Circle of Deception 2 (23 page)

“Nathan!” she screamed as all the sensations mounted and ruptured inside her. Just before she hit her powerful orgasm, he pushed her hair from her face and took her lips in a possessive kiss. Her body jerked and she clung to him. Her breathing was labored and he smiled down at her just before giving in to his climax. When he released her, she felt like the life had been sucked out of her. She pulled him back to her and laid her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and she felt whole again. Nathan caressed her placing his hands all over her back as she laid comfortably in his arms. He looked around her room and felt a sense of ease there, it felt like home.

“Maddie,” he whispered. “How do you feel?”

“About us or about this?”

“All of it. I know we live far apart, but...”

“I enjoyed it, and I enjoy you. Let’s just see where this goes.”

“I won’t hurt you. I just want you to know that.”

“I know,” she sighed and closed her eyes. “Can we sleep now? I’m exhausted.”

“You want me to stay?”

“Of course I do. It’s late, baby,” she whispered and closed her eyes.

Nathan held her, rubbing her back until she drifted off, and when he thought she was fast asleep, he kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear. “I love you, Madeline, and one day you’ll love me too.” She was deep in her dreams, when he finally drifted off, holding her firmly against him. He knew he would have to go back home soon, and was regretful. He wanted to stay, to be around for her, for them.

***

As Maddie came back to the present, she looked at him and smiled. When she reached out to hug him, he pulled her to his ear and whispered, “I love you, Madeline. I told you the day would come when you would love me too.”

She bucked her eyes in realization, she thought she had heard him say it that night, but she had convinced herself it was only a dream until now. “Nathan, that night, the first night, did you tell me you loved me then?”

He took her hand and kissed it gently. “Yes, I thought you were sleeping, I didn’t know you heard me.”

“I thought it was a dream, I didn’t know. I feel so stupid. Before you came to live here, I was so insecure about you, about us.”

“You never have to be insecure about me, I’m yours. I don’t want any other woman. I worked damn hard to tear down those walls you built around yourself, and I’ll be damned if any other man gets to benefit from my hard work,” he laughed.

“Tearing down walls, huh?” Gio smirked. “That sounds about right, or maybe more like obliterating walls. You Hanover boys, you’re just taming the hell out of my sisters.”

“Shut up,” Maddie huffed and pulled Nathan over to him. They both sat down and Nathan presented Gio with the snacks he had come in with. They sat and talked to him for what seemed like forever just enjoying the time together. Gio looked to his sister and then back to the man that had stolen her heart and silently congratulated himself on a job well done. Pushing them together was the best thing he could have ever done for her, she was over the moon.

***

Meg poked her head into the office and laughed when she saw the vacant expression that greeted her. “Well hello, pretty girl, how are you feeling today?”

Melia rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her desk. “How do I look? Your niece or nephew is turning me inside out. I don’t remember being this sick with Cienna. This one is giving me the blues.”

“That’s why I’m here. I brought you ginger ale, crackers, and your favorite soup. Do you think you can hold any of this down?”

Melia smiled at her wonderful sister. She had been having the day from hell at work and seriously needed a retreat. Meg had called her earlier in the day sounding like she needed to talk, but when she heard the distress in Melia’s voice, she rushed right over to take care of her first. Melia patted Meg’s hand and offered her a sweet smile.

“Thank you. I love you for everything you’re doing and everything you’ve done.”

“I couldn’t leave you alone in all this. I know your situation and I don’t agree with doing it by yourself, but I understand. Now, tell me all about your appointment. I want to hear about baby Hanover.”

“Baby Hanover is great, besides making mommy crazy sick, he or she is doing great. I got to hear the heartbeat today.”

“What?” Meg huffed. “You should have called me, I would have been there. I didn’t know you had an appointment until after I called.”

“I know you would have, but you have your own problems to deal with. You can’t always step in and protect me. I know there was something else on your mind besides me this morning when you called. How did the session go?”

Meg sat down and placed all the items she brought in on the desk. She wanted to evade her questions for as long as she could, because for as hard as she had tried the night before, she had gotten absolutely nowhere. They thought Allison might have confided in Marisol and when they arrived home, Alex questioned her, hoping for answers, to their dismay, she had no more insight than they did. She actually had a few questions of her own, and they were back to square one. The situation was completely baffling and exhausting.

Meg wished there was a way to get Allison to just open up to her. They had always had such a close relationship, and the fact that they hadn’t been communicating was hard. Despite the awkwardness between them, the ride to school this morning was pleasant. They did their normal routine with their usual stops and their special song. When they pulled up to the school, Allison leaned in and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek and told her to have a good day. It was funny, Meg knew her day was going to be stressful, and her darling little girl was giving her the encouraging words she needed.

“Meg, are you listening to me? How was the session?”

“It went okay, I guess. We didn’t really get much from her, but she seems to be okay for now. I just don’t know where she could have gotten the idea that we would give her away, it’s ridiculous. Dr. Steinfeld seems to think it’s an imaginary friend. It has to be though, the only time she’s away from us is during school, and it couldn’t be anyone there. They wouldn’t be so stupid.”

“Yeah,” Melia sighed, shoveling the soup in her mouth. “It has to be something she created in her mind. You just have to convince her that it’s not true. We all know how much you love her.”

“I do,” Meg smiled. “I wanted to know if I could ask a favor. I know it’s a school night, but do you think we could keep Cici tonight? I thought that maybe Allison might slip up and mention something about all this to her. I hate to use my niece, but I’m at my wits end.”

“Sure you can, she loves spending time there. Don’t consider it using her, just consider it getting Intel,” she laughed.

“I guess you’re right.”

