Under Her Skin

by Michelle Love

  “The man has no in with the devil. You’re being very dramatic. I baptized him only last week,” he says.

  “He was never religious before. What’s happened to change him? Or is he faking a newfound religion for some reason? The people have a right to know about this. He may end up being a very dangerous man. So help me get the truth out of him. Help me find out if he actually made a deal with the devil like the man he ran out of business claims he did.”

  “I’m going out there to set the record straight,” I say, but find Kent and Randy, as well as Mr. Richards, holding me back.

  “You stay put,” Delaney’s father tells me. “I’ll deal with her.”

  “No,” I tell him as the other two continue to hold me back. “I can’t let you do that, sir. This is my battle.”

  He turns to look at me and shakes his head. “Son, you are about to marry my daughter. You are about to be a part of my family. I protect what’s mine. Today is about you and my daughter starting your own family. When you have kids, you’ll understand what I’m doing. No one pushes any family of mine around. No one!”

  And with that, he’s out the door, and Kent says, “Damn! You got one tough father-in-law. Lord help that reporter. I think she’s about to see the light.”

  We listen at the door as Mr. Richards calls out, “Hey you! Over here! What do you want with my son-in-law?”

  The sound of several sets of feet moving quickly in our direction are heard, along with the female reporter’s voice, “And who are you?”

  “My name is none of your concern. My daughter is marrying the man you’re planning on ambushing, and I’m here to tell you this ends now. You will never get an interview, mainly because this is no one’s business. I overheard you talking to the preacher. I know you want to accuse Blaine of something evil, and I will not allow it. So, hit the road, or you’ll be sorry.”

  Kent peeks out the door, then pulls his head right back in. “That cameraman has his camera on. Mr. Richards seems to have no idea they’re videoing him.”

  Randy looks pissed and he goes out the door, leaving my brother and me alone. “Shit,” I whisper. “What’s he about to do?”

  “Stop recording this instant,” Randy shouts. “I’m Blaine Vanderbilt’s attorney. I’ll have you all charged if you don’t stop videoing immediately!”

  “Oh, shit,” Kent says. “He’s pulling some bullshit out of his hat now!”

  “So, you think you can stop us from getting the truth about Blaine Vanderbilt, do you?” the reporter asks.

  “Camera off, now!” he shouts again.

  “Fine,” a man says. I suppose it’s the cameraman. “You have to know, we will get this story eventually.”

  “There is nothing to get. My client is cleaning up his business practices. He may have dealt with companies and people who weren’t very good people, but those days are behind him. Leave the man alone to start his new life,” Randy says.

  I wait for the reporter to respond, but my phone rings, and all I hear after that is the sound of people running and the door being thrown open. They’ve found me, and the green light is on at the top of the camera.

  “We’re live with Blaine Vanderbilt,” the dark-haired reporter says as she moves in, making me and Kent back up as they move into the room.

  Pressing the button to send the call to voicemail, I stop moving and stand up straight. “Yes, you are. After harassing me for a week, you have me here, live, cornered in an empty hospital room on my wedding day. Please tell me what’s so important you needed to interrupt our special day.”

  “The people want to know how it is you get everything you want. The wealth and the children’s miraculous healing? All of it comes down to one night when you were seen leaving a warehouse that’s known to be the meeting place of a group of satanic worshipers,” she says, then pushes the microphone in my face.

  “This is nothing more than a witch hunt.” I look at my brother. “This is my brother. Ask him if I’ve ever exhibited any evil tendencies.”

  “Never,” Kent says. “You’re making yourself look ridiculous with these accusations. I’d expect this out of a cheesy tabloid. Never the local news.”

  A familiar voice comes from behind the camera crew. “I’m going to ask you only once to leave these premises. Then I’m calling law enforcement and pressing trespassing charges on your whole crew and your television station,” the head of security, Mr. Davenport, says.

