Skeletons in the Closet

Moan For Uncle 4: Skeletons In The Closet

Copyright 2011 by Terry Towers

Cover by: Terry Towers

All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotes used for critical reviews and articles no part of this book may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author Terry Towers. Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Terry Towers can be contacted via her website at www.elixaeverett.com

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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors imagination and used fictitiously.

Chapter 1

"We're denied!" Nikki's blue eyes widened and her long chestnut brown hair, tied in a high ponytail swayed from side to side, as she shook her head. "You need to check that again. We are
not
denied."

"Sweetie, calm down. It's a mistake." Grant slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tight against him, placing a light kiss on the top of her head. Looking up, he gave the mousy middle-aged female clerk in the horn-rimmed glasses a friendly smile. "Can you double check on that for us? I'd be grateful if you would."

The woman huffed and shot them an annoyed look over her glasses. "Alright. I'll see what I can find out." They watched as she stood and made her way to the back office.

"What if it's the uncle-niece thing?" Nikki whispered, looking up at him and seeking his reassurance, that that wasn't the case.

It had been a month since she and Grant had informