Righteous Obsession (59 page)

“That goes double for me!”

McGregor came out the front door as they pulled into
the driveway.  He helped them unload their suitcases and other purchases. 
Colin was putting the wine they bought at the Cannery away when McGregor,
followed by Alethea, came into the kitchen.  He straightened up and looked at
McGregor.  “How did your test of the motion-sensor lights go?”

“Good.  I tried every way imaginable to evade them and
couldn’t.  They have a range that covers a good portion of your property.”

“But if somebody knew what the range was they could
get by them, couldn’t they?”

“They’d have to watch for quite a while to determine
that and I’d spot long before that happened.  My only suggestion is you add
another light over the garage.  It will make the area more risk-free especially
since you’re planning to eventually put a recording studio up there.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Colin agreed.  “I’ll stop
tomorrow and buy another one.”  He went into the other room to check his if he
had any messages on his cell that he’d left at home.  There was a reminder from
his mom about next Sunday and another from Steve, but no messages from Jeff. 
He frowned and put his phone in his pocket.

“Was there a message from Jeff?”

Colin turned to find Alethea.  He shook his head. 
“No.  I was sure there would be one, too.”

“Maybe, he doesn’t like
voicemail – some people don’t.”

“Maybe,” Colin said.  “But I have to face the
possibility he doesn’t want to give me a second chance.”

Alethea fixed herself a sandwich and grabbed a can of
diet soda.  “What if that’s true?”

He shrugged.  “Well, I’ll be disappointed, but I’ve
done everything I can do from this end.”

“I bet he calls tonight.”

“He could.”

“I’m going upstairs, check my e-mail and then call mom
and dad.”

“Tell them I said, hi?”

“I will.”

Colin went into the other room, got a CD of an
unfinished song from the top of his stereo, his CD player and headphones and
took them out on the deck.  He came back in, got his guitar and amp and took
them outside, too.  He made himself comfortable and listened to what was on the
tape. He listened to it a few times then put in his earplugs and started to
play.  Hard at work on the song he lost track of the time until Alethea was
suddenly standing in front of him.

“Colin?”  She called loudly, her hands covering her
ears.

He quit playing and took out his earplugs.  “Sorry!”

“I don’t feel like cooking tonight so I thought I’d
order a Chinese.”

“It’s fine by me.”

“I’ll call.”  She was back in a few minutes and sat
next him on the chaise.  “I’m not interrupting you, am I?”

“No, I was calling it quits for today anyway.”

“Is that a new song?  I really like what I heard.”

Colin grinned.  “Thanks.  Actually, it’s a song I
started a couple of years ago and didn’t finish until now.”

Alethea leaned back against him and he put his arm
around her.  “So, when are you going to teach me how to skate?”

“How about we go to Golden Gate Park tomorrow?”

“Okay – but no hills.”

“No.  Golden Gate Park is a great place to skate.”

“It’s a date,” Alethea agreed, getting up to answer
the doorbell.  Colin put all his equipment away while she did that.  She came
into the kitchen, holding a large bag from the Chinese restaurant.  “Are we
eating in here or out on the deck?”

“We could eat it in bed,” Colin suggested
mischievously.

“Sounds like fun,” Alethea agreed.  She took a couple
of plates from the cupboard then tossed a roll of paper towel at Colin. 
“Catch!”

He caught it easily and laughed.  “I think I’m having
second thoughts about teaching you racquetball.”  He got a bottle of wine from
the refrigerator and two glasses from the cupboard.  “Why don’t you go upstairs
and I’ll be up in a minute.”  Before going upstairs, Colin locked both doors
and set the alarm.  He went upstairs, kicked off his shoes and got into bed.

Alethea gave him a plate and opened the bag.  “Help
yourself.”

Colin poured the wine into the glasses and handed one
to her.  He took his Moo Shu Pork out, poured plum sauce over it, bit into it,
sighed contentedly and leaned back into his pillows.  “You know, it doesn’t get
better than this,” He announced, wiping his mouth.

