by Liz Kelly
She left the pool house and, after showing the catering staff where her groom’s cake, her pretty petit fours, and the last-minute addition of her colorful French macaroons were to be placed, Piper found her way to the end of the long white-chair-and-rose festooned seating area where Brooks Bennett was holding court. It was then that she had her first opportunity to meet Brooks’ sister, Darcy, and Vance’s good friend, Lewis Kampmueller.
Annabelle and Duncan joined the four of them as all of Henderson seemed to pour across the grounds to where the outdoor ceremony would take place. The largest white tent Piper had ever seen—looking like it could cover a football field—had been erected to cover a stage for the band, a wooden dance floor, and large round tables covered in the sheerest of pinks. More pale pink roses than Piper could imagine ever being gathered in one place were hung from the chandeliers and stuffed into enormous crystal rose bowls. Genevra’s roses, Hale had told Piper. They reminded him of Genevra.
“Duncan, when I’m mayor, is there any way to institute an ordinance against gossip?”
Everyone around Brooks burst out laughing.
“I am dead serious,” he said. “You cannot believe the spiteful bullshit that is being bandied about Henderson concerning this wedding and Genevra and Hale. I know small towns have their issues, and gossip is one of them. But to spread speculation and harsh opinions as if they were facts? I don’t like it. And I am determined to do something about it.”
“You’re just upset because it’s Lolly’s mother. It’s hitting close to home.” Annabelle tried to soothe him. “People can’t help but talk about the two of them. They are gorgeous for one thing and have money to burn for another.”
Brooks started to protest.
“I know,” Annabelle told him. “Hale’s wealth shouldn’t give cause to throw stones, but it does.”
“I just don’t get it,” Brooks said. “Because I’m not talkin’ about the town in general. I’m talkin’ about a lot of these women I’m seeing comin’ in now. They’ve actually been invited to this wedding and they are still chirping like jealous wet hens. It burns my ass what I’m hearing about Genevra.”
“What are they saying about Genevra?” Darcy asked.
Yes, Piper thought, what are they saying about Genevra? How could anybody say anything bad about Genevra? Genevra, who had taken the place of Piper’s mother and best friend in the short time she’d known her. Genevra, who had opened her arms, her heart, and her kitchen to Piper. Genevra, who always had sage advice on dealing with her insecurities about Vance. What in the world could anyone possibly ever say negatively about Genevra?
“Forget I said anything,” Brooks said. “I’m not repeating any of it. It would make me as bad as the rest of them. I shouldn’t even have brought it up. Goddammit, I need a beer,” he said, stomping off to a bar behind them.
Piper looked to Darcy and Annabelle. Annabelle gathered the two of them close and explained that it was just human nature for the women of Henderson to be a little bit jealous of Genevra. After all, she’d snagged Henderson’s most eligible bachelor.
The music started to play, and the growing crowd began to take their seats. Piper followed along behind Annabelle and Duncan, feeling awkward until Brooks caught up to them and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Lolly wants us all up front,” he told the group, indicating the second row of seats marked with a tulle bow and long stemmed roses.
She filed in with the rest of them, sitting between Annabelle and Brooks, happy her view wasn’t going to be hindered by a lot of tall guests. The only people they were seated behind were Emelina, Pinks and Jesse James. Brooks pointed out Genevra’s in-law’s, Major and Mrs. DuVal, to Piper. They were seated directly across the aisle with their three sons and daughters-in-law, Lolly’s aunts and uncles. He pointed out the attractive couple in front of them as Genevra’s parents.
Piper settled into her seat, appreciating the beautiful altar that had been constructed, and growing in anticipation of finally laying eyes on the gowns Lolly and Genevra had spent so much time creating in secret.
A hand fell on Annabelle’s shoulder, and then a plump little face underneath salt-and-pepper hair poked its way between her and Piper. Piper couldn’t help but overhear the conversation that ensued.
“Annabelle, dear. Could it be true that Genevra’s pregnant? With this rush to the altar, it does sort of scream shotgun wedding.”
