The Darkest of Shadows (36 page)

“Jesus Lil. You gave me a friggin’ heart attack. Who’s phone are you ringing me on and why didn’t you call the land line?”

“I did call the land line, Reed.” I stressed her name to let her know I wasn’t happy about the attitude. “But you didn’t answer it, and I’m ringing on Lawrence’s phone.”

“Duncan.”
Reed’s voice bellowed down the line so loudly that even Nicholas heard it. He raised his eyebrows in surprise as I held the phone away from my ear.
“You forgot to turn the phone off silent, you idiot!”

“For Christ’s sake, woman, would you stop screaming down the phone line? You’re going to wake the boys.”

“Sorry,” she muttered. “Stupid men, they shouldn’t be allowed near electrical devices, and the boys are having a sleepover at Grandma and Gramps’s house. So what’s up?”

Talking to Reed was always a challenge, and it certainly grounded me. “I had a bit of a moment.” Somehow my little moment had lost some of its seriousness against the catastrophe of Duncan forgetting to turn the phone off silent.

“Bad moment?”

“Pretty bad. Bad enough for me to pass out.”

“That’s bad. You OK?”

I shrugged, then realized she couldn’t see that. “I think so.”

“Lawrence there?”

“He is now. He wasn’t when it happened. I was with Patrick.”

“What did he do?” she accused.

“Nothing. At least not intentionally. It was just a stupid comment he made that bought back memories that I wasn’t expecting.”

“But you’re OK now?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I talk to Lawrence?”

“Must you?” It shouldn’t have surprised me that she would want to talk to him. Once my sister got a connection with someone, she tended to think she owned them. I could only imagine what she would do to him if she actually got to meet him in person.

“Yes, please. It will make me feel better, and if you’re really all right, you won’t have a problem with me talking to him.”

She had me there, so I dutifully handed over the phone to a slightly surprised Lawrence.

“Hi, Reed.” His deep voice rumbled through my back as he spoke.

“I didn’t see it. But she isn’t hurt, at least not physically,” Lawrence continued. Reed was obviously after an unbiased rundown of what happened.

“Yep.” It was strange to listen to his one-sided conversation, which gave me some idea what he and Nicholas had just experienced when I was speaking with her.

“Yes….I don’t think so….No, probably not….It won’t be a problem again. Apparently, Lilly and Patrick worked out their issues before this happened. It doesn’t seem to have affected how she feels about him.” I played idly with his free hand as he spoke.

“Your sister seems very intense.” Nicholas’s quiet comment floated across to me as Lawrence continued speaking.

I rolled my eyes. “You have no idea,” I assured him. “She’s very protective.” I meant that as a compliment. “I love her. She’s very special to me, and I’m not sure what I would do without her.”

“Does she live in Australia?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“That’s a long way away.”

“That’s the beauty of the cellular network. Isn’t technology wonderful?” I joked. I wouldn’t admit how much it hurt to be away from her. It was a fine balancing act between the good—namely her—and the very, very bad things that remained back in that country.

“It must be hard,” he said. I nodded and he left it at that.

Lawrence finally handed the phone back. “Satisfied?” I asked my nosy sister.

“Not totally, but I’ll have to manage. Where are you?” she asked.

“The Gateway. One of Nicholas’s hotels. We’re holding the MDs’ dinner here tonight, but I think I might be missing a good portion of that.” Which really wasn’t a good thing.

“Don’t worry about that,” Lawrence told me at the same time that Reed responded, “You should go home. Get some rest.”

“Probably.” I said, just to placate her. “I’ll give you a call in the morning, OK?”

“That doesn’t sound like you’re going to do what I said.” I didn’t need to see her to know that I was getting a serious frown.

“How’s Dad?” I tried to steer her off subject.

“Good.” She hesitated just a fraction too long before answering, and I knew her far too well to not realize what that pause meant, add to that the fact that Lawrence’s arms had tightened ever so slightly at my words, and I was sure there was something wrong. I sat up, pulling myself out of his arms enough that I could see his face.

I watched him as I asked the question. “Reed? What’s wrong with Dad?”

“Nothing, I swear,” she promised, and Lawrence’s face gave nothing away.

