I Love You to Pieces

by Lori Flynn

  Her dogs accompanied her, staying close as they played. Buckley never refused the call of the water, his muscular body diving through the waves. Webster was content walking beside her, sniffing the sand. Lily’s howl alerted of an approaching storm rolling in just as her muscles cramped and her breath shortened. Olivia turned for home.

  “Let’s go,” she called, causing a dull ache in her side. She glanced at Casa Nonna; it seemed so far. Will I ever see the return of my stamina?

  Ben called just as she settled in bed.

  “I’m on my way home,” he said. “How was your first day back?”

  “My co-workers surprised me with a party this morning, balloons and all.” She stopped short of describing the cake and her tearful reaction.

  “I’m sure they missed you. So, tell me, have you banished Maria to the basement since I had her check on your whereabouts?”

  “I wouldn’t do that. Besides, we don’t have basements in this part of Florida. When time permits, I’ll have a friendly talk with her about boundaries. That said, I’m sure I’ve been on the line long enough so you could trace this call. That way you can make sure I’m actually where I say I am,” she teased.

  He grumbled. “I guess I deserved that after this morning.”

  “What happened to me wasn’t your fault. I wish you were here instead of on the phone. It would be easier to show you how much I miss you.”

  “Remember what Dr. Anderson said. He wants you to sleep a full eight hours every night until you’ve healed, and you get your strength back. If I’m there, we both know that won’t happen. I miss you too.”

  “In all the rush, no one told Dr. Anderson I suffer from chronic insomnia. Eight hours a night’s never gonna happen. Did you mean I have to wait for my bones to heal to spend time with you?”

  “Not at all; I was going to tell you last night. My parents are making an unprecedented July visit this weekend. They’re attending a wedding. They invited us for the holiday. Wanna take a drive with me and spend the day with them?”

  “The Fourth of July—you mean the day after tomorrow?” Olivia jolted upright in bed and then winced from the pain it caused. “Chadwick and Bunny are visiting Palm Beach and want to spend the holiday with us, with me?”

  “Yes, and I’m sure they’ll both find you as endearing as I do. Especially after I tell them how entertaining you find their names. They had the house opened, so I’ll get to show you where I spent part of my time growing up.”

  The genuine excitement in Ben’s voice was contagious. And since her grandmother spoke so highly of the Thornton’s, Olivia ignored her first reaction and embraced the situation.

  “I’ll look forward to it. And maybe you could find it in your heart to forget the fun I had with your parents’ names. I’d appreciate it.”

  “I’ll give it some thought.”

  Olivia sprang from her bed. Now I’m way too hyper. There’s no way I’ll sleep now!

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Olivia

  Settled behind her desk, Olivia glanced at the sunrise, her attention on her current fundraiser. The date set four months away in late October, placed it to launch the holiday season. She hoped to beat the Christmas crunch and energize her donors into a festive and giving mood. Olivia felt confident the Happy Howladays Gala would be her most successful fund-raiser yet.

  After working from the pages of her notebooks, she made some calls and then tracked down Gretchen for permission and opinions. Except a small ache in her side, she felt her health returning. She prayed her energy level would follow and hopefully squelch the urge to curl up on the settee for a nap.

  Olivia took time late in the day for guidance, hoping to ease her apprehension about meeting Ben’s parents, from someone who’d know. If anyone could give her the inside track on the elder Thornton’s, it was Catherine.

  “I don’t remember what I’ve already told you, sweetheart, but I’ll tell you everything I know. Bunny’s doctor told her that she’d most likely never have a child, which devastated her. It took some time, but when she conceived Benny, she and Chadwick were thrilled beyond belief. The pregnancy took its toll on Bunny, and Chadwick, the dear boy, was a wreck the whole time. At Benny’s birth, you would think they’d delivered the Christ child. If you ask them now, they’d still tell you they had.”

