More Than A Four Letter Word (26 page)

"Mr. Ross."

"Yes, who is this?"

"Excuse me sir, your fiancée, Clarissa Marks
was brought into emergency a half hour ago."

Julian was overwhelmed with the same fear
when Donna died, and the police wouldn't take him to Micah. "Is she
okay?"

"Ms. Marks had an accident on Lake Shore
Drive. It's our policy at County Hospital that patients can't be
released from emergency until someone can pick them up."

"I'll be right there." Julian arrived at the
hospital less than ten minutes. The woman at the front desk showed
him how to reach the observation room. When he opened the door,
he's expecting the worst. He finds Clarissa talking to the
attending doctor. She has a few surface scratches on her face, and
her wrist is bandaged up.

"Clarissa, you okay?" Julian tried to embrace
Clarissa, but she moved out of his way.

"Julian, what are you doing here?"

"Someone from the hospital notified me about
the accident."

"Excuse me sir, are you related to Miss
Marks"

"I'm her fiancé."

"I've checked her over, and she's ready to
go, just take these forms to the front desk." The doctor left the
room leaving Clarissa and Julian alone."

"You didn't answer my question Clarissa, are
you okay?"

"I've been in a minor accident, but I'll be
fine." Clarissa didn't want to talk about the accident, all she
wanted to go home and climb straight into bed.

Julian wanted to confront her about the
situation with Karen, but now obviously wasn't the time. "Come on
honey, I'll make sure you get home safely." The ride to Clarissa's
house is a silent one. Julian pulls his car into Clarissa's parking
space; he gets out of the car and helps Clarissa to her condo.
Julian waved to the security guard on duty.

"What happened to Ms. Marks?"

"She's been in a car accident, the medicine
the doctor gave her for pain is making her sleepy, and I'm going to
put her to bed."

"Do you need any help Mr. Ross?"

"That would be great Carl if you could help
me get Clarissa into her condo that would help me a lot."

"Let me lock the front door, and I'll be
right with you."

Julian picked Clarissa up and waited for Carl
in the elevator. When Carl returned they rode the elevator up to
the fifth floor, and Carl unlocked Clarissa's condo for Julian.
"What are you doing here on a Saturday? I thought you only worked
on the weekdays."

"This must be the week for car accidents.
Eddie was injured in an accident earlier this week. All of us have
been pitching in where we can; I just relieved Norman two hours
ago. If you don't need me for anything else, I'm going back
downstairs."

"Thanks Carl you've been a big help." Julian
settled Clarissa on the sofa. He took out his wallet and took out a
hundred dollar bill for Carl.

"I don't want your money Mr. Ross, thanks
just the same."

"Okay, thanks Carl." Julian shut the door
behind Carl and locked it. He walked over to the phone and called
his aunt. "Hello Aunt Reva, Where's Micah?"

"He's out with Charles. What's wrong?"

"Clarissa's been in an accident. I'll be by
to pick Micah a little later then we're coming back to Clarissa's
place for the evening."

"Is Clarissa okay?"

"She has a couple of scratches and bruises;
she's sleeping right now and I don't want to leave her. Tell Micah
that I’ll call him later, thanks Aunt Reva." Julian put the phone
down and walked back over to the sofa. He saw that her engagement
ring was still on her finger, which was a relief; he thought that
she would jump to conclusions about him and Karen, immediately
start canceling their wedding plans.

He picked Clarissa off the sofa and carried
her into her bedroom. He undressed her and put her to bed. Julian
couldn't believe how valuable Clarissa has become to him. At their
first meeting, he was overwhelmed with a terminal case of lust.
Julian couldn't remember exactly when lust turned to love, and it
didn't matter. There was no way that he was going to let her walk
away from him, now that he's this close to making her his wife.
Julian gently brushed her hair off her forehead and bent down to
kiss her cheek.

He stood in Clarissa's bedroom watching her
sleep for what seemed like an eternity. There was no telling how
long Clarissa would be asleep. The least he could do is cook dinner
for her. Julian went into the kitchen and surveyed Clarissa's
well-stocked refrigerator. It wasn't long before he had a pot of
spaghetti and meatballs in the oven. He was slicing a loaf of
Italian bread when he felt Clarissa's presence in the kitchen.

