Escape in Passion

by Shiela Stewart

  She did, always had. “I want a big family, lots of kids, so that if one happens to die, the rest aren’t left alone. And that is the most morbid thing a person could say.” Julia looked down at the table, chastising herself. When his hand touched hers, her lips quivered just a little.

  “It’s not morbid. You’re still grieving.”

  Yes, she was, and sleeping with the man her sister had been sleeping with before she died. “Have you ever been in love, Vic?” When he pulled his hand away Julia realized how she’d made that sound. “I’m not going to tell you I love you, Vic. It was just a question.” She smiled to put him at ease.

  Crushing his cigarette out, Vic replied, “Yes.”

  “Really? Why didn’t it work out?”

  “She died.” He cleared his throat.

  Julia cocked her head to the side. “I’m sorry. What was her name?”

  “Michelle.”

  Julia sat in shock while the waitress brought their meals. She’d expected him to have given her a different name, some other woman, but not her sister’s. Now, knowing that he had loved her sister made things all the more complicated.

  Chapter 14

  February was proving to be a very warm month. As Julia stepped out of the shower, she heard the forecast on the local TV station reporting the high for today would be above zero once again. That meant melting snow and slush. She hung her white jeans back in the closet, deciding white wasn’t such a good idea on a slushy day. Her laundry bill was rapidly sucking the money out of her savings account. Not to mention the cost of the hotel. Though Greg, the hotel owner had given her a discount when she’d announced that she would be staying indefinitely, it was still taking a chunk out of her change.

  With one towel wrapped around her body and another on her head, she sat on the edge of her bed to apply lotion to her legs and feet. There was nothing worse than dry skin. When the telephone rang, she glanced at her slippery hands and wondered how she would pick it up without transferring the lotion to the phone. Sacrificing the lotion, she wiped her right hand clean, then scooped up the telephone.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello, Julia.”

  For a brief moment her breath caught and her heart skipped a beat. The voice on the other end was not one she’d expect calling her, or wanted either. “Marshall. How did you get this number?”

  “I had a lovely visit with your mother a few days ago. She’s worried about you, but I reassured her you were a big girl and more than capable of handling herself.”

  “Which I am.” Julia wished she’d told her mother not to tell anyone where she was staying.

  “Oh, I know that. But I think she’s just being protective, considering.”

  Julia knew that, as well. “I call often enough to reassure both my parents that I’m fine.”

  “You’ve always been such a good girl. Michelle used to go on and on about how good you were and how you never gave your parents a minute of grief. I miss Michelle, Julia.”

  Her breath caught in the lump in her throat. No one missed Michelle as much as she did. “So do I.”

  “Then you’ve carried out our plan?”

  “Not yet.” She closed her eyes and waited for the backlash.

  “Is there a reason you’re waiting to carry through with it?”

  She didn’t much care for the edge she heard in his voice. “What happens to me if I do kill him?”

  “I told you, I would take care of you.”

  “How? I mean, I’d be responsible for murder. What could you do to help me?”

  “I have ways, Julia. You don’t need to worry about that; just worry about getting the job done.”

  “I have to worry about it, Marshall. Murder isn’t a casual thing. I don’t think I can go through with it.” Julia knew she couldn’t; she knew she never could. She’d lied to Marshall when he’d come to her with his plan. She’d agreed with him in wanting revenge for her sister’s death, but she hadn’t agreed with the murder part, though she’d never told Marshall that. Her plan had always been to find Victor Davis and confront him about her sister’s death. But she’d never planned on murder. And she had never planned on telling Marshall where Vic was living.

  Now he knew.

  “We have an agreement, Julia. I gave you money to fund your trip, to search for Victor Davis. You owe me.”

  She owed him nothing. “I need more time.” She needed to stall.

  “Your time is running out.”

