"We haven't even had coffee yet, Dad," Rose said. "And what the hell are we going to do about this woman?"
"Right now, all we can do is wait. Wait for her to make a move. Sam's already spoken to the security service he used in the past, and they are sending men. They should be here within the hour. Once they arrive, you don't go anywhere without them. They'll try to be unobtrusive, but whether they are or not, don't leave home unless they are with you."
"This seems so extreme," she said.
"After I listened to William's description of her reactions, I became more worried than I had been last night. She's completely delusional. There is absolutely no way to predict her behavior at this point. In a case like this, we overdo security until we see what action she will take."
"I'm glad you're on the case, Ed. This nearly drove me nuts before, and I don't know what's best to do. I'll follow your instructions. Can I have a few minutes to say good-bye to Rose?"
Ed nodded. "I'll be in the kitchen, Rose."
Ben turned to her and looked so sad that she reached up and held his face between her hands.
"It's going to work out. I know it will," she said. She leaned in and kissed him and he kissed her back, but pulled away after a few seconds.
"Your father is right there," he whispered.
She giggled. "I know."
"Rose Carter, you're going to get me in trouble."
She stood up and he got up and hugged her tight before letting her go.
"Okay, I think I'm ready."
They watched through a slit in the curtains as her father walked around the parking area. Then he gave a thumbs up without looking up at them.
"My turn. I'll call you later, okay?" Ben asked.
"You'd better! Don't forget to turn your phone back on."
"Right."
He kissed her one more time, in a way that left her breathless watching him go down the stairs. When she could no longer see Ben, or her father, she shut the door and locked it. Now that both men were gone, she could give in to her feelings of fear and worry. She made coffee and sat at the kitchen table thinking.
Even her father, as a police officer, had probably not seen as many disturbed people as she had in the E.R. She knew that what he had described of Suzanne's behavior could lead to nothing—or it could blossom into violence. Her concern was not about Suzanne coming after her, but more about Ben's safety. At least he would have bodyguards.
She found herself remembering last night and how wonderful it had been. He was so passionate, so giving, and yet, so in charge. She wasn't sure if she'd ever felt as relaxed with, and trusting of, a person as she'd been with him. As she dressed for the day in white capris, white sandals, and a tangerine and white sleeveless top cut close to the body, she worried about Ben. She thought that if Suzanne were to find out about their relationship, she could very well go off the deep end. They would have to keep their meetings completely secret. If only there was a way to spread the word that they weren't dating, so that Suzanne would find out...Maelynne.
Her family had told her the stories about gossipy Maelynne. What Ben needed was to have a story planted with the town gossip. A story about how Rose hadn't been interested in him, about how they hadn't gotten along. That might be just the thing to keep Suzanne calm.
Rose put on sunscreen and some make-up, slipped on her white bracelet and gold hoop earrings, and looked in the mirror. She'd braided her hair so it hung in a long plait down her back. Nodding firmly to her reflection, she dropped her phone into her straw purse; made sure she had her sunglasses, and left the apartment, locking the door securely behind her.
It was time to hunt down Maelynne.
* * * *
Ben was drinking a cup of coffee and eating unbelievably luscious coconut donuts when there was a knock at the door of his cabin. His hand jerked and he spilled a bit of coffee, accompanied by his swears.
"Coming!" he yelled.
He sopped up the coffee with a kitchen towel, tossed it in the sink, and answered the door. Two men stood on the porch, both wearing black sunglasses and windbreakers of black as well.
"Sam Carter sent us," the first one said. "May we come in?"
"Uh, well, let's see...do you have any identification?" Ben asked.
The second man gave him a tight smile. "It's right to be careful like that."
Both men showed driver's licenses and private detective licenses. Then the first man handed Ben a business card with a number on it and the name Security Unlimited.
"You can call there to verify we work for them. And you can call Sam and tell him that Kevin and Leo are in town. We guarded him a few years back."
"If you'll excuse me a minute," Ben said, taking the card with him and shutting the door.
