The door opened. Probably the nurse with her release papers.
“Alex?”
Beck? Her heart skipped a beat. Was it really Beck? She was afraid to look, afraid she heard his voice only in her heart because she wanted so much to see him. She turned slowly. Her heart gave an extra beat at the sight of him. She wrapped her arms around her waist and willed her knees not to buckle. Before she could pull herself together and run to him, the door opened again.
The floor nurse stepped inside. “Your papers are ready, Ms. Kingsley. I can have a cab here within twenty minutes.”
“You were going home in a cab?” Beck asked, eyes widening.
Alex nodded, unable to speak.
Beck spun to face the nurse. “Can she have another few minutes?”
“Of course.” The nurse stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her.
“Beck….” Alex’s voice wavered.
He held up both hands. “Alex, I have something to say before you leave. So, please let me get it out before I lose my nerve. If I do that, I’ll lose my mind.” He took a step forward. “I know we made a promise. But, damn it, Alex, I can’t let you go without telling you how I feel. I love you, damn it. I’m head-over-heels, moonstruck, teen-age-lovesick-crazy in love with you.”
The admission caused her to pull in a quick breath. In a flash, the nightmare just turned into a beautiful dream. In a minute, she would have to pick herself up off the floor. She was too filled with emotion to speak, but she unwound her arms from her middle and held them out to him.
Beck pressed her so hard against him she almost lost her breath. She started to cry, unable to hold back for one second longer the release of all the fear, the anger, the confusion, and pain of the last thirty-six hours.
He stroked her back, her arms and the back of her neck. “Everything’s all right now, babe. You’re safe. I would have died if anything had happened to you.”
A sob caught in her throat. She sighed against his chest and hugged him tighter. “I would have died if anything happened to you. I love you so much. I can hardly believe you’re here, and that you love me, too.”
“Does this mean,” he asked, “that you’re willing to break your promise and give me a very long-term commitment? Like for fifty, sixty, maybe even a hundred years?”
“I guess my willingness depends on what you have in mind,” she answered coyly.
“I’m talking marriage. The old-fashioned kind where we promise each other forever after. Can you do that, babe?”
“In a heartbeat.” Her own heart beat in triple time.
Beck lifted her chin with his finger and looked into her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Then I can assume those are tears of joy?”
Sniffling and laughing at the same time, she nodded. “I always cry when I’m happy. Right now, I’m so happy I could burst. I thought you intended to let me leave without a fight.”
He smiled. “Oh? What about you? I didn’t see you struggling not to get in that car and put a hundred miles between us.”
She shivered at the memory of climbing into the car. Of letting Kent inside her house. Of everything that happened after that. “Oh, Beck. I can’t believe Kent hated me that much. That Bill hated me even more.” Everything she had learned from Kent about Bill’s plans and the trust fund he was after tumbled out.
Beck stroked her back. “Hush. It’s over now.” After a pause, he asked, “I am confused about one thing, though. How would getting rid of you benefit your ex-husband financially?” He kissed her forehead, her eyes and the tip of her nose then worked his way down to her lips.
When he leaned a little away to see her better, she said, “I spoke with my father yesterday afternoon. He’s in a state of shock, too. Evidently, Bill’s been skimming money from my father’s company for a long time. He’s in heavy debt from gambling and womanizing.”
After another thoroughly satisfying kiss, she held his gaze. “On my birthday next week, I receive the five-million dollar trust my grandfather set up before he died. When I went into rehab after my babies were born, I turned over the interest from the trust to Bill to care for Cassie. I gave him complete power of attorney. I never questioned any of his expenditures. Guilt, I guess. I know now he used every penny he could get his hands on not only for her, but for himself as well.”
Even now, swaddled in the comfort of Beck’s arms, dredging up those memories was painful. Remembering them would never be easy. But, maybe, as time went on and with Beck’s love to sustain her, the burden might become lighter and the guilt less intense.
“The way the trust was written,” she continued, “upon my death the principal would go to my heirs. Since Cassie is my only heir, she would inherit my full estate. Accordingly, when she died, the money would go to her heir. To Bill.”
“Hold on,” Beck interrupted, a frown settling across his face. He guided her to the only comfortable chair in the room, sat, and lowered her onto his lap. He studied her. “When I asked you to marry me, I didn’t know I’d be marrying a millionaire. I don’t know if I can handle that, babe.”
She nudged him playfully in the chest and rested her forehead against his. “Don’t say you’ll hold that against me.”
Beck tilted back his head. “I’m serious, Alex. That’s a hell of a lot of money. We’re talking the princess and the pauper here. Kind of like your Indian princess and her renegade warrior. I’d like to think I can at least hold up my end of the financial burden in our relationship.”
“I sure hope you mean that, Beck, because I have no intention of keeping all that money. Years ago, I decided when the trust came due, most of the money would be donated to charities that help women who share my problem, but not my financial resources.” She saw his mouth heading her way and did nothing to deter his lips before they touched hers.
He kissed her soundly. “Do you know how wonderful you are?”
