by Marie Force
Liana closed the browser and was startled to find numerous documents on the computer’s desktop. Curious, she opened one of them. “Sociology 302, Agnes McDermott.” Another said, “History 412.” A third was labeled, “Creative Writing 400.” She was so surprised by what she’d discovered that she didn’t hear her mother come home.
“Honey?” Agnes said from the doorway.
Liana turned to her. “Were you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what, dear?” Agnes asked as she sat on the bed to take off her shoes.
“That you’re going to college.”
Agnes froze.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Mom?” Liana cried, getting up from the desk. “Why would you keep something like that from me?”
Agnes grimaced. “I never meant to keep it from you. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it, and I thought, why tell Liana if it’s just going to be a class or two? Then one class led to another, and before I knew it I was halfway done. By then it felt like a sin of omission.”
“I’ve been thinking you have Alzheimer’s!”
Agnes stared at her, incredulous. “Alzheimer’s? Why in the world would you think that?”
“Because! You’ve been so scatterbrained! We’ve been terribly worried about you—me, Aunt Edith, Enid, Uncle Charlie. And all this time you were in college!” Suddenly, Liana was so swamped with relief she began to laugh as she flopped down next to her mother on the bed.
“I knew you’d think it was ridiculous,” Agnes said in a small voice.
“What?” Liana gasped. “Ridiculous? I’m so proud of you I could bust! So very, very proud.”
“Really?”
Liana clutched her mother’s hand. “Really. When do you graduate?”
“Next May with a degree in sociology. I’m sorry to have been scatterbrained, but it’s taken all my energy to keep up with my classes.”
“Is this why you left the wedding early?”
Agnes grinned sheepishly. “I had a mid-term the next day. That’s where I was Monday morning when I said I had an errand to run. I was so mad when I had to take a summer class to graduate on time because I knew it would coincide with your visit.”
Looping an arm around her mother’s shoulders, Liana leaned her head against her mother’s. “This is such a huge relief. I can’t tell you how worried I’ve been.”
“I’m sorry, honey. I should’ve told you, but the whole thing felt so silly at my age. Who goes to college at sixty?”
“It’s not silly,” Liana insisted. “It’s amazing. Was it something you always wanted to do?”
“Not really. But after Dad died, I needed something to fill my time, so I started taking a class here and there. That’s when I got the bug to go all the way.”
“I’m so impressed,” Liana said, suddenly remembering the reporters outside and what she had learned about Travis on the Internet.
“What’s wrong, honey? Is it Travis?”
“No,” Liana said. “Travis is amazing.”
Agnes returned Liana’s smile with one of her own. “Then it must be the reporters decorating my lawn.”
“I’m so sick of them! They follow me everywhere I go. They even took pictures of Travis and me on his patio last night, and the photos are on the Internet today. They reported all kinds of personal things about him, too. I just feel so . . . violated. I can’t even imagine how he’s going to feel. I can’t take it anymore!”
Agnes gathered her daughter into her arms. “I’m sorry you have to deal with that, but it comes with the life you’ve chosen, honey. You can’t have one part of it and not the other.”
“I know,” Liana said, dejected. “They’ve never found me here before, and I just wanted two weeks off from it. Is that too much to ask?”
“Of course not, but since that’s not going to happen, you have to work around it.”
Liana raised her head off her mother’s shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“Instead of going out and borrowing trouble, why don’t we have lunch here and give each other manicures? What do you say?”
“As long as we get to spend some time together, I don’t care what we do. You don’t have to study do you?”
Agnes chuckled. “Later.”
“Travis wants us to meet him at the club for dinner at seven. Can you do that?”
“Sure,” Agnes said as she got up and slid into sandals.
“Mom? Can I ask you something else?”
“Of course.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Again Agnes froze.
Liana’s eyes widened with surprise. “You do!”
“Liana—”
“I can’t believe you’ve kept all this from me!”
“I didn’t think you’d approve. Of the second thing, that is.”
“Why would you feel like you needed my approval?”
“Because you’re my daughter and the most important person in the world to me. What you think of me matters. You were so close to your dad and so devastated by his death. I didn’t think you’d want to see me with someone else.”
“I want you to be happy,” Liana said with her hands on her mother’s shoulders. “If going to college and dating makes you happy, I’d never stand in the way of that.”
“I’m sorry, honey. I should’ve told you.”
“Who is he? The man you’re seeing?”
“His name is David,” Agnes said shyly as she went into the kitchen to start lunch. “David Leary.”
Liana followed her. “And how did you meet this David Leary?”
Agnes’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
Liana laughed. “Now I know where I get my blush.” She felt her own cheeks grow warm when she thought of how much Travis enjoyed making her blush.
“He was my freshman composition teacher.”
“Mother!”
“We didn’t go out until after the semester was over,” Agnes clarified. She hesitated before she added, “There’s one other thing you should probably know.”
“What’s that?”
“He’s, um, younger than me.”
“Define younger.”
