CHAPTER FOUR
The next day she woke in her own bed, alone.
She vaguely remembered anything after the wedding the night before.
She sat up and groaned bringing her hand to her forehead as if that would still the pulsing pain at her temples.
She’d never been hung over a day in her life, but now she knew why.
It was really awful. It felt like someone was swinging a sledge hammer against her head and her mouth felt like she’d chewed on a dry cactus.
Light shone through the part in the curtains and it seemed to exacerbate the pain behind her eyes.
“Oh lord, I’m a fool.” She slowly moved over, sat up on the side of the bed, touching her toes to the carpet and looked down.
She was wearing her nightgown. Her fingers pinched the material as if it wasn’t real.
Who undressed her? She shut her eyes trying to remember, but the room started to spin instead.
She popped her eyes open. No luck. Ah, so frustrating!
Last thing she remembered was shamelessly straddling a mocha-eyed Adonis.
Oh, God, she could just die of embarrassment!
She rubbed her throbbing temples with her hands.
Still, blurry images of her on his lap kept resurfacing.
How could she possible do that? She looked up at the far wall and decided to shove it out of her mind.
She would go crazy thinking of how shameful she was.
Argh, who put her to bed? She stood up and went to the bathroom for a shower refusing to linger on that any longer.
A half an hour later she made her way to the kitchen where Mavis was. “Hi.” She was massaging her temples again as she walked.
“Hello, did you want breakfast or lunch Miss Easler?” Mavis asked suppressing a smile.
“What time is it?” She never even thought to look at the clock in her room.
That must have been a first for her. As a nurse she was addicted to her watch; when the doctor came, when symptoms began to show, when chest pain occurred, when atropine was given—everything.
In fact, she was certain she hadn’t checked the time all weekend.
She knew why. She didn’t want to see the time go by while spending it with Lance.
“It’s two in the afternoon,” Mavis answered with her eyes laughing.
“Oh dear.” No wonder she was so hungry. “I’ll have lunch I guess.”
“Tea, coffee?”
“Water…lots of water.”
Mavis retrieved a glass and filled a pitcher before setting it in front of her. “I’ll make you something your stomach can handle.”
Tammy laughed, “Do I look that haggard?”
“Mr. Hartley told me you were into the sauce last night and take it easy on you,” Mavis chuckled.
“How considerate.” She smirked. Sauce? She might have actually laughed if her temples didn’t throb.
“He’s nothing but,” she answered with clear admiration in her tone while turning back to the counter. “How about a crab salad?”
“Sounds perfect.” She spun in her stool and looked around the room. “Is he here?”
“He stepped out for a bit. He told me to let you know he’d be back before supper.”
She felt disappointment at missing him. She also wanted to know who undressed her and put her nightgown on. She certainly wasn’t going to ask Mavis. If it wasn’t her, which she was sure it wasn’t, she didn’t want the woman to know that Lance had done it and she couldn’t remember.
Mavis placed a bowl of salad in front of her. “Oh, and these.” She set two white tablets next to the bowl on the counter. “Mr. Hartley thought you could use some acetaminophen.”
“Thank you Mavis.” She smiled looking at the pills. It was very considerate.
“You’re welcome.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “If you need me for anything, just holler, I’ve got housework to do.”
She felt the urge again to ask Mavis about who put her to bed, but her words failed her as the older woman left.
She was sure it wasn’t her and if she mentioned it, she’d be embarrassed to let the woman know it was Lance.
She would make sure to ask him instead. Her attention shifted to the salad.
Tammy was quite famished. She actually finished the large bowl.
It was really good. The lettuce was crisp and the crab fresh like she’d just gotten it from the sea a moment ago.
She also drank half the pitcher of water.
She put her dirty dishes in the sink and walked back out to the great room.
She looked around wondering what she could do for the next few hours.
First she would give Elaina a call like Lance promised she would.
“Tell me everything!” Elaina’s voice screeched through the phone.
Tammy laughed at her friend’s excitement. “The wedding went well.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it.”
“He’s been very kind.”
“What? Are you smoking something? Tammy, that’s so unfair it’s like you’re describing the weather.
Look, have you made any headway with him?
I mean it’s been so many years. You’re worse than me, and I needed a swift kick in the butt to forgive myself and let Colt back in my life.