He called Sam, who verified it was the same guys he'd known, after Ben described them. Then he called the company to verify these were the guards. He felt funny asking for all this corroboration, but he knew he had to be careful. Nothing said Suzanne might not hire people to get to him.
After the calls, he let the two guys into the house. Leo seemed to be the one in charge, and Kevin was the one who'd smiled at him. He offered them coffee, which they accepted. They all sat at the kitchen table.
"Here's what will be happening," Leo said. "We're going to be with you wherever you go today. There will be a total of six guys working with you and six with Rose Carter. We go with you but we try and stay in the background. We will especially be keeping an eye out for Suzanne Hardtman. We have her picture."
He pulled out a photo of Suzanne and handed it to Ben.
"Has she changed much since this photo was taken?" Leo asked.
"No, this looks recent. She still has the short haircut, still looks like this."
"We'll be watching for her."
"What happens if she comes up to me?"
"You say what you need to say to her, while we move up closer to you. We don't want to be obvious yet, but at some point we will probably have to let her know we are guarding you. She's done nothing objectionable so far, but with stalkers, it's usually just a matter of time."
"You've heard about Ed Carter working on this?"
"The ex-homicide detective, yes, Sam told us. It will be a big help to have his experience. All set then? Any other questions?"
"No, I'm set."
Kevin pointed to the box on the table. "Are those donuts from the Bakery?"
"Kev..." Leo said.
Ben laughed. "Help yourselves and please, finish them off. I can't afford to eat more than one and still stay in shape. I need to finish getting ready for the day. I'll be back in a few."
He turned back to look and smiled when he saw them both taking a donut from the box.
* * * *
Rose had looked in the Bakery for Maelynne, and was headed to Deb's Deli, when her phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Rose, where the hell are you?"
"Sam? What's wrong?"
"You didn't answer the door when the security guards showed up. They called me to see if I wanted them to break down the door."
"Damn, I totally forgot, Sam. I had something I needed to do and I just left the apartment without thinking of those guys. Should I go meet up with them?"
"Yes! Call me once you get there safely. No, wait, just stay on the phone."
"Don't you think you're overreacting?" she asked, turning around and walking back toward her apartment.
"No, I don't. I remember what Patrice turned out to be like and I don't want anything happening to you."
"Okay, I promise to stick with the guards. I'm still getting used to all this."
"Yeah, I know."
"There they are, one at the door and one at the bottom of the stairs."
"Stay safe, Rosie, please."
"I will Sam. Talk to you later."
She put the phone away and introduced herself to both men and invited them into the apartment. The men introduced themselves as Mel and Owen. Mel had a crew-cut and the look o
f an ex-military man. Owen had light brown hair and a non-descript face. Both men gave off an air of confidence in their abilities.
"Here's what you need to know," Owen said. "You go anywhere, from now on, we go with you. We can stand a bit back from you at this point, meaning we'll try to blend in and stay discreet. If things escalate, expect for us to become more obvious about guarding you."
"Did you finish your errand this morning?" Mel asked.
"No, I didn't get the chance to find the person I'm looking for. Actually, maybe I should run my idea by you guys first," Rose said.
She went on to explain the plan of a planted rumor about not dating Ben. Mel and Owen exchanged glances and shrugged.
"Might should run it by Ed first," Owen said. "It could lead to trouble if Suzanne ever figures out it's a lie."
"I suppose she would be more apt to react if she found out it wasn't true. I'll call Dad, and see what he has to say."
Her father, after hearing the idea, flatly vetoed it. Even though he didn't want Rose in danger, he clearly thought starting a rumor that was a complete lie wasn't the answer. She ended the call and turned to the bodyguards.
"Well, guys, what's next?"
"One of us will be stationed in the parking lot, out of sight. The other will stay up here—and that would be Mel today. I'll take the outside duty. Just go on with your day, and if you need to be somewhere, we'll go with you."
