Sea of Dreams (The American Heroes Series Book 2) (40 page)

Startled, he saw that it was Blakesley and he bolted into the kitchen, falling to his knees beside her.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” he demanded, panicked. “Are you sick? What’s wrong?”

Blakesley was weeping painfully.  She threw her arms around his neck and he wrapped her up in big arms, hesitant to pick her up in case she had injured herself somehow.  So far, she hadn’t answered him and he was quickly growing frightened.

“Baby, what happened?” he asked again. “Are you hurt?”

Finally, she shook her head. “No,” she wept. “I… I just got a call… my lawyer….”

Realizing she wasn’t hurt filled him with relief. But the fact that she was hysterical had him almost hysterical, too.  He sat down on the floor next to her and pulled her up onto his lap.

“Calm down,” he hugged her, rubbing her back gently. “Baby, calm down and tell me what’s going on.”

Blakesley was quickly growing weak and emotionally incoherent. She felt sick and lightheaded.

“My… my lawyer from Los Angeles called,” she struggled to explain. “He said that the witness who sent Ed to prison on the murder charge has recanted his statement and that Ed’s case is going before a grand jury next week. It’s possible that he’ll be acquitted.  I… I just don’t….”

She faded off and suddenly went limp in his arms.  Seized with panic, Beck checked her pulse, her breathing, realizing that she had passed out.  The news she had sputtered out was just too much to take.  In fact, it was almost too much for him to take. He was stunned.  Sickened, he picked her up and carried her into their bedroom, laying her gently on the bed.  Making sure she was still breathing easily and her pulse was steady, he went for his cell phone.

Marshall picked up on the third ring. “Hey, Beck,” he said. “What’s on your mind this fine day?”

Beck knew the man was with Gabrielle; he could hear her in the background.  Besides, Marshall was way too jovial, which only happened when he was with the lovely nurse. Beck sighed heavily and with great regret.

“I need you to pick Charlotte up from preschool,” he said, his tone tense and ominous. “Something’s happened.”

“Is Blakesley all right?”

“She’s okay.  But I need you to pick up the girls. It’s important, Marshall.”

Marshall swung by to pick up Charlotte and Spike, and had them back to the house in a half hour.  Blakesley was sleeping at that point and as Gabrielle went in to check on her, Beck told Marshall what had happened and the man was nearly sick himself. He understood the implications better than most.

He knew what Ed was capable of.

Chapter Twenty One

 Blakesley woke up near dinner time but Gabrielle had her stay in bed and rest. Beck stayed in the bedroom with her while the girls, including Lizzie, cooked dinner with Marshall and Gabrielle. Grandpa took over while Blakesley pulled herself together and Beck remained with his wife.  The girls knew that Blakesley wasn’t feeling well but nothing more beyond that.  Beck and Marshall decided it would be best not to tell them anything.  It wouldn’t have meant much to the little girls but it would have meant a lot to Cadee and neither man wanted to upset her.

Beck made his wife eat a few bites of dinner even though she was nauseous.  She didn’t feel like anything but lasagna, so he ordered some from a local Italian restaurant and went to pick it up himself.  Blakesley had two very small bites of it, amounting to no more than licking the fork as Beck phrased it, and then wanted cake with it.  Beck groaned but dutifully went out to the kitchen for a snack cake, returning so she could mush it up and spread it all over the lasagna.  It was the most disgusting thing Beck had ever seen, but she ate about half of her dinner that way so he couldn’t complain too much.

It was a Friday evening in early fall and the day had been warm.  Around seven p.m., Lizzie knocked softly at the door and Beck let her in.  She smiled timidly at Blakesley, who was lying down all surrounded by pillows, and Blakesley smiled back.

“Hi, honey,” Blakesley said softly.

Lizzie moved towards the bed hesitantly. “Are you feeling better?”

Blakesley nodded. “Much,” she said. “Thanks for asking.”

Lizzie nodded in response, looking to her dad who was now stretching out on the bed next to Blakesley.  He had the television remote in his hand and turned on the T.V.

“Dad,” she said. “Alex and Natalie want to know if I can spend the night at their house. Can you please take me?”

Beck was flipping through channels. “Who are Alex and Natalie?”

“My friends from school. The girls I hang out with. I went to their house a couple of weeks ago; remember?”

“Alex sounds like a boy.”

