Deliver Me (34 page)

Monica stared at
Tosha’s retreating back and fought the urge to tackle her like a football
player. She refused to give an ounce of credence to what she’d said. Monica
knew envy when she heard it. Tosha Culpepper wanted Eli for herself. The woman
could not be more transparent if she were made of sheer lace.

Alex had already
explained that her being here tonight was unavoidable since she answered the
phone when he’d called to invite Sienna, but he promised to keep her as far
away from future Holmes family functions as possible. That, at least, brought
her a bit of relief.

By the time she
arrived at her apartment, Monica was ready to crash on the floor of her foyer.
The ten steps to the sofa seemed like a mile.

It had taken a half
hour to say goodbye. Of course, every time Monica tried to leave, Margo dragged
her into another conversation.

Even in her tired
state Monica managed to smile. She liked Margo. She was the polar opposite of
her own mother, who ruled her children with an iron fist and was as cold as
Antarctica in the dead of winter. No matter how hard she tried, Monica could
never please her mother. But with Margo, just being there seemed to be enough for
her.

The telephone rang,
and Monica groaned. In order to answer it she would have to walk, and that was
just a little too much to ask of her aching body at the moment.

She managed to
shuffle to the phone on the end table. She picked up on the fifth ring.

“Hello.”

“You miss me?” came
a deep, decadent voice.

A warm glow started
from within her chest and spread throughout her body. It was amazing what just
the sound of this man’s voice did to her.

“I was going to lie,
but what’s the point. I miss you terribly.”

“Good.”

“Shut up,” she
laughed. “I had a great time with your family. Your Uncle Jake put a hole in
your mother’s kitchen wall trying to open a jar of pickles.”

“Never a dull moment
at the Holmeses.”

“Want to know the
most interesting portion of my night?”

“What’s that?” Eli
asked.

“My little
heart-to-heart with one Ms. Tosha Culpepper,” Monica answered sweetly.

He waited a beat,
then cursed. Monica could barely hear the whispered reply. “That girl.”

“She sure is a piece
of work.”

“She’s a basket
case, Monica. I don’t even want to know the things she told you.”

“Oh, you certainly
don’t want to know, but I’ll tell you anyway. According to Tosha, if I’m smart,
I’ll get out while my heart is still intact. I have to warn you, I pride myself
on being a pretty smart cookie.”

“I swear she was not
this way in high school. Maybe a little off, but nothing compared to the
fruitcake she’s turned out to be. Don’t believe a word she says.”

“It’s forgotten,
Eli. I know a jealous ex-girlfriend when I see one. Now, her sister, Sienna,
seems really sweet.”

“She is. Sienna is
the only sane one in that family. I think their mother found her on the
doorstep or something.”

“Stop that,” Monica
laughed. “By the way, Alex wanted me to tell you they’ve decided to take your
mom to Ruth’s Chris Steak House for her birthday dinner. I was surprised when
he told me it would be just the five of you. That seems a little small for a
Holmes family gathering.”

“Mama loves throwing
big parties for everybody else, but she never wants us to make a fuss over her
birthday. My brothers and I have talked about doing something big for her
sixtieth birthday next year, though.”

“Well, this year, it’ll
be just a cozy dinner with Margo and her boys.

“You’re invited,
too.”

“Am I?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you,” Monica
answered, unable to wipe the smile from her face. “Do you have any idea when
you’ll be back?” she asked.

“That’s why I
called.” She heard the disappointment in his voice. Monica’s heart fell.

“What happened? I
thought Doctor Lewis would take over for you?” Was she actually whining? She
never whined.

“His father is worse
off than they realized. He’s taking an extended leave. He’ll be in Minnesota
for at least the next three weeks.”

“
Three weeks
!
 
I can’t drive up to
Hattiesburg for the next three weeks. Do you know how expensive gasoline is?
There has got to be another ob-gyn they can bring out there.”

“What can I say?
They want the best,” he said in an exaggerated cocky tone.

“This is so not the
time to try out the new comedy act. We need to think of something. I miss you,”
she said softly.

“I know, baby. Let’s
hope the Mississippi legislature can come up with a plan when their emergency
session reconvenes tomorrow.”

“They had better,”
Monica said. “I just may have to go up there and lobby myself.”

Eli chuckled. “I’ll
warn them.” In a more serious tone, he said, “I’m sorry I have to be away from
you for so long.”

“I’m sorry, too.”

“And I’m sorry I’m
not doing my part for the banquet.”

“You’ve done an
amazing job already. So many bachelors have volunteered, thanks to your
arm-twisting. And now that you’ve convinced Toby to let Aria Jordan perform, I
know we’re going to make more than enough to keep the center open. You just
concentrate on getting back here.”

“I promise, I’ll
try.”

It took everything Monica
possessed not to say the words she was dying to say. But until Eli made a
proclamation of love, she would not reveal what was in her heart.

She had told Patrick
she loved him very early in their relationship, and Monica was now convinced
that’s when he had tied the puppet strings to her back. Once she made her
feelings known, he knew he could manipulate her. Monica refused to be put in
that position again.

“Don’t let them work
you too hard,” she said instead.

“Same with you.
Although, the only person who would work you too hard is you.”

“Ha. Ha,” she
mocked, rolling her eyes, although he couldn’t see her. “Good night.”

“Good night, Monica.”

Say it
. Monica silently pleaded. But, he didn’t.

“Talk to you
tomorrow,” Eli said, then he hung up the phone.

Monica listened to the steady hum of the dial tone for
several moments while she mulled over the multitude of questions rolling
through her mind. Had Eli fallen as hard for her as she had for him? Would he
be willing to take their relationship to the next level? Would he ever tell her
he loved her?