“Bullshit. Tell me now, or I’ll ring him myself.”

“Well for a start, he’ll be sleeping and won’t be at all thrilled with you for waking him. But if it makes you happy, I’ll get him to call you tomorrow when I go out there to visit him. Geez, woman. Talk about overreacting.”

“Are you sure he’s OK?”

“He’s fine, Lil. He’s old and as well as can be expected for someone pushing ninety.”

“Sorry.” I guess I was still a little emotional.

“Ring me tomorrow,” she reminded me, and hung up the phone.

I looked Lawrence in the eye and asked him the same question. “Is my dad OK?”

He nodded. “As far as I know, he’s fine.”

“OK.” I could breathe again; my heart slowly returned to normal, and I lay back down against his chest.

We sat quietly for a while; it seemed a long time but was probably only about ten minutes in all. “Did we miss the whole party?” I asked into the quiet of the room.

Nicholas shook his head. “Nah. Only the dinner, and that’s not finished yet.”

“Oh, good.” That was good. It was bad enough that I disappeared, but for

Lawrence to miss the dinner as well would make things difficult. You don’t host a party and then disappear and leave your guests to fend for themselves.

“We should get back,” I said reluctantly. What I really wanted was go home and sleep. It was always draining, both emotionally and physically, when I had episodes like that, but this was an important night, and I wasn’t going to walk away now.

“No,” Lawrence responded. “We’re going to go home, and you’re going to sleep.”

“We can’t.” I slipped from his arms and stood, smoothing down the length of my dress. I was immensely thankful that I had chosen a dress with a lace overlay. It didn’t crease and came through the whole ordeal relatively unscathed. “We have to make an appearance, especially now that we missed dinner. I’m pretty sure they are going to notice if you’re not there.”

“Who cares what they think?” Lawrence rose and reached for me. “It’s my company, and every one of those people works for me. If I want to leave, then I’ll leave.”

Great, we were going to argue about it. “Would you have left tonight if it wasn’t for me?”

“I’d leave for any reason that I want.”

I cocked my head to the side in exasperation. “Lawrence. We’re not leaving.”

“Lilly, we are leaving.”

I appealed to Nicholas. “Nicholas, tell him we’re not leaving.”

“I’m enjoying the show far too much to interfere. I’m laying odds on Lawrence winning, but then I’ve seen him give in to you on some pretty serious issues, so I’m not one hundred percent positive.”

Nicholas’s usual carefree outlook took some of the edge out of the room. “Look.” I moved closer to Lawrence and rested both hands against his chest. “Let’s go back in, and I promise that as soon as I feel tired or unhappy, or even if I feel like sneezing, I’ll tell you, and we can go straight home. OK?”

Lawrence took a deep, steadying breath before answering. “Fine,” he agreed. “But you’re not leaving my side, and if I so much as catch a hint that you’re not happy, we’re leaving.”

“Fine.” I echoed his words. “But you’re going to have to let me freshen up first.” I grabbed my bag off the floor, and with both of them following, I hauled ass out the door and down the hall to the bathrooms.

A quick glance in the mirror confirmed that my hair was a mess, but nothing unsalvageable. A few adjustments, a little makeup, and I was back to looking immaculate. A few minutes later, I was stepping back into the restaurant with Lawrence on one side and Nicholas on the other, just in time to see the serving staff clear away the dessert plates.

Lawrence gave my hand a squeeze and left me near the door with Nicholas. He walked to the front of the room, where everyone would be able to see him easily. Patrick’s eyes flicked from him to me, but after Lawrence’s quick negative motion, he remained sitting with the others.

“If I could have your attention, please.” Lawrence’s voice echoed around the room; even without the use of a microphone, his voice was clear and strong. “Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to apologize for missing dinner. Something came up that required my attention. However, when you are all ready, I would ask that you join me in the lounge, where we might all be more comfortable and share a drink.” He nodded and then walked back to where we waited, grabbed my hand, and walked back out of the restaurant and down the hall to the lounge, where everyone had originally been gathered.

“Pick a good spot,” Lawrence told Nicholas, “before the hordes arrive.”

“I’m thinking the loungers.” Nicholas led us toward the back of the room off to one side of the bar. There were several groupings of lounges in that area that were partially protected from the rest of the room. It would limit the number of people who could actually get near us, which was perfect.

