Hidden Love (Derrien Island Trilogy)

by Thorpe, Simmone

  “I just have one request in the interest of fairness!” Darius continued, “You said you needed time to think about us but you can’t do that if you are sharing a room with Nathan,” he said simply.

  That morning when she woke up and found herself cuddled intimately against Nathan she was startled and a little horrified at her state of undress. She recognized again just how much he wanted to be close to her and how out of sync she was with him right now. She had to be honest with him. This would be the third time she would be telling him she wanted space in a less than a week’s time. She had already decided to be firm about that tonight after the interviews were over.

  Seeing the play of emotions across her face Darius waited for her response. He was taking a chance saying something that was so out of line but ever since he’d discovered that she and Nathan might be sleeping together, he was tormented with thoughts that he would lose her forever.

  When she did not respond he asked, “Should I just forget this notion of us working out our relationship?”

  “No, I just want to do what is right for everyone involved! I did not plan on this happening!”

  “I know and actually I have thought of nothing else today! You had every right to move on with your life and from what I can see Nathan seems to be a pretty great find for you. Just saying that is very hard for me because it introduces the possibility that I could be the loser here. I want you to be happy, but I also want you to be sure about your choice as well.”

  “Candasee, is that you?” called out Nathan as he peered into the darkness. He swore she was out there with someone that looked like Darius. He’d almost thought that he did not attend the concert at all! He was about to call out to her again when one of Sally’s aides came up to him with a document to confirm the names of the performers.

  “Darius, I’ve got to go, have a wonderful trip!” she said.

  “Candasee started to jog back up the beach to where Nathan was waiting when Darius caught her by the wrist causing her to whirl around.

  He pulled her to him quickly and kissed her deeply before releasing her again back on to unsteady feet.

  Candasee covered her mouth with her hands in horror knowing Nathan stood several feet behind her in full view of what Darius just did.

  “Why Darius?” she said looking furtively over her shoulder to see if Nathan noticed. Luckily, he was still facing away from her looking at the document someone just handed to him.

  “Stop hiding Candasee, you can’t hide what we have between us anymore!”

  “Not like this Darius, I can’t do this to him! Not like this,” she said walking quickly back up the beach praying that Nathan saw nothing. The last thing she needed was to create a scene where she had to explain why she was kissing Darius so openly on the beach just now.

  She navigated her way back up the beach and when she reached him she tapped him on the shoulder, so that he turned around.

  “Oh it was you,” he said looking up from the documents in his hands. “I was looking all over for you because Sally wanted to ask you a few questions as well!”

  “I am sure you answered all that was necessary right? I’m not really up to an interview right now,” she confessed.

  “Why, are you feeling ill?

  “No, I’m just pretty worn out after all that has happened today! It has been a good day and I am happy for you and for the academy,” she said.

  Okay, I won’t press the issue but who were you talking to down there on the beach, it looked like Darius again. Was he bothering you?”

  “Yes it was Darius. He is leaving for three days on business and he just came to tell me goodbye,” she replied disguising the sadness in her voice.

  Nathan felt like doing a dance! This was welcome news, three days without the king of this empire lurking about! His earlier irritation at finding him alone with Candasee evaporated with relief.

  “Try not to look so excited Nathan!” said Candasee noting how much more relaxed his face became at hearing that bit of news.

  Nathan laughed in response and looked over her shoulder as he watched the dark figure walking slowly down the beach away from them.

  “Okay, I will look sad and depressed that I will have three days to finally breathe knowing that your ex is not lurking around actively trying to find ways to break us up!” he said with a hint of sarcasm!

  She hadn’t told him as yet about her trip to Krispin, saved by sleep and their busy day schedule but they had to talk. It was unavoidable! Obviously tonight did not seem like the best time but the urgency of it all niggled at the back of her mind.

  “Look Nathan, I am really tired and I just want to go to the room and take a shower. You can go back and handle the media but when you come up to the room we need to talk,” she said.

  “Okay, I have a few details to wrap up here before I come up anyway. I will see you in a few!”

  “Okay, sure!” replied Candasee sensing the tension of what she needed to say twisting in her gut. Nathan kissed her lightly on the cheek before she began her walk back to her room.

  Once he finished up ensuring that the academy returned the costumes they used to the event management team, he stopped off at his room to check to see if he left anything in the closets. Tonight he would remove the option to return to separate rooms by checking out of his. One of the instructors was fed up sharing anyway and he’d offered him the room for the rest of their stay.

  He opened the door to 510 and right on the floor in front of him was a sealed envelope with his name on it!

  That was strange! He picked it up an opened it immediately. Inside was a note,

  To: Mr. Nathan Carthswright, Head of Carthswright Academy of the Performing Arts

  From: Mr. Darius Brogan and family

  This letter serves to inform you that Candasee Maxwell-Brogan will be unavailable in the morning session for her class at the intensive as we as a family celebrate Mother’s engagement.

  I do apologize for this inconvenience and ask you to extend your understanding to Candasee as your employee.