  ***

  Still dressed in his uniform, Vic crushed his cigarette out with the heel of his boot before knocking on Tom and Cassie’s back door. He’d come straight from work when Tom had called to say that Cassie and Beth were now at home. He would have had time to go home and change, but he figured he could pop in quickly, check out the kid, then hurry home to shower and change and lounge in his sweats while watching Jeopardy.

  He wasn’t anxious to see the baby at all…

  Who was he kidding? Vic couldn’t wait to see his best pal’s little baby daughter. He couldn’t remember a time he’d ever seen Tom looking as happy as he had these past few months since he fallen in love with Cassie and had a kid. And Vic couldn’t be happier for the guy.

  Taking a deep breath, he held in his excitement as he knocked. When he got the okay to enter, he pushed through the door with his usual attitude. “God has entered, all you mortals bow at my feet.”

  “Kiss my ass, Vic.”

  Taking her comment with a grain of salt, Vic turned to Cassie. She’d lost the big baby belly, but that was about it. “Oh, sweetheart, I would love to kiss your ass.” Kicking his boots off, he went to her with open arms. “Give us a hug, Mommy.” Vic wrapped his arms around her and couldn’t resist the jab. “Thank God you didn’t lose any boob weight.”

  “You’re such a pig, Vic.” But Cassie smiled as she released him.

  “I missed you, too. How are you doing? Feeling all right? You look good.”

  “Stop checking out my boobs. I feel great. Tired, but great.”

  “My eyes were on your face.”

  “Uh huh, but your mind was on my tits.”

  “Can’t blame a guy for appreciating perfection.” Then he saw Tom enter the room, holding a pink bundle in his arms. “And who might this be?” he teased.

  “Want to meet your goddaughter?” Tom beamed like a proud father.

  “Nah, just give me the money.” Laughing, he walked to his friend but his eyes were on the baby. “Give her up.”

  “You have to be gentle when you hold her, watch her head, it’s still…oh,” Cassie halted as Vic took Beth in his arms like a pro.

  “I’ve held a few babies in my day. Look at you, aren’t you a doll.” Slipping the blanket from her head, he admired the fine, downy blonde hair. Beth was sound asleep and looking like a true angel. “You guys did good.”

  “Yeah, we did.” Tom hooked his arm over his wife’s shoulder, placing a kiss to the top of her head.

  “Uncle Vic has so much to teach you, kiddo,” he whispered against her soft cheek. “First of all, stay away from guys like me.”

  “Best advice I’ve ever heard,” Cassie agreed, coming up beside him to kiss her daughter’s head. “But Uncle Vic isn’t as bad as he likes people to think.” Then she kissed his cheek.

  “Second lesson, parents always lie to their children.” If his friends knew just how bad he’d been lately, they might not want their daughter left in his care. “I have a present for her, but I left it at the office. I was in a hurry to come see you, precious,” Vic cooed in a baby voice while he nuzzled Beth’s face. She scrunched up her face but continued sleeping.

  “We have a present for you, too,” Tom added, holding a folder out to Vic.

  “Well, I kinda have my hands full, Tom. Sit with me and open it up so I can have a look-see.” With the baby snuggled in his arms, he sat down on the sofa and looked down at the file when Tom opened it for him. “That’s not a present, that’s paperwork. You guys suck at presents.” Vic s
ulked halfheartedly. “Not to worry, sweetie, Uncle Vic will make sure and buy you lots of goodies to make up for your parents’ lack of imagination.”

  “Don’t corrupt my daughter, Vic. These are legal documents placing you as guardian of Beth should anything happen to Cassie and I.”

  “And the money?” he teased. “I’ll have a look at it later. Right now I’m in baby heaven.” Vic kissed Beth’s tiny cheeks wanting to eat her alive. She was absolutely adorable.

  “I have to admit, I was a little worried about letting you hold her, but seeing you with her…” Cassie sniffled. “You’re a pro.”

  “I thought those emotions were supposed to end when you dropped the kid?” Vic asked humorously. “I have two nephews and one niece, and I did plenty of babysitting time with all of them.”

