by C A Vincent
If not for the boys being hopped up on sugary treats, she would likely have packed them up and brought them over to Justin’s after Cassie’s piano lesson. Then she wouldn’t have to be alone with her memories. As it was, it took a dozen rounds of dancing to The Hamster Dance song to settle them down.
As the bubbles soothed her aching legs and back – she really wasn’t used to being on her feet for so long anymore – she started to think about where her life was at. She’d been doing that a lot lately; ever since the cupboard full of letters she’d written to Nate emptied onto her head. She’d made duplicates of every single one she sent. The sheer volume of paper coming down on her had caused her neck to go out. The resulting migraine had laid her low for two and a half days. Thank God the stack of log books wherein she’d catalogued every phone call and email attempt hadn’t come down too.
When she could think clearly, without feeling like she was going to puke, she decided she was done with waiting and wanting. She would take one final kick at the can, a week-long spam-attack of sorts of combined calls, emails and letters. And she didn’t just call once per day. She tried calling four, five and six times per. So far, she’d not had success because she kept reaching Marjorie. The woman and her attitude were like an impenetrable fortress.
She was a witch of a woman was Marjorie. Every single time Alicia got her on the phone, she was reminded that Mr. Langston would return her calls “if and when he decided to give a damn”. It took all of Alicia’s will to not scream at the woman.
On a lark, she picked up the phone and dialled the number for the Langston switchboard. It was after hours, but maybe, just maybe, she would be able to catch someone who would put her through to Nate’s direct line. At this point, she was willing to bribe the cleaning staff, if that was what it would take.
Alicia almost swore when the off-hours operator put her through to Witch Woman’s extension again. Angry, she hung up and re-dialled, hoping to catch a different operator. It was just her rotten luck to get the same woman. Once again, she was put through to “Reception”. Third time’s a charm? She thought, trying one last time. When the same operator answered yet once more, frustration welled up. This time, when she was put through to Witch Woman’s extension, she fully intended to leave a scathing, ear-blasting message.
“Nate Langston’s office. Can I help you?” a deep male voice said, stopping Alicia short. She damn near dropped the phone into the tub, she was so shocked. Then her vocal chords locked up and she couldn’t speak. “Is anyone there?” the man asked.
It was on the tip of her tongue to say Nate’s name, but then her brain started to function again and she realized were it Nate at the other end of the line, he would have answered differently. Taking a deep breath for courage, she introduced herself.
“My name is Alicia Danvers. Nate – Mr. Langston and I met almost three years ago in Trinidad. I have been trying unsuccessfully to get in touch with him ever since. If you could please leave him a message, preferably one Marjorie the Dragon Queen won’t find, I would greatly appreciate it.”
The whole was said in a mad rush and by the time she was finished, Alicia’s voice was shaking. In fact, she was almost crying. Please, please, please! she thought, her whole body rigid with tension.
“Marjorie? Dragon Queen?” the man asked, disbelieving. She almost groaned. If this man was fond of Witch Woman, she was sunk.
“Please believe me when I tell you she can be one nasty piece of work. If I received a penny for every time she told me Nate would get back to me, and I quote, ‘if and when he decides to give a damn’, I’d be rich. Heck, I’d have been able to afford to come to Miami and speak to him face to face a year ago, rather than deal with her.”
Alicia had to take a deep breath to quell a sudden spark of anger. Just talking about the obnoxious secretary made her want to scratch someone’s eyes out. When the deep breath became two, then three, then sobs, she very nearly hung up.
“Please. I’m sorry. I know it sounds crazy. Some strange woman trying to get in touch with your – What is he? Is he your boss? Your friend? What?” She blushed. What if this man was a friend or a family member? She really didn’t know much about Nate.
“Nate is my business partner. My name is Dimitri Marek, Miss Danvers. And you’ve been trying to reach him since - ?” Alicia pulled the handset away from her ear and frowned at it.
What the heck? she thought. Was it her imagination, or did Dimitri Marek’s voice suddenly get louder when he said her name? Thinking she was probably just hearing things as a result of stress, she answered his question.