She was too
exhausted to make sense out of it all.

Monica deposited the
handset back into its cradle. She stripped away her clothes on the way to her
bedroom, and once there, fell face first onto the bed.

The doorbell’s
incessant ringing had Amanda near the edge. She smoothed the covers around her
and tried to ignore the diabolical chiming, focusing instead on the made-for-TV
movie she had been struggling to watch for the last half hour. She still had no
idea what the movie was about.

The doorbell rang
again, and Amanda fought the urge to waddle to the front door and punch the
hell out of whoever had been there for the last five minutes. Probably a bill
collector.

Whoever it was, they
could press the bell until their finger fell off. The last thing Dr. Holmes
told her was that she had to remain in bed if she didn’t want to endanger
herself or the baby. She would heed her doctor’s warning.

The ringing stopped
and Amanda exhaled a sigh of relief.

Lying in bed all day
had her crazy enough as it is, she did not need additional contributors to her
impending insanity.

The doorbell sounded
again, followed by rapid knocking.

Oh, for goodness
sake. She would just have to seek Dr. Holmes’s forgiveness.

Amanda threw the
covers off and struggled to get her legs over the side of the bed. She had been
on her back so long, she wasn’t sure her limbs would be able to hold her up.

Knowing what she was
doing was wrong, Amanda felt a twinge of guilt settle deep in her stomach as
she lifted herself up from the bed and headed toward the front door. She said a
silent prayer that the dizziness would not return.

She unlatched the
chain, opened the door, and froze. Her breath caught in her throat as she
stared at the face of the one person she hated more than any other in the
world. A person she had never officially met, but who had turned her life
upside down.

The other woman.

Like film on a movie
reel, her mind raced back to the day she saw Jeffrey and this woman walking out
of their house together, hand in hand. At first, she had been willing to write
it off as harmless, something that could easily be explained. Until the two of
them embraced. They’d held each other, then Jeffrey had opened her car door and
helped her inside.

That’s when Amanda
knew this stranger her husband had brought into her house was anything but
harmless. She was a home wrecker.

And now she was
standing on her doorstep.

“Is Jeffrey Daniels
here?” the woman asked.

Amanda was about to
tell her to go to hell when she looked down and noticed the woman’s very
pregnant belly.

Her world imploded.

She lifted her hand
to her forehead as sudden dizziness overwhelmed her. The reality of Jeffrey’s
betrayal hit with the force of a Mack truck. Her heart pounded frantically in
her chest, the blood rushing in her ears like a raging river. Breathing became
difficult, almost impossible. Unbidden, images of her husband lying with this
woman, impregnating her in their own bedroom flashed through Amanda’s mind.

A mass of hurt
encircled her heart. Pain. Anger. Fury. Deep, profound, unmitigated fury. It
spiraled through her body as the realization of what stood before her dawn with
mind-blowing clarity.

Amanda could not
give Jeffrey what he wanted, so he’d found someone who could.

“Jeffrey Daniels?”
the woman asked. “He still lives here, doesn’t he?”

Amanda tried to find
her voice. It was lodged behind a lump of resentment. This is the woman who had
ruined her marriage, who had coldly stolen her husband.

“Is everything okay?”
the woman asked. She flattened her palm over her belly and rubbed.

Amanda saw red. Was
she taunting her? Had Jeffrey discussed their infertility struggles?

Even as she felt her
own baby flutter inside of her, Amanda was hit with a wave of inferiority. She
felt second-rate to the woman who Jeffrey had easily gotten pregnant.

“Could you please
tell Jeffrey I need to speak with him?”

With sereneness
completely contradictory to the turmoil roiling inside, Amanda calmly warned, “If
you don’t get away from my door, I will hurt you.”

The woman’s eyes
widened. “I’m sorry?” she said, confusion contorting her face.

“You heard me,”
Amanda annunciated through clenched teeth. At her sides, her hands balled into
fists of their own accord.

“Look, I really need
to see Jeffrey Daniels. It is very important. It’s about work he did on my
patio...”

The rest of the
woman’s words faded into a distant background. Amanda could feel herself losing
it. The humming in her ears worsened as her head began to pound.

Then Jeffrey
arrived.

His Explorer pulled
into the driveway and he jumped out. Seeing him race toward his lover pushed
Amanda over the edge.

“You still want him?”
she screamed. “There he is, running to your side like a knight in shining
armor. You can have the son of bitch, because I don’t want him.”

“Amanda! What are
you doing out of bed?” Jeffrey tried to grab her arm, but she flung his hand
away. She stomped onto the front lawn with measured steps, screaming every inch
of the way.

“She came looking
for you.” Amanda focused her venom on her husband.
 
“I guess you were paying to much
attention to me and your whore didn’t like it. Are you planning to introduce
your children to each other? Maybe they can be playpen pals?”

“What is she talking
about?” The woman looked to Jeffrey. “I only came to pay the rest of the
balance for the brick work you did on my patio.” At his mistress’ feigned
bewilderment and flimsy lie, Amanda felt the frayed threads of her sanity
unravel.

“Get away from my
house,” she yelled as she hurled herself at the other woman.

Jeffrey stopped her
and wrapped his hands around Amanda’s wrist. “Dammit, Amanda! What in the hell
are you doing?”

“Get your hands off
of me! I hate you! I
hate
you!” She
choked on the bone-wracking sobs that escaped from deep within her soul. Amanda
closed her eyes tightly and fought against his hold. “It wasn’t my fault! I
wanted a baby as much as you did; it wasn’t my fault I couldn’t get pregnant.
It wasn’t my fault that I lost the other baby. But I didn’t run out and have
one with someone else.”