Annabelle turned her head and flashed the old busybody her most brilliant smile. “Now, Miss Adams. Is that any way to talk about the bride?”
Miss Adams chuckled and tapped Annabelle’s shoulder affectionately. “I guess it’s not. Forgive me. I suppose we can hardly blame Hale for wanting to tie the knot quickly at his age. I mean Genevra is lovely. It’s not as if she’s some blond, out-of-town, gold digger who has trapped our Hale into marriage by gettin’ herself pregnant, is it?”
“No, no it’s not,” Annabelle laughed quietly, tapping Miss Adams’ hand with her own. She threw Piper a wide-eyed, can-you-believe-that look as Miss Adams sat back in her seat.
Wow, Piper thought. Brooks had not been wrong about the gossip in Henderson, for Lord’s sake. She shuddered to think what was being said about her. Because she was blond and she was from out of town. It was just a darn good thing that she wasn’t….”
Oh shit.
Piper promptly sat forward and threw up in her purse.
Chapter Thirty-two
Two Weeks Later
“You summoned?” Vance said¸ sitting his tense and pissed-off body in the middle of Brooks’ desk.
Brooks looked around them, apparently not wanting to be overheard. Of course, when he got into Vance’s face and yelled, “What the fuck is wrong with you?” well…that theory went out the window. Still, rookies scattered like cockroaches in the light, giving the two of them space.
Vance thought about taking a swing at Brooks. Just a nice, quick upper cut to the jaw to knock his big ass down a few pegs. But he remembered what happened yesterday when he’d taken a swing at Pinks. The Ninja went into serious defense mode, and Vance had landed on his back, hard. Three maximum doses of Advil later, he was still a hurtin’ cowboy.
“You can yell at Tansy all you want,” Brooks said, starting to rant. “I don’t care if you pick a fight with Pinks or try to knock around The Outlaw. I don’t even care if you reduce your poor grandmother to tears. But I am tellin’ you one time and one time only, you do not fuck with Lolly, ever.”
“Oh, what? She ran home and told her big boyfriend I was being mean? Well, screw her and screw you too. I didn’t ask her to come over and try to psychoanalyze me.” Vance hopped off the desk and headed for the door. He didn’t need this bullshit. He really didn’t.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Brooks said, following him out the door. “Your father heads to Europe on his honeymoon and you turn into a tyrant and an asshole.”
“This has nothing to do with my father,” Vance insisted, stalking over to the Corvette. He was going to get in that orange machine and put it through its paces like he’d never done before. He was finally going to see just how fast this damn car could go.
“Piper, then,” Brooks said, dogging him. “If not your dad, it’s got to be Piper. What stupid-ass thing did you pull this time?”
Vance whipped around and slammed his buddy up against Brooks’ own truck. “Was sending her three dozen yellow roses a stupid-ass thing to do?” he asked, his fist twisted up in Brooks’ uniform. “Or was going with her to have dinner at her father’s the thing that has her backpedaling? Maybe it’s the fact that I call her twelve times a day because she only answers every so often and never calls me back? Clearly, telling her I love her was a stupid-ass thing to pull, because that only worked to keep her in my life for three fucking weeks before shit started to hit the fan.”
“What are you saying?” Brooks asked, taking a deep breath. “Piper’s…?”
“Killing me. She’s killing me, Brooks. I swear to God, I will
not live through this. My mother walking out was crazy bad. But this? Piper?” He shook his head, unable to voice any more of his fears. He let go of Brooks and took a step back.
“Third Base, talk to me. You don’t want Lolly involved, fine. But let me in. When you’re in the trenches, I’m in the trenches. So…talk. Or I’m going to beat it out of you.”
“It’d probably hurt less just to have you beat me.” Vance meant it sincerely. Because the pain Piper was putting him through right now, he wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy. For a man who prided himself on his instincts with women, he had been stunned, shaken, and destroyed over the last three weeks. And Brooks was right. He’d been taking it out on everybody.
