by Mimi Barbour
They both tiptoed into Hugo’s room, where they found him sleeping.
Oh, man! He looked so peaceful, but she had no choice. She had to do this.
Annie whispered, “Is the nurse nearby?” After Sara nodded, Annie suggested gently, “Can you send her in here? I believe we might need her. I have some terrible news for Hugo. I’m scared it could bring on another heart attack.”
Sara sobered and nodded. “I’ll get her.” She left, forgetting to close the door. Annie, standing a few feet away from the hospital-style bed, watched her stricken assistant hesitate, inhale and straighten her shoulders. Before Annie could reassure her, she marched up the hallway.
Annie moved over to where Hugo, in striped pajamas and covered to his waist by a fluffy blue duvet, lay with his eyes closed. His skin had the unnatural pallor of poor health, and the oxygen tube, draped over his ears and feeding life-giving air into his nostrils, added to the appearance of an ill person. She crept nearer, and he opened his eyes, smiled, and stretched out his hand in welcome.
“What were you and Sara hatching up over there? It’s good to see you, Annie. The kids talk about you so much I’m beginning to get jealous.” His voice fought for the strength to sound normal.
“They’re great kids, Hugo. I used to love being with them. I so miss the children at the center that some days I’m tempted to go there and beg for my old job back. In fact, today I made an incredible discovery. I don’t really enjoy being a big-shot corporate manager so much. It dawned on me that I was a lot happier when I was a lowly daycare employee, teaching the little ones.”
“Hell, girl, here we go again! Do you want a job? I need a babysitter while I’m recuperating. I can’t send the kids to school because we’ve been getting death threats. Seems my poor Elizabeth got herself in a bundle of trouble. Some nasty characters have threatened her, and until we find her and get things straightened out, we’re pretty much housebound. Everyone’s going stir-crazy. Even my well-behaved kids have started acting up. Sara’s been trying to help out, but she’s feeling so guilty about leaving you stranded at the office, it’s been tough on her. And now my health has let go, and I’ll be laid up for quite some time.”
“Hugo, I promise you, your life will return to normal soon. I came to tell you something distressing. Oh, God! Where do I start?” Tears leaked out the sides of her eyes as she clung to his warm hand.
“You’re here about Elizabeth, aren’t you?” He looked at her closely. “She’s dead.” His head nodded up and down; he knew he was right.
A sob broke loose and then another. She could only nod along with him; to speak would be to cry. Tormented, her wobbling lip wouldn’t be controlled.
“I figured it was just a matter of time. They were after her. She was terrified when she came searching for help. Once the threats included the kids and me, she disappeared again—this time to protect us. The only thing I could figure out was that she must have witnessed something bad go down. I guess they considered her a threat and were determined to shut her up permanently. She was adamant about not discussing it. Said the less I knew, the safer we’d be. You know what, Annie? She wasn’t my beautiful Elizabeth any longer. Just a sad stranger calling herself Lizzie.”
“She loved you, Hugo. And she loved the kids. Did you realize she had a tattoo on her chest, just above her breast? It was a pretty heart with an arrow piercing it, and the kid’s initials on either side.”
“I didn’t.” His face registered pity and sadness.
“She also had the business card I gave her in the office, on the day she first came to find you. That’s why the NYPD detectives came to me to identify her. She had no other papers. I was able to tell them who she was from the tattoo. I’m afraid they’ll have to talk with you, also, but they promised to wait until after I’d had a chance to break the bad news to you myself. I imagine they’ll be here a bit later.”
Anguish registered clearly on his features. “I felt so sorry for her, Annie. What a poor little creature. When I first met her years ago, I fell head over heels in love. I wish you could have known her then. She was a vibrant and affectionate woman in those days. Unfortunately, she had a car accident just a few months after she gave birth to Alyssa, and she suffered a lot of pain from the soft tissue damage. The medications helped, but over a period of months she got hooked. The doctors and I tried to get her counseling, but it was all in vain. She even resorted to rehab, but the pain never left, and neither did her dependency on the drugs. Soon she’d branched out into the illegal stuff. I always believed she left because she couldn’t face knowing her kids might one day learn she was an addict.”
“Well, she’s free now, Hugo. No more fear, no more drugs. From now on all your thoughts of her can be positive ones, full of love, untainted by worry and sorrow. You’re free, also. It’s time for you and the kids to move on with your lives, and to think of her as a heroine in the end.”
Hugo looked at the girl squeezing his hand, and his eyes filled. “I see what you’re getting at. The children can remember her as a mother who died to protect them. We’ll tell them about how much she loved them. She proved it by leaving her safety net here, believing she’d take the trouble with her. And she was right. We can speak about her openly and honestly now as the kids’ mother and my wife, which will make her truly a part of our lives again, someone to be proud of.” As he talked, pride smoothed the pain from his face.
Annie spoke softly. “It’s for the best that you move on, and it’s what your Elizabeth would have wanted.” She emphasized the word your.
The knock at the door heralded the nurse who popped her head in. “Everything all right in here?”
Hugo spoke first. “Yes. But I am a bit tired, and I think I need to take a nap.” He turned to the girl whose hand he was still holding and patted it. “Thank you for being such a good friend, Annie.”
