Drive and Determination

by Louise, Kara

  It sounded more like a statement than a question and it appeared as though George wasn’t really expecting an answer. Elyssa replied anyway, “It was beautiful, just as you said.”

  “Yeah, I bet.” George was holding some rolled up papers and he tapped them several times into the palm of his hand. He looked down at them briefly.

  “What do you have there, George?”

  “Oh, these?” A frown froze his features and he took in and let out a long, deep breath before he answered.

  “Look, Elyssa,” he said, an expression of concern accentuating his features. “I hate to be the one to show you these. But I think you ought to know.”

  “Know what? What are they?”

  He slowly unfolded one of the papers, and as he handed it to Elyssa, she could see that it appeared to be a printed picture of a photograph from a web page. When she looked at it more closely, she recognized it as herself being carried by Will across the street in Panajachel during the downpour.

  The picture was bad enough, but her eyes went down to the caption below it which read, Pemberleo Coffee’s wealthy and quite eligible president William Denton sweeping mystery woman off her feet in a downpour!

  “No!” she exclaimed. “Where did this come from? Who took it?”

  George shook his head, as if in disgust. “It came from some internet site where people post pictures of celebrities they see.”

  “You have got to be kidding. Will’s not a celebrity!”

  George looked very somber. “You and I both know that! But he’s got that ridiculous title of being one of the top 50 most eligible bachelors, so people with nothing better to do take notice.”

  Elyssa’s voice shook as she asked, “Are those more pictures?”

  George gripped them tightly. “Maybe you better sit down.”

  “I don’t need to sit down, George! I want to see them!”

  He handed her the next and she saw the two of them walking into the hotel in Panajachel. To her benefit, the picture had been taken from behind them, but with the other incriminating photo, there was no denying that it was them. The caption read, William Denton checks into one of the finer hotels with brunette bombshell.

  Elyssa closed her eyes and looked away. “Why would anyone do this?”

  “I am of the opinion they do it only for the money. Ridiculous if you ask me. They hope some magazine will see them and buy the rights to print them.”

  Elyssa spun her head toward George. “A magazine? These might end up in a magazine?”

  “Not necessarily. They would have to feel there is a story here.”

  Elyssa felt sick. She could see by the stack of papers still in George’s hand that there were several more. As she reached out for the next, her hand was shaking.

  George remained gravely silent as he handed her the next.

  Elyssa gasped as her eyes took in the next picture of her and Will on the balcony at the hotel the next morning. She was standing next to him in her robe and he was shirtless, with only a towel slung over his shoulders.

  “No! This is not the way it was!”

  She looked down at the caption. It appears to have been a pleasant, cozy night for Will and his lady.

  “We were standing on separate balconies! He was in the room next to mine! There is a divider between us for goodness sake!”

  George reached up and placed his hand upon her shoulder. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that.”

  The next picture was of the two of them on the boat to the village. Her eyes flashed at George. “The American on the boat! He had a camera and was taking pictures. I thought he was just a tourist taking pictures of the scenery!”

  “He must have known who Will was. Probably some aspiring paparazzi.”

  Elyssa brought her hand up to her head. The beginnings of a headache were making themselves known.

  “I think I will sit down.”

  “Look, Elyssa. You don’t need to see any more of these. I just wanted you to be aware of what’s out there.”

  When Elyssa was seated, she reached up her hand. “No, George. I want to see them all!”

  With the next picture in her hand, Elyssa found herself looking at the two of them walking into Chad and Janet’s small house. She cringed at the caption. Very little was seen of Will and his lady once they checked into their private love cottage.

  She slammed the pictures down onto her lap. “This makes it sound like we… like we…” Elyssa could barely speak. “Nothing happened between us. Nothing happened! I was sick all afternoon Saturday and was still recovering Sunday morning. Nothing happened!”

  George looked at her oddly. “You’re really serious, aren’t you?”

  Elyssa nodded and held out her hand, but George held tightly to the last picture.

  “I was hoping you didn’t fall under the spell of the lake.” George tilted his head as he eyed her doubtfully. “Or under the spell of the man!”

  “No, George, I didn’t fall under any spell,” Elyssa rubbed her head.

  George slowly extended the last picture out to her. “You still hate the guy?”

  Taking the picture from George, Elyssa looked down at it and was quite sure that he probably already knew the answer to his question. In it, Will was holding Elyssa in his arms in the lake. Elyssa was clearly laughing and enjoying herself in the photo. She didn’t even bother to read the caption.

  “No, George, I no longer hate the man.” Elyssa closed her eyes and shook her head. “But nothing happened.”

  George sat down next to her and leaned in. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear that. I was really worried when I saw these pictures. But I had faith in you. I knew you weren’t like all those other women who absolutely love to see their pictures in magazines with him by their side.”

  “No, I’m not like them,” she said softly.

  “His only concern is for his company. He rarely considers other people’s feelings. I knew you were too smart to fall for a man like him. I knew you’d be able to see through him.”

  Unlike before, a strong yearning to defend Will rather than join in George’s assault on him surfaced deep inside of her. As she opened her mouth to come to his defense, George began to shake his head slowly.

