Beauty and the Beast (22 page)

I’ll be damned. And I thought he wanted to rush into marriage to protect me.
This was totally out of character for Bruce. But then they really hadn’t been close in years, so she worried that maybe she’d misjudged him and this was his true character.

“Congratulations!” She considered nominating herself for a Grammy, or maybe an Emmy since this was something straight out of a soap opera. “So how long have you known Mr. Maxwell?”

“Nefertiti!” Bruce barreled out the back door toward them.

“It was nice meeting you, Tiffany.” She set her art supplies on the bench. “But I need to run.” Then she literally ran for the guesthouse. She was too angry with Bruce to speak, and she wasn’t about to confront him in front of his fiancée. For him to ask one woman to marry him when he was already engaged to another was unforgivable. And she didn’t want a man who would be so… so… yuck.

“Wait!”

She stumbled on the staircase that led to the guesthouse door, and glanced over her shoulder. Bruce was catching up with Tiffany close behind. She tried the knob and met a locked door.
Great!
Where she’d go she didn’t know, but she had to get away from Bruce.

He stood at the bottom of the five steps with his hand on either side of the railing.

Trapped like a rat!

He grinned. “I can hear you thinking, water ninja.”

“I think you need to worry about what your fiancée is thinking,” she said with an added sister-girl twist of the neck, “instead of trying to read my mind.”

“I am.” He took a step closer.

She motioned around the six-by-six cement slab of the entryway. “This is my space. Don’t even think about invading it.”
 

“Or what?” He ascended the final four steps into her space.

“Nefertiti,” Tiffany breathlessly called as she reached the bottom step. “Are you all right?” She marched up the stairs. “Get away from her, you brute!” She pushed him, and by the look in her eyes, for the first time realized who the crazed man in the wet T-shirt chasing her new friend was. “Oh no. I cannot believe I was going to marry you.”

She grabbed Nefertiti by the hand and pulled her along.

Nefertiti went willingly, but not before she lifted her veil to ensure he could see her stick her tongue out at him.

“Don’t worry. Once I tell my daddy what an ogre Maxwell is, he’ll hire you.”

Bruce passed Nefertiti and Tiffany as he stalked toward the house. Nefertiti could see someone who looked like his mother standing at the edge of the flower garden. Bruce got to Alexis first.

“Take your protégé and get the hell out of my house!” he barked.

Tiffany rushed forward. “You can’t talk to her that way.”

The girl might talk more than water ran over Niagara Falls, but Nefertiti liked her fight.

“The hell I can’t! You see, Miss Save the World, I’m already engaged.” He motioned toward a totally shocked Nefertiti. “And for some reason my fiancée thinks you are also my fiancée.”

“What?” Tiffany and Alexis screeched in unison.

Tiffany drew in a few deep breaths, lifted her chin and turned to Nefertiti. “I apologize.” She paused. “I was misled. Please forgive me.”

Nefertiti hugged the young woman who had grabbed her scarred hand and protected her from the big bad Bruce. “There’s nothing to forgive.”

“If I haven’t made a complete fool of myself, I’d like to do lunch some time.”
 

“Next week I’m attending an art exhibit at the DuSable Museum. Would you like to come along?”

“I’d love to.”

“Leave your information with Janis, and I’ll contact you.”

“Thank you.” Tiffany offered a polite nod to Bruce. “I apologize to you also. Congratulations.”

“Umm.” He shrugged. “Think nothing of it. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

Lips pursed, Tiffany faced Alexis. “You lied, tried to manipulate me and your son, embarrassed us all, and hurt my friend. I’m telling my mother, and she’ll ensure you aren’t welcome at any social events worth attending.”

Alexis looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Mr. Maxwell, may I use a phone? I need to call a limo to pick me up.”

“Nonsense.” He motioned to the security guard who stood by the patio. The man hurried over. “Have Justin take Miss Gamble wherever she likes.”

“Thank you.” She walked off with her head held high, pride in her step and much respect from Nefertiti.

Bruce pulled Nefertiti close. “It’s time for you to leave, Alexis.”

“I know you’re not going to marry this… this…” Deer transformed to angry hornet, Alexis’s words stung Nefertiti. “Can’t you see her scars?”

He motioned for the guard who was patrolling the grounds, and the man rushed over.

“Show this woman out. She is no longer welcome at Maxwell Manor—ever.”

“Bruce!” She reached for her son.

The guard grabbed Alexis by the arm before she could touch Bruce.

“How can you do this to me?” she complained as she was dragged away. “I’m your mother.”

“My mother’s dead.”

Nefertiti could see Bruce shutting down as he watched his mother being escorted away. In hopes of comforting him, she took him by the hand, and they strolled the grounds.

Her issues with her father now seemed miniscule compared to what Bruce had endured his whole life. Though Dr. Herman had told her not to compare her situation to that of others, she couldn’t stop herself. This was the man she loved, and she wanted to remove his pain. But what could she do? What could she say? Dr. Herman’s words resounded within her: Sometimes there are no words.