“Since the day I left Trinidad. I had to leave unexpectedly. A friend – died. I - ”
“Why did you hesitate on the word?” Dimitri Marek asked, cutting her off. Nonplussed, she nearly told him it was none of his business. But then a very important life lesson her mother taught her came to mind. It was the one about catching flies with honey rather than vinegar. With a frustrated sigh, she decided to be nice. If she snapped at him, he might not pass on her message.
“My friend killed himself,” she explained. “Though he was terminal with cancer, it wasn’t what killed him. He was also in Trinidad at the time and I was charged with getting him home.”
“I see. What other means did you employ in your efforts to reach Mr. Langston?” Dimitri Marek asked. Alicia felt like she was at a pre-trial hearing. All of a sudden, being naked in a tub of bubbles didn’t feel so good.
“Primarily calls and regular post. The only email address I had for him generated a virus-laden auto-response. The virus killed my phone,” she said, pulling her knees up to her chin and hugging them to her. It was creepy how she felt the need to hide her nakedness, even though he was tens of thousands of miles away. “Can you please have him call me?” she added, before he had the chance to interrogate her further.
When Dimitri Marek said “yes” and asked for her contact information, Alicia had to fight to keep from breaking down. Her relief was so great, she felt dizzy. At the same time, she felt nauseous. This was it. The moment of truth was nigh and she had to wonder just how upset Nate would be to learn the boys were two years old. Even worse, what if he didn’t even care they existed?
As she hung up from her call with Dimitri Marek, all manner of scenarios were playing through her mind. From thrilled acceptance to enraged denial. Her mind was a whirl of conflicting emotions as, suddenly, she began to wonder if she’d done the right thing after all.
Chapter 26
“No,” Nate said quietly, shaking his head. It was all he could say as Dimitri sat there on the corner of Marjorie’s desk, a puzzled expression on his face.
“She said she’s been trying to get in touch with you since the day she left Trinidad. Mentioned that virus we were fighting for nearly three damn months. Apparently it crashed her phone too,” Dimitri explained. Nate swallowed hard. He couldn’t believe his ears.
“No,” he said again. “She had a fat severance package from her boss. If she wanted to see me that bad, she could have come to Miami.”
“And what? Risk the chance you would think she was some desperate, gold-digging head-case? She left suddenly and without explanation. You were angry. No woman in their right mind would lay down a decent-sized lump of money on air fare for a “maybe”, especially not a woman who’s as financially responsible as you say she was.” Nate ground his teeth. Dimitri’s argument was sound, damn him. Still, he shook his head.
“To coin a phrase,” he said, “what woman in her right mind would still be trying to call, nearly three years after the fact? It doesn’t make sense.” It was Dimitri who shook his head this time.
“For a smart man, you can be really dense sometimes,” his friend countered. “Did you have sex with Alicia Danvers, Nate?”
Images of Alicia moaning and writhing beneath him as he loved her popped suddenly into his mind. The sound of her moans and cries, the sweet, sexy smell of her filled his senses with painful clarity. Nate sucked in a harsh
breath as, even after all this time, his body reacted. Then the logical parts of his brain homed in on the implications of Dimitri’s question and his cock went from rock-hard to retreat in less than a heartbeat. He staggered back, feeling like someone had just slammed their fist into his face.
“Tell me exactly what she said,” he growled, his jaw clenched.
* *
“I don’t care if you’re on a date, Ira,” Nate snapped. He felt only the smallest pang of conscience as he paced the length of his office. “It’s critical you come in and retrieve all of the calls to and from Marjorie Stevenson’s phone.”
“I’ve been working crazy hours. If I cut this date short, I will be single. Guaranteed. I’m sorry, sir, but your ‘critical’ situation will have to wait until morning,” Ira argued. Nate could hear a woman’s voice in the background. She sounded pissed. Desperate for answers, he did the only thing he could think of to sway his top tech’s girlfriend.