  “I couldn’t even imagine how you tolerated the man who tried to talk Chad out of marrying your very own sister.”

  Elyssa’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock at his revelation. “What?”

  “I’m sorry. You mean you didn’t know? Almost everybody else did!”

  “Will tried to talk Chad out of marrying Janet?”

  George looked down and stared at the floor.

  “Yeah, nasty business. You gotta love Chad, but he often doubted his own judgment. For some unfathomable reason, he always checked things through with the big man. When he told Will he wanted to ask Janet to marry him, well, Will told him he didn’t think he should. He was adamantly against their marriage.”

  George looked up and could see the pain etched in Elyssa’s face. He had suspected that her feelings for Will must have changed when he saw the pictures. Now he was certain that she no longer viewed him as the monster she once thought he was.

  “Why? Why would he do that?”

  George laughed. “Oh, you may have spent three unbelievable days with the man in an exotic, romantic locale, but he still is a manipulator, obsessed with controlling other people’s lives! Everything revolves around the company, whether it’s this project or that! He doesn’t care about anyone but himself and Pemberleo Coffee!” There was fire in George’s eyes as he spoke.

  Elyssa thought back to their day in Antigua when they were standing on opposite sides of the dome room in the monastery ruins. She overheard Will refer to her as a “project” to the man next to him. She shook her head violently.

  “I can’t believe it!”

  “Well, believe it. You can even ask the Walkers. They knew. Once Chad talked with Will, he asked other people what they thought.”

  “
But he didn’t listen to Will,” Elyssa protested. “He did ask Janet to marry him.”

  “And I give him credit for having the guts to defy him.”

  Elyssa looked down at the pictures in her hands. “How did you find out about these internet pictures, George?”

  “I almost hate to say.”

  “Just tell me,” Elyssa barely eked out.

  “Some guy from a magazine called the office today while I was in. He wanted to know if we’d give them a name.”

  “He was from a magazine?”

  “Yeah, I forget which one.”

  “And he wanted my name?”

  “Yeah, Pemberleo won’t give it out, but unfortunately, these guys can usually find a source who will divulge the information they’re looking for in exchange for a little something in return.”

  Elyssa lowered her head into her hand and she dug her fingers into her scalp, trying to rub away the headache that was now throbbing. “George, I think I would like to be left alone.”

  “Yeah. Sure. Look, I’m really sorry I had to be the one to show you these. I wish that we… well, maybe if you ever come back, we can carry on where we left off.”

  Elyssa smiled. “Thanks, George. It’s not your fault. My one consolation right now is that the only people who will see these pictures are ones who visit that website. If they appear in a magazine, well, I guess I’ll have to deal with it then.”

  “You will, Elyssa. You’re strong. Will always shrugs these things off. He’s seen enough pictures of himself with women in magazines that it doesn’t mean a thing to him anymore.”

  George walked slowly to the door. “I suppose your travel arrangements are all set for tomorrow?”

  Elyssa stood up to see him out and glanced toward her luggage. “Yeah, everything’s arranged.”

  “Well, then, until next time.”

  “Thanks, George.”

  George shook his head. “Yeah.”

  He turned to leave and then stopped. Looking back at Elyssa, he asked, “Hey, was that Maria that stopped by earlier?”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “I didn’t know you knew her.”

  “Oh, I only just met her today. I understood that she faithfully goes out each week and places flowers at the little memorial cross on the highway where Chad and Janet died. I wanted to meet her.”

  “Oh.” George looked down and then back at Elyssa. “Sweet kid.”

  “Yes, she seems to be.”

  “Good night, Elyssa.”

  “Good night, George.”

  Elyssa shut the door and her hand tightened into a fist, crumpling the pictures. The tension and throbbing in her head echoed the new feelings of anguish in her stomach. Her mind and heart swirled with the insinuations from the website and the accusations George made about Will. She needed to talk to someone, but she needed to sort out her thoughts first.

  She sank back down into the chair and wrapped her arms tightly about her. She tried to think, but her muddled mind wouldn’t cooperate. Just who exactly is Will? Elyssa asked herself. Why was I so sure about his character and prejudiced against him when I first came, how and when did that change, and now, why do I feel so confused?

  As her head began to throb, she lifted a hand to gently rub it. It was not long before she was reminded of an evening two nights ago when Will did the same. She crashed her hand back down into her lap.

  Had she merely been a project in his eyes? If so, what kind? Did he dislike the fact that she didn’t fall head over heels for him like every other woman? Elyssa let out a moan. Was he merely trying to make amends to her for his part in sending Chad and Janet here? Did his behavior reflect his true feelings for her or was he merely fulfilling an agenda?

  Feelings clashed with reason as she tried to make sense of it all. George’s words hit her as painfully as any spear piercing through to the depths of her.

  Elyssa sat up with a start, suddenly remembering Janet’s journal. She wasn’t sure what her sister may have written about Will in it, but she could at least see if there appeared to be any sort of concern over his character or behavior.