  The reporter looks mad as a wet hen as she spins around. I hear a small voice come from the hallway, “What’s happening?” It sounds like little Meagan.

  “This is none of our concern,” I hear her father say.

  The reporter hurries out of the room, asking, “Are you one of the cured children?”

  I hear her father say, “We’re not doing any interviews.”

  “I just want to ask you about Blaine Vanderbilt. He’s been accused of being a Satan worshiper,” the reporter says.

  “Satan?” Meagan asks, and I become furious as I come out of the room.

  “Stop!” I shout. “Leave her alone. Leave that family alone! If you had a heart, you’d leave us all alone!”

  Meagan’s father is holding his tiny daughter in his arms as his wife stands next to him. She looks at the reporter. “Blaine Vanderbilt is not a bad man in any way. He has a host of people who will attest to the good in him. I, for one, don’t believe a bad word anyone says about the man.”

  “Nor will I,” Meagan’s father says.

  I smile as Meagan lifts her head off her father’s shoulder and looks past the group of people and directly at me. “That man behind you is almost an angel. If you decide to report anything bad about him, I feel sorry for you. Then you will be the one doing a bad thing and that’s never any good.”

  I watch the reporter lower her head. “Damn,” she says under her breath. “Let’s go.” She turns to look at me, then gives me a weak smile. “Seems you have quite the fan club. You’re willing to fight for them, and in my book, that makes you something other than evil. Sorry. I am not a reporter that reports lies. Sorry about this. It’s just business. I was sent to get this interview.”

  “‘It’s just business’ is something I used to say all of the time. That’s the only evil I did, and I admit it was evil, and I will never live my life in that frame of mind again. You can report that if you’d like. But I’d really like it if you let this all go away. I’m trying to build a family with a very special woman, and I’d like a bit of privacy to do that.”

  With a nod, she and her crew leave us standing in the hallway that’s grown a bit congested with onlookers. Meagan gives me a smile. “We came to see you get married.”

  “Well, let’s get to that, shall we?” I say as we head to the chapel.

  Her mother looks at me with a smile. “Meagan has something she wanted to tell you.”

  “You do?” I ask her as I run my hand over her head.

  “I get to go home after your wedding,” she says, filling me with complete joy.

  The preacher looks happy, too, as he welcomes us into the chapel. “That’s some great news,” he tells Meagan.

  Looking back, I find Delaney’s father. “You should go get her now. I think it’s time to get this show on the road.”

  With a nod, he’s off to bring me my bride, and I go to wait for her. Then I recall the phone call I missed and look to find my sister was the one who called. I call her back and find her sounding like she’s near tears. “Blaine, I’ve ruined your wedding.”

  “Do not tell me that, Kate. What’s happened now?”

  “She’s out cold. The drink I gave her was too much for her to take. We can’t get her to wake up and eat the crackers Tiffany got for her. You’ll just have to wait for her to wake up. I’m so sorry,” she wails.

  “Damn it!” I whisper. “We’ll wait then. And you are really in trouble, little sister!”

  Making my way to the preacher, I can see he looks a little worried himself. “Are we having pro
blems, Blaine?”

  “We are,” I say as I run my hand over my face. “My sister brought Delaney some kind of alcohol. Delaney hasn’t eaten a thing since lunch yesterday and very little this entire week with her schedule and all the preparations. She’s been exhausted every single night. I’m afraid she’s passed out, and we’ll just have to wait for her to wake up before we can do this.”

  “Oh my goodness. At least I have nothing else scheduled for today. We can wait.”

  I go to explain what’s happened to the Sanders family when a bunch of people file into the little chapel. A woman is crying inconsolably. Two young men are holding her up and taking her to see the preacher.

  A little girl translates for the Spanish-speaking family. “Help our mother, please, sir. We’re here because my baby sister, who’s just six months old, was hurt in a car wreck she and my mother were in. Mama is so upset with herself that we don’t know what to do for her. Please help her.”

