PassionsPoison (29 page)

Chris hesitated. “I’m not sure. Since Phillip didn’t
actually cause Bea any physical harm…”

Bea had to agree. “I do believe Phillip is a threat, but,
Dad, didn’t Mom tell him I died when I went into the hospital?”

“She did, but you know your mother is not the best liar. I’d
feel more comfortable if we could do something legally.”

Chris jumped in. “I agree, Bea. You need to be protected.”

Her irritation climbed another notch and she couldn’t let
the comment go. “I am protected, Chris. I have Zach.” She ignored Chris’ fallen
face and returned her attention to her father. “Maybe you could have a chat
with Phillip’s employer, professional to professional. I understand Phillip has
been using their lab for personal reasons. The company also sends him to Maine
a lot. Perhaps his boss could keep him closer to home in Massachusetts. It’s
not a guarantee, but it would limit his opportunities to bother me.”

Tony seemed pleased. “I agree it’s no guarantee, but it’s
another hurdle in his path to you. And in the meantime, Chris, if you could
check into a restraining order and see what we need, I’d like to pursue that as
well.”

“Yes sir. I’d be happy to help with that.”

Chris was so anxious to do what he could. She shouldn’t have
thrown Zach in his face. Chris couldn’t help it if he was a little overzealous.
She laid a hand on his arm. “Thank you. I appreciate it.” She spoke to her dad.
“If worst came to worst, we could always ask Gerry to pay Phillip a visit.
Gerry would—”

Chris interrupted. “I don’t want to hear this. Maybe talk
about that option privately?”

Bea sighed. “If only Phillip would find someone else to fall
in love with. Someone who could return his feelings, then we could all go back
to having normal lives without strange letters and weird potions, and being
followed, and—”

Tony put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right, Bea. Chris
and I will handle this. You stay close to Zach until we see how Philip reacts,
okay?”

She nodded, too wound up to speak.

Tony shook hands with Chris. “Thank you for your help. I
appreciate it.”

Chris stood a little straighter. “My pleasure. Anything I
can do. Take care, Bea. Call if you need anything.”

As Chris walked out the lobby doors, Tony took her hand and
led her to the couch by the great window and sat her down. His business façade
evaporated and revealed the warm man beneath. “Beatrice, you’re preoccupied.
What’s wrong?”

She fiddled with the button on her sleeve, debating what she
could tell him. Of anyone in the family, he could keep a secret from her mom
the best. Her insides knotted up and she instinctually reached in her pocket
for her Tums.

Tony caught her wrist. “Tell me before you land in the
hospital with bleeding ulcers.”

She looked at his hand on her arm, the exact same skin color
as hers and wondered for the hundredth time if he was her biological father.
But then again, she and Jim had the same skin color, as did many of Grandma
Beatrice’s lovers.

Unable to handle any more stress, feeling the love and
concern emanating from him, she caved. “Zach has asked me to marry him.”

Once again Tony held his silence as he mulled over the
ramifications of her statement, but it wasn’t long before he spoke. “I’m
guessing you’d prefer if I didn’t tell your mother.”

She snapped her gaze to his to find him smiling and took a
deep, calming breath. She gave him a halfhearted grin. “That would be an
understatement. I think I’d need a restraining order on her if she discovered I
turned him down.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Oh, that I didn’t expect. What is it?
Are you afraid?”

She nodded. “We still don’t know if Dr. Josh’s cure has
worked, and I’m afraid of what our lives would be like if I’m not cured. I
don’t want to tie him to me when he deserves so much more.”

Tony opened his arms. “Come here.”

She leaned into her dad and he held her. “Beatrice, you have
to understand, Zach made that decision when he asked you to marry him. Just as
I made the decision to stay with your mom despite having to share her. I could
have found someone else, much like Jim and Charlie did, but I chose her and you
over a ‘normal’ life. I’ve never regretted it. Not once. You can’t protect
Zach. He has all the facts and he still wants you, flaws and all. That’s called
true love.”

True love always. She squeezed him to let him know she heard
because to speak would cause her to cry, and technically, she was still at
work.

