Dear Mystery Guy (Magnolia Sisters Book 1) (15 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Luca went to his parent's house after leaving the practice. Della had still not shifted, and the nurses were instructed to give him a call if she moved. He laughed softly to himself when heading into the driveway.

So Della had followed him, thinking that he lived here. What were the odds that on that particular day he was actually visiting his parents?

He liked to check in on them on Sundays; that particular Sunday Josephine had convinced him to go to Rizzle to the fundraiser. He had thought it was for a good cause and he had tagged along.

That's when he had met Della Gold and had been sufficiently moved to say hi to her. He liked her. A piece of him was battling with the fact that he liked her more now that he had read her journal. A little bit too much perhaps.

It was heady to find out that a girl that you were attracted to felt the same way about you and then some. She couldn't hide it; she couldn't play games with him. Those were her words in stark black and white. He knew how she felt.

He parked the vehicle under the porte-cochere and the front door flew open. It was Othneil, an anxious Othneil.

"I slept and feel rested. How is the patient?"

"In a coma." Luca came out of the car. "But you are not going to believe this when I tell you."

"What?" Othneil ran his fingers through his curly hair and breathed through his nose shallowly. "Hit me with the bad news."

"Wrong choice of words." Luca grinned at him. "Hit me? Really, Othneil. Haven't you had enough hitting for the week?"

Othneil smirked. "Come on in and tell me, not hit me."

Luca chuckled and followed his brother. They headed through the stylish foyer and into the family room. Othneil was the same height as he was and the same build.

When they were growing up, though Othneil was the eldest, people used to ask if they were twins.

They still resembled quite a bit but these days Othneil was looking way older than he should. Lack of sleep and work stress was aging his brother.

He was shocked to see Josephine in the family room with Yasmin, their heads bent over a magazine. His mother was standing behind them and pointing out things.

His heart sank when he saw that it was a wedding book.

"So this is where you are!" he said, interjecting some cheer in his voice.

Josephine looked up and smiled. "And like a homing pigeon you found me."

"How corny." Othneil sprawled out in the settee and yawned.  "Young love."

"I still have corny things to say to you." Yasmin winked at Othneil.

"So, Luca you were saying something about the girl in a coma," Othneil said, sitting down with his hands between his legs and looking across at his brother.

Luca paused. He was not so sure he wanted to talk about Della with Josephine around. Della had dedicated quite a few of her posts to saying that she dreamt about Josephine and she was actually working on her account. He did not want to create any trouble.

"Tell us, Luca." Yasmin was looking at him earnestly now. "I am so concerned about her."

"There's nothing to tell," Luca said, getting up. "She is in a coma but her hands were twitching so I went to check it out."

Othneil looked at him oddly but didn't say anything. He had just declared that he had something to tell. He was happy when Othneil didn't pursue asking him anything.

"And what about that stalker's book?" Josephine asked. "Did you read it?"

"Yes I did." Luca smiled. "It's nothing really."

Then the thought hit him that in one of Della's entries she said she saw Josephine in a bridal dress when she was younger. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that there could be a reason why she dreamt about Josephine.

Della thought she was hallucinating. As she put it, she had gone crazy but was she really?

He cleared his throat. "Hey Jose, can we talk in the kitchen?"

Josephine smiled and got up. She was in a pale green shift dress; her hair was combed in a side part. She looked cool and elegant.

"What is it?" she asked him, moving into his arms as soon as they were alone. "I missed you today. I feel as though you were avoiding me after our chat."

"I know." Luca eased himself away from her and looked her in the eyes. "I didn't know you were married twice. It was a bit disconcerting. Why did you break up the first time?"

Josephine sighed. "Oh, so we are back to that. He was older and he had a daughter, a little girl who hated my guts, and I was very immature and jealous of the kid at the time. Nothing I did could convince her to like me. In her eyes I was taking away her Dad..."

Luca froze. He actually felt his head growing bigger. That was why Della had headaches when she saw Josephine. It was not because she was jealous of him, as she thought. Josephine had been in her life. That's why she recalled dreams with her.

