To My Senses The Nicci Beauvoir Series Book 1 (31 page)

“
Well, have a good time.”
Michael sounded a little disappointed. “I’ll call you tomorrow.
I’ve got a hectic day at the office, and then I’ve got some
patients to see in the hospital. ‘Tis the season.” Then he was
gone.

My father nonchalantly
turned the page of his newspaper. “He calls a lot.”

I put my iPhone down on the
kitchen table. “He’s a nice guy.”

Dad buried his head deeper
in the newspaper. “I don’t like him.”

“
Why don’t you like
him?”

My father put the paper
down on the breakfast table. “Because he doesn’t make you happy.
It’s like you’re going through the motions with him. Your heart
isn’t in this—”

Uncle Lance came bounding
into the kitchen, wrapped in my father’s favorite red silk robe.
Dad groaned beside me.

“
Good morning and Merry
Christmas.” Uncle Lance was bursting with a huge grin and a five
o’clock shadow.

“
Thank you, Tiny Tim.” My
father glowered at him. “That’s my robe.”

Uncle Lance caressed the
robe’s lapel. “Yeah, looks better on me.”

“
That’s debatable,” my
father griped.

Chapter 18

After we returned home from
Christmas dinner at Val’s, I settled down on the sofa in the living
room to look through the book Uncle Lance had given me on the
history of nursing. My father was in his study, still trying to win
at the hand held video game I had given him. I was enjoying my
book, when my cell phone interrupted. When I retrieved the phone
from my purse, I was surprised to see my aunt’s cell number
flashing on the iPhone screen.

“
Aunt Hattie we just left
you at Val’s—”

“
Nicci! Nicci!” It didn’t
sound like Hattie. “You have to come right away. There’s been an
accident.” She started crying.

“
Hattie, what did you say?
What accident?” There was some shuffling, as if the phone was being
muffled. “Nicci, it’s Uncle Ned.” He sounded, if possible, worse
than Hattie. “We’re at Touro Hospital. Colleen has been pretty
badly beaten up. They think she may lose the baby. Can you come and
help us? They’re asking questions I don’t know how to
answer.”

“
Colleen was beaten up? Who
did this?”

“
Eddie. Eddie beat the hell
out of her. They think it was some time this afternoon. Can you
come?”

“
I’m on my way. I’ll meet
you in the emergency room.” I hung up and ran to the study. “Dad,
get out here quick!”

***

Colleen had already been
transferred out of the emergency room and up to the women’s unit
when we arrived at the hospital. We found Aunt Hattie and Uncle Ned
in the hallway outside of Colleen’s room. Hattie was washed over,
completely pale. Uncle Ned told us that Colleen had some bruises
and a broken nose; otherwise, the doctors said she could go home in
the morning. She had lost the baby in the emergency
room.

I sat for a while holding
Aunt Hattie’s hand, but she never said a word; she just kept
staring down at the floor. Finally, I walked over to where my
father and Uncle Ned were talking in the corner of the
hall.

“
Sammy won’t be stupid
enough to protect him,” my father grumbled, holding out his hand
out to me.

I took it and held on tight.

“
Colleen called about ten
this morning,” Uncle Ned related. “They had a fight about which
family they were going to spend Christmas Day with. She told Hattie
that they were going to stay in and eat dinner with Sammy. Sammy
found her a few hours later. She called the ambulance and then
called us.”

I peered down the long
hospital corridor. “Where’s Eddie?”

“
Who knows? Sammy says she
hasn’t seen him since this morning.” Uncle Ned leaned against the
wall. “She thought the two of them had left to go to Val’s. That
was, until she found Colleen. We sent Sammy home an hour ago. She
was more upset than Hattie.” He glanced over to his wife. “I better
go sit with her.”

As Uncle Ned put his arms
around his wife, I turned to my father. “What happens to
Eddie?”

“
Nothing until Colleen
presses charges.”

I gawked at him in
astonishment. “Nothing?”