Meg sat back and watched Melia eat and grinned. She was happy to see the smile on her face. She finally looked happy about something and it was a great change. She knew that Melia wanted to be excited about her pregnancy, but everything going on with her and Matt was making it almost impossible. She wanted so badly to help her forget it all, even if just for a little while.

“Hey, how about when Cici is with Alli, we do something? Just you and me.”

“Really?” Melia’s eyes lit up. “I would love to. Do you have time for all that?”

“I’ll make the time, sweetie. You need me, and I’m here for you.”

“God, I love you, you’re the best sister in the world.”

“Don’t go canonizing me, I’m just repaying a favor. Hopefully by the end of the night, we will be one step closer to this Ms. Pierre mess.”

Melia laughed and then stopped suddenly. Meg saw the shock all over her face and stopped laughing as well. “What was that name you just said?”

“Ms. Pierre. That’s the name Dr. Steinfeld gave us for Allison’s imaginary friend.”

“Are we sure this person isn’t real? It slipped my mind a while ago, but Alli isn’t the only one to mention her. Cici drew a picture with a Ms. Pierre in it, I was going to say something, but I got side tracked. My brain has been in a permanent upheaval as of late.”

“Where did she say she knows her from?” Meg asked, seething with anger.

“The playground, she says they play together. I assumed maybe she was a teacher’s aide or something, but now I’m not so sure. If she’s saying things to the kids, it’s time to put a stop to it.”

“What the hell could that bitch be thinking? I’m going to that school! Somebody is about to give me some answers now!”

Melia dropped her bowl and stood, grabbing her purse and keys. “Where are you going?”

“I’m coming with you, it’s not just your fight, now it’s mine too. She has been talking to my child also. Now, she’s about to see how over the top I can be.”

“Let’s go,” Meg huffed and sped out of the office. She had tried calling Alex several times in the car ride over, but he wasn’t answering. She knew he had a huge case to try today, so she just left him a very detailed voice mail. She was practically screaming into the phone as she spoke. Melia kept looking to her to see if she was calming down, but her hands were shaking. She knew calming words were no use, her sweet older sister looked angry enough to kill.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the school, Meg threw her seatbelt off before Melia could get a single word in. She called out to her, but if fell on deaf ears. Meg was in the school in an instant, and as angry as Melia was, she knew one of them had to be the level headed one. It was clear that she was it because Meg was tearing down the hallway to the principal’s office like she owned the place. Melia sighed deeply when she thought about what was about to take place, thank goodness for Alex being a lawyer because before this was all said and done, Meg was definitely going to need one.

Meg burst into the office, startling the women inside and threw her bag down on the floor with Melia running behind her. “Meg, slow down, I can’t keep chasing you. This baby has me out of breath.”

“I’m sorry, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Melia turned to the secretary and smiled, but the smile wasn’t the nice and sweet one they usually received, it was cold and forced. “We don’t have an appointment, but we are here for Principal Wilkes. It’s important that we speak to her now.”

The secretary huffed and placed her hand on the desk in front of her. “I’m afraid you can’t just barge in here demanding a meeting without calling first.”

Meg’s eyes grew to the size of saucers and she slammed her hands down in front of the secretary, causing her to jump. “You don’t understand, if you don’t get us in there in the next five minutes, I’m going to flip every desk in this school over. Now if you would be kind enough to get off your ass and get into that office and let her know we’re here to see her it would be greatly appreciated.” The woman stopped and looked at Meg, searching for humor in her eyes, but she saw nothing but anger. “Go,” she growled.

“Meg, you have to calm down, they’re going to call the cops on us,” Melia reasoned.

“Let them call. I don’t care what they do. I’m getting to the bottom of this and then I’m taking my daughter out of this school.”

“Meg, I know you’re upset, but at least let them get us in there before you start tipping things.”

“Fine, but they better hurry.”

When the secretary made her way from the office with the principal right behind her, Meg exhaled and pushed her way past them and walked into the office with Melia right behind her. Principal Wilkes offered her a genuine smile, but Meg’s angry demeanor persisted. There was no penetrating her foul mood, not at this point; she was way past the point of return. Melia looked at her phone hoping Alex would call back soon, she knew he and only he could talk her down now. There was going to be a blowup like never seen before once they shut that door.

Melia watched hesitantly as the door closed behind them and Principal Wilkes offered a seat. She looked to Meg, who remained standing and shuddered, this wasn’t a good sign. When Principal Wilkes offered them a glass of coffee it was like yelling attack because Meg started right in. “No, my sister and I won’t be having any of your coffee. What I would like is for you to bring this Ms. Pierre here, I have a few questions for her.”

“Mrs. Hanover, excuse me if I’m a bit out of sorts. I’m just not sure what’s going on here.”

“This is your school, how do you not know what’s going on around here? One of your staff has been talking to my child about things they shouldn’t have, and I want her in here right now.”

“Whom are you referring to? Allison is in Mrs. Anderson’s class, and as far as I know, there haven’t been any issues. Your daughter is in great hands, Mrs. Anderson is excellent.”

“Listen to me, whoever this Ms. Pierre is, seems to be the issue. You get her down here now!”

Principal Wilkes sat up in her chair looking rather confused as Meg continued her ranting. When Meg stopped to see the look on her face, she glared at her angrily. “Mrs. Hanover, I understand your frustrations, but I’m afraid I can’t do what you’re asking.”

“And why the hell not? I hope you’re not trying to protect her because I’ll march up and down every hallway in this school if I have to until I find the woman who is poisoning my child’s mind. If you’re going to conceal her from me, I’ll bring this whole school down!”

“Mrs. Hanover,” she screamed. “I can’t bring her to you because there is no teacher here by that name. No one on our staff is named Ms. Pierre.”