Scarlet Fever - Hill Country 2 (29 page)

“No, I’m not.
 
I am a happily married man.”
 
Alex was emphatic in his rejection of her.

“Well, that’s not exactly true.”
 
Sandy said with a twinkle in her eye.
 
“There was a problem with the license.
 
It was rejected.”
 
Sandy’s words were said so flat and commonplace that at first Alex didn’t digest them.

“What did you say?”
 

“You aren’t married to that woman, Alex.
 
Your special license was rejected.
 
Don’t ask me the details; I’m just a lowly clerk.”
 
If Alex hadn’t been in public, he might have been tempted to throttle the bitch standing before him.
 
If the special license had been rejected, he knew that it had been her doing.

“Well then, I’ll just have to see that it gets fixed.
 
Won’t I?”
 
He stepped back from the poisonous woman, her very presence turning his stomach.
 
“Can you see yourself off of my property or would you like my help?”
 
Sandy could tell by the steely determination in his eyes that Alex was deadly serious about her leaving.
 
So, she left.

************************

Alex scanned the crowd, looking for Scarlet, but she was nowhere to be seen.
 
He wanted her to know nothing of what had just transpired.
 
He would move heaven and earth to fix this.
 
Scarlet had been through enough today.
 
All he wanted to do was get this ceremony behind him, go to the police station and take care of the LeBeau crap and come back so he could be alone with his wife.

The parking was done and the guests were taking their places.
 
Soon, it would be time for him to join his brothers and the pastor to wait for their cue to begin the wedding ceremony.
 
Dressed in an Armani tux, Alex had no idea what a striking picture he made.
 
If he were to have surveyed the gathering crowd, he would have been surprised to see at least a dozen pairs of eyes watching him hungrily.
 
But he was oblivious.
 
The only pair of eyes that he wanted watching him were Scarlet’s.
 

Taking a deep breath, he looked around to search for her.
 
Before, he could take another step, a small pair of hands slipped around his waist.
 
Relief washed over like a warm spring rain.
 
“Would you hold me, please?”
 
Her simple request was the sweetest words he had ever heard.

Turning to her, he pulled her close and pressed butterfly kisses all over her face.
 
“Gladly.”
 
His heart was hammering as if he had run a marathon.
 
Now this was more like it.

Scarlet held him tightly.
 
She didn’t understand, and she didn’t know what was going to happen.
 
What she needed was time to think, alone, away from Lost Maples and away from Alex.
 
So, what he didn’t know, was that this was good-bye, at least for a little while.
 
“I just wanted to tell you thank you for everything that you have done for me.”
 
She let him hold her tight, and she allowed herself to sink into his hard warmth one more time.

“This will soon be over, baby.
 
I have to go take care of business at the police station, but just as soon as I can, I’ll come home to you.“
 
Scarlet didn’t say anything; she just clung to him, breathing in his precious scent.
 

She wouldn’t be here when he came back.

************************

The wedding went off without a bobble.
 
Annalise was radiant.
 
Ethan strutted like a peacock and everyone else was duly attentive and appreciative.
 
Scarlet sang beautifully, but Alex expected her to meet his eyes as she sang
Love Me Tender
, but she seldom looked up, and when she did, she looked over the heads of the audience.
 
Alex held his breath as Scarlet walked down the aisle, déjà vu of exhilaration almost overwhelming him.
 
But, as before, Scarlet never met his eyes.
 
The toasts were said, the cakes were cut and no one could have asked for a more perfect wedding.
   

The bouquet was thrown and Scarlet managed to be somewhere else.
 
There was going to be a delay in Annalise and Ethan’s departure.
 
Their flight to Hawaii had been delayed, so the sendoff wasn’t quite what it would have been otherwise.
 
The guests departed and the newlyweds retired to their room for some much needed downtime.
 
Scarlet and Alex were preoccupied with trying to see all the hired help off and tying up loose ends.
 
It would take at least a couple of hours to put everything back to some semblance of normal

When Alex wasn’t looking, Scarlet crept up to the main house.
 
She wanted to spend just a few minutes with Annalise and in her own way, tell her goodbye.
 
Right now, she felt like she would be going home, but she had to think, she had to give Alex the benefit of the doubt.
 
Maybe, if she just went away for a few hours, she could get her head on straight.
 

Best laid plans.
 
When Scarlet reached Annalise’s bedroom door, she heard the unmistakable sounds of two people making love.
 
She should have known.
 
“Oh, well.”
 

Hearing the front door open, she tensed.
 
“Scarlet!”
 
It was Alex.
 
“I’m going to the police station sweetie.
 
I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Okay.”
 
She walked toward his voice, but before she could get there, he was gone.

************************

“When will I see you again?”
 
