Love Believes (Sully Point, Book 5) (18 page)

"Uh, no. You got here first today."

"Cool! See you later." Beth walked up
the stairs, wondering what was up with Julia. She seemed a bit...odd.

William poked his head into her office when he
arrived, to give her a wink and a grin, but they spent the rest of the day
apart from each other. William gave her the schedule for rehearsals late in the
day, and Beth was happy to see they would start after the weekend.

Tonight they planned on him staying at her
apartment for a change. They'd planned out how she would drive out to his house
and pick him up, so that his car couldn't be seen behind her apartment. Just in
case of nosy people. Then she'd take him back to his car in the morning.

Julia walked into her office. "I wanted to
make sure you don't forget about tomorrow's dinner."

"Thanks, but I wrote it down so I'm all set.
You know, nobody told me to bring anything."

"I think it's all covered, but you could
check with Frank."

"Check with Frank about what?" William
asked, coming into the office.

Julia flashed him a smile. "The dinner
tomorrow."

"Yes, I called him earlier. I'm bringing some
wine. I need to pick that up tonight actually, on the way home."

Beth gave him a quick little nod. "Maybe I
could bring flowers," she said.

"That's a great idea," Julia said.
"Well, I'd better get home. You have a good night, Beth. You too,
William."

Beth watched her leave with a frown.

"What is it?" William asked.

"Did she seem...off...to you?"

"Not really."

"Must be me. I'm going to go to the florist
and see if they can have something for me for tomorrow. I'll head out to your
place after that."

"Sounds great," he said, with feeling.

"Wait," she said as he was turning away.
"What about supper?"

"Pizza delivery? I'll hide in the
bedroom."

She laughed delightedly. "Perfect. See you in
a few."

As she watched him leave her office, he said over
his shoulder, "I can tell you're watching my butt."

She giggled.

Once they made it to her apartment, all she could
think of was how much she wanted his hands on her. Each day with him felt like
they discovered something new about each other.

William had opened a bottle of wine and left it breathing
on the kitchen counter, while she went to the bedroom to change clothes. She
was slipping on her silky leopard pajama top when he came up to her and pulled
her to him.

"Why do you even bother with putting on
clothes?"

"Hmm. Habit. But one I'd be happy to
break," she said with a smile.

He began to unbutton her top. It took some time,
because he seemed compelled to kiss her lips and then her neck and then on down
her body as he undid each button.

"You..." she gasped. "Are wearing
way too many clothes."

He laughed with his mouth near her ear and kissed
her ear lobe. "I'll let you return the favor in a minute. But
first..."

* * * *

William watched her take a big bite of pizza with
everything. It was one of the things he loved about her, how she fully experienced
every moment. And when it came to sex, he continued to be astonished and
gratified by her intense enjoyment and abandon. He felt like he could spend his
life discovering new ways to make her happy.

And just like that, it hit him. She wasn't just
someone he loved. She was someone he wanted to keep loving, forever.

He set down his piece of pizza, as she reached
over and wiped sauce off his bare chest. He wore pajama bottoms and she wore
her leopard top. Her hair was tousled around her face and shoulders and she
looked utterly delicious.

"Marry me," he said.

Her hand froze in the air. She'd been lifting her
wine glass to her mouth. She didn't move, just opened those green eyes wider.

"Beth, can you hear me? You okay?"

"Uh...yeah...I...did you say..."

"Yes. Please, marry me. I love you and I want
us to be together forever."

She carefully set her glass down on the table. She
got up slowly and walked over to stand next to his chair. He turned to face her
as she put her hands on either side of his face.

"Yes. Absolutely, positively, yes!" And
then she kissed him.

His heart felt as if it would explode. She'd said
yes! But...he pulled back. "Are you really sure? Even with the age thing,
and my being work-obsessed, and what about your parents and..."

She kissed him again, and then began kissing his
face all over, murmuring, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes."

He pulled her onto his lap. "You've just made
me the happiest man alive," he told her.

