Soft birdsong drifted in through a window that was partly open. The room was sparsely furnished other than the bed and an antique dresser with a small mirror. A rocking chair sat perched in the corner. Everything was neat and orderly.
Ailish walked gingerly to the window and glanced out. She was shocked to see trees and beyond that, water.
She gasped. This certainly was not Chicago. As far as she could see trees and water surrounded whatever house or cabin she was in.
Something strange was happening.
Panic rose in Ailish’s throat. The horrible feeling choked off her breath. Her heart hammered painfully behind her rib cage. What the hell was going on? The last thing she could remember was Jed…
As though her thoughts summoned him, the front door slammed shut and a few seconds later Jed appeared in the doorway. He saw that she was awake and he held out his hands in front of him as though he could ward off her rage and fear.
He had shaved. His beard was gone and he looked far younger. Likely early thirties. His face was indeed handsome. His dark hair was tied back at the nape of his neck. His clothing was plain, a tight fitting black t-shirt and khaki shorts that were well worn, but it was clean. His feet were clad in a pair of leather sandals. He looked even stronger and far larger than she remembered.
“Ailish,” he said gently. “I know you’re scared and confused. Let me explain everything before you get angry.”
“I think you had better.” Ailish forced her voice to remain even but there was still a small tremor that belied her fear.
Jed slowly walked into the room. He went to the corner and pulled out the ancient wood rocker. He slid it across the floor and sunk down heavily.
“Let me just say that I’m not going to hurt you. I promise you’re not in any danger.”
Ailish sighed. “Well that’s good to know.” She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for Jed to continue.
“This is all going to sound very strange to you. I’m not going to pretend to convince you that what I did wasn’t crazy because it was. I gave you sleeping pills in your apartment and I brought you here.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m not going to do anything to you,” Jed rushed on. “Let me explain.”
“Alright,” Ailish sighed. What other option did she have other than to let him continue?
“I grew up rich. My parents came from old money. I’ll tell you more about that later. Just suffice it to say that I have more money than I could ever use in a lifetime. I’ve done nothing with it. I’ve been incapable of making any kind of difference my entire life. I want to though. I had this crazy pay it forward idea where I selected someone who could do what I couldn’t. Be a light in the darkness, if you want to use clichéd metaphors.”
“What are you saying?” Ailish’s chest tightened as she leaned forward. Despite herself she was intrigued.
“I looked for someone. Someone who had a heart of gold. Someone whose goodness shone through. I waited for weeks on the street for someone to prove to me that they could show compassion and love to even the lowest, dirtiest, most pathetic of people. You went far above what I ever expected. When I met you I knew that I had found the one I’d been searching for.”
“So let me get this straight. You’re rich and you’re looking for someone to tell you how to spend your money to make a difference in the world?”
“Not exactly. I’m looking for someone to leave my money to. I’ve decided that the only way to find happiness is to give it all up and live in anonymity.”
“What is your full name exactly?” Ailish asked. Realization was starting to dawn.
Jed hung his head. “Jed Hughes.”
“Oh.” She gasped. That would explain a lot. She’d heard of the strange and mysterious Jed Hughes. Everyone had. The reclusive billionaire. The man who bought extravagant houses and moved, leaving them to rot or left them to people who were penniless He donated random large amounts of money to charity. There was a story of how he once left a struggling waitress a million dollars so she could feed her two children. “I don’t think… you… I think you have made more of a difference than you know…” she still couldn’t believe she was here. Jed had just confessed to all but kidnapping her but it didn’t feel like that. “Where am I exactly?”
“An island in Northern Canada. That’s all you need to know for now. I own it outright. It’s been my home for the last couple years. I have nothing and no one to love. It sounds crazy but I had this idea a year ago that maybe if I gave all my wealth away and disappeared I could actually find happiness. You know, lose everything to gain what really matters.”
“What do you mean disappear?” If it was possible to feel sorrow for someone you just met, Ailish actually did. It sounded a lot like Jed felt he had nothing left to live for.
“You know, just vanish.”
“To a monastery or something?”
“No. Just… not here. Not anywhere where anyone would know me.”
“You aren’t going to harm yourself are you?” Ailish dared ask. For some reason she needed to know that Jed would be fine. She didn’t truly know him but it wasn’t in her nature to let someone harm themselves when she could possibly do something.
A heavy silence filled the room. “Not in the way you mean.”
Ailish studied Jed hard. His face remained impassive, giving nothing away. “You know, I think you’re crazy,” she finally said.
Jed shrugged. “I might be. I was never normal or right.”
A sudden, wild impulse to reach out and touch Jed overwhelmed Ailish. She sensed something deeply wounded in him; something that just needed the gift of human connection. Even an action so simple and brief as a gentle touch she felt would fill the void in his heart.
She shook her head. What the hell was she thinking? She didn’t know Jed. He might be crazy. He might not even have a cent. His whole ridiculous story might be made up. He might not even be the real Jed Hughes.
