Abiding Love (16 page)

“That just isn’t acceptable,” Adam said. Maybe as a cop, Jim Lovell couldn’t touch Balfour, but let him come near either Xandra or Mark…

Lovell grimaced. “I wouldn’t see it as acceptable, either. A little over a year ago, I was in a similar situation. There was someone stalking Crystal before we were married. Your sister Beth was nearly killed with Crystal. My suggestion to you, Xandra, is be vigilant. Try not to go anywhere alone. Vary your routine. The same goes for Mark.” He paused. “Adam, I think we can assume you can take care of yourself, but keep a close eye on your son.”

Adam shot him a wry grin. “I wish he
would
come after me.”

X
andra watched a implacable smile form on Adam’s lips. He looked so utterly dangerous when he smiled that way that it was easy to forget how gentle a man he was. It didn’t bode well for Michael if Adam ran across him. Anyone who knew Adam knew what was in his heart, but they also were sure he was capable of dealing with an enemy. He’d smiled at her like that at their first meeting. It had rattled her then, but it didn’t now.

Now, she felt protected.

Being protected and cherished by someone was an altogether new and different feeling for her. It was a good feeling, and she sat back for a second to savor it. But good feeling or not, that didn’t mean she intended to hide behind him or purposely put him in harm’s way.

“Adam, I don’t want him coming after any of us. Don’t wish for something like that.”

Adam leaned forward, his eyes darkened and grave. “I’d rather be the target than have him go after you or Mark. Maybe I’ll write him. Flush him out.”

“No. Please. I know you could handle yourself against him in a fair battle, but he doesn’t fight fair.”

Adam nodded. “I know that. Cowards and bullies never do. He’s also not likely to come after me. He’ll pick on someone he perceives as an easy target.” He looked toward the lieutenant. “Maybe I should drive Xandra to and from the school until we know which way the wind blows with this guy.”

“Go with her everywhere if you can. She shouldn’t be alone,” Lovell said, flipping his notebook closed.

“Absolutely not,” she told them. “The location of the shelter has to remain a secret.”

“I have an in with the outgoing director,” Adam said, his grin still a bit wolfish, but teasing, too. “Beth’ll okay my knowing the location. She can explain what’s going on to the women. Honey, you can’t go zooming up and down these back roads alone.”

She couldn’t help remembering the story Beth had once told her about the husband of one of the residents. He’d learned Beth’s connection to the shelter and run her off the road. With that memory, a little of Xandra’s confidence eroded.

“Besides,” Adam was saying, “suppose you accidentally lead him to New Life? He’s hired professionals in the past to track you. What makes this any different? Imagine how much it would shake those
women to find Michael Balfour knocking on the front door. They’d never feel safe there again.”

He never ceased to amaze her with his ability to be so strong and capable and think so logically, yet but still be sensitive to the feelings of others. And he was right about everything. She huffed out a little breath. So, okay. There was little doubt it was time to give in, but she did so with a few reservations.

“If you’re driving me, what about Mark?” she asked. “You realize he can’t come to New Life with you. The women would worry he’s too young to be trusted with that information. They’ll worry enough just seeing you.”

“Mark will be Sully’s territory. He can take Mark in and do a sweep of the school when they get there to make sure Balfour isn’t lurking somewhere. Can you have a car drive by the school on and off through the day, Jim?”

“No problem. I think I’ll go see your parents, Xandra. Advise them to back off from Balfour. That might close the pipeline of information. And with that, I guess we have a plan,” Lovell said, standing. “If you hear anything else from him, let me know right away.”

Adam saw Jim Lovell out as Xandra mulled over her options. She put her feet up and closed her eyes. It wasn’t easy to swallow the truth. After all she’d done to put Michael and their marriage behind her and move on, she wasn’t free of him. Maybe she’d never be free. How long was she supposed to look over her shoulder? How long was Mark supposed to
curtail his activities and go everywhere with a sixty-year-old baby-sitter?

She took a deep breath and started to pray. She prayed for peace and safety, for Adam and Mark in general and for the courage she’d need if forced to face Michael. She prayed her parents would finally believe her about her marriage and come to understand that money and culture didn’t make Michael a good person.

Lost in her prayers, she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

Sometime later the sweet smell of the spring breeze stirring memories of the fun they’d had on the terrace the Sunday before woke her and drew her outside. She barely heard Adam call her name sometime later.