She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment.
"Any second now I'm going to jump off your lap and start dancing around
the room. I'm telling you this so you'll be prepared and not freak out."

"Okay," he said with a laugh.

And in a flash she was up off his lap and dancing
wildly around the room, yelling, "I'm getting married to the most amazing
man in the world," interspersed with lots of whooping. He pretty much fell
out of his chair laughing at her antics. At first she dodged the furniture, but
then she jumped up on it and danced there.

"Come on, big fella," she crooned. "This
is what a real happy dance looks like. You gotta do it, too."

She jumped off the sofa and leaped her way over to
him, pulling him to his feet, even as he held his sides due to laughing so
hard.

They spent the rest of the night dancing around
the room, making love in each room of the apartment, and finally collapsing on
the bed with the dawn, whispering "I love you" to each other as they
fell asleep.

His last coherent thought was that he'd fallen even
more in love with her.

* * * *

Beth woke up to a knocking on her front door. For
just an instant she froze, then made herself get up, pulling on a robe to
answer it. It was Charles Zimmerman, her leading man.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Uh...not me...it's too early," she
said, wrapping her robe tighter around her body as she stood in the
doorway."

"Too early? Man, it's like eleven."

"What?" she screeched.

"Yeah, it's eleven."

"Oh no. Sorry Charles, I need to be somewhere
like an hour ago. Call me at the office on Monday, okay? I've got family stuff
this weekend."

His face fell, but then he smiled at her.
"Okay, see ya Monday."

She shut the door as he started down the stairs.
And then she ran to the bedroom. "William! Wake up, wake up, wake up.
We're gonna be late."

He grumbled something and pulled the pillow over
his head.

"Damn. Where was the chirping annoying bird
this morning?"

William uncovered his head and stared blearily at
her. "Beth, my love, what the hell is going on?"

"The family gathering. The dinner. We should
already be headed over there."

"Oh...well, damn. Okay, we shower together
here, you get dressed in what you're wearing for the day, and then drive me to
my house. Then you take off for Frank's, after you pick up your flowers, while
I get changed and head out with the wine. Hopefully we won't arrive at the same
time."

She stared at him. "You're not going to
direct things on a day to day basis in real life, are you?"

He grimaced and put his head back under the
pillow. "Sorry," came the muffled response.

She laughed. "As long as you know that I'll
call you on it every time. And in this case, your plan works for me. I'm
turning on the shower in exactly one minute."

As it happened, they managed to get out of her
place within fifteen minutes. Beth thought she might have set a new land-speed
record getting to William's house. And by his worried yelps, decided that maybe
she didn't need to go quite so fast.

The florist shop had a beautiful bouquet of spring
flowers, in yellow, orange, pink, and white waiting for her. Beth drove
carefully to the Grainger house after strapping the flowers in the vase against
the set with the seatbelt.

When she walked in carrying the flowers, Betsy
came running forward to take them.

"Why, they're lovely, Beth! Thank you so
much."

"You're welcome. Is everyone already
here?"

"Almost, but Sam and Anna had a last minute
thing with Josh. They should be here soon. Oh, and Mr. Christopher isn't here
yet."

"Okay, great. So what can I do to help?"

"You can just sit right down here in the
living room and wait for the others to arrive. We've got everything handled in
the kitchen." Betsy stopped talking and then shifted the flowers so she
had a hand free to pat Beth on the shoulder. "You're looking well, really
well."

Beth felt puzzled by the comment, but only said,
"Thanks."

Within moments, Maggie was walking toward her, a
strawberry half-eaten in her hand. Waving a juice-stained hand around, Maggie
said, "Finally! I was beginning to wonder if you guys, if you, that is,
were going to show up."

Then Maggie came over and hugged Beth tightly.
"I'm rooting for you," she whispered.

Beth pulled back. "What? Maggie what do
you..."

"Gotta go finish the strawberries. Cutting
them up, that is, not eating them," she said and gave a sparkling laugh as
she left the room.