“You are so very welcome, my dear. Rest now, and know I’ll be here to help all I can with the children.”
“Okay then, visit us anytime. You look done in, sweetheart. Those corporate fanatics getting to you?”
“Not anymore.” With a sweet kiss on his forehead, she left the room. In the hallway, she stopped and leaned against the wall.
Annie couldn’t tell anyone about the relief she’d felt when she realized it wasn’t Lea’s shattered body on the slab in front of her. The bruised face and beaten limbs of the poor dead female had left her sick and shaken, but ironically there was a kind of relief mixed eerily into her misery. It meant that the sixteen-year-old who had stolen her heart still lived.
It was in that precise moment that Annie had made up her mind. Whatever it took to help Lea get away from the crazy she lived with, Annie would do. Lea still had a chance to change the horror of her life. Tyler would help and, together, she had no doubt they would succeed. She kept revisiting the fear she’d felt upon first hearing about the beaten victim. What if today she’d had to identify her friend? She closed her eyes and groaned. How could she ever live with herself for putting a measly job over Lea’s welfare? Months back, she might have thought she didn’t like her old life, but one thing she knew for certain, she had liked herself. Not so much right now.
Celi, invisible except for the aura of compassion, intruded. “Annie, honey, don’t do this. Life just picked you up and carried you along. It happens to most people who get so involved that they forget what matters most.”
“Oh, Celi! How could I have gotten so caught up that the people I love had to pay the price? I never intended to ignore or forget anyone. The job, all that work and responsibility, took me over—and I let it. Truthfully, I went on a power trip.”
“Honey, one of life’s most important lessons is to prioritize. Choose what’s most important to you and don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.”
“Yes, I can see it all so clearly now. I love you, Celi.” As she spoke these words, a rush of affinity descended and eased the pain in her heart.
Annie wiped at her cheeks an
d pinched them to add a little color. Then she headed towards the kitchen and small waiting arms.
Chapter Twenty-One
Tyler kept trying Annie’s numbers, with no luck. Her cell phone, her work extension, he even called her apartment, which only resulted in endless ringing.
“Dammit, where the hell has she gotten to?” Resorting to swearing lowered his frustration, minimally.
He had some wonderful news to share with her, and after the way he’d hung up on her earlier, guilt had churned his insides throughout the day. Not once, in all the time they’d been friends, had he ever treated her so callously. But he’d had no choice.
A despondent twelve-year-old, killing time in the outer office until his appointment, had decided that life sucked. That another foster family to deal with would be one too many. He’d gone into the washroom and taken a razor to his wrists. Seems the lad had been carrying it with him for some time, waiting until the right moment. If a visiting foster father hadn’t happened to walk in on him just then, they’d have lost him.
Thank God for the mandatory first-aid upgrades the social workers had to take every year. Tyler had known precisely what to do and was most likely instrumental in saving the kid’s life. The foster dad had also kicked in with calm assistance, and, between the two, they were able to staunch the blood and keep the boy alive until the ambulance came.
Later that day Tyler had decided that it was kinda funny how, sometimes, something bad can turn itself right around and, in the end, be the best thing that ever happened. The universe—or karma, or some might say God—has a sense of humor, or maybe just a sense of justice.
The foster father involved had felt horrified about the boy’s terrible situation. Plus his involvement in saving him had sparked interest for the youngster’s future. He’d offered his home, his impressive experience of fathering misfits, and his already large group of foster children to become the boy’s siblings—his new family. As soon as the hospital signed the boy’s release papers, their arms and hearts would be opened. Until then, as he’d explained to Tyler, he’d be bonding with the needy rebel. It was the best news Tyler could ever receive, because his was one of the finest homes he had on his ever-dwindling list.
But that didn’t negate the fact that he’d been curt to Annie, and, knowing her, she’d take that kind of stunt to heart. Besides, he felt sure his name appeared on the top line of her drop-his-ass-for-good book because of his performance at the Club the previous evening. Ignoring her hadn’t set well with Annie, he could tell, or should he say his cousin Simone could tell. She’d given him a precise run-down of what Annie did every minute, with a description of her expressions thrown in for good measure.
When he’d come up with the plan to make Annie jealous, it had seemed fail-proof. Since he’d only had a short time to put it together, it came off better than he’d hoped except he hadn’t counted on his screwy cousin taking her role so darn seriously.
Memories of the night before washed over him. He’d noticed Annie walking towards her taxi, looking so classy his eyes had misted. She’d left the apartment beautifully dressed in an outfit different from anything he’d ever seen her wear before. A woman, stunning, sophisticated, and happy, and something had flipped inside. When she’d told the driver to take her to the 21 Club, he knew exactly what he would do.
When his cousin Simone, an airline stewardess, landed in New York unexpectedly she’d called to arrange a get-together. Then and there he decided that he knew just where to take her.
Quickly making up his mind, he’d snatched his cell phone from his pocket and called in some favors. The head chef’s daughter had come to Tyler’s attention when she’d taken a wrong turn and found herself tangled up in the downtown drug scene, and it was due to Tyler’s influence that she’d cleaned up her act, moved back home, and was now a top student at NYU. No, a reservation had been no trouble whatsoever.