Tony sat her back. “It’s not as if Zach doesn’t know exactly
what he’s getting himself into, right?”

She rolled her eyes.

“And you do love him, right?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “More than I thought I
could ever love.”

Tony took her hand. “Then I think you should give his
proposal serious consideration. I would give you my blessing because I know he
would take care of my little girl.”

She was hardly little. Heck, she should have made this man a
grandfather by now and given him a real little girl to spoil.

Tony pulled away and stood. “I’m sorry, Beatrice, but I have
to go back to work now, and I think you do too.” He lifted her chin. “Are you
going to be all right?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

He bent and gave her a kiss on the forehead before striding
across the lobby and out the hotel doors.

Bea sat for a moment. Tony could be right. Zach knew what
his life would be like with her as a wife. Well, not exactly. They wouldn’t
know that until tomorrow. And tonight she could show him how much she loved
him. She needed to focus on that. Whatever happened afterward, they would face
together.

Feeling better, she strolled toward the front desk. As she
passed it, she noticed the trash can with a large printout hovering across the
top. Sticking her hand in her pocket, she pulled out her bottle of Tums and
dropped it into the garbage, taking the paper down with it.

Now maybe she could be the friend Kayla needed.

* * * * *

Bea slowed her car at the blue police lights flashing behind
her. Oh, this wouldn’t be good if they pulled her over. She wore nothing but
her robe and a pair of black leather high-heeled boots per Zach’s request. As
she pulled to the side of the road, her heartbeat increased to match the rhythm
of the blue flashes.

When the policeman raced by, she dropped her head onto the
steering wheel. What had she been thinking? Wiping her sweaty hands off on her
robe, she sat back and turned the car onto the road. Now that the surprise
snowstorms had stopped, the roads were clear. She loved that the days were
becoming longer and warmer. Soon the brown of the scenery would give way to the
full green of already budding trees. She couldn’t wait to see Zach’s valley
come alive.

As she rounded a bend in the road, she depressed the breaks.
The flashing blue lights had stopped in front of her, but had been joined by
red ones as well. Traffic came to a stop on the two-way road. Was there a back
way she could go if she turned around? Had she passed the side street next to
the Tamwick post office yet or was it farther up the road? She didn’t want to
see the crushed vehicles of the accident four cars ahead of her. More cars
stopped behind her, blocking her in. She was stuck. Stuck and almost naked.

She hoped no one was seriously injured. She tried to see
ahead at what might be happening. Was someone being moved on a stretcher? In
the dim light of dusk, she couldn’t be sure. A police officer walked back
toward the line of cars. The first driver opened his window and spoke with the
cop. Then the police officer came to the next car.

“Oh no.”

She examined her back seat to see if she’d left a bag of
clothes there from changing at the inn, but no such luck. “Damn it.” She
quickly crossed the robe over herself as tightly as possible and tied it hard.
As he strode toward her vehicle, her stomach dropped another notch. It was
Chris, of course. She rolled down her window.

“It will just be a moment, ma’am. We need to…” He looked
inside her car. “Bea?”

“Hi, Chris. Is someone hurt?”

He hesitated.

Oh no, now what? “Chris? Tell me.”

He put both hands on the door. “No, no one is badly injured,
but the damage to the cars has blocked traffic.”

She let out her breath in relief. “Oh, thank goodness.”

His tone became stern. “It’s not all good news.”

Surprised by what sounded like anger in his voice, she
studied him through the shadow of the closing day. Oh boy, his eyes glittered
like gunmetal as they took in her robe. “What’s wrong?”

“Your mother caused the accident. She’s high again.”

“Oh geez.”

He backed away. “You might want to come down to the station
and bail her out. I’d suggest you go home and change first.”

Ouch, that hurt. She watched as he went to the car behind
her before another policemen came by with a flashlight. He used it to motion
for her to turn around. She reversed into the shoulder and drove back onto the
road, heading in the wrong direction, away from Zach.

Embarrassment at Chris seeing her behind the wheel in her
robe combined with her frustration at needing to make love to Zach. She banged
her hand on the steering wheel. “Thanks, Mom.”

When she arrived home, she called Zach.