  We will be off- island and are scheduled to return by noon the following day in time for the evening’s performances.

  I regret any inconvenience this causes to your event!

  Nathan balled up the note and squeezed it tightly in his fist as the anger he felt for this man surfaced again. He worded this letter as though he was nothing more than Candasee’s employer, her boss? And what was this talk about being off island overnight. Was that the plan for them to spend the night together in some private location? Candasee had said nothing about being off island and spending time overnight to him! She got back at six in the morning instead of at noon and Nathan wondered what had happened to change those plans. He walked over to the mirror and studied his reflection.

  “Nathan, are you hiding the truth from yourself here?” he said aloud to his reflection in the mirror.

  He was not a man that was easily led astray because he thought about what he chose to do long before he acted. He’d wanted to be with Candasee for over ten months now but he let himself think it through for most of that time. In all that time he’d studied her character and her passion for life and he saw someone who he could make very happy and who could do the same for him!

  There was a knock at the door and Nathan opened it and outside was Dave, one of the instructors. He had offered him the use of 510 for the rest of the stay seeing as how he was never there anyway.

  “Hey Nate, thanks again for letting me stay in your room. It was starting to get crowded in mine. My roommate has this weird habit of throwing his stuff on my bed and it was beginning to drive me nuts.”

  “No problem man!” Nathan replied patting him on the back.

  “Hey what’s going on? You were in such high spirits not fifteen minutes ago!” exclaimed Dave as he noted Nathan’s guarded expression. “We just nailed the entertainment package!”

  “I’m fine; I just have a lot on my mind!”

  “Well I don’t me
an to pry but I think you have a little lady waiting for you who can help you take the pressure of your mind! Huh?” he asked winking and dropping his bags down on the floor near the closet.

  “You would think so, wouldn’t you?” said Nathan in a harsh tone.

  “Whoa, don’t tell me there’s trouble in paradise already?”

  “Look I need to make a call, so make yourself comfortable!” said Nathan grabbing his cell and stepping out onto the balcony.

  Lately the clear view that he had of his path with Candasee was growing very foggy indeed and perhaps some advice from his brother could help.

  The call connected quickly and his brother answered sounding upbeat.

  “Hey, Nathan, what’s up how’s the intensive going?” asked Graeme, Nathan’s eldest brother.

  “Don’t you say hello anymore Graeme?”

  “Sure I do, but these days caller ID removes the mystery!” Graeme replied.

  “Man, I need your advice on something, can you spare a moment?” asked Nathan.

  “Sure, anything for my little brother! What’s up?”

  “You know I told you about this woman I am seeing now?”

  “Yes Candasee, I think the entire family knows of her by now, you are always talking about her.”

  “Well, I planned a double purpose for this trip, to really take our relationship to the next level because, well, I guess I can tell you...”

  “Tell me what?”

  “I want to ask her to marry me very soon?”

  “Wow that is great! Does the rest of the family know?”

  “They have an inkling of my intentions but I chose not to make any formal declarations until I was sure about her answer!”

  “So what do you need my help for, sounds like you have this all figured out!”

  “I don’t, I thought I did but now I am having my doubts. I am seeing what happened to Lawrence happening to me all over again here man!”

  “You mean with Asania?” said Graeme almost in a growl as he recalled the damage that woman wreaked on their brother.

  “Yeah exactly like that! You wouldn’t believe the time I’ve been having here. We had to switch hotels because of bad weather and that landed us at the Derrien Hilton which happens to be the property of Candasee’s billionaire ex-husband Darius Brogan.”

  “Darius Brogan is Candasee’s ex?” said Graeme in surprise, “This is getting even more interesting!”

  “You have no idea! This man wants his wife back and he is getting in the way and Candasee is well, to put it lightly, either confused by the attention or she still has real feelings for him.”

  “How does she feel about you?”

  “She says that she loves me, but tell me this, does the woman who loves you spend the night on another island with her ex-husband and family and return at dawn without telling you any of the details? Then her ex is sending me notes in my room asking me to pardon my employee’s absence. He is totally disregarding my relationship with Candasee and it is driving me absolutely nuts! ”

  “Whoa, I know that I am not there to see everything but Nathan, I think you should cut your losses while you still can! I don’t want another Lawrence episode on my hands!”

  “I knew you would say that!” said Nathan wearily.

  ““Don’t you agree, isn’t that why you called me to confirm that answer for you? You saw how much therapy Lawrence had to go through and how he is still not even back on the dating scene yet! If Candasee leaves you do you think you can handle it like a man without getting yourself into trouble?” asked Graeme loudly.

  “Look I am not Lawrence and I am hardly likely to go off the deep end the way he did. I am not even sure that I am correct in accusing Candasee like this!”

  “Well, you asked for my advice bro. I am not the one who called you! I think you should cut your losses and just end it! There are other women just as talented and beautiful as Candasee right here in Barbados.”

