle of the great room, feeling like an outsider. It makes me happy that everyone is enjoying themselves, but I find myself feeling like an onlooker.
Finished with my champagne, I set my glass down and decide to wander over to the sofa, where my mother and Simone are sitting. Just then, Philippe enters the room and announces that dinner is ready. Everyone makes way to the dining room, chatting excitedly.
The table is beautifully set with a large floral centerpiece running down the middle and votive candles flanking each side. The table has been set for eight. As Harrison instructs everyone to take a seat, I begin to take my seat next him. He shakes his head and points t
o the other end of the table. I am not used to things being so formal. I take my place at the end of the table, with Simone sitting to my right and my father to my left. My mother sits next to my father, across from Garrin who is sitting next to Simone. I assume Philippe will be joining us, but I wonder to myself why there is an extra place setting.
Philippe and Alicia enter the room with trays loaded with food. Once all the food is placed on the table, Philippe takes his seat to the right of Harrison and then Alicia sits in the empty seat to Harrison’s left. My jaw drops and the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. Just what the hell is going on here? I look around the table and see that nobody else seems to be bothered or even to notice for that matter. I am just about say something when Harrison clears his throat and says, “Everyone, if I can ask Mel to do us the honor of saying grace.”
My dad is beaming. He nods at Harrison, and then proceeds to give the heartfelt Thanksgiving prayer that he has been giving every year as far back as I can remember. When he is finished, we all say Amen in unison, and then politely pass the food around the table. I look up to see Harrison watching me. I smile at him and he mouths, “I love you.” I feel my heart skip a beat. I respond to him by mouthing, “I love you too.” I look to his right and see that Alicia is watching him intently. My stomach turns sour. Harrison seems to be oblivious to her sitting next to him, as he continues to discuss the plans for the manor house with my dad. Since my dad has such vast knowledge about antiques and old architecture, he has asked my father to give his input in the restoration efforts. My dad, of course, is over the moon and excited to consult on the project.
The meal was delicious, with all of the typical Thanksgiving fare. The turkey was succulent and all the side dishes and trimmings were delectable. As we linger at the table over coffee and pumpkin cheesecake, Harrison stands up and taps his spoon on his glass to gain our attention. Philippe is still seated at the table, but Alicia had already returned to the kitchen, much to my relief.