Chadwick's Rare Find (An Intriguing Romance Novel) (12 page)

Chadwick had fallen to his knees with gladness that no one was hurt.  He stood back up and dusted his pants off.  Looking towards the car he beckoned for Adanna to get out.  “That’s my sister.”  

“Okay, honey.  I guess you wouldn’t have brought another woman friend over to Brittany’s house with you anyway.  Men aren’t that foolish these days, although some of them come darn near close enough to being that foolish.  Let me get these old bones in the house and find that piece of paper.  Yall come on with me.  You look like you could use a drink.  Now, I’m not the drinking kind, but I keeps something for my social calls you know.”  

Chadwick’s thoughts were shattered.  He couldn’t think straight.  He knew the little old lady was kind, but her rambling was making him crazy.  He had been so afraid for Brittany.  Knowing that she was actually okay was a relief.  He felt ashamed that he had doubted her.  He had not been there for her in her time of terrible need.  He was deeply ashamed.   Adanna reached over, grabbed his hand and squeezed it.  She was trying to comfort him, but Chadwick was beyond consolation.  He only wanted Brittany.  He had to get to her soon.  

The minute they entered the little old lady’s house, he knew they were in trouble.  The little lady had lied.  Her house smelled of alcohol. It permeated the walls.  She was without a shadow of a doubt a hardcore alcoholic.  Chadwick became very afraid that he would not be getting the information he so desperately needed.  

The little lady shuffled around the room.  She made two drinks and drank them before she remembered she was supposed to be making drinks for him and Adanna.  Chadwick suddenly had visions of choking the little lady to death.  

“Excuse me, Miss. What is your name?”  Adanna asked the little lady in a soft voice.  She knew enough about her brother to know that interference was necessary at this point.  Chadwick would be exploding soon and she wanted no parts of it.  

“Viola Maybell, but you can just call me Vi.  All my friends call me Vi.”  

“Mrs. Vi, my brother and I--.”   Viola cut her off. 

“I said call me Vi.  I like to be called Vi.  You don’t need to add no ‘Mrs.’ to it.”  The smell of stale sweat and alcohol was making Adanna’s stomach sick.   She looked around at the mess within the house.  Papers were everywhere.  They would never get the address from this woman.  Why would Christy leave important information with an alcoholic?  

Chadwick’s arms were crossed over his chest.  He felt the heat of anger rising around his face and ears.  Before he could control his outburst, he had decided not to bother with rage. He passed Vi and Adanna and stepped into the kitchen.  He had noticed there were pieces of paper stuck to the fridge with little strawberry magnets.  Snatching them off one at a time he read each piece of paper.  Some were recipes.  He wondered why Vi’s house hadn’t burned down as drunk as she was.  Surely she didn’t actually cook.  Some were receipts.  Finally, he pulled off a piece of paper labeled “Bradfield Girls.” The handwriting was big and circular.  It had the address of a Holiday Inn.  Chadwick’s stomach clenched.  They were staying in a hotel, while he had been sleeping in Adanna’s big comfortable house sulking over Brittany’s perceived rejection.  He felt like a jerk.  

Storming out of the kitchen, he grabbed Adanna’s hand dragging her along.  After his experience with the drunken carriage driver, Chadwick was afraid he would never be able to be in the same room with an inebriated person without resorting to some sort of violence.  Pulling Adanna with him through the door, he left Viola Maybell’s house and stalked down the street to Adanna’s car.  Never once did he let Adanna’s hand go until they got to the car. 

“Get in the car now!”  He barked at Adanna who was so nervous at this point, she could barely get the door open.  Chadwick snatched the door open and shoved her in before striding around to the drivers side and jumping in.  Viola Maybell stood on her porch, mouth hanging open as the screeching of tires made her cover her ears and the stench of burning rubber made her nose twitch. 

Thanks to Adanna’s navigational system, Chadwick had no trouble finding the hotel.  He was relieved to see they were staying at a Holiday Inn in an upscale area.  It would have tormented him to find them anywhere less.  He and Adanna made their way into the lobby with haste.  Chadwick was moving at a near run, but slowed down when he realized Adanna was skipping in order to keep up with him.  

He was anxious to see Brittany to find out for himself whether she was okay.  He was so intent on reaching the lobby desk that he didn’t even see Amber until she called his name. He was shocked at her appearance.  The fire was gone from her eyes.  Her shoulders drooped and she looked exhausted.  The baggy jeans and huge sweat-shirt she wore made her look emaciated.  Chadwick knew she was thin, but she looked as if she hadn’t been eating at all.  

