She re-emerged into the waiting area and found Ramon seated there with Marianne and Francis. She gave him the message and he went inside.
Marianne smiled encouragingly at her.
“I have to go, Mom. Francis take care. Tonight’s the showcase and final judging so I need to be there for that,” Candasee said.
She hugged them one more time before leaving lost in thought at Darius’ strange request.
“Hey, how are you?” asked Ramon, sitting beside his friend.
“I feel terrible but that should pass soon, I hope,”
“I know that this time around you felt you had to do something but next time you get one of these heroic ideas, please wait for the police. I don’t want to have to give your eulogy so soon after finding my long lost brother,”
“Yeah, I think I agree with you there,” said Darius. “This was a close call.”
“So, I met Nathan outside, he seems to be a decent guy, a bit on the intense side though,” said Ramon.
“Yeah well he’s trying.”
“That’s all I’m going to get out of you on that subject?” Ramon asked.
“What’s there to say? He’s Candasee’s fiancé!”
“When are you going to tell her what you’ve done for her Darius? She is leaving here in two days you know?”
“I know that but I’m not going to manipulate her into being with me. I tried that approach before with disastrous results.”
“This isn’t the same thing. You were working against her then not with her or for her best interests.”
“It’s the same thing to me. I don’t want Candasee to stay with me just because she thinks I need her help or because I’ve built her dream for her. If she and I renew our marriage, it has to be because she chose the man who would fit the love and vision she has for herself the most. After meeting Nathan and seeing her with him I’m not sure that’s me anymore.”
“You didn’t see her out there in the hall. She was literally in pieces wondering if you’d make it,”
“And so was my mother, Julia and I’m sure you and Courtney were too. I’m not minimizing her feelings, but all it shows is that she has a heart which unfortunately right now is very divided. I told her to see what she had with Nathan first and that I didn’t want to see her again until she was sure that I was the one she wanted. I’m not going to share her heart Ramon. I can’t.”
“You are joking right? What if she never comes back, what will you do then?”
“I’ll pick up the pieces and move on.”
“Right, like you’ve been doing these past two years? You call living out of your office because you don’t want to go to your own house living? Travelling because you want to escape going home is living? Buying more things that you don’t need to fill that empty, gaping hole in your heart is living?”
“All of that’s going to change when I get out of here. I’m going home when I leave the hospital. It’s time to face my demons there,” Darius said with a thin smile. “If she has a chance of being happier with him I think she should take it.”
“Wow, I don’t think I could ever give up Courtney like that! She means too much to me,”
“And you won’t ever have to, you guys are already perfect for each other and you’ve walked the path Candasee and are on now. You found your way back to each other and your relationship is stronger than ever before. Candasee doesn’t know if she wants to come back and I am giving her the freedom to say no to me.”
“I know I can’t tell you what to do but I think you should tell her everything. Don’t let her walk away just like this!”
“I have to for her sake and mine. Listen Ramon, I need your help with something else okay.”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I want you to contact Graeme Carthswright in Barbados. I was on my way to see him today, but as you can see I didn’t make it. Make arrangements with my pilot to fly him here tomorrow instead to meet with me.”
“Okay, this is a strange request. Is he by any chance Nathan’s brother?”
“Yes actually, and he is the chairman of their arts foundation. I wanted to make sure that the scholarship prize money for this year was available on time. I watched those young people this week work really hard for this, and they made the final night of the travel show a real success for me. I owe them a lot for that. He called me and asked for my help and I decided I would do it.
“What do you want me to say to him?”
“Tell him that I will donate two million to the foundation but there are a few conditions he must agree to that we must discuss in person. I need you to bring my briefcase from the car tomorrow. I believe Gerald took it back to the hotel by now. This is important!
The night of judging could be summed up by one word, spectacular. The students performed extremely well in each discipline they’d selected. Candasee could sense Nathan’s eyes on her during the night but for some reason she’d avoided looking at him. There would be time to talk later. Julia was welcomed back tearfully by the other delegates who were appalled at her story and at Eve’s part in all of it. She managed to perform well despite all that she’d experienced that day.
The addition of the travel show performance to the intensive really helped to sharpen the students, and they really gave their best. It would be very difficult to select the scholarship winner this year.
Now that it was all finished and the final judging for each instructor was submitted they all sat together around the table they waited for Nathan to speak. He’d been looking down at the paper in front of him for past few minutes in silence and everyone was a bit nervous and fidgety. It seemed like minutes had passed before he began to speak.
