Lily's Dream (Unexpected Lover Series) (11 page)

Andre made arrangements for one of the
drivers to replace Louis for a few days. He called the room Andrew was
occupying and there was no answer. He then called his cell phone and Andrew
answered. Andre asked his father to return to the apartment building as his
help was needed. The police officer reported that the searchers were on the 15
^th
floor and had not yet found anyone wandering around. Andrew arrived and was
brought up to date on the recent events. Andre asked his father to take charge
at the apartment building while he and Lily went to the Hospital to check on
Louis.  

They arrived at the ER and asked for
Louis Lopez. When asked if they were relatives, both agreed they were. Shown to
his cubicle, Louis was protesting loudly that he did not need to be in the
hospital and wanted to be released immediately. Andre took Louis by his hand
saying, “Louis, my friend, you had a hard blow to the head and were
unconscious. It is important to find out what your injuries are and have them
treated. You may have a concussion. What would Rosalee say? Has anyone called
her?”

Louis looked embarrassed and admitted
that he had not asked anyone to call her. Andre immediately called her and told
her Louis was in the hospital and she said she would be there as soon as
possible. The doctor came in and reported that the main injury was the blow to
his head and he had already received pain medication for his headache. He
didn’t think Louis had a concussion but wanted to observe him for a few hours.

Andre asked Louis if he felt like
telling what had happened. He agreed but said there wasn’t much to tell. A man
approached him and asked if a Ray Underwood lived there. He was beginning to
respond and the next thing he knew was waking up in the ER. “What did he look
like?”Andre asked. Louis closed his eyes trying to remember. “I remember he was
not tall, brown hair, dark eyes. He walked up the driveway which I thought was
strange. That’s all I can remember.”

“That’s fine, Louis. I have Eduardo
working in your place until you get back. You are to take a few days off with
pay. Don’t worry about a thing.” “That Eduardo will mess everything up. He
can’t do anything but wash cars and drive. I need to get back soon,” responded
Louis. His wife, Rosalee, arrived to hear this last remark and informed him he
would stay as long as he needed to stay and she didn’t want to hear any more
about it. Louis frowned and Andre felt Louis was in good hands. Lily kissed him
on the cheek and hugged Rosalee, telling her to call if she needed anything.

Once in their car, Andre pulled Lily
close and put his arm around her. He put his hand on her breast and whispered
into her ear, “This is our wedding day and I want to make love to my wife.” She
still wore her chiffon dress she put on that morning for their marriage. He
pulled her panties off, stuffed them in his pocket and put two fingers in her
sensitive area between her legs and rubbed around and around, then in and out
of her vagina. “Hmmm you’re so wet and ready…” “Don’t stop,” begged Lily. He
kept it up until she buckled and had an explosive climax. He kissed her
passionately and murmured, “You’re so wonderfully responsive…just wait until
tonight.”

They returned to the apartment building
to find Andrew in conversation with two policemen. They joined the group and
were told no intruder was found, however, damage had been done to the lock and
door of 24A. Lily gasped and Andre put his arm around her shoulder.  

The police said it appeared that someone
had tried to get in but was unable to do so. They don’t know where he went as
they never saw anyone. They asked about exits and Andre explained about the
exits from each apartment. A stairwell went from bottom to top. Each entrance
was located in the kitchen and exited outside the building in the back. The
door of the exits were kept locked on the outside but not from the inside. Each
resident had a key to the stairway entrance on the outside.

Nobody could figure out how the intruder
got out of the building without being seen. Andre repeated the description
Louis had given them. The police concluded the purpose of the break-in was to
gain entrance to apartment 24A and recommended the door and lock be repaired
immediately. After the police left, they went up to the 24
^th
floor
to take a look at the door. Someone was very determined to gain entrance as the
lock had been smashed in but had held. The door showed signs of blows with a
sharp object. Andre stated he was glad he had used steel doors instead of wood.

Andrew complimented Andre on good
construction choices. “Somebody was trying to get to me,” Lily said weakly. “I
usually am home sewing this time of day. Why? Why would anyone want to hurt
me?” She started crying and Andre took her in his arms rubbing her back in an
attempt to sooth her.

Andrew offered to call maintenance and
get the lock and door repaired and Andre could take Lily on up to his
apartment. He would report in later. After a moment’s thought, he said he’d
phone a report since it was their wedding day. Andre grinned and said he
appreciated that. Andre asked him to check on Molly and explain everything to
her which he agreed to do.