She broke away from the kiss and furrowed her brows. “Money will also be dedicated for children born with birth defects as a result of alcohol abuse. I’d like to donate money to the place where your sister lives.” Beck crushed her so tight to his chest her ribs hurt, but she wasn’t about to complain.
He shook his head. “I still don’t know what to make of you. In less than a month, you’ve changed my whole life, my whole view of the world and certainly my view of women, which”—he craned back his head and looked at her with a grin—“we both know up until now hasn’t been too positive.”
“So, I’ve changed your attitude about women, huh?”
“Definitely.”
She smiled. “You’ve made me look at men a little differently too, you know. You stood by me when you could have run the other way.”
“Not a chance. From the first moment I saw you, I was hooked by those freckles and the way you looked in a baseball cap.”
The door opened while they were in the middle of a deeply passionate kiss. The nurse was back.
“Excuse me, Ms. Kingsley. Are you ready to leave now? Will you still need a cab?”
Alex and Beck grinned at each other.
Beck looked up at the nurse. “You can forget the cab. I’ll be taxiing Ms. Kingsley myself. For the next fifty or sixty years,” he added when the door closed behind her
Once they were alone again, Alex slid her arm from around his neck and playfully tweaked his nose. “So, we’re not ten minutes away from the proposal, and already you’re planning to take away my driving privileges?”
“Only for your own good, babe.”
“Oh?” Her heart swelled with happiness. “How do you figure that?”
“Well, I intend to keep you barefoot and pregnant for a very long time. Both of those conditions could be hazardous to driving.”
She arched her brows. “I suppose I don’t have any say in the matter?”
“Sure, you do, babe. You get to say when and how many.”
“When we’ll have kids? And how many we’ll have?”
“Nope. You get t
o say when we get started and how many tries I get.”
She smiled at the answer to her prayers and looked at her wristwatch. “I figure thirty minutes to check out of this place and another thirty to get home should be enough time.”
“How many tries do I get?”
“That depends entirely on you. On how dedicated you are to your work.”
He grinned. “I assure you, I’ll be very dedicated. I promise to deliver not only quantity, but quality.”
Her heart melted.
No matter how long they were together, no matter what joyous celebrations and accomplishments they would share, their time together would never be long enough.
Epilogue
Two Years Later
Beck walked up behind Alex, slid his arms around her waist, and nibbled his way from the nape of her neck to her ear lobe. “Do you think Megan would mind too much if her birthday party got postponed for a couple of hours while her mama and papa fooled around?” he whispered, moving their bodies closer together.
She made a contented sound as he ground his hips against her bottom. Leaning over the sink, where she’d been rinsing the last of the dishes from Megan’s lunch, Alex drew back the kitchen curtain. “Megan might not mind, but our company probably would. I’m expecting GrammU and your father to turn the corner any minute.”
After a disgruntled sound, Beck playfully bit her neck and slid down his hands to cover the barely noticeable roundness of her stomach. “Any feelings yet on what our next bundle of joy will be?” He passed his hands over her stomach.
She laid her hands over his and stroked his knuckles with the pads of her thumbs as she leaned back into the gentle strength of his body. “I’m hoping for a little brother for Megan. Not that I’d mind another girl, but I’d kind of like a little Becker, wouldn’t you?”
He took another nip at the lobe of her ear. “No, I wouldn’t mind at all, as long as little Becker didn’t have a little peck….”
She slapped at his hands and leaned back to scowl.
“Ouch,” he cried, the beginning of a grin frozen in place when her scowl deepened. “Okay, I’ll watch my language this afternoon and be on my best behavior like I promised.”
“Thank you,” she said with feigned sharpness.
“You’re quite welcome,” he said. “Curtailing my colorful language is the least I can do since you’ve allowed me full rein in our more private quarters where I’m free to say things like….” he whispered some of his most colorful sexy words in her ear.
At the images his words conjured up in her mind, she murmured her pleasure, enjoying the fleeting memory of their most recent lovemaking. He zeroed in on her weakness and took advantage of the opportunity to grind his hips even more vigorously against her rear. Again, she slapped at his hands, but only halfheartedly, allowing herself the pleasure of his touch until Megan cried out from her room.
“I’ll check on her,” Beck offered, giving Alex’s neck a nibble before he left.
While she waited for Beck to return, Alex let her thoughts revisit many of the events of the past two years—all of which contributed in some measure to the happiness she enjoyed at this very moment.
Shortly after their marriage, they’d bought a house in a lovely, wooded area not far from the archaeological project that wound down six months ago. The house was close enough to make the weekly drive to Baton Rouge in a reasonable amount of time as she still taught one course a semester. Their home was also big enough for GrammaU to move in if that time ever came, although the feisty old lady declared she was staying where she was until she went out in a pine box. Beck had also kept the cabin in Mississippi for weekend and summer use, and they occasionally invited her friends and colleagues from the university over for barbecues.
The excitement of moving into their very first home together had been dampened by Cassie’s death. With Beck to sustain her, Alex endured the ordeal. She even worked through her grief and the guilt she lived with for so long and found some peace with herself.