Simone, beautiful and full of mischief, provided the perfect companion for his cause. His spiraling anger at seeing Annie all dolled up and heading out, after she’d refused to spend time with him, spurred him on. He’d decided maybe it was a good idea to shake the love of his life up a little bit, so when they arrived, a discreet word with his friend got them placed at a specific table.
The look of astonishment on Annie’s face had rewarded all his efforts. Having to put up with Simone’s clinging and overacting made it iffy. But the ingénue he loved so much had to wake up and see him—really see him. Waiting and wanting. The sound of glass smashing on the floor made him smile. Success reverberated.
Noise from the outer office brought him back to the present, and to the phone he still held clutched in his hand. Now all he needed to do was find her. No hesitating until she was ready, no putting off making his play, and no more games. If his timing sucked, so be it. At least he’d take his chance. Hanging back could bring him an invitation to her wedding with someone else, or a slow death by his cousin’s hands.
Simone, furious with Tyler, had given him the ultimatum. “Man, you are so dense. You’ve talked about this chick for months now, and you still haven’t gotten her into your bed or a ring on her finger. What is wrong with you? Make your move, or that hunk she’s with will be walking her up the aisle.”
Driving him batty, she’d spied on Annie all during the meal, peeping over his shoulder, and when he’d tried blocking her view, she’d taken to dropping things on the floor so she could continue. And she’d reported continuously, until he was sure they’d get caught. He’d finally had enough and cut the date short.
The ride home in the taxi had been hell, listening to her ramming her point across, as if he didn’t hear her the first ten times. “Ty, Listen to me. If a girl pays that much attention to a guy who’s with another date, she’s jealous. Plain and simple!" And she pointed out ad nauseum, “A woman isn’t jealous unless she’s in love.”
So maybe she did care for him. He had to believe she felt the same as he did, or he’d go insane. Could he let another evening go by without knowing for sure? Not likely! An inspiring idea grew until it swept all else from his head. Grabbing his keys, he rushed from behind his desk and bee-lined to the door.
***
Annie arrived at her apartment renewed and invigorated from the multitude of hugs and kisses Jackson and Alyssa had blessed her with. They were as starved for female affection as she was hungry for little arms. Leaving the two rugbunnies had been difficult, particularly after they’d begged and pleaded with her to stay for dinner. But she still had no idea about Lea. Her goal to find Tyler and see if he knew anything had to be her priority.
A note, taped to her door, read:
Got great news to share!
Quesadilla fixin’s ready at my place – need a pretty cook! Wine is decanted and waiting. So am I.
Yours,
Ty.
She peeled off the note, unlocked the door, and entered, all the while doing a little dance. The second reading confirmed the first. He wanted to see her. He’d invited her to be with him. Maybe he wasn’t as angry as she’d suspected. He’d signed it “Yours.” God! If only!
Her heart rate took off, the frenetic beat creating a beehive in her abdomen. Placing her hands flat under her breasts, she cradled the top of her stomach and massaged. A few deep breaths and everything settled back into place.
Twinges of happiness tried to break through, but she clamped them down, warning herself not to get too excited. It didn’t work. The familiarity of Tyler’s message flooded her senses with nostalgic memories of the fun they’d had in the past. It was like the old days.
Singing children’s ditties at the top of her lungs, she quickly showered in her turquoise-accentuated bathroom, then gathered her office clothes and threw them into the bag slated for the cleaners. The prettiest set of white lacy underwear beckoned as she rummaged in her drawer, a purchase on her latest trip to Lord & Taylor. She slid them on and preened in front of her full-length mirror. Not too bad, she decided. One good thing, at
least—all the long hours of overtime she’d put in during the last few months had stopped her nasty snacking habit in the evenings.
She dressed in an old comfy pair of jeans and a black “I heart New York” rhinestone T-shirt she’d fallen for the last time they’d gone window-shopping together. Cosmetics applied lightly, just enough to emphasize her best attributes, added to her self-confidence. Her black wavy hair’s glossy softness surrounded her face, a messy look reminiscent of months ago.
Next, she shuffled around in her fridge’s freezer until she came up with the last batch of matrimonial squares, arranged them on a pretty platter, and microwaved them to thaw. They were Tyler’s favorite dessert. She’d made them before madness had taken over her life, but the wonders of refrigeration had kept them moist and looking yummy.
Okay, showtime. No dithering weaknesses. She wanted that man, and she was going to use everything in her arsenal to get him to want her, too. Short of rape, that is, since she wasn’t sure she could pull that one off. On the other hand….
A few minutes later, standing in front of Tyler’s door, tray held in the forefront as an offering, hand poised to knock, her giddiness dissipated as if she’d walked into a new dimension. Doubts entered and wouldn’t be shaken off.
“What are you waiting for? Go get him!” Celi’s no-nonsense attitude helped some, but Annie’s precarious optimism had begun to fade.
“What if he wants to tell me about his new girlfriend? Wants me to meet her—that bastard! I’ll do a pre-emptive strike and tell him Nigel and I are a couple.”