Amber had not shed a tear since the night of the fire.  She was still in shock.  The sight of her mother’s beloved home burning to the ground had torn her heart out.  She and her sisters had escaped unharmed physically, but watching their home burn had opened the wound of their mother’s death.  Memories had gone through Amber’s mind of her mother’s struggle to keep the mortgage up on the house.  Unable to cope with the sadness, she had been numb since the fire.   The sight of Chadwick jolted her out of shock and back into painful reality.  Tears began to roll down her face and she started shaking uncontrollably.  

“Amber, please don’t cry.” Chadwick reached her side and began patting her awkwardly on the back.  Adanna walked around to the other side of Amber and put her arm around her.  

“Wh-who are you?” Amber sniffed as she looked up at Adanna. Adanna was at least two heads taller than her.

“This is my sister, Adanna.”  Chadwick said.   

Amber looked at Adanna for a second and lowered her head. Her lips trembled as she tried valiantly to stop crying.  Chadwick stared helplessly at Adanna over Amber’s bowed head. 

“Amber, tell me what happened.” Chadwick squashed his impatience to see Brittany.  He knew that Amber needed his help. 

The gentleness in Chadwick’s voice was Amber’s undoing.  She and her sisters had been alone for so long.  They had struggled for years to keep their heads above water.  Amber had put everything she had into preserving a sense of normalcy after her mother’s death.  The house was central to everything.  A wave of guilt washed over her. She didn’t think she could live through the pain.  Sobbing, she laid her head on Chadwick’s chest.  

“I burned the house down.  I was warming up some soup and fell asleep.  I...I could have killed my sisters.  Chadwick please don’t tell them it was me.   I can’t handle them knowing it was me.”  Amber was sobbing loudly and causing a scene.  She was falling apart in his arms.  Chadwick had no idea where Brittany and Christy could be or what room they were in.  Amber’s plea for him to keep her secret made his heart ache.   She was the oldest and she still felt responsible for her sisters even though they had become women.  He felt sorry for the stress this young woman had endured over the years since their mother’s death.  

“Amber baby, calm down."  He lifted her into his arms and walked with her through the lobby and on through the glass doors of the inside pool.  All the while, she cried her heart out.  She cried for the loss of her momma; she cried for the years of deprivation, she cried for the injustice done to her mother when she was living, she cried for Christy’s motherless adolescence, she cried for Brittany, and she cried for herself.  

Silent tears rolled down Adanna’s face.  She couldn’t bear to see the raw anguish Amber was feeling.  She reached into her purse, pulled out a handkerchief and gave it to Chadwick.  He had settled himself and Amber into a beachchair.  She was curled up in his lap.  Her entire body shook with years of unreleased sorrow.   She cried and cried.  Chadwick wrapped his arms about her and held her close, as she succumbed to too many years of pent-up emotion.  Chadwick was happy to note that Amber’s slight frame was not having the same effect on him as Brittany’s had. 

“Amber, listen.  The house can be rebuilt.  You and the girls survived.  That’s what is most important.  I’m rejoicing over that.   All of you could have died, but you didn’t.  Don’t you know how much Christy and Brittany love and need you.  They will forgive you anything, especially this.  They know that losing the house has hurt you too.”

“Momma worked herself to the bones trying to keep that house!  She worked day and night for that house!  You don’t understand what I’ve done.” Amber sobbed into Chadwick’s neck.   

“Do you have insurance on the house?”

“Yes, of course.”  Amber hiccupped.  She was a mess and she knew it.  

“Good girl.  You haven’t done as much damage as you think.  Real estate is valuable.  If you own a home, you have what the world calls an asset.   If that asset is insured and something happens to it, you get paid at least the equivalent of it and sometimes even more.  Amber all you have to do is rebuild.  I’m sure your momma just wanted you girls to have a place to live and something to fall back on.  Please don’t do this to yourself.  Things go and come.  Its people we should mourn not things.”  He was wiping her face with Adanna’s handkerchief.  Amber had quieted down.  She was looking at Chadwick and he could see by the tiny spark in her eyes that he had said the right thing.  

“We can rebuild in the same spot can’t we?  We could have bigger rooms and two bathrooms instead of one.” It was as if she was talking to herself. 

“Well, you may not need too much extra space.  Remember I plan on marrying Brittany.”  

