by Beth Abbott
“Damn Colombians have a lot to answer for!” She grinned.
“But you got your man in the end.” Tulli smiled.
“I did. And I got my little boy as well, to round off our family.” Candy’s smile was radiant. “But you don’t want to hear about my happy ever after until we can get you one of your own.”
“I don’t know if I have a happy ever after in my future.” Tulli admitted. “Especially not if I can’t do something with this damn thing!”
She poked angrily at the cell-phone, causing Candy to laugh.
“Whatever is wrong with it?” She picked it up and turned it around.
“I don’t know!” Tulli groaned. “I can’t even switch the stupid thing on.”
Candy turned the phone over in her hand, and eventually pointed to a small mark on the side. She pressed her finger over it for two seconds and the screen lit up.
“Oh, my God!” Tulli jumped up excitedly. “Do you know how to use this thing? Can you show me how?”
“Seriously?” Candy chuckled. “Of course, I can. Here…”
Candy showed her how to use the phone by touching the screen, leaving Tulli completely in awe of the woman’s skill.
She’d never owned a phone that hadn’t had buttons, so the whole ‘swipe the screen’ was lost on her.
Sure, she’d seen them in the shops, but she had no need for new gadgetry, and certainly no spare money when she’d been looking after her mom, to waste on such frivolities. Her last two phones had been her dad’s cast-offs, and she’d been more than happy with those.
“Ok, so do you think you’ll be able to make calls and receive them now?” Candy checked.
“Yes, I think so. At least, I know how to find my contact list, and select and press the call button. You showed me how to accept or reject a call, and I know how to pull up the keyboard. I should be Ok.” Tulli nodded. “I think I can do messages as well, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to have another lesson on using the internet.”
“We can sit down and go through that another time.” Candy reassured her. “The main thing is that you can talk to Gregor now, either by calling him, or accepting his call. We’ve also got you set up with different ringtones for calls and messages, so you can tell the difference.”
Tulli stared at the screen of her phone, willing it to ring.
“Do you think he’s still in his meeting?” She whispered.
Candy chuckled.
“He said it was starting at one o’clock and would probably be done by four. It’s just gone five now, so I reckon he’s sitting at his desk, twiddling his thumbs, just praying you’re going to call him sometime soon.”
“Do you think so?” Tulli blushed.
“I do.” Candy nodded. “So, why don’t you take yourself into the den, where it was quiet last time I checked, and call him up. You’ll feel better once you’ve spoken to him, and I bet he’ll be so pleased to hear from you.”
Tulli didn’t need to be told twice.
Standing up, she gave Candy a heartfelt hug, and then rushed off to find a quiet spot in the den, in an oversized chair in the window nook.
Her hands shook as she got the screen to light up, and called up Gregor’s contact details.
Without giving herself time to chicken out, she hit the call button and waited for the ringing tone. It couldn’t have rung twice before she heard Gregor’s mellow baritone voice on the line.
“Hey, I was just about to call you. Is everything Ok?” He asked, sounding concerned, leaving Tulli so choked she could barely speak.
“Tulli, are you Ok? Why didn’t you call earlier?” Gregor’s voice sounded so wonderful.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, in half a sob. “I’m fine, but I couldn’t call you earlier.”
“Why not, sweetheart?” Gregor’s worry was palpable. “Is everything Ok with Mischa and Lara?”
“Gregor, please, stop worrying about us all. Everyone is fine.” She reassured him. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t call you earlier, because, idiot that I am, I had no idea how to use this new phone. I couldn’t even switch the damn thing on.”
There was a silence at the other end of the phone, and Tulli suddenly realised how ungrateful she must sound.
“I’m sorry, Gregor.” She whispered. “It was such a thoughtful gift, and I didn’t mean to sound unappreciative…”
“Tulli, shhh…” Gregor interrupted. “I’m such a fool. I’m so used to Sophia and Serge wanting the latest gadgets, that I didn’t think whether it would be suitable for you. I should’ve asked you what you’d be happy with, instead of just springing it on you like that.”