“He’s fifty-five.”
“That’s only eight years, Mom, which is not exactly a scandal. But if he was your freshman composition teacher, then you’ve been going out with him for a while.”
Agnes’s cheeks lit up again. “Three years.”
“And no one knows? Not Aunt Edith? Not Enid?”
Agnes shook her head. “I wouldn’t have told them and not you, honey.”
“But how did you keep this from everyone?”
“We go out of town when we go out. And he has a weekend place in Vermont. We spend a lot of time up there.”
Incredulous, Liana asked, “When can I meet him?”
“Oh well . . . ah . . . I don’t know.”
“Invite him to dinner tonight,” Liana said, stealing a pickle from the jar her mother opened.
“I can’t do that! Travis didn’t invite him.”
“Travis won’t care.” She reached for the portable phone and handed it to her mother. “Here’s what you say: Hello, David? It’s me, Agnes. We’re busted. So please come to dinner tonight with my daughter and me.”
“And the very handsome Travis North,” Agnes added.
Liana smiled. “Now you’re getting into the spirit of things.”
Shaking her head at Liana, Agnes dialed the phone. “Hi,” she said when David answered. Her face turned beet red again. “We’re busted.”
Liana laughed, and the reporters on the lawn were forgotten.
Chapter Eleven
Jessie bent to pick up another shell. Growing up in rural Georgia, she had always dreamed of living at the beach. To consider herself “stuck” here was preposterous. She was in heaven! Beck told her the body of water fronting North Point was a bay, and the ocean was on the other side of the island. He’d promised to take her there to show her how to body surf. They had
talked all night—not about anything important or special, but somehow he’d managed to make her feel both important and special. And safe. For the first time in longer than she could remember, she felt safe.
He told her about growing up with three younger sisters in Ohio, of playing football with Travis North at Ohio State, of working for a decade as an FBI agent before venturing into the private security business. While he was tall, blond, and built, she had been more attracted to his calm, quiet demeanor than his good looks. Without breaking a sweat or lifting a finger, he was the epitome of authority and competence. She needed as much as she could get of both right now.
With the hem of her T-shirt full of shells, she turned to start back to The Tower to wash them. Her heart skipped at the sight of Beck making his way toward her on the beach. As she watched his rangy stride eat up the sand, she recalled the odd jolt of recognition she’d experienced when she first saw him the night before.
“There you are,” he said, seeming relieved. “I’ve been looking for you. After what you told me last night, I should’ve known to look here first.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve left a note or something.”
“I don’t want to smother you, but I promised to keep you safe.” He handed her a cell phone. “Would you mind carrying this so you can come and go as you please but I can still find you?”
Relishing the idea of being found by him, she reached for the phone. “Sure.”
“If you flip it open, you’ll see the number there. Feel free to give it to anyone you want to have it.” He paused, looking boyishly cute and yet every inch a man. “I thought you might like to meet Travis.”
“I’d love to.” Even more so after learning that Liana was having a fling with him. “Can I run up to drop off my shells and change first?”
“No problem,” he said, falling into step with her.
“I expected to be tired after staying up all night.”
“You’re not?”
“Nope. I’m full of energy. What about you?”
“Must be that ten years I’ve got on you, but I don’t have much get up and go today,” he said with a wry grin.
“Sorry,” she said, wincing.
“Don’t be. I enjoyed every minute of it.”
Smiling, she glanced over at him. “So did I.”
“Do you think. . .”
“What?” she asked, suddenly breathless.
His face flushed with color that she found adorable. “Can I take you to dinner tonight?”
“I’d love that, but aren’t you tired?”
He took her hand to help her up the short flight of stairs leading from the beach. “I have a feeling I’ll get a second wind.”
She smiled and didn’t protest when he held on to her hand as they strolled across the parking lot to The Tower.
Liana took her time getting ready. While she was anxious to meet the man in her mother’s life, she was almost desperate to see the man in her life again. The clock had never moved more slowly than it had today. She wore a form-fitting jersey dress with a plunging cowl neck and three-quarter sleeves in a color she knew was his favorite—a deep, dark burgundy.
Wait ’til he sees what’s under this dress, she thought with a nervous giggle. Sliding on delicate black sling-backed heels, she ran her fingers through the thick dark hair that cascaded down her back. With one last glance in the mirror, Liana grabbed her purse, Travis’s keys, and a bag she had packed so she could spend the night with him.
“Mom?” Liana said as she knocked on her mother’s door.
The door opened.
“Oh, Mom, you’re stunning,” Liana said, approving of the black cocktail dress and high heels her mother had chosen.
“So are you,” Agnes said with a light kiss to her daughter’s cheek. “Travis will drool when he sees you.”
“And David’s going to faint when he sees you.”
Agnes blushed. “Honestly, Liana.”
Liana chuckled at her mother’s embarrassment. “I’m going now. I’ll see you there?”
Agnes snapped and unsnapped the clasp on her purse. “We’ll be right along.”
