by Groovy Lee
He sighed with relief and drew his fingers through his tousled hair. “Thank-you for hearing me out. And I promise, you won’t have to put up with Felicia anymore.”
“Meaning, you’re going to be a little more discreet and meet her at her hotel from now on?”
“Go to bed, Gracie,” he ordered. “It’s been a long day, and we’re both on edge.”
She turned and marched away for her room, leaving him to stand outside alone. She fell onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling having conceded that there was no getting away now. The fact that he made sense didn’t make things any easier, though. She closed her eyes for calm as she resolved to do what she agreed, as long as she didn’t have to put up with Felicia. He promised she wouldn’t. That’s some consolation.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After a hearty breakfast filled with chatter the next morning, everyone piled into the Navigator and headed for the airport. Nikki sat in her father’s lap in the front while the three women occupied the two back seats. Shara was confirming plans with Ella for the arrival of the baby in a few months. Gracie just sat quiet, not much in the mood for talk. As they glided down the road, her gaze skimmed over the back of Indigo’s head while he drove. They barely looked at one another this morning, which was more than fine with her. She just wished she could control the dreams. During the four and a half weeks they’ve been on Eden’s cove, that face has visited her every night. Sometimes, and it’s becoming more and more frequent, that body would make an appearance and—she forbade that thought from going any further.
Just then John said something that caused him to laugh. Her heart skipped at the sight. She turned and pressed her forehead to the passenger window, her eyes never latching on to the scenery outside. What she would give to get away for an hour—a day!
Before she knew it, Shara and John’s plane was lifting in the air. She remembered Shara’s parting words as she stood watching it soar away: “You’ve become the sister I never had, Gracie. I’m so glad Indigo married you. After this baby is born, I want you to come and stay with me for a couple of weeks, if he can let you go,” she laughed.
Gracie swallowed away the pain. Poor Shara. How would she ever forgive her for being so deceitful? Hopefully, Indigo would be able to explain it to her in a way that she could understand and forgive.
“Are the two of you as hungry as I am?” Ella asked as they made their way through the crowd in the airport. “Let’s…”
Her words were interrupted by high voices screeching Gracie’s name. When Gracie turned to see Heather and Bitsy waving at her from across the terminal, her face lit up.
“Who are they?” Ella asked as the two women made their way toward them.
“Gracie’s roommates,” Indigo answered. “They’ve been on vacation in London. Remember, I told you they were coming to visit her for a few days.”
“I can’t believe it,” Gracie said after they practically ran into one another’s arms and clung together. “But, you weren’t due to arrive for a couple of days.”
“We decided to cut our tour short and spend the rest of it with you,” Bitsy said smiling brightly.
“You two are something else. Oh,” she turned to Ella. “I’d like you to meet Indigo’s mother. Mrs. Farrell, this is Heather and Bitsy, my best friends.”
Greetings were exchanged, and the two women acknowledged their boss.
“Where are you staying?” Gracie asked.
“Mr. Farrell got us rooms at the Delta Montreal,” Heather said.
“When you’re ready, I’ll show you where it is,” he said.
“Thanks, Mr. Farrell. Just let us get the rental car and we’ll follow you.”
“Gracie,” Ella turned to view her from the front seat as Indigo maneuvered through the lunch hour crush. “I know you’d rather spend some time alone with your friends. So, why don’t you eat lunch with them. Indigo and I don’t mind. You can spare her for a little while, can’t you?”
“Sure,” was his tight reply.
“Are you sure?” Gracie felt guilty for feeling so relieved for this opportunity to get away.
“Have fun,” Ella put her mind at ease with a chuckle.
“We’ll pick you up around six in front of the hotel,” he added.
“You don’t have to put yourself out like that. Heather and Bitsy can drive me to the ferry.”
“If that’s what you want.” His eyes met hers through the rearview mirror. “Just give me a call before you leave and I’ll pick you up when the ferry drops you off.”
Heather and Bitsy were checked into one of the Signature Service Rooms: A deluxe room with two double beds and a huge window overlooking Montreal. The three of them decided to eat in the hotel instead of venturing out. After a light lunch, they went back to their room to catch up on the latest.
“The two of you really enjoyed yourselves, didn’t you?” Gracie sat on Bitsy’s bed and swiped through Heather’s camera displaying the pictures of their adventures in London. When she came to an interesting one of Bitsy garnishing a big smile as she stood next to a nice looking red-headed man, she held up the camera to her and asked, “Who’s this?”
Bitsy reclined beside her and folded her arms behind her head. “Oh, he was one of the ticket officers at the underground station at Piccadilly Circus. His name is Ken; His accent is divine,” she sighed toward heaven.
Gracie couldn’t help thinking as she browsed through the photos of the British Museum, the zoo at Regent’s Park, the Tower of London, and other historic sights, how happy she’d be now had she gone with them. “London seems so exciting. How did you like Hyde Park?”
“It’s such a beautiful place.” Heather snuggled into the oversized chair and propped her feet up on the footstool “There’s nothing like being awakened each morning by the clickety-clack of horse guards on their way from the barracks to the admiralty. You can set your clock by them.”
