"You're right." I turned sharply at Petey's voice. He looked so sad. "It doesn't matter now. It just hurts me, Morgan. I can't stand the thought of you in pain, and I didn't know anything about it. You're like a sister to me. I can't handle the thought that you'd keep something like this from me. It makes me question everything. Is Sean abusing you? Would you tell me that?"
I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him.
"Don't give me that look, young lady. I'm serious. Is there anything else you haven't told me?"
"No."
"Okay then." He walked over to me and put his arms around me. "Honey, I could have done something." His voice shook and made tears sting my eyes.
"Like get yourself in trouble."
"No. I could have gone to the police. I could have made you see reason. Is your mom the only one who knew?"
"Cerise and Annalisa found out after the wedding, that's when Mom found out. They didn't know about the other times until after he was long gone."
His sigh sounded so pained. "You should have told us, honey."
"It wasn't a big deal—and then—it was—and I was too ashamed."
He held me for a few more minutes until I felt a little calmer. "Promise me you won't keep anything like that from us again?" He pulled back and looked me in the eye.
"I promise. Really, I promise."
He nodded and kissed my forehead before going back downstairs.
Sean stood with his elbow on the banister and his hand to his mouth, staring at me. I walked back to the end of the hallway and sat on the bench, looking out the window into the darkness. This was not how I'd expected the evening to go. Would Petey tell everyone? What would they say? Would they be mad at me too? Was Fran mad at me? I just wanted to put the whole thing behind me, but it seemed like that was never going to happen. I wondered what Sean thought of me now. He seemed disappointed.
A few minutes later, he walked down the hallway and sat next to me. He put his hand on my thigh. "I don't think you have any idea how much I love you."
I looked up at him like he was nuts. Wasn't he mad at me too?
"You're the strongest woman I've ever met."
"I don't feel too strong right now, Sean."
He pulled me into him, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the comfort he gave me. "I'm not sorry I told him. I think you need to tell everyone else, too. They're your family."
"It will hurt them, Sean."
"They can help you through it."
"I'm through it. It's done. He's in jail."
"You still have nightmares, love."
"Barely. Those are going away too. I haven't even had one this week." My voice was getting too high. I could hear the defensiveness in it.
"You had one four days ago."
"Do you keep a calendar or something?"
"I worry about you."
"I'm fine. Can't you let me be fine? It's like you want me to be a mess." He was quiet for several minutes. The quiet allowed me to calm down and realize what I'd said. "I know you're trying to help, but being with you and the guys and Cerise and Annalisa—that's helpful. All of them knowing is helpful. Telling absolutely everyone about something that will only hurt them, and that they can do nothing about, that would hurt me more."
He kissed my lips. "Okay, sweetheart. I'll stop pushing as long as I think you're doing okay."
"I'm fine. Really. My nightmares aren't even about him hurting me anymore. He destroys… something important to me." I nearly blurted out that Brent destroyed the painting I'd done for Sean in every single nightmare I had about him, but I caught myself in time.
"What does he destroy?" He put his hand back on my bare thigh, distracting me.
"I can't tell you, but I'll show you tonight."
"Hmm. Is it my present? Is it lingerie?" His hand inched up higher.
"No, it's not lingerie."
"A toy?" His voice was so husky.
"Sean!" I slapped him in the stomach.
"What?" He smirked at me. "I like Legos."
I rolled my eye as his hand pushed up the hem of my skirt. Laughter downstairs caught my attention, and I pushed his hand away. "I should get back downstairs."
"Didn't you say these rooms were empty?"
I had to smile at that. "Not for you, they aren't." I stood up, and he groaned, but eventually followed.