Julian stopped slicing bread. "How are you
feeling?"

Clarissa sat down at the kitchen table; she's
is a little shaky and sore from the accident. "Julian what are you
still doing here. I thought that you were leaving after dropping me
off."

"While you were sleeping, I've been slaving
away at the stove, making your dinner." Julian joined Clarissa at
the table. "I know that you're pissed at me, and I don’t blame you.
Karen rubs you the wrong way, so I didn't tell you about the
meeting. I didn’t want you to start thinking up reasons why you
shouldn’t trust me. Karen’s presence always seems to bring
problems. The sort of problems I don’t need when I’m this close to
getting you down the aisle.”

"I know that nothing is going on between you
and Karen Nash, not from lack of trying on her part. Things were
perfect between us and I waited for the floor to fall from under me
again. Just as it did with my engagement to Lawrence. If this
marriage is going to work, you need to trust me to handle the
legion of women who’d love to crawl in your pants. Even when you
have a meeting with an old flame on a Saturday afternoon."

Julian pulled Clarissa out of her chair onto
his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and caressed her body as he
reined kisses on the neck and breasts. "Are you sure you're okay?
You can't begin to understand my heartache when I received that
call from the hospital. I love you Clarissa and life wouldn't be
worth living without you."

Clarissa returned Julian's caresses, but she
has to let him know about the letter she received this morning.
"Julian who's Tanya Dresser?"

He arms dropped as Clarissa pulls away from
his embrace to leave the kitchen. "How did you hear about her?"
Julian followed her into the living room, every time he turned
around there is some new dilemma.

Clarissa picked up the envelope with the note
and paper clippings and handed it to Julian. "This was in my
mailbox this morning."

After sitting down on the sofa, Julian takes
the envelope from Clarissa and read the note and the newspaper
clippings. He put everything back into the envelope and tossed it
on the coffee table. He reached out his hand to Clarissa, and she
immediately placed her hand in his, as she joined him on the
sofa.

"This is the reason I came to the office
today, someone’s trying to break up our engagement."

"I thought Karen was serious about letting go
of the past."

"Karen Nash! What does this have to do with
Tanya Dresser?"

"Tanya Dresser is Karen Nash's sister. Tanya
died in a car wreck while driving my car. Her family blamed me of
course, and I blamed myself."

"How old were you?"

"I was a nineteen and full of dreams; Tanya's
death turned my dreams into nightmares. I was hooked up with the
wrong crowd, and I did many things of which I'm not proud. Tanya's
family always told her that I was no good and I tried to prove them
right."

Clarissa caressed Julian's' face before
climbing onto his lap. "You blame yourself for what happened to
Tanya and Donna." When Julian didn't respond, Clarissa knew that
she was right. "How could you possibly hold yourself responsible
for either of their deaths?"

"I failed both of them; I should have been at
home when Donna needed me. I should have never let Tanya drive my
car in the first place. Karen is right; every woman I've been
serious about has died tragically. If anything ever happened to
you, I don't know if I could go on living."

"I'm not going anywhere. You and I are going
to get married, have some babies, and have a fantastic life
together. Nothing and nobody can make me give you up. I've waited
too long to find my one true love." Clarissa wrapped her arms
around Julian's neck and rubbed her breasts against his chest as
she kissed him with all of her being.

"Clarissa you are incredible, we nearly came
to blows over a harmless meeting with Karen. Yet, you have totally
absolved me of any responsibility to the events that led to the
deaths of Tanya and Donna."

"Julian, I never doubted you, especially
where Tanya and Donna are concerned. The situation with Karen Nash
is another matter; I just don’t like that bitch. Sometimes I find
it hard to believe that anyone can love me as much as I love
you."

"I’m not a boy who doesn’t know his own
mind?”

