Merchants with Evil Intent (53 page)

      
Dr. Annie nodded and pointed to the cup
in Camryn’s shaking hand.

*
     
*
     
*

      
The test didn’t take long, but it felt
like forever to Camryn.

      
Dr. Annie gave her a few prescriptions to
get filled and told her to make an appointment with her gynecologist.

      
“Cam, you have options. It’s still early
enough to terminate the pregnancy,” she said soothingly.

      
“That’s not an option, Annie.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Later in the day she went into work. She
planned to tell Paul her final day would be the last day of December.

      
God had other plans for her.

      
So, she ripped up her resignation and
threw it into the trash can.

      
She fell back against her chair and blew
a wayward strand of hair away from her face and pushed up her sweater sleeves.
As she was removing the photos of the missing women from her cubical wall
Tamara bounded over to her.

      
“Let’s go shopping after work,” she
smiled.

      
“For?”
Camryn
questioned.

      
Tamara shrugged, “Who needs a reason?”
Cam lifted a questioning eyebrow and Tamara laughed. “Well, I need something
new to wear for my date tomorrow with Greg, not to mention the office holiday
party next week.”

      
Cam scowled. She hated office parties.

      
“Oka-ay,” Tamara frowned. “Have you gone
Christmas shopping yet?”

      
“No. Sure, I’ll go shopping with you,”
she muttered.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Declan and Colleen poured over the
paperwork she received from her lawyer.

      
After several long minutes of reading,
Declan sighed. “Coll, are you sure you don’t want to see him? Ask about his
involvement?”

      
She wrinkled her nose. “No. I’ve made up
me mind. He’s a monster.”

      
He placed his hand over hers. “Coll, I’ve
read the letters he’s sent you from prison.” He hesitated and continued, “I’m
not sticking up for the man. If I could, I’d wring his feckin’ neck for what
he’s putting you and the boyo’s through. And the fact he was stalking Camryn.”
His pulsed raced thinking aboot it.

      
Andre Valik ‘twould be
a dead man at his hands.

      
He stood and ran his hands through his
hair and hissed. “I think he’s sincere when he says he loves you.”

      
Colleen looked up from her hands with a
stony expression. “It doesn’t matter, I don’t love him anymore,” she replied
icily. “It’s over and the sooner I leave Chicago, the better.”

      
He pulled the chair out next to her. “How
is that possible?”

      
She eyed him quizzically. “Have ya gone
barmy? How could I love someone like that?”

      
He shook his head. “No, I get
that
. What I doona understand is how you
can turn your feelings for him off like that. You feel nothing for him
anymore?”

      
“No, I don’t. Not even pity,” she replied
matter-of-factly.

      
His eyebrows furrowed, he needed to know
more.
“Coll?
Can all women turn off their feelings so
easily? Be in love one minute and the next…not?”

      
She shrugged. “Everyone has the ability,
Declan.
Even you.”

      
The thought made him queasy.

*
     
*
     
*

      
After work Camryn and Tamara headed
towards the expressway for the closest mall.

      
Traffic was a bitch on a Friday afternoon
and it was stop and go for several miles.

      
“So…you haven’t said much about Declan,”
Tamara prompted.

      
Camryn cringed. “Not much to say,
really.”

      
“Bullshit! Greg told me you were engaged
to him,” Tamara pushed further. “Come on, Cam. I feel like I’ve lost my best
friend.”

      
Cam let out a hard breath. “Yes, we were
engaged briefly but then I reconsidered things and now we’re not.”

      
Glancing at Tamara she knew her friend
would push for more information. She told her the entire sordid story all
through the drive and then, in the mall parking lot. She left out the part
about being pregnant. She didn’t want to confess that just yet.

      
An hour later they were stepping out of
her Camero.

      
Tamara wrapped a reassuring arm around
her friends shoulder. “Aw, honey. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding. Have you tried
to talk to him?”

      
Cam shook her head sadly. “No, I told
you, he doesn’t realize he’s still in love with her. Anyway, it’s better this
way. I mean, if we ended up together I’d move to Ireland and wouldn’t have you
to harass me.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Declan took a break from packing
Colleen’s house and pulled a beer from the fridge.

      
He took a long pull from the bottle and
winced. Beer is much better from the tap…and from his pub.

      
The boyo’s were in the den, watching the
telly while his ma and sister were filling boxes for Goodwill.

      
The doorbell rang and he yelled upstairs
that he’d get it. He opened the door and smiled instantly, pulling the visitor
inside, hugging him.

      
“It’s good to see ya, John,” he smiled
warmly.

      
John clapped him on the back. “The
feeling’s mutual Declan. How’re you holding up?”

      
Declan shrugged. “Not well. How’s…oh
hell, how’s Camryn?”

      
“Not well, either,” John mumbled.