He inhaled and then exhaled slowly. "So what was the name of your first husband?"

"Dale Givens," Josephine said softly. "He's an international lawyer. He was heartbroken when Casey died."

"The name of the little girl was Casey?"

"Yes. The spoilt brat. Dale doled so much attention on that child that it was appalling. He was trying to make up for her mother's death, I guess. Her mother died in a car accident." Josephine shook her head. "To this day, I can't believe how attached Casey was to her father and how much hate a little person had for me.

"I didn't stand a chance with Casey. To Casey I was the wicked stepmother, and I wasn't even wicked. I tried really hard to be nice but she was not having it."

"How did she die?" Luca asked. His voice had a trembling quiver to it that was totally involuntary.

"Well, she...er...why is this important?" Josephine looked at him. "Why all the questions about this girl? She died nearly twelve years ago. It has nothing to do with us."

Luca shrugged. "Humor me."

"She was kidnapped while we were on a vacation in Jamaica. We were supposed to come to Jamaica for a family visit. I still had family here at the time. Dale was supposed to come with us but as usual work intruded and he came later. He had some enemies at that particular time. He was working on a gang ring case in the UK and was getting threats and all of that, but he ignored them. He is fearless that way but it cost him his daughter."

Luca exhaled on a rush. For a fanciful minute he had thought that Della was Casey.

"So where was she buried?" Luca asked. "Jamaica or was she shipped back to England?"

"Her body was never found." Josephine shrugged. "The gang who claimed responsibility for her death said they dumped her body at sea. They taunted Dale with it. He actually gave up the case after that. He had a nervous breakdown. The police never found her body."

Josephine sighed. "Dale could not forgive me for it happening. He blamed himself for going up against the criminals. He blamed me for taking her here. It mattered not that they were targeting her and that she would have died anywhere. I was the scapegoat. Our marriage could not have survived the bitterness and accusations. A few months after Casey died he gave me the boot. I fought for a settlement with him…I tell you, that experience made me hard; I grew up fast after that.

"I came back here to live after that, met Ray and he was husband number two. Is that enough details, Luca? Because seriously, I didn't know that me being married before would have been such a big deal."

"Ah." Luca walked to the window and looked over the back garden. He remembered something from Della's diary. She had been excited that she remembered something. A dog, a Chow-Chow.

"Did Casey have a dog named Barnes?" Luca asked, turning to Josephine. "A Chow-Chow?"

Josephine nodded jerkily. "How'd you know that she had a dog named Barnes?" Her eyes widened. "How on earth would you know this?"

Luca smiled grimly. "Because Casey Givens is in my practice, right now--unconscious. She can't remember the first nine years of her life. She has a slash on her throat and she is mute."

He didn't anticipate that Josephine would slide soundlessly to the ground in a shocked faint.

Chapter Twenty

"I want to see her," Josephine said weakly for the umpteenth time after she revived. She was lying on the settee, with all of Luca's family surrounding her anxiously.

"No," Luca said from somewhere to the left of her. "She is comatose. When she wakes up, she has a lot to learn. It will take her by surprise. She has to be prepared, especially about you."

"How did you know about her dog?" Josephine asked weakly.

Luca moved into her line of vision while the rest of his family moved away.

"She wrote about it in a journal," Luca said. "After seeing me in the supermarket she started having dreams. Her counselor told her to write down her thoughts in a book. She addressed it to me, instead of her diary."

"You? But why?" Josephine sat up in the settee and straightened her clothes.

Luca shook his head. "She had a crush on me. I triggered her dreams…I don't know. Then she followed me around and saw you and then her memories started coming back in patches."

"What a coincidence!" Yasmin breathed. "That's a serious coincidence."

"No. It's too amazing for coincidence." Othneil said. "This feels like a heavenly collusion. Like God orchestrated things this way."

"God did not make you hit that girl down, Othneil," Jennifer Lawson said sarcastically. "You did it because you were sleeping at the wheel of your car. I hope she doesn't sue us."

"I'll have to tell Dale." Josephine said, getting up. Not a drop of color was in her face. "I mean, if it is really Casey. He has to know."