“
Colleen has to press
charges. In the emergency room, she told the police she tripped and
fell.” Dad shook his head. “Look, Hattie and Ned are going to stay.
They’ve sedated Colleen, so she’ll sleep all night. We can come
back first thing in the morning.”

He put his arm around my
shoulders and guided along the hospital corridor to the
elevators.

***

Later that night, I lay in
my bed, unable to sleep. I was staring up at the ceiling, replaying
my conversation with Eddie in the kitchen on Christmas Eve. I had
known he was angry, and I felt guilty for not warning my family. I
needed to talk to someone about what had happened. Anyone would
do.

I retrieved my phone from
the nightstand. There was only one person I knew who was an expert
at listening; I only hoped he would want to listen to me at two in
the morning.

Michael picked up on the second ring.

“
Nicci? Nicci, is that
you?”

“
Michael, I’m sorry, but I
don’t know what to do. My cousin, Colleen, you went to her
wedding—”

“
I know, honey,” he
interrupted. “Sammy called me in hysterics a couple of hours ago. I
figured you were at the hospital for the night. I was going to go
over in the morning. How is she?”

“
She’s going to be all
right. Michael, I think I caused this. Eddie came over all pissed
off Christmas Eve and was talking about how he hated Colleen. I
might have made him angrier by saying some stupid things. I’m
afraid he lashed out at Colleen because of me.”

“
Hey now. You didn’t cause
any of this.” His voice was calm and soothing. “From everything
I’ve heard about him, this was something that would have inevitably
happened. Colleen was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I’m sorry about the baby, but at least now Colleen can get out of
this marriage with a large settlement.”

“
You don’t understand
Colleen. All she has ever wanted her entire life was to marry
Eddie. I don’t know if she will want out. I’m afraid she’ll stay
with him, no matter what he does to her.”

“
Would you like me to talk
to her?”

“
I don’t know. Give her a
little time. Right now, she has to get over her injuries.” I took a
deep breath, feeling my edgy nerves settle. “Thank you for offering
though, and thank you for listening. I’m just a little strung out
about all of this.”

“
You think Eddie is still
in love with you and blames Colleen from keeping the two of you
apart.”

I rubbed my hand over my
face, not quite sure what to say. “How did you know
that?”

“
I first got the idea at
the wedding. For a man that was marrying another woman, he sure
couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. Then later on, Sammy let it slip
that he has always had feelings for you, and that his marriage to
Colleen had frustrated him a great deal. She sought my advice on
how to help him get over you and get on with his life.” He cleared
his throat. “That is all confidential client information. Please
don’t repeat it.”

“
I won’t. Thanks for
telling me.”

It was easier talking to
him on the phone than in person. I didn’t feel under the constant
scrutiny of his gaze when we were on the phone.

“
Stop thanking me. I want
to help.” He was silent for a while, and I was beginning to think
he had fallen asleep on me. “I thought about you a great deal
today. My family asked a lot of questions about you, especially my
mother.”

I relaxed in my bed, giving
him a light chuckle. “I hope you lied and made me sound
good.”

“
I told them that after you
climb Mount Everest this month, you have to finish your
dissertation on world affairs, then report to Washington for your
cabinet post.”

I liked him this way. He
almost sounded like a different man. “Mount Everest is next month,”
I corrected.

“
Why don’t we ever talk
like this when we’re together?” he sighed into the speaker. “When
I’m with you, I always get the distinct impression you don’t want
me around. Tonight is the first time I’ve ever felt like you are
actually talking to me, instead of through me.”

I silently reprimanded my
lack of effort with the man. I needed to try harder. “I promise to
do better in the future. You just have to give me some time,
Michael.”

“
I’m not in a hurry,
Nicci.” I heard him yawn into the phone speaker. “Well, it’s pretty
late and you’d better get some sleep. Colleen will need you
tomorrow. I’ll call in the morning to see how she’s doing, and if
she’s ready to talk. Good night.”