Gracie smiled at the typical, tourist picture of a very serious palace guard in his bright, red coat and black, furry hat with Heather waving at his side.
“I almost forgot,” she said. “We bought you something.” She got up to retrieve a small shopping bag from her suitcase.
“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Gracie took the package and opened it to a square, velvet box. She pulled it out and lifted the lid to a beautiful silver, charm bracelet with trinkets of London hanging from it. “Oh, this is so lovely.” She clasped it around her wrist then held it up to view.
“It’s from a little shop on a street called Middlesex. It’s long and filled with different market stalls. I bought this at one of them.” Bitsy held up her wrist and showed her a bracelet with a simple design embossed in black steel.
“It’s pretty. Thanks, guys, I’ll treasure this.”
“They decided that for a few days, they would open up Princess Diana’s gravesite for the tourists. That was the saddest part of the whole trip.”
“Enough about us,” Bitsy changed to a lotus position. “What’s been going on with you?”
“Oh, not a lot,” Gracie shrugged. “Indigo’s summer home is beautiful. It’s surrounded by a forest and a beach. You’ll fall in love with it when you visit. You’ll love his mother. His sister, Shara, was there with her little girl. We became good friends.” She hadn’t realized how sad her voice had grown. “I—I spent most of my days typing and sitting on the patio with his family. That’s all,” she shrugged again.
Heather got up from the chair and went to her. “Are you okay, girl?”
Her smile barely formed. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“You sure don’t look it.”
“Honest,” she said, but the tears brimming in her eyes said otherwise.
“Gracie, what is it?” Heather turned her to face her as Bitsy sat up straight.
“You were right, Heather,” she stood and paced across the floor to look out of the huge window with the golden drapes. “Everything’s blowing up in my face. Nothing’s going t
he way it should.”
“What do you mean? Is it that bad?”
“Worse. I’m hopelessly in love with Indigo.” She sniffed back a tear and glanced at them.
“Oh, my,” Heather exclaimed. “You weren’t supposed to get emotionally involved with him.”
“It’s not like I planned it. I’ve always felt something for him; I just never addressed the issue. But when we got here, and he started acting more human and less like my boss, I couldn’t help myself. I was so sure I could handle this.”
Heather went over and held her. “A heart is always broken the most when it loves the deepest—or so I’ve heard.”
“It was going so well at first.” Gracie clutched her friend’s hand for support. “He took me walking on the beach; We went for walks in the forest. He even showed me his secret hiding place. I had the time of my life exploring nature and interacting with his family. Then Felicia showed up.”
“Felicia’s here?” they cried in unison.
Gracie nodded and told them all that had happened, and because of it, a wedge had grown between Indigo and her, and now they can barely look one another. “Felicia practically lives at the house. She cornered me one night and vowed to get him back.”
“That—that…”
“Don’t say it,” Heather pointed a finger at Bitsy.
“I mean, the nerve of her showing up. You’re his wife, even if it is in name only. She has no right intruding that way.”
“I think she knows about the arrangement. She said something to the effect when she cornered me.”
“You think Mr. Farrell told her?” Heather asked.
“Who else? Besides the two of you, no one else knows.”
“So, she’s just waiting until the marriage is annulled so she can get her fangs into him,” Bitsy shook her head in dismay.
“You remember one thing,” Heather held her firmly by the shoulders. “Your room is waiting for you when you return home. And, we’ll do all we can to help you get over him.”
“We sure will,” Bitsy interjected on a strong note.
“No more blind dates, though,” Gracie warned sadly, causing the room to fill with laughter. “What would I do without you,” she glanced at them, thankful they were there.
To put matters on a much happier note, they changed the subject and began making plans for sight-seeing in Montreal the next day.
“Now, we’ll be waiting for you bright and early in the morning when the ferry drops you off,” Heather said.
“The ferry!” Gracie suddenly remembered. “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I forgot. Today’s Thursday and it stops running at three; That was an hour ago. I’m stuck here.”
“No problem,” Heather dismissed her with a wave of her hand. “You can stay with us.”
“What about clothes?” Gracie gestured to her pants and shirt.
“You can borrow ours like always. It’s better this way. We saved a lot of time by not having to drive that long way to get you. We’ll be able to get an early start on our sightseeing. We should have thought of this before.”
“Sounds great. I’ll just call home and let them know what happened.”
Instead of dialing Indigo’s cell phone, she dialed Ella to inform her that she missed the ferry and would be spending the night with Heather and Bitsy; and that she’ll probably be home tomorrow evening.
“We thought you might have forgotten it closes early on Thursdays,” Ella laughed. “Don’t you worry about a thing, dear. You have fun, and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
As they all retired for bed, Gracie chose to sleep with Heather since Bitsy snored. She lied there in the dark thinking how she was relieved things turned out the way she had hoped. She needed some space from Indigo, if only for a day.
Early next morning, they were standing in front of the hotel eager to get their day started.
“Where should we go first?” Gracie asked, her head buried deep in a tourist map.
“Here,” Bitsy pointed to some information on a brochure she had. “It says here that the Montreal subway is an underground city of miles of interconnecting arcades, malls, shops, and restaurants, eh?”
