Chapter 35
CHAPTER 35
Three months later...
Ten miles outside of Hershey, Pennsylvania
“ I s my surprise a visit to heaven on earth?” Jamie asked, sounding hopeful. All she knew was that he better not have brought her this close to Hershey Park and not bring her there.
Nick chuckled as he raised their entwined hands and pressed a kiss against the back of her hand. She noticed that he did that a lot, kissing her, that is. He couldn’t seem to be around her without finding an excuse to touch or kiss her.
After four months, they were still going strong. It surprised her how well they were doing. Even more surprising was the fact that they seemed to be living together. It wasn’t something that they discussed. It just kind of happened. After they finally released her from the hospital, she’d been too weak to go through the hassle of looking for a new apartment. Thankfully, Nick told her that there wasn’t a rush and that she could stay with him until she was ready.
When her doctor announced that she was able to return to work, well, go to the office instead of working from Nick’s bed, neither one of them brought up moving. They’d fallen into a routine of making love in the morning, having breakfast together, driving to work, where she spent most of her time working on his couch. Some nights, they managed to have dinner together, and other nights, she ignored the notes he taped to the cabinets and refrigerator imploring her to eat something healthy and indulged her sweet tooth. No matter what they did during the day, they always ended the night making love.
Life was perfect.
“Did you really think that I’d bring you this close to the motherland and not take you? You’d smother me in my sleep if I did that,” Nick said, smiling in that way that drove her crazy and made her consider asking him to pull over so that she could check a certain item off her list again.
“Then, what are we doing here?” Jamie asked, turning in her seat to look at him.
“It’s a surprise,” Nick said with a teasing smile that had her eyes narrowing.
“Is it a good surprise or a bad surprise?” Jamie demanded as she debated all the possibilities in her head.
“I’m hoping that it’s a good surprise, Jamie,” he said after a slight hesitation.
“Should I be worried?” she asked, wondering what kind of surprise would require them to take a few days off during their tour to come to Pennsylvania. Maybe he was bringing her to a Hershey’s outlet store and was going to let her fill the car with chocolate?
She could hope, at least.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Nick promised as he pulled into the parking lot of a 50’s era diner with a sign that boasted the largest dessert menu on the East Coast, something the sugar addict in her was more than willing to look into.
“Why don’t we grab lunch?” Nick suggested as he parked their rental car.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Jamie said, wondering if he was going to count that donut she’d devoured earlier against her. The man was so damn stubborn when it came to her sugar intake, but in a sweet cranky sort of way that actually made her smile.
That is, when he wasn’t coming between her and sugar.
She watched him loosen his tie as he walked around the front of the car and nearly sighed. The man was a sight to behold. He was handsome, charming, and so damn sexy that sometimes it was a struggle not to tackle him to the ground and have her dirty little way with him. By the time he made it around the car to open her door, she was focused on what was important, the huge dessert menu calling her name.
He leaned down, taking her hand in his and brushed his lips against hers before they made their way to the diner. The delicious aroma hit her before they made it to the front doors, making her stomach growl. Perhaps she’d eat lunch before perusing the dessert menu, Jamie decided as they walked into the diner and she nearly tripped over her own feet when she got her first look inside.
Instead of the 50’s memorabilia that she’d expected, it had old-fashioned dessert and candy pictures everywhere, but that’s not what took her by surprise. Not even close. It was the framed pictures, magazine covers, and newspapers articles featuring J.L. Lewis placed among the yummy-looking photos that had her swallowing hard.
“What is this?” Jamie asked distractedly as she ran her eyes over everything once again, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
“How many?” the smiling woman behind the counter asked only to have that smile turn into a frown when she glanced at Jamie. “You look familiar. Have you been here before?”
“No,” Jamie mumbled weakly.
She didn’t like attention, but normally she could deal with it. She wasn’t sure that she’d be able to do that in a place that was set up as a living shrine to her.
“Who’s the J.L. Lewis fan?” Nick asked, gesturing lazily to the large stack of books behind the cashier.
“That would be Aubrey. She’s the owner and the sweetest woman you could ever meet,” the woman said warmly.
“Is she here?” Nick asked and Jamie just barely fought back the urge to kick his shin for this betrayal. He knew how nervous overexcited fans made her. If the promise of a large dessert menu hadn’t intrigued her, she would be out of here, but it did, so she was staying.
“She’ll be here soon,” the woman said, grabbing two menus as she stepped around the counter to show them to their table.
“Could you give her my card and tell her that I would love to meet her?” Nick asked, pulling a business card out of his pocket and handed it to her.
“Of course,” she said with a warm smile, taking the card before gesturing to an oversized booth near the jukebox.
“What was that all about?” Jamie asked once she walked away.