Andre picked Lily up and she put her
arms around his neck. When they entered his apartment, he saw in one of the
armchairs beside the fireplace and with a tissue wiped away the tears. She
looked at him with fear in her eyes. “Lily love, I don’t know what is going on
or why. Nobody can get to you when you’re in the apartment. The recent attempt
proved that. What we need to do now is concentrate on the present and not worry
about what might happen. I am going to keep you safe. Without you, life is not
worth living for me. Do you trust me?”

She nodded and gave him a shaky smile.
“You are my wife and we will make a wonderful life together. We are going to do
something tonight we haven’t done.” Her eyebrows went up and he saw he had her
interest. He asked her to stay put.

He went out the balcony door and
upstairs to the upper balcony. He came back down and taking her hand, led her
into their bathroom. He undressed and put on a fluffy white robe and then undressed
her and gave her a robe, then leading her by her hand, they went to the upper
balcony where a hot tub was waiting. Andre had turned the temperature level to
cool.

“Oh, I didn’t know you had a hot tub up
here. You’ve been keeping secrets,” she exclaimed. He took her robe and helped
her into the tub, then joined her. The jets kept the water constantly bubbling
and they both sighed with pleasure and leaned back to look up at the stars. “You
like?” he asked. “Hmm yes. This is so relaxing and the stars are so bright and
beautiful. What a wonderful surprise.”

After a while she moved over and
snuggled up to him. “You’re so wonderful.”

He chuckled. “Keep on thinking that and
you might get another surprise.”

“Something we haven’t done before?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

He walked over to the outdoor kitchen
area and from the wine cooler took a bottle of champagne and two glasses. After
the pop of the cork, he poured each of them a glass of champagne and stepped
back into the hot tub. They toasted their marriage and love for each other.

Suddenly Lily sat up, looked around and said,
“I don’t remember all this being up here when you showed me the upper deck
area.”

“I had it done earlier in the week as a
surprise for you. I never used this deck but now that I have you, I think we
will enjoy using it. Certainly tonight the hot tub is exactly what we needed to
help us relax.” Lily kissed him lingeringly and said she thought it was a
wonderful surprise.  

They relaxed, drank champagne and
watched the stars in peaceful bliss.

Andrew knocked on Molly’s door and
identified himself. She opened the door and he explained, “Andre asked me to bring
you up to date on what has been happening.”  Grinning, he added, “He also told
me to have a glass of wine with you while explaining.” She laughed and got two
glasses and he poured their wine.

Sitting on her couch, he explained about
the break-in and finding that Lily’s apartment had been the object of the
intruder and that Lily was very frightened and upset. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I
would be upset, too. Should I call her?” asked Molly.

“No, I called to report the finished
installation of the new door and lock and there was no answer. I would guess
they’re relaxing in the new hot tub, drinking champagne and looking at the
stars. Andre had the entire top sunroof decorated as a surprise for Lily.
There’s a huge hot tub, small kitchen, wine cooler, furniture….very nice.”

“How thoughtful of him to do that. She
must be so happy except, of course, for these recent incidents. What are your
thoughts on who could be doing these things?”

“I have thought about this a lot and
have come to some conclusions. The car incident was very amateurish, as was the
telephone call and the notes,” Andrew began. Molly quickly interrupted, “What
notes?” “Oh, damn, I forgot you weren’t told about the notes. Lily doesn’t
know, either, so please don’t tell her. Andre will be very unhappy with me.
There was a note sent to Lily’s mailbox in block letters saying, TOO BAD I
MISSED THIS TIME…..NEXT TIME I WILL NOT MISS. Andre decided not to show it to
her. He took it to the police. The next note arrived after the phone call when
you prevented Lily from running out to see if Andre was hurt. It, too, was sent
to her mailbox and said, YOU HAVE BEEN LUCKY AGAIN….THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM.
Andre took this one to the police, too, and they are trying to get DNA from the
saliva from the sealed envelopes or fingerprints. So far there have been no
results reported to us on their tests.

I think the notes sound like a female.
Perhaps a jealous female. This latest attempt to break in the door sounds like
a male…a stupid male. He should have realized as soon as he started that the
door was going to take a while to break into and make a lot of noise. So we
have two people working together or two people working separately. Either way,
it is very puzzling.”

Molly looked very intrigued with his
conclusions. “I agree with you, Andrew. Her jealous sister would fit the
profile of the first attempts and the notes…not very smart and wanting to upset
Lily and hurt her, if possible. Another possibility is to get at Andre. He is
so much in love with Lily that if anything happened to her, he would be
devastated. Who could have a reason to want to hurt Andre? The door attempt
today could be a man wanting to get at Andre through Lily.”