“I owe all of you an apology and an explanation tonight,” he began. “We began having some financial problems with funding the academy’s work when we lost our main government grant due to the mismanagement of the funds by my brother Graeme. I tried to talk to him about it on more than one occasion but he continued despite those talks. I’m guilty of trying to cover up his mistakes for the sake of saving face and the reputation our mother worked so hard to build. A few months ago the board realized that we couldn’t fund the scholarship and still meet next year’s full annual budget. I thought we could still have the intensive and during the year find another grant or even increase the student fees or intake but that didn’t suit my brother. He needed an immediate solution. In retrospect, I should’ve just cancelled this year’s intensive until things improved but I didn’t want to seem like I was a failure or to make our family look bad. I’m the one everyone sees because I am the Principal of the academy so any failure rests squarely on my shoulders. I knew that the Samaroo’s wanted to fix the results of the intensive and at first I told my brother that I wouldn’t help him to do it. He promised this would be the last time he would need my help and I wanted to believe him. He’d already received money and the Samaroo’s were expecting what they were promised to be delivered under my supervision. I tried to tell the Samaroo’s that there could be a better way to do things and then they threatened my family’s safety and the safety of everyone at the intensive.” He looked at Candasee meaningfully. “If I decided to look the other way this one time they assured me that we would have the money, save our reputation and no one would be harmed. I didn’t want to risk testing them because I knew they’d follow through on their threats and I couldn’t live with myself if I’d caused my family or even my fiancée to be hurt as a result. I was arrogant and reckless to think I could make any kind of agreement with them. I had no idea that they would still resort to harming Julia just based on their daughter’s spiteful words. I decided that when we all got home I would try to help Graeme resolve the matter quietly when we didn’t have the delegates and the issue of their safety to deal with. I am sorry that this has happened. We were lucky that Darius Brogan managed to see Julia’s kidnapping or else she would probably be dead now and it would’ve been my fault because I knew how dangerous the Samaroo’s were and I did
n’t do anything about it. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to him and a deep apology to all of you.”
The instructors gathered around the table nodded in agreement.
“I also want to let you know that I will no longer be Principal at the academy for the next term and will be submitting my resignation to the board when I return to Barbados.”
“We know you made a mistake, but isn’t this a bit drastic?” asked Trudy. “You do a great job running the school, the problem isn’t you its Graeme. We need you there!”
All of the instructors agreed collectively.
“Thanks for your votes of confidence but I’ve already made up my mind. I need to do more on my own from now on. So you have early warning, the position will be up for interview shortly and you are all welcome to apply. The future of the academy is shaky now and there may not even be jobs for all of you if we don’t get funding.”
Candasee sat there shocked as she listened to Nathan. She was finding this out with everyone else? When was he planning to tell her what he’d done and now that he was leaving the academy?
“Nathan, I just want you to know that we still trust your leadership. Based on what you said, you felt that your hands were tied at every end. Please reconsider leaving,” said Dave.
The collective group agreed and a few rose to go over to him and hug him. Only Candasee remained seated. She would have a lot more to say later and in private he assumed.
“Okay, now that’s out of the way, we have a scholarship winner to select.”
It was almost one in the morning but still Candasee couldn’t sleep. It was the second night Nathan stayed away when she’d wanted to talk to him. She’d turned off the air conditioner and opened the door to the balcony and the air stirred the curtains gently.
Suddenly she heard a click and the door to the room swung open and closed quietly. Candasee lay on her side motionless on top of the covers, and soon the opposite side of the bed sank. She smelled Nathan’s signature scent which always reminded her of warm days at the beach and refreshing lemonade. He lay behind her and wrapped his lean arms around her waist and pulled her body into his warmth.
She resisted and sat upright instead.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I couldn’t.”
“It’s like everything has changed between us.”
“Not everything, I still love you, that hasn’t changed one bit,” he replied softly. “I’m asking you to forgive me.”
“How can I, you have been lying to me all this time!”
“I know and I’m sorry but haven’t you been lying to me too? We both made mistakes this week.”
He was right, she was far from innocent.
“I can’t stay at Carthswright’s Academy Candee; I can’t be true to who I really am there. I want to do more with my life and I’ve had a stroke of luck to help me do just that”, he said getting up and coming over to her side of the bed.
“What is it? What happened?”
“Sally Flanders has offered me a job!”
“Are you joking?”
“No I am quite serious. The night of the travel show’s concert program she asked me to help her produce a new reality show based on challenges in the performing arts and she invited me up to Colorado in a few weeks to discuss and finalize the details.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I would need to consult with my lawyer and peruse the terms first but I am definitely interested.”
“Wow Nathan, Congratulations! I see why you are resigning as Principal now.”
“I’d planned to resign before I got this opportunity, but it has come along just when I needed it. I’ll be sourcing talent coaches and judges and I’ll be helping Sally design the structure of the program and the production schedule. It’s like managing the academy but on a much wider scale.”
“I am happy for you. I think you deserve this chance for a new beginning,” Candasee said sincerely.
“I’m surprised that you missed it,” said Nathan frowning.