“Piper started pulling away right after the wedding.”
“She was sick,” Brooks reminded him.
Vance shrugged. She hadn’t seemed that sick to him. “She insisted she needed to focus on her work, to get back into the rhythm of being a lawyer. Like I’m supposed to have any idea what the hell that means. So I backed off, tried to be understanding, gave her some space. But the weekend comes and she won’t come back to Henderson.”
“So, you go to Raleigh,” Brooks said.
“Of course, I go to Raleigh. I’m addicted to Piper. What’s keeping me in Henderson other than my home, my grandmother, and my four different jobs? I go to Raleigh and things seem a little off, but I seduce her into bed and boom, things are back to normal. Or so I thought until I call her at her office Monday morning as I’m heading back to Henderson, and she sounds like she’s been crying. I ask what’s going on and she swears everything’s fine, so I let it go.”
“You let it go? A sobbing woman on the phone and you let it go? Have you not read your own freaking instruction manual? You never let a sobbing woman go.”
“She wasn’t sobbing on the phone, idiot. She just sounded like she’d been crying earlier. Regardless, I sent the roses, and when she called to thank me, she sounded…unnatural.”
“Unnatural how?”
Vance did his best to express his growing irritation with a look.
“Third Base. I’m only trying to help.”
“I get it. Just work with me here.”
“Fine.”
“We had dinner with her father that Thursday evening. The man couldn’t have been nicer to me. Piper cooked us a beautiful meal, but the whole time she was antsy and dropping things. I mean, she was not herself. And I wrote that off as anxiety over me trying to impress her dad or something.”
“Makes sense.”
“Right? But we aren’t back at her place for ten minutes before she straps on bitchy Lawyer Beaumont and picks a fight.”
“About what?”
“Hell if I know. I was halfway back to Henderson before I realized I didn’t know how it started or even what it was about. All I know is she pushed a few of my buttons and I was slammin’ out her door and into my truck, putting the pedal to the metal.”
“Next time, just grab her and throw her into bed.”
“And the next time, that’s exactly what I did. Shut her up and kept her mouth too busy to make me crazy. I have stopped askin’ what’s wrong and started throwing my weight around. Only now she’s not picking up her cell or her office phone.”
“Maybe she’s just having a real busy day at work.”
“Let me clarify. She hasn’t picked up her cell or her office phone for three whole days.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not good.”
“Ya think? So forgive me for biting Lolly’s head off last night, but I am this close to hitting the bottle and going on a full-fledged bender or doing something even worse.”
“What could be worse?”
“I am literally toying with the idea of breakin’ the law I’ve sworn to uphold.”
“Shooting Piper is not going to win her back.”
“No, but kidnapping her and holding her against her will might give me a fighting chance.”
“I did not hear you just say that.”
“No. No, you didn’t. And if I go AWOL for a few days and the Raleigh police contact you about my whereabouts and the disappearance of one shapely, little lawyer they all love to hate, you know nothing.”
Goody Two Shoes Brooks sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. His face twisted up in such pain Vance almost forgot how miserable he was and laughed. “Okay,” Brooks agreed, forcing the words out of his mouth. “But having a felon as my campaign manager is going to raise eyebrows around here.”
Vance kept trying to assure himself that he wasn’t really planning to kidnap Piper. He was just going to throw a few of his bad cop moves around, handcuff her, gag her if he had to, and toss her into the back seat of his truck and then drive to an undisclosed location. Because unless Jane Jeffries, the managing partner at Collins & Reese, had chained Piper to her desk for the last four days, with a phone just out of her reach, there was no excuse the woman could give him that would explain why she had not returned his calls.
He thought about wearing his uniform in case anyone saw him escorting a handcuffed woman to his truck, but pushing his way into the law firm had gone so well while wearing a suit that he pulled another out of his closet. Dressed to kill, Vance arrived at Piper’s law firm at four o’clock Friday afternoon, after three fucking weeks of things drifting downhill and two last-minute unanswered phone calls to her cell and business line. One Ms. Beaumont had hell to pay, and the devil had finally arrived to be given his due.
