Before the Storm (The Cochran/Deveraux Series Book 9)

by Melanie Schuster

  Ruth watched them wistfully as Sylvia rose gracefully and walked with him to the door. She was still wearing a faraway, goofy look on her face when Sylvia returned and sat next to her on the big cushy couch. Sylvia gave her all of thirty seconds to snap out of her reverie, then got down to business.

  “Passion marks and daydreaming. You’ve been back from New York for a week and you’ve been avoiding me like I’m a door-to-door religious zealot. Are you going to give it up gracefully or am I going to have to bribe it out of you with a cappuccino and another pastry or two?”

  Ruth’s reaction wasn’t what Sylvia expected at all. Her face went from relaxed to tense and her expression was bleak at best. “Syl, I don’t even know where to start. It was the best weekend I’ve ever had in my entire life. Julian Deveraux is amazing,” she said glumly. “He took me to a W hotel,” she began.

  “I know the ones you mean. Franco and I have spent several weekends in total luxury, so I know your accommodations were wonderful. Was he not good company?” Sylvia probed gently.

  “He’s amazing, just like I said. We went to see The Color Purple, which is fantastic, by the way. We had a hansom cab ride and there was snow falling just like a scene from a movie and we necked like crazy. We went to that wonderful deli, Zabar’s for breakfast, and we went shopping. Shopping, Syl! Other than Franco, I don’t know any men who enjoy that, but we had a ball. He took me to the Rainbow Room on Saturday night and it was just magical. Jane Monheit was performing, we danced all night and get this, our former president sent us a bottle of champagne. He and his wife even exchanged partners with us on the dance floor, can you believe it?”

  “Girl, quit! You danced with Bill himself? Is he a good dancer?”

  Ruth gave her a real smile this time. “Yes, he is and a very personable fellow, too. Julian and he go way back and we had lunch with him on Sunday. We went to church at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and then we went to Sylvia’s restaurant and had the best chicken and waffles I’ve ever had in my life. We stayed in Harlem most of the day and just had a ball. I’ve never been with anyone so intelligent and charming in my life. He has a ridiculous sense of humor and we laughed so much my sides actually ached. He’s….he’s just everything, Syl.”

  “Then why do you look so forlorn, honey?” Sylvia’s eyes grew enormous when she saw Ruth trying not to cry.

  “Don’t pay me any attention,” Ruth said hastily. “It’s just that Julian calls me honey. That’s his special name for me because he says I’m so sweet. He’s the one that’s sweet, Sylvia. He’s just wonderful,” she said sadly.

  “Well, I’m just confused. If he’s so swell, why do you look so miserable? It sounds like you had a perfect weekend and you’re looking like somebody stole your car! What the hell happened to you in New York?” Sylvia demanded.

  “It’s very simple,” Ruth said in a small quiet voice. “I fell in love. And that’s the last thing I ever wanted to do.”

  When Julian made his shocking request, Ruth had been stunned into momentary silence. He repeated the words in an even firmer and more persuasive tone as he continued to hold her, caressing her with infinite tenderness. “I want you, Ruth. Vve only felt like this about one other person in my life, and I don yt expect to feel like this again. Everything about you excites me. Your wit, your spirit—” he paused as he quickly divested her of the scanty lace gown “—and your incredible beauty,” he said as he devoured her with his passion-filled eyes.

  “Damn, you‘re fine,” he groaned as he stroked her soft skin that was heated with her desire for him. “Honey, I could make love to you for days and days and still not have enough of you. That’s how bad I want you, Ruth.”

  Ruth had untied the belt of his robe and was helping him out of it. She was delighted with what she saw; his broad shoulders, the thick black hair that covered his broad, muscular chest, his flat stomach and the look of adoration on his face,

  “I want you too, Julian. I didn ‘t think I could feel like this again,” she whispered. “I want you more than you know,” she confessed. Their arms entwined as they reached for each other, drawn into another long kiss. The feel of his mouth on hers was wonderful, but it wasn‘t enough. Gently pulling away from his lips, Ruth put her mouth on his neck, nibbling the tender skin gently as she breathed in his scent. Her hands clung to his shoulders as her lips worked down his throat to his chest. She was angling her body under his when he suddenly stopped. Taking her hands in his, he pinned her gently to the bed.

