Drive and Determination (29 page)

            Elyssa remained motionless, barely able to breathe, as she watched him lift his eyes to hers and ever so slowly lean in toward her. She closed her eyes as she felt his lips kiss her cheek.
            Will pulled back slightly after a moment to gauge her response. When he found her eyes closed, he brought his hand up to her chin and with his fingers, he tenderly turned her head just enough so that he could easily press his lips to hers.
            Elyssa moved in closer and slipped her arms around his waist, latching them together behind him.
            When at last they pulled away, words seemed difficult to come by.
            Later, when he drove into the Garners’ driveway, he stopped the car and turned to Elyssa, taking her hand in his. “Elyssa, I enjoyed being with you tonight.”
            “Me too,” she replied.
            He sat quietly for a moment, simply watching her face in the darkness of the car; the only light being from the porch. He finally opened his door and got out of the car and walked around to let Elyssa out. When he took her hand, he kept a firm grasp on it as they walked to the front door. As they stepped up on the porch, he clasped his other hand over hers.
            His eyes traveled down to their entwined hands as he began to stroke hers. He only wished he could impart the depth of his feelings to her so that she would not respond to his confession tomorrow with anger. He finally released her hand and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. When he felt her arms go around his waist, he turned his head and lowered it, resting his cheek on the top of her head. As he inhaled the fragrance of her hair, he wished with all his might that he could make the time stand still to this very moment. Finally, he drew back and lowered his head, kissing her gently.
            “Good night, Elyssa. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
            Elyssa said good night and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. Will stood looking at it for several moments. He took in a deep breath as he realized this evening with her had been perfect. He could not have enjoyed himself more. As he fingered his set of keys, looking for the right one, he contemplated what tomorrow would bring. He could only hope she would understand.

Chapter 28

            Elyssa closed the door behind her as she came in from her date with Will and collapsed against it. She brought her hand up over her heart as she felt its clamorous beating and took in a few breaths that were sorely needed. When she finally garnered her strength and pulled herself away from the door, she turned and took a quick peek out the peephole. She saw Will fingering his set of keys before he turned and walked to his car.
            Elyssa knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep until she told her aunt a little about their evening. She tiptoed down the hall and softly tapped on the door to their room. Maddy promptly got out of bed and put on a robe. She stepped out and closed the door so the two of them could talk and not awaken Edward.
            Elyssa didn’t know where to begin, but began in hurried, excited whispers. “Maddy, from the moment we were together in the car, I felt so at ease. I really enjoyed his company. We went to a restaurant fairly close by. You’ll have to try it. Then we drove into Chicago. We walked through Old Town, going into an occasional store and looking through the display windows. Then you won’t believe what he did!”
            Maddy took in a deep breath as if she were exhausted just listening to her. “What did he do?” she asked with eager anticipation.
            “We went to a theater -- actually he called it a film center -- where they show foreign and classic films. There were a lot of people there, but when we walked into the theater, we were the only ones in it!”
            “Really? Did anyone else ever come?”
            “No! And that’s not the only incredible thing. The movie was “Umbrellas of Cherbourg!”
            “My! That’s one of your favorites!”
            “I thought that perhaps the other theater was just showing something everyone wanted to see, but after the movie I saw a sign that stated theaters were available for rental. Maddy,” Elyssa said as she took her aunt’s hands in hers and inhaled deeply. “He rented the whole theater just for us and arranged for them to show that movie!”
            “Had you told him you liked it?”
            Elyssa shook her head. “The only thing I can think is that while we were in Guatemala, I sang ‘I Will Wait For You.’ He must have remembered and either knew that’s what movie it was from or he found out.”
            Maddy gave her niece a knowing nod. “He’s a very successful businessman, Elyssa. He is probably very good at remembering things that will help him at a later time.”
            “I guess!” Now that a condensed version of her date had been relayed to her aunt, Elyssa relaxed and suddenly felt all the weariness of the late hour. She yawned and stretched out her arms. “I’m tired. What time do you want me to get up in the morning to help you get lunch ready for the picnic?”
            “Don’t you worry about a thing! I prepared most of it this evening while you were out. Now you go to bed and get a good night’s sleep!”
            “I’ll try. Good night, Maddy.”

