The Year of Luminous Love (19 page)

Ciana parked the tank-sized car, and once in the crowded backyard, she searched for Arie’s brother, Eric, so that he could put Arie’s luggage into the car’s trunk already packed with hers and Eden’s gear. They were on a tight schedule. Their flight left Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at ten-thirty p.m., but they had to be checked in at least two hours before their international flight left. The drive took two hours, another forty minutes for parking and baggage check-in, and who knew how long to get through security? To be safe, she wanted to leave the party in less than an hour.

Eden caught up with Ciana while she was searching for Eric. They hugged quickly. “You made it,” Ciana said.

“Goon-free,” Eden said with satisfaction. “Tony won’t begin to miss me until he returns tonight. Last thing I’m doing before we get on the plane is tossing my cell phone in the trash. I’ll be free.”

Arie joined them, bubbling over with excitement and dragging along her brother and his girlfriend, Abbie. Ciana handed over her keys to Eric, who had agreed to put his sister’s bags into the car.

Once the couple left, Arie searched the crowd. “I’m looking for Jon. He said he’d come.”

Ciana’s heart lurched. The last person she needed to see was Jon. The excitement of the past several days had eased the memory of him from her head and heart. Almost.

“I see him,” Arie cried, dodging through a group of people.

Ciana turned her back and asked Eden, “Want anything to eat or drink?”

“I’d throw it up. Too nervous to swallow. I’ll eat when that plane’s high in the air.”

Ciana nodded. “Think I’ll get a hamburger.” She walked to the grills, which were set up in the far corner of the yard. After waiting briefly in line, she stopped at the condiments table beside washtubs filled with iced soft drinks and beer. She grabbed a soda and was deciding where to sit when a hand reached out and took her plate.

“Let me help,” Jon Mercer said.

Her knees went weak, but her back stiffened. “I can carry my own food.”

He ignored her. “Why are you taking Arie to Italy?”

His question confused her. “Because she wants to go, and always has.”

“But why now?”

Her voice stuck in her throat. Had his heart turned toward Arie? “The timing was good for all of us. What’s wrong with her going?”

“And Beauchamp money gets you whatever you want,” he said acidly, without answering her question.

Little did he know of the truth of the dwindling Beauchamp money. “I don’t think it’s any of your business,” she said, her temper rising. “Who are you to judge a gift I want to give to my best friends?”

“ ’Scuse me.” Eric stepped between Ciana and Jon, fished for a beer in the tubs, and straightened, separating the two of them. “Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“You’re interrupting nothing. I was just going to find a place to sit and eat.” She couldn’t understand why Jon was acting oddly about the Italy trip.

Jon glanced at Eric, handed back Ciana’s plate, tipped his head, and walked off.

“What’s his beef?” Eric asked.

“No idea.”

Eric fidgeted, then finally asked, “This trip … it isn’t all about my sister, is it?”

His question startled her. “Why are you asking?”

“You’re nervous, twitching around like a cornered cat. Abbie noticed.”

Ciana blew out a breath, hoping Eric would drop his grilling. When he refused to move, she said, “No. The trip’s for all of us.”

“It’s Eden, isn’t it?”

Her gaze darted to his face. “Yes, but I can’t say anything. Arie doesn’t know yet. We’ll tell her when we’re in the air.”

Eric held up his key ring, removed one key, and handed it over to Ciana. “I switched all the luggage to my truck. I’m afraid that old Lincoln is burning oil. It may not make it to the airport.”

“
Your
truck?” Ciana knew how special it was to him.

“I want my sister to arrive safe and sound. It’s best to take my truck.”

Gratitude filled her heart. “Are you sure?”

“Text me its location and Abbie and I’ll go over and get it tomorrow. We’ll pick you up when you return.”

She clutched the key. “Thank you. I’ll be very careful with your truck.”

“Just be careful with my sister,” he said, and walked away.

On the other side of the yard, Jon cut Arie away from a group of chattering cousins as smoothly as a calf from a herd. She wanted to throw her arms around him, kiss him, but such a display would start everyone gossiping, plus he didn’t look especially happy.

“You didn’t tell them, did you?” His tone sounded accusing.

Her face flamed hot. No use dancing around. “If I had, I couldn’t have gone to Italy. Mom and Dad would have hog-tied me, and Ciana and Eden might not have gone without me. Or they might have gone, but come back early. My news would have ruined everything for everyone.”

“Don’t you think they deserve to know before they take you halfway round the world?”

“Yes,” she said ruefully. “But I’m not saying a word until I have to. And neither are you. You promised.”

“You’re putting your life on the line for a
vacation
.” He sounded baffled.

“Not a vacation. A dream fulfilled. Dreams die hard, Jon Mercer. And when one is offered to me like a magic carpet ride, I’m jumping on. It’s what I want. It’s what I’m doing.” She wanted him, too, but the trip was within reach. He wasn’t. Still, his concern for her was touching.

“It doesn’t seem fair to Ciana and Eden. What if you get sick over there?”

“Cancer’s not fair either,” she said stubbornly. “My doctor’s given me the name of some oncologist in Rome. They went to med school together, so I’ll go to him if I have to. Plus I’m taking meds on the trip. I think I’ll be fine till I can come home.”

“You may be betting your life.”

She forced a smile. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

He hooked his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

She offered a wan smile. “Me too. But it’s a chance I’m willing to take. I’ve been tethered to this illness all my life, so now I’m calling the shots for a while. I’m going to Italy.”

“Take care,” he said.

“You take care of my horse,” she said lightly. “Show her my picture occasionally and remind her who really owns her.”

He nodded, his expression troubled. “I won’t let her forget.”