Thing
The rest of the evening was happily drama-free. Sean stayed by my side most of the time as I made the rounds, chatting with everyone. He got to know Jake and Manny a lot better, which made me really happy. He seemed to really like Jake. Petey returned to his happy self when I came back downstairs and spent a lot of time chatting with Nathan. Stewie was, as always, Mr. Social. He seemed to know everyone already from Thanksgiving. For a while he stuck by Sean, bringing up things that Sean had in common with whoever he was talking to, but it was clear that wasn't necessary since Sean was enjoying chatting on his own. Instead, Stewie sat back and talked to Annalisa with his arm around her.
Dinner was beyond excellent. The guys were incredibly vocal about how impressed they were. Annalisa beamed at them, and Stewie reminded them all that she was off limits. It was cute. Even cuter was the way Nathan had his arm draped across the back of Cerise's chair. He wasn't touching her, but he certainly wasn't behaving solely like a friend. I caught his hand brushing the back of her neck several times when she leaned back.
After dinner, we pulled out the board games. Sean and Petey played chess together in a corner, talking low. It worried me a little, but since I had nothing else to hide, I pushed the worry aside and focused on beating Manny at Scrabble once and for all. I lost, of course, but I considered Manny to be a pro since he had a similar game on his phone that he played constantly.
Finally, the girls were too antsy to wait any longer to open presents. As the only two children in the group, they were showered with gifts from everyone. Some couples brought gifts to exchange with each other, and I usually gave something special to Cerise and Annalisa, but there wasn't any pressure for anyone to give gifts. It was always more about enjoying each other's company.
When Sean passed me a box with a sly smile on his face, I bit my bottom lip. This was the gift he could give me in front of everyone. As I slowly opened the red box, I found everyone's eyes were on me, except the girls who were playing with an electronic book Annalisa got them. I pulled off the lid and found what looked like a large walkie-talkie. It was gray and orange with a short antenna that was at least one inch in diameter. There was a large screen in the center.
"It's a handheld GPS," Sean explained.
I smiled but continued to look at him.
"It will lead you to your next gift. I'll give you clues, and you'll have to figure them out to find it."
"I have to work for my present?" Sean laughed at me and nodded. Everyone around me snickered and some were leaned over to others, whispering. I got the very distinct suspicion that everyone else knew what this was about. "Do I start now?"
He shook his head. "Tomorrow morning. It'll be worth it." He kissed my lips briefly. When he pulled back, he looked down at the GPS thing. "I hope."
Petey stood behind me, looking over my shoulder then turned to Sean. "It will." He nodded enthusiastically.
Okay, seriously, Petey was reassuring my boyfriend? What was going on here?
"Who wants dessert?" Annalisa asked loudly. Of course, everyone wanted dessert. It was the highlight of the evening. No one turned down Annalisa's creations.
Sean scooted next to me and turned on the GPS thing. "This is how you enter coordinates. Then you press enter here, and it will show you where it's at. Hit find and it will show you how to get there. Anthony knows how it works, so he can help you."
"Anthony? What about you? Aren't you coming with me?"
"No, sweetie. You have to do this on your own."
"But if Anthony's with me, I won't be on my own."
"I mean you have to use your brain for this. Anthony is just there to mak
e sure you don't hurt yourself or get hurt by someone else. And he knows how to work this in case it stumps you. It has a lot of complicated settings, so be sure you ask him if it looks odd. I had to get Troy to help me several times when I first started out."
"You have one of these too?"
"Yeah. It's a hobby. They call it geocaching. People hide things and you go out and find them. The boys and I used to do it all the time, especially where there's some wilderness. Cities are a little tougher to navigate with this face."
"But couldn't you just give me my present?"
He laughed. "I could, but where would the fun be in that?"
"I think it'd be great fun."
"Sorry, sweetie, you'll have to earn it."
I leaned closer to him, pressing my lips against his ear. "Isn't there some other way I could earn it?"
He growled and kissed me, running his tongue along my lower lip. When he moved his hand to my upper thigh, I laughed and pushed him away.