Liana put her hand over her mother’s. “If you love him, I’ll love him.”
Agnes’s eyes filled with tears. “Thank you,” she said softly.
Liana kissed her mother goodbye. When she emerged from the house, the reporters sprang into action as she moved quickly toward the refuge of the car. She kicked off her shoes and drove the short distance barefooted.
Arriving at the club, she was rattled to notice a black car pull in just behind where she parked Travis’s car in the spot reserved for “Mr. North.” She darted under the burgundy awning and into the front door of the club before the two men in the car could follow her.
“Good evening, Ms. McDermott,” a tuxedoed maitre d’ said. “Right this way. Mr. North is waiting for you.”
Liana felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her, but she had eyes only for the dark-haired man in a secluded booth in the corner of the large dining room.
He was on the phone but ended the call when he saw her coming. A pile of paper and a beer sat on the table in front of him. Pushing the pile aside, he stood up to greet her with a kiss to her cheek. “You’re breathtaking,” he whispered as he guided her into the booth ahead of him. He reached for her and with his back shielding them from the other diners, he clutched her hands and kissed her.
Liana wanted to weep from the relief of being with him again. When his tongue nudged at her lips she opened her mouth to allow him in. Her tongue met his in a burst of passion that quickly became urgent.
Travis tore his lips free of hers and gazed at her with an almost stunned expression on his face. “I missed you.”
She smiled and ran her hand over his thigh.
He gasped when her forearm brushed his erection.
“So I see,” she said, delighted by his reaction to her. “I missed you, too.”
His jaw pulsed with tension. “I want to hustle you out of here and straight into bed,” he whispered. “I think I saw a hint of something very interesting under this skin tight dress of yours, and since I can’t wait for hours to see if it’s true . . .” He reached for her leg and worked his hand up under her skirt, stopping short when he encountered the garter holding up her sheer thigh-high hose. “Oh, Jesus,” he groaned.
“Later,” she said, kissing his neck.
“Isn’t your mom coming?” he asked after he had very reluctantly removed his hand from her leg and taken a long drink of his beer.
“It turns out you were right.”
“About?”
“She does have a boyfriend.”
Travis’s smile lit up his face. “Really? Good for her.”
“I hope it’s okay that I asked him to join us.”
“Of course it is.” He brushed a finger over her bottom lip. “Why are you working that poor lip?”
“It’s just that, well, I told her I was happy for her and encouraged her to bring him tonight.”
“So then what’s the problem, sweetheart?”
“I hope I’m ready to see her with someone else.”
Travis brought her into his arms and held her tight against him. “I’ll be right here with you.”
She tipped her face up to kiss him. “That helps. Thank you. I also found out she doesn’t have Alzheimer’s.”
“I told you that, too,” he said with a satisfied grin.
“She’s going to college! Can you believe it? She’ll be done in May.”
“That’s amazing.”
“I know. I couldn’t believe it. What a relief it was to find that out.”
“I’m sure it was.”
She caressed his face. “I think I’ve decided.”
He raised an amused eyebrow. “On?”
“Just a hint of stubble.” She trailed her lips over his jaw. “I definitely prefer just a hint of stubble.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that,” he said with
a chuckle.
Remembering what she needed to ask him sobered her. “Did you see the junk on the Internet?”
“Maybe.”
“Travis, I’m so sorry.” She fought the lump that lodged in her throat. “What they wrote about you and your brother . . .”
He kissed her softly. “It’s all right, sweetheart. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Evan. I was going to.”
“It’s not all right! You shouldn’t be forced into telling me personal things by the media. It’s so outrageous.”
“You’ll be glad to know some good has come of all this.”
Perplexed, she asked, “How?”
“The wedding photographer will be donating the hundred thousand dollars he got from the tabloid to the National Down’s Syndrome Society—in the name of Evan North.”
Liana gasped with amazement. “Really?”
“Uh huh,” Travis said with a satisfied nod.
“And how did you manage that?”
“I reminded him of the confidentiality agreement everyone who works at North Point signs, threatened him with costly legal action, and let him know how many weddings will be held here in the next year. It didn’t take him long to see the error of his ways.” He reached for the pile of papers on the table and dug out a sleeve of negatives, which he handed to her. “All the photos of you—and us—from the wedding.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you,” he replied with another light kiss. “Because of you a very worthy cause is a little richer tonight.”
“That feels good.”
“Remember that feeling when you’re thinking there’s nothing else you can do but model.”
Liana’s heart contracted in her chest as she held his eyes for a long, intense moment. “I’ll do that.”
“I met your friend Jessie earlier.”
“What’d you think of her?”
“She’s gorgeous—but not as gorgeous as you, of course.”
Liana smiled at his quick qualification.
“Beck seems quite taken with her and vice versa.”
“She told me they sat up all night talking.”
Travis’s brow furrowed with concern. “He’s been burned a couple of times, which has turned him into a bit of a love ’em and leave ’em type. She seems so fragile.”