Righteous Obsession (43 page)

“Goodness!  My cupboards are more bare than Old Mother
Hubbard’s!  I need to go grocery shopping first thing.”

“I’ll go with you,” Alethea decided.  “It’ll get done
faster if we do it together.”

“Thank you, Alethea.  I’ll tell Peter and Liam we’re
leaving so they can keep an eye on Colin.”

Colin awoke with a jolt, his heart pounding and sweat
pouring off of him.  At first, he didn’t remember where he was, but as he
calmed down he recalled everything.  He fell back against the pillow, took a
deep breath and wiped his face.  He’d had another horrific dream about Father
Michaels, stabbing him over and over while Jeff stood by cheering.  He knew it
was a reaction to his anger at Jeff, but it still scared the hell out of him! 
At least he hadn’t awakened screaming at the top of his lungs!  He pushed back
the comforter and slowly got to his feet.  He felt a bit wobbly and grabbed the
bed post for balance.  He waited for a couple of seconds then decided he was
okay.  He carefully pulled his sweat-soaked T-shirt over his head and tossed it
on the bed.  He frowned at the large gauze bandage that covered his wound.

“Colin?”  Alethea opened the door and peeked inside. 
“Supper’s ready.”

He turned to look at her.  “Okay.  Would you mind
getting another T-shirt out of my suitcase for me?”

“Of course not,” she replied, handing him a clean T-shirt.

“Thanks,” He carefully pulled it over his head and
straightened it.  “How do I look?”

Alethea put her arms around him.  “If you didn’t have
that wound to consider, I’d lock this door and rip your clothes off!”

He laughed.  “You wouldn’t have to – I’d strip
voluntarily!”

Alethea started to giggle.  “God!  We sound terrible!”

 Colin put his arm around her as they left the room. 
“Well, celibacy never has been my thing!”

“Nor mine!”

They walked into the kitchen.  Amanda was stirring a
kettle on the stove.  She smiled as she saw them and gave Colin a kiss. 
“Feeling better?”

“Yeah, except I’m starving!”

“Alethea made Paella and it’s almost ready.”

“I hope you like it,” Alethea said.

“My mouth’s watering just smelling it!”

Amanda opened the kitchen door, calling Peter and Liam
into supper.  They came in and went upstairs, returning in a few minutes. 
Peter pulled Amanda’s chair out for her and Colin did the same for Alethea. 
She dished up the Paella into bowls with a chunk of crusty Italian bread on the
side and passed them down while Amanda filled the salad plates.

“We’re you and Liam working in the yard?”  Colin
asked.  He knew his dad employed a service to take care of the fish pond, but
didn’t have a lawn service because he enjoyed working outdoors.  He found it
relaxing after a stressful day at the office.

“Yes, we’ve got the flower beds weeded, but the lawn
still needs mowing.”  Peter replied.

Liam made a face.  “I swear the weeds grow back as
fast as you pull them!”

“This is definitely ambrosia!”  Colin declared,
halfway through his stew.  “If this is a dream, don’t wake me until I’m
finished eating!”

Alethea’s Paella was so good; everybody opted for a
second helping and Colin for a third.

Amanda laughed.  “I hope you have room for dessert.”

“Amanda bought the richest chocolate cake she could
find!”  Alethea laughed.

After finishing his cake, Peter leaned back in his
chair and patted his stomach.  “This meal was terrific, but I think I’ll go for
a run before we go to bed.”

“Good idea,” Amanda agreed.

“Did you sleep well?”  Alethea asked Colin.

He made a face and shrugged.  “Mostly, I guess.”

“Did you have another nightmare?”  Peter asked him
gently.

“Yeah,” Colin admitted.  “Jesus!  It’s bad enough the
creep’s running around free for real, but he has to invade my dreams, too!”

“Colin, maybe, you should consider therapy like Doctor
Trumbull suggested,” Amanda said.

“I don’t know, Mom.  I just can’t see how talking to a
psychiatrist will make me feel better.”

“It probably would do us all good after what’s happened,”
Peter remarked.