  “Honey, you’re driving me crazy with that,” he moaned. “I meant what I said, darlin‘. I want you, Ruth. I’m falling in love with you and I want your love in return. We ‘re past the age of playing around and dating, we need to know this is the real thing. At least I need to know that” he said, kissing her again and again, soft little kisses that punctuated every few words. “Can you tell me what I need to hear? Am I the man you want for the rest of your life?”

  Ruth stared at Mac, totally taken with the gentle, penetrating look of tenderness in his eyes. She tried to answer him honestly, but the words wouldn ‘t come. She touched his strong jaw with the tips of her fingers, stroking him softly as her lips rose to his in another kiss, this time a long, languorous one that made time seem to stop forever.

  Sylvia’s eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips before speaking. “Come on in the kitchen. We need something a little stronger than cappuccino. Ruth, sugar, unless you mean to commit to this man I suggest you run like hell,” she said frankly.

  “Run? But Julian would never hurt me,” Ruth said in confusion. They reached Sylvia’s big kitchen and Ruth took a seat at the work station in the middle of the room. Franco was an amateur chef who took his work quite seriously and there was every kind of cooking implement imaginable. A sleek stainless steel rack over the work island held a variety of high-end pots and pans, while the cupboards beneath housed all manner of serving dishes and other equipment. Ruth watched while Sylvia skillfully measured coffee and started the complex-looking espresso maker. “Why are you telling me to run, Syl? You just told me the man sounded fabulous and now you’re saying head to high ground. I don’t get it,” Ruth said fretfully.

  Sylvia was busy getting a bottle of sambuca and fetching cups and saucers as well as the plate of pastries filled with cream and candied fruit. “Look, sugar, I’m not saying that Julian Deveraux isn’t everything you said he is. I’m sure he’s every bit the magnificent man you’ve described. But,” she paused in her tasks to look Ruth deeply in the eyes “this man is completely serious. He’s fallen in love with you, Ruth, and he has no intention of letting you go. If you can’t handle that kind of commitment, you need to step and fast because ol’ boy ain’t playing. I ought to know, Franco is that same kind of man and he put me through hell, hear me? Pure, unadulterated torture,” she said, but she was smiling when she uttered the words.

  Before Ruth could demand an explanation, Sylvia gave her one. “I was just starting out as a professional dancer while I met Franco. I was with a dance troupe in Milan and Franco attended the opening night performance and the reception afterward. We were taken with each other right away and we spent as much time as we could together during the two weeks I was performing in Italy. Well, I didn’t have a lot of experience with men. Make that no experience, okay? And if you think my baby is fine now you should have seen him back in the day. Mmm-mmm, what a man! So I was more than willing to make him a gift of my virginity but he politely told me ‘no, thank you,’” she chuckled.

  Ruth was fascinated by the story as she sipped a tasty espresso drink laced with the coffee liqueur. Sylvia didn’t disappoint her as she continued talking. “He told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted to be the first man and the last one to touch my body the way a husband should and that if I couldn’t handle it we couldn’t see each other anymore. Of course, he used to kiss me until I couldn’t remember my name, where I lived, the day of the week...ooh, my baby can kiss, you hear me? Anyway, he treated me like a princes
s and he confessed his love every day until I realized I would be the biggest fool in the world if I let him go. So we got married and the rest is history.

  “He left Italy and the start of a brilliant career to come to America with me. This was back when interracial marriages weren’t cute, either,” she said with a glint in her eye. “We had a lot to handle but we dealt with everything together. We’ve always been a team and we’ve always worked everything out because there was no way we were going to lose each other,” she said with a soft sigh. “I’ve had more love in this lifetime from Franco than you could possibly imagine. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for me and vice versa. But,” she said, her voice turning stern, “your Julian is cut from that same cloth and if you aren’t ready to commit to him mind, body and soul, you need to break it off now.”

