Call Her Mine

by Melissa Foster

  Aiden returned to the room red-faced, his jaw clenched. He was usually the epitome of a poised professional, but as his hands curled into fists, Ben knew something bad had happened, and with Remi’s stalker situation, he feared the worst.

  “Clear the room,” Ben commanded. “We’ll reconvene shortly.”

  As everyone gathered their laptops and documents, Ben pulled Aiden to the side, speaking quietly. “What’s going on? Did something happen to Remi?”

  Speaking through gritted teeth, he said, “Something is going to happen to her when I get back to LA.” He shook his head and said, “Her bodyguards lost her. How the fuck do you lose a twenty-five-year-old woman who can’t go outside without being hounded by the press?”

  “Jesus. Do you think it’s her stalker? Did you call the police?”

  “I wouldn’t be standing here if I thought she was in immediate danger.” Aiden paced the floor. “She ditched them again, and you know how I know that? She sent me a text threatening not to return to her house unless I fired her bodyguards.”

  Ben chuckled, then quickly schooled his expression. Remi hated having bodyguards. She also despised the press and everything about being an actress, although she loved acting. “Can’t you track her phone to find out where she is?”

  “You know my sister. She nixed that ages ago.”

  “Sounds like Remi. Where could she go and not be seen?” Ben asked. “Does she have a friend she’d stay with who wouldn’t out her?”

  Aiden shook his head. He had the classic good looks of David Beckham, turning heads everywhere he went. But Ben knew that between business, watching out for Remi, and managing her career, Aiden didn’t have time for much else.

  Aiden turned a seriously strained face to Ben and said, “I know you worked your ass off for this deal, and this morning I had every intent of offering to take over your end of the travel, but I can’t do it. Not knowing Remi might be putting herself in danger.”

  “I’d never expect you to do that,” Ben reassured him. “Let’s figure out where Remi is and get her to safety. Then we can figure out the business. Family first. Always.”

  Aiden scoffed. “I have lived my entire life putting her first. Why does she do this time and time again?”

  “Dude, she’s not a kid anymore. She feels hamstrung by the press, by the frigging stalker, and even though it’s wrong, she probably feels that way by her bodyguards. I get why she took off, even though I don’t agree with it. But you’ve got to get through to her. If you think this stalker is trouble, she can’t do this shit.”

  Aiden ground his back teeth and said, “He’s trouble. He broke into her house last week. I’ve got to track her down, and I know the timing sucks, but I can’t concentrate on this project, and I have a feeling you can’t, either. You’ve looked like a caged tiger since you walked in here.”

  Ben stared out the window and crossed his arms. When he’d earned his first million, he’d thought he’d made it. When he was on the cover of Forbes magazine, he couldn’t imagine anything feeling more incredible. But nothing compared to seeing Bea smile or waking up with Aurelia in his arms. More money, more hotels, none of it would mean shit if his life with them fell apart. It didn’t take much for him to realize what he had to do.

  “But Garth and Miller can,” Ben relented. Miller Crenshaw was another lead director at their firm, with skills equivalent to Garth’s.

  Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

  “That maybe it’s time to stop being a control freak and let others lead. We’ve groomed them to step up to the plate. Let’s give them a shot at the big game. We can oversee it from a broader perspective, let them do the travel, work with the teams to analyze what needs to be done. Hell, we can still make the final decisions, but have them do the intricacies that we usually handle.”

  Aiden slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “This is a trick, right? Because you won’t even let anyone make you coffee.”

  Ben grinned. “I’ve changed.”

  “I hear diaper duty and a good woman will do that to a man. You sure, Ben? This isn’t the type of thing you can take back once it’s done.”

  “Sure we can. We own the company. We can do anything we want. But we won’t have to. Garth and Miller have been loyal employees. They’ve earned this, and so have we.” He patted Aiden on the back and said, “I met with that investigator I told you about, Mason Swift, and hired him to find Bea’s mother. You want to call him about Remi?”

  “No. I’ve got a guy. I already sent him a message. I’m thinking about getting her chipped, like you would a pet.”

  “Dude . . .” Ben laughed, and then he said more seriously, “Think I can do that to Bea? For when she’s a teenager?”

