A Rocky Path (8 page)

“No, I’m not going to leave you out here like
this. You have to give me the drink, Jamie. Please.”

“I don’t have to do anything. You don’t care
a thing for me, so stop trying to tell me what to do.”

“Jamie, I do care about you.”

“Then come over here and prove it to me.”

“Not when you’re drunk. Right now I just want
you to stop it. I don’t want you to ruin your life.”

“My life isn’t worth anything. I don’t have
anything to care about. I live with guilt every day for what I did.
Then you came along and I thought I would have a chance to care
about someone. A chance for life to have some kind of meaning
again. But, no, you led me on, made me think that there was a
chance for us, then you shot me down without a thought. You are a
cruel bitch.”

“No, Jamie, that’s not how it is. I really
and truly didn’t want to hurt you. I tried so hard to have those
feelings for you. You’re everything that a woman could want. You’re
smart, hard-working, and extremely handsome. And you really do have
a heart of gold. I just couldn’t feel the way I wanted to feel
about you. I didn’t mean to lead you on!”

He stood up and moved toward her. “Why don’t
we give it another try? You and me together. It could be really
good. We could be happy. Just give me a chance, ok?”

“No, Jamie. I would just hurt you again. And
I don’t want to do that. I want you to be happy, but that happiness
can’t be with me.”

He moved closer. “Maybe I should just take
what I want. Maybe you’re one of those women that like it that
way.”

Emily was beginning to get a little
frightened now. Jamie kept moving closer to her and she could see
the anger and frustration in his eyes. He smelled strongly of
liquor and she knew he was very drunk.

“Jamie, please don’t do something you’ll
regret later. Please don’t.”

Suddenly he grabbed her and pulled her
against him. His hands were gripping her arms tightly enough to
hurt.

She started sobbing. “Please, Jamie.”

“Go ahead and beg. I don’t care. I’m going to
do exactly what I want to do and you know you aren’t strong enough
to stop me.”

He kissed her roughly and his hands were all
over her body, hurting her. She was fighting to get away, but Jamie
was a very strong man and she would never be able to resist
him.

“Stop it! Jamie, you’re hurting me! Please
let go,” she sobbed.

He laughed and kept kissing her. She fought
as hard as she could. She was strong and in good shape, but he was
much stronger. She tried to kick him, but he just laughed and
dodged her easily. She tried to scream, but his mouth was crushing
hers in a bruising kiss that prevented her from getting out
anything but a small whimper.

Suddenly, Jamie was gone. She watched in
fascination as she saw him sail across the garden into the rose
bushes. Then Patrick was upon him, growling in rage, grabbing him
by the front of his shirt and throwing him down again. Once again,
he picked Jamie up and was about to punch him in the face. Emily
knew that if she didn’t do something, Patrick would kill him. She
ran over to them.

“Patrick, no! Please don’t hit him. He’s
drunk and didn’t know what he was doing!”

“I know what he was doing!” Patrick roared.
“He was hurting you. How can you be such a bleeding heart about
this when he could have hurt you badly, even raped you?”

He was still holding Jamie by the front of
his shirt. Jamie was barely conscious, being both drunk and dazed
from hitting his head on the ground twice. Patrick looked at him
with disgust and threw him back down on the ground. Then he looked
at Emily and his face softened. He gathered her into his arms and
she laid her head on his chest.

“All I could see was this man hurting you. I
couldn’t let that happen. I would have killed him if I had to. If
he ever touches you that way again, so help me, I
will
kill
him!”

It felt so warm and safe being in Patrick’s
arms. Even though she had just been through the scariest experience
of her life, all she could think about was how good it felt being
up against Patrick’s lean, hard body. She could feel the unreleased
tension in every muscle. He was like a tiger stalking prey, waiting
to strike. She could sense the power that he was holding inside.
This was a dangerous man. And she wanted him. Forever.

Just then she heard voices at the French
doors. Some of the guests had probably heard the commotion and were
coming out to see what was going on.