"Okay. I guess I'll read for a while," Rose said. She curled up on the sofa with a book. Mel took a seat near the door and front window, while Owen left for the parking lot.
Within fifteen minutes Rose was utterly bored. About the time she was thinking of leaving the apartment, Maggie appeared on her doorstep with Beth, to visit.
"Thanks you guys, for coming. I didn't know what to do with my day."
Maggie laughed. "We have an ulterior motive."
"That's right," Beth said. "We heard through the family grapevine that Dad found Ben, here in the apartment, when he arrived this morning. We want to hear everything!"
Mel cleared his throat. "Ladies, I'll just stand guard from outside on the stairs, if you're comfortable with that."
Rose grinned at him. "Thanks for giving us some privacy, Mel. See you later."
After he shut the front door behind him, the three sisters looked at each other and burst out laughing. Maggie brought out a bag of goodies from the Bakery and they moved into the yellow kitchen to sit at the glossy orange table.
"Mmm, hand me one of those apple muffins, Maggie. Spill, Rose. Tell us all about last night." Beth asked.
"Beth!" Rose said. "We had a good time last night. A great time. Maybe the best-time-ever kind of a time."
"Wow, Rose, seriously? Was this your first time together?" Maggie asked.
"Yes, but I'm not going into details. Let's just say...it was wonderful."
"You look relaxed for the first time since you got here," Beth commented.
"We were up until four..."
"I think I'm jealous," Maggie said. When the others looked at her in surprise she laughed. "Not of the man you're with, but of your ability to stay awake so late. Since I've been pregnant I crash by ten at night and don't wake up until seven. It's crazy."
Rose leaned over and patted her on the belly. "You're doing hard work, you know, being pregnant. You're growing a human in there! Your body needs every bit of that sleep to prepare for the next day, to recoup its energy. I'm just glad you're sleeping so well. That's fantastic."
"Thanks, Doc. I guess you're right."
Beth looked at Rose keenly. "So, what about the doctoring business? What's really going on?"
Rose looked from one to the other and realized they were concerned, not just curious. She sighed and clasped her hands in front of her on the table.
"I'm not going back. The hospital doesn't want me to return."
"No! What happened?" Maggie asked.
"Rose...what will you do?" asked Beth.
"There are options. I'm giving myself some time to think about what I really want to do in medicine. I realize now that I had become completely burned out. I stayed working in Trauma for too long. I went from one crisis to another to another...it was never-ending. I didn't have any down time. When I went home it was to grab a few hours of sleep passed out in exhaustion. I didn't have any friends except at work, and I didn't do anything fun. My whole life revolved around work. I'm starting to see that it was no way to live, that I wasn't really living at all."
"Oh, Rose, I'm so sorry you had it that rough," Maggie said. "You stay here in Sully Point as long as you need, to figure things out. There's no rush at all. The apartment is paid for, you'd have no expenses. Well, except for food. But we could help out with that, couldn't we Beth?"
"Of course we could," Beth said quickly.
Rose smiled at them and got tears in her eyes. "You guys are terrific. I think I can afford to buy food, however. I never spent any money while I was being a workaholic. I have money in the bank. Besides, Maggie, you already bought me a whole new wardrobe."
"I like spending money on other people," Maggie said with a grin.
"How does Eric feel about that?" Beth asked.
"Eric could care less about the money. We have investments that make more and more money. Eric says money is there to be used."
"He sounds like an admirable guy," Rose said. "I'm looking forward to getting to know him better. Listen, maybe you guys can help Ben and me out. You know about the security guards, obviously. Ben and I need reasons to be at the same place at the same time. Like the family barbecue coming up. When is it?"
"Saturday," Beth said.
"Actually, it's your help I need the most, Beth. We need to come up with a disguise for me for when I go over to Ben's place, just in case she's watching."
"Sure, I'll bring you a dark wig from the Playhouse. It reminds me of when you used to play dress-up in Mom's studio. Here you are, first, pretending to be a model and now needing to pretend to be someone else. Don't worry. I'll get you fixed up."
