Raine started shaking her head negatively before she even answered. "Your mother and sister and Bradley will be there." Raine cleared her throat. "Right?"
"Right," Noah said, "but I don't mind, if you don't. We are adults we can deal with it. We have to deal with it sometime anyway. We can't keep our relationship under wraps forever."
"I'd prefer not to come," Raine said slowly. "I don't want to deal with it now."
Noah was silent and then he sighed. "Well, I guess I'll go alone then. I have to go, my mommy is making me."
Raine laughed out loud, clapping her hands over her mouth when she started attracting attention.
"See you later," Noah said and hung up.
Raine was still smiling. She glanced at the clock, later couldn't come soon enough.
Chapter Seventeen
Noah took an afternoon off to attend the Chamber of Commerce dinner. He was finally getting back into his writing and he hated to spend his evening unproductively.
If it wasn't for spending time with Raine it was really a wasted effort in his honest opinion. He turned over and transitioned into floating on his back, looking up at the cloudless sky. He deliberately kept his mind blank. He was tired of thinking about the Long's family tree and it's short frayed branches.
Dean Long's great grandfather was a farmer who had married a widower who had given him five sons. All but four of them had died in a slave rebellion. He was trying to piece together their stories.
He closed his eyes. He didn't want to actively think now. He sometimes liked to listen to what was going on his head without his intervention.
He relaxed. He was feeling weightless.
And then Bradley's grinning features imprinted itself on the back of his eyelids. An old conversation popped up in his head from two years ago. They were getting ready for the wedding.
Noah had been curious as to why Bradley didn't have any family or personal friends attending his wedding, and he had felt funny being the best man to a guy he hardly knew. So he had started gently probing about him.
Bradley had laughed. "Trust me Noah, I am ligit. I am not going to hurt your sister.
I was adopted, not officially. My mother just gave me away to people who could take better care of me. As for friends, you know how it goes. I was living in the States and had mostly work friends. When I quit the job I lost them."
Noah had felt a pang of sympathy for him then. It was amazing how he had forgotten that Bradley had said he was adopted. Noah flipped over on his belly and started treading water.
He should have asked him more questions like who were his real family. Even though he was adopted he probably knew the original ones.
Now he knew that they were from Paddington. He should ask more questions. He swam to the edge of the pool and pulled himself out of the water. The Commerce dinner wasn't until seven. He had time to look into this.
He was toweling his hair roughly when he heard voices heading toward him. He heard Dotty laughing softly and then he saw his mother.
He wasn't going to have time to look into anything if this was more than a passing visit with his mom.
He was surprised to see not only his mom but his grandfather and Whitney heading toward him.
He raised an eyebrow and looked at the three of them. "Wow, a visit from the reverend, my mother and scowling sister."
"I didn't want to come," Whitney said sourly. "But I had to complain about you."
"How are you, son?" Hal Marshall asked, smiling at Noah.
"I am feeling ambushed," Noah said frowning. "What is this?"
"An intervention, darling," his mother said. She was dressed in a stylish maxi dress that showed off her toned arms.
Whitney was dressed similarly to her, just in a different color. He looked down at his bare chest. "It's a good thing I had on swimming trunks," Noah muttered, "or else this intervention would have been a tad embarrassing."
"We'll wait while you put on clothes." His grandfather suggested.
Noah inhaled. "Okay."
He went to the changing room beside the pool and was back on the deck in a short time. He was driven by curiosity. He had no idea why there needed to be an intervention. He had not seen Whitney in weeks and had kept his relationship with Raine off the radar.
Dotty was serving drinks when he went back on the deck.
"Want anything ,Noah?" Dotty asked holding up a pitcher of lemonade.
"No thanks," Noah said, sitting down across from his intervention team.
They waited until Dotty exited the deck before his mother started. "Honey, we are concerned about you."
Noah nodded. "Yes..."
"Because you are trying to break up our family," Whitney said before his mother could continue. "You are doing it deliberately and sneakily."
Noah leaned back in his chair. "How am I doing that?"
"You are seeing this Raine girl," Whitney said agitatedly. "You still have her working for you at the bookstore. You take her to weekend trips with you. You pick her up from school. You have dinner with her. You had her in this house for a whole day."
"How is that breaking up the family?" Noah frowned.
"Bradley and I are in therapy to get our marriage back on track…while you are seeing his old mistress. How can you have such low standards? I mean, shouldn't the fact that she was my husband's lover fill you with some kind of disgust?"
Noah frowned. "How do you know all this about me and Raine?"
"Because I had her followed," Whitney said, "and let me tell you. Bradley went to see her the other night…right after you dropped her off. He didn't stay for long though. And he told me why he did it. She was trying to extort money from him. He said she was threatening to sell her story about you and him to the papers. God knows which other unsuspecting male she has snared before."
Noah flinched.
His mother looked at him sympathetically. "Honey, all I am asking here is that you be wise."
His grandfather cleared his throat. "Noah haven't I always told you that the Lord has a plan for your life. He doesn't want you to waste it on women of questionable reputation."
