by Unknown
“Why did you wait until he was comatose to inform me?” she asked, knowing she was being ungrateful, but she was unable to conceal how much she disliked Eldon.
Eldon suddenly looked angry. “I only learned of your whereabouts a couple of days ago,” he snapped, “but I sort of had my hands full. Vera and I have been taking turns sitting at the hospital. I felt it would be better if I told you in person.”
Annie nodded. “I appreciate it. Thanks for stopping by.”
Eldon was clearly stunned by her response. “That’s it?”
“I can offer you coffee and pie before you head back.”
“I don’t think you get it, Annie. Your old man flat-lined at one point. He is dying. Don’t you even care?”
“Of course I care,” she said, trying to maintain her emotions. The truth was, she did not want to have to stand by his bed and watch him die. It would bring back the painful memories of losing Bradley, and it would remind her that she was alone in the world where family was concerned.
“There is nothing I can do,” Annie finally said, even though her heart felt weighted, her emotions scattered like dandelion fluff in a summer breeze.
“That’s really cold,” Eldon said. “I hope you don’t end up regretting your decision, but, hey, I did what I could so I’ll be able to sleep at night.” He made a sound of disgust. “I’ll see you at the funeral,” he said, “if it suits you to attend.”
Darla, who had remained quiet during their conversation, stepped forward, arms crossed, her gaze fixed on Eldon. It was obvious she did not like him. “You need to watch your mouth, Slick,” she said. “It just so happens I run this place and Annie is one of my dearest friends so I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Hold on,” Annie said to Darla, and then looked at Eldon. “Could you keep quiet for two minutes?” she asked, as annoyed with him as Darla. “Give me time to think?” Eldon made the mistaking of checking his wristwatch. Annie thought she saw smoking coming out of Darla’s ears.
She sighed. She wished Sam wasn’t in court. She would gladly go to Atlanta if he drove her, but she had no desire to spend three hours in a car with Eldon yammering on about what a rotten person she was for backing out of the wedding. Of course, once he beat that horse to death he would accuse her of being a terrible daughter for not wanting to rush to her dying father’s bedside.
Still, it was not Vera’s job to see to her father’s care, and if or when he passed, Annie needed to be there. She motioned for Darla to join her behind the counter. “I have to go,” she whispered. “Eldon is right. I’ll never be able to forgive myself if I don’t.”
“Then you should wait until Sam gets back and let him drive you,” Darla said. “I’ll text him, see what I can find out.”
Annie shook her head. “No. I do not want to interrupt Sam or, heaven forbid, have him called from the courtroom. This is my problem, and I need to take care of it.”
“But, honey, Sam loves you. That’s what people do when they love someone. Besides, how do you know this creep won’t try something?”
“I’m not afraid of Eldon,” Annie whispered. “He isn’t going to do anything that will shame the great Wentworth family.”
Annie removed her apron and put it beneath the counter, then grabbed her small purse. “I’ll call as soon as I know something.” She looked at Eldon. “I’m coming with you,” she said, her voice resigned. He gave Darla a smug look as if to say he had won.
“You’d better wipe that look off your face,” Darla said, “because my husband is enormous, and he will turn your face into dog food if you hurt Annie.”
“It is okay, Darla,” Annie said, patting her arm.
Darla was not deterred. “He’ll poke your eyeballs out and feed ‘em to you for breakfast, and then he’ll tie you to the back of his pickup truck, and drag your body—”
“Darla!” Annie said.
“Was I a bit over the top?” Darla whispered.
Eldon was clearly insulted. “Do I look like a man who would assault a woman?” he asked.
“I don’t know what you’re capable of, mister,” Darla said, “but I’m giving you fair warning. My husband just got out of prison a week ago, and I don’t want him to go back for wringing your neck like some yard chicken, although I would insist on a front row seat if it came to that.” She suddenly smiled. “Now, then, you drive safely, y’hear?”