*~*~*

            Elyssa had just begun stirring the next morning when her cell phone rang. She blinked a couple times, trying to get her bearings and reached aimlessly for the phone.
            When she picked it up, she looked down and saw that it was Will.
            “Hello?”
            “Hi, Elyssa. I didn’t waken you, did I?”
            “Oh, no.” Elyssa yawned. “I was just lying in bed trying to find the strength to get up.”
            There was a pause on Will’s end.
            “Is everything all right?” Elyssa asked.
            “I don’t know, yet.”
            “What is it?”
            Elyssa heard Will take in a deep breath. “I received a call this morning from Guatemala. There has been a lot of rain and the villages are having some problem with flooding. Some of our farmers may have lost fields and possibly homes. I’m actually on my jet now heading down there.”
            “You’re on your way to Guatemala?”
            “Yes.” Will paused a moment. “I’m sorry, Elyssa, but I won’t make it to the picnic today.”
            Elyssa felt a wave of disappointment flood her, but she also felt a deep concern for the villagers. “Do you know which villages were affected?”
            “Unfortunately, no. Communication has been slow in coming from the area. I’ll call you when I know something.”
            “I would appreciate that.”
            “Elyssa, I…” A deep breath swallowed up any additional words.
            “Yes?”
            “I… uh… I really enjoyed myself last night.”
            “Me too.”
            “Well, the jet’s about to take off. Hopefully I’ll be home in a couple of days. I will want to see you as soon as I return.”
            “I’ll be looking forward to it. Please be careful, OK?”
            “I’ll be careful.” Will turned off his phone and looked out the window of the plane. This was not how he had expected to spend the day, but he needed to go and assess the damage -- not just to the crops -- but possibly to a farmer’s whole livelihood.  A few more days waiting to tell Elyssa wouldn’t hurt.

*~*~*

            Although Elyssa enjoyed the picnic with her aunt and uncle and their children, her heart was somewhere else. She thought about how much she would have enjoyed Will being with them and frequently wondered where he might be and what he might be doing.
            She finally heard from him Sunday afternoon and he told her the village that he and Elyssa had visited had not been heavily damaged. He was now setting out for a village on the north side of Lake Atitlan. He didn’t know what he would find when he got there. Again, he made a point of telling her that he wanted to see her when he returned and hoped he would be back by the end of the week.
            When she started work on Monday, her one consolation was that the living room was almost finished. The furniture and accessories had all arrived and now it was up to her to arrange it. Fortunately, she had a few burly men who could easily move the furniture back and forth until it was exactly as she wanted it.
            As they moved the recliner from where it had been to where she wanted it, a small slip of paper fell away. She leaned down to pick it up and was quite surprised to find that it was a parking garage stub from the same one they parked in while walking around Old Town. As she looked at the stamped date and time, she wondered for a moment at the coincidence of someone else being down there at the same time that she and Will were, but was interrupted in her thoughts by the men looking to her for their next set of instructions. She stuffed the stub into her jeans pocket.
            She kept tabs on the work going on in the kitchen in between moving things around or hanging something on the wall in the living room. When that room was exactly as she wanted it, she went into the kitchen to talk with the cabinetry man about the center island he was installing. One of the other workers came in with a concerned look on his face.
            “Elyssa, there’s someone here to see you.”
            “Oh. Is it a delivery person?”
            “Uh, I really don’t think so.” He skewed up his face. “It’s a woman who is demanding to know who’s in charge here.”
            Elyssa gave a questioning raise of her eyebrows. “Did she give her name?”
            Catherine something. I didn’t quite get her last name.”
            Elyssa shrugged her shoulders. “Thanks, I’ll be out in a minute.”
            She finished what she was doing and stepped out into the living room to find a somewhat older, very fashionably dressed woman. She was snooping around, looking intently at the furnishings.
            “May I help you?” Elyssa asked.
            “Exactly what is going on here?” The booming voice of the woman must have penetrated every room and floor of the house.
            Elyssa looked at the tall, rather imposing woman who unceremoniously strutted toward her. She came to a stop a mere foot from Elyssa and propped her hands up against her waist, gripping it tightly.
            “May I help you?” Elyssa asked again.
            “And who are you?” the woman asked contemptuously.
            “My name is Elyssa Barnett. What can I do for you?”
            “Are you in charge of this travesty?”
            Elyssa tensed, not really sure who the lady was or why she was so upset.
            “I am the designer, if that’s what you would like to know. And you are?”
            “I am Catherine Deboer.” She spoke as if everyone ought to know that.
            “Well, Ms. Deboer, is there something I can help you with?
            She shook her head and let out a huff. “You must know how much this seriously displeases me. It is not at all as it should be.”
            Elyssa felt a wave of anger sweep over her. “I’m sorry that you feel that way. Are you a relative or acquaintance of Richard Fitzpatrick?”
            The lady held her head high and looked down her nose at Elyssa. “Richard Fitzpatrick? Of course I am! I am his aunt!” She leaned in and narrowed her eyes as she spoke. “What has
he
to do with all of this?”
            “He hired me, of course.”
            “Richard?” She leaned in closer as if giving Elyssa a meticulous inspection. “Why would he do that?”
            Elyssa shrugged her shoulders. “The house needed to be decorated and he hired me to do it.”
            “This cannot be! It is impossible! It is not up to him to decide who designs this house. Besides, it was decided from the start that my daughter, Anne, would be the designer!”
            “I’m sorry,” Elyssa answered apologetically, “but I know nothing about that.”
            Ms. Deboer turned her head, looking from one thing to another. “She would have done a much more superior job.”
            Elyssa was quickly losing her composure, but took in a deep breath. “I am sure your daughter would have done a fine job, but for some reason, Mr. Fitzpatrick hired me.”
            “I still don’t understand why! But never mind that. What design firm are you with?”
            “Excuse me?”
            “I wish to know who you work for! What your credentials are!”
            “I work for myself.”
            “For yourself? How absurd! Where is your place of business? What are your references?”
            “I live and work in the Santa Ynez Valley in California.”
            “Whose homes have you decorated there?”
            “You wouldn’t recognize anyone’s name, Ms. Deboer. But I do have a degree and am just as capable as your daughter would have been!”
            Catherine Deboer’s hand flew up to her forehead. “This is not acceptable! My nephew knew that my daughter has been interning with the most prestigious design company in Kent, Ohio. The least he could have done was to have consulted with her. But no, instead, he hires some nobody from the middle of nowhere! Look what you have done to this place!”
            Elyssa turned to look at the room. To her eye, it was most pleasing.
            “I am sorry you feel that way, Ms. Deboer, but everything I have done has been approved by your nephew.”
            Ms. Deboer gave a sweep with her hand around the room. “Where did you purchase these furniture pieces?”
            Elyssa gave her the names of a few of the small shops she bought most of them from. The stern woman shook her finger at Elyssa. “Those stores have no standing with our family! Don’t you know who we are? Don’t you know that it is expected that we buy from the most esteemed stores?”