“I’m here to see Ms. Beaumont,” Vance told the receptionist. After a few blinks, the woman asked if he had a scheduled appointment. He lied. “I do.”
“And no one called you to cancel?”
“Why would they call me to cancel?”
“Because Ms. Beaumont is out sick.”
“Out sick?”
“Yes. I’m afraid she’s taken ill and is in the hospital. Perhaps a colleague of hers would be available to help you.”
“Hospital?” His face probably went white. It sure felt like it went white, because his head was starting to pound like a royal motherfucker. “What hospital?”
“Memorial. Just down the street. That’s where the paramedics took her after she collapsed on Tuesday.”
“She collapsed and no one bothered to call me?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Evans. You weren’t listed on her schedule or we would have called.”
“I’m not her client. I’m—I’m….” What was he? He wasn’t her next of kin. That would be her father. “Did you call her father?”
“Yes, we called her father right away.”
Fuck. And her father wouldn’t call him. It’s not like Vance had bothered to declare his intentions to the man when he’d had the chance. Piper’s father wouldn’t call him unless Piper asked him to, which she hadn’t, obviously. Maybe she couldn’t—which would be the only excuse she had for not letting him know she was in the goddamn hospital.
He didn’t know what to hope for. Piper conscious and intentionally not calling him or Piper unconscious and unable to call him. Suddenly his mind’s eye saw Piper lying in a hospital bed hooked up to all kinds of machines. That mental picture shot fear through him comparable to the one and only time he’d stared down the barrel of a gun aimed at his head.
He was about to lose it. Fast.
“Thanks,” he told the receptionist and headed out the door.
It took him all of ten minutes to locate the hospital, park, inquire, and find her room. And surprise, surprise…if there wasn’t one big, blockheaded police officer sitting right there, guarding her door.
“I was wondering when you’d show up,” King Kong said, standing as Vance approached.
“No thanks to you. Don’t tell me one of your goons put her in here,” he growled.
“No, not one of my goons. She's dehydrated. Too much throwing up for such a tiny little thing with no ability to keep enough liquids down.”
“Why didn’
t she tell me she was that sick?” Vance wondered, so out of his comfort zone on this.
“She's not sick,” Kong declared.
“You just told me she was throwing up,” Vance said, searching for answers in Kong’s eyes as if he were in the middle of a labyrinth and everyone was speaking Chinese.
He saw it then.
That twinkle in Kong’s eye.
That little smirk.
And that’s when Vance turned around, eyed the nearest trash can, and promptly threw up.
Chapter Thirty-three
Piper wiped away a tear as she listened to Vance's voice messages one more time. The desperation in Vance’s voice on Tuesday was palpable, the anger that replaced it on Wednesday clear. But his plea for her to call him back on Thursday nearly broke her heart and still she had no idea how to tell him that she was six weeks pregnant.
Because she was blond, and from out of town, and for all of Henderson—if not the world—it would appear that she was a gold digger who got herself pregnant in order to trap Vance Evans into marriage.
And as much as she hated that thought, she would gladly live with all those horrible assertions, if only Vance could really know and believe the truth without a shadow of a doubt.
But circumstantial evidence was gonna weigh heavy in this case. Piper estimated that less than sixty minutes had passed between the time she learned Vance Evans was a millionaire and when she told him that he needn’t wear a condom. That she had birth control covered.
Case—freaking—closed.
For the last three weeks, she prepared her defense. Yes, she had taken antibiotics, but that was weeks ago and shouldn’t have affected the effectiveness of the pill. No, she hadn’t skipped a pill, forgotten a pill, or willingly stopped taking her pills. She could swear up and down that as much as she wanted children, she did not set out to trick Vance into getting her pregnant.
Piper rolled over and moaned into her pillow. It all just sounded so lame.