Bobby held Cecile in his arms, his chin resting on her head.
 
She was already packed and ready to head back to Dallas.

“It’s not that far to Dallas, Bobby.
 
We’ll see each other.”
 
Doubts had blossomed in her heart, almost overnight.
 
There was no way that this was going to work.
 
What had she been thinking?

“When?”
 
He was determined to tie down specifics.
 
“How about next weekend?”

Cecile refused to meet his direct gaze.
 
“Give me a call later in the week and I’ll let you know.”

“Are you giving me the brush-off, Ms. Fairchild?”
 
Bobby’s tone was light, but his heart was hurting.

“Bobby . . . . It’s time for me to go.
 
” He loosened his embrace and let her back up a couple of feet.

“Fine.”
 
His voice was flat, he wasn’t going to beg.
 
“You go back to Dallas.
 
See your friends.
 
But when you turn out the light at night and lay down in your bed, remember what it felt like when I pushed deep inside you.
 
Remember what it felt like when I made you come apart in my arms.”
 
Bobby jerked her suitcase up and strode off to her car.
 
If she wanted to get away from him that bad, he would help her.

Tears clamored in Cecile’s throat.
 
She would have no trouble remembering how it felt to love Bobby.
 
No trouble at all.

************************

Alex met Officer Daisetta at the precinct building.
 
“Come on in, Mr. Stewart, we’ve been expecting you.”
 
Alex followed the uniformed man into the cold, clinical rectangular room, turning down the offered coffee.

“There are some things that I think you need to hear.”
 
Officer Daisetta pointed to a chair, which Alex took.
 
“It’s not often that a criminal offers us irrefutable evidence, but this man is a piece of work.”

“That he is.”
 
The officer took out LeBeau’s digital recorder and set it to play.
 
Every word that Rick and Scarlet had said was played for Alex to hear.
 
He heard Rick’s description of the physical pain that he inflicted; he heard the lies that he told Scarlet about his love and their marriage.
 
Ice cold panic flowed through Alex’s veins that once ran warm with life giving blood.
 
This explained Scarlet’s behavior.
 
This explained why she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
 
This explained . . . . . . . . . . “Oh, God.
 
Thanks, officer, but I’ve got to go.”
    

************************

 
Scarlet didn’t pack everything, and she took nothing that Alex had given her.
 
She even went so far as to remove the diamond jewelry that he had given her, but in the end she kept the bracelet, after all, it was engraved.
 
She left the insurance card; without a marriage, it was just a piece of plastic.
 
And she left a note.

 
Dear Alex:

 
I need to get away, to think.
 
Just for a little while, I won’t be gone too long.
 
When I return, you can tell me what we need to do to straighten this out so nobody gets hurt.
 
I can’t pretend to understand what has happened.
 
I am very torn about it all.
 
I know Rick is a liar and I trust you.
 
Beyond that, I am unbelievably confused.
 
The only thing that keeps coming to my mind is the old saying, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
 

Nevertheless, I do not regret a moment that I have spent with you.
 
If it was all pretend, then I’m really no worse off than when I walked up the sidewalk with my bucket list.
 
You’ve been wonderful; you’ve given me happiness that I never would have experienced otherwise.

Speaking for myself – I
 
love you,
     
Scarlet.

************************

When Alex drove up in front of Lost Maples, he knew that she was gone.
 
The little car that had been parked over to one side for these many days, was now gone.
 
The lovely Bed and Breakfast had a forsaken look about it.
 
Alex knew that it was totally his imagination; the B&B was still clad in its wedding finery.
 
Checking in the garage, he saw that Ethan and Annalise were still here, as was Bobby and Cecile.
 
Everyone was here, except the person that mattered the most to him.

Taking the steps, two at a time, he tore into the front door.
 
He wanted to scream, but first he had to make sure that she had left no note, anything that would give him an inkling as to where she might be and what was going on.
 
After hearing the tape that Rick had made, Alex knew exactly what Scarlet was thinking.
 
It nearly killed him to imagine that Scarlet was under the impression that he had betrayed her.
 

Racing to his room, he found the note on his pillow.

Reading the words was bad enough, but seeing the tear stains broke his heart.
              

♥ ~
Chapter IX
~ ♥

Scarlet had forgotten that she was broke.
 
She had been living in such a fantasy world, that the reality of having to worry about day to day problems seemed foreign to her.
 
Looping back toward the B&B, she decided to go back to the park where she had spent that first glorious night with Alex.
 
There were picnic tables and rest room facilities, and she had spent the night in her car before.
 
Stopping at a convenience store, she bought two bottles of water and some cheese crackers.
 
Now she was officially broke.
 
What she was going to do for gas to get home on would have to remain a mystery, at least until she could get her head on straight.