Beth sat there debating on whether it would be
rude to start drinking right away. But her attention was next taken by Cody,
who walked by in the hallway, and looked in giving her a thumb's up when he saw
her.

He was followed by Eric, who glanced at her and
turned a bit red, as he gave her a quick little wave.

Julia walked in with a glass of wine. "Here.
I thought you might like this. It's a really good white zinfandel. Beth...I
should tell you that I...well...I know...."

"Hello everyone!" Sam said as he carried
Joshua in, with Anna coming behind him with a large covered casserole.
"Could someone watch Josh while I grab the other mac and cheese?"

He set Joshua down and dashed off back outside.
Anna headed for the kitchen. "I'll be back soon. Thanks you guys, for
watching him."

Joshua walked over to Beth and said, "Gotta
phone?"

Julia said, "I'd better get back in and
finish setting the table. I'll just leave you two."

Beth sipped her wine and met Joshua's hazel eyes
that were staring at her quite seriously.

"Nephew, what do you want with my phone?"

"Gonna fix it."

"Hmm. And will it work after you fix
it?"

He shrugged.

Sam walked in, carrying a casserole.

"Sam, does he play games on the phone? He was
asking for mine, so if it's okay?"

"No! Uh, that is, probably best not...ah, you
see..."

"Daddy. Josh fix Aunt Bethie's phone."

"No, I really think not, son. But if Beth
will take you into the study, I think Uncle Eric left you some new chips to
play with."

Josh grinned and took off running down the hall. Beth
laughed and stood up to follow him.

"Thanks Beth. I'll be in for him in a minute.
And Beth...Are you okay? Are you happy?"

"What? Of course I am. Never better."

He gave her a broad smile. "Good then. Good
for you."

She walked away feeling like she'd entered the
play without reading the script first. In the study, she found Joshua on the
floor with what looked like computer chips spread around him. "Josh, where
did you get these?"

"Unc Eric brings chips."

"Oh. They let you play with...chips?"

He nodded. "See? Matchie-matchie game."

She realized then that he was making stacks of
chips that she had to assume matched. How he could tell they matched was beyond
her.

Josh handed her a few chips and she stared hard at
them. They just seemed like lines on board to her.

Josh pointed his finger along board. "See?
Pathway. See other chip? Same pathway."

She stared at him and he grinned at her.
"Good job, Josh," she said faintly.

"There you are," Frank said, wiping his
hands on a kitchen towel. His chef's apron had a few spills as well.
"Where's William?"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't he come with you?"

"Why would he come with me?"

Frank lowered his voice. "It's okay. I
know."

Beth's eyebrows rose. "You do?"

"Sure! Nothing much gets by me, you
know."

"Right. Okay then."

Sam came in at that point and Beth excused herself.
She was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that a certain fashion designer
mother just might have spilled her guts to someone. Either that or the world
had gone slightly mad overnight.

She took a few more sips of wine. Then she headed
for the large kitchen at the back of the house. It was filled with people
fixing food or chatting or feeding kids. Sam walked in behind her with Joshua.
As she glanced around she realized that everyone was in there at the same time.
Perfect, she thought.

"Excuse me," she said. Nobody noticed
her. "Excuse me!" she yelled.

Dead silence fell.

"I just have one question for all of you. Is
there anyone here who doesn't know about William and me? Is there anyone who
doesn't know our secret?"

And behind her, she heard William's voice,
projecting across the room, "You told them we're getting married?"

Pandemonium erupted.

* * * *

"Hold it, now just hold on here," Beth
heard her father say loudly.

Everyone got quiet again.

"I thought we'd tell them when we were
together, you know, not today," William said.

"I didn't tell them, sweetie, you did. All I
asked was if they knew about us being together, that's all."

"Oh," he said. "That's different.

"Yes, it is."

"Young lady," Ed Carter said, moving
through the crowd to stand in front of her. "Are you telling me you've
been dating this man here?"