Love Believes (Sully Point, Book 5) (10 page)

"Yes she does. And I'll tell her. That's
really good news."

"Just remember, don't spread it around.
Except for Anna. You can go ahead and tell her."

Sam laughed. "All right Frank. See you
later." As Sam walked out to his car, he felt happy for Holly and Jason.
They were good people and would do great with a kid. Holly was the oldest
Grainger child and had been thrust into the mother role for her siblings after
their mother died. Anna always said that Holly would mother anyone given half
the chance. Looks like the time had come.

* * * *

"I'm interrupting your lunch. Should I come
back later?" William asked.

"No, I was almost done," Beth said.
"It's chicken soup with dumplings that Julia brought in for me. Cody made
it, and it's delicious. There's more, if you'd like some."

"Thanks," he said with a smile. "I
came in here because I smelled it and I'm starving. Plus, I wanted to
see..."

"See what?" she asked as she fixed him a
large mug full of the soup.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. You've
been so busy this morning, I haven't seen you at all."

"I'm good. Seriously. I can tell I'm going to
get tired of telling people that long before they stop asking me how I'm doing.
Why don't you tell me about your morning while we eat?"

He began talking and she watched his face. It was
relaxing, hearing his expressive voice filling the room as he described trying to
handle Milton's extreme ideas. She noticed that his gray-blue eyes changed
color depending on his mood. When he was irritated or angry they were a more
steely gray, but when he was amused or relaxed they were bluer. Seeing him
sitting there, all dressed in black as usual, but this day in a black
turtleneck sweater filled out nicely by his chest and broad shoulders, she
thought he was the most fascinating man she'd ever met.

"Did you ever act?" she asked, as he
finished telling a story.

"Early on, yes. I prefer directing."         

"Because you get to boss everyone
around," she said with a grin.

"Er, yes," he said and smiled back at
her. "I like having a vision of what the play can be, and then working to
implement that idea. The whole thing becomes a work of art, a painting but in
words and action, creating emotions and thoughts in the viewers. To stir an
audience is a great feeling."

"I know what you mean. I can't wait to get up
on that stage again. The interaction with an audience is what I loved before,
as opposed to film work."

"Why did you go to L.A. then?"

"A moment of defiance. A desire to move
across the country and be out from under the eye of family. I mean, they're
great. But I felt like I needed to grow up, do something completely on my own.
I thought I'd go out there and dazzle the Hollywood crowd with my talent. It
clearly didn't turn out like I expected."

"Life can throw us some unexpected
curves."

They sat silently after that and ate their soup.
Beth once again felt surprise at how comfortable she was with him. There was no
need to fill the silence with words.

* * * *

Sam and Anna sat at the table in the kitchen nook
and ate bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches. Joshua had already demolished
his banana and the spaghetti with mini meatballs. Sam saw his son taking aim
with another meatball to throw across the table and quickly removed it from the
sticky little hands.

"Not so fast, son. No need to practice your
pitching skills at meals. Anna, I think he put that banana everywhere but in
his mouth."

"I'll give him a bath after we finish lunch.
I'm so excited about the adoption news. Holly must be thrilled."

"Your father wants you to make a dessert for
the dinner."

"I will. I wonder if your parents will be
here by then."

Sam looked sharply at Anna. "You didn't tell
them..."

"About Beth? Of course I did! Why not tell
them? They called to say 'hi' to Josh and wanted to know how everyone was
doing. How could I not tell them?"

"And now they're coming? Beth is not going to
be happy."

Anna frowned. "I'd think she'd want her
parents around after something like this."

"If I know Beth, she's going to be trying to
get everything back to normal. Having her overprotective parents show up is
going to make that more difficult. How did they sound?"

Anna tilted her head to one side, auburn hair
sliding across one shoulder. "Well...they did sound a bit upset now that
you mention it. And they immediately said they were coming to visit...and your
mother might have said something about bringing her baby back home..."

"What the heck did you tell them?"

