Ivy's Search

by Kate Cambridge

  “I would explode if I ate all of that.”

  Technically, it’s not possible for your stomach to explode from the amount of food on the table, Ivy,” Daxon offered, “and over time it will adjust.”

  Ivy bristled.

  “Could I have the bacon, Ivy?” he asked, offering her a smile, taking the plate she handed him and holding it for her until she took the two required pieces.

  Aqua sighed. “We’re all adults here, so I’m going to put this out there. Ivy, we all know that you’re underweight, and the only way to change that is to eat. The two doctors at this table are concerned about you, and rightfully so. You hate the attention, so the solution to all of this is—you agree to start eating as much as possible without our prompting, and we’ll stop bugging you about it. Agreed?”

  “But I…”

  “Agreed?” Aqua interrupted.

  “Agreed,” Ivy conceded.

  “Guys?” Aqua looked expectantly at one and then the other.

  “Agreed.” They echoed in unison, as the doorbell rang.

  Chapter 6

  “Aquarius, dear, why is your door locked? You never lock your door.”

  “Aqua, Mom. You know I prefer Aqua,” she reminded her mother as she did every time they were together. Aquarius was Aqua’s given birth name, but when she went to college, she’d changed it legally to Aqua. Her mother had never forgiven her.

  Miri Weaver brushed past her daughter and into the kitchen, conveniently ignoring the reminder. ”Well, where is she? Oh, there you are dear!” Miri exclaimed as Ivy jumped up from the table to greet her. “Aqua tells me you’ve changed your name, too, and that we mustn’t use the old one any more. I must say, Ivy certainly suits you; such a lovely name.”

  “Thank you, Miri, it’s lovely to see you,” Ivy offered as she accepted the warm embrace always offered by Aqua’s mom.

  “My goodness, child. You’re a little bit of nothing. We’ll need to put some weight on those bones if you’re going to stay in Burnt River. The winters get cold here, but then again, I hear congratulations are in order! I can’t believe you and Daxon got married without telling a soul, and from the looks of him, he’ll certainly be able to keep you warm on cold winter nights.”

  Daxon got up from the table to give Aqua’s mom a hug. “It’s great to see you again, Miri. I must say, I am looking forward to winter with Ivy by my side,” he added as he turned toward Ivy and placed his hands on either side of her face, his eyes searching as his hand moved down to the quickening pulse at the nape of her neck, delicious sensations left where his fingers trailed. Her lips parted with a quick intake of breath, and he slowly lowered his lips to hers.

  “Yes, yes, well there’s plenty of time for you two to do that later,” Miri interrupted, “Right now I’ve got to add a new look to this new name, and we have less than two hours to do it before I need to open the store. Ivy, go finish your breakfast and then we’ll get started.” Leaving no room for protest, Miri walked toward the sink to begin preparing the hair color.

  Daxon smiled at Ivy with smug satisfaction, and she pulled away from his embrace, her face hot from embarrassment. “Great idea, Miri. Let’s go finish our breakfast, Ivy.” But Ivy was already at the table, eating her food with abandon.

  Once the table was cleared, Miri offered Ivy a tank top to replace her shirt. “No protests, dear, the color may be organic, but we don’t want it to ruin your top. Now go get changed, quickly.” There was no room for arguing with Aqua’s mom. You simply did what she told you to do.

  “I’ll help,” Daxon offered.

  “Not necessary,” Ivy objected, “I’ll just be two seconds,” her face taking on a pink hue.

  “Daxon, you’ll have to excuse yourself if you’re going to cause trouble. We have a schedule to keep.”

  Ivy chuckled as she took the tank top offered and began walking toward the bedroom, turning back to stick her tongue out at Daxon; childish, she knew, but she couldn’t help but appreciate how Aqua’s mom had the ability to put even a tough Navy SEAL in his place. It was like no one dared to argue with her.