Please tell me you are taking this time and thinking about yourself for a change. ”
“I kissed him,” she finally confessed sheepishly.
“You did?”
“Well, technically, he kissed me, but I think I did last night. Things are kind of foggy. I drank too much.”
“Tammy, you drank? What on earth is going on over there?” she laughed.
“I’m turning into a wild child.”
“I so glad to hear that!”
Tammy laughed this time. “Some friend you are. You are supposed to be discouraging me not telling me to sin.”
“No way! You are the last person on this earth that would have a little fun because you are so busy looking after everyone. Besides, I would love to have you as a sister in law! Gosh, I feel like a blimp. Speaking of which,” she laughs.
“I need you here to look after me. Colton smothers me with love, but he doesn’t know how to handle symptoms, and he frets when he feels helpless.
Jacob works too much and I’m afraid to call on him with the little time he has with Tessa and the kids. ”
“You’ll be fine Elaina. Just get him to rub your lower back at night.”
“He does. He’s wonderful. I love him to pieces,” she sighed softly. “I really hope Lance sees how amazing you are too.”
“Me too.” She chuckled. “I miss you guys. I don’t like rich snobs.”
“We miss you so much. Mom says ‘hi’.”
“Tell everyone I miss them too. I’ll see you Thursday.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up.
Mavis came into the room at that time. “Miss Easler, there’s a Richard Cavanaugh here to see you.”
Timmy’s face fell. What on earth was he doing here, in Lance’s home?
Mavis saw her expression and looked a little worried.
“Hi Tamara.”
It was obvious he was supposed to wait in the entrance, but instead, showed himself in. The look of disproval on Mavis’s face gave that away.
“What are you doing here?”
He whistled as he looked around the room while stepping into it. “He really is filthy rich, isn’t he? That’s hard to compete with.”
Mavis gave Tammy a concerned look and Tammy shook her head saying it was okay. She nodded, but cast a suspicious glance at Richard as she left.
“Wow, I honestly thought you’d fall to pieces after you left me.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at her. “I’m disappointed. I guess Mr. Hartley has everything then, doesn’t he? I mean he’s got looks, intelligence, wealth—and you.”
“Where’s Melanie?” Tammy would not feed into this man’s self-pity.
He was getting married to another woman hopefully moving on with his life.
Richard did not love her, he wanted to possess her, and have the trophy wife her mother tried to turn her into.
Richard wanted something that didn’t exist and really, they were both better off.
Melanie was a much better choice. Richard just didn’t like losing.
“Doing some boring pre-wedding stuff with her mother.” He walked past her to the windows dismissing the conversation, “What a fucking view!” He splayed his hands out like he was going to take flight.
Tammy took a deep breath for patience. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Richard turned around and his eyes ran over her.
She was wearing the jeans and blouse she arrived in the day before yesterday.
“You are still a knockout. Did you know that? I mean, your mother kept you under her thumb so you were quite na?ve, but Christ you were pretty. Now look at you. You filled out nicely after you left—a late bloomer I guess.”
She tilted her head and stared at him while ignoring the derogatory comment.
Regan said the same thing to her yesterday.
She’d matured a lifetime since she left, and she refused to be intimidated by him anymore.
Another thing had peaked her curiosity and worried her.
She’d already asked him what he wanted and he’d yet to answer her.
There was something really odd about him too.
He had perspiration on his brow, and his tie was crooked.
Anyone who knew this man would know that he never had a crooked tie, or a hair out of place.
Appearances meant everything to him. Also, it wasn’t too warm in the penthouse, or outside.
“If you’re here to flatter me, it’s falling on deaf ears. ”
“Yes, I supposed with the millionaire in your pocket, it is.”
“It’s never been about money Richard or I wouldn’t have left. I support myself. It just goes to show how much you don’t know me.”
“No? I think you actually knew how you looked to the opposite sex and held out. I think you’re a big tease Tammy. I should have taken what was mine all those years ago. You would be married to me now.”
She didn’t like how this conversation was going. She felt an unfamiliar fear creep through her. “I think you should leave. Your hold over me ended when I left nine years ago.”
He shrugged ignoring her request. “Your mother seems to think we can get back together.”
“My mother’s ideas will never change. I’m with someone else now.” Yes, it was a lie, but she needed him to believe it.
“Are you? I think you still have feelings for me.”