  Olivia smiled, fully comprehending her grandmother’s intended message. She assumed that was the story with most normal families. Good parents accept you into their lives if you treat their child with love and respect. At least I hope it’s that simple.

  *

  The weather on the Fourth of July started out overcast. The drive to Palm Beach was a scenic one. Tall feathery palms, a familiar sight in the tropics, seemed a bit more regal as they stood on their flawlessly manicured green carpets. Rows of towering privacy hedges protected homeowners from tourists driving by, trying to sneak a peek at them. The iron gates surrounding the homes offered an opulent ambiance and were equipped with state-of-the-art alarm systems that kept crime to a minimum. Residents called it ‘the island’ as if it were the only one on the planet.

  In honor of the holiday, Olivia dressed patriotically in a Chanel short navy skirt and nautical styled white blouse with red trim. Her heeled white sandals, sporting glittering flags on her toes, and the red, white, and blue ribbon that pulled back her dark hair completed the theme. She knew she’d accomplished the look she desired when Ben saluted her. She thought he seemed more relaxed than he’d been in weeks as he hummed along with the radio.

  “Have I thanked you for agreeing to come along with me today?” Ben asked when he noticed her watching him.

  His smile warmed her. “Three times. I keep telling you it isn’t necessary. I’m looking forward to meeting your parents.”

  Olivia could feel Ben’s anticipation mounting as they drove through the iron gates surrounding the spacious grounds. She was familiar with similar style Palm Beach estate homes, built in the mid-1920s. Most had tolerated many renovations but had retained their class and elegance.

  Before he pulled his key from the ignition, a tall, distinguished man with similar facial features as Ben, but more salt than pepper in his full head of hair, had made his way down the walkway. Ben covered Olivia’s hand. The expression on their faces touched her heart.

  “Go to him, Ben,” Olivia whispered.

  Watching Ben sprint from the car and embrace his father brought tears to her eyes. If given a chance, she’d subtract years from her life for the opportunity to do the same with her father, one more time. Just when she thought she’d reeled in her emotions so she could exit the car, a statuesque woman with short silver hair burst from the house and wrapped herself around Ben’s neck. Olivia’s tears flowed. She wiped them away with the backs of her hands and opened the door.

  “It’s nice to meet you both,” Olivia said after introductions were made.

  “Thank you, and please, call me Bunny; everyone does. Let’s go in and get out of this heat. I remember now why we stopped visiting here in July. The humidity’s enough to melt your skin off. Would you like a tour of the house, Olivia?”

  “I’d like that,” Olivia accepted graciously while reminding the smirking Ben of his promise to hold his tongue.

  She savored her time with Bunny, while the invitation gave Ben the opportunity to catch up with his father. Olivia loved the personal touches Bunny had made to her prestigious home, but most of all, it was the stories she’d shared of Ben that warmed her heart.

  In the time remaining before lunch, Bunny suggested Ben show Olivia his old room since she’d excluded it from her part of the tour. Taking her by the hand, they climbed the long spiral staircase and headed to the far end of the west wing of the house. From the moment they opened the bedroom door, Olivia felt she’d stepped through a time warp.

  Given the extensive renovations she’d seen earlier throughout the house, Olivia couldn’t imagine that Ben’s room had changed since he last called it home. The space could e
asily have covered an issue of American Boy Magazine. Baseball pennants hung over his single mahogany bed and shelves of trophies, with game balls encased in glass, wrapped the better of two walls. There were framed pictures of a young Ben in riding gear, smiling and shaking hands with public officials, strategically placed on the highly-polished surfaces of the furniture. In another corner of the room were diplomas and academic achievement awards. It appeared Ben had never met a course or a challenge he couldn’t conquer, and Bunny had kept it all in perfect condition as a shrine to her son.

  “I’m a little confused. I thought you were raised up north?” Olivia asked.

  “I was, but I came here for all of my school breaks and whenever my parents had a social event to attend. I had friends here. My mother had my bedroom duplicated from our other house so they’d be the same.”