  It was after five o’clock when Ben finally left the office. He stopped on the way out of Sweetwater and picked up peanut M&M’s, bubble bath, and a bottle of wine, excited to share his decision with Aurelia. He drove to Harmony Pointe thinking about all the trials and tribulations Aiden had experienced while raising Remi and what his own parents had gone through with him and his sisters, and he had no doubt that he’d come to the right decision. Handing management of this new takeover to trusted employees was absolutely the right thing to do. There was too much on his plate for him to give his full attention to business development, especially when he’d rather give it to his girls.

  As he drove down Main Street, passing the park, it was easy to picture Aurelia standing before a crowd in the gazebo, dressed in one of her period costumes as she read a passage from a classic novel. He used to love watching her when she was unaware of his presence. It had been easy to slip between the rows of books and watch her from afar, openly admiring her confidence as well as her beauty. She didn’t need a stage to command the attention of customers. When she read, her inflection alone had stopped people in their tracks. When she’d told Ben she was doing readings, he’d thought she was nuts to put herself out there like that. People could be harsh critics, and New Yorkers weren’t known for their gentle ways. The first time he’d gone to see her read, he’d done so wanting to protect her from those critics. But within the first few minutes, he’d known she was meant for that very spotlight. Aurelia didn’t merely read the passages. She became the characters, as if the words had awakened another person lying dormant inside her. She was captivating from start to finish. He’d never wondered if he’d return for a second reading. He’d known he wouldn’t miss a single one.

  He passed Chapter One, smiling to himself. Aurelia had found her new beginning all right, and he was so fucking thankful it included him and Bea. He parked around back, grabbed the goodies he’d bought, and took the steps two at a time up to her apartment door.

  “Rels?” he said as he threw open the door.

  “Shh!” Piper shushed him from the couch, where she was feeding Bea—and sitting next to Remi Divine.

  “What the . . . ? Remi? Aiden is out of his mind with worry. What are you doing here?”

  “Long story,” Remi said with a sigh. She had a dark baseball cap pulled low over her forehead, and she wore a pair of torn jeans and a flannel shirt tied at the waist, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

  “Nice disguise,” he said sarcastically, as if a flannel shirt and hat could hide her identity. “Where’s Aurelia?”

  Piper pointed to the bedroom. “She’s sleeping. Willow and I got SOS texts from her. Willow was in the middle of making a wedding cake, so I came over.”

  “SOS?” Ben closed the distance between them, looking at Bea. “What happened?”

  “Let’s just say it was a long day,” Piper said.

  “No one’s hurt?” Ben asked.

  “No,” Piper said. “Just exhausted.”

  Ben set a serious stare on Remi and said, “I’ll deal with you in a minute.”

  He went into the bedroom and found Aurelia curled up on the bed, hugging a pillow, tears streaming down her cheeks—and his voice playing from the recorder. He set the things
he’d brought for her on the dresser and crawled onto the bed, gathering her in his arms. Her eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and from her tears, and her nose was pink from crying. How could he have been so selfish?

  “Babe, what happened? What’s wrong?”

  “I tried, Ben. I thought I could do it all, and I didn’t want to let you down, but this is so freaking hard. Bea must hate me. She cried so much today. Everything I did was wrong.”

  “Bea doesn’t hate you, Rels. She loves you. I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you call me?”

  She swiped at her tears. “Because you have enough on your plate, and I kept thinking I could figure it out. I wanted to figure it out, but nothing worked. Now I’m behind on inventory, and I’m supposed to see my grandma for lunch tomorrow, and I’ll probably have to put that off.” She snuggled into him and said, “I’m so sorry, Ben. I don’t mean to be such a loser. She’s one baby. Women care for babies all the time. I just suck. I think we need help, and I hate saying that, because I want to be with her all the time. But apparently I’m not good enough at it.”