"Our lab can run a DNA test when he gets here," Luca volunteered.

"But she has been here in Jamaica all this time?" Josephine couldn't wrap her head around it. "How on earth did she survive?"

"The good people at Magnolia House," Luca said, "and especially Patricia Benedict. Pat has always been a Good Samaritan. According to Della...er, Casey...Patricia wanted children who were really in need for their newest bungalow. She saw her picture in a file and decided that she was a worst case scenario. She had a slash at her throat which affected her larynx. She has been mute for twelve years, with no memory of her past."

Josephine put her hand to her mouth; tears were in her eyes. "Excuse me. I am going to use the bathroom."

She got up and left them, grabbing her bag with her.

"It is a small world," Luca said, looking at Othneil, "and yeah, I agree with you. God had a hand in this. Did you know that Casey works for Benedict and Associates and her first account was Josephine's?"

"You don't say," Yasmin gasped.

"And she spoke to Liam Benedict about her throat and he suggested that his wife was almost deaf and was worked on by a Doctor Miracle? Remember that case that I collaborated on with Will Faulkner?"

"Yes." Othneil nodded. "How could I forget? Will drove us all crazy. He has a big ego. I can't stand him, though, seriously."

"But Dr. Miracle is here; he will be working on a patient of mine on Tuesday. Which means that he could work on Casey when she wakes up. Her throat can be fixed. If there is anybody who can do it, it's Will. He's the best."

"The problem is, he knows it." Othneil snorted. And he doesn't let you forget."

Luca shrugged and then shook his head. "This whole thing is giving me goose pimples. You know, she asked me if I believed in random coincidence. I definitely don't."

*****

"I called Dale," Josephine said, coming back into the room. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"He'll be here by Sunday morning. He doesn't believe me that it's her but he'll be here. She was his whole world; he'll grasp at straws. Luca, I hope you are sure, because this would be bringing up fresh pain."

"Are his eyes golden with a brown ring around them?" Luca asked.

"Yes." Josephine slumped inelegantly in her chair. "That's the first thing I noticed about him when we met. Casey got his eyes."

"I know," Luca said. "In one of her entries she said she looked for eyes like hers wherever she goes and I've seen them. They are pretty unique."

"Oh God." Josephine groaned. "All of this is overwhelming. I left Jamaica as soon as the police searched the coast for her body and didn't find her. She was kidnapped from the west side of Jamaica; we got the call the morning after the kidnapping that she was dead.

"Ironic, huh? If either Dale or myself had stayed a bit longer, maybe we would have heard about her. I don't know."

"You can't blame yourself." Luca went over to Josephine and hugged her.

"Where've you seen her eyes before?" Josephine asked. "I thought she was in a coma."

Luca chuckled. "Remember that girl you saw me talking to at Rizzle? The one you called a gold-digging hussy?"

"Only because I could see that you liked her," Josephine whispered. "That was Casey?"

"Yup." Luca nodded. He led her away from his family, who were listening to them keenly, and into the dining room. He closed the door.

"Josephine, we need to talk about the wedding."

Josephine looked at him and shook her head. "No. No. We are still getting married in two weeks. I love you."

"But I don't know if I love you," Luca said earnestly. "I have been dithering about this for weeks. I can't go through with it. It doesn't feel right."

Josephine pulled her hands from his aggressively. "You can't just break up with me. Where is this coming from?"

"It would be a mistake." Luca sighed. "We are not really compatible. It is better we put a halt to things now, before we actually commit ourselves. I don't want to be ex- husband number three."

"So that's it!" Josephine accused. "That is unfair, Luca! My previous husband died. I don't have serial marriages. My first husband divorced me because he was crazy with grief and needed someone to blame for his daughter's death!"

"We really don't know a lot about each other." Luca pushed his hands in his pockets and leaned on the wall.

"What is there to know?" Josephine said. "Maybe the only secrets that I have been hiding are that I absolutely hate dogs and cats and furry animals. I really am not that crazy about kids either; they are messy and opinionated and they usually don't like me, but I'll have them if that's what you want."