  So many people come into the chapel, filling the seats up. My party moves to the back row, then when I find more of the woman’s family members standing, I gesture for my party to follow me and take our group to the cafeteria.

  “What a tragedy,” Mrs. Sanders says as we make our way out of the room.

  Meagan looks at me as she walks in between her father and me. “Do you smell that honey and lemon smell?”

  I take a deep breath and nod. “You think my mother’s around?”,

  “I can’t hear her like I did before. I guess because I’m all me again. But I could smell her when they walked into the room. I guess the poor baby is really bad off,” she says with a sad face.

  I’m shocked as her father stops, picks her up, and hugs her, then looks at me. “Can we all stop right here and pray for that child? Would everyone be okay with doing that?” he asks as he looks at every one of us.

  Kent, Randy, and I all hold out our hands as we stop in the middle of the hallway, join hands, and bow our heads. Meagan says, “Blaine, I think you should say the prayer.”

  So I start a prayer for the baby none of us know a thing about, but we know one thing for sure. There’s a baby girl in this hospital who is near death and we must send our prayers up for her.

  In the midst of what was supposed to be a day about me and Delaney, I’ve found there may have been a reason for our delayed wedding. One never knows how things will turn out.

  The best-laid plans, as they say.

  DELANEY

  “How long did I sleep?” I ask as I sit up and rub my eyes. My mother, father, soon to be sister-in-law, and my soon-t0-be brother-in-law’s new girlfriend stand around me.

  “Finally!” my father says. “You’ve slept three hours.” He looks at my mother. “She needs a bit of primping.”

  Kate and Tiffany spring into action, messing with my hair and makeup. “What happened?” I ask, then see Kate make a face.

  “Oh no! You need to brush your teeth, Delaney!”

  I look at Mom, nearly panicking. “Go to the nurses’ station and ask for a toothbrush packet, please, Mom.” Looking back at Kate, I ask, “I can’t remember hardly anything. Did I pass out?”

  “Yes, you did, and I am so sorry. I had no idea you were running on empty. I hope you can forgive me,” she says with a very sorry expression.

  Mom returns with the toothbrush packet, and I take it and go into the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, I see I don’t look quite as pretty as I did before. A crease is running along one cheek where I was lying on the bed.

  I can’t believe I passed out. I feel fine now. Rinsing my mouth out, I dab the few drops of water away and decide I better use the bathroom while I’m here. Blaine will probably want to get going as soon as we get married.

  I cannot believe I let myself get that way. That drink snuck up on me like a thief in the night. I can hear Kate on the phone with Blaine. “She’s up. Are you guys ready?” Then she says, “You’re kidding!”

  Now, what?

  As I walk out of the bathroom, I see Kate’s face has fallen. “I really am sorry, Delaney!”

  “What’s the problem?” I ask as everyone looks very tired.

  “There’s a grieving family in the chapel. It would be terrible to ask them to leave,” Kate says. “Blaine says he’s sorry. Now we all have to wait.”

  “I’m going to grab you something to eat, pumpkin,” Mom says and takes Dad with her to find me something.

  I sit in the chair and wonder what happened to all the plans we made and why in the world so many things have gone wrong. Maybe this isn’t the right thing to do. Maybe the powers that be are stopping this from happening.

  Maybe I should end this whole thing!

  I remember falling asleep and hoping I wouldn’t wake up to find this had all been a dream, but maybe it’s supposed to only be a memory. A memory of what almost was.

  BLAINE

  A chill runs through me as we sit at a table in the cafeteria. Then I see Meagan looking at me. “You shouldn’t wait for the chapel, Blaine. You should get Nurse Richards and you should marry her anywhere.”

  When I look up, I see Delaney’s mother and father coming into the nearly-empty cafeteria, and I get an idea. “I think you’re right.”

  Getting up, I go to see the cashier, Shirley, who is still wearing a nametag that says, ‘Mildred.’ “Shirley, do you think it would be all right for us to have the wedding in here? We could make an aisle right through there and maybe dim all the lights like you do at night. What do you say?”