Eldon grunted in disgust.
Annie kissed Darla on the cheek. “You’re sweet, you know that? Now stop worrying.” She followed Eldon out.
Chapter Eleven
“What the hell do you mean she’s gone?” Sam said to Darla when he returned.
“Shhh!” Darla said when a couple of customers looked up from the counter where they were sipping coffee and chatting. “You need to lower your voice.” She stepped closer. “Annie had no choice, Sam. Her father is dying.”
“Why didn’t she wait for me? I would have taken her.”
“We had no idea when you would get out of court. Eldon sort of gave the impression that her father was not long for this world.”
Sam scowled. “From what Annie has said, the man is a pathological liar. Her father could be drinking tequila shooters in his hot tub for all we know. What hospital is he in?”
Darla looked surprised. “I don’t know. Annie didn’t ask and Eldon didn’t say.”
He looked incredulous. “Her father is supposedly in CCU, and it did not occur to you or Annie to inquire which hospital?”
“The girl was shaken by the news, and I was upset for her so I did not think to ask. Plus, I was busy telling Eldon how good-for-nothing he was.”
Sam was clearly frustrated. “How long ago did they leave?”
“Thirty or forty minutes ago. I forgot to look at the clock.”
“Excuse me,” Sam said, “but aren’t you the one who very recently asked if I would sell this place to you? How do you plan to run a restaurant if you can’t think on your feet? You have to be able to act quickly. What if the walk-in freezer stops working or the fryer goes kaput? What will you do? You have to make split-second decisions if you’re going to be successful.”
Darla did not bother to hide her annoyance. “I’ve been running this restaurant almost singlehandedly for years,” she said, “so that you could practice law and sell cars and whatever else you do. But I’m going to overlook your comments because I know you’re upset.”
Sam was prevented from answering when the bell over the door jingled, announcing a customer. Bo opened it and made a production of waving Lillian through first. She reached up, pinched his cheek, and laughed.
“Hey, sweetie,” Bo said to Darla. “I came as soon as I could.”
Lillian’s smile faded the minute she noticed the expressions on Sam’s and Darla’s faces. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice low. She gave the dining room a quick glance. “Where is Annie?”
“She, um, isn’t here at the moment,” Darla said.
“Has something happened to her?” Lillian asked. “Is she sick? Is she hurt? Tell me,” she insisted, visibly shaken.
“She’s fine,” Darla said. “Well, not fine, but she isn’t sick or hurt.” She looked at Sam, then back to Lillian. “It seems her father suffered a heart attack and is very close to passing. Annie is on her way to Atlanta with Eldon.”
“Eldon!” Lillian said.
“My feelings exactly,” Sam said. “I’m going after her.”
Lillian nodded. “I’ll go with you.”
“Hold on!” Bo said, waving his hands in the air. “Just hold your dang horses,” he added. “Darla called me the minute they walked out that door, and that’s why I’m here. You two have no business getting on the road in your present state of mind.”
“Amen to that,” Darla said. “Everybody needs to calm down.”
Bo gave her a loving smile. “Do you remember what kinda’ car the scumbag was driving?”
“I wrote it down.” Darla pulled out her ticket pad. “It’s a silver
metallic Mercedes sedan,” she said. “Looked brand-spanking new.”
“Good girl,” Bo said. “What time did they leave?”
Darla glanced at the clock. “I’m guessing forty-five minutes, give or take a few minutes. But this is the strange part. Instead of turning left out of the parking lot toward the interstate, he turned right, which is all back roads.”
“Why would he do that?” Lillian asked.
Bo shook his head. “Good question when you consider the number of pot holes along the way. Plus, it is going to slow him down considerably.”
“The whole thing smells if you ask me,” Sam said. “If Annie’s father is really in CCU, Eldon would take the quickest route. He is up to something.”