“Missed what?”
“You didn’t ask me about my lawyer,”
Candasee looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
“I only have one lawyer and she also happens to be my fiancée as well,”
“You meant me?”
“You are a corporate attorney aren’t you?”
“Well yes, but I haven’t practiced law in over two years so I didn’t think you meant me.”
“I want you to come with me. She will need a talent coach for dance as well. It’s the perfect opportunity for us to start over together far away where we can finally give what we feel for each other a chance to grow.”
“You are asking me to move to Colorado with you?”
“Well no actually, we’d be based in Florida. I want this for us so much that I can taste it. I know I didn’t tell you immediately, but with all that’s been happening the right moment never came until now.”
“I don’t know. Since coming on this trip I feel more like I should be helping people like Julia, who will never have a chance to make it big without a miracle. I think it’s time for me to open up my own school. I don’t know if reality TV is a good fit for me.”
“The show would be perfect because you would have the opportunity to coach people who are exactly like Julia and most of all we could be together Candasee.”
“Wow, this is a bit much to decide on right now Nathan,”
“Don’t try deciding now Candasee; just spend some time thinking about it first. Besides you did promise me a cold mountain vacation and I’m holding you to that promise. At least come away with me, where we can finally be alone together Candasee. We need to get away from the static, the noise, the pressures, and your ex.” He said the last word and paused meaningfully.
With that last reference Candasee stood up and walked over to the sliding glass doors and a gust of wind lifted her hair off her shoulders gently.
“Don’t walk away from me Candasee. Just four nights ago you and I finally made love and you opened your heart to me that night all the way. It seemed that every moment since then someone has trying to separate us. Do you still remember how you felt then?”
“Making love to you was incredible Nathan. I felt as though we were finally moving forward.”
Nathan followed her and stood behind her. How could her get her to understand? He encircled her waist his arms and inhaled the fragrance of her hair and trailed his hands upward till they were cupping her breasts. His breathing became more rapid as he swiped his thumbs across her nipples.
The way was clear now and Darius had practically told her to go back to Nathan, but she was still hesitating.
“Candasee tell me, how does my touch make you feel?” Nathan demanded, now biting the skin on her shoulder softly.
“You touch me like I mean everything to you,” she replied.
“You are the most important person in my life right now. Nothing has changed for me Candasee. I can’t bear the thought of a life without you. I just wanted to protect you, can’t you see that? I didn’t know what else to do,”
“I don’t know if that’s enough for me Nathan.”
“So Darius is the hero of it all right, your knight in shining armour running in to save the day?” he accused his hands falling away. What would it take to have all of her? He was so frustrated.
“He almost got killed trying to fix this mess, yes he is a hero to me,” Candasee blurted standing up with her hands on her hips as she faced Nathan angrily. How could you be so callous about that?
“I’m not being callous about anything; I was there too remember or is that part meaningless to you?”
“You saw that hateful girl Eve doing her best to abuse Julia and you stood up for her. You say you love me but you were willing to risk Julia’s life to keep me. That sounds more like an obsession than love.”
“Candasee I really tried my best...”
“Well I guess your best just isn�
�t good enough for me,” Candasee replied. “When I think that someone could’ve died because of this mess, I feel really hurt and angry and I need to blame someone. I know that at the root of this its Graeme’s fault, but you were the one who implemented the plan still.”
Nathan felt his world fall out from beneath him as she spoke. Her eyes looked flat but an inner struggle was still warring in their depths. She wanted to trust him again but she couldn’t find what she needed in him to hold on to.
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t think we are right for each other Nathan.”
“Like hell we aren’t Candasee! I bet Darius was all too keen to point out to you all the reasons why we wouldn’t work.”
“Actually no, he didn’t! He told me that he could tell you loved me and that I should give you and me a chance. That I should listen to what you had to say and to forgive you because your hands were tied.”
“He did?” exclaimed Nathan in shock.
“Yes he did. He doesn’t even want me to visit him again until I am sure that I want to reconcile.”
“Candasee, if even Darius can see how you still feel about me, why can’t you?” he said advancing on her as a tidal wave of possessiveness roared through his blood threatening to consume him whole. He’d gone three days without having a taste of her lips and he was starving for that lost contact. Her lips parted in surprise and he didn’t hesitate before capturing her lips and devouring them fiercely.
He couldn’t hold back his hunger any longer; she was going to drive him mad. Despite herself, Candasee heard a soft moan rise out of her as she allowed Nathan to kiss her. Although his kiss filled her with warmth and she tingled in response to him, it didn’t compare to what she’d felt in Darius’ arms. It wasn’t simply warmth, fire and tingles she felt with him but he left her feeling shattered, consumed and literally boneless every time he kissed her. It’d been like that from their very first kiss six years ago.
Fighting Destiny Page 28