  “I’ll be good, Mrs. W,” he responded. Then his tongue traced his lower lip in response to Ivy; she nearly yelped as she turned back and quickly opened the bedroom door and walked through closing it hastily behind her. Leaning against it for a mere second before unbuttoning her shirt, throwing it on the bed, and hurriedly pulling the tank top over her head. It was tight and she frowned as she looked in the mirror, her rib cage obvious against the thin cotton. She opened her suitcase looking for something to wear over it when she heard Miri calling for her. “Damn, she muttered as she resigned herself to the fact there was nothing more she could do. At the last minute she grabbed a push up bra, changed quickly, threw the tank top back on and walked back toward the kitchen. If nothing else, she hoped she could distract him with the one good feature that hadn’t been impacted by her weight loss.

  She felt his eyes on her and met him head on. His pupils dilated slightly and she felt a stab of victory that melted as his eyes worked their way up her rib cage and rested on her breasts. She felt her nipples respond and prayed the bra would keep them hidden. She froze in place for just a second before Aqua’s mom called her over to the sink.

  “Here dear. Put this cape on and let’s get started. She placed a chair almost directly across from the stool Daxon was occupying and parted Ivy’s hair as she began applying the color.

  Daxon had the paper open on the island, but his eyes were on her. Ivy squirmed and gave him her best don’t you have something else you can do look. He raised one eyebrow and his eyes went to the base of her neck, just above the collar of the cape where her pulse was racing. She tossed daggers back at him, and cursed her body for reacting.

  “Goodness you two, you’re going to have me blushing if you keep it up. Daxon, you’re a distraction, now get along with you. Blake—don’t you have an errand the two of you could run or something?” she suggested.

  “Not really,” he responded. There was no way he was going to miss this—it was just too good. “My bet’s on Daxon,” Blake whispered in Aqua’s ear, his warm breath tickling her. She leaned into him in response.

  “Oh, not me. I’m definitely going for Ivy.”

  Chapter 7

  “That’s a wrap! Phase two is officially complete, and you look fabulous, Ivy!” Aqua gushed as she grabbed the large hand mirror and held it up for Ivy to see.

  Miri had finished the color and hair extensions hours ago. Aqua had ordered blue contacts to change Ivy’s eyes from brown to blue, and then added concealer to hide the black circles under her eyes and a bit of mascara—the transformation was dramatic and even Ivy couldn’t believe how different she looked. Her facial structure was the same, but everything else had changed. All that was left was to take photos, have the license and passport updated, and she would be ready to hit the town.

  Ivy practiced her backstory tirelessly with Aqua while Blake and Daxon worked on his. The next step was Phase three, where she and Daxon would spend hours practicing their story together, ensuring there were no gaps or cracks in their story, and by nightfall the plan was to hit Evie’s Diner in town. Not only was Evie a good friend to Aqua and Blake, her diner was a central hub in the town and gathering for most of the people in Burnt River. It was the logical place for Ivy’s first appearance with Daxon.

  “I need a break before Phase three,” Ivy insisted. Aqua tilted her head quizzically at her friend. “Just give me twenty minutes to do a quick Tai Chi run through, and I’ll be ready.”

  Aqua gave her a smile without commenting. Ivy knew she intuitive enough to realize that she was nervous about practicing with Daxon. Pretending to be his wife was the most difficult part of all of this; she’d never really planned to marry after growing up with a single mother and watching what happened to her mother when she finally married a man who was abusive to her. Ivy had quickly decided it would be better to remain single rather than risk that.

  While
her Masters in Psychology and undergrad work had more than revealed the why behind her decision—it hadn’t changed it—she hadn’t thought anything could until now.

  The crazy thing about all of this was that she and Daxon were already technically married. Aqua had created a completely legal backstory that would withstand the most official scrutiny—she still had the connections to get that done and she had made sure that only one person knew about it—the one person she trusted almost as much as Blake, her former partner at the Agency, Chase Jones. The common last name made his work easier, so although Aqua had resisted using it, in the end his logic made perfect sense. He had delivered the documents to her with minimal questions, and made sure no one else was involved in the process. It was as fail-safe as it could be.