Finally, Bo said, “We can stand here all day trying to figure it out, but we don’t have time.” He slapped Sam on the back. “Let’s go, m’friend,” he said. “My Dodge Ram has a few miles on it, but it’ll outrun most anything, I gar-run-tee, and it eats up potholes and spits ‘em out.”
“I’m going with you,” Lillian said.
All three looked at her, surprised. Bo and Sam exchanged glances. “My truck is going to be kind of tight as it is,” Bo said. “It would be best if you stayed here with Darla in case Annie calls.”
“I insist,” Lillian said. “You’re not leaving without me.” Her voice trembled.
Darla took her hand. “Hon, Bo is right. Why don’t you let me pour you a cup of coffee, and we’ll wait for Annie’s call together. You’re too upset.”
“Hell, yes, I’m upset,” Lillian said. “We’re talking about my daughter.”
#
“This makes absolutely no sense,” Annie said. “I thought we were in a hurry. Why are we taking the back roads?”
“I know a short cut,” Eldon said. “Besides, I have a surprise for you.”
Annie frowned. “What kind of surprise? I don’t like surprises. You offered to drive me to the hospital to see my father. If you have something else in mind then you need to turn this car around, take me back to Pinckney, and I’ll get another ride.”
“Is your new boyfriend going to drive you to Atlanta?” he asked.
“I refuse to discuss my personal life with you.” Annie wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, but something did not feel right. “You never said which hospital my father was in.”
“You’re right, I did not.”
“I should call and check on his condition. I need to borrow your cell phone.”
“They aren’t going to give you information over the phone,” Eldon said, “what with all the laws protecting the patient’s privacy. Besides, you and I need to talk.”
“The only thing I want to talk about is my father’s condition.”
Eldon looked at her. “You sure have changed your tune since we left the restaurant. Is this your attempt to pass yourself off as a doting daughter?”
Annie’s irritation flared. “Excuse me? I’ve put my life on hold since Bradley’s death, hoping I could help my father get through his grief. If that’s not a doting daughter then I don’t know what is.“ She shook her head. “Why am I telling you this? I don’t owe you an explanation.” She took a long look at Eldon. “What’s going on? Why do I feel like all is not as it should be?”
“Did you really think you would get away with humiliating me and my family in front of six hundred people?” he asked, his mouth twisting wryly.
Annie felt a prickle of unease at the back of her neck. She was not surprised that Eldon was annoyed with her for running out on him and escaping holy matrimony. He had expressed his displeasure back at the restaurant, but most of it had seemed aimed at Annie for not acting responsibly where her father was concerned. Eldon had gone out of his way to point out her shortcomings as a daughter until he had guilt tripped her into going back to Atlanta with him. Now, she realized she should not have gotten in the car with him. She should have listened to Darla and waited for Sam.
“I don’t think this is the time to discuss what happened between us,” she said, keeping her voice steady. She would not give Eldon the satisfaction of knowing she was anxious.
“I think it’s the perfect time,” Eldon said. “What you did was inexcusable. Or deplorable, as my mother has said more than once.”
Annie noted his tense jaw. The skin on his face looked as though it had been stretched too tight. She realized that, despite dating and being engaged to him, she did not know him as well as she should because he had been deceitful from the beginning. All she could do was try to play things down as best she could and hope that he did not lose his cool or go into some freakish rage.
“I tried to do the right thing by calling off the engagement well in advance, Eldon. The only reason I agreed to become engaged in the first place—especially after only dating for three months—was because my father pushed and pushed until it was easier to give in. But I got sick and tired of giving in, sick and tired of being bullied.”
“That’s a real touching story, Annie, but it doesn’t make up for what you did to me. I’m not sure you can ever make it up to me, but I’m going to see that you try.”
“What are you talking about?”
He looked at her. His expression was menacing. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Warning bells rang loudly in Annie’s head. “Stop the car!” she said, reaching for the door handle.
Eldon hit the master lock. “Don’t be stupid, Annie!” he shouted.