Lizzie was swiftly losing her patience. She exhaled irritably, looking beseechingly at Blakesley, who took the hint.

“Alex is short for Alexandra,” she said. “I’ve met her mother. Remember? I told you that a couple of weeks ago.  You were out when Alex and Natalie’s mother came to pick Lizzie up.  She’s a very nice lady and the girls seem very sweet.  They seem like a nice family.”

Beck was still looking at the television as he surfed the channels. “Yeah, sure; the Manson family.”

Lizzie let out a grunt of frustration as Blakesley laughed.  “No, they’re not,” she looked at Lizzie. “Ask Marshall to take you over. I’m sure he’d love to.”

Beck was already climbing out of bed. “No,” he grumbled. “I’ll take her. Hey, wait a minute; I never agreed she could go. Why am I taking her?”

“Your keys are on the dresser,” Blakesley said calmly. “Bring me back some ice cream. And why don’t you take the little girls with you? My dad and Gabrielle have given up enough of their evening to babysit them.”

Beck made a face at her to let her know he was displeased but he did as he was told.  Thrilled, Lizzie squealed and thanked Blakesley before she ran out of the room and headed upstairs to get her things.  Beck sat down to pull his shoes on but the door was still open thanks to Lizzie’s exit, and Crosby and Charlotte ran into the bedroom and immediately jumped on the bed to see their mother.   Blakesley snuggled with her little girls as Cadee wandered in and climbed on the bed as well.  Gabrielle followed the little girls in, her focus on Blakesley.

“How are you feeling, honey?” she asked.

Blakesley had little girls cuddling up next to her and a blond head was in her face. “Better,” she said, blowing blond curls out of her mouth. “Thank you for taking care of me and the girls.”

Gabrielle smiled. “No problem,” she said. “Have you tried to get up and move around?”

Blakesley nodded. “I’m okay,” she said. “I just feel really tired.”

“No dizziness?”

“Not at all.”

Gabrielle nodded. “Good,” she replied. “Call your OB/GYN on Monday, okay? Just tell him what happened and see what he says.”

Blakesley nodded and thanked her again as Beck stood up from the chair, shoes on, and went to find Marshall.   He was in the living room with Alfie lying next to him, an unlit cigar hanging out of his mouth as he watched the Padres.

“If Blakesley sees you on the couch with that cigar, she’s going to have a fit,” Beck pointed out. “I’d put that thing away if I were you.”

Marshall snorted at his disobedience and petted the dog, sleeping next to him. “She hasn’t seen me yet. She’s in bed.”

“I’m telling you, she’ll smell that tobacco.  She’s got tobacco-radar.”

Marshall continued to snort as Beck sat at the end of the leather couch to wait for Lizzie. “Your daughter says to tell you that you’re officially relieved of kid duty,” Beck said. “She doesn’t want to wreck the rest of your date with Gabrielle.”

Marshall waved him off. “There’s no way we’re going to Tijuana this late,” he said. “I may as well just take her home and take advantage of her.”

Beck chuckled.  “You should probably get her liquored up first.”

Marshall looked at him, stricken. “Why?” he demanded. “Just because I’m not a young buck like you doesn’t mean I have to get my women smashed in order to get some action.”

Beck was in full-blown laughter by then. He genuinely liked Marshall and the man’s sense of humor.  He started to reply but a knock on the front door interrupted him.  He pushed himself off the couch.

“Hold that thought,” he told Marshall. “I’ll be right back.”

Marshall grinned, stroking the sleeping dog and chewing on the cigar.  Beck crossed into the entry and flipped on the porch light as he opened the door.

A familiar and unwelcome face greeted him.  Beck found himself looking at Sharon.

“Hi,” she said somewhat hesitantly.

Shocked, Beck nearly blew a fuse. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

Sharon backed away from her angry ex-husband. “Please, Beck,” she said softly, sounding completely unlike the enraged woman who had threatened him a few months before. “I have to talk to you. Please. It’s really important.”

Beck stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him. He didn’t want anyone, especially Lizzie, seeing her mother standing on the porch. With the day he’d had, this was the last thing he needed or wanted. The woman had been silent for the past four months and now, here she was on his doorstep. He resisted the urge to wrap his hands around Sharon’s throat.

“You’ve got thirty seconds,” he said. “I don’t need you here or want you here, and if you don’t leave….”