“Tell her you’ll take her on an all-expenses-paid trip to wherever she wants to go. I will give you two weeks paid time to spend with her. You have a company credit card, right?” he asked. There was a long pause while Ira processed what was being said. Nate listened while the tech explained his request. She stopped arguing almost instantly.
“Yes, I do have the IT department’s company card,” he said.
“Good. Consider it your own for the next two weeks. I know you’re dating the dark-haired girl with the funky glasses from accounting. Getting time off is not a problem for her either. Come in tonight and retrieve the data I need. The two of you can figure out where you’re going on the way home then leave in the morning. This is not a joke, Ira. I am dead serious.”
With the sudden increase of background noise and the way his voice echoed, Nate realized he’d been put on speaker. He could almost hear Ira and whatever-her-name-was looking at each other in shock. He gave them five seconds to answer. When they didn’t, he prompted them.
“Well? What’ll it be?”
“Why – ?” the woman began. She stopped short. Then, her voice filled with emotion, she said something that made his insides twist. “If it means Stevenson and her gal pals get busted, I’m all for it. And Mr. Langston, thank you for the offer of a paid vacation, but it won’t be necessary.”
* *
“Play it again.” Nate was seething. His blood was boiling. He wanted to rend Marjorie Stevenson limb from limb. Ira looked worriedly at Dimitri for permission. He nodded and Marjorie’s voice filled the room once more.
“Alicia Danvers’ tenacity borders on the terrifying. She’s called six times already today. I don’t think she’s ever been this pushy.” Another, unknown voice responded.
“I wonder if this might be her last salvo. If it is, then I’ve – we’ve – won.” The unknown person laughed then and the sound was purely evil. Nate’s skin crawled, as did everyone else’s. Turning to Marcie, Ira’s girlfriend, he demanded to be told what she knew.
“I only know that Marjorie is really tight with Eileen Gellar from the mail room. Oh and Debbie Stinson on switchboard. The three of them are thick as thieves. And nasty. There is no limit to their cruelty toward others. Your turn over rate in the mail room and the secretarial pool are a direct result of their sheer bitchiness,” Marcie explained. “Beyond that, I know nothing.”
“How do you know about the high turn over rate?” Dimitri asked.
“Not relevant,” Nate cut in. Dimitri scowled but didn’t comment. “So her pals are Eileen Gellar and – Fucking hell! Get security down to the mail room. Now!”
Without waiting to see if anyone followed his order, Nate stormed from the IT department and headed for the elevator. According to Dimitri, Alicia resorted to using regular post when her attempts at email failed. If Marjorie and Debbie stopped her attempts at calling, then it stood to reason Eileen prevented her letters from getting through.
He paced the elevator like a caged animal. The door was barely open before he barrelled through it into the very bowels of his building and raced to the mail room. Everything was neat and tidy, waiting the arrival of Monday’s mail delivery. Nate did a slow turn, mentally cataloguing every box, container, desk drawer and file cabinet. When the security team arrived, he ordered them to rip it all apart.
* *
“I’m sorry, sir. There’s nothing here.” The place was a complete shambles. Every last nook and cranny had been emptied. There was no secret stash of letters to be found. Nate could feel himself losing control as he did another visual sweep of the large cement and cinder block room. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it in his bones. But what, damn it? What was pulling at the back of his subconscious?
“Stop, Nate,” Dimitri said quietly. “Bring them in for questioning. If Gellar had even half a brain, she would have destroyed any and all evidence of – ”
“No. Something isn’t right. Something is off. Damn it!” He started to pace and stopped short at the sight of Liz in the doorway. Her eyes were huge as she took in the disaster zone.
“Sorry, man. I called in reinforcements,” Dimitri said sheepishly. “I know you well enough to realize you’ll do this to the entire building if you can’t find what you’re looking for down here.”
Nate heard his friend talking but didn’t register exactly what he was saying. All he could see was the baby carrier strapped to Liz’ torso, and the tiny nearly-bald head peeping out over the top of it. Did he have a daughter? Or a son? He swallowed hard as he was hit with emotions so intense he could barely breathe.