  “Planning on having your own someday?” Cassie inquired.

  The knock on the front door saved him from having to answer the question, and when he saw Julia enter after Cassie opened the door, all thoughts vanished but her. There was a familiar ache inside his chest, one that was growing quickly every day.

  If his friends knew he was seeing Julia in secret, what would they say? If they knew he was falling in love with her, what would they do?

  “Oh, my God, she’s adorable. I want to hold her, but I’m still a little chilly. I’ll wait until my hands warm up first.”

  She sat on the arm of the sofa, right beside Vic, and he could smell her perfume as it drifted down to his nose. And when she leaned over his shoulder to look at the baby, her hair brushed his cheek. He felt uneasy with her being so close, uneasy with his emotions, uneasy because he feared his friends would see what he was truly feeling.

  But where could he go when she was right beside him looking at the baby he held in his arms?

  “Isn’t she a sweetie, Vic?”

  “She is a cutie.” He drew in a deep breath, willing his system to calm down and his nerves to follow suit.

  “Okay, I have to have her.” Rubbing her hands together to warm them, Julia nudged Vic over with her hip.

  Instead of moving over like she’d wanted, he stood and held the baby out to her. When Julia took Beth and cradled the baby in her arms, Vic felt something swell in his heart. “I need to go.”

  “What?” Julia looked up at him with wide eyes.

  “My pager went off. I have it on vibrate. Catch you all later.” Vic rushed out of the house, and the instant he was free, he drew in a deep breath.

  Seeing Julia holding a baby did something to him he wasn’t prepared for. For one brief second he actually could see her holding his child.

  Shaking his head clear, he pushed through the door to his house and locked it behind him. He had a feeling Julia was going to come by later, and he just wasn’t ready to see her.

  What was wrong with him? Falling in love and wanting a family with a woman that was barely old enough to vote.

  But God help him, he wanted it more than anything he had ever wanted before in his life.

  Chapter 15

  With his coffee cup in hand, Vic sat behind his desk, ready for another day’s work. It was going to take a bucket load of coffee to keep him awake today. He hadn’t slept worth a damn the night before, feeling guilty for ignoring his door and the phone. He’d known both had been Julia, but he just hadn’t been up to seeing her. Not with his emotions running so high. He’d have said or done something that would have given away what he was truly feeling for her.

  It would best for both of them if she would just pack her things and go back home.

  And that thought brought on a whole new ache.

  “Enter,” he called out at the knock on his door. When Cassie walked in, Beth bundled against her chest in a baby carrier, he stood, smiling wide. “Well, if it isn’t my two favorite girls. Did you finally come to your senses and dump Tom for me?”

  “I was waiting to have Beth before I did that. Now that she’s here, we don’t have to hide how we really feel. Take me now, Vic, and show me what you’ve got,” she panted with mock seduction.

  Laughing, he held the chair for her to sit, peeking down at the bundle of blankets on her chest, “Is she even in there?”

  “Somewhere. I walked here from home. I need the exercise, and the doctor said it would be good for both of us. Help me unhook this damn thing.”

  Vic undid the straps on her shoulders, then held his arms out for the baby. “Let me relieve you of this burden. You must be tired of her by now.”

  “You want to take the night feedings, feel free to come on over.” Cassie handed her daughter over to Vic. “Did we catch you at a bad time?”

  “Nope. As it happens, I’m knee-deep in paperwork today. Look at you, stuck in all that fake fur,” he cooed to the baby. “She looks like a pink bear swallowed her.” He stripped Beth of the pink snowsuit and smiled when she let out a huge sigh. “See, isn’t that better?”

  “Oh, yeah, much better. Who needs to be protected from the cold wind anyway,” Cassie snorted. “How are things going?”

  “Fine. She has a scratch on her nose. How did she get a scratch on her nose?”

  “Relax, Sergeant, it’s from her nails.”

  “You should clip them shorter,” he said while examining her tiny hands.