  Ivy’s new passport showed that she had recently returned from the U.K. where she was working on advanced classwork toward her Ph.D. at Oxford, all plausible based on the then Kirsten Bell’s actual plans. The class professor was an MI6 operative placed at Oxford with the express purpose of recruiting some of the brightest minds possible into their agency; he and Aqua had worked together in the past and when she asked him for a favor—to confirm that Ivy Jones had been a student in his class over the last four months, if he was ever presented with that question—he simply replied that Ivy Jones had been a student in his class, and he had no doubt she would be a promising contributor in the field of psychology.

  Even more incredulous was the fact that Ivy was actually beginning to think of herself as Ivy, and as she worked her way through the methodical Tai Chi movements of her custom designed shortened workout, she reviewed the details over and over again in her mind, making them part of her body memory, as well. She felt safe in Aqua’s fenced-in back yard, the 7’ custom privacy fence not only provided complete privacy, it was electrically wired and would immediately alarm both Aqua and Blake if it were ever breached.

  Daxon watched her workout from the small security room hidden by a secret door on the left side of Aqua’s office. Ivy’s movements were fluid, her muscles powerful, her body so damned sexy. He had worried about his new wife when he first met her—she was far too thin and presented with extreme exhaustion and probable dehydration—all symptoms he recognized from his experience with SEALS returning from life-endangering missions. She was skittish with him, unwelcoming of attention, and although he hadn’t figured out why, clearly averse to even a pretend marriage with him. Aqua had filled him in on her history, and probably told him more than Ivy could ever dream, but it had been a necessary part of his decision to help her. Aqua had also been clear that if they had any hope of this working, he and Blake would need to control their ‘intensity levels’ because it would only serve to shut Kirsten-now-Ivy down and delay their ability to execute the plan.

  Fortunately over the last 48 hours, there was a marked difference in her as her appetite increased and she’d begun to sleep for stints of at least 6 hours at a time—the amount of sleep required for recovery to begin. That she was responding and repairing so quickly spoke to the fact that she was healthy despite the circumstances she had endured over the last year.

  Although it wasn’t fair for him to be watching her via remote camera, he found an insatiable desire to protect her and know her, and because of her heightened sensitivity and aversion to any attention drawn to her, he’d not had the chance to study her. He’d been intrigued from the moment he saw her photos and heard her story from Aqua.

  Was it his innate training to protect and heal that caused it? He wasn’t sure—he had never really felt this way toward any woman—but then again this was anything but a usual situation. He didn’t understand his desire to help or why he agreed as quickly as he did to participate in this, but his gut said to go with it; he had learned as a SEAL to always trust his gut, because it had never proven to be wrong.

  He smiled. Ivy was his wife—it was as legal as any marriage—and the odd thing was—he was beginning to think of her as his wife. He was attracted to her, and her response to him was obvious. She may not be emotionally where he was right now, but the fact that the attraction was there, was more than he could have hoped for forty-eight hours into this. He would need to be careful, and take it slow, and give her time, but if he played it right, he hoped she would come to care for him even half as much as he already cared for her.

  It was twenty minutes on the dot since she started her routine, and she slowly paused, bringing her body to the center, her breathing slow and methodical. He traced her curves, memorizing them, counting her breaths, watching her breasts rise and fall with each one. Slow and steady wins the race, he reminded himself.

  He was looking forward to their practice session, to testing how far he could push her, to seeing what she reacted to and how. She may be a behavioral analyst, but she had met her match in him. SEALS were trained to understand behavior, the slightest changes in body language, and masters at reading people and situations; add to that his training as a physician and intricate knowledge of the body, and he was quite certain the former CIA analyst had met her match. In fact, he was sure of it.

  When she opened her eyes, she looked directly at the security camera. He was quite certain she was not aware of him, at least not during her practice, but could she be intuitive enough that she felt that she was being watched now? If her staring into the security camera was any indication, she was definitely had heightened sensitivity. It was probably one aspect that made her such a great analyst. Regardless, there would be hell to pay if she caught him watching her. He quickly left the security room, closed the secret door and made his way to the kitchen, and the deck sliders.