  “I say, I’m on it. Help me out and I think we can have this place ready in five or ten minutes.”

  Getting my party to help, they begin to get things in order, and I go to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Richards. “We’re going to have the wedding in here. If you’ll go get her, we can start in ten minutes,” I tell her father.

  Her mother hurries after him. “I’ll bring the preacher!”

  With the plan in action, I hurry to assist with the moving of the tables and find a couple of people who were in there helping too. One of her nurse co-workers passes by, then comes back in. “What are you guys doing?” she asks.

  Shirley tells her, as I’m just too busy to explain things. “Delaney and Blaine are getting married in here. You want to see if you can get the wedding march played on the speaker system for us?”

  The other nurse runs off, and I find my heart pounding with excitement. I think we’re going to really pull this off!

  DELANEY

  “No, Dad! I think this is all too many things going wrong. It’s a sign!” I say as he tells me we’re having our wedding in the cafeteria. “What about the beautiful pictures we’re supposed to have at the quaint, little chapel? I don’t want a case of pies in the background of our wedding photos!”

  “You’re acting spoiled,” Dad tells me. “Now come on. He’s waiting on you. I’m sure it will look great. Everyone is helping to make sure of that. It might not be what you planned, but the end result is that you two will be hitched, and that’s all that really matters. Right?”

  I look at Kate, who is nodding. Then Tiffany, who is also nodding. With one more look in the mirror, I find the crease in my cheek is gone, and I look a lot better than when I first woke up.

  Looking up, I say a silent prayer. ‘God, if this is the right thing to do, I’d love a sign right about now.’

  Looking down, I find my heart slowing as I think about the lack of any sign. Then the speaker system crackles and the wedding march is playing overhead. I look up again with a smile. “Grab my bouquet, will you? I have a wedding to get to!”

  BLAINE

  One by one, I watch the people come down the makeshift aisle we created. Tiffany comes in on Kent’s arm. Then Kate comes in on Randy’s. The music goes on and on for what seems like forever, then I see my Delaney coming into the cafeteria. The lights are dimmed and someone found candles and placed them all over the place.

  I can see her face, and she’s amazed at the transformation of the cafeteria. Her eyes s
himmer as she looks around and holds her father’s arm as he brings her to me. Finally, she looks at me and a smile fills her face. “Hey,” I say as I take her hand, which her father is giving to me.

  “Hey,” she says, then bites her lip. “You ready for this?”

  With a nod, I take the woman who will be my wife and turn her to stand with me in front of the preacher who will lead us in saying the words that will hold us together forever and always.

  And, now, I am sure we will all live happily ever after.

  The End.

  His Illegitimate Half-Brother

  When beautiful classical pianist, Amalia Rai, marries billionaire Jackson Gallo, it is not a happy union. Amalia’s father has blackmailed his daughter into marrying the man who can save his company—and in return, he will allow Ama’s younger sister, Selima, to divorce her abusive husband.

  As she walks down the aisle, Ama’s life is changed forever when she sees Enda—Jackson’s illegitimate, Italian half-brother. The attraction between them is obvious.

  Beginning a sensual, erotic affair with Enda, desperate to relieve the tension from her sham of a marriage, Ama falls in love with him, but when Jackson finds out about the affair, his rage is all-consuming.

  Fleeing to Italy with Enda, Ama begins a new life, making friends with Enda’s best friends, Raffaelo Winter and his lovely wife, Inca. Happier than ever, she is shattered when, after months of silence, Jackson takes his revenge, shattering everyone and everything Ama cares about …

  Can Ama find the strength to fight for the people she loves and live happily ever after with the man of her dreams?

  Not for the first time, Amalia Rai gazed in the mirror and wondered how the hell she had gotten here. This is the twenty-first century, right? And, yet, she, a successful classical pianist and music professor, was about to be married to a man she barely knew—and who she could barely stand.