"Thanks."
"Do you really think things are going to get dangerous?" Maggie asked.
"I hope not, but there's no way to know," Rose replied. "Anyway, what should I bring to the cook-out?"
"Uh, you still don't cook, do you?" Maggie said, clearly trying to sound diplomatic.
"Well...no, not really. But I'm a fiend at chopping up lettuce for salad."
"Okay. Let's call Sam and see if they need salad," Beth said as she pulled out her cell phone.
Sam transferred them to Anna, who told them to call Frank because he was organizing the food. Beth hung up with them and called Frank, who was delighted that someone wanted to bring salad.
"What do you think I should put in it besides lettuce and tomato?"
Maggie shrugged. "Whatever fresh veggies sound appealing. No meats though. Just veggies. And don't put any dressing on it. I'll let Frank know he needs to mix up a batch of his special salad vinaigrette."
"I'll bring over my huge plastic bowl that has a lid for you to use," Beth said. "I haven't known what to do with that giant thing."
"Beth...I gave that to you," Maggie said, looking hurt.
"Oh my gosh, Mags, I'm sorry," Beth said at once.
"Just kidding you. I gave you all the flameless candles...and the set of baking dishes...and, well, I don't remember."
Rose smiled at them. It had been too long since she'd seen them kidding around. Impulsively, she said, "Let's have dinner, as three couples, nobody else. I want to get to know Eric and William and I want you all to get to know Ben."
"What about Sam and Anna?" Maggie asked.
"Oh, wow, I forgot about them. I think because we just had dinner with them last night. They've had more chances to get to know Ben."
"That's okay then, if they had you over last night. Do you want to go out somewhere for dinner?" Beth asked.
"I would, but we don't want Suzanne to see us together. And we have no idea where she'll be tonig
ht."
"I know what to do. Everyone should come to my house," Maggie said. "I'll get Eric to make his lasagna. It's awesome."
"Eric can cook?" Rose asked.
"Only a few dishes, but he does those few really well. I'll make a Waldorf salad and garlic bread. I know you always loved Waldorf salad when Mom made it, Rose. Maybe I'll make a chocolate cake, too," Maggie said.
"Are you still eating chocolate like it's going to disappear tomorrow?" Beth asked.
Maggie laughed. "No, that seems to have passed. But I do still love a rich, moist chocolate cake. Anna has been teaching me her cake-making secrets."
"We'd better call the guys and make sure they don't make any other plans," Beth said.
The three women got out their phones. Rose went into the bedroom while Beth landed in the living room and Maggie stayed in the kitchen. Rose felt anxious to hear Ben's voice.
"Hi, Rose," he said.
"Hi, yourself," she replied.
"What's up? You caught me right before we do the next run-through."
"You're at the Playhouse?"
"Yes. And no, there's been no sign of Suzanne."
"I like hearing that. I was calling to see if you wanted to have dinner at Maggie and Eric's place tonight. William and Beth will be there, too. There will be lasagna and chocolate cake. Around six o'clock."
"I'm already hungry. I'll be on the way as soon as we finish. Same plan as last night?"
"Yes, I think so. We take separate cars and then later..."
"Yes, later. You know, I can't stop thinking about you today, Rose."
"I'm having the same trouble."
They both laughed, that giddy laugh heard only in the first blush of new love.
After saying good-bye for a minute or so, Rose finally ended the call and met up with Beth and Maggie in the living room.
"It's all set with Ben. I told him six, is that okay?"
"Yes, that's fine," Maggie said. "What are you going to do for the rest of the day?"
"I don't know. I was pretty bored until you two showed up."
"We have the perfect plan," Beth said. "Let's go shopping for baby stuff for Maggie."
"I only have a couple things so far. I didn't want to buy anything until I hit the six month mark in the pregnancy. But I'm past that now, and more than ready, so let's do it!"
Love Imagines (Sully Point, Book 6) Page 9