A Merry Little Christmas (36 page)

Warren stood beside Lisette in the doorway and watched them leave. “I don’t know if we should have let her go with him. Donnie’s not going to like this at all,” he mused.

Lisette’s eyes flashed and, as always when she was upset, her French accent popped out. “I could not possibly care less what Adonis thinks,” she snapped, the word
thinks
coming out as “
theenks
.” “He made his own bed, now he can lie in it!” With a disgusted “Hmmph,” she flounced into the bedroom and closed the door.

Warren thought about what his wife had said, factored in his long friendship with Donnie, multiplied it by his feelings for Angelique and calculated the risk, then took out his cell phone and hit
speed
dial
.
“Cochran, we need to talk, brother.” “What’s up, Warren? By the way, you haven’t seen my wife, have you? She was having lunch with Lisette today and she’s not home yet. Her car is here, but she’s not. Have you talked to Lisette today?”

“Yes, Donnie, I have. They went to lunch today at Somerset, and then they went shopping. Seems that Angel was tired of walking around with a naked hand and she was feeling guilty because she really didn’t like the ring you bought her. So she took it to Tiffany’s to have it sized because she was tired of not wearing your ring, and she was ashamed of herself for being so picky. Care to hazard a guess as to what happened next?”

Donnie dropped the phone in his panic and quickly picked it up again. “Oh, man, they didn’t tell her when I bought it, did they?”

Warren took no satisfaction in the frantic sound of his friend’s voice. “They told her a lot more than that. They told her the names you had planned to have inscribed on it.”

“Where is she now, Warren?”

Warren ignored the question. “You should have seen her, Cochran. I’ve never seen anyone as hurt in my life. It was worse than telling a little child there’s no Santa Claus.”

“Where is my wife, Warren?”
Donnie repeated in a low, anguished voice.

“She’s not here. Lisette brought her here and had her lie down for a while. She called someone to pick her up.” Donnie’s relief was apparent.

“Oh, great, she called Paris. I’ll call over there and go get her. I know she’s mad and hurt, but I can explain everything to her,” he said, speaking rapidly and with more assurance.

“She didn’t call Paris. She called A.J. and he came and got her. She left not too long ago. She says she’s never going back to
your
house again.”

Donnie’s short-lived relief vanished. A towering rage took its place. “She went where?
With who?
Man, how could you let her go anywhere with him? Why didn’t you keep her with you, Warren?”

“Why didn’t you take that stupid ring back when I told you to? Why didn’t you tell her the truth? She shouldn’t have found out like this, Donnie. I let her leave with A.J. because she’s a grown woman, and she knew what she wanted to do. She doesn’t need any more stress right now. In her advanced state of pregnancy, she needs to be as tranquil as possible and if being with him makes her happy, so be it. Remember, she’s my friend, too, and I care about her.” Realizing that he was being rough on Donnie, he added, “I thought you needed to know, that’s why I’m calling you. Lisette is going to have my
hide when she knows what I did;
she’s pretty hot with you right now.”

“Thanks, I guess,” he said, the words rich with unspoken feelings. “Look, I gotta go, Warren, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Wait a minute! What are you getting ready to do? Don’t do anything stupid, Cochran. You need to cool off before you do something you’ll regret,” Warren cautioned.

“I’ve already done something I’ll regret for the rest of my life: I hurt my wife. Now I’m going to bring her home.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

A.J. was trying hard not to let his level of concern show. Angelique really didn’t look well. Her normally glowing skin was clammy and pasty and she seemed a bit winded. Her eyes were red and she was obviously struggling to hold back
th
e tears. They were in his loft apartment in
Harbortown
where he’d brought her after they left Farmington Hills. Normally she liked to sit next to
th
e windows on the long, wide
built-in seat
he’d
built
.
  It was firm yet soft and there were beautiful soft pillows for her to rest against.
She could sit and watch the river below for hours; she loved the relaxing effect it had.
But
she was curled up in the co
rn
er of his long sofa, looking lost.
His sweet cat
Nefertiti,
seemed to sense her distress and lay by her feet. She was a lap cat only if invited, and she had impeccable manners.
 
Angelique looked at the cat’s pretty, anxious face and patted the cushion next to her.

“Come on, baby, come keep me company,” she crooned and Nefertiti immediately jumped on the sofa and snuggled up to her. “A.J., she’s so beautiful.
I want her.”

“I’ll get you one for Christmas,” he promised. “Now, talk to me, baby. Tell me what happened to get you so upset. You shouldn’t be getting all worked up like this. It’s not good for you and it’s definitely not good for the little one.”

Tears sprang to her eyes and she swiped them away, but not quickly enough. A.J. pulled a huge leather ottoman in front of her and sat down on it so that he could hold her hands. “Come on, baby, talk to me,” he entreated.

Angelique took a long, shuddering breath and began to explain how she and Lisette went to Tiffany’s to get the ring sized and what she’d found out. “So there I am, looking like Boo-Boo the fool,
thinking
that these rings were bought for me when he bought
th
em for another woman. And that woman was that Aneesah Shabazz, of all people. I thought she liked me,
” she said with a stricken look on her face.  “
I thought she was becoming a friend and here she was laughing at me behind my back all this time. How could he treat me like that, A J.? Why did he have to lie to me?” She took another long, tearful breath and tried valiantly to stop the tears that were overflowing.