Amber looked up at him as she remembered the awful carriage ride that he and Brittany had endured. “Are you feeling any better?  Brittany told us what happened. You saved her life.”  Amber said as Chadwick lifted her away from his chest and put her on her feet.  

Ignoring her remark about saving Brittany’s life, Chadwick said, “I got over the panic attack days ago.  I was on my way to the airport because I thought Brittany had decided against dating me.”  

This startled Amber.  She stared open-mouthed at him. “Are you saying that Brittany didn’t call you?” 

“No.  I haven’t seen or heard from Brittany since the day she took me home after the carriage ride.”  

“I guess I have caused more damage than just burning the house down.  She said she was going to call you.  Brittany and Christy have been so worried about me, Chadwick.  I haven’t eaten much of anything in days and I haven’t been talking to them.  Brittany must have been too distracted by my suicidal behavior to call you.  Well, how did you know where to find us?”  She asked. 

“We drove by your house.  Christy left the address with your…um…. neighbor lady,” was all Chadwick said.  Adanna sat in another beachchair and quietly listened to their conversation. 

“What a terrible way for you to find out. I imagine you didn’t know what to think.” 

“He jumped out of the car running and screaming Brittany’s name.  That’s how Mrs. Vi…I mean Vi found out we were out there.” Adanna said as she glanced at Chadwick.  If she had any question as to how strong his feelings were for Brittany, they had been answered.  He was in love with her.  That became even more apparent when he fell to his knees like a saved man when Mrs. Viola Maybell said that Brittany was okay. 

Adanna’s admission made Amber laugh.  Amber wrapped her arms around her middle in an effort to contain her laughter.  The sight of Chadwick running and screaming for Brittany in front of a heap of burned rubble was hilarious to her.  This big, good-looking, self-assured, wealthy man who had held her while she cried, running around in hysterics was too much for Amber.  Evidently the crying spell had been therapeutic, because she gave into laughter before an amazed Adanna and Chadwick.  

“Has Vi always been an alcoholic?”  Adanna asked.  

This made Amber laugh even harder.  Amber slapped one hand over her mouth and held up the other one, “Please forgive me.  I am so sorry. It’s just that I had a visual and you know how visuals can be.  Chadwick I am really sorry you had to find out that way.”  She was still laughing, but not the loud guffaws she was letting out a second ago. 

Chadwick heaved himself up from the beachchair. “It’s okay Amber.  Just tell me where my girl is.”  

“Room 306.  The elevators are to the left over there.”  Turning towards Adanna, Amber said, “Would you like to eat my first real meal I’ve eaten in days with me?  Plus, I need to find out what Chadwick has done to you to make you so quiet.”  She said as she linked arms with Adanna. 

“Oh, so now I’m back on your ‘bad guy’ list?”  Chadwick said playfully, but in his heart he really wondered if anything had changed between him and Amber.  It was as if everything that had happened earlier was a figment of his imagination.  

Amber stopped and turned to look up at Chadwick.  Placing her hand flat against his chest she said, “Chadwick, whether you marry Brittany or not, you have already won me over.  I will never forget your kindness.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now please stop begging for approval like a little puppy and go find my sister.”  Chadwick was thankful she had lightened the mood with that last quip.  He didn’t know how to react to the nice Amber.  

“I think I will take your advice.  Adanna, find a table for all of us.  Brittany and I will come down and eat with you guys.  I’m hungry.  Is Christy up there too?”  He turned his attention to Amber.  He was accustomed to Adanna doing as he asked.  So, he really didn’t expect a response from her. 

“No.  She went to see Mrs. Viola Maybell,” Amber said, watching for Adanna and Chadwick’s reaction.  They did not disappoint her.  Adanna began picking invisible pieces of lent off her clothes and Chadwick rolled his eyes.  Amber’s tickle box was about to get started again. 

“Please don’t mention that woman around me unless you have to,” Chadwick said as he backed away.  Turning around he headed for the elevator with the sound of Adanna and Amber’s laughter in his ears. 

#

Chadwick was glad to be the only person on the elevator.  He needed a minute to gather his thoughts.  His emotions in the last two and half hours had run a complete gamut.   All he wanted now was to see Brittany.  He hoped he would find her in a stable frame of mind, he did not know if he was up to much more extreme emotion.  After experiencing abject terror upon seeing their house burned to the ground, he needed to be able to wrap his arms around her and hold her.