“Emily, I have to go. I don’t want to leave
you with this to explain, but…..I can’t help it. Meet me in the
usual place tomorrow night.”

“Wait…Patrick!”

“I’m sorry. You don’t understand! We will
talk later.”

And then he was gone.

Chapter Twelve

Several people burst out of the French doors,
including Rebecca and Sam. They all looked at Jamie lying in the
rose garden, then at Emily. Then one man bent down next to Jamie,
examined him briefly, and yelled for someone to call an
ambulance.

“Is he hurt badly?” asked Rebecca.

“His head is bleeding and he’s not conscious.
He needs to go to the hospital to be checked out.”

“What happened here?” asked Sam.

“H-he was drunk a-and he tripped and fell. He
went down hard and hit his head on the ground,” Emily
stammered.

The man who was kneeling next to Jamie said,
“He must have hit his head on this rock. Hmmm, that’s odd. He
actually has another knot on his head. It looks like he hit his
head twice.”

“Maybe he bounced,” suggested Emily. Maybe he
bounced? She sounded like an idiot!

Rebecca looked at her oddly. “Are you sure
that’s all that happened? There seemed to be quite a commotion out
here. I’m almost sure I heard another man’s voice.”

“No, it was just Jamie and me. He was being a
little bit belligerent and I was telling him to stop yelling and I
tried to take his drink from him.”

The ambulance was there in five minutes, and
the EMTs checked him out. They said he might have a concussion and
they took him on to the hospital to be checked out more
thoroughly.

The incident wrapped the party up early, so
the guests were gone by ten o’clock. Rebecca took Sally to the
hospital to see about Jamie, and Emily and Sam waited at the house.
Emily was glad that Sam suggested that because she really didn’t
feel like she should be at the hospital with Jamie right now.

“Ok, let’s cut the crap. What really happened
tonight? Don’t give me the same line you gave Rebecca. I know
better.”

Emily burst into tears. “Oh, Sam, I didn’t
want anyone to know what happened. It was so awful.”

Sam took her in his arms. “Emily, you can
tell me what happened. I won’t say anything to anybody. But you
need to get this off your chest.”

“I went outside for some fresh air. I was
going to sit on the bench, but I saw that Jamie was already there.
I was going to just turn around and leave, but he told me to stay.
And then he started accusing me of leading him on, and he called me
a bitch, and-and…” She started crying again.

Sam held her for a minute, and then he took
her face in his hands and looked at her. “What did he do,
Emily?”

“He attacked me, Sam! He was kissing me and
hurting me, and I was trying to get away…” she stopped, not sure
how much to tell him.

“Then what, Emily?”

“Patrick pulled him off of me,” she
whispered.

“Patrick? Who’s Patrick?” he asked,
puzzled.

“This guy…I’ve been meeting him down the path
on the rocks. We just talk and spend time together. Nothing has
ever happened between us. But when Jamie started hurting me and I
was struggling to get away, the next thing I knew, he was gone.
Patrick pulled him off of me and threw him over into the rose
garden. Then he picked him up and threw him again. He was going to
hit Jamie, but I made him stop. Then we heard voices and everyone
started coming out. Patrick ran away.”

“And left you to explain everything! Who is
this guy, anyway?”

“He’s just a friend. I like him a lot. He was
just trying to protect me.”

“And I appreciate him for it. But I’m a
little curious about him. Where does he live?”

“He lives somewhere down the shore. He likes
to sit on the rocks and draw,” Emily said.

“Why doesn’t he draw down by his own
house?”

“I think he just likes the scenery better
here.”

Sam grinned. “I bet he does.”

Emily smiled at him. “Very funny.”

“Seriously, just how much do you know about
this guy?”

“All I need to know. He’s my friend and he
rescued me from possible rape.”

Sam looked and her and raised his eyebrows.
“Do you really think Jamie is capable of something like that?”

“Sam, you didn’t see what he was like. I’ve
never been so scared in my life. Jamie is a nice guy and I care a
lot about him, but when he’s drunk, he turns into something much
different than the man we know.”

