Uncorked (50 page)

“Great. The other thing is, I
know you’re going to hate this idea, but I want to rent a house. I realized
that for sure while I was in Aspen. I know what you’re going to tell me about
security, but—”

“If you want a house, get one.”

“Really? Why aren’t you fighting
me on this?”

“Because I realized how much you
thrived in that environment. I realized how at peace you were.”

“Thank you.”

“One request. Please make sure it
has a top-notch security system.”

“Come house hunting with me. Help
me choose.”

In the meantime,
Chella rented a house in La
Jolla. She sat with an agent to sign the lease. As she held the pen, Mitch
noticed her shaky hands.

“Would you excuse us for a second
please?” he said to the two agents in the room.

They looked somewhat confused,
but respected his wishes and left.

“Are you okay?” he asked, holding
her hands and looking into her eyes.

“Do you realize I’m signing this
lease for a year?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never done anything like
this. Why am I so nervous? ”

“Because you’re afraid, but this
is another step forward in taking your life back. We will make that house safe
and secure. I promise you that.”

“This is a long-term commitment.”

“For you it is, yes. But don’t
worry. There are ways to get out of it if you need to. It’s going to be okay.”

She still looked a bit
apprehensive but after closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath, she picked
up the pen and signed the documents. Moments later, the agents returned. Chella
wrote them a check. She had made her first long-term commitment.

She rented a beautiful house with
a pool and an incredible deck overlooking the Ocean. She moved in over the
coming days and had even taken some things out of storage to spruce up her new
place.

Mitch had to go back to
Sacramento to attend some meetings and try to close a multi-million dollar
sale. He would be leaving the following afternoon for a week. She ordered them
Chinese for dinner, and they spent time together on her new patio, taking in
the gorgeous sunset views.

Over the next
few days, Chella set up the
house. The pool experts came out that day, and the infinity-edge pool was
flawless. It sparkled against the sunny blue skies and was seamless with the
aqua blue ocean waters. The landscapers did a bit of yard maintenance on the
grounds.

The house started to feel like
home, but she missed Mitch. He wouldn’t be back for another few days, possibly
longer, if he had to make a stop in Santa Monica. Her thoughts were interrupted
by sharp stomach cramps. She headed to the bathroom and took a shower then made
a cup of tea. She hoped that would ease the pain. The sun was now setting, and
Chella curled up on the coco chair on the patio to observe the bright orange
ball dip below the horizon. Light jazz music played in the background, and she
could not help but think about Mitch. The cramps worsened, and they were now
accompanied by back pain. She locked the doors, initiated the alarm and headed
to the bedroom. She took some painkillers and lay down. Chella was startled by
her ringing phone.

“Hello,” she answered groggily.

“Hi, Sweetheart. How are you?”
Chella smiled at the sound of Mitch’s voice at the other end of the line.

“I’ve been better. I have some
really bad cramps. My back aches, too. I guess my period will be here soon.
Otherwise, I’m great. I watched a beautiful sunset this evening. I missed you.”

“I miss you, too, Love. You’ve
been pushing yourself too hard.”

“I don’t think so. I had a lot of
help. Believe it or not, the house is unpacked.”

“I may stop in Santa Monica on
the way back to see Emily. She’s getting her cast removed.”

“Okay. Send my love to everyone.”

“I will. Thanks for
understanding, Chell. I’m sorry I had to extend my trip. I’m not particularly
comfortable with you being alone all this time.”

“Don’t worry, Mitch. Craig
assigned one of the company’s drivers to pick me up and drop me off wherever I
need to go. Once I’m inside, I lock the doors and activate the alarm.”

“I love you. Get some rest.”

Chella woke up the following day
feeling a little better. She thought she would head to the office to see Craig.
Since she was done at the house, and Mitch wouldn’t be back for a few days, she
decided occupy herself.

She poked her head into Craig’s
office. He was on the phone but motioned her to come in. After ending his call,
he came around the oversized mahogany desk and wrapped his hands around her.

“What are you doing here? You
haven’t accepted my proposal, yet.”

“I got extra help from the
movers, and I finished earlier than planned. Mitch had to make an unexpected
detour, so I thought I’d come in to see you. I want to wait until the article
is published before I accept your proposal. I’m not feeling one-hundred
percent, though.”

“What’s wrong?” Craig asked with
concern.

“Nothing major. Just stomach
cramps.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine. So how have you
been? How’s Maggie?”

“We’re good. Some of the grand
kids are coming over this weekend, so she has her hands full with that.”

“That’s great. Send her my love.”

“On another note, I have some
news for you.”

“Really?”

“The board was impressed with how
you handled the Teen Sassy line. We all think you should handle the entire
cosmetic division when you return. Think you’re up for the task?”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” she
replied in shock. “Really?”

“Of course, that would come with
a hefty raise and a new corner office. That’s a total of ten product lines and
ten managers to oversee.”

“I can’t believe this, I’ve
barely settled into my first office, and I’m moving to another. Craig, I don’t
know what to say.”

“Say you’ll do it.”

“I want to accept it, but let me
see what kind of feedback we get from this story. I’m more than happy to do
some work from behind the scenes, though.

“I’ll have my secretary email you
whatever you need, and Yoshi from the mailroom will be your assistant until you
return. If you want to select your own assistant when you return, that’s fine.”

“If I haven’t said it yet, thanks
again for your support.”