“Please,” Sharon interrupted him, begging. “I just want three minutes of your time.”

“Starting now.”

Sharon looked uncomfortable and without confidence, unusual for the arrogant and proud woman.  In fact, she looked rather drawn and pale, but Beck couldn’t have cared less. He just wanted her the hell off his property before Lizzie or Blakesley saw her.

“I just wanted to tell you that I filed for divorce from Dan,” she said.  She was starting to look miserable. “You were right about him. I found pictures and texts on his phone from Lizzie’s friend Meggyn that were sexual in nature.  The stuff from her was bad enough but I saw that he was sending stuff to her as well.  Terrible stuff.  I was horrified. So I took it all to my lawyer and filed for divorce.  Dan has already lost his teaching job.  He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t go to jail.”

Beck stood there with his big arms crossed, listening unemotionally.  “Your daughter already told you all of this but you didn’t believe her,” he said flatly. “So what do you want? Congratulations that you finally came to your senses?”

Sharon shook her head. She looked around the porch, into the big picture window that faced from the porch into the entry hall, seeing the warmth of the house beyond.  Her eyes found him again.

“Are you happy, Beck?”

He didn’t have the patience for her conversation. “I’m not going to get into this with you,” he said frankly.  “You left me four years ago, leaving me when I was recovering from a life-threatening injury no less, so whether or not I’m happy is none of your business.  We only share a daughter, Sharon, and nothing else. Wipe me from your mind.”

She looked like she was going to cry but held herself in check.  Suddenly, they could hear screaming as Crosby and Charlotte bolted in front of the entry window and into the little playroom beyond.  Gabrielle followed them, saying something that was muffled by the walls.  Cadee plodded along behind the nurse, all of them disappearing into the playroom.  Sharon watched the little girls run around  before looking at Beck.

“You always did want a big family,” she said softly. “I see you finally got what you wanted. I’m happy for you.”

“Your three minutes are up.”

“Wait,” Sharon was back to begging mode. “I wanted to ask… I wanted to ask if now that Dan and I are divorcing, would it be all right if I talked to Lizzie? I’ve missed her so much.  I’d really like to fix whatever it was I broke between her and I.  I want my daughter back.”

Beck looked at her with disbelief.  “You treated her like crap because of your husband and now you expect to re-establish a relationship with her?” he was growing livid. “Over my dead body, Sharon. Get out of here before I call the cops.”

Sharon found her backbone. “Maybe you should let Lizzie make that decision. She’s old enough to. You can’t make that kind of decision for her.”

“I just did,” he snapped. “I’m done with this conversation.”

He turned for the house but Sharon wouldn’t let him go. “Beck, please!” she cried. “Please let me talk to Lizzie.  It means so much to me.”

Beck turned to her, preparing to snarl, when the front door suddenly opened and Blakesley came charging through with a baseball bat.  Startled, Beck grabbed her before she could get away from him but she was able to get off a swing and caught Sharon on the shoulder.  Sharon screamed and fell back, tripping off the porch and falling about five feet to the concrete below.

Marshall was already in the door, pulling the bat out of Blakesley’s hands.  Lizzie, having come down the stairs just about the time Blakesley charged through, saw her mother on the concrete walkway and began shrieking.

“Mom!” Lizzie screamed. “What are you doing here?”

Sharon wasn’t injured but she was shaken.  She sat up, her expensive designer jeans dirty from the fall, and began weeping.

“Lizzie,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry, baby girl. I should have believed you about Dan and I came to say I’m sorry.”

Lizzie stood in the doorway, partially held back by Marshall. He had no idea what was going on and didn’t want Lizzie involved.  But he began to understand that the woman on the ground was Lizzie’s mother.

“Beck,” he reached out and grabbed his still-struggling daughter. “Let me take Blakesley. It looks like….”

“No,” Blakesley roared. “I’m not going anywhere.  I’m going to kill that bitch if she comes near my family again.”

Beck had never seen Blakesley so furious. Truthfully, he was impressed, but he was also very concerned. Given what had happened to her today, he didn’t want her working herself up so much.  He was honestly surprised she was able to summon the strength, but on the other hand, she was extremely protective of her girls and, in this case, Lizzie as well. He knew how much she loved her.  He grabbed Blakesley by both arms and forced her to look at him.