  “That’s different—and maybe a little creepy—although it is a great room. It looks as if you excelled at everything you ever tried. I can’t say I’m surprised,” Olivia said, continuing to survey the room.

  Sprawled on the bed, Ben’s eyes followed the baseball as it dropped to the center of the weathered mitt, secured on his left hand. Tossing it again through the air, he mulled over Olivia’s words with its rhythmic motion.

  “I didn’t excel at everything,” he confessed.

  “Well, now you have to tell me. Was there something that didn’t come naturally to you?”

  “Because you asked, I’ll tell you. When I was sixteen, I hung around with this group of older guys; they were seniors. They would include me, but I was just a kid to them. We played this game with each other, more like a contest. The idea was to see how many pairs of panties we could collect from our conquests in a week’s time.”

  “Would it be safe to assume you came up short?”

  “I was never lucky enough to get one, never mind win.”

  It was easy for Olivia to picture a sixteen-year-old Ben, as he lay on his childhood bed, playing catch with his ball. She believed if she’d known him then, she would’ve found him irresistible, the same as she did now.

  Pressing her back to the door, she blinked when it clicked shut. Condemning words from the nuns who’d tormented her pushed through her mind as she reached beneath her skirt and removed her black lace panties, flinging them in Ben’s direction. The baseball hit the hardwood floor with a thud as he caught them instead.

  “Those should put you ahead for this week,” she said.

  “Lunch is ready, you two,” Bunny’s voice came crackling through the intercom on the wall to the left of Olivia’s quickly pivoting head.

  Her eyes resembled hockey pucks as her hand clamped over her open mouth with the discovery of the working intercom. With the possibility of having been heard, her cheeks pinked.

  Ben’s face spread to a smile. “You forget I was a teenager in this room. I disabled that stupid thing so they couldn’t listen in a long time ago. Besides, that’s not what has me worried right now, Olivia.”

  “What’s wrong, Ben?”

  “How the hell am I going to get through the rest of this day knowing what’s in my pocket?” Ben whispered as he slid from his bed and moved toward her.

  “You could always give them back to me.”

  “That won’t happen,” he said.

  Olivia pulled him to her, kissing him hard, as his eager hands warmed her thighs beneath her hemline. Time slowed as his gentle massage made her knees tremble.

  “Bennett, did you hear me?” Bunny’s voice rang firmer.

  “Think of it this way,” Olivia sighed. “It’s the Fourth of July. You can look forward to fireworks later.”

  Lunch conversation moved easily. Of course, it would; delving family questions were unnecessary. As close friends of Catherine’s, Chadwick and Bunny were privy to intricate details of Olivia’s past. Bunny told her of charity events she’d co-chaired with Catherine and of the wonderful memories she’d treasured from them. When Olivia noticed Chadwick peering at her from across the table, she tilted her head and held his stare.

  “I know it’s rude of me to stare, but the resemblance to your father is uncanny; those grey eyes of yours are identical. He was a brilliant man, you know, and highly respected. I happen to know how much he adored you,” the older man concluded.

  “Thank you; not a day goes by that I don’t think of him. I didn’t have him long, but I always knew he loved me,” Olivia said, as the memory flashed through her mind of her father lifting her in the air and telling her he ‘loved her to pieces.’

  Olivia experienced what an ideal family was like, supposed to be, in the Thornton’s beautiful home that sultry Independence Day. Ben’s parents had remembered, with love, every step and milestone he’d reached for since his birth. They’d set boundaries when he needed them and set him free when it was time. Their unconditional love and encouragement let him excel and succeed. They made him perfect.

  Ben kept her close, an arm’s length or less, since leaving his room. She knew his parents noticed. As the sun began to set, the celebration of the day weighed heavily on her mind and heart.

  Olivia held little doubt Chadwick and Bunny would walk through fire for their son. In return, Ben worked hard and made them proud. She worried her precarious life, which threatened to crash around her like a house of cards, would somehow adversely affect them all. Swallowing hard, she snuggled closer under Ben’s protective arm as they watched the colorful bursts of fireworks bursting over the water.