Andrew looked shocked. “Molly, you may
have something. I can think of one person who has always hated and been jealous
of Andre and that is his brother, Peter. But I just cannot believe Peter would
be capable of trying to harm Andre’s fiancé. He does, however, fit the
description Louis gave of the man who hit him and I have no idea where Peter
is. His mother probably knows. I have to think about this.”

He poured each of them another glass of
wine. They sat for a while sipping their wine and looking at the lights of
Miami. “It’s so nice to sit in peaceful companionship and talk. I usually spend
my evenings alone,” commented Andrew. “I do, too,” replied Molly. “I’d
forgotten how nice it is to have a companion. You get used to being alone, not
enjoying it, but just used to it.”

“I’m starved,” suddenly said Andrew.
“Have you had dinner?”

“No.”

“I’ll order dinner from the place Andre
recommended.” He took out his wallet and removed a card. “Steak or salmon?” he
asked.

“Salmon.”

Andrew ordered a steak and a salmon
dinner to be delivered in thirty minutes. When the food arrived, they moved
over to the table in front of the window and ate enjoying the view of Miami’s
lights. He poured each another glass of wine and wistfully commented, “It’s so
nice eating dinner with someone. I really miss companionship.”

“Yes, I do, too. Are you aware of what
we keep saying? How much we are enjoying each other tonight?” Molly asked.

“Yes. We have both been alone for so
many years. I haven’t enjoyed it. I just am used to it and you don’t realize
what you’re missing until you have it. I will be divorced in one week. It seems
a divorce takes only two weeks if there are no areas of disagreement. I look
forward to being a single man and can be free of a very unhappy relationship.”

“Tell me your story, Andrew. I told you
mine and you promised to tell me yours. This is as good a time as any.”

“I don’t want to spoil the mood of the evening.”

“You won’t spoil it. Sharing helps heal.
I can speak from recent experience on this.”

“Okay you asked for it.” He hesitated
for several moments and then began. “My parents couldn’t afford to send me to
college so I worked my way through by performing in night clubs, bartending…any
work I could get. When I graduated, I went to work for an engineering firm
owned by Lorraine’s father. I met her when she came in one day to visit her
father and clearly was interested in me so I asked her out. One thing led to
another and with a lot of pressure from my parents, my boss and Lorraine, we
married.

She was attractive in those days but we
really didn’t know each other well. Andre was born nine months later and by
then I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life. She didn’t like making
love, said it was disgusting. She didn’t like being pregnant and after Peter
was born, she said she was finished with sex and children. So from then on, I
occupied one side of the house and she had her rooms on the other side. She had
very little to do with Andrew but spoiled Peter. I was so busy building the
business that I didn’t spend much time with them. Andrew was involved with
sports and did well in everything but Peter didn’t excel in anything.

When Andrew left so abruptly, I took Peter
into the company. The accountant kept telling me he was stealing from the
company but I let him get by with several warnings before I finally realized he
wasn’t going to change and fired him. My guess would be that he has spent all
the money he stole. He liked living high above his means and I think his mother
is helping him now. She resented the fact that Andrew looked so much like me.
Peter resembles her in looks and I guess that’s why he was her favorite. It
wasn’t a happy household.

I was so surprised when she planned the
trip down here. Actually she and Eleanor planned it Eleanor has never married
and maybe she is still in love with Andrew and hoped to rekindle the old
romance. Certainly they were shocked when he walked in with a beautiful fiancé.
I came along because I wanted to see my son and was planning to move somewhere
and thought this would be a good opportunity to check out Miami. I am so glad I
did because I met someone special.”

During this long story, Molly had been
sitting spellbound and filled with pity for Andrew’s dismal marriage. It seemed
totally devoid of love and affection and she was amazed that he was such a
sweet, caring man. She knew that he had never told this story to anyone else
but had opened his heart to her.

Andrew had been looking out the window
during his description of his marriage. “I’d better not look into your eyes and
see pity,” he said. “You won’t,” Molly replied, “You’ll see respect and
admiration.”

He turned his head and looked into her
eyes. “Why respect and admiration?” “Because you have lived in an unpleasant
marital situation for years and yet you are not a bitter man. Instead you are
caring and considerate.”

“I’m glad you look at it that way. I’m
not bitter because I know all women aren’t alike. I want to love someone who
returns my love and marry again.” He chuckled and added, “You don’t feel like
sitting in my lap and kissing the hurt away?”