As we said good night to everyone, it seemed they were really happy. It was nice to know they had enjoyed themselves. Petey gave me an extra long hug but didn't say anything more about Brent. I was surprised when he shook Sean's hand and gave him the one-handed guy hug. I was even more surprised when he leaned back to me and said, "Not that you asked, but I approve of this one."
Fran squealed at me and hugged me tight before Petey gave her the scolding tone and pulled her away.
When we'd said all our goodbyes, Sean and I walked back into the dining room. I stopped abruptly and Sean squeezed my hand. In the darker hallway leading to the restrooms, I saw Cerise up against the wall with Nathan's muscular arm blocking her path. I jumped up and down with excitement as he leaned in and kissed her. Sean chuckled quietly, put his hand over my eyes and pulled me back into the living room. He told me I was ridiculous, but he looked happy too. We sat in the living room with Stewie and Annalisa for another half hour talking about childhood memories. When Nathan and Cerise finally joined us, I bit my lip to tone down my smile. She caught my eye and started blushing, forcing me to hide my face in Sean's shoulder or risk embarrassing her.
We left not long after that, and the buzz I felt from being around my family and from seeing my friend's so happy was nearly killed completely as we were very forcefully attacked trying to get into the car. Beans pulled up with the sirens and lights blaring, and Rudy and Nathan started shoving people until Sean and I could get into the Land Rover. I was shaking by the time we pulled away.
"Why do they have to be like that?" I asked Sean.
"Most of them make their living this way. If they can get one exclusive picture of me, they can make ten or twenty grand. When there's so many of them, they get desperate and start pushing to get closer. Rudy, remind me to send Beans something. He's done a lot more than he was required to."
Rudy nodded, and Sean rolled his jacket into a ball and pulled my head down to rest on his jacket on his lap. I curled up my feet and tried to stop shaking. I hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep until I woke up in Sean's arms as he carried me to our room. He pulled off my jacket and my heels and reached for the hem of my dress when I stopped him.
"Your gift!" I jumped up and ran to the door. The stairs were daunting while I was still groggy, and I stumbled a bit.
Anthony put his arm out to stop me. "Wait here. I'll bring it to you."
I smiled at him. He was scoring all kinds of points. A minute later, he was carrying the painting downstairs. I was glad I'd ordered wrapping paper online and had been able to wrap it, even if it was a pretty crappy wrapping job. "Thank you, Anthony." He smiled, and I took off running back to the bedroom.
"Slow down. You'll hurt yourself!" He shouted at me.
I closed and locked the door behind me. Sean had started a fire and was sprawled out on the bed.
I walked over to him and smiled nervously. "I didn't know what to get you that you don't already have, so I made you something." He sat up and looked more interested. "Before you open it, I wanted to explain. It took me a long time to figure out what to paint. Finally, when we were talking the other day, this image came to my mind, and it just made me feel so happy."
"Is this what Brent keeps damaging in your nightmares?"
I nodded. "He destroys it. I was working on it when you suddenly announced you were coming to the inn. I rushed upstairs to put it in Cerise's room. When I came out, he was there."
"That makes sense. Can I open it?"
I held it out to him but then took a step back. "If you don't like it—"
"Morgan. I love your paintings. You're incredibly talented. But you're killing me here. Please let me open it."
I smiled and put it in his hands. He slowly peeled away the wrapping paper, smiling the whole time. When the wrapping paper was gone, he turned it back around and his entire face fell. His lips parted, but he didn't even look like he was breathing. I started feeling worried. He didn't like it. His face was so serious, and his eyes were all misty. Slowly, he brought his eyes to mine.
"Is this—am I seeing this right? Are we—"
"Getting married," I said shyly, staring at the ground.
He got up and walked away from me, the painting still in his hands. I watched him place it above the mantle, leaning it against the wall. He stood and stared at it for a minute before walking back to me. His reaction had me a little stunned. He looked at me intensely for a moment before kissing me deeply and pulling my dress up over my head. The way he made love to me was more passionate and intense than ever. He never said a word about the painting. In fact, the only words he uttered all night were "I love you, Morgan" over and over again.