      
“Johnny? Is that you?” Siobhan called
from the top of the stairs.

      
John grinned and said in his best brogue
imitation, “Aye, ‘tis me.”

      
She bounded down the stairs like a
schoolgirl and Declan couldna stifle his grin. It was good to see his ma so
happy.

      
They began hugging and kissing, causing a
small twinge to form in Declan’s stomach. “I’ll just be in the kitchen then,”
he muttered, more to himself as they were too busy to notice him.

      
He picked up his half-drained beer and
polished it off, grabbing another before sitting again.

      
Half-way through his second beer John
appeared and sat next to him.

      
Declan nodded, bringing the bottle to his
lips.

      
Sighing, John opened the fridge and
grabbed a beer for himself.

      
After a long pull from the bottle he sat
it on the table and eyed Declan warily.

      
Declan raised a thick eyebrow. “What?
More bad news?
If so, I doona want to hear it.”

      
“Do you love her?” he asked.

      
“Ya know I do,” Declan scowled, running
his hand through his hair.

      
“I think we need to talk about Teaghan,”
John said.

      
Declan nearly choked on the beer. “What does
she have to do with anythin’?”

      
John shrugged, “Camryn thinks you still
love her because you called her name while you were in the hospital.”

      
Declan stood so fast his chair flipped
backwards. “Christ! That’s what she thinks? Is that why she left me ring and
the letter?”

      
John nodded. “She told me that she can’t
compete with a dead woman.”

      
Declan pulled another beer from the
fridge and took a long pull.

      
John stood and narrowed his eyes. “Look,
all I know is my baby is hurting. I hate like hell to see her this way. She’s
damn near despondent! She was talking about putting in her resignation and do
God
knows
what for employment.”

      
He sat and rubbed his eyes. “Fuck!
Declan, I’m not saying it’s
all your
fault, but
dammit, you’re a big part of it and Goddammit! I actually
like
you! So, either you fix things with her or let her be. I’ll
not have you toying with her emotions.”

      
Declan bristled at his outburst. How
could they think he didna love her?

      
He pulled another beer from the fridge
and sat it next to John, a peace offering.

      
John ran his hand over his face. Worrying
about his daughter had aged him greatly in the past few months.

      
Declan sat and began to talk when John
held up a hand to stop him.

      
“I’m sorry. That girl of mine has damn
near driven me crazy with worry and I apologize for taking it out on you. She’s
the most exasperating woman I’ve ever met!”

      
“You’re tellin’ me?” Declan scoffed.

      
The two men broke out in hearty laughter
for a few moments.

      
Suddenly serious Declan met John’s gaze.
“I’ve never been in love until I met Camryn, John.” John raised a skeptical
eyebrow and Declan continued. “I was with Teaghan for nearly a year and didna
feel a smidgen of what I felt the first time I met Camryn.”

      
John cocked his head. “Why haven’t you
told Cam any of this?”

      
“Because, I doona want her to think that
I’m, in her words, a fuck-face. I had a woman that loved me, who I had sex with
on a regular basis, and I didna love her. How do you think Camryn would feel
about me if I told her that?”

      
John muttered, “Point taken.”

*
     
*
     
*

      
Many shopping bags later Camryn and
Tamara were ready to leave when a bookshop caught Camryn’s eye.

      
“Hey, one second.
I want to stop and see if they have any juicy books on knights,” she smiled.

      
Her mood lightened considerably and she
almost felt back to normal. She was pleased she managed to get her Christmas
shopping completed and even bought herself a dress for the company party,
against her better judgment.

      
They both scanned the romance section and
each bought three paperbacks with a promise to trade when they finished reading
them.

      
Standing in the checkout line they talked
about meeting up the next night at Murphy’s.

      
“Are you looking forward to your date
with Dylan?” Tamara asked.

      
Camryn’s jaw tightened. “It’s not a date,
Tam, just two old friends going out to watch a hockey game.”

      
“Well, he was your first love, right?
Maybe a spark will be rekindled.”

      
“Won’t happen,” Cam snipped.

      
The line moved and Camryn walked to the
counter, placing her books down. She hissed upon seeing last minute impulse
gifts on the counter.

      
Seriously?
Little clay pots packaged with shamrock seeds and mini books of Irish
blessings?
Are you fucking kidding me?
It’s not St. Pat’s day! It’s Christmas!

      
A reminder of Him was always lurking
somewhere.

      
God had a twisted sense of humor.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Dylan arrived promptly at five, looking
quite handsome in a hockey jersey Camryn had bought for him several years back.
He grinned when he noticed she, too, was wearing her favorite left-wingers
jersey he had bought for her long ago.

      
“Cam!
You look
great!” he beamed, hugging her.

      
“I can’t believe you still have that
jersey!” she laughed into his ear.