Nick shrugged as he looked down at his menu. “Just curious to meet her, that’s all,” he said, but she wasn’t buying it. If her eyes hadn’t landed on the most enticing appetizer menu that she’d ever seen, she would have questioned him further.
“You do realize that I’m not leaving until I devour everything on this dessert menu, right?” Jamie asked as she ran her eyes over the largest dessert menu she’d ever seen. Did she just whimper?
Probably.
“I packed the aspirin, heating pad, and icepacks, so you can have whatever you want,” Nick said, surprising her, not that he was prepared for one of her sugar binges, but because he was accepting this so easily.
Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
The only other time he’d looked the other way when she’d gorged herself on sugar was right after she was released from the hospital and he had to break the news to her that her family screwed her over again.
It was enough to destroy every last lingering hope that one day they would regret the past, but…
They didn’t love her, but that was fine because she didn’t need them. She had Nick and really good friends now. Although it would have been nice to have someone to call her own, she didn’t need them.
“Do you want to start off with a shake?” Nick asked, making her stomach drop.
Oh, God...
Now, he was pushing sugar on her.
“What’s wrong, Nick?” she asked hollowly, dreading his next words.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said, smiling as he reached over and took her hand in his.
“Then, why are you trying to push sugar on me?” Jamie demanded.
“I just thought you’d like a milkshake,” Nick said, linking their fingers together. “But if you don’t want one...”
“Oh, I’m getting one, buddy, and you should know that I know that you’re up to something,” Jamie said, narrowing her eyes on the man that was definitely up to something.
When he shot her a wink, she decided that she was going to make that milkshake a double and watch how he reacted. Nick Quinn was a sneaky man and as long as she remembered that she-
“Catherine told me that you would like to speak with me. My name is Aubrey and I...I... oh, my God ,” came the warm greeting that ended abruptly, tearing Jamie’s attention from the impressive list of milkshakes to find a middle-aged woman with kind eyes staring helplessly at her.
“Are you okay?” Jamie asked as he watched Aubrey go pale and realized that she was seconds away from passing out. Jamie quickly scrambled out of the booth and took the woman’s shaky hands in hers and quickly helped her sit down.
When Jamie moved to pull her hands away, Aubrey refused to let her go. She threw Nick a pleading look only to find him watching them intently. Really helpful, Jamie thought dryly as she turned her attention back to the trembling woman.
“Are you okay?” Jamie asked, not sure what else to say.
“Not really,” Aubrey mumbled weakly.
“Aubrey, are you okay?” a man sitting at one of the tables behind them asked.
“I-I’m fine, John,” Aubrey said with a watery smile. “I’m perfect, in fact.”
“Are you the man that I spoke to last week?” Aubrey asked, her gaze never leaving Jamie.
“Yes,” Nick said, drawing her attention to find him watching her.
“Jamie, I would like you to meet Aubrey O’Shea,” he said before adding, “Your mother.”
“What are you talking about?” Jamie mumbled weakly.
Her mother was dead.
Her father wouldn’t lie about that.
He wouldn’t be that cruel, Jamie told herself as she glanced back at Aubrey to find her watching her through eyes that looked like hers. She-
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hold you again,” Aubrey said around a broken sob as she dropped Jamie’s hands and pulled her into a hug that Jamie was too stunned to refuse, but once she found herself in Aubrey’s arms, she was helpless to fight it. It felt...
Perfect.
“I am so proud of you,” her mother whispered fiercely against the top of her head as she pressed a kiss against her hair. “So proud, Jamie.”
She didn’t realize that she was crying until she felt Nick kneel behind her and run a soothing hand down her back. “Shhhh, Jamie, it’s okay.”
It really wasn’t okay, Jamie thought as a loud sob rocked her body. She was so happy, but at the same time, she was scared out of her mind. She was terrified that this was just a dream and any second now, she was going to wake up.
Please don’t let this be a dream.
“I never wanted to let you go, Jamie,” her mother whispered hoarsely. “I quit school to have you and worked two jobs, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t nearly enough. When I had to choose between putting food in your stomach or a roof over your head, I made the biggest mistake of my life and gave you to your father. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have worked harder and found a way to make it work, but you were so small and I just couldn’t watch you go hungry again. I’m so sorry, Jamie, so sorry,” Aubrey said, squeezing Jamie tightly.
“She tried to come back for you,” Nick said softly as he continued rubbing her back. “She saved every penny and when she went back for you two years later, your father refused to let you go. I don’t think he wanted to deal with people asking too many questions. Your father convinced her that you were being taken care of and that she would only confuse you and hurt you by getting involved in your life, but she’s been keeping an eye on you. She loves you so much,” Nick said, pressing a kiss against the back of her head.
“Is that true?” Jamie asked, swallowing hard as she watched her mother’s lips pull up into a watery smile and-
“I’ve always been your biggest fan, Jamie.”