  “You think that if I could replace her just like that, that I would be having this conflict within myself Graeme? Candasee is the first woman who I have ever really fallen in love with. Why is it that from the time I met her I felt as though she was the key to everything I have kept in my heart for that special woman in my life?”

  “Man, I’ve never heard you like this, you’ve got it really bad!”

  “You have no idea!” admitted Nathan slumping into the lounge chair.

  “Maybe you should give her a little time to think things through without pressure. It sounds as though she has feelings for you but the relationship she had with Darius would have been powerful too. The past has a strange hold on a person who is afraid of moving on sometimes.”

  “I was wondering that too! The good thing though is that her ex is going to be away for a few days! I am conflicted between trying harder to keep her or just to let go and see who she chooses on her own!”

  “Well backing off a little is definitely an option that would bring a lot more clarity. She will be able to think without having two guys pressuring her all day. To think about it, she must be pretty overwhelmed trying to juggle her own emotions too.”

  “Graeme, she didn’t even want to come to the hotel when she heard the intensive was shifted here. She was terrified that she would have to face this man again and was ready to catch the next plane back to Barbados. In retrospect I should have let her go back. At the time I wasn’t sure what the reason was, but now I am wondering if they ever really closed the issue of their relationship.”

  “They were married you know. That is not something anyone just walks away from no matter the reason. Marriage creates a really deep bond between two people and it is not like the movies say you know. It doesn’t just break like that,” said Graeme.

  I don’t want to think about that! I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for her!”

  “Give her a day or two without you in her face, but reconnect before her ex comes back, but let her come to you!”

  “What if she decides that she is better off living her life without me?”

  “That is the chance you will have to be willing to take!” said Graeme. “Sometimes the things we want in life are the things we can’t seem to have. I believe though that if you two belong together nothing will prevent her from seeing that.”

  “This seems like a solution but it just leaves me feeling really uneasy! There is too much at stake to just leave it all to chance.”

  “That is a sure sign that you don’t trust Candasee like you should and perhaps thinking about marriage is a bit premature,” cautioned Graeme.

  “Why did I even bother calling you?” asked Nathan now feeling peeved by Graeme’s blunt responses.

  “You called me because I am the only one with the guts to set you straight when you need to hear it,” Graeme replied forcefully.

  Nathan remained silent for a few moments as the gravity of what Graeme was advising wrestled in his gut.

  Dave poked his head around the door at that moment.

  “Hey Nathan, I don’t want to disturb you but Candasee is here to see you!”

  “Bro, the moment of decision seems to be upon me already, I got to go! Thanks for your advice!”

  “Sure anytime,” replied Graeme.

  Nathan disconnected the call and re-entered the hotel room.

  “Look guys, I am going to give you some space to talk, and you can buzz me on my cell when the coast is clear,” said Dave slipping out of the room quickly.

  “We need to talk!” they both said simultaneously.

  “Come, let’s sit over here, said Nathan gesturing to the sitting area in his room!”

  They both sat and Nathan observed that Candasee was visibly nervous about whatever it was that she wanted to say.

  “I know you were coming up to meet me but I thought it best to come here to you instead!” began Candasee.

  Nathan felt the knot of dread in his abdomen tighten with her words.

  “Why, what’s wrong?”

&nb
sp; “I feel that I owe you some explanations for what has been happening over the past few days since we came here!”

  “Yes, and I need to say some things to you too!” replied Nathan.

  “I want you to know first of all that I do care a lot about you and I hope that what I say next doesn’t cheapen that in anyway. The truth is that since I’ve come here I have been very confused about my feelings for Darius and we both realized that we never came to a point of resolving what happened between us. We’ve never really had closure on our relationship. I think you already know that he wants us to reconcile. Sometimes I think I want that too but I am afraid that I am living in the past and the thought of getting hurt again scares me. I also know that you and I have started something between us that is really great and I’ve said that to Darius too.”

  “I bet it hasn’t changed his mind right?” asked Nathan now scowling that his suspicions were confirmed.

  “No it hasn’t!”

  “I asked you a question last night and you did not answer it. Do you love Darius still? Am I wasting my time with you?”

  “I am not going to lie to you Nathan, yes I still love Darius but I love you too and I know the situation is terribly unfair and I am not prepared to hurt either of you, but I know it will be inevitable!”

  “So what do you call last night when you went off island with him? Isn’t that stringing me along knowing how I feel about you, knowing that you are my girlfriend?”

  “I see you finally got the note!” Candasee began.

  “Yeah I got it and your ex seems to think that all there is between us is a working relationship? Are you sure you have made it clear that you love me that we are together now. Why is he being so bull-headed about this?”

  “Darius is the type that goes after what he wants and he is never daunted by opposition. Look , I told you that last night was not a date, it was to celebrate Marianne...”

  “Did you kiss him?” Nathan interjected cutting off her explanation and got straight to the point.

  Candasee felt her breath catch in her throat. He was not even giving her the chance to explain and it was all coming out so wrong. She had to tell him the truth though even if he hated her for it afterwards.