Sam looked thoughtful for a minute. “I wonder
why, after all this time, he decided to start drinking
tonight.”

“I think I know a little about that. It may
be because I rejected him. He thinks I led him on and I guess maybe
I did. I didn’t mean to, Sam, I really thought maybe I could learn
to care about Jamie, but the feelings just weren’t there.”

“And what about this Patrick fellow? Do you
have feelings for him?”

Emily looked down at her hands. “I guess I
do. I don’t think he feels the same way, though.”

“Then why did he rescue you tonight? If he
didn’t care about you, why did he get angry enough to throw Jamie
hard enough to give him a concussion?”

“I don’t know. I guess he saw a female in
distress…”

Sam cut her off. “And why did he just happen
to be here at the right time?”

Emily thought about that a minute. Was
Patrick watching her? That thought sent a little thrill through
her.

Just then the phone rang. It was Rebecca.
Jamie had a mild concussion and they were keeping him overnight at
the hospital. He would be able to come home the next evening. Emily
decided that would give her enough time to go see him tomorrow.
They needed to clear the air.

* * *

That night Emily couldn’t sleep, once again.
She roamed the house, restless and nervous. She finally went
downstairs to look at more of the paintings she had found. She was
delighted with the different scenes that she found. There were a
lot of different views of the ocean and of the rocky shore. Some
were painted with the sun just coming up over the water. Some were
on a sunny day with white fluffy clouds in the sky. And others were
painted at dusk, when the shadows were getting long and everything
was so beautiful it took her breath away. She knew what that scene
looked like, and it was painted perfectly. Who was this artist? Was
he or she part of the mystery? She thought the painter had to be a
man because only a man’s eye would see the blond woman the way that
picture was painted. The woman was beautiful. But it was more than
that. It seemed that the painter must have known her intimately.
She twisted the silver ring on her finger. She still couldn’t
believe that this ring belonged to the woman in the picture!

She was getting to the end of the paintings.
There was one left. When she took the covering off of that one, she
gasped and turned pale at the sight. There on the canvas was
Patrick! Well, of course it couldn’t be Patrick, but this man was
identical to him, even down to the shoulder length hair and the
sapphire eyes. In the right hand corner of the painting was the
title….’Self Portrait’.

He was dressed in a black coat and vest, with
a white shirt underneath. There was a white silk cravat around his
neck.

Patrick had lied to her! He had said that he
was no relation to the McCullochs that had lived here for two
centuries. It had to be a lie! He was the very image of this man in
the painting. Patrick had to be a descendant of the McCulloch
family that had once lived here. Why would he lie to her? Did he
have some kind of ulterior motive? Did he want the house back? If
he wanted the house, why didn’t he just buy it from the family that
had lived here last? Unless he wasn’t really rich, like he had
said. Maybe he was the black sheep of the family and had been cut
off without a penny. That certainly was an old story. She studied
the painting for a long time. This face was the face of the man she
loved and longed for. Now she wasn’t sure she could trust him.

Emily went to bed that night troubled and
weary. But instead of tossing and turning like she thought she
would do, she went to sleep almost as soon as her eyes were
closed.

Chapter Thirteen

The next day was Saturday, so there was no
work for her to do. The rest of the family had already gone to the
hospital to see Jamie. She had begged off, saying that she had a
headache and would come to the hospital later. Only Sam would
understand that she needed to see Jamie alone. True to his word,
Sam hadn’t said anything about what he knew. Emily was grateful to
him, because she had needed to tell someone, and she was glad that
Sam had been there. She didn’t think she could tell Rebecca what
happened.

Later that evening, she borrowed Rebecca’s
car and went to the hospital. When she walked in, Jamie’s eyes
widened a little, then he turned away from here.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“I’m here because I think we need to talk.
Please look at me, Jamie.”

He turned to her. His eyes were red as if he
had been crying earlier.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I’m better. They’re watching me for a few
more hours, and then I’m going home.”

“I’m glad you weren’t hurt worse.”