“You did not just do that,” Gracie eyed her incredulously. “Do not—and I stress the word, do not—let that word come out of your mouth in the middle of a crowd of locals, I beg you. Unless you want to be run out of town with pitchforks and burning torches. Now, come on, it’s not far from here. This way.”
Heather and Bitsy couldn’t help giggling at that as they took off with their cameras swinging around their necks, and maps flapping in the breeze; No one needed to guess if they were tourists. After spending half the day underground, they unloaded their packages at the hotel and spent the other half touring the museums.
Later, they went through a tunnel that led from the Olympic Park to Montreal’s Botanical gardens. Gracie was enthralled by the thousands of brightly colored, odd shaped varieties of flowers and plants with their enchanting fragrances from around the world—from the Chinese garden, to the Mexican desert. Her favorite was the Japanese Garden with its crystal blue pond surrounded by Weeping Willows, Spruce, and Japanese Maples. The peace she felt was like a warm breeze that lifted her stress and carried it away leaving her with an enlivened spirit as she stood on the arched bamboo bridge looking out at the carp, Japan’s living wildflowers with their colors of bright orange, yellow, speckled and solid. If time would allow her, she’d stay right there in that spot for the entire day and on into the next. They didn’t have time for the New Nation’s garden, but made a note to add it to their agenda.
It was close to evening when the car pulled up to where the ferry stood waiting for its passengers to load. Gracie exited from the back seat and leaned down to the passenger side window.
“You still have the directions to the house?”
“Right here on the car’s GPS,” Heather pointed to it.
“The sooner you get there, the better. I should go or I’ll miss it again.” She waved to them and ran for the vessel.
As the boat chugged across the inlet, she stood against the rail with her face held up to breathe in the fresh, salty air, and warm evening. A day away from Indigo did wonders for her. It’s been the first real moment of peace she’s had since coming to Eden’s Cove. She sighed and dropped her head. (It was time to face him again) Thank goodness there was only three weeks left; she could take her self-esteem, her love, her settlement and move on.
With renewed vigor, she exited to the opposite shore, having spotted his black Navigator parked alongside the road. She went over and got in. Her threw her a crisp hello and started for home. She was prepared for his cool mood. When she phoned earlier to say she was on her way, she detected it in his tone. She relaxed against her seat, and let the silence prevail.
When she entered the house, she found Ella sitting at the dining table. A delicious aroma wavered from the kitchen.
“Gracie,” she called with delight. “So good to have you home. Did you enjoy yourself?”
“I had so much fun,” she sat in her usual seat at the table and eyed the Chinese take-out boxes.
“Indigo picked us up some dinner from that quaint little place in town. We didn’t know if you would make it back again.” Ella began opening the tops of them.
He came back into the room and sat a plate and fork in front of Gracie. Then he poured her a glass of the iced tea from the pitcher.
That small act touched her and she whispered, “Thank-you.”
As they sat around the table eating, Ella talked her into telling them about her day in Montreal and all the sights she visited while Indigo sat quiet. When dinner was over, he left to fill Patches and Starbucks’ water dish, leaving Gracie to clear the table alone. She hurried in that task before he could return. Afterwards, she went to join Ella in her room.
“Come in,” she called from the other side of the door.
Gracie stuck her head inside. “I came to see if you needed anything. Can I get you som
ething to drink?”
“No, I’m fine.” Ella was propped up against her pillows, her head wrapped in a yellow scarf. She closed the novel she was reading and motioned for her to come in and sit beside her on the bed. “Where’s Indigo?”
“Outside somewhere.”
Gracie’s bland reply didn’t go unnoticed by her. She chuckled and took Gracie’s hand in hers. “Don’t let him get to you. He’s been acting this way ever since you called yesterday and said you missed the ferry. He missed you something awful; And no matter what I tried, I couldn’t cheer him up. Thank heavens you’re home. Maybe, now things can return to normal again.”
Gracie smiled for her sake, well aware that the idea of returning to normal meant staying out of each other’s way to avoid any further conflicts.
“I wasn’t going to tell you this quite now, but it’s as good a time as any. My doctor here paid a house-call on me yesterday, gave me a complete checkup and said I was making wonderful recovery. He gave me the go-ahead to return home and finish my recovery there. I can even get back into my charity work, but only for one day a week until I’m better.”
“Ella, that’s wonderful,” Gracie hugged her. “I’m so happy.”
“Me, too. I thought since I’ve been given a good report, I’d return to California and let my son and his new bride spend time alone.”
Gracie struggled to keep her natural reaction from that in check. “You don’t have to do that.” She did her best to keep her tone casual even though she couldn’t believe Ella would really do this to her. “We love having you here. Indigo and I spend plenty of time together.”
“I know this place is big enough, but you’ve only been married a little over a month. At this stage, private moments are crucial. You need to spend your honeymoon in the traditional way—just the two of you—alone. You don’t need an old woman hanging around like a fifth wheel.” A brief pause, then, “Especially so because of the circumstances that brought you here.”
“Wha—what do you mean? What circumstances?”
“I know Indigo married under rather peculiar conditions,” Ella patted her knee. “The word inheritance comes to mind.”