  Her back was to the doors, and it looked like she was talking to a chipmunk. And a kind heart, too.

  She sensed him and turned. He tipped his head in acknowledgement. She seemed uncertain, but tipped hers and walked toward the doors.

  “Did you have a good workout?”

  “I did. I needed it. Are you ready for Phase three?” she ventured.

  “More than ready,” he said as he moved aside for her to enter, resisting the urge to embrace her.

  “Same,” she turned, looked him in the eye, and walked toward the guest room, locking the door behind her.

  He chuckled. She had spunk, and determination. All things he admired. The rest could wait.

  Chapter 8

  They sat on the couch with Blake and Aqua observing; no not observing, judging their every word, their body language, their eye contact. It was nothing if not intimidating, but Ivy knew it was necessary. This was just the beginning, and if they couldn’t pass this, they wouldn’t convince anyone.

  She found herself drawing on Hen, the breathing technique practiced in Tai Chi. She felt Aqua’s sigh before she heard, and she knew that it wasn’t working. It wasn’t natural, and she was forced.

  “Ivy,” Aqua began…

  “I know, I know. This is just seriously so weird!” Ivy turned toward her friend.

  “No excuses, Ivy. I’m sorry, but you have to step it up. You have to overcome your fears, whatever they are, and we don’t have time to take breaks or talk privately about this. Daxon is your husband.” Ivy looked at her, shell shocked, but Aqua continued. “There is nothing that you cannot tell him, in fact, you should tell him everything. Stop looking to me. Look to him. Rely on him. Trust him. Who do you know that would have done this for you?”

  After several seconds of silence, Aqua offered, “I don’t know anyone.”

  Daxon struggled to keep sympathy out of his eyes. Be a SEAL. Stay neutral.

  “You do now, Ivy. Embrace it. Be grateful—whatever you need to be, but make this work.”

  Ivy looked slowly away from Aqua. She hung her head. She took a deep breath, looked straight into Daxon’s eyes with water filling hers, then overflowing with every blink. He took her hands in his, gently, caressing them softly. The intake of her breath was swift and she started to pull her hands away, but he moved his hands with hers, toward her body, never forceful,
but firm and gentle. Steady. Reliable.

  The tears came faster now, and he gently wiped them away with his thumbs. She couldn’t resist moving into his hands. Her neck pulse was rapid, her eyes wide, her pupils dilated, and then she began to speak her story through the tears, her voice soft, but growing stronger, her breathing steady. Completely unaware of the tears in her best friend’s eyes, as she embraced her new story, this man sitting across from her, and pushed through that final wall once and for all.

  An hour went by and then two, gradually the conversation moved from just Daxon and Ivy to the four of them, interacting, laughing and recalling the events from the past—once made up—but now part of the fiber of all of them.

  Ivy and Aqua recounted tales of Mr. Weiker’s classes, his corny jokes, and his bits of wisdom that seemed to impact many of their classmates. Blake interjected from time-to-time as Mr. Weiker had a huge influence on his decision to pursue medicine. Aqua had experienced bullying because her parents were ‘different’ from many of the other parents in Burnt River, and his counsel helped her embrace that and love them along with understanding that she could choose her own path, regardless of what her family or friends wanted for her. In Ivy’s case, Mr. Weiker was the first person who was able to compliment her and help her see the unusual talent and gifts she had in understanding others, their behavior, and how those behaviors impacted the circumstances and people around them. It was the defining factor in her decision to pursue behavioral psychology and her not-so-long career with the Agency.

  For a moment, Ivy found herself wistfully wishing he were here now, for sure he would know the right words to say that could help her with this next big transition in her life; but in that moment she also knew that just like he had in high school, he would point her back to herself, and encourage her to trust what she knew to be true and right for her. He was gone—but he wasn’t—somehow he was still here right in the midst of them.