  “No, sweetheart. I suck. This is my fault. Bea is my responsibility, not yours.” He held her tighter, kissing her temple. “You’re great at taking care of Bea. That’s not the trouble. You’re exhausted, and you’re just starting your business, and we came in and took over your life in the blink of an eye. I’m sorry, Aurelia. I’ll take Bea to my house for a few days—”

  “No.” Her face crumpled, rivers of tears sliding down her cheeks. “I don’t want you to leave. I just need a minute to catch up on my sleep or something.”

  His father’s advice sailed through his mind. Give them a physical space of their own . . . a place to be alone with their own thoughts, to make their own decisions, and figure out how they feel about things.

  “You need more than a minute, babe. You need your life back, at least parts of it.”

  “I want you and Bea in my life,” she insisted.

  “I know. That’s not what I meant. You can’t be expected to put your business on hold for my baby. I love that you’re part of our lives, but I want you healthy and happy, not overwhelmed and sad. We need help with Bea, and I’m going to line some up. But we can figure that out later. Right now I want you to rest.” He brushed a lock of hair, damp with tears, from her cheek and kissed her there. “Did you know Remi is here?”

  She nodded. “She’s hiding from her bodyguards. I told her she could stay with us for a few days.”

  He made a mental note to let Aiden know she was okay. “Good. You could use the girl time.”

  “Ben . . .”

  “It’s fine, babe. I love you, and I hate that I did this to you. I’ll take Bea, and you do your own thing.”

  “But I don’t want to do my own thing,” she pleaded. “I want to be with you and Bea.”

  “You may not realize it, but you need a breather, Rels, and that’s okay. When you’re feeling better, we’ll figure this out.” He held her until she stopped crying, and then he held her longer, because for the second time that day, he had to leave the person he always wanted by his side.

  When Aurelia fell asleep, he thanked Piper for being there for her, and after Piper left, he said to Remi, “You need to call your brother.”

  “I just need a night, Ben,” Remi said pleadingly. “One night without having people breathing down my back. If you think about my timing, it’s like fate stepped in. I think Aurelia and I can both use a good dose of Flossie tomorrow.”

  He gritted his teeth to keep from arguing with her. Then he picked up the playpen and Bea’s carrier, in which she was sleeping, and headed out of Harmony Pointe with his baby girl and all her supplies, feeling as though he were leaving a piece of them both behind.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  AURELIA STUMBLED OUT of the bedroom at ten o’clock Thursday morning feeling like she’d slept for a month, despite having gotten up twice during the night. She’d woken both times with a start, having thought she’d heard Bea crying. But she’d been met with an empty bedroom. Her sheets smelled like Ben, and she’d lain awake wondering if Bea had woken up right then and if Ben was doing okay with her. She missed them even more than she’d thought she would, and when she’d seen the M&M’s and wine Ben had left on her dresser, it had driven that longing even deeper.

  “I was beginning to wonder if I should put a mirror under your nose and make sure you were still breathing,” Remi said from her perch on a barstool by the counter.

  “Sorry. I guess I was more exhausted than I realized.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and climbed onto a stool beside Remi, who was bright-eyed and fully awake. “Isn’t it only seven your time? How long have you been up?”

  Remi shrugged. “I haven’t been sleeping much lately.” She sipped her coffee and said, “A stalker will do that to a girl.”

  “Remi, that’s not funny.”

  “I know.” She looked down at her coffee. “They broke in last week. It was creepy. They smashed the glass cabinet where I keep my awards, but they didn’t take anything. Although I didn’t check my underwear drawer.” She laughed half-heartedly. “I didn’t want to know.”

  “That’s so scary. Why on earth are you dodging your bodyguards? I’d stick to them like glue.”

  “Because I’m sick of living my life under a microscope. I feel like I’m in jail.” She rested her head on Aurelia’s shoulder and said, “Thank you for letting me stay with you. Are you okay?”

  “No,” Aurelia admitted. “I feel like such a loser.”

  Remi sat up and said, “You mean because you’re human?”

  “It’s just, I love Bea and I love Ben, and I want to be with them. He trusted me with his daughter, and I had to have his sister come to my rescue.”

  “You are way too hard on yourself. I went online to this parenting site this morning to see what other parents do when they feel like this, and, girlfriend, you are not alone. Women are hiding in their pantries, bawling their eyes out, and then sucking it up the rest of the day to care for screaming kids. Most of the moms with babies Bea’s age take naps when the baby does, and you’re going full speed all day and probably all night.”