Molly laughed. “You wish!” as she got up
and went into the kitchen to tidy up.

Andrew followed her into the kitchen to
inspect the door to the fire escape stairway. He found it was as solid as the
front door with a secure lock. He cautioned Molly to always keep both doors
locked. As he was leaving, she said, “Thank you for telling me your story. I
understand you so much better now and have a huge respect for such a nice and
caring man.”

He smiled and replied, “Just remember
I’ll be divorced in a week.”

************

The next morning, Andre and Lily rang
the doorbell and Molly came to the door with Andrew following close behind.
After the greetings, Andrew suggested to Andre that they leave the interview
with the seamstress to the ladies and go outside for a talk.

Once outside the apartment, Andrew
requested that they look at the surveillance tape again of the intruder and
Louis. Andre was puzzled but agreed. They watched the man with sandy hair walk
up to Louis, talk a moment, and then hit Louis on the head with a large piece
of wood. He threw the wood into the shrubbery, and walked into the building.
Andre looked puzzled. “I didn’t see anything different than we saw before.”
Andrew urged, “Look at the man very carefully and see if he reminds you of
anyone.” Andre looked at the tape again, then again. This time he cautiously
said, “With shorter hair, he would look a bit like Peter.” Andrew then told
Andre about his conversation with Molly the previous night and that the only
person he could think of who might want to hurt Andre through Lily was Peter.
“He has always hated you. I think he’s been eaten up with jealousy. You always
were outstanding in everything you did but he never did anything well. The
question is whether he is capable of doing something like this,” said Andrew.

 Andre asked, “Did the police get that
piece of wood we just saw the guy throw into the shrubbery?”

Andrew thought for a moment, and then
said with excitement, “I don’t think that they did.”

They both jumped up and hurried outside.
Andre looked into the thick shrubbery and said, “It’s here!” He then called the
police without touching the wood and reported to them what he’d found.

Soon two police cars arrived. Sgt.
Ferguson and Lt. Malone were present to observe. The officers carefully removed
the wood. They dusted for prints and found several good fingerprints. They
asked to view the tape again and when they did, they were surprised that they
missed that detail. Somewhat embarrassed, they speculated they were so intent
on finding the intruder that they overlooked that. Andrew told the police that
he thought he recognized the man as being his son, Peter. The police left
expressing confidence they would be able to identify the intruder with the help
of the fingerprints.

They went back upstairs to find that the
seamstress was still there and Lily and Molly were busy with her.

Since Andrew needed to make a purchase
at a drug store, they decided to go to the mall and Andre would check on his
salon. Andrew made his purchase at the drug store and they walked into
Andre’s
together.  The two handsome men caught the eyes of many of the females present.
Carrie, the Assistant Manager, came up to Andre and hugged him. “How’s married
life?” she asked with a twinkle in her eye. Carrie and Andre had worked
together for many years and were good friends. He grinned and responded,
“Great. I recommend it highly.” They both laughed and Andre asked if she’d met
his father. “Your
father
? I honestly thought he was your older brother.”

Carrie was an attractive blond and
flirted with Andrew as Andre walked around the salon and greeted the employees.
He also checked the financial accounts in the office and suggested to his
father that he was ready to leave.

Once outside, Andre grinned at his
father and said, “You’re going to have to get used to being hit on. I just quit
going out because I got so tired of aggressive women. Lily was so shy and
naïve. It was a breath of fresh air to be with her.”

When they returned to the apartment, the
seamstress had left and Lily and Molly were relaxing and talking. “What have
you two been up to?” asked Lily. “We went to the mall but first we looked at
the tape of the assault on Louis and Andrew thinks it might me my brother,
Peter. In addition we noticed the person hit Louis and then throw the piece of
wood into the shrubbery. The police didn’t notice that and we found the wood
still in the shrubbery. We called the detectives and they found fingerprints on
the wood so we may be able to identify him by his fingerprints.

“I’d like to see the tape. I haven’t
seen it,” commented Lily. “I would like to see it, too,” requested Molly. “Okay
let’s go down to the lobby and look at the tape,” replied Andre.

They arrived at the lobby and entered
the small security room and Andre started the tape. As soon as Lily saw the man
walk up to Louis, she exclaimed, “Why that’s Jack!” They all looked at her in
shock and Andre asked her, “Are you sure, Lily?” “Of course, I’m sure. I was
engaged to the jerk for three months and I am absolutely sure. That is
definitely Jack! I didn’t take the time to delete the pictures on my cell
phone. I think I still have some of him on there.”