  Ruth took a final sip and held out her cup for more. “You might have to drive me home because I think I need to get good and tipsy tonight. I don’t know what I’m going to do, Syl. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t care about Julian. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. I’ve never felt this way, not since Jared.” Nodding her thanks as Sylvia filled her cup again, she thought of something. “I told him about Jared.”

  Her friend looked up in shock and Ruth nodded her head with a resigned look on her face. “I did. Told him everything, even about what happened after I got out of the hospital, and I’ve never told anyone but you about that.”

  Ruth had been enjoying breakfast with Mac on Sunday morning when he suddenly asked her an unexpected question. “Honey, you mentioned that you were also hurt in Jared’s attack. I should have asked you this before, but frankly, I wasn’t thinking clearly. How badly did those animals hurt you, darlin’?”

  She’d had to take a long drink of water before she could answer him. “I was beaten pretty badly, Julian. I wasn’t even able to attend Jared’s funeral, something that bothers me to this very day. But it wasn’t until a few years later that I knew the extent of the damage done to me. I found out I wasn’t going to be able to have children as a result of the injuries. That hurt almost as much as losing Jared,” she’d admitted.

  She was surprised at the dark crimson rage that washed across his face when he heard the story. He used a word she knew he’d never say in front of a woman without deep provocation, and he immediately apologized. He took her hand and held it tightly, letting his strength flow into her.

  “Honey, how did you stand it? Losing your fiance and then finding out you were rendered barren, how did you handle it all? You’re a strong woman, Ruth. Exceptionally strong.”

  Ruth squeezed his hand tightly and assured him she wasn’t nearly as strong as he imagined. “After Jared died I went to pieces. I was so distraught I was ready to drop out of college and I only had one semester to go. Once I finished my clinicals I was done with my nursing degree but I was so heartbroken I couldn’t face it. So that’s when I went into the Army. They said I could finish my clinicals in the service and go in as an officer and I thought why not. I needed to get away, far away from all the ugliness and the pain and this seemed like the perfect plan. My sister Lillian about flipped when I told her because it was a done deal. I didn’t tell her until I was already enlisted. But her husband was okay with it—he’d gone into the Army after a huge personal disappointment and he said it made a man out of him,” she told him.

  “Everything you see here is the result of my sister, Lillian Bennett Cochran, and the United States Army. They made me the woman I am today,” she’d said in a joking manner, but she was serious. “That’s why I didn’t go over the deep end when I found out I couldn’t have children. I was about to be deployed to Vietnam and it just didn’t seem to matter to me that much. I had no intentions of getting married and having children so it was like the last chapter in a book. Over, done, complete.”

  Sylvia was impressed. She knew for a fact that Ruth didn’t confide much of anything to anyone unless she knew them very, very well and for her to have shared that much of herself with Julian was unprecedented. “Wow. You really did fall in love, didn’t you? Did you tell him about Big Benny and what he did to the punks that beat you up?”

  Ruth made a face. “Well, no, I didn’t. I saw no point in telling him that my brother-in-law had been a racketeer back in the day and used some old connections to have each one of those miserable little racists beat bloody. That may come out at some point in the future, but why scare the man to death now?” She gave a weak laugh.

  “Okay, point taken. But you just seem so torn, Ruth, and I don’t understand why. This man sounds perfect for you. Tough, tender, smart, principled and romantic. Not to mention age-appropriate, intelligent and sexy. What’s not to like? Why are you so freaked out about this? Love is a gift, sugar, it’s not a booby prize,” she said sagely. When Ruth held out her cup again, Sylvia raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I’m definitely driving you home. Now why is this man turning you into a lush?”

  Ruth took a defiant swallow of her drink and a big bite of the meltingly wonderful pastry. She moaned out loud, only partly because of the delicious tastes mingling in her mouth.

  “I’m not ready for this, Sylvia. I’m fifty-four years old. Since Jared I’ve never had a relationship that lasted more than a month, and I don’t know if I can. There are so many ways I can screw this up I can’t even begin to count them. I don’t know the first thing about living with another person, much less a man. I haven’t lived with anyone since I raised my sister’s children and that was a zillion years ago. And besides, he lives in New Orleans. I live here in Chicago and I love it. I have no desire to move to Louisiana, none whatsoever. I’m too set in my ways, too selfish and stubborn to be that involved with a man. This could never, ever work,” she said with a tiny hiccup. “Never.”