Clarissa tried to pull away from Julian, but
he refused to let her go. “Julian, I’ve been intimate with three
men. I wasn't torn apart when I broke my engagement to Lawrence. At
the time, I thought he would make a good husband knowing that he
could never touch my heart. Getting to know you and Micah has I
didn’t understand love until I met you. Sometimes I have a hard
time believing that what we have is real."

“
I don’t have any plans of
going anywhere for 50 or 60 years, when they lay me down in the
dark, I’ll still be in love with you. That kind of love just
doesn’t fade away, and you’re going to have to trust me to love
you." He has to move quickly, he has one more thing to handle
before he and Clarissa can live in peace. Karen has a lot to answer
for, and he didn't realize until today that her obsession with him
cost two innocent women their lives.

***

Julian left to go pick up Micah and bring him
back to Clarissa's condo. She offered to go with him, but he just
wanted her to rest, especially after today's events. She fixed up
the bed in the guest room for Micah. She was already making plans
for what she would fix her men for breakfast. She was still a
little sore from the accident, but the pain reliever they gave her
in the hospital has done wonders for her headache.

Clarissa pulled out the news clippings out of
the envelope and re-read them. For some reason, Julian got the
impression that he was the target; Tanya and Donna got in the way.
She believed that Tanya and Donna were the intended victims all
along. It was late in the evening when she heard a knock on her
door, which was strange because the security guard didn’t call her
and the door buzzer didn’t go off.

She looked out the peephole, and the new
security guard Norman was standing there something must be wrong.
She opened the door only to see Karen Nash holding a gun in her
face. “What’s this all about Karen?”

“
Take off lover, your job
here is done!”

The security guard took off as Karen pushed
her way into Clarissa’s condo and the gun never wavered. Karen
wasn’t a novice she knew how to handle a gun. Clarissa wasn't being
cooperative, so Karen pushed the gun into Clarissa's chest. With
more bravado than she felt, she tried to remain calm. “So are you
going to kill me like Tanya and Donna?”

“
Oh you figured that out by
yourself, huh you’re not as dumb as you look.” Karen pushed
Clarissa into a chair as she paced back and forth. “I thought once
you saw the newspaper articles you would understand that being in a
relationship with Julian is dangerous to your health.”

“
I love him, and I’m not
going to give him up.”

“
Love! I have loved Julian
for more than half of my life. I loved him when he started his
little flirtation with Tanya. I saw him first! He belonged to me,
and I wasn’t going to let anyone take him from me including my
sister.”

Karen was coming unhinged; the hatred boiling
inside her turned her beautiful face into an ugly mask. Clarissa
eyes searched the living room looking for a weapon, for as sure as
she was born; she knew that Karen planned to kill her. “Is that why
you tampered with Julian’s car so your sister could die in the
crash.” There was a globe paperweight on the end table and a
figurine on the coffee table. Neither had enough weight to make an
impact, but maybe she could knock the gun out of Karen’s hand.

“
You think you’re so smart
don’t you, you’ve probably been spoiled your whole life with
parents who loved you. Well my parents catered to Tanya, everything
Tanya wanted she got. Julian belongs to me, and her death was a
small price to pay. Unfortunately, Julian moved on and met another
woman who wasn’t right for him.”

“
Why did you kill Donna?
Julian was married, out of reach. If you truly loved him, you
should have been happy that he found someone else he could love.”
Clarissa tried to keep Karen talking hoping she would step closer
so she could try to take the gun from her, but Karen was crazier
that a box of Cracker Jacks she could explode at any
moment.

Karen hated women like Clarissa, so smart and
headstrong; women so determine to make it without the help of a
man. They look down on women like her, beautiful women who liked
being pampered by successful men. “You think you got me all figured
out. Well, it isn’t about Julian’s happiness; he should have wanted
to marry me. Not Donna and certainly not you.”

“
He’ll never marry you
Karen. Julian told me that if he wanted you that he could have had
you at any time. What I don’t understand is how a woman with your
class and style didn’t look for someone else. Why didn't you find a
man who could love you the way you needed to be loved? I’m just
thankful that you didn’t kill Micah the night you murdered his
mother.”