  Looking around the room, her eyes latched onto the corner of the room and her heart sank. She remembered that she had placed it with the stuff Manuel had taken to box up for her. She would have to wait until she got home to read through it.

  A tear slowly made its way down Elyssa’s face as she realized that she may have fallen in love with the laid-back, considerate man at the lake, but in reality, his behaviour these past few days was probably nothing like the driven, manipulative corporate president that characterized him elsewhere.

  She needed some time away from him to reflect on everything more clearly. As she looked over at her luggage, she knew one thing for certain -- she could not fly home with him in his jet. She needed to distance herself from him to allow her to think judiciously -- and the sooner the better!

  She knew she would be vulnerable just being in his presence, that her feelings for him would overrule any reasonable objection to him. No, she would somehow decline his offer to fly her home and take the time apart from him to sort out who she truly believed him to be.

  Elyssa stood up and walked into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, she splashed some water on her face to help wipe away the redness that stained her eyes and blotted her cheeks. Staring at the image looking back at her, she whispered, “I’ve got to talk to Shelley.”

  She took a few deep breaths to steady herself and walked through the complex to the Walkers’ townhouse. Knocking on the door, she waited, her heart pounding thunderously in her chest.

  The door opened and Shelley greeted Elyssa with a beaming smile. “I am so glad you came by! I was hoping to see you before you left!” She reached for Elyssa’s hand and gave it a gentle tug. “Come in.”

  Elyssa stepped in and couldn’t prevent herself from inhaling deeply the aromas filling the house. It was obvious Shelley was cooking.

  “How was the lake? Did you think it was just beautiful?”

  Elyssa nodded. “Yes, but unfortunately I was sick for a good part of it. I ate some fruit that I neglected to rinse in bottled water.”

  Shelley ushered Elyssa into the living room. “That will get you every time. Here, have a seat.”

  “No, no thank you, Shelley. I’ll only stay for a minute. I had a couple questions I’d like to ask.”

  “Sure.”

  John walked in at that moment and Elyssa couldn’t help smiling when she saw him wearing a large white apron. It was obvious that he was the chef this evening and she thought how nice it would be to have a husband who was willing to help out this way. A sudden pang of realization hit her that Will was too corporately ambitious to be this kind of man and husband.

  “Hello, Elyssa,” John smiled. “Are you staying for dinner?”

  “Oh, no, I can’t.”

  “Please do,” encouraged Shelley. “We have plenty.”

  Elyssa shook her head. “Thank you both, but I have a lot to do before I leave in the morning.”

  “Are you sure?” John asked.

  “Yes, but I do have a favor to ask.”

  “Anything,” Shelley reached out and took her hand. “What is it?”

  “My plane leaves at nine thirty in the morning and I wondered if I could get a ride to the airport at around seven thirty.” She looked back and forth at each of them. “If it’s not too much trouble.”

  “Sure, I can take you, but I thought… wasn’t this already taken care of? I mean, isn’t Will…”

  “Will had a meeting come up in the morning,” Elyssa quickly interjected.

  “Well, sure. Come on by when you’re ready.”

  “Thanks, Shelley.”

  Elyssa briskly rubbed the palms of her hands together while searching for the right words to her next question. Finally, she asked, “Do either of you know the details concerning Chad going to Will for advice about asking Janet to marry him?” A deep breath steadied her shaky voice. “Did Will really
tell Chad he didn’t think he should ask her to marry him?”

  When Shelly and John stole a guarded glance at one another, Elyssa knew the answer immediately. He had!

  “He did, didn’t he?

  “Look, Elyssa, that was two years ago. Will only thought he was looking out for Chad’s future with the company.”

  “As opposed to his happiness in life with Janet by his side as his wife!” Elyssa felt the throbbing in her head grow increasingly prominent and her ire against Will rising. “I can’t believe he did that!”

  John took a step toward Elyssa. “We can only assume it was because of the possibility of Chad being sent here to Guatemala. He may have wondered whether Janet would have been a hindrance.”

  Elyssa stood up and tried to smile. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so angry. I need to get back to the townhouse and get myself ready to leave tomorrow. I want to thank you both for all you did to help me out here. I really appreciate it.”

  Shelley stepped toward her and walked with her to the door. “If you can’t eat with us, can I bring you a plate? John makes the best enchiladas!”

  Elyssa smiled. “That does sound great. Thanks!”

  “Good. I’ll bring some over in about an hour. Besides, there is a matter I want to talk with you about.”

  Elyssa then recalled what Maria told her earlier and thought it would be best to tell Shelley about it when they were alone. “That reminds me, Shelley. There’s something I would like to talk with you about. Don’t let me forget.”

  After saying goodbye, Elyssa walked slowly back to the townhouse. Her hands were shaking, her stomach was churning with confusion, and her head was spinning. She knew she had seen and had been with a very different man the past few days, but didn’t know whether Will could have changed so dramatically -- and completely -- in the two years since she first met him. How she wished she had Janet’s journal!

  One thing of which she was certain, though, was that she enjoyed her simple, country life and knew that a relationship with Will would require her to relocate to Chicago. She couldn’t see herself making such a drastic move without the assurance that he was everything she wanted in a man.