“Get rid of some of those chairs,” Lawrence ordered, and with a flick of his fingers, Nicholas’s staff materialized organized the loungers in a manner that only allowed a handful of people at any one time to join us. And because the loungers were low and designed for relaxing, if a person wasn’t sitting in one, he or she really couldn’t hang around. Standing would be uncomfortable, and towering above Lawrence wasn’t encouraged.

Ten minutes later the room was buzzing with noise and movement. Lawrence’s invitation seemed to have been taken literally, and the restaurant must have evacuated almost immediately we left. At first there was a hesitancy to approach where we sat; only the directors felt comfortable crossing the room and plunking down in the spare lounges, so it was a relaxed group for the most part.

I sat between Lawrence on my left and Nicholas on my right, our backs to the wall, facing out into the room. Charlie and Frost stood silently behind us, almost hidden by the darkness and the shade of two small potted trees. Most people wouldn’t have even realized that they were there.

Allan sat next to Lawrence, and the rest of the chairs were filled with several of the other directors—and, surprisingly, one aspiring and brave young IT specialist from the States. He had found a vacant seat, and by the looks of it had absolutely no intention of relinquishing it to anyone. I gave him a supportive smile, and he raised his glass in salute to me. Good on him. As long as he could manage to keep his mouth shut and not annoy anyone, he might just learn something.

“Lilly?” Allan leaned across Lawrence to talk to me. “Are you OK? You look a little pale.” His face creased in a worried frown.

I gave him a smile to thank him for his concern. “I’m fine, Allan. It’s just been a long week.” I ignored Lawrence’s raised eyebrow.

“Can I get you anything?” he asked.

“I’d love a coffee.” I felt drained, but wasn’t about to admit that to Lawrence, so hopefully a coffee would help. Allan signaled a waiter; we had a row of them lined up on one side of the lounges, there no doubt at Nicholas’s request for our own personal use. Moments later a wonderfully rich latte was delivered into my hands. The drink did more than just warm my hands. It was exactly what I needed.

I had just finished it when I felt Lawrence tense beside me. I watched as he sat more upright in his chair, and because I was looking at him, I didn’t see Patrick when he squatted down on the other side of me.

“Are you OK?” he asked quietly.

I nearly had a heart attack. Luckily, I had finished my drink, or I probably would have worn it. “You scared the life out of me, Patrick.” I turned to find him resting on his heels beside my chair. I noticed that he choose Nicholas’s side, rather than confront Lawrence.

“Sorry…I just wanted to make sure you were all right.” He spoke softly and calmly; for once when he was around me, he wasn’t freaking out.

“I’m fine.” One of Patrick’s hands rested on the edge of my seat, and I placed my hand over the top of his and gave it a friendly squeeze. “Are we good?”

He stared at me for a moment, then his gaze flicked to Lawrence, where he sat behind me. “Yeah, we’re good,” he agreed. “I’d rather have your friendship than nothing.”

“I’m glad.” He moved off almost immediately; much to my relief, he seemed to be almost back to his normal calm self. I’m not sure that he and Lawrence would ever be actual friends, but I was sure that they would be able to deal much better with each other, now that Patrick was reasonable. He might even keep his job.

The talk around me swelled and ebbed, and the people came and went, all except our determined little IT man. He stuck it in there with the big boys and made it work. He kept his comments neutral and didn’t press himself into conversations that didn’t include him or offer comment about anything unless he was absolutely sure of the facts. And he didn’t overindulge. In fact, he kept the same drink the whole night, and I wasn’t altogether sure that it was even alcoholic.

But by midnight, I had just about reached my limit. This was only the welcome dinner; there was a much more formal evening planned for the following night, which would include speeches and a presentation and would also include a bigger contingent from the London office. Partners of those who had them were also invited to the party; so there would be more than two hundred people dining with us then. This necessitated a move to a bigger venue. Nicholas’s boutique hotels weren’t big enough to cater to that crowd, not comfortably, so we had booked a hotel in town for that event.

I was tired and was happy to admit it. I still had to get through the meeting the next day and the dinner, which would likely go much longer and require much more of my attention before I would be done.