  Sylvia was shaking her head in disagreement even before Ruth finished her diatribe. “Girl, stop. Just stop this. So you live in Chicago, so what? You’re here about one week out of the month because you travel so much. Chicago is your home base, not your home. And as far as you being selfish, you just need to quit. You’re one of the most selfless and generous people I’ve ever met in my life. Look at what you did when your sister passed away. You resigned your commission and raised her children. Now is that the act of a selfish person?

  “You do more volunteer work than anyone I know and you have friends of all ages who flock to your side because they know they can count on you for anything at anytime. You’re not selfish, or stuck in your ways or cranky, you’re just afraid. Okay, so the man of your dreams, the man you stopped dreaming about years ago, was just handed to you on a silver platter. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to mess up the relationship or anything dire like that. Love is the most wonderful gift you can get in this lifetime and guess what? His daughter gave it to you. She’s the one who brought you two together and if that’s not a good sign I don’t know what is. Give yourself a chance, Ruth. Let this man love you, and you love him back with everything you’ve got,” she said emphatically.

  Ruth had gone from morose to anxious to elated as Sylvia talked; now her face wore a dreamy expression. “Maybe you’re right, Syl. I have to say, I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s such a gentleman, the way he held back from me...” Her voice trailed off as Sylvia shook her head.

  “He’s not a gentleman, sugar. He’s possessive, just like my Franco. You think because he held back he was being refined and genteel? Sister, he was putting you on lockdown, just like Franco did me. He wants you so bad he’s probably in pain but he’s going to hold out until you tell him yes, that he’s the only man you’ll ever want. Gentleman, my foot. Tell him yes and see how much of a gentleman he is,” Sylvia laughed.

  Ruth joined in the laughter. She was still laughing when she answered her cell phone. Her eyes widened and her face tensed as she listened. “I’ll meet you in Atlanta. Don’t worry about anything, darling, she’ll be fine. I love you.”

  She snapped the phone shut and turned to Sylvia. “I need to
get to Atlanta right away. Paris has been in an accident.”

  Chapter 9

  From the moment that his nephew Clay Deveraux called Mac to inform him that his daughter had been in an accident, everything around him felt like the fast-forward setting on a DVD. Clay was a lot like Mac; he was a cool head in a crisis, he was calm and resourceful, and nothing meant more to him than family.

  “Judge, Paris’s car was forced off the road in an accident tonight. Paris is fine, they think it’s just a concussion, but they’re keeping her in the hospital overnight for observation,” Clay told him. “There’s an ice storm going on here, but we don’t think that the weather caused the accident. Titus thinks, and we agree, that it has something to do with the threats she’s been getting. As soon as we can get cleared for takeoff, we’ll have our plane there to get you and the boys, if you think it’s time for them to be let in on this. According to Charlie Brown, it should be about an hour before they can clear a takeoff, so be at the airport in about ninety minutes.”

  Charlie Brown Airport, named after a county commissioner, was one of the two airports to which most private jets were diverted to cut down on the traffic at the heavily traveled Hartsfield International.

  “Somebody will be there to pick you up, Judge. I don’t know if it’ll be me or someone else, but you don’t have to worry about getting a ride in. We’ll take care of her until you get here, don’t worry about a thing.”

  Clay’s efficiency and his assurances were most welcome, but it didn’t stop the sudden lurch in Mac’s stomach. He loved all his children devotedly, but Paris was his baby girl, his heart. He fought off his anxiety and pressed the speed dial on his cell phone to reach the one voice that could bring him some comfort.

  “Ruth, darlin’, Paris has been in a car accident. Clay says they’re just keeping her in the hospital for observation, but he also thinks the accident was a deliberate attempt on her life. I’m leaving for Atlanta tonight, but I had to hear your voice before I went to the airport.”