“No, it’s a wonderful gift.” Tulli insisted. “Luckily for me, Candy knew what to do with it, so she’s showed me the basics. At least, I managed to call you, didn’t I?”
“You did.” Gregor chuckled. “And I can’t tell you how happy I am that you did. I was stuck on my conference call for three hours, ending up completely ready to punch something or someone by the time it was finished.”
“Really? That doesn’t sound like you.” Tulli was surprised by his annoyance.
“I’ve been trying to get planning approval to build several free clinics in some of the poorest regions in Eastern Europe and Russia.” He sighed. “You’d think I was proposing to prescribe heroin to preteens, not life-saving drugs to poor families who can’t afford proper healthcare.”
“What is holding up the process?” She asked. “Red tape?”
“Hah! If only!” Gregor growled. “No, apparently I need to offer better incentives to the local officials.”
“Bribes, you mean, because that’s what it sounds like.” She hissed.
“It sounds like it because that’s exactly what it is.” Gregor agreed. “Only that’s not how I’m prepared to work, because if I start down that road, it’ll always be that way.”
“So, what’s the latest position?” Tulli asked, admiring the man even more for sticking to his scruples.
“The officials I was talking to today were from my top ten preferred sites across Russia and Europe.” Gregor explained. “When they started trying to force my hand, I simply held up a sheet of paper with the names of the next ten preferred sites on it. I explained that altogether I had fifty sites that I was interested in, and that if they didn’t want to play the game my way, I was quite prepared to move down the list, to numbers eleven through twenty.”
Tulli giggled.
“I bet you sounded fierce.” She could just imagine him in full flow.
“I don’t know about fierce, but it must have sounded genuine, because by the time we were finished, I had eight of them on board, and the other two have gone away to consider their options.”
“Yay, you!” She grinned. “See, I knew you must have been fierce.”
“I was totally bluffing, actually.” Gregor admitted. “The paper I had in my hand was nothing to do with the meeting at all. It was the operating instructions for your new phone.”
“And all the while I’ve been wishing you had given it to me, so I wouldn’t have been so useless.” Tulli groaned. “Now I’m rather glad you kept it. It sounds like you put it to far more valuable use.”
“I disagree, actually.” Gregor insisted. “If you’d have had the manual, maybe you’d have been able to call me an hour ago, and I wouldn’t have had to sit here missing you, willing my phone to ring.”
Tulli was almost shocked to silence.
“You were?” She whispered. “Missing me, I mean.”
“Tulli, you have no idea how much I miss you.” Gregor’s voice was low and soft. “The house doesn’t feel the same without you in it. And without Marcy and half the staff here, well, it’s just like a hollow space. It’s almost like every noise echoes through the house. It’s weird, really.”
“Gregor, I miss you, too.” Tulli admitted. “I was just talking to Candy and she was sympathising because I was so lonely. I was explaining that since we came back, you’ve been my rock. You’ve been
so kind to us all, and you’ve always been there for me to talk to. In only a few days you’ve become my focus… my link to what’s real. I don’t know if that’s healthy or not, or maybe a shrink would tell me it’s some kind of fixation or imaginary connection. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that it feels like I’ve lost you, and it’s killing me.”
Tulli couldn’t have stopped the flow of words to save her life, but the silence on the other end was deafening.
“Gregor? Are you still there?” She whispered.
“Give me a second, sweetheart.” Gregor’s voice sounded strained. “I’m trying to control the urge to get in the car and drive straight over to you.”
Tulli remained silent, as difficult as it was, only because she could hear Gregor’s ragged breathing on the other end of the line.
“One day soon, this is all going to be over, Tulli.” He assured her. “We’ll get Mischa the best help money can buy, whoever Sara can find for us that can work with her to get her better. And once you’re happy that Lara and Mischa can cope without you for a few weeks, I’m going to take you to Europe, just the two of us, and we’re going to visit all the places that have meaning to our families. Even if you don’t remember the places, it will do you good to give you a sense of belonging.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Tulli whispered.