His reaction was so odd, but I was too exhausted between the entire night and Sean's ridiculous stamina to stay awake thinking about it.
I woke up to a loud song playing.
"Sean. Shut that off. It's too early." The music kept playing. "Sean!" I opened my eyes and sat up. He wasn't in the room. Looking around, I found my cell phone on the nightstand with an alarm clock flashing at me. I turned it off and flopped back down on the bed. It was almost ten o'clock, and I felt a little groggy from sleeping late. But where was Sean? I sat back up. There was a fire in the fireplace but no Sean. And the painting was gone. My cell phone dinged at me. I picked it up and was alerted to a text message.
I'm sorry. She meant nothing. I was just lonely and you weren't here. Forgive me or I'll die.
Confused, I blinked several times, trying to fully wake up. My cell phone dinged again.
No one means anything to me except you, love. No girl will ever mean anything to me ever again. I love you and Merry Christmas—come find me.
43.604113,-72.976896 Dress warmly and comfortably, sweetheart.
I groaned loudly and pulled myself from bed. I couldn't believe I was going to be hunting him down on Christmas Day. I pulled on skinny jeans and my flat knee-high boots in case I'd be trudging through the snow. I decided comfortable meant a white tank top and a loose black cardigan with a red belt, but really I had no idea what to expect. Taking my time to put on my makeup and thoroughly dry my hair, I thought about his first text message. They were the first words he'd ever said to me—well, texted. We'd met purely by chance. It was frightening to think that he could have dialed anyone else in the world, and I never would have met him.
My stomach growled, making me hope that Mel was making breakfast, but as I left the bedroom with my phone in one hand and Thing—that's what I decided to name my new GPS thing—in the other, I found the house eerily empty. It was almost eleven o'clock. Usually Mel was the first one up. I wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and an apple.
"Ready?" I jumped a mile at Anthony's voice. He must have been sitting on the couch waiting for me.
"You scared me. Where is everyone?"
"You'll see. You ready? We can get something to eat on the way, if you want."
"Uh. Yeah. Okay."
He opened the closet door and held out my white parka. I gave
him a quizzical look, but he just smiled. "You have the coordinates?"
I handed him Thing and pulled on my jacket. Going with the idea of freezing my butt off, I grabbed some snow gloves and a warm white scarf. I turned on my cell phone and showed him the text message. He inputted the coordinates and opened the front door for me, locking it as we left.
We executed a ton of turns until we'd lost the photographers, who were trying to follow us. I'd completely lost track of where we were, but Anthony seemed to know where he was going. When we pulled up to a small diner just twenty minutes later, I knew we were in Rutland.
Lunch was quick, but filling, leaving me much more able to focus. I watched where we went from there and immediately recognized the restaurant we ate at when Stewie first visited. The dinging on my phone made me jump a little—it had been too quiet in the Land Rover.
I was so happy when Stewie told me how uncomfortable you were hearing about this. See anything around you that would trigger that?
I smiled, remembering that night. The story about his high school girlfriend and how he was practically screwing her on the dance floor still managed to make my stomach a little uneasy. Anthony got out of the car, so I followed him.
He stared at me. "You're the one with the clues," he said, smiling. "I'm just the driver and GPS worker."
"And bodyguard." I smiled kindly at him.
"Always that… So figure it out."
I looked around—something that reminded me of that story. I studied the door to the restaurant, which was obviously closed with it being Christmas Day and all. I turned around and studied the street, but there wasn't even anyone out. Finally, my eyes fell on a prom dress in a window across the street.
"Over there!" I pointed. Anthony walked with me across the street to the dress shop window. It took some more looking, but I finally found a note taped to the window in the bottom corner with my name on it.
Accidental Texting: Finding Love despite the Spotlight Page 39