“I did when I was young and naive, until you tried to rape me.”
“It wasn’t rape. You were going to be my wife.”
“Richard, this might be hard for you to believe, but if a woman says no, and you force them, it’s rape, whether you are engaged or married. I was barely eighteen.”
“You were old enough to pleasure me. I wouldn’t have gone to Melanie, if you had given in.”
“I did not love you. I don’t love you.” It fell on deaf ears.
“It’s not too late for me to call off the wedding. We could still be the couple we were meant to be.”
“Quite frankly Richard, I don’t want you.
I love Lance. Also, I can’t do that to my sister regardless of what occurred years ago.
” That was not a lie. She wasn’t sure how much more blunt she could be.
He just wasn’t listening. Some things just don’t change.
He always did what he wanted and told her how things were going to be without even checking to see if she disagreed or not.
He walked up to her until he stood toe to toe looking down at her. She refused to show fear and move back. He couldn’t affect her anymore. He lifted his hand and ran it over her shoulder. “Maybe you were just too young at the time. Now that you’re more mature, you’ll see it differently.”
She finally stepped back. “You don’t have the right to touch me.”
Suddenly his face contorted in rage. “And Mr. High and Mighty does?” He screamed it at her, and spittle flew into her face.
She flinched and stepped back again, her eyes wide at the sudden show of fury. What is wrong with him? She’d seen him like this before, but they were younger, and he had a hold on her then, but he wasn’t this fierce. Except once. A wash of fear went through her.
He glared at her. His eyes were dark and cold.
She could smell alcohol on his breath, horrible memories came flooding back to her of when he came to her room smelling the same way at seventeen and tried to force her.
She ended up with bruises on her legs, ribs, and wrists in the shape of fingermarks.
He’d managed to rip her clothes off her but was interrupted before he’d finished what he started.
At that time, she couldn’t be more relieved for her mother coming home early.
Richard fled, and Tammy showed her mother what’d he done, hoping that she’d finally come to her senses.
To her horror, her mother insisted she kept this to herself because people would label her as a loose woman, and her father would be shunned at work and the social circles she’d worked so hard to become a part of.
She was mortified. So yes, against her principles and fear of her mother, she did, but she was young and had no one she could turn to.
For all she knew, this was the way things were.
However, when she turned eighteen she got the hell away from both of them.
Now she knew it wasn’t right. She was no longer a teenager and would scream the rooftops off if he so much as touched her in that way again.
“I can be this wealthy. I’m up for a junior partnership. You need to give me time.”
“I told you Richard, it isn’t about money.
I live in a small apartment, on a limited income, and I’m very happy about that.
” She kept her voice soft to try and calm him down, but it didn’t seem to be working.
He was escalating. A tingle of fear went through her.
She’d seen this before with patients and addictions.
“It’s always about this.” He splayed his hands out again indicating to the rich furnishings of the great room.
“It’s not—”
She didn’t expect to get struck. Not from Richard.
He’d held her down bruising her when she was a teenager, but did not strike her.
It came out of nowhere, and was completely unexpected.
He’d hit her hard enough that she lost her balance.
She fell backwards and landed on the sofa.
One of her arms knocked the lamp off the side table and it shattered on the floor.
Before she could move, still reeling from the shock and the impact, he was on top of her, his hand on her throat pinning her to the cushion. She gasped, her eyes wide with fear.
He leaned down so his face was inches from hers. “You are mine Tamara. You always were. No one walks away from me!”
Tammy had worked with all kinds of people, even people who were committed from time to time for aggressive behavior, so she could actually see them coming, but for some reason she missed this.
“Stop,” she gasped as she reached up and pushed at his face.
He tightened his hold on her neck. “You are going to break up with Mr. Millionaire and come back to me. Do you hear me?”
For some reason the fact that he was demanding she listen to him, made her get angry.
She should be afraid, but his threats brought back a world of angst and rage.
There was a reason she enrolled in self-defense classes in her late teens after his first attack.
No one would do that to her again. She grit her teeth fighting against the squeezing grip on her neck.
Her instructors always told her not to try and pry hands off because it never worked, but instead go for something more sensitive.
“No!” She brought her knee up and hit him hard in the groin.
He shouted in pain, and instantly rolled off her onto the floor groaning while cupping his groin and curled in a fetal position.