  “Well, they’ve gone through childbirth. It’s different.”

  “Ohmygod. Really? You can’t believe that. I mean, sure, they hurt all over, and I’m sure giving birth is hard work, but you can’t think that caring for an infant isn’t just as exhausting, whether or not you gave birth to her. Plus, you’re trying to set up a business while caring for her. Give yourself a break. I couldn’t do it, and I’d bet Ben’s sisters couldn’t either.”

  Aurelia sat up and said, “All I know is that I love her and Ben, I missed them last night, and I miss them now. And I don’t want to cry in a pantry, but thank you. It feels good knowing I’m not that far from normal. You know all those commercials where you see the new mom loving up her baby? The ones where everything is sunshine and smiles? Someone should make commercials with new moms who have their clothes on backward, their hair askew, and dark circles under their eyes, shuffling around like zombies.”

  Remi laughed. “I’ll bring that up to my agent.”

  “I’m not kidding. I mean, when it’s me and Ben, we do okay. How do single moms do it all without tons of help? The media is so misleading.”

  “Want to hear something funny?” Remi asked, looking a little uneasy.

  “Yes. Please make me laugh.”

  Remi climbed off the stool, looking cute in a pair of black leggings and a white shirt that probably cost more than Aurelia’s car, and said, “When I heard you bought this place, I was jealous.”

  “Why? You have everything. You’re an A-list actress, everyone loves you—”

  “Even my creepy stalker,” Remi said in a singsong voice.

  “Stop smiling. That’s creepy.”

  “Sorry. But you’re right. The media is misleading. You think I have it all.” Remi sauntered over to the refrigerator and said, “But I wasn’t kidding. I’m sick o
f living under a microscope. I want a simpler life with friends like you and the Daltons who love me for me and not because I’m an actress. I want Aiden to stop feeling like he has to protect me all the time.” She grabbed an apple from the fridge and said, “But I want to keep acting, so we both know my life will continue to be what it is until I make a change.”

  “Oh, Remi. I wish I had the answers for you. I wish I had the answers for me.”

  “Your answers seem simple,” Remi said. “Ben has obviously loved you for a long time. I remember when I first met him, he gave off this vibe like he was comparing everyone to someone else. I even asked Aiden about it.”

  “Really? What did Aiden say?”

  “That Ben could have any woman he wanted and to stay away from him.” She laughed and bit into her apple. “Are you going to shower before we see Flossie, or what?”

  “Yeah. Let me just send Ben a quick text and make sure he and Bea are okay.” She grabbed her phone from the coffee table, where she’d left it last night, and when she turned it on, three text messages appeared. The first was from Willow. Are you okay? Sorry I was busy yesterday. Call me. Love you. The next two were from Ben. One was the picture of her and Ben kissing Bea on the cheeks that he’d taken yesterday, but it was one of the ones where she was cut off. The next message read, We left our hearts in Harmony Pointe. Love and miss you. B&B.

  Tears filled her eyes.

  “Uh-oh.” Remi peered over her shoulder at the messages. “Aw, Aurelia! That’s what I want. That’s everything right there . . .”

  “That’s my Ben,” she whispered as she thumbed out a response. Thank you for knowing what I needed when I was too exhausted to think straight. I miss you guys so much. We’re going to my grandma’s. I’ll call you when I get back. Love you both. Xox.

  Flossie McBride was a sprite of a woman at four ten, with long silver hair and a penchant for fashion that Aurelia had always admired but definitely had not inherited. The few times she’d tried to find a style she felt comfortable in other than jeans, comfy tees, and sneakers, she’d felt like an impostor. It was her grandmother who had helped her accept and embrace her own style with three simple words—You are perfect. She’d spoken those words just about every time Aurelia complained about not being enough in any aspect of her life. Her grandmother’s loving compliment sank bone deep over the years, giving Aurelia more confidence than any style ever could have. Although Flossie had always been a leader in the confidence department. She’d kept her maiden name as a way to honor her father at a time when it hadn’t been typical to do so.