“I’m not going with you. Stop the car. I want out.”
“Yeah, well I wanted my wife-to-be to show up at the altar, but that didn’t happen, did it?”
Annie saw a gas station up ahead. “Let me off at the gas station,” she said. “I’ll find someone else to drive me to Atlanta.”
“Shut up, Annie!” he snapped. “If you have any hope of seeing your father alive you will shut your damn mouth and do as you’re told.”
She glared at him. “Do as I’m told? What is that supposed to mean?”
“There is a preacher up the road who has agreed to marry us.”
Annie could not believe what she was hearing. “Are you insane!” she said. “I’m not marrying you!”
“You need to rethink that,” Eldon said. “I have a full tank of gas. I’ll go the scenic route. By the time we get to Atlanta they will have moved your father’s body to the morgue.”
“Did you not hear me, Eldon? I will never marry you. I don’t love you. I never loved you. Why would you even want to marry me when you know I don’t have feelings for you?”
“You really have to ask?”
Annie grunted. “Oh, right, the money. It’s always about the money.”
“Finally, you get it. Your father and I have a contract. Once you and I marry I will be five million dollars richer.”
“He was going to pay you to marry me?” Annie closed her eyes and leaned against the headrest. She felt sick. Finally, she opened her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”
“I have the contract and the marriage license.”
“Show it to me.”
“It’s in the trunk.”
“Sure it is.”
Eldon slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “I am getting sick and tired of your mouth,” he yelled.
“And, yet, you wish to marry me,” she shouted back.
“For five million dollars I can put up with almost anything.”
“You planned this all along, didn’t you? How do I know my father is even ill?”
“Because I said so.”
“I can’t believe anything you say. What happens after the wedding, Eldon, since you seem to have everything, including my life, all figured out?”
“We live happily ever after and hope our union brings us many sons.”
“Do you get a bonus check each time I birth a boy?”
“You’re sole heir to a fortune, Annie. I think it’s safe to say I will be well compensated.”
“Why did my father choose you?”
E
ldon shrugged. “He enjoys my stories. Like I said the night you called off the engagement. He believes them because he wants to believe them. You enjoyed them even more before someone told you differently.”
“I can’t believe my father did not check you out.”
Eldon gave her an odd look. “Of course he checked me out. He knows all about my past, including getting kicked out of Duke.”
“He didn’t have a problem with it?”
“He isn’t exactly without sin, Annie. He did not get where he is today by playing nice. I think he liked me more when he found out about my expulsion and other crap that I pulled.” Eldon paused. “At the same time, he likes that I have good, um, breeding. Old people seem to get off on that sort of thing. He wants to make certain his dynasty will live on, and that his grandsons will one day take over.”
“And you’re supposed to run Hartford Iron and Steel until the male fruit of your loins is old enough in say twenty-five years?”
“Your father has been mentoring me. Good thing I learn fast because it looks like I’ll be taking over sooner than we’d planned.”
Annie noted the time on the dashboard and wondered if Sam had returned from the courthouse. What would he do once he found out she had left with Eldon? Would he be angry with her? She had promised to call, but it did not look likely. She should have done as Lillian told her some days ago and bought a prepaid phone. Lillian had even offered to get it for her, but Annie had declined. The woman already catered to her every need.
#
Even though Sam kept his eyes peeled out for sight of Eldon’s car, he could sense Lillian was upset. She had tried to hide her tears. Finally, she had given up and pulled a small pack of tissue from her purse.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Sam asked.
Lillian sniffed. “I haven’t talked about it in years,” she said. “Only a couple of people know, but the bottom line, I had to give up Annie and her brother, and I was devastated.”
“Why were you not able to keep them?” Bo asked.
“You would have to know how cruel and vindictive my ex-husband, Annie’s father, is to understand.”
“I have a fairly good idea,” Sam said, “just from what Annie has told me.”