  “Now why didn’t I think of that?” Cassie rolled her eyes. “They’re as short as they can get.”

  “You can get these gloves for babies; they’re like socks for their hands, and it prevents them from clawing at their faces.”

  “Boy, aren’t we Mr. Knowledgeable. You’d think you had an army of kids. And on that subject…”

  “I may have slept around a lot in my day, but I never impregnated any of the women. I was always careful.”

  “Hmmm, whatever. What’s up with you and Julia?”

  His eyes lifted a little too quickly, and Vic knew how guilty it made him look. “Nothing, why do you ask? And what does that have to do with kids?”

  She shrugged out of her own jacket. “You got a little nervous when she sat down beside you, and when she took Beth, you actually turned white.”

  “I did not,” Vic replied quickly, his brow wrinkling in a frown.

  “And the way you scurried out of the house, one would think your pants had been on fire.”

  “I had an emergency to attend to.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Vic covered Beth’s tiny ears with his hand. “Nice language around the baby, Mommy,” he chastised, wishing she would drop the subject.

  “She’s too young to pick anything up. I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other. There’s something there. Are you two seeing each other?”

  “No!” Vic exclaimed loudly, stirring Beth from her sleep. “Ssshhh, sweetie, ssshhh.”

  “You’re lying to me, Vic.”

  “I am not. There is nothing going on between us, Cassie. I had a call and nothing more.”

  But half an hour later when he walked them out of his office, he knew he had done nothing to convince Cassie he was telling her the truth.

  ***

  Julia loved working at Cassie’s Collectables. The people that came in were so friendly, and often the elderly women liked to stay and chat with her after their purchase. She was getting to know the townsfolk pretty well. Like Mrs. Brandon who liked to gossip and seemed to know everyone’s business. Funny, though, the woman had no idea about Julia and Vic having an affair behind everyone’s backs.

  And Miss Ellie—she liked to be called that rather than by her last name—loved to talk about her nieces and nephews. She’d never found the right man and therefore had never had her own children. She was in her late fifties and doted on her nieces and nephews to make up for her lack of children.

  Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham loved to argue and pretend that they disliked each other, but the more Julia got to know them, the more she came to realize that was the way they showed affection. They’d been married fifty years this fall and had seven children. She couldn’t imagine having that ma
ny children, but could easily see herself having at least four. And having held Beth the night before made her want to have those children sooner rather than later. She envied Cassie, and Julia wondered what kind of mother she herself would make.

  The scary part was she could see her having those children with Vic. Seeing him holding Beth the night before had definitely stirred up her emotions. He looked natural holding the baby. What would their children look like? Would they have her red hair or Vic’s blond hair? She hoped they would have Vic’s blond hair—and this was utterly ridiculous, thinking about their children.

  She’d come so far since the day she’d arrived in town with revenge on her mind, and now she was actually thinking about a future with the very man she’d sought that revenge on. What would Michelle think? Was she looking down from heaven and shaking her head? Or was she happy for Julia?

  The guilt she felt over her relationship with Vic was a constant nagging ache in her chest. But she wasn’t about to let him go. She’d just have to figure out a way to get over it.

  When the entrance bells chimed, Julia shook herself from her thoughts. She was more than a little baffled when she saw Cassie stroll in.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “The last time I looked, I owned the shop.”

  “Of course, I just meant, why are you out and about? You just got home from the hospital.” And seeing Beth all snuggled tight in her pink snowsuit sent Julia’s maternal instinct into overdrive. “Can I help you with her?”

  “Please. She may look tiny, but with all this gear and her jacket on, she weighs a ton.”

  Slipping Beth from Cassie’s carrying pouch, Julia felt warm all over. “Hello there, precious.”

  “I need the exercise, and it’s a nice day out, so I thought we’d go for a walk. How are things going here?”

  “I was busy for the first hour, but it’s slowed down some now. I think she’s changed since I saw her last night.” And Julia knew just how silly that sounded.