“No, that sounds great.” Gregor corrected her. “What sounds wonderful is the thought of spending every minute with you, day, and night, for the whole time we’re away.”
Every minute, day and night…?
There was no missing the suggestion that they would be spending their nights together.
“Tulli, there’s no pressure on you as to where this relationship has to go.” Gregor jumped in, filling the silence. “You call the shots, you say yes, or no, or when, or if… It’s all up to you. Do you understand? You just give me your answer whenever you’re ready.”
“I understand.” Tulli’s skin was heating up at the thought of what he was offering her. “Can I give you my answer now?”
“Y-yes. If you want to.”
She heard the catch in Gregor’s voice.
“My answer is yes. Definitely, yes.” Tulli closed her eyes and pictured his face. “And soon. I don’t know how soon, and I really don’t know how I’ll react to any kind of intimacy beyond kissing, but I want to find out. I just need you to be patient with me if I struggle.”
“Tulli, the ‘yes’ is enough.” He reassured her. “We can take it as slowly as you need, for as long as is necessary. Just knowing you want me the same way I want you is all I needed to hear.”
“I promise you, I do.” Tulli whispered.
There was a short silence until Gregor sighed.
“Ok, do you think we can change the subject now?” He asked. “Talking about what we might do at some future date when we’re alone isn’t helping me sit comfortably in tight suit pants, if you know what I mean.”
Tulli’s smile was probably the widest it had been for more than six months.
“Sure.” She laughed. “So, waffles or pancakes?”
Gregor’s chuckle was probably the most wonderful sound she’d ever heard.
Chapter 27 – Tuck
“Knock, knock.” Tuck stood in the office doorway, watching Hannah furiously tapping away on her laptop. “You wanted to see me?”
“Hmm?” Hannah glanced up for a whole second before turning her attention back to the computer. “Yeah, but that was four minutes ago. The situation is changing fast, so things have moved on since then.”
Tuck stepped into the room and walked up behind her, looking to see if what was on her laptop screen would give him any clues as to what was going on.
“So, are you saying you no longer need me? Or do you still want to talk to me, but about something completely different?”
“What?” Hannah glanced up at him frowning. “Did you want something?”
Tuck was hard-pressed not to smile. She was obviously in a world of her own.
“Hannah, you just sent Abbey to find me.” Tuck pointed out. “Was there something you wanted to tell me, maybe?”
“Oh, yes. I wanted to tell you something.” Hannah pulled a second laptop closer and pointed at the screen. “I think Lucky and about a dozen men arrived on a small charter flight from Duluth, about ninety minutes ago.”
Tuck stared at Hannah in shock.
“Hannah, Duluth is in Minnesota, which is way north of here.” He pointed out. “Why would she fly from LA to Duluth?”
“She didn’t. Or, I should say, they didn’t.” Hannah clarified. “They took a flight from LA to St Paul, Minnesota, and then travelled up to Duluth to catch the flight to Philly.”
“Why would they do that?” Tuck scratched his head. “It’s a couple of hours drive between St Paul and Duluth. Why not just fly straight out of St Paul?”
“Obviously to throw us off the scent.” Sacha strolled back into the office with an armful of sodas. “The more legs of the journey, the less likely anyone would be to track them.”
“Except they weren’t banking on us having someone like Hannah, who has the nose of a bloodhound!” Abbey grinned, as she walked in carrying two bowls of potato chips. “We still don’t know how they got from St Paul to Duluth as there’s been no sign of a credit card being used to rent any vehicles.”
“Maybe they had people waiting at the airport to help them?” Tuck suggested.
“Or maybe they took a bus or train?” Sacha suggested. “Either way, it doesn’t really matter. We know they’re in Philly now, and we have a damn good guess who they’re looking for.”
“Does he know?” Tuck asked, reaching for his phone.
“I already spoke to Kris, as Gregor’s phone was busy. He’s reinforcing their numbers overnight, and will make sure Gregor knows about it the minute he gets off the phone.” Hannah nodded.