"Mom, Grandpa, Whitney," Noah looked at each of them stonily, "I am going to say this to you as politely as I can. Butt out of my personal life."
"You are making a mistake with this girl!" Whitney exploded. "She is not good for you, Noah."
"You should not be giving anybody relationship advice," Noah said as calmly as he could. "You are with a guy who supposedly cheated on you for years and you took him back. How desperate can you be? You are blaming Raine when it's really Bradley you should be blaming. He is the one who did you wrong. And for the record, I don't know why he would tell you such a lie about Raine about her trying to extort money from him but Raine is far from being a golddigger. She is an independent girl who likes to pay her own way.
"I kept her on at the bookstore because she wants to work. Why didn't she extort Bradley then?
"She is not a woman of loose morals who is out to corrupt me either," he said to his grandfather." By the way, she is a fan of yours loves your programs sometimes discusses them with me. She is not acting. She is genuine and sweet and I have to admit I don't think I want to lose her."
His mother gasped. "Noah!"
"That's right," Noah inhaled raggedly, "I love Raine Childs."
Whitney turned pale.
She picked up her bag and headed to the door. "Well then, I am done with you, Noah. I don't want to hear from you, see you, or even hear your name mentioned in my presence. I am sure that we will be meeting up in common places because this town is too small for it to be otherwise, but you better keep your whore away from me and my husband. You got that!"
Noah shrugged. "You are overreacting, we can be civil about this."
"Never! You are choosing this woman over a relationship with me." Whitney almost tripped over her dress as she stormed off.
His mother patted his arm. "I hate this situation, Noah."
"I didn'
t create it." Noah frowned, "Bradley did. Why am I the one to suffer for his indiscretions?"
His grandfather gave him an understanding look. "Well, I am not one to swiftly judge. Take your lady to church this weekend. It is thanksgiving and praise all weekend. We have quite the line up of artistes.
"I have some down time on Friday night and can spend some time with you and her. Get to know her a bit, since you seem so interested in her. I think I should make her acquaintance. You should come too, Linda. Take that new man of yours. Let's make it a family event."
Linda nodded reluctantly. "I guess I should make her acquaintance too if Noah is in love with her. I have never heard Noah declare his love for a woman before. I just wish..." She patted his arm. "Well, you can't have everything story book perfect, can you?"
Noah followed them to the driveway and watched as they drove off. He pushed his hand in his pockets and hunched his shoulders.
He was going to have to talk to Raine about this.
He had to ask about the whole extortion thing even though it gave him a bad taste in his mouth just thinking about it.
He turned to go back inside but Dotty was standing behind him her hands akimbo. "Your Raine, the girl you brought here, used to be Bradley's side woman?"
Noah inhaled. Dottie started tapping her feet.
It was going to be a long, long day.
He contemplated not going to the Commerce dinner but he got an unexpected call from Zachary Lee Chang. His brothers and sister had finally agreed on the charity they wanted to put in Pops' name.
"Do you want to be a part of it?"
"Sure," Noah said grumpily. He had just had the run in with Dotty and he was not in the mood for pleasantries.
"I'll be at the Commerce Dinner this evening," Zachary said. "Our Montego Bay branch is getting an award. Will you be there?"
"Maybe," Noah said and then thought better of it. "Yes, I'll be there. Tell me something, Zachary. How did you find me and my brothers and sisters?"
"I had an investigator track you down," Zack said. "He is a bit unconventional and doesn't look like much, but he's effective. He can be recommended."
"I want his number," Noah found himself saying. He wrote it down. Hung up from Zack and then called John Sauce.
He should have done this ages ago.
John Sauce answered the phone and then emitted a loud belch, which he spent the better part of two minutes apologizing for.
"I want you to check out the following people for me," he said to John after he finished his apologies. "Bradley McInnis, Raine Childs and Cassandra Green."
When do you want the report? John asked.
"As soon as possible," Noah said firmly. "I want to know everything about them. Nothing should be left out."
"Sure," John said, "I'll get started now."
****
The dinner was just what Noah had imagined and dreaded. He didn't particularly like these functions, but he had an award to hand out. He looked through the program. His name was on the third sheet. He should have shown up fashionably late.
Instead, he had to sit this one out. He was shown to a table which included his mother, her fiancé, Bruce, the chairman of the Levy Industries board. Bradley arrived soon after he was seated.
He was cleanly shaved, gave them an easy smile and immediately started working the table.
Noah didn't bother asking for Whitney. She probably heard he was going to be at the program and stayed home.
He picked up his phone, an idea for his plot just occurred to him and he started jabbing in a one liner to send to himself. He didn't want to lose that plot point.
He heard when Garrick came to the table. He knew it was rude not to acknowledge him but he needed to get it done.
"The Levy table," Garrick said heartily. "Everyone this is my friend, Cassandra Green."
Noah stopped typing and looked up.
A petite sized beauty clung to Garrick's arm. She had her hair swept up in a classy updo. She was in an elegant black dress that fit her like a glove.
"Cassandra. This is Bradley, whom you met already. Mrs. Linda Levy..."