An hour later, amid cries of “Goodbye, good luck, have fun, write us, we’ll miss you, we love you,” the three girls piled into Eric’s truck and started for Atlanta. When morning broke, they’d be in Italy.

Gwen sat alone in her darkened living room knowing he would come. His kind always did. She lit a cigarette, and the glowing red tip penetrated the dark. Her nerves felt raw. She wished she’d taken a second tranquilizer before coming downstairs to wait. She was scared, afraid she’d blow it. And she was afraid of him. She’d faced down such a man once before, but she was out of practice. She hoped she could do it one more time.

A car screeched to a stop in front of her house. Doors slammed. She snuffed out her cigarette. Her front door was kicked open and Tony and two other men came inside. “It’s customary to knock first,” she said, her voice steadier than she’d expected.

Tony crossed the floor and jerked her up from her chair, his fingers digging into her upper arms with a vengeance. “Where is she, old woman? And don’t lie to me.”

One of the muscle boys turned on the table lamp beside the chair. Although the light was dim, she saw her adversaries
clearly. Tony and his menacing henchmen, as large as brick walls and about as solid. Their two faces wore no expressions. Tony’s blazed with wicked fury.

Tony shook her.

Gwen cowered, partly an act, mostly real. It had been a long time since she’d been on the receiving end of a man’s wrath. “I … I don’t know—”

Tony slapped her hard across her face. She yelped. “Stop wasting my time! Tell me where she went.”

“Please, don’t hit me. Please.” She tried to buy time by begging. Abusers liked to hear a woman beg.

He gave her a second jaw-rattling slap on the other side of her face. “I’ll do worse than hit you if you don’t tell me what I want to know.”

She sagged, went limp. Her face stung like fire and she tasted blood from a cut on her lip. “Sh-she said you were going to hurt her. She’s my child! I have to protect her.”

Tony’s eyes were cruel, heartless. “I don’t give a shit. You tell me or I’ll have one of my boys beat it out of you.” To prove his point, one of his men grabbed her arm and twisted it so severely that she screamed. How many years had passed since she’d been hit, punched, and kicked?

“No one walks out on Tony Cicero. No one.” He emphasized each word with a painful jab to her chest.

“If … if I tell you, you won’t hurt her, will you?”

“I’ll decide that when I catch her.”

Gwen’s interior defiance hardened. She’d played this game before with Eden’s abomination of a father, and she knew all the right evasive moves to prolong the expected beating. “She left with Ciana and Arie.”

Tony bared his teeth. “And where did she go with Ciana and Arie? I know she took her passport. Stop stalling.”

“A long trip. Ciana planned it. She paid for it too.”

Tony squeezed the arm he still held until she winced. “Where?”

“Greece.”

The lone word stunned him into silence. Gwen bided her time, dragging out the silence. Just as she anticipated his upcoming eruption, she added, “They’ve been planning the trip. She wanted to go away. She wanted her freedom.”

“Her
freedom
? I gave her anything she wanted.” Tony’s voice turned into a snaky hiss. “The lying bitch.” He shook Gwen hard, rattling her brain. “She said it was her friend’s birthday. I let her go out alone and this is how she repays me?”

“There was a party for Arie,” Gwen cried out. “That was true.”

“When did they leave?”

“Less than an hour ago,” Gwen lied. She hadn’t attended the party, but expecting the worst from Tony, Gwen figured he’d leave more quickly if she made him think he could catch her fleeing daughter. “For the airport.”

“Which airport?”

Gwen trembled, adrenaline pumping through her body. International flights went out of Atlanta and Nashville, so this was the tricky part. She had to make him believe her. Should she lie or tell the truth? If he didn’t believe her, he might kill her on the spot. “Nashville,” she whispered, dropping her head and shoulders to show he’d broken her resolve.

“What vehicle did they take?”

“Ciana’s old farm truck. The banged-up blue one. I think it’s a Ford.” She added the unsolicited detail to underscore her willingness to cooperate. To an abuser, it sounded as if she’d been broken.

Tony looked to his boys. “We still have time to catch her.”
He slapped Gwen hard again. “That’s for wasting my time. I’d better catch her, or I’ll be back to settle with you.” He shoved her backward and Gwen collapsed into the chair where she’d been sitting when Tony had first walked in the door. She kept her head down, gushed tears, stared at her hands in her lap, waited for the sound of car doors to slam shut and the powerful engine of Tony’s chase car to start up and roar away.

Alone again, she continued to shake all over. She wiped her eyes, reached for her pack of cigs on the table, and turned off the lamp. Her hands shook so badly she barely got the cigarette lit, but when she did, she inhaled deeply, pulling the smoke deep into her lungs, held it, released it and waited for her nerves to settle. She took several drags, snuffed out the cigarette, then went upstairs. In her bathroom, she turned on the light and saw bruises already rising on her cheeks and upper arms. She raked fingers through her wrecked hair, bent down, and splashed cold water on her face. She rinsed out her mouth, spit blood into the sink.

She went into her bedroom closet, dragged down the blue duffel bag, tossed it onto the bed, opened drawers, and tried to figure out what to pack. Crazy. She never took this kind of time when she was on a manic tear. Everything was crystal clear with the whispering voices to guide her. She threw clothes haphazardly into the bag, remembering the night she’d left Oregon and Eden’s father, another no-good piece of human waste. He’d gone to the liquor store and she’d frantically grabbed up a few of her and her month-old baby’s belongings. She had squirreled away money for months, hiding it in a Bible, knowing he’d never look there. In a matter of minutes, she broke for the door, clutching a grocery bag of stuff and her baby. Her escape had to be fast and clean because he’d sworn he’d kill her if she ever tried to leave him.