"I'm sorry! They were so worried when I
mentioned it, they kept asking for more details and before I knew it, your
father had the whole story out of me. He must have been a very good police
detective because he interrogates like a pro."

"Yes, he was a pro all right. I guess they'll
have to come down now, just to reassure themselves that she's really okay. I'll
just let you tell Beth they are on the way, darling."

Anna made a face at him, and Joshua clapped and
laughed.

* * * *

Beth was surprised to see Maggie and Eric at the
door of her office in mid-afternoon. "Hey! What you are guys doing here?
And what did you bring me?"

"How do you know I brought you
anything?" Maggie asked.

"Because Eric is hiding something behind his
back."

Maggie grinned at her. "Here, give it to her,
honey. It's a deluxe chocolate fudge milk shake. From Wally and Velma's Ice
Cream Shoppe. They make the best ones."

"Gimme!"

Beth took a sip from the large cup with the straw
and smiled at them both. "Thank you, it's delicious. A perfect afternoon
treat. This will tide me over until dinner. Anna called and asked me to go over
there after work."

Maggie and Eric sat down in chairs opposite her
desk. "We wanted to check in with you, to see if you still want to spend the
night at your place tonight or come home with us," Maggie said.

"We don't want you to rush into staying
there," Eric said with a gentle smile. "Have they even got a door on
your apartment yet?"

Beth nodded. "Yes. Frank called a while ago
and said they got the door installed. He's dropping off the keys soon. I think
I'll be okay there, but thanks for the offer."

"Listen to me," Maggie said. "I
want you to know, really know, you can call me, or Eric, any time you want. If
it's two a.m. and you have a bad dream, call me. If you get scared and want
someone to stay with you, call me. I'm serious, Bethie. Call me for anything,
anything at all, day or night."

"Okay," Beth said.

"Seriously!"

"Okay, okay. I'll call you."

"See we have this whole plan. If you have nightmares,
we'll come over and Eric will bring his guitar and sing songs until you fall
back asleep. You knew he was a singer, right? Besides being a robotics
wizard?"

"I think Mom did tell me that, yes,"
Beth said, with a smile.

"And it's artificial intelligence to be
specific," Eric said.

Maggie shook her head. "Whatever. You have to
call us so we can try out his latest lullabies. He's been writing them for when
the baby comes. We want to know how good they work."

Beth laughed. "You guys are going to be great
parents. Okay, I'll call you, I promise."

Maggie stood up and walked around the desk to give
Beth a hug. "Love you, Bethie."

"Love you too, Mags. And thanks for the
shake!"

She watched her sister fondly as she left the room
with Eric. Maggie could be so sweet. With a sigh she got back to work.

By the end of the day she felt worn out. Going to
Sam and Anna's for a meal sounded good, since she didn't feel like figuring out
dinner. She poked her head into William's office. "I'm leaving for the
day. See you tomorrow."

"Oh...the time got away from me." He
looked at her directly, and she smiled.

"I'm fine. I can tell you were going to
ask."

He gave a short laugh. "Yes. Look, I wanted
to say something. You can call me if you need anything tonight. I know you plan
to stay there, at your apartment, and if you...well, just know I'll be around
if you need company."

She blinked. This was...unexpected. "Thank
you, William. I should be fine."

"Okay then. Tomorrow."

She walked down the stairs wondering if she should
have made up something so he'd come over. But she'd never been that kind of
girl. She waved to Julia and headed out to her car. On the way to Sam's house,
she tried to figure out if she felt worried about staying at the apartment. She
didn't feel anything about it, she decided. Everyone was worrying too much.

Anna met her at the door with a nervous smile.
Beth hugged her and walked in. "Where's the munchkin?"

"Sam's putting him to bed. For the third
time. Josh didn't get a nap this afternoon, so he's exhausted. Come on into the
kitchen and I'll get you a drink. White wine okay?"

"Sounds delightful."

In the kitchen, Anna handed her a glass of wine,
while Beth sniffed the air. "Mm. Something smells good."