  After heartfelt hugs and a promise from Bunny to attend Olivia’s Happy Howladays Gala fund-raiser, Ben maneuvered his Lexus back through the iron gates and headed for Casa Nonna with the precision of a guided missile.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m inviting myself over tonight,” Ben said, keeping his eyes on the road and his hands tightly on the wheel.

  “I don’t mind, just surprised. What about my all-important eight hours of sleep?” Olivia teased.

  “Trust me, after nine hours of foreplay, I’m having a hard-enough time keeping the car on the road. I don’t think much of your eight hours are in jeopardy.”

  Olivia laughed, gazing at Ben’s perfectly chiseled profile in the darkened car. Her mood had improved. Ben had seen to that. She’d reached two undeniable conclusions that Independence Day: leaving Ben now would prove too painful, and loving him was foolish.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Olivia

  Everything was hot and steamy: July, August, her deepening relationship with Ben. At least, that’s the way it felt to Olivia. The nights he stayed over were as heart-stopping as the ones she couldn’t remember. Plans for the Happy Howladays Gala took on the momentum of a train racing downhill as summer gave way to fall. It was close—the largest, most important fundraiser Olivia had ever planned. The others were successful. This time, she’d prove herself.

  No one thought she needed to. Her grandmother had recommended her to one of her oldest friends, and Gretchen hired her despite her quirks. Still, she felt she had to impress, thank them.

  Olivia hurried across the grounds of Paws for Love. Decisions requiring her attention weighed on her mind. She’d structured the gala to include a formal dinner as well as a live and silent auction. Its strong guest list included local celebrities. Labeled the season’s hottest ticket, it’d been sold out for weeks.

  She pushed through the double doors of a sizeable warehouse near the far end of the property where an eclectic crew was hard at work. In the center were products, donated and collected for months, lined up on lengthy metal tables. Before long, they’d be placed in holiday baskets and displayed in the silent auction. New donations arrived daily. The timing for printing the catalog was vital.

  Moving to a generous corner of the building, earmarked for oversized backdrops and embellishments, she looked on as student artists worked feverishly. They painted and applied glitter, magically transforming the Gretchen VonBuron Pavilion to a holiday wonderland. On a tripod, they’d secured an artistic rendering of her vis
ion.

  “That looks great. Just what I had in mind,” she said.

  The sweeping warehouse doors burst open, causing her breath to catch in her throat. Seated in a slimmed-down custom-made golf cart, Gretchen rushed in as if on a mission. She headed in Olivia’s direction.

  “I spoke with legal. They approved your live auction idea, as long as you keep it to males only.”

  “Thank you,” Olivia said. “You could’ve called.”

  “I hoped if I delivered the news in person, you’d take pity and tell me about this idea of yours. Legal said they’re sworn to secrecy.”

  Olivia smiled. Before she could share the secret, the doors opened again. Jimmy, an affable college student, whose latest growth spurt left him lanky and awkward, skidded to a stop before plowing into them.

  “You’re never going to believe what I heard on the news.” Jimmy pushed his sandy hair behind his ears and adjusted his glasses. “A tropical wave is brewing in the Caribbean, and the Hurricane Center in Miami’s already watching it. The guy on the radio said there’re steering currents in place to move it right over us. And the time frame could bring it to our front door during the gala.”

  Olivia snorted with disgust. “That won’t happen. Nothing’s gonna interfere with the gala. Besides, it’s the end of October and hurricane season’s almost over.”

  “It doesn’t end until the last day of November,” Jimmy said.

  “All right, you’re our official meteorologist,” Olivia said. “Keep an eye on the wave, and try to get some work done.”

  After Jimmy loped away, Gretchen took hold of Olivia’s elbow. “Don’t think that little distraction deterred me from my mission.”