Body Double

by Alane Hudson

  That recognition bloomed in her mind, rocking her back. She searched his eyes for some indication that he had felt it too.

  Smiling so tenderly, he caressed her face while her eyes leaked tears. “Did you...” He paused, as if what he wanted to know was beyond words.

  She knew the question he wanted to ask, the question that burned in her heart. “Yes,” she said with a watery laugh. “I felt... you.”

  “Oh, me too, baby. Me too.” He kissed her forehead, her eyebrow, her temple, her cheek, her nose. Her lips. “I love you, Andrea. I love you so much.”

  She listened to the music of his heart beating under her ear. In all her wildest dreams, she’d never imagined finding true love, and yet here she was, in his arms.

  “One second.” He bent his head to kiss her lips and then rolled off the bed to his feet, picked up his jeans, and then dug into the pocket for something. “This isn’t how I’d envisioned it going, but I can’t wait a minute longer.” He went to one knee on the floor beside the bed. The rising sun had lightened the room enough that she could see he was holding something between his fingers, but she couldn’t tell what it was. “Man, I’m so nervous.” He took a deep breath. “Andrea, will you marry me? For real this time.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. She’d said yes to him once before, the day they first met, but they both had known it wasn’t a real proposal. Never had she dreamed that only three weeks later, she would be saying it again. This time, they were both playing for keeps. “Yes,” she said decisively. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Yes, yes, yes. I can’t wait to marry you.”

  He held her and kissed her deeply. “Thank God. I was afraid you’d say no.”

  She giggled and caressed his face, then kissed its contours. “I’m not that big a fool.”

  “Here. Sarah gave this back when she agreed to the annulment, and I still had it in my pocket.” He took her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger.

  She looked at it, unsure what to say. He was giving her the ring he’d bought for another woman. It was a gorgeous ring with a huge diamond, the kind of thing celebrities showed off on the red carpet. Though she’d worn it while pretending to be Sarah, she felt strange about wearing it now. “Um...”

  “This is only temporary so I wouldn’t have to use a twisty-tie from the kitchen. I’ll take you to the jeweler tomorrow, er, today rather, and you can design the ring you want.”

  “Design it?”

  He kissed her again and climbed back into bed with her. “My wife gets a one-of-a-kind ring designed especially for her, not some rubber stamp.”

  “I’d be happy with a twisty-tie from the kitchen, you know.”

  He squeezed her tight. “I know.”

  She snuggled close, her body touching his from head to toe, and they dozed for an hour.

  The shower stall in her apartment was only big enough for one at a time, but they squeezed into it anyway. It took coordination and planning to get them both clean and rinsed, but it was the most fun she’d ever had in the shower.

  While she gathered a few more things to take with her to Blake’s house, he browsed some of the handmade and thrift store belongings in her living room.

  “Oh, I can sell those things or put them into storage,” she said, flicking them a dismissive wave.

  “Why would you do that?” he asked, fingering the macramé her sister had made. “Some of this is pretty cool.”

  “My stuff will look out of place in your house.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m ready to have a garage sale to get rid of all those museum pieces that make my house a magazine photographer’s wet dream and start making it into a family home. Can you imagine trying to raise a toddler with all that stuff around?” Then a look of wary anticipation crossed his face. “You do want children, don’t you?”

  Andrea laughed, hardly able to believe she was going to marry this lovable, handsome, sexy man. For the first time in over two years, she was genuinely glad Sean had dumped her. Her life with him would’ve been miserable, spent playing dress-up every day just to keep him from regretting his decision. “I most certainly do, when the time is right. Especially with you.”

  She picked up her cell phone from the table. “Battery’s low,” she said, noticing she had voice mail. She’d left the phone’s charger at Blake’s house, but she managed to listen to the messages before the battery gave out. The ones from Blake warmed her heart—he’d called her several times to update her on the situation with Sarah as he’d promised—but one message in particular excited her. “It’s Detective Lowry.”

  Blake put his hands on the tops of her shoulders and massaged her gently. “What’d she say?”

  Andrea held up one finger while she listened carefully. “I need you to come by the station to view a lineup,” Lowry’s message said. “We might have the guy who attacked you, but I need to see if you can identify him. Please call me as soon as you get this message.”

  “They want me to ID the guy in a lineup,” she told Blake. “Let me call her back real quick.” She pulled the detective’s business card from her purse and used her landline to call Lowry’s cell phone. When the call connected, she made arrangements to meet the detective at the police station at nine o’clock. It was just after seven.

  Blake went to the refrigerator and opened it. “That gives us time to—you’re as bad as Sarah! There’s no food in here.”

  “Three weeks ago, I was broke and unemployed. Give me a break,” she said, slapping his butt playfully. “Besides, I threw a lot of stuff out so it wouldn’t spoil while I was away.”

  “Let’s stop on the way for breakfast, then. Got what you need?”

  She put her arms around his waist and smiled up into his face. “Sure do.”

  Over breakfast, Blake told her what had happened at Sarah’s house. Though he seemed reluctant to go into detail, he told her he had to get naked and go so far as to put on a condom to make Sarah see through the haze of her alcohol-fueled anger and realize she didn’t want to consummate the marriage. On further reflection, she agreed that an annulment was a far better option than a messy divorce.