            Elyssa shook her head. “I am sorry, Ms. Deboer, but I was told that I could design this house the way I saw fit. I thought it was odd that I never met with your nephew, but he has approved everything I have done here.”
            “My nephew! I am shocked and astonished! How dare he allow some upstart to decorate the house when all along my daughter had been promised the job?” She waved her finger back and forth at Elyssa. “Don’t do another thing to this house! I’m going to speak to him at once.”
            Catherine Deboer turned to look up at the painting hung over the fireplace. “Even that painting of Pemberleigh Manor is wrong! It should have been hung higher! That’s the only thing in this room that belongs and even
it
is wrong!”
            Elyssa felt her chest tighten. “What did you say?”
            “I said, even
it
is wrong!”
            “No, you mentioned a name of the painting.”
            “Pemberleigh. This is Pemberleigh Manor. In England, of course!”
            Elyssa felt herself grow dizzy. “Is there… is there any connection between this place Pemberleigh and Pemberleo Coffee?”
            Catherine’s eyes bore down into Elyssa as if she were an alien. “Pemberleigh is not just some place! And anybody who is anybody knows they both belong to the Denton family!”
            Elyssa abruptly turned away as she felt her face flush with confusion. She gripped the back of the chair she was standing aside to help steady her. She reached into both pockets, searching for that parking garage stub she had found earlier. As she pulled it out and stared at the time on it, she found it difficult to formulate a coherent thought.
            She turned back to the woman, her voice shaking. “When you said you didn’t understand why Richard Fitzpatrick would have hired me, what did you mean?”
            “He has nothing to do with this house! It belongs to my nephew William Denton! He owns it. He’s the one building the house and I don’t know why he would have given his cousin permission to hire you! I must get to the bottom of this!”
            Elyssa watched in shock as Ms. Deboer stormed from the house. She collapsed into the chair and leaned her head back closing her eyes. Softly, she said, “You will not find him. He has gone to Guatemala.”
            Elyssa felt the room spinning around her.
This is Will’s house?
 She felt as though she could barely breathe.
Why didn’t he tell me?
            She buried her head in her hands as she tried to fathom the news she had just received. A worker stepped out from the kitchen and asked if she was all right.
            “Yes, I’m fine. I just need to sit down a moment.”
            “Miss Barnett,” he said, “I wouldn’t pay any attention to what that lady said. She doesn’t know anything. We all think you’re doing a spectacular job!”
            It was obvious that everyone heard the woman’s tirade. Elyssa looked up and attempted to reassure him with a forced smile. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
            She sat motionless in the chair as she attempted to think through this whole pretense. Obviously he had driven here last night to sleep instead of going all the way back into Chicago. He dropped her off, and without saying a word to her about the house, he came here.
            She could barely bring herself to look around the room as it all seemed so different now. It was one thing to design it for someone she didn’t even know, but to find out she’d been designing it for Will -- she didn’t know what to think!
            Her eyes burned as she held back the tears that were building up, recalling the callous words of Will’s aunt and her scathing appraisal of the house. How could she have known how it was to be decorated if she had never met the owner? But she
had
met the owner and he had every opportunity to tell her -- yet he didn’t!
            Her fists tightened as she wondered why he had kept it a secret from her. Was he laughing to himself when he walked through here the other day? Did he think this was some kind of practical joke? Was this his way of getting even with her for the words she lashed out at him?
            Elyssa found a measure of composure and pushed herself up out of the chair to walk into the kitchen. She called out to the men who were working and announced that they could finish up what they were doing and leave. She wanted to lock things up and go home.
            Once the last workman had left, she felt the tears begin to pool in her eyes. She looked around her at the finished living room. It was beautiful. Catherine Deboer could say whatever she wanted about the room! Elyssa thought she had done as excellent a job as any prestigious designer could have done!
            As she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, she contemplated Will’s actions… his deception… his silence… his manipulation! Elyssa thought of their evening together the other night and could not deny that it was the most wonderful night of her life, but he had said nothing!
            She recalled Maddy’s words that Will probably remembered and knew how to use information given to him. He must have remembered her casually mentioning how Charlene handed out her business cards to spur her business opportunities. He used that information to bring her here unsuspectingly.
            A surge of disappointment crept up within her. Would he always do things so underhandedly with her? Would he always want to have the upper hand?
            She found it more and more difficult to think and even breathe inside this house. She needed to get out.
            Elyssa walked briskly from room to room, ensuring that everything was locked up before leaving. This time she practically felt Will’s presence in each room. She walked to the front door and stepped out, locking it behind her. As she turned, her eyes fastened onto the porch swing. She suddenly recalled her thoughts when she had seen him sitting there last week. She remembered thinking that he looked as though he belonged in it.
            Elyssa turned and ran to the car, sliding in and slamming the door. With both hands gripping the steering wheel, she leaned her head over and let her tears spill out.