"Roasted chicken with roasted veggies. I
thought a nice simple home-cooked meal might be good."

"I should learn how to roast a chicken. How
hard could it be?"

"Not hard at all," Anna said with a
smile. "I'll teach you." She took a sip of her wine and then set it
down on the granite countertop. "Beth, I have to tell you something."

"What? You look so serious."

"Your parents know about the...attack. And
they're on their way to Sully Point. They're driving down and will be here
tomorrow."

"Here? Tomorrow?" Beth said, glass
frozen in her hand as she was about to take a drink. "Why? How do they
even know...you told them?"

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Anna said.
"They had called and it just kind of slipped out. They're concerned and
want to see you to make sure you're okay."

Beth slumped against the cabinets. "Great.
Just...great. Since I'm the youngest, they always see me as the baby. This
ought to be fun."

"Again, I'm really sorry. But it will still
be good to see them, right? You haven't seen them in a while."

Beth nodded and took a deep breath, letting it out
slowly. "Yes, of course, it will be good to see them. I guess I was a bit
naive to think I could keep it from them."

Anna reached out and patted her on the shoulder.
"I think they should know. They are your parents. How about you go sit
down in the living room and look at the view for a few minutes? Dinner will be
on the table soon."

Beth went into the living room and stood at the
sliding glass doors that went out to a large deck. The ocean was in the
distance, waves crashing on the shore. As she watched the waves, she thought
that perhaps it would be good to see her mother and father again. She'd been
too long out in L.A., away from all family. The more time she spent in Sully
Point, the more she realized that she didn't want to be away from all of them
again.

"Beth, there you are," Sam said.

"Did you get Joshua to sleep?"

"Finally. Little guy was wiped out but he was
wired. Had to read a few stories. He's such a great kid."

Beth smiled at him. "You're a good dad. You
were always a great big brother."

"Why thank you, little sister. Anna got you a
drink?" He said as he walked toward the kitchen.

"Yes, I'm all set." She sipped her wine
until he came back.

"So, she told you about Mom and Dad
coming?" he asked, sitting on the long rust-colored sectional couch.

"Yes, and I'm okay with it."

"Good. You know you can call us, anytime if
you need us."

"I know. Thanks." She sat down in large
leather armchair. Looking around, she saw one of Anna's paintings on one wall
that featured a view of the ocean in the moonlight.

Sam saw where she was looking and said, "It's
one of my favorites of hers. I have a newer one in my study. Her work always
inspires me."

"How's your latest book coming along?"

"Good. Once I got past the pickaxe
scene..."

She raised her eyebrows, but before she could comment,
Anna came into the living room and sat down next to Sam.

"Beth was just admiring your painting,"
Sam said.

"Thanks, it does seem to work in here,"
Anna said.

"The whole room works well. I love the
combination of the teal and blue with the rust. And the view is incredible. I
feel like I could sit and watch the waves for hours."

"You should come out during the day sometime,
some Saturday, and sit on the deck once it's warmer," Anna suggested.

"Maggie's house was a surprise. Such a mix of
the old and the new."

"It's a perfect blend of Eric and
Maggie," Sam said. "Did you see his lab?"

"No. I'll have to do that next time. I think
Maggie wants me to stay there longer, but I just feel I need to face the
apartment, sooner rather than later. You guys get that, right?"

Anna nodded. "Of course. Just be sure to call
someone if you get anxious, okay?"

Beth smiled at her. "I will. I've already
promised Maggie."

They went in soon for dinner. The evening was
pleasant and calm, and Beth felt very soothed. Sam and Anna were so easy to be
around. They fit together somehow, even with different personalities.

As she drove home, Beth thought she'd be lucky to
find something close to their relationship someday. The car got closer to the
apartment and she felt herself tensing up. "Nobody is going to break down
the new door," she told herself aloud. "Frank says it's steel."

She parked and walked slowly but steadily up the
stairs. At the top she put the new key into the new door and opened it, walking
into the silent space. She noticed that the debris from the broken door had
been all cleaned up.