She’d even forgiven Kent when he was diagnosed as mentally ill. An illness caused by the terrible accident he’d suffered in Iraq and the drugs that became necessary to dull his resulting physical pain.
Bill, she would never forgive. His greed and manipulation were based on nothing more than a selfish need to always put himself first, regardless of the price paid by others. The police never proved his involvement with Kent’s attempt on her life. She could only believe not even he was immune from the guilt that must surely haunt him whenever he came face to face with what he had done to her and her family.
Of course, she would always be grateful the shot that took Kent’s life came from the gun of a policeman and not her own. She would also give thanks forever that the small amount of poison Beck ingested allowed him enough time to get to the hospital and receive the help he needed.
Again, Beck’s hands slid up around her waist.
She snuggled back more comfortably against him.
“Ned should be here soon with the cake,” Beck said, sighing. “If he’s late, I swear I’ll…”
Alex shushed him. Beck’s dislike for Ned’s wife, Merilee, still caused a great deal of tension between the two men. Alex finally convinced Beck if he valued Ned’s friendship, the only way the two men could continue their business and personal relationships was for Beck to accept Merilee as she was.
“What time do you think your mother and Jeremy will get here?” Beck asked.
“Unless they have an unexpected delay, they should be here before two.” She coordinated her mother’s and Jeremy’s arrivals so they could ride together in a rental car from the airport.
“I’m glad your mother’s coming.”
“So am I,” she murmured, pressing her hands over his and retreating back into her thoughts.
An uncomfortable situation had been avoided when her father graciously offered to visit them the week before and have a special “early-bird” mini party for Megan. Realizing his presence, along with his new wife, Polly, might make things a bit tense if her mother were present, Alex eagerly accepted his offer.
After her mother finally admitted her marriage to Alex’s father was indeed over, she went into counseling and controlled her excessive drinking, as well as her getting lifetime obsession with her physical appearance somewhat under control. Recently, she mentioned to Alex of having a few dinner dates with a man she met at the local hospital where she now did volunteer work.
Beck nibbled at her ear again, and for a few moments Alex suspended all thoughts, except those involving the pleasurable tingles rippling through her as she fitted the curves of her body to her husband’s.
“I wish Jeremy could stay longer.” Beck brushed his lips down the side of her neck and returning to take the tip of her earlobe between his teeth.
“So do I, but I understand his situation. The business is still new and growing so fast he can’t be away for too long.”
“Still no regrets about backing away from the business with Jeremy?”
“I haven’t backed away, Beck,” she corrected. “I’ve merely postponed my day-to-day involvement until my priorities here no longer take center stage every day.” She’d never regretted her decision. She’d invested in Jeremy's company and limited her involvement to a Board of Directors position.
Along with the investment in Jeremy, she’d also made what she considered a small investment in Beck’s company, over much resistance by her husband. She had to do some tall talking to make him see any investment she made in him was an investment not only in her own future, but in the future of their children.
Aside from those two business investments, along with setting up a trust for her own heirs, she’d distributed the bulk of the trust fund money as she’d originally planned.
“Besides,” she continued, “we couldn’t relocate to Arkansas for me to be a full partner in the business. We’ve been over that. We couldn’t leave behind GrammaU and your daddy, and they certainly wouldn’t have m
oved with us.”
“I know, I know,” he whispered, pulling her closer to his body and resuming the tender strokes across her stomach. “You’ve brought such joy into the lives of others, I want to be sure you’re not shortchanging yourself.”
She leaned back and turned her head just enough for them to lock gazes. “Becker St. Romaine, how can you even think such a thing? I have everything in the world that matters right here with you and Megan and GrammaU and your daddy. And my professional life hasn’t been buried. I’m still very involved in my profession.”
Beside the one course she taught, she was a consultant for the State of Louisiana’s Office of Archaeology. She and Jeremy still co-wrote articles, and occasionally, she gave a speech at the local library or junior college. Her professional life remained very active, but her personal life, as wife and mother was most important now. “I have never been happier in my life,” she said. He hugged her so tight she had to beg him to release her so she could breathe.
“Babe, you’re beautiful. You don’t just give to people. You work miracles. You transform lives. I’ve never seen GrammaU so happy in years. She has her daughter back in some way. A far better daughter than my mother ever was. And my old man”—he chuckled—”excuse me, my father. Look what you’ve done for him. Sober for the first time in his life. Back fixing cars again and thinking about opening his own business. God, you’re wonderful.”
She wanted to tell him he was seeing her through rose-colored glasses, but he would never listen, so she accepted the over-rated accolades and thanked whatever powers that be she found this tender, beautiful man whose strength she depended on every day.
She tilted back her head so she could see him, “I just hope you remember how wonderful I am when the kids no longer need me every minute of the day, and I increase my professional work load. Especially when I have to make overnight trips out of town, and you’ll have to deal with ball games and dance lessons and….”
Beck turned her to face him. “Overnight trips? Without me? Now that might be a problem. I have no intention of ever spending a night apart, Alex. I want to be wherever you are. When I wake up in the morning fifty years from now, I want you at my side, only a kiss away.”
Unearthed Page 27