I hung up reconsidering my
position on Michael. He had been kind to me and I knew I had not
given him a fair chance. It was time to make a new start with the
doctor.

***

The next morning, Colleen
was awake and eating breakfast. I had expected her to be depressed
and withdrawn, like a wilting flower, but I should have known that
she was made of tougher stuff—we both were. When I walked into her
room, she was sitting up in a chair and complaining about the
Jell-O Aunt Hattie was trying to feed her.

“
I hate red. I want
orange,” Colleen bellowed.

She turned up her nose at
Hattie’s repeated attempts to coax the Jell-O down her throat. Ned
and Hattie looked frazzled. They obviously had not slept much, and
Colleen’s tantrums were not helping.

“
Only you would ask for
orange Jell-O for breakfast,” I proclaimed.

I was carrying a wilting,
green ivy plant with me. It was the only thing I could find at the
grocery store at seven in the morning.

Colleen rolled her eyes.
“Great, the cavalry.”

I smiled at Aunt Hattie and
Uncle Ned. “I’ll take over. Why don’t ya’ll go home? I’ll call if
she needs anything.”

Uncle Ned hurried his wife
out of the room, despite Hattie’s repeated requests to stay and
care for her daughter.

After they had gone, I
approached the bed. I put the plant down on the bedside table next
to Colleen. Her eyes were all over me.

“
They have been very
worried about you. We all have,” I insisted.

“
Right,” she snorted. “You
just came to gloat. To say I told you so.”

Her right eye was swollen
shut and her bottom lip was split down the center. She had bruises
under both eyes, and there was still packing in her nose, making
her sound stuffy when she talked.

“
Colleen, I did not come
here to say I told you so. You know I never expected this of him.”
I searched her bloodshot eyes. “Did you?” She looked away from me
and stared out the window. “I’m sorry about the baby,” I softly
added. “I know how much you wanted it.”

“
I didn’t want it!” she
snapped. “I thought Eddie wanted it, but when he started turning
away from me and…I’m glad I lost the baby. Maybe he will find me
attractive again.”

I shook my head, stunned by
her disclosure. “Colleen, you’re not going back to him. You can’t.
Look at what he did to you.”

“
I’m all right. Just sore.
I caused this. I fell down the stairs.”

“
Colleen, no one believes
that!”

“
Well, that’s the truth. I
am not filing charges against Eddie.” She folded her arms across
her chest, appearing resolute. “The police were already here again
this morning and I told them it was an accident. I will not make my
husband suffer for my clumsiness. Sammy has already promised to
take me to her plastic surgeon and redo me. Make me pretty for
Eddie.”

This was worse than I
thought. “You need professional help, Colleen. You
can’t—”

“
Please.” She cut me off
with a wave of her hand. “Sammy called early this morning. She is
sending Eddie off to her villa in Italy for a while. She thinks she
can get him in some architecture school in Milan. It’s supposed to
be world famous. We’ll have to be separated for some time, but I
can go to Italy and visit him.”

Sammy worked fast. The only
way to avoid a scandal was to divert the issue and get her problem
child out of the country. Her villa was where she had escaped to
get away from Eddie’s father. She would now use it to get Eddie
away from his wife.

“
Sammy wants me to stay
with her.” Colleen smiled, despite the discomfort of her swollen
face. “She said we could use the time to become best
friends.”

Colleen appeared happy
about the arrangement. She got to stay married, and enjoy the
unlimited use of the Fallon name and money. Sammy knew what would
keep Colleen compliant. She was waving the carrot temptingly in
front of Colleen and the girl was too foolish to resist.

“
When is Eddie going to
this villa?” I asked, resigning myself to the fact that the wheels
had already been set into motion.

“
He left this morning. I
wish I could have seen him before he left, but it’s probably better
so the gossips don’t get wind of the situation. Sammy said to stick
to my story and tell everyone I fell down the stairs and lost the
baby.” She glared at me with her one bloodshot brown eye. “You have
to agree to that. You can’t tell anyone the truth or my reputation
will be ruined.”