CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE #2
“That’s because they don’t. My childhood was spent at expensive boarding schools. They wanted nothing to do with me.”
“Kind of like me and my mother,” Joy said.
“Or worse,” he said, to her surprise. “Ah. Here’s Max!”
Joy looked where William was looking as Maximus Bluff, the man she knew was his security chief, walked up.
“Hello, Boss. Miss Johnson.”
Joy smiled. “You can call me Joy.”
“Ah no,” William interjected. “We aren’t doing that.”
Max gave Joy a sympathetic smile. She’ll learn, he thought. “Nice to see you again, Miss Johnson.”
“You as well,” Joy responded.
“What you got for me?” William asked him.
Max pulled up a chair from one of the nearby waiting tables. “The gunman that attempted that hit on Miss Johnson has been identified as Colin Becker.”
William looked at Joy. But Joy was shaking her head. “Never heard that name before.”
“That’s probably because you weren’t the target,” Max said.
Joy was surprised. William was too. “I wasn’t?” she said.
“No ma’am,” said Max. “Mr. Skeffington was the target.”
Joy’s heart dropped. William’s heart leaped. “Thank God!” he said.
Joy to looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. But William wasn’t about to take it back. “What made you reach that conclusion?” he asked Max.
“We found surveillance tapes of your comings and goings at his residence. And maps of your route from home to work. We surmised that since Miss Johnson was driving your Porsche, it was a case of mistaken identity. They thought you were behind that wheel.”
“I see.”
“And also,” Max added, “he has a connection to somebody you know.”
This interested William and Joy. “Who?” he asked.
“Felicity Feldman.”
Joy remembered that name! “Wasn’t she the lady that came to your house?”
But William was too involved with what Max was saying to comment on it. “What’s the connection?” he asked.
“They’re lovers.”
“Currently?”
“Currently, yes sir.”
“Have you spoken to Felicity yet?”
Max shook his head. “We would love to, but she’s nowhere to be found at this point in time. But we have several teams on it.”
“Good.”
“Is William safe?” Joy asked Max.
William looked at her. Here she was concerned about his safety. That impressed him.
It impressed Max too. “He is most definitely safe,” he said. “We’ve increased security around him, his home, and you as well. Seen and unseen.”
“That’s good,” said Joy, “because we don’t want anything bad to happen to him. He’s too good a man for bad things to happen to him.”
Max smiled. “Yes ma’am. We’ll make sure of it. But also, sir,” he said, turning toward William, “the trip you were talking about taking to Indiana tomorrow?”
“What about it?” Joy asked.
“That’s off the table for now. Completely. We don’t want any unknowns, and Bridell, Indiana is a big unknown.”
Joy frowned. “What do you mean unknown? I’m from there. That’s my hometown.”
“Unknown to us,” said Max, clarifying. “Unknown to our security apparatus. Until we get a clearer picture about why Mr. Skeffington was targeted, we’ve got to keep his circle as narrow as possible.
That means no overseas trips. No trips period until we at least find Felicity Feldman.
Or at most find whoever wanted him targeted if it wasn’t her.
” He looked at William. “Is that understood, sir?”
William knew that it was. He trusted Max’s judgement. But did Joy? “Is that understood, Joynetta?”
“If they think that’s best then absolutely. Gramps is fine. Tess is too. I’ll explain to them that I’ll be there to see them in a couple months or whenever I can get away. They’ll understand.”
William nodded. “It’s settled then,” he said.
And Max, satisfied too, stood up. “I’ll let you know as soon as we find her, sir. We’re certain she’ll know exactly why he would have targeted you.”
“Right,” said William, Max said his goodbyes, put the chair back in place, and left.
Joy looked at William. “He’s a member of this club too?”
“By my invitation, yes.”
Then Joy felt a pit in the bottom of her stomach. “I’m sorry you’re the target.”
William looked at her and frowned. “I’m not sorry! Thank God I’m the target. I don’t want that burden to fall on you.”
“But you’ve got enough burdens on you,” she said so heartfelt that it made William smiled.
“I can handle them,” he said. “I’m used to it, Joy. Don’t you worry about me.”
Joy smiled. “I’m still gonna worry anyway.”
She was everything he could have hoped for and more.
Even after Cassidy, she was still in his corner.
And he wasn’t about to allow some woman who didn’t hear what he was telling her ruin her birthday dinner.
He stood up, and extended his hand. “Let’s dance while we wait,” he said.
And Joy, pleased that he wasn’t some stuff-shirt the way she at first thought he was, gladly took his hand.
They made their way to the dance floor. Many older couples were dancing and they joined right in. Joy was the youngest thing on the floor. But she enjoyed herself. Although the song, The Beatles singing Something, was a song she was only vaguely familiar with. But even that seemed to work too.
And soon she and William were dancing in a slow drag. She leaned closer against him, and he held onto her, as they danced:
“Something in the way she moves.
Attracts me like no other lover.
Something in the way she woos me.
I don’t wanna leave her now.
You know I believe and how.”
As the guitar played, William stared at Joy as they danced. And she looked up at him and was staring back.
“Something in her smile she knows.
That I don’t need no other lover.
Something in her style that shows me.
I don’t wanna leave her now.
You know I believe and how.”
And in that moment, that very moment, William knew he was one hundred percent completely and unequivocally in love with Joynetta Johnson. It was early days. Too early for him to be that certain. But he was that certain.
He pulled her back into his arms as those emotions of seeing his pathetic parents again battled with the emotions of the love for Joy he held deep in his heart.
It wasn’t even close.
Love won.
“I don’t wanna leave her now.
You know I believe and how.”