“You’ll always get that from me,
my darling.”

Still not feeling
well but wanting to get to work,
Chella went to Sheyenne International bright and early the following Monday
morning to pick up some files. She reviewed all the files from the previous
week and needed more information to write a detailed report.

She was chatting with Craig about
his weekend when she had those sharp pains again. She took some painkillers.
When she didn’t feel better after two hours, she told Craig she would be
heading home. He suggested she go to the hospital, but she told him she would
visit her doctor if she were still in pain in the morning.

After lying down for the
afternoon, the pain intensified. She walked into the bathroom to see if she had
any stronger medication but tumbled over onto the floor in excruciating pain.

She knew something was dreadfully
wrong when she felt her white tank dress wet. She looked down to see she was
sitting in a pool of blood.

Oh God, what’s happening to me?

This was not her period. It was
too much blood, too fast and the pressure and pain she felt were out of this
world.

She dragged her body on the floor
and reached for her cell phone that sat on a glass table outside the bathroom
door. After, trying to reach Vicky, Kacy and Mitch to no avail, she called
9-1-1. She called Mitch a second time and his phone went straight to voice
mail. She started to leave him a message but fell unconscious.

Mitch got off the plane... Since
Chella did not know that he was on his way home, he picked up a dozen red
roses, then headed over to surprise her, excited to see her after over a week.

He walked into a deadly-silent,
dark house. Holding the roses, and playfully calling out Chella’s name, he
heard nothing. All the doors were locked throughout the house, but strangely,
the alarm had not been activated. Her handbag was on the living room sofa, so
he knew she must be home. He checked the bedroom while calling her name but
still nothing. Walking from room to room in the house, he realized that the
only other place she could be was outside. After checking and realizing she was
not there, he grew concerned.

He called her cell phone, but it
went straight to voice mail. It was only then he realized he had a message from
her. When he listened, all he could understand was her calling his name then
her voice trailed off. This worried him.

Her wallet was still inside her
handbag. In a bit of a panic, he headed to the one place he forgot to check—the
master bath and walk-in closet.

In the bathroom, he saw all the
terrible signs left behind: a large pool of blood on the floor, drag marks
through the blood.

The bouquet of roses fell from
his hand.

He heard the loud, repetitive
thump originate from his chest as the thought of Chella being hurt was suddenly
a reality. A terrible knot developed in his stomach. Something terrible had
happened. That much blood did not appear on a bathroom floor with everything
being fine.

Pull yourself together.

He raked his hands through his
hair while thoughts–bad thoughts—raced through his mind.
Did Aaron have
something to do with this? He did promise to kill her. God, where is she?
What’s wrong with her?

Mitch immediately called the
police, then Detective Carter, who both arrived ten minutes later.

The police found out that Chella
had been taken to the hospital a couple of hours before.

Mitch rushed to the hospital,
panicked because he had no clue what might have been wrong. He called Craig,
Kacy, and Vicky on the way to see if any of them knew anything. Both Vicky and
Kacy told him they had missed calls from her, and Craig told him she returned
home from work because she had bad cramps again. He told Mitch he advised her
to go to the hospital, but she said she would visit her doctor if she didn’t
feel better by morning. Mitch was angry with himself. If he had insisted Chella
go to the doctor, she would be fine. He had no idea what was wrong with her or
whether she was dead or alive.

At the hospital,
Mitch saw Dr. Forrester.

“Dr. Forrester, where is she? Have
you seen Chella? Is she okay?” As the words spilled out of his mouth, he was
petrified at what he might be told.

“Mitch, she’s okay, but she’s not
conscious. She is in serious condition, though.”

“God, what happened? What’s wrong
with her? There was so much blood on the bathroom floor.”

“I’m sorry to have to tell you
this Mitch, but Chella had a miscarriage.”

Mitch felt the wind knocked out
of him. His stomach felt sick and numbness traveled through his body. He sat on
a nearby bench. Squeezing his eyes shut, he massaged brow.

“Dr. Forrester, that’s not
possible. Chella can’t have kids.”

Sitting next to Mitch, the doctor
replied, “After examining her, I can see why she might think so, but she did
get pregnant. I’ve seen stranger things happen.”

“This is unreal.” Mitch replied,
combing his hair with his fingers. “Why is she unconscious then?”

“As you saw, she lost a lot of
blood. She needed a transfusion, but she got here in time. She’ll be here for
the next few days.”

“I need to see her.”

“Sure,” the doctor replied,
leading the way to the room.

Chella lay in the bed fast
asleep. The news would be bittersweet. The sad part was they lost their baby.
The good part was she got pregnant in the first place. Either way, it was a lot
to absorb.

Sitting at the edge of the bed,
he pushed away locks of her hair that had fallen across her brow. He placed his
hand on her stomach. The loss made him realize how much he wanted a life and a
family with her. A month ago, when she had turned down his proposal, he thought
that hurt. This hurt was ten times worse. Holding her hand, his heart pounding,
he realized how close he came to losing her.

It was starting to sink in.
Chella was pregnant with his child, and they lost their baby. He felt an
overwhelming sense of sadness as he thought of what might have been. He
wondered if it were a girl or a boy and what they would have named him or her.
He imagined them playing outside a house like Chella wanted, swimming in the
pool, or playing on a swing set he would build. He drifted off to sleep holding
Chella’s hand.