“That could be a while.” Abbey grinned. “Judging by the way Tulli was smiling as she chatted on the phone in the den, I think it’s safe to say those two could be jabbering away all night.”
Tuck rolled his eyes at the thought of the workaholic Russian billionaire chit-chatting his evening away talking to Tulli.
“What?” Hannah demanded. “It’s lovely that the two of them have found something in each other, especially after all Tulli has been through, and the stress Gregor went through worrying about Sophia.”
Tuck held his hands up in surrender.
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it.” He protested. “It’s just surprisingly… sappy!”
“Sappy? Really?” Hannah scowled. “Because I seem to remember a certain someone getting real sappy over a certain Latina bombshell not a million miles from here! I also seem to remember a certain someone refusing to leave that same Latina’s hospital bedside, because he didn’t want her to wake up alone, and him spending the whole night in a plastic chair. Sappy much?”
Tuck knew he didn’t have much defence, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
“Need I remind you, Mrs Simons, that as a responsible employer, it was my solemn duty to stay with my junior staff member, to enable her son and Nana to go back to the hotel and get some much-needed rest.” Tuck nodded, satisfied that he’d made a reasonable argument for his actions.
“Ok, then how do you explain that the second she was awake, you had your tongue down Candy’s throat, and were trying your damnedest to tickle her tonsils?” Hannah stood in front of him, her arms folded across her chest, her challenging pose more reminiscent of a six-and-a-half-foot Marine, rather than a five-feet-nothing pixie!
Tuck blushed, but stood his ground.
“I’ve never touched her tonsils, I’ll have you know.” He insisted. “Not even once.”
“But not for the lack of trying!” Hannah insisted.
“Tuck would have had a tough time finding my tonsils, even if he’d wanted to.” Tuck swung around to find Candy standing by the door, grinning. “I had them removed when I wa
s about seven.”
Tuck winked at his wife, loving it when she slipped into the room and wrapped her arms around him.
“See? Never touched those tonsils!” He poked his tongue out at Hannah in a very childish but highly satisfying manner.
“Why were my tonsils being discussed anyway?” Candy snuggled closer to him.
“Your husband was being extremely unromantic, and not showing any sympathy for our latest star-crossed lovers being separated by an evil witch!” Abbey smiled. “He showed no understanding for how long they’ve been chatting away on the phone this evening.”
“I think it must be about two hours.” Candy grinned. “And you couldn’t possibly be talking about my husband, Abbey, because my Ryan is the sweetest, most romantic man I’ve ever met.”
“I was simply marvelling at how a hard-working, self-made billionaire, can be reduced to a lovestruck fool in a matter of a few days.” Tuck shook his head. “What a fragile and yet demanding organ the heart is.”
“And how long did it take for you to turn into a lovestruck mess when we met?” Candy smiled at her husband.
“Less than twenty minutes.” Tuck admitted. “But if you remember, you stripped off your shirt in the middle of the street to reveal a hot-pink, skin-tight t-shirt, and you were wearing that cherry red lipstick at the time. You pulled your hair out of a ponytail and shook it out, and I swear every single guy within a hundred metres was hard as a rock and drooling! How could I not fall in love with that?”
“I have to agree, you rocked that lipstick!” Hannah grinned.
“Thanks.” Candy smiled. “But was there another reason why Tuck was bemoaning the fact that Gregor and Tulli have been on the phone for hours?”
“Yeah, kinda.” Hannah scowled. “Lucky Vega and her henchmen are in town already. We tracked them in on a flight from Duluth about an hour and a half ago.”
“For real?” Marcus and JT stood by the door with Danny glaring over their shoulders. “Why didn’t we know about this already? We could have gone after her!”
“Stand down, soldiers!” Sara growled from nowhere, and the men were suddenly pushed to the side as she made her way between them into the office. “Tell us what’s going on, Hannah, before the macho assholes go tearing off into the night looking for a ghost.”