A.J. couldn’t take it anymore. He stood up and scooped Angelique and the very surprised Nefertiti into his a
rms
and settled down on the sofa with them. “I know it hurts, baby, but you can’t cry like this. You can’t let yourself get this upset,
sweetheart
You
have to think about the baby. I don’t know why he did what he did, Angel. Men aren’t the brightest creatures in the universe. They make mistakes and lots of them. I’m not going to try to figure it out or justify it—that’s up to him. I just want you to be okay. Please stop crying, baby,” he pleaded.

Nefertiti added her sentiments by giving a soft “meow” and licking Angelique’s hand while she stared at her anxiously. “See, you’re getting Nefertiti all upset. She has a very delicate constitution, you know. She’s sensitive, just like you.”

Angelique surprised herself by laughing. It was a soft and weak laugh, to be sure, but she did stop crying. A sudden pounding on AJ.’s big double doors made both Angelique and the cat jump. A.J. set the two gently to the side and went to see who was beating on his door like a fool.
 
When he saw the grim face of Donnie through his peephole,
A.J.
set his jaw decisively. He opened the door at once and stepped outside, closing it behind him.

“What do you want, Cochran?”

Donnie was in no mood for fun and games. “I’m here for my wife,
Jandrewski
, what do you think I want?”

“I’m not sure what you want. You’ve got a phenomenal woman, a woman far better than anything you deserve, and you treat her like trash. You drag her to
th
e sin pit of the Western world for a sleazy little farce of a marriage, you impregnate her and you don’t bother to tell her she’s not your first choice for marriage, that she was
just
a drunken mistake. And the lies just kept on coming, didn’t they? You let her
think
you cared about her
;
that you bought her a wedding ring, but no, that wasn’t true, was it? That was something you bought for the other woman, the one who had sense enough to tell you to hit the bricks
,” A.J. spat out.

“And best of all, you kept this all to yourself while your innocent wife was
working
with your would-be
fiancee
. How do
you think
she’s feeling right about now, Cochran? Are you proud of yourself? Happy with what you’ve accomplished? Because you’ve just about destroyed her, I want you to know that.”

Rage was
flow
ing
from
A.J. like sweat from a prizefighter. He was pacing back and forth and every so often punctuated a remark by poking Donnie in the chest. Donnie
finally
had enough and grabbed the man’s hand. A.J. wasn’t quite as tall as Donnie, but he was muscular and had enough adrenalin pumping to do some serious harm. None of that mattered to Donnie, though.

“Look, man, I just want my wife. Where is she? I need to take her home; we need to talk about this. This is none of your damned business anyway. Now get the hell out of my way, I need to see my wife!”

“You don’t deserve her, Cochran. You’re not fit to wipe her boots. She needs to be loved, Cochran, she needs to be with someone who’s going to give her the love and understanding and support she needs,” snarled A. J.

Understanding broke over Donnie in a flash. His face lit up in a feral smile that held no hint of humor whatsoever. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you? I knew there was something more to this so-called friendship. You want my wife, don’t you? Well, I got news for you, pal, she’s mine and she’s going to stay mine,” he said viciously.

“Like hell she is, not when you treat her like garbage.” A.J. suddenly stopped talking and grabbed the lapels of Donnie’s topcoat with his left hand and landed a right hook with the other. After his initial shock, Donnie immediately retaliated and they were embroiled in a full-out fistfight until Angelique’s faint voice from the doorway made them stop.

“A.J., A.J., I’m bleeding... help me.”

***

The next few hours were hellish. The only thing Donnie could relate it to
was
when his beloved only sister had been in the accident that caused the loss of her first child. This was even more agonizing because this was his wife, the person he loved more than anyone else. After rushing her to the hospital, he was forced to wait around with A.J., who had followed them and showed no signs of leaving. The doctor had come out to speak to them once, but the rest of the time had been spent waiting for lab results, waiting for consults, just waiting.

He had to call Warren and Lisette and let them know what was going on, as well as Paris. He was hesitant to call her mother just yet; he wanted to wait until they were sure of her condition. But he did call Renee and Andrew. Andrew surprised him by coming right over to the hospital. He gave Donnie a brief hug and said, “What’s the point of being a doctor if I can’t use my clout once in a while?” Then he disappeared into the restricted area and left Donnie alone with A.J. once again.

A.J. was the first to speak. “I probably owe you an apology, Cochran, but I don’t want to give it to you. I can’t sit here and pretend I like you, or act like the way you’ve treated Angel is okay with me. But for some reason you mean everything to her, and what matters to her, matters to me. She would want me to apologize. I
can
say that I regret my behavior; I’m not a violent person by nature.”

Donnie raised his eyebrow and smiled to himself. He’d never heard a more ungracious apology, but he had to respect the man’s honesty.

“No, you’re not violent, except when it comes to my wife,” he said dryly. “I shouldn’t have goaded you. I always kind of knew how you feel about her. You’re not the only one who regrets their behavior.”

Adam emerged from the elevators and looked at the two men separated by a distance of two chairs, each with an icepack, one on Donnie’s left eye and one on AJ.’s right. Adam shook his head in disgust. “You two are pathetic. How’s Angel doing?”

Donnie moved the icepack from his left eye and touched the now-swollen skin. “She’s sleeping, they gave her a sedative. I haven’t been able to see her yet. How did you find out she was here?”

Before
Adam
could answer, the elevator doors opened again and
the twin Cochrans,
Alan and Andre stepped out, wearing identical expressions of concern. “Renee told us Angel was in the hospital. How is she?” Adam said.

A.J. took the sudden onslaught of Cochrans as a cue to leave. “Tell Angel I’ll be in touch. Call me if anything happens,” he said as he removed the icepack from his right eye and tossed it in the trash receptacle. Nodding to the men, he got on the elevator.