Ailish spotted her purse at the side of the bed. She lunged for it but Jed made no move to stop her. She checked the date. She let out a relieved sigh when she realized it was Saturday morning. Only one night had passed. If she truly was on an island then Jed would have had to take her by plane and then a boat or by helicopter. Where would he get access to one if he wasn’t rich? It didn’t make any sense. The truth was almost as crazy as any fiction.
“So you really are Jed Hughes?” She stammered.
He nodded and she could see the truth in his eyes. “Yes. I really am.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” Ailish asked because she couldn’t think of anything else to say. “I mean, what if disappearing doesn’t make you happy? Maybe it’s the exact opposite that you need. Maybe you need to surround yourself with people who love you.”
Jed laughed but it was a bitter sound. “Those are few and far between.”
“Surely you have family? You mentioned them earlier.”
“No. My mother and father are dead. No grandparents. A distant uncle I suppose who wants nothing to do with me.”
“Oh. You have friends?”
“What they say is true. Money really is the root of all evil. Try calling someone a friend when they know you have it. Soon you’ll learn that there is no real meaning in the word.”
Ailish was beginning to feel hopeless. She didn’t like it. She had the insane feeling that somehow she had met Jed for a reason. That it wasn’t just chance that brought her to that alley when she could have just gone home or walked around.
“What if I tell you I don’t want your money?”
Jed’s mouth slowly dropped open. His face was incredulous. “What do you mean? Everyone wants money. You look like you could use it.”
“Thanks,” Ailish said dryly. “I mean that I don’t want it. I do need it but I don’t want it if it means making others suffer and I think if you go through with your plan you will suffer. I can’t imagine you all alone. If you need
to heal that’s the last thing that will work.”
“Heal?” Jed said bitterly. “You don’t know the first thing about me.”
“I know what it looks like when someone needs compassion and a loving touch. I think the idea of giving your riches away to someone who wants to change the world is a noble one. I just wish you wanted to change it yourself as well.”
“Who says I don’t?”
“I can sense that you don’t. You’re running and trying to hide. The sad thing is, you can’t run from yourself.”
“The ultimate cliché.”
“Even if it is, we both know that it’s true.”
Jed sighed. “What do you suggest then in all your wisdom?”
“I have no wisdom,” Ailish snapped. She caught herself in time and made sure her voice was even. Anger wasn’t going to help her or Jed.
An idea came to her. It caught her completely off guard. Her head spun. Should she voice it? She had no idea what she was doing. She didn’t know the first thing about this man and for all intents he clearly wasn’t right. Did that matter? What did the conventions of society have to do with what was truly right?
“I have a proposition for you,” Ailish said boldly as the idea took shape in her mind. She couldn’t deny the attraction she felt for Jed. It was crazy but what wasn’t about this whole thing? “Stay here with me for a week. Let me show you that you do mean something to someone. Let me show you what it feels like to be loved. At the end of it if you still want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
Jed’s lips flattened into a thin line as though he really was considering her wild suggestion. “You’ll take my money?”
“I guess I will if it doesn’t work but what I really want is for you to keep it and do something with it yourself. You might find a greater release helping people than you ever imagined.”
“What is it you imagine that I need release from?”
Ailish paused. “I don’t know. It just seems like that’s what you’re looking for.”
“A week. Here on the island with you? In that time you think you can convince me of what no one else has ever been able to? That I’m worthy of love and compassion?”
“Aren’t we all?”
“I seriously doubt it.”
Ailish crossed her arms. Her insides squirmed madly and constricted painfully. Just how was she to show Jed the things she suggested? She knew that you couldn’t love someone in just a week. Even if she wanted to, the fact that she was trying to would probably negate the good that came of it. The whole thing was just so strange. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagined something like this happening to her.
“What do you know of love anyway?” Jed challenged. “You look like you’ve never had so much as a boyfriend.”
“Do you need one in order to know that everyone is worthy of love? That’s what my parents taught me. They love Jeff and me. Isn’t that where everyone learns love? From the source?”
Jed shrugged. He turned away and stalked to the window. “Maybe that’s where I went wrong,” he said without turning around.
Ailish’s heart constricted. She took a deep, calming breath and slowly, quietly, walked over to join Jed at the window. She stared out the window at the endless blue expanse of water. It shimmered and moved as it reflected the bright sun’s rays.
Even though she had no idea what she was about to do, Ailish reached out. She laid her hand timidly on Jed’s powerful shoulder. His shirt was warm under her touch and the knowledge that it was his own body heat that made it so flooded her stomach with a strange storm of butterflies.
Filled with a sudden need to truly touch Jed, Ailish ran her hand down his arm. His skin was silky smooth over the granite ridges of the muscles. She closed her eyes as her finger trailed over the hard muscles of his forearms and lower, until she found his hand. Her fingers played over his, entwining with the solid digits.
Jed turned, a question and something else, something painfully close to raw desire, burning in his eyes. “What are you doing? Hasn’t anyone ever told you that if you play with fire you might get burned?”