“It has to be here,” he rasped. “If they’re as full of themselves as Marcie implied, they won’t get rid of the evidence. They’ll hang on to it so they can feel powerful. Help me find the letters. You said it yourself. You saw us together.”
This last was said to Liz. He was practically begging her. She sucked in a deep breath and nodded.
“I did,” she said as she slowly turned and took in the chaos. “The way the two of you – Wait. What’s that?”
Everyone turned to face the direction she was facing. Without waiting for a response, she headed toward a door. It was very narrow, almost half the width of a regular door. Nate’s heart rate spiked as he stormed past her toward it.
“Isn’t that where all of the mail deliveries come in?” Marcie asked.
“No. That one is,” one of the members of the security team answered. He was pointing to a heavy steel door at the back end of the room. Without having to be told, he approached the narrow door and started trying his master keys in the lock. After nearly five minutes, he’d tried them all. None of them worked.
“This is it,” Nate said, nodding. “Someone go to maintenance and get some tools. I’m getting into that room.”
Chapter 27
Alicia couldn’t decide whether to cry or laugh. Tristan and Ryan were being their amazing, loveable selves and yet she found herself sinking deeper and deeper into depression. It was going on three days since her conversation with Dimitri Marek and she had yet to hear from Nate. Not even the excuse of his being away on business calmed her. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to pick up the phone and make a call. If Nate would just let her know he’d received her message, it would give her hope.
“Dance, Mommy,” Tristan said, pulling her out of her funk for a moment. “Pwease. Hamster dance wiff us. You yike dat.” Ryan, her quiet boy nodded in agreement. Then he added a soft, “Pease Mommy” that nearly broke her heart. Tears stinging her eyes, she nodded and got up from her favorite seat in the living room to turn the stereo on. Before pressing the power button, she turned to ask them a question.
“What if Mommy sold our house and used some of the money to take you on a trip? Then, when we get back, we can use the rest of the money to buy a smaller house that isn’t so empty,” she said. They stopped their pre-dance warm-up in mid-jiggle and looked at each other, their mouths wide open. Almost immediately, they started shaking their heads “no”.
“Okay,” she whispered. Of
course they would say “no”. Just as she should. Why uproot them? It was obvious Nate wanted nothing to do with her.
But it’s not me I want him to be involved with, she thought as she turned the music on. Tristan and Ryan immediately started dancing, even before their favorite song was playing. She chuckled.
Alicia moved half-heartedly to the lively, silly song. Ryan pulled out all the stops to get a favorable reaction from her, from galloping like a horse to attempting a break-dancing move he’d seen on television the other day. Tristan was doing his own thing, imitating a ballet dancer. Pretty soon, she was giggling then laughing at their silly antics.
All of a sudden and in perfect sync, they started doing the Robot, a dance move Justin had taught them. Surprised and amazed, she watched them move in perfect rhythm with one another, their actions jerky and robotic, just like they’d been taught.
Grinning like a fool, she dropped to her knees in front of them and pulled them into a huge bear-hug. These were her babies, she realized. They loved her and trusted her to take care of them. They didn’t want some man whose picture she showed them. They were happy with her. The thought saddened her, but at the same time released her from the never-ending worry about having to do what was right. For the first time since coming to terms with her pregnancy, she realized that what was right was in her arms and they were all that mattered.
“Come here so I can eat you up,” she growled playfully.
“We’re ‘specially yummy today!” they cried, giggling. Alicia cheered and gobbled them up, eliciting the most incredible snorts, snuffles and laughter she’d ever heard.
* *
Nate tried not to run as he approached the house. The last two and half days had been hell. Between the investigation into Eileen Geller, who was actually Eileen Mager, the very lengthy interview he’d conducted with Justin Mager in an effort to get a better handle on the situation, and going through the massive volume of letters and other assorted correspondence Eileen had secreted away, he’d barely slept a wink. He was actually feeling light-headed as he walked up the front steps and knocked on Alicia’s door.