This was how a parent who didn’t care for—love—her child acted. As far back as Nefertiti could remember, Alexis had never been there for Bruce. Victoria had vented plenty of times to Nefertiti about how Alexis would come around and demand money from him, as if she were fully entitled to it.

As they neared the creek, she thought of how they used to pretend the forest preserve, where Victoria loved to have picnics, was a jungle.

“Let’s go into the jungle.” She pulled him toward the tree line.

“I don’t feel like playing, and you don’t even have any shoes on.”

“Who said anything about playing? I want to sit by the raging waters of the Amazon River.”

A genuine yet sad smile tipped his lips. He lowered himself and allowed her to climb onto his back. “To the Amazon,” he said and carried her though the tree line to the edge of the creek where they both sat.

Nefertiti leaned back on her elbows and dipped her toes into the cool water. She watched him unlace his shoes, and her heart went out to him. This was the reality check Nefertiti needed. She just wished the check hadn’t come at Bruce’s expense. A big poofy pig-shaped cloud slowly floated into her view from above the trees on the opposite side of the creek. She and her dad used to lie in a field and cloud watch during the day and star watch at night. She took the banana clip out of her hair and set it to the side, then lay back fully with her hands behind her head.

Nathan had always been there for her. The warmth of his embrace had always been filled with love.
He wouldn’t stop loving me. He couldn’t.
Now she felt ashamed and foolish for ever considering that her father had stopped loving her. Why he was avoiding her was still a mystery, but she’d find the real answers.
No more assuming and
—she smiled—
projecting
.

“What’s so funny?” Pant legs rolled up, Bruce stuffed his socks into his shoes and slipped his feet into the water.

“I was just thinking about my dad.”

“He loves you.”

“Yeah,” she sighed more than said. “I’m sorry about—”

“Don’t apologize for Alexis.” He lay back on the soft bed of foxtail weeds beside Nefertiti. “I’m fine.”

She turned her head away from the clouds toward him.

“Honestly. I couldn’t ask for a better mother than Auntie Vic. I’m just mad that I didn’t acknowledge it sooner.” He reached over and unhooked the veil from her ears. Even his slightest touch sent her heart racing. “That’s better.” He held onto the veil as he lay back and rested his hands on his waist.

“It’s great back here.” To remove the pictures in her mind of making love with Bruce in the middle of the jungle, she returned to cloud watching. Unfortunately, the clouds conspired against her and were shaped in different erotic positions.
 

“Yeah, but for some reason, I thought the water was deeper.” Along the edge, the creek was only a few inches deep. Toward the center, it was only a few feet. “Did you honestly believe I was engaged to that little girl?”

“She didn’t seem too little to me. She’s an attractive, sophisticated young woman—who talks way too much.” She giggled. “Man, that girl can go! But I like her.”

He rolled over and was about to stuff her veil into his shoe when Nefertiti said, “I will kill you if you even think about putting my veil in your funky shoe. Move away from the shoe, fire ninja.”

“My most sincere apology, water ninja.” He slipped the veil into his pants pocket. “So what made you give up the nonsense about Uncle Nathan not loving you?”

“I realized I haven’t been in my right mind lately. Parents and children. Will we ever understand each other?”

“You think it’s bad now. Wait until we have kids. Then we won’t understand parents or kids.” They shared a laugh, calmed.

“Nefertiti.”

She turned toward the softness of his voice. Though they’d laughed, she still saw pain in his eyes.

“Why won’t you marry me?”

She took a few moments to organize her thoughts. “Since I was about twelve, I’ve fantasized about my wedding. As I matured, certain aspects of the ceremony changed. Nothing major. Little things like the school gymnasium was replaced with St. Columbanus Cathedral. Instead of marching down to aisle to ‘Play Another Slow Jam,’ I’d—”

“Wait second.” His smile brightened his eyes. “You’re not serious.”

“Of course I am. Don’t worry, now I’m partial to ‘Here Comes the Bride.’ Anywhooo… after I graduated from college, I had no choice but to forget about my fairy tale groom.” She noted his cringe. He was most likely remembering how his rejection led to her moving on with her life. “Then Dennis came along. I wasn’t happy about the role change, but I could pretend I was. But now…” She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t even begin to imagine a wedding without her daddy. “If my father isn’t there to give me away…”

He reached over and caressed her face. “I understand, baby.” He rested his forehead on hers. “I fully understand. We won’t set the date until we find out what’s wrong with Uncle Nathan.”

“I didn’t say I was marrying you,” she said coyly.

“You don’t need to.” He nibbled on her lips.

Within no time, her lips were tingling, and any resistance she might have given him disappeared. He pulled the V of her shirt down, along with her bra, to expose her hardened breasts.

The sound of a twigs breaking startled her.

“Bruce!” she managed to say through her lust-filled fog. “I heard something.”

“Ummm.” He took a breast into his mouth.

The effects reached between her legs and silenced her protest.