“Maybe,” Colin conceded, twirling his coffee cup
around on its saucer.

The phone rang and Liam got up to answer it.  A few
minutes later, he called excitedly from the living room, “Hey, everybody!  Come
quick!  Colin’s on MTV’s Week In Rock!”

Everybody adjourned to the living room to watch.  The
piece started with a report of Colin and Alethea’s marriage, followed by the
news of his stabbing.  It revealed his alleged, attempted killer was his
half-brother, Father David Michaels.  The report ended with a shot of him
leaving the hospital that morning and thanking Unforgiven’s fans for all their
support.

Colin groaned and covered his face with his hands. 
“Somebody tell me I don’t really look that bad!”  He pleaded.  “Christ!  I look
like I died ten years ago and somebody forgot to tell me!”

The report ended with the statement that, “Colin
refused to comment on his half-brother’s alleged involvement in his stabbing.  His
whereabouts as well as those of his half-brother are currently unknown.”

“And mine are going to stay that way, thank you!” 
Colin snapped.  “I don’t know what in hell I’m going to say when I finally do
talk to the press!”

Liam tactfully changed the subject.  “The phone call
was from Tiffany.  I’m going out for awhile, okay?”

“Alright, but be very careful,” Amanda cautioned.

“If you see anybody acting suspicious, please come
right home,” Peter added.

“I will,” Liam promised.  He waved to them and went
outside.

Peter signaled to Amanda and they quietly left the
room to get ready for their run.

“I’m sorry I’m being such a drag, Alethea,” Colin
said, apologizing for his previous remark.  “I feel like I left here Colin
Matthews and came back somebody I never met before!”

“Well, I know who you are!  You’re the same loving,
sensitive and caring man I married a week ago!”

Colin put his arms around her and kissed her. 
“Jesus!  I don’t know what I’d do without you!”

Alethea smiled and teased, “I’m not going to give you
a chance to find out!”  She was silent for a moment then asked, “Are you going
to think about what Peter suggested?”

“I don’t know.  The best I can say right now is that
I’ll consider it.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

His parents, attired in shorts, T-shirts and running
shoes interrupted them.  “We’re going for a run.  If anybody calls, will you please
tell them we’ll be back in about forty-five minutes?”  Amanda said.

Alethea nodded.  “Will do.”

“So, this is how you keep your youthful figure, Mom!” 
Colin teased.  “You know, Jake thinks you’re a major babe?”

Amanda giggled and took hold of her husband’s arm. 
“Well, you’ll have to tell Jake this babe’s already spoken for!”

“Definitely!”  Peter declared.  They left the house,
leaving Colin and Alethea alone.

“What do you want to do now?”  Alethea asked leaning
against Colin’s left side.

He wrapped his arms around her and grumbled, “This
isn’t at all the honeymoon I had in mind!”

“I’ll bet you were planning on us doing lots dancing,
huh?”  She smiled, teasing him.

“Something like that.”

“Be patient.  It won’t be long before you’re healed
and we can make love.”

Colin sighed.  “Hell! That’s like somebody telling
Napoleon to be patient; he can invade Russia next month!”

Alethea giggled.  “Well, once you’re completely
recovered you’re going to need all your strength because we’re going to do a
lot of dancing!”

“I’m looking forward to it!”

They suddenly heard the sound of a key unlocking the
front door then Liam came inside.  “Hi!”

“You didn’t stay out very long,” Colin remarked. 
“Nothing going on?”

Liam shrugged.  “Not that much.”

Alethea sensed Liam wanted to talk to Colin, but was
uncomfortable talking in front of her.  She unclasped Colin’s hands and got to
her feet.  “I think I’ll start on the kitchen.”

“I don’t mean to chase you off, Alethea,” Liam
protested.

“You’re not, don’t worry,” She assured him.

After Alethea had left, Colin said to Liam, “So, what
the problem?  Are your friends treating you differently, now?”