“You missed some,” Alethea said, wiping off a smudge
of plum sauce off.  “It doesn’t better than what?”

“Better than having supper in bed with my beautiful
wife!”

“Well, it could,” she replied archly.  “That’s provided
we don’t get heartburn from all this spicy food.”

He laughed and asked, “Did you get hold of your mom
and dad?”

“Yes.  They said hi.  Mom told me about what she has
planned for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Are we going to have a Cajun Thanksgiving?”

“No.  Mom is very traditional.  It will be mom, dad,
grandma, Dorothea and us for dinner.  Mom always has open house for the rest of
the family later in the day.”

“Does that include your cousin and her husband, too?” 
Colin asked, making a face.

Alethea had told him about her inebriated condition
and the nasty remarks she’d made at their wedding.

“I’m assuming they’ll be there.  Nancy never misses a
chance to be in the spotlight.  Hopefully, they’ll at least arrive sober.”

 “I wouldn’t place any money on that if I were you,”
Colin advised.  His cell phone rang and he answered it.  “Hello?”

Colin?” Though the voice had a hesitate tone to it,
Colin recognized it immediately. “Hi…” He began tentatively.

Alethea heard his voice drop, looked at him and
mouthed, “Is it Jeff?”

Colin nodded then said, “I’m glad you called.”  He put
his cell phone on speaker so they could both talk to Jeff and Caitlin.

 “Hi, Jeff.”

“Hi, Alethea, how are you?”

“I’m fine and you?”

“Fine too.”

“I want you to know how much I appreciate your
letter.  I know it probably wasn’t easy to write and it means a lot to me.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long to come to my senses.”

“What changed your mind – if you don’t mind my
asking?”

Colin smiled and said sheepishly, “Well, Alethea and I
had a rather loud discussion about this and I finally admitted I was wrong. 
I’m really sorry for being such a total dickhead!”

“I’m sorry for what I said about Amanda.  I was angry
and she was a convenient target for my frustration!  Will you please extend my
apology to her?”

“Sure.”

“I’m so glad you’ve met your grandparents, too.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly Mr. Friendly when I was over
so maybe I should go over and re-introduce myself.”

“If I hadn’t been such an immature butt chunk as
Caitlin says, you could have grown up with them.”

“Well, mom has to share half the blame for that, but
it was her idea for me to meet them.  I probably wouldn’t have thought of it
myself.”

“How are you doing, otherwise, Colin?”

“Physically, I’m fine.  Emotionally, I’m still kind of
shaky.”

“Are you getting help?”

“We’re both seeing a psychiatrist who specializes in
trauma cases,” Alethea answered.

“She’s really good,” Colin added.

“I’m glad to hear it, Alethea.  I have somebody else
here whose been anxiously awaiting a chance to talk to you,” Jeff teased.

“Oh, Daddy!”

“Caitlin?”  Colin asked.

“I told daddy I’d wait until you and he got all the
serious stuff out of the way.”

“It’s great hearing your voice!”

“We feel as if we already know you from your letters,”
Alethea added.

“I’m glad you didn’t give up on me even though I was
being a real jerk!”  Colin declared. 

“It was what you wrote in your letters that helped me
see things from a different angle too.”

“Well, I’m glad I could help,” she replied modestly. 
“We watched the DVD of your wedding and it was so romantic!”

“We felt as if we were right there,” Jeff added.

“Alethea, your gown was so gorgeous!  My friend,
Jemma, thinks Bride’s Magazine should do a layout of you wearing it.”

“It was my great-grandmother’s dress.  She wore it for
her wedding in 1906.  My mother and her two sisters all wore it for their
weddings.  I’m the first of my generation to wear it though.”

“If we have a daughter, she’ll probably wear it for
her wedding,” Colin chimed in.  “Of course, it won’t be until she’s forty!”