Ailish gulped. She tightened her hold on his hand. “That would assume that being burned is a bad thing? Maybe that’s what we both need. To turn to fire and incinerate each other.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I know I don’t. But I want to. I believe in destiny and this is too strange for you not to be mine somehow. I said a week and I want to know everything as well. I’ve never been with anyone- intimately.” Ailish’s cheeks flamed as she made her confession but Jed’s face remained impassive, as though he had already guessed as much. “I want to feel connected with someone. I want it to be you.”
“Why? Why me? Why a week?”
“Why anything?” Ailish mumbled. “You’re here. You’ve taken me from my home and those that I love and put me on this island. You’ve offered me the chance to change my life and the world. Give me a chance to change yours. Give me a chance to offer you something in return; a real, honest, human connection.”
Jed stood frozen. His dark gaze never left hers and his eyes stared at her as though he could see straight through to her soul. It reminded Ailish of the way he looked at her in the alley.
“You think something as simple as touch could change my mind? That it could cancel out a lifetime of pain?”
“As to the first part of your question, yes. I think so. The second part, I don’t know. I don’t know if that kind of pain ever goes away. If you would let me, I could try and heal some of it.”
“By giving me your body?” Jed’s voice was mocking. His eyes were hard, his lips a thin line.
“Yes. I know it’s crazy but isn’t all of this? You said you felt that you were never like anyone else. Well I’m not either. I think loving someone, truly connecting with them, doesn’t have to take a lifetime. If anything, the years only teach us to forget how we felt in those first blissful moments. Everything else intrudes and comes between people. Here, right now, it’s just us. Just me and you and anything is possible.”
“I used to believe that.”
Ailish’s hand tightened around Jed’s. She looked into his eyes and for the first time caught a fleeting glimpse of his own soul there. “Let me help you believe it again.”
Chapter 4
The torrent of longing Jed felt when Ailish touched him was unexpected. He’d sensed, in the alley when he’d first seen her, that she was the right one. He’d already given away billions of dollars to people he felt would use it to make a difference. He believed in the ripple effect. If he could be the stone that started it all, the tide of change, then he was happy to be. He just truly doubted how far that ripple really extended.
Jed stared down at their joined hands. Ailish, a stranger he’d kidnapped had dared to touch him. She’d looked past her face and the bizarre situation and asked him to stay.
He was stunned. Disbelief overwhelmed him. No, it wasn’t just that. It was her touch. That simple, gentle touch shattered and undid everything he thought he knew.
“You know,” Jed whispered as he returned his attention back to the window. “I’ve never felt anything like this. What I feel, when you touch me now. No one has ever offered me so simple and beautiful without expecting something in return.”
The room fell into a heavy silence. Finally Ailish cleared her throat. “Walk with me. Around the island. I want to see it. We can talk more out there. Tell me more about yourself and help me understand. Maybe then I’ll feel better when you go.”
“I haven’t agreed to stay for a week,” Jed protested but even he could tell it was half hearted.
“I know but you also haven’t agreed not to. I know you feel it. That crazy, strange, wild connection that I feel. I felt it in the alley and I think you did too.”
Jed inhaled sharply. He wasn’t used to people reading him so well. Most people didn’t care to read him at all unless they were trying to m
anipulate him.
He’d tried once. He’d tried to love people and be loved in return. It was very apparent that love wasn’t for people like him. Unless he changed who he was completely it was always going to evade him. How could he do that if he stayed? For the first time since he’d conceived his plan, he was uncertain.
As Jed glanced down at the crown of Ailish’s thick hair, something in his chest constricted. Not only was he uncertain, he was sure that he wanted to stay if just for the week.
“Alright,” Jed exhaled. His voice was strangely thick. “Let’s walk. You can ask me whatever you have to then.”
Ailish grinned like she’d just fought a battle and won. Her features, likely considered plain by those who didn’t know how to truly see, were truly beautiful, especially when she smiled.
It made him want to give her everything he’d planned. No, that was wrong. He wanted to give her the world.
Instead of dropping his hand, Ailish’s fingers tightened around his. She waited, face upturned, for him to lead the way.
Jed took charge. He walked her through the rustic house, his refuge from the world for so long, until they stood outside.
“I want to see everything.” Ailish’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Jed knew he was lost already. He was going to stay for the week, everything he’d planned for so long be damned. Seven days. He would endure it just because Ailish asked him to.
“This is my garden,” Jed said as he led Ailish over to the small plot of land where he grew his own food.
“I’ve always wanted one,” Ailish admitted. She stared at the little plot of dirt with obvious fascination and even envy. “My parents never could afford anything more than a condo with a tiny backyard. I sometimes grew tomatoes in pots but that was it.”
“I’m sorry,” Jed said lamely.
Ailish shook her head. “Don’t be. I think this is great. You’ll have to show me what all the plants are. I’m afraid I don’t even know.”
“Of course.” Jed winced. He didn’t like that his response was already so automatic. He would do anything to please her.
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