Liam flopped down on the couch next to his brother. 
“No, but all they wanted to talk about was what happened to us and I didn’t
want to hear it.  Besides…” There was an uneasy expression on his face as he
continued, “Every time somebody came up behind me, I had like a flashback of
Father Michaels kidnapping me!”  He shivered.  “It made me so edgy I came back home.” 
He made a face.  “Tiffany was not pleased!”

“Do you and Alison still talk?”

“Yeah.  She keeps encouraging me to talk, but I hate
to unload all this crap I’m feeling on her.”

“Don’t push her away, Liam!  She obviously cares a
great deal about you and wants to help you so let her,” Colin advised.  “Look,
I know what you’re feeling.  I practically had heart failure today when I saw
all those reporters lunging at me!  I know that’s going to be the case for a
long time – every time somebody comes towards me, my heart’s going to be in my
throat.  I’ll always be thinking they’re going to pull out a knife and try to
stab me!  If I didn’t have Alethea to talk to I’d probably end up in a padded
cell!  Let Alison help you, okay?”

“Okay,” Liam agreed.  “I’ll call her tonight.”

“Good deal!”  Colin replied, messing up Liam’s hair.

“Colin!”

Colin grinned and put his arm around Liam.  “Come on
let’s see if Alethea needs any help.”

They went into the kitchen and found Alethea fitting
the last pan into the dishwasher.  She shut the door.  “This is great! 
Everything fit!  I didn’t have to wash anything separately.”

Colin nudged Liam.  “Uh oh!  Look at that gleam in her
eyes!”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a redecorating gleam!”  He teased.

“You’ve got to admit your house could use some major
redecorating, Colin!”  Liam looked at Alethea.  “The first six months he lived
there, he didn’t have any furniture.  We had to sit on the floor!”

“Hey!  I was on tour and I didn’t have time to buy
furniture!”

“And when he finally did…” Liam rolled his eyes.

“Come on!  It’s not that bad and it’s comfortable!” 
Colin protested.

“Comfortable, but ugly!”

“Actually, I do have a few ideas for redecorating our
home,” Alethea confessed.

“Be my guest!  Liam’s right – it could use a major
makeover!”

The front door opened and closed again then Peter and
Amanda walked into the kitchen.  She looked around in surprise.  “Thank you for
cleaning up, Alethea.”

“How was your run?”

“Very invigorating!”  Peter declared.  “I’m going to
check out the news before we go upstairs.”

“His nightly CNN fix!”  Amanda teased.

Once again, one of the top stories was about Colin and
the fact that his alleged, attempted murderer’s identity was his half-brother,
Father David Michaels. His current whereabouts were uncertain and his mother,
Kathleen Michaels was behind bars for refusing to tell the police where he was
hiding.  The story ended by stating neither the Matthews nor the Michaels
families were unavailable for comment.

“God!  That must be awful for Caitlin!  Poor kid!”  Colin
commented.

“Maybe, you should call her,” Alethea suggested. 
“She’d probably appreciate your support.”

“I would if I could avoid having to talk to her
father, too.”

Alethea frowned at his remark, but let it pass.  She’d
decided the one thing she wasn’t going to do was argue with him about Jeff.

“I’m going to go upstairs, take a shower and go to
bed,” Amanda said, breaking the awkward silence. She took Peter’s hand and led
him towards the stairs. “Goodnight everyone,” they called.

“Goodnight, Mom and Dad,” Colin replied.  He smiled to
himself.  He was probably the only person his age that had parents who were
like horny teenagers!

“I’m turning in, too,” Liam said with a yawn.  “I’m
really beat!”  He bade them goodnight and went upstairs.

Alethea leaned her head against Colin’s shoulder and
he put his arm around her.  “You must be exhausted, too.  It’s been a long
day!”

“I am tired,” she admitted as they went upstairs. 
Colin slowly got undressed.  He glared at the large piece of gaze, covering his
wound.  It served as a constant reminder of things he didn’t want to think
about!  He got into bed, pulled the comforter over him and watched Alethea as
she brushed her hair.  Aware of his gaze, she smiled at him then got up and
started to undress. Much to his surprise, she donned a silky nightgown and drew
a matching robe over it.