Luca sighed. "It's over, Jose."

"So much for honesty." Josephine exhaled. "It's the children thing, isn't it?"

"Jose." Luca shook his head. "Just let it go. We really don't have many things in common. We would be miserable in a matter of weeks."

"Okay." Josephine huffed. "I'll email all the invitees and tell them the wedding is off."

"I wanted a small wedding with just family," Luca said. "You invited half of Jamaica to be there. That's just another one of our incompatibilities I guess."

Josephine threw him a sour look and stormed out of the house.

*****

When Luca stepped into the practice on Saturday morning to check on Della, he was greeted by a group of women in the lobby. One of them was standing at the receptionist desk in a red tailored dress, her hair in a stylish chignon.

When the door closed behind her she spun around, and he realized that it was Patricia, still pretty after all these years. Tessa had looked a lot like her. It gave him a jolt to see her face.

"Luca!" Patricia said plaintively. "Imagine my absolute surprise when I heard that Della was here at this practice unconscious and that you are the attending doctor."

Luca smiled. "Good to see you again, Patricia. I thought you were abroad for six months."

"I was," Patricia said, "but Della was in an accident. So here I am. I called the girls too."

He spun around. There were four women seated. He tried to decipher from Della's descriptions who was who.

He readily recognized Brigid; she had dark, velvety skin and her hair was in long braids and as Della had said, she was seriously pretty. Hazel was the one with the light skin and the curly hair, and Caitlin was the one that was modelesque with her sharp cheekbones and thickly lashed eyes.

"So tell us about her," Brigid said. "Is she..." Her voice broke. "The nurses won't tell us anything."

"She is in a coma. Unfortunately, she was hit by a car," Luca said addressing them all. "And er, there is a little development."

"What?" Patricia asked.

"Well," Luca exhaled, "it's a long story. You all want to follow me to the conference room to hear it?"

"Can we see her first?" Patricia asked anxiously.

"Sure," Luca said. "Follow me." He realized when he showed them to Della's room that he probably knew more about her than even these people who were so close to her did because of her journal.

"
Wake up, Della,"
he whispered to himself. "I have a feeling you will be very happy when you do."

*****

"So Della is really Casey Givens?" Brigid exclaimed after Luca updated them.

"Yes." Luca nodded. "I think so. It makes sense."

"Hold on a minute," Caitlin said. "She dreamt about a name on a ring, Givens."

"Yes. That's right." Brigid snapped her fingers. "Oh my! I forgot about that. I feel so happy for her."

Patricia was smiling. "God is good. When she was little we always prayed about her eventually finding out what happened. Remember, girls? Now it is all coming through for her. I just wish she would wake up, though."

"Her father is coming by tomorrow. He should be here in the morning." Luca studied each of them. Della loved them so much. He wondered how she was going to adjust to her new life without them in it.

Hazel was looking at him with her eyebrows raised.

He smiled at her. "I thought you were in Texas with your husband's family."

Hazel groaned. "I was but I got a flight as soon as I could when Patricia called yesterday. It was a welcome call--not that I would want Della to be hurt, but it had been a week of hell. What else did Della write in that book of hers?"

Luca grinned. "Both of you followed me to Rizzle."

Brigid laughed. "Hazel helped Della stalk you?"

Patricia chipped in. "I need to know what got into you to marry John, Hazel."

"Okay," Luca got up. "You guys, I am going to church. It was nice to see you again, Patricia, and to meet you all."

"I'll come with you." Hazel got up hurriedly.

"Sit back down!" Patricia pointed at her. "We are due for a family chat."

Caitlin looked at the ceiling and rolled her eyes. "Oh boy. Family chats are usually long. My aunt is outside. I am not the one in trouble. Can I go?"

"I am not in trouble, either," Brigid said, jumping up.

"You are all in trouble," Patricia said, "especially you, Brigid, and you know very well why. You were not in Cuba when I called. Everybody else thought you were. You told your sisters that you went to Cuba on some medical trip? If something had happened to you, how would we have known?"

Brigid subsided in her chair and covered her face.

Luca left them to their conversation.