  He told her about Richard’s phone call and their meeting at the restaurant to talk about the will. “Sarah was livid,” he said. “She cleared the table with a sweep of her arm like an actress in a melodrama.”

  Andrea peered at him in confusion. “Why would she get so mad? Didn’t her dad leave her anything?”

  “Harold left her everything except for what he left you.”

  So he’d actually done it. She didn’t know what file five was or file ten, or whatever it was he’d mentioned to that Franklin fellow on the phone in the hospital, but apparently, it had been enough to aggravate Sarah. “What was it? What’d he leave me?”

  “He didn’t tell you?”

  “No, he just told someone to add my name to file five. Then he said ‘no, make it ten.’ I don’t know if he meant file ten or something else. I didn’t ask. I don’t even know what that means.”

  Blake smiled and leaned toward her over the table. “It means you’re a very wealthy woman. Not only did he leave you ten million dollars in cash—”

  Andrea gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth. Ten million dollars!

  “—and his Mercedes Benz...”

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered. Her eyes watered. Thank you, Harold. Thank you so much.

  “He left you some stock in Gentry Banks Industries. Ten percent of his shares.”

  “He did not.”

  “He did. Richard will be calling you soon to go over the will.”

  “I can’t accept it,” Andrea said, shaking her head. “That belongs to Sarah. It was generous and kind of him to give me the money and his car, but I can’t take his stock. He spent his life building that... that empire. I’ve only known him three weeks.”

  “Well, it’s yours now. You could give it away, but you should keep it.”

  “Sarah hates me enough already.”

&nbs
p; “According to Richard, Harold had initially left her only ten million and his household items—dishes, furniture, and the like. After his talk with you the day before he died, he had a change of heart and left her the remaining ninety percent of his stock, minus the tech company he’d recently acquired, which he gave to me. He even willed her fifty-million-dollar wedding gift directly to The Lighthouse. Needless to say, Sarah sees things differently now.”

  After thinking about the situation from Sarah’s point of view, Andrea admitted to herself that she had overstepped, but if she had to do it over again, she would not have changed anything. Everyone, no matter how ruthless, deserved love. Even the man who’d shut down Delmar. “Are you saying she forgives me?”

  “I’m saying she has something to say to you herself, and I’m not going to spoil it for her.”

  Once they’d finished breakfast, they managed to arrive at the police station a few minutes before Detective Lowry did. Joe’s friend, Doug, got her set up at a computer station in a quiet room, but he didn’t know what lineup to load. Andrea had expected to stand in a room behind one-way glass like she’d seen in cop shows on TV, but Doug explained that they used video images of suspects instead, so that lineups could be performed at any time.

  When Lowry arrived, she entered the case number into the computer and started the lineup. Andrea was instructed to study the face, upper body, and full body shots of each man in turn. If she saw one of the men who’d tried to abduct her, she was to notify the detective.

  “The men who attacked you might not be in this lineup,” Lowry said, “so take your time and be as sure as you can be.”

  While Andrea scrolled through the faces, Blake chatted with Doug in the next room. Lowry stood quietly behind her. Almost immediately, Andrea saw the face of the van’s driver, the man who’d asked her the time. A shudder rippled through her. There was no mistaking his eyes. “This is him. This is the driver.”

  “Do you have any doubt that’s the guy?” the detective asked.

  “None. That’s definitely him. I didn’t get a look at the other two guys. I was too busy trying to get away.”

  “That’s okay,” Lowry said. She turned off the computer screen and patted Andrea’s shoulder. “His cousin was the one who’d been bitten, and I’m sure we can get one of them to roll on the third.”

  “How did you find him so fast?”

  “We put out an alert to all area hospitals, urgent care facilities, and walk-in physician’s offices, hoping he’d get treatment for the dog bites. He did.”

  What a relief it was to have two of her attackers in custody. Sarah would be glad, too, though her enemies in Colombia might simply send more guys. “What if they try again? Sarah’s back home now, and whoever was behind this attack could send more men to kidnap her. Or worse.” Or Andrea, for that matter, since they looked so much alike.

  “We’ll patrol the area of The Lighthouse more frequently and keep an eye on Sarah’s house as well. What about you? Do you want us to send a car to your apartment complex?”

  “No,” Andrea said. “I’m moving out soon.” She exchanged a glance with Blake and gave him a smile.

  “I see you’re only wearing the engagement ring now,” Lowry said. “I guess you and Mr. Thomas and Sarah worked everything out.”

  “We did. It’s all so strange, but everyone’s happy now. Especially me.”

  Andrea assured Detective Lowry that she would be available to testify or give a deposition whenever she was needed. She also gave her Blake’s phone number as a backup.

  “Thank you, Detective. I appreciate your hard work and diligence in arresting those guys.”

  “We couldn’t have done it without your cooperation and attention to detail,” Lowry said, squeezing Andrea’s upper arm. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Andrea took Blake’s outstretched hand and smiled up at him, relieved to have this matter almost behind her.

  “Ready to go home?” he asked.

  “More than ready.”