“Out here,” she replied.

“I came in to check on you and you were gone. It’s gonna be okay, Xandra,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. “We’ll get through this.”

“I know. Thanks for the nap. I guess I needed it. That letter was just such a shock,” she said, and leaned against his solid strength, borrowing just a little for herself. His scent, something woodsy with a hint of spice, enveloped her. She looked down at his muscular forearms, as always fascinated by the fine honey-colored hairs covering them.

The sun continued its slow descent as they watched the sky turn a brilliant golden pink. It occurred to her as the gilded light turned the evening to magic that
she loved this tough, sensitive, and oh-so-stubborn man with all her heart.

“Do you want to go home to change for dinner?” he asked as the shadows disappeared and night began to fall. “We’re going out. You, me and Mark.”

She dropped her head on his shoulder. “Do you think that’s wise?”

“It’s what we’d planned. Mark and I had a snack to hold us until you woke. We aren’t doing anything wrong in seeing each other, and I refuse to let that man dictate what I can do with my life. How about you?”

“No. You’re right.”

“Good. By the way, I called Beth. She’s going to talk to everyone at the shelter. Sully and I will take care of getting your car over here tomorrow.” He turned her in his arms and hugged her close. “It’ll be okay.”

She took a half-step back and looked up, caressing his smooth, recently shaved cheek before sifting his shower-damp hair through her fingers. In spite of the threat from her past, she’d never had a more beautiful moment than standing there in Adam’s arms.

“I love you,” she whispered, and stood on tiptoe to kiss his lips.

Adam jerked back, breaking the contact of their lips, but he held her a little tighter. His eyes had widened so much that she nearly laughed. She didn’t expect him to reciprocate, though she was a bit sad for him that he couldn’t. She really thought he loved her, but she understood why those words would be diffi
cult for him. It had been only a matter of months since he’d arrived at the place where he could let go of all the love he’d felt for his ex-wife. Adam didn’t love easily, but once won, his love would be the kind to last a lifetime. He opened his mouth to say something, but she silenced him with her fingertips.

“Adam, you don’t need to say anything. I didn’t tell you to pressure you. Love is freely given. It has no strings. And I can wait because it also is patient.” She chuckled, hoping to lessen the tension that suddenly charged the air. “Goodness, I sound as if I’m rewriting Corinthians. I know the Lord’s hand is on us and our relationship. It’ll all be fine.”

A month later, Xandra still believed that. She and Adam had grown closer in the hours and days that had followed that golden moment out of time. Proximity only increased the feelings of love for him that she had recognized that beautiful night. Adam continued on his theological quest, frequently meeting with Jim Dillon when his questions were beyond her or Mark’s biblical expertise. She and Mark would shake their heads at his futile attempts to be logical about something as illogical as faith. Then they sent him to their capable pastor. Mark even sheepishly apologized to Jim Dillon for his father’s stubbornness. The pastor laughed and said he enjoyed the chance to match wits with someone so intelligent. It was clear their pastor considered himself the winner.

On another front, Adam continued his sweeping renovations on the house. He pulled down the over
grown “Boyerton” sign at the head of the drive after Mark uncovered a historic stone marker naming the place “Willow Haven.” Mark’s discovery redefined the estate’s roots for Adam, since he’d never known there had been an earlier name.

Adam and Mark held a fun-filled renaming ceremony and picnic on the first weekend in June to unveil the restored marker at the base of the drive renaming the estate Willow Haven. They celebrated with the help of an ever-widening circle of friends who were all connected to either the Taggerts and Laurel Glen or the Tabernacle.

Beth and Jack were slated to leave for Colorado toward the end of June when Jack’s contract with Laurel Glen was up. They would be doubly missed—they had announced that they were expecting twins late next winter.

Thanks to Meg Taggert and her work with the Chester County Historical Society, the house would soon have a new-old look to go with the new-old name. It was now Willow Haven, as it had been in past generations. At the party, Meg presented Adam with a picture of Willow Haven’s main house from earlier in the century. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by the difference a friendly, whimsical-looking porch had once made in the appearance of the dour-looking home. Reconstruction of the ornate porch that had once nearly wrapped the house was now under way.