Caitlin giggled.  “I can tell already it’s going to be
fun having you as my big brother!”

“I don’t know about that,” Colin laughed.  “Liam says
I’m really bossy!”

“Alethea, how did you get Vanessa Morrison as your
maid-of-honor?”

“I’ve known Vanessa for several years and she’s the
best friend I’ve ever had.  We roomed together when we were modeling.”

“Cool!”  Caitlin giggled suddenly.  “Colin, we
wondered what you said to Jake after he caught Alethea’s bouquet?”

“I told him the person who catches it is supposed to
be married within a year.”

“Do you know when you’ll go back on tour again?”  Jeff
asked.

“Originally, we were shooting for October, but with
the emotional problems Liam and I are having, we’re talking January now.  It’s
not definite though.”

“The reason I asked is because we have a vacation home
in northern Minnesota and I was hoping you and Alethea could spend some time
with us next summer.”

“Well, right now I don’t have any idea what my summer
schedule will look like.  We have a lot of concerts to make up and depending on
how well the new CD sells, we may add additional dates.”

“Whoa! A new CD!  Wait until I tell Jemma!  She’s your
number one fan, you know.”  Caitlin exclaimed.

“Will you be coming out here any time in the near
future?”  Alethea asked.

“No,” Jeff replied regretfully.  “I won’t be able to,
but Cait certainly can if she wants to come.”

“Now, Daddy, I’ve already said I’d wait until we both
can go.”

Colin noticed that neither of them mentioned Mrs.
Michaels or Father Michaels and he didn’t feel comfortable asking about them. 
He felt Alethea tug on his arm.  He looked at her and she made a motion for him
to hit the mute button.  “Can you hang on for a second, Jeff?”

“Sure.”

Colin pressed the mute button.  “What’s wrong?”

“Why don’t we invite them to come here for Christmas?”

“Alethea, he’s already said he can’t come.  I suppose
he doesn’t want to come when there are so many things hanging unresolved.”

“I bet he’d reconsider if you invited him.”

Colin sighed.  “It’s not that I don’t want to, but
it’s our first Christmas and I want it to be just us.  Besides, mom has
everybody over on Christmas Eve and they won’t feel comfortable coming with us,
but we can’t leave them here alone either.”

“I know, but it breaks my heart to think of them alone
at Christmas.  Caitlin mentioned in her one letter that they weren’t close to
her mother’s family and a lot of their ‘friends’ had dropped them after finding
out about Father Michaels.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Colin said, frowning.  He pushed
the mute button.  “Jeff?  Alethea and I were talking and we’d like it very much
if you could spend Christmas with us.”

“Well, that’s very kind of you both, but I don’t know
what might happen in the next few months so I really don’t feel as if I should
make definite plans.”

Colin knew he was referring obliquely to his home
situation.  “Well, you’ve got a standing invitation.  Okay?”

“I appreciate you and Alethea thinking about us,
Colin.”

Colin was silent for a moment then said, “Well, I
guess I’d better let you go, but we’re sure glad you called.”

“I’m glad I did, too, Colin.”

“Call us again anytime or we’ll call you,” Caitlin urged.

“You’d better or I’ll be pissed!”  He laughed.

“We’ll talk real soon, I promise,” Jeff said.

“Okay.  Talk to you both soon.”

“Goodbye, Jeff, Caitlin,” Alethea said.  After Colin
hung up, Alethea remarked, “I think you and Jeff are off to a good start.”

“I hope so.  God knows we’ve had enough false
starts!”  Colin replied as he finished consuming his last pancake.  “I’m sure
glad Caitlin was there though.  I’m not sure I could’ve kept the conversation
going otherwise.”

“I didn’t mean to pressure you into inviting them for
Christmas.”

“It’s okay.  I know how much the holidays mean to
you.  We’ll figure out something.”  He gave her a hug that quickly turned into
a passionate kiss.