“Hey, beautiful. Where are you?”

“I’m at my apartment. Mom’s been arrested. She was high and
caused an accident. Looks as if I’ll be bailing her out.” She sighed.

Zach chuckled. “You have to bail her out? Did she call you?”

How could he think her situation funny? “No, as a matter of
fact, I was stuck in the line of traffic waiting to go around the accident my
mom caused when Officer Chris came to my car and found me driving in nothing
but a robe. He happily told me I would need to rescue her.”

The silence on the other end of the phone had Bea reeling in
her temper. “I’m sorry, I need you so much and it seems as if we’ll never find
out if we can have a normal life.”

“Listen, Bea. I don’t want you going to the station alone.
I’m on my way. Stay there and if your mom calls, tell her we’ll be right
there.”

She plopped on her couch and loosened her robe. “Zach, you
don’t have to do that. She’s my responsibility.”

“Uh-huh. She has four men who can take care of her. And I
don’t want you going to the police station by yourself. Besides, I’ve already
left Tamwick and I’m entering Wrenborough, just stay where you are.”

A feeling of comfort began in her stomach, releasing the
constant tension there. He would take care of her? The idea had her smiling.
“Okay. I’ll stay right here, exactly as I am.”

“Good. Wait. Exactly how are you?”

“I’m sitting on my couch in only my robe and my high-heeled,
black leather boots.”

She swore she heard him swallow. “You won’t start without
me, will you?”

She opened her robe to free a breast. “I guess that depends
on how long it takes you. Bye.”

She chuckled to herself. What fun would starting without him
be? She could do that any evening. She wanted him. Her fear for their future
returned, but she pushed it aside. She had Zach now. He would take care of her
and she would take care of him, in so many ways.

Bea tied her robe closed and strode into her master bathroom
to pull out extra towels for Zach. Tonight they would spend together. In the
morning they would discover their fate.

Sashaying back into the kitchen, she checked the fridge. A
six-pack of Bud Light sat on the top shelf. She had decided to keep it in stock
in case Zach stopped by. But she hadn’t remembered to buy any whip cream or
strawberries. She pulled out a new bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream and poured it
over ice. She’d just closed the refrigerator when a knock sounded at her door.
He must have sped all the way.

She left her drink on the counter and opened the door.

Chris stood in the doorway. And he hadn’t cooled off in the
last half hour either.

Bea pulled the robe tighter around her. “Chris, what are you
doing here?”

He moved forward, forcing her to back away. “I thought you
were coming down to the station to bail out your mother.”

Who did he think he was, ordering her what to do? “I decided
that if Mom called me, I would go. But Mom can call Andy, or Mathew or Gerry
or—”

Chris strode into the living room and peered into the
bedroom. “So your mom’s not as important as your boyfriend? What’s happened to
you, Bea? You used to be a good girl.”

“I happened to her.” Zach’s voice behind her startled her.
She made to turn around, but he held her in front of him. “And I’m going to
take care of her. So you can go back to the station now.”

Chris spun at the sound of Zach’s voice. His hands tightened
into fists and the muscles in his neck stood out in stark relief. “You. Ever
since you came into her life, she’s had trouble.”

Bea opened her mouth to speak, but Zach’s pressure on her
arm kept her silent.

Chris stalked into the kitchen. He lifted the glass of Bailey’s
and snickered. “A lady’s drink. You need to drink to achieve satisfaction, Bea?
I could satisfy you without the booze.” He tipped the glass upside down over
the sink. “But you ignore me. Why, Bea? What’s wrong with me?”

Zach answered for her. “You mean besides the fact that you
stalk her and sit parked outside her apartment at night when you’re on duty?”

Chris flushed.

Bea couldn’t believe it, but Chris didn’t deny it. His need
for her had grown as she became more involved with Zach. Of course, Chris had
always lived off competition in high school. She should have realized it
before. He didn’t want her, he wanted to beat Zach and she happened to be the
prize. “Chris, it has nothing to do with you. I simply refused to be involved
with anyone here in town. I want to keep my professional life separate from my
personal. This town is too small.” The partial truth came easily.