Michael had not contacted her again. After the visit from Jim Lovell, her father called to apologize for not
understanding the seriousness of the problems in her marriage. The women at New Life took Adam’s comings and goings, brief and unobtrusive as they were, quite well. And Mark made plans to spend most of his summer either riding or swimming with new friends in the now restored pool.

“Have a good summer, Ms. Lexington. You too, Mark,” a female student called into her office as she passed by. Xandra grinned at the girl’s flirtatious tone toward Mark. As Xandra had predicted, he was the school’s newest heartthrob.

Over the summer the offices were being shuffled around and painted, so, now that the last day of school had arrived, it was time to pack all her personal things for the trip home. Mark had volunteered to help and they only had that day to get it done. The workers planned to begin renovations on the second floor of the school in the morning and no one was to be allowed back in after today. In fact, they’d already begun in the basement, having somehow accidentally cut the main telephone lines that ran through the school. Consequently, the faculty was relegated to using their personal cell phones.

“Mark, would you hand me that empty box over there?” she asked as she taped up and labeled a finished one.

“Sure thing. You want the books packed in order, or doesn’t it matter? I think I can get more in each box if I can shuffle them around by size, and since Dad and I will be carrying them, we can pack heavy.”

“That’s true. I—” Xandra’s cell phone rang from
under a pile of something, drawing her attention. “Where on earth did I leave the thing now? Can you tell where it’s coming from?”

Xandra and Mark looked frantically for the source of the muffled ring. They both laughed when they found the useless regular phone, then escalated into giggles as they turned the office into a genuine disaster area while the cell phone continued to elude them. Some posters she’d laid across her desk finally slid to the floor, uncovering the phone on the other side of the desk from where she stood. Xandra lunged and wound up lying across her desk on her stomach as she scooped it up and pushed the answer button.

“Hello,” she said, still laughing at the slapstick scene they’d just gotten caught up in.

“Alexandra? Is that you? It’s your father.”

Mark laughed again as she pushed herself into a sitting position, and she swatted him on the head with a packing tube. “Sorry, Father. Mark and I are packing up my office. There’s general mayhem in here right now. What can I do for you?” she asked.

“You can come over here and talk some sense into this stubborn mother of yours,” her father groused.

“Mother? What makes you think she’d listen to me about anything? Actually, I’m probably the last person whose opinion she’d value.”

“Ordinarily, I wouldn’t bother you. Heaven knows, she hasn’t been there for you. Neither of us has. But she’s having chest pains and refuses to let me either call 911 or take her to the hospital.”

Alarm shot through Xandra. “Chest pains?”

“She’s never even hinted at a heart condition, but now I wonder if she thought I wouldn’t want to deal with it. I’m worried, Alexandra,” her father said, his tone grave.

“I’m sure you are. You really think she’d listen to me?”

“Actually, she said, ‘Why don’t you call Alexandra? You seem to value her opinion over mine lately. She’ll tell you you’re being hysterical and ridiculous.”’

“Oh. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.”

“She’s just being difficult. I’m out of options other than calling the ambulance against her wishes. You can’t imagine what it would be like around here if I did that. I thought I’d call you and call her bluff in one fell swoop. Let’s face it,
I
knew you wouldn’t do anything but insist she be checked out.”

“Are the pains moving? Is she experiencing pain anywhere else?” she asked, remembering a pamphlet she’d read on women’s heart issues.

“All she says is she’s in pain. We were arguing, you see. I’ve been trying to do more away from the office. I made plans to surprise her and take her to the country club. I came home and she was upset that I hadn’t warned her. I feel so responsible. All we’ve done is argue for over a month, since I ordered her not to contact that miscreant you were married to.”

“I’m sorry to have caused problems between you two. Have you called Dr. Avery?”

Her father sighed deeply. “Can’t. He’s on vacation in the south of France.”

Xandra could tell her father was completely unstrung. She’d come to understand him in the last month. He hadn’t abdicated his parenthood because he didn’t want to be a parent. Apparently, making personal decisions had paralyzed him, since an incident in his boyhood where a wrong decision caused him great heartache.

“I don’t have a car, Father,” she said, guilt pricking her. Then she remembered A.J. and the overcrowded office next door to hers that he’d occupied for ten years. He’d be packing and tossing old college catalogs for hours yet. “Wait. My colleague might lend me his car. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait for Adam to bring me. But I will be there.”