Blindsided (28 page)

And no matter what happened, she’d gotten what she needed. That was already clear. All day she had waited for the bald panic to skitter in, sometimes she’d even expected it. But it had never come. Nate had been right. Confronting Brandon had done a world of good. Good the world hadn’t done. It seemed almost too easy, but there it was. The power she had lost and run around the world trying to regain was back.

Just seeing Brandon had reduced him down to a manageable, human size. Over the years, she had blown him, and consequently, his effect on her life, way out of proportion. She had been so young, and so short on life experience. There was no doubt about it, it was still a horrible thing that she would never forget. But it no longer overshadowed everything else in her life. She was better able to put the whole experience in perspective – and behind her. And she had Nate to thank for it.

“He’ll never be sorry, but I can have a great life. And in order to have that, I need you. Having you will be my revenge. It’s all I need.”

He’d stared at her for a few seconds before finally shaking his head.

“You need this, too,” he said quietly, “It’s a little soon but, I’m sure.”

He’d produced a beautiful, vintage diamond ring and Chelsea broke into tears. The past days had been so emotional, good and bad. But that ring and the look in Nate’s eyes far overshadowed the bad.

“Yeah, me too,” she’d said as he put it on her finger.

Their tender romantic kiss had quickly progressed to more. Chelsea was exceptionally grateful for private charter planes.

###

“Oh, come on,” Nate asked for what felt like the hundredth time, “Tell me where you and Jen went.”

They had just come from Tony’s, where the big news was that Tony was moving to Santa Fe and he and Jen were – finally – getting married. With two wedding announcements, the afternoon had turned into a celebration. Nate wouldn’t soon forget the look on Tony’s face when Jen had also let it slip that she was pregnant. He’d never seen quite that image of shock and excitement before.

After conferring quietly in a corner for a few minutes, the two women had left in some secret rush, leaving Nate and Tony to fend for themselves. Which amounted to sitting around drinking beer and shooting the shit. Tony had congratulated Nate for not being as pigheaded as he had been for waiting ten years to marry his lifelong love. Nate didn’t have the heart to tell the other man that his sister wouldn’t allow such pigheadedness, otherwise he’d have gone the same route.

The ladies had returned a few hours later, giggling like school girls. They refused to let either Nate or Tony in on the secret.

Things were still tense between Chelsea and her mother, but Nate thought he saw the older woman beginning to melt. It was damn hard to stay upset when your kids were getting married and you were going to be a grandma. Nate just hoped things got better than they had been. He was going to have to deal with Annabelle Spencer for a long time. Lucky him.

As far as he knew, Chelsea hadn’t shared whatever her secret was with her mother, either. He was dying to know, but decided to play it cool. It had always worked for him in the past. He lit a cigarette and leaned against the kitchen counter. Whatever it was clearly made Chelsea ridiculously happy, and she was nearly bursting for wanting to tell him. Whatever it was, he wouldn’t have to wait long.

About five seconds, to be exact.

“Oh, I’ll just show you now,” she said, “I was going to wait for a special time, but I just can’t wait. I’m so excited.”

Her face glowed and her eyes twinkled, the perfect picture of happiness. It was amazing how his street cool just kept working for him. Her excitement was infectious though, and he suddenly felt like jumping up and down like she was.

Chelsea pulled away from him a bit and turned around, tugging her pants a down a little, revealing a large patch of gauze on the back of her right hip. She carefully pulled the gauze off to reveal a new tattoo, still red and raised around the edges. It was the image of a dark haired woman, arms raised in a graceful pose, one leg bent and raised. She was naked, full in the hips and the breasts she looked peaceful, calm. Realization came to him slowly, and Nate became aware of Chelsea impatient squirming.

“Is this what I think it is?” Nate asked, gently running his fingers over the ink.

“Yes,” Chelsea said quietly, turning her head a little so she could look at Nate over her shoulder. “It’s Shakti.”

Nate was at a loss for words and his heart stopped.

“It’s so whenever you do something you think is destructive, you realize I’m here to help you. Whatever it is.”

“To remake me,” Nate said quietly.

His love for this woman was so strong, so unbelievably overwhelming, that it was hard to believe that she felt the same way about him, but she did. She had known exactly the right thing to do to calm all his fears, all his worries about them. This tattoo showed that she knew exactly what to do to remake him, and what to do to reassure him. It was the most beautiful gift anyone had ever given him and he knew he’d do his best to deserve it every day of his life.