Noah was frozen in his chair. He didn't hear the rest of the introductions. He was sure Garrick introduced him but there was a faint ringing in his head. Which developed into a clatter.
And his heart, it was racing.
He stared at Cassandra Green. Yes, it was her. The Cassandra Green.
He knew his heart would recognize her and it did. He struggled to inhale. He dragged his eyes from Cassandra with effort. He needed some water. He needed some air. His heart was racing like a drum on steroids.
He wasn't getting a heart attack was he?
He picked up the glass of water that he had ignored until now. His hand wasn't quite steady and he was happy that the glass wasn't filled to the top.
He took a sip and then inhaled.
"You okay, Noah?" His mother leaned over to him.
Was it so obvious that he was acting like a star struck zombie?
"Yes." Noah nodded. "You remember the name I woke up with in my head."
His mother was looking at him quite concerned. "What are you going on about?"
"You remember?" Noah whispered urgently.
His mother frowned and then opened her mouth. "Cassandra Green."
"Yes." Noah nodded. "It's her."
"Good grief," His mother murmured, taking a sip of her water. "It's a common enough name. No need to make a mountain out of it."
"But it's her," Noah whispered.
His mother patted his hand. "We will speak of this later."
Noah sat back in his chair. He tried not to stare at Cassandra but his gaze kept coming back to her.
What had she been to Dean Long?
She was obviously with Garrick now. Was that a new thing? Garrick had said she knew Bradley.
Noah narrowed his eyes and looked at Bradley contemplatively. As usual he was carrying the conversation.
Cassandra looked over at him and winked when he turned in her direction again.
Noah raised an eyebrow. She was quite brazenly flirting with him.
He realized throughout the evening that it was his turn to be ogled after that initial eye contact with Cassandra, it seemed as if she couldn't keep her eyes off him. They were doing the equivalent of what was footsie across the table but with their eyes.
Cassandra completely ignored Garrick and gave him her undivided attention. It was disconcerting to say the least.
He saw his chance to speak to her at the end of the dinner when Garrick and most of the table got up to mingle.
He went over two chairs and sat beside Cassandra Green. Her perfume was a bit too heavy and for some reason made him nauseous.
He swallowed his reaction.
"Hello." He smiled at her. "My name is Noah."
"Hi." Her smile curved around her mouth seductively.
And he felt the oddest sensation of revulsion.
He stared at her from the perfect arches of her eyebrows to her bow lipped pout and he realized two things simultaneously.
The feeling for Cassandra he had occasionally experienced in the past year was not yearning as he had interpreted it to be, it was of anger and resentment. He felt it now. The Cassandra feeling was strong indeed but it wasn't warm.
Not by a long shot. This pint-sized woman with the pretty face had caused Dean Long some serious angst.
He waited for the emotion to pass.
"So," Cassandra leaned in closer to him. "Are you married?"
Noah leaned back in his chair. "No. You?"
"No." She smiled.
"And Garrick?"
"Is just a friend," she said flippantly. "A very good friend." She pushed a napkin over to him with what looked like a phone number.
"He doesn't seem to think so," Noah said, Garrick was walking over to them a scowl on his face, his jealousy barely in check.
Noah sat back in the chair and watched as he stepped behind Casandra. "Noah, I think
Cassie and I are leaving."
"Sure. Have a good evening." Noah nodded.
He watched the two of them walk away. Cassandra looked behind and blew him a kiss.
"Call me," she indicated with her hand.
He just smiled.
****
"It was a fabulous night." Cassie waltzed around the apartment. "Wonderful."
"Where'd you go?" Raine asked uninterestedly. She had gotten the unenviable task of compiling their final group project, papers were scattered everywhere. She had two more weeks of internship and three more months of college. She couldn't wait for it to be over.
"Guess?" Cassie flitted around she was still in her black dress and had unpinned her hair.
"I don't really care," Raine muttered. "Your social life does not interest me much. I only asked because you obviously need someone to gloat to."
Cassie ignored her. "I went to the Chamber of Commerce dinner with Garrick."
Raine looked up when she heard that. "Chamber of Commerce dinner?"
"Yep." Cassie nodded vigorously. "I could feel the money in the room."
Raine nodded. "Is that why you are so excited?"
"No." Cassie laughed and half laid down on her side and propped her hand up and looked at Raine.
"I met the most handsome and I mean handsome. No not handsome...gorgeous, I mean really gorgeous, yummy man."
Raine rolled her eyes.
"I would date him even if he was not rich," Cassie said dreamily. "I would have his babies. They would be gorgeous. He has the most amazing eyes and as soon as he saw me, we had a connection. I could tell, he was staring at me, you know, like love at first sight."
Raine felt a cold clammy feeling overtaking her body. "What's his name?" She whispered the question.
"Noah Scarlett." Cassie grinned. "I like the name Noah. He can lock me up in his ark while the rest of the world drowns."
Raine got up. "You met Noah?"
"Yep. So?" Cassie asked still in dream land.
"So, does he know your name?"
"Oh yes." Cassie sat up in the settee. "And I gave him my number. I wonder if he will call?"
Scarlett Heart (The Scarletts Page 14