  Chapter 14

  Andrea hesitated to join Blake and Sarah in the family room, certain that Sarah’s claws would come out over the generous gifts Harold had given her. The last thing she wanted, after everything that had happened over the last two-and-a-half weeks, was to be berated and hollered at for doing what she considered the right thing. She waited out of sight, listening to Sarah’s tone of voice and waiting to hear malicious words directed at her. To her relief, Sarah seemed friendly and relaxed, without even a single harsh word.

  Andrea pulled the wheeled suitcase, packed with the clothes that she’d borrowed, into the room with a wary smile. “Hi, Sarah. I hope you’re not still upset with me.” She set the suitcase upright and let its handle slide back into its place.

  “Oh, hon, no.” Sarah stood and gave her a hug, holding her tightly for longer than a typical greeting. When she pulled back, her eyes were moist. “I’m not at all upset with you. Andrea, I’m sorry. I’ve been saying that a lot today, and it feels good. I’m sorry for putting you in a position where you thought you needed to comfort a dying man you barely knew. It should’ve been me by his side, and I have to live with that.” Sarah reached over and took Blake by the hand and then took Andrea’s hand too. “I want to tell you how grateful I am that he had someone who cared enough to visit him in his final hours.” She looked back and forth from Blake to Andrea. “I’m glad it was you. Thank you.”

  Andrea couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Sarah to change her mind so radically. “I’m relieved you’re not still angry, but what changed your mind?”

  “You did, essentially. When Richard told me that my dad included me in his will only after you went to see him, Blake helped me see that I’d been using my grief and anger as a weapon, to keep my dad at arm’s length. He forgave me all the terrible things I did to him before I forgave myself. He might’ve been a jerk at times, but he loved me despite my faults. I don’t think he even realized that until you reminded him.”

  “Oh, I know he did,” Andrea said. “He struggled to understand you, but he did love you.”

  “Andrea, I’m also sorry you were attacked by thugs who mistook you for me. If not for my actions in Colombia, that would never have happened.”

  “My attackers were caught, and you got those trafficking bastards, right?” Andrea asked. “They’re in jail where they belong.”

  “Yes, but others will take their place. Until we address the demand for sexual slavery, we’ll never stamp it out.”

  Andrea knew Sarah was right. Now that she didn’t have a job at The Lighthouse, maybe that effort was where she would devote her energy.

  “This guy right here.” Sarah gave Blake’s arm a little swing. “He’s a keeper. You should be glad I’m gay, otherwise I’d hang onto him with everything I had.”

  Andrea sidled up to him and slipped her arm around his waist. “Oh, I know it. I’m counting my lucky stars.”

  “Before I forget,” Sarah said, digging into her purse, “let me give you this.” She handed Andrea a folded piece of blue-patterned paper.

  Andrea unfolded it and discovered it was a cashier’s check made out to her in the amount of one million dollars. “Oh, goodness. Thank you, but considering your dad’s generous gift to me, you don’t need to—”

  “We had an agreement. More than one, in fact. About the job at The Lighthouse...”

  Andrea smiled. “It’s okay. I understand.” She no longer needed a job paying forty thousand dollars a year, but she wanted to help victims of human trafficking somehow. Just because she was set for life financially didn’t mean her skill and training as a social worker weren’t needed.

  “I’d like to talk to you about a seat on the board of directors, if you’re interested. There are other ways you can help too, now that salary isn’t an issue. Why don’t we talk next week?”

  “That’d be wonderful,” Andrea said, excited about being given an opportunity to contribute. “I’ll call you on Monday.”

 
; “Perfect. Blake, are you sure you don’t need my signature on the annulment papers?”

  “Not needed,” Blake said. “Only one of us needs to sign and file. My mom’s on her way over now, but this afternoon we’ll ride down to DCF and turn them in.” He kissed Andrea’s forehead.

  Sarah pulled out the telescoping handle of the suitcase. “I’ll get out of your hair and let you have the rest of your day. I’m sure you two have a lot to talk to your mama about.” She leaned forward and kissed first Blake and then Andrea on the cheek. “Thank you so much for everything. You both have been lovely. Let’s get together for dinner soon. I’ll invite Roxanne. You’ll love her, Blake. She’s a 49ers fanatic.”

  “I look forward to it,” Blake said with a smile. “Does she know you’re a Falcons fan?”

  Sarah put a finger to her lips and winked before rolling the suitcase to the door. She bid them goodbye with a wave and closed the door behind her.

  When the doorbell rang, Blake winked at his fiancée. “Showtime.”

  Andrea kissed him lightly on the lips. “Good luck,” she said and went into the living room, out of sight. The plan was for her to listen to his conversation and come in on his cue.

  He didn’t know why he was so nervous about this. It was finally time to clear the air, to put the truth on the table—most of it, anyway. Some things were better left secret.

  Sam showed Gloria Thomas into the family room just off the breakfast nook, and Blake greeted his mother with a hug and kiss.

  “I ran into Sarah as she was leaving. She looks thinner than she did a couple of days ago but happy. Much happier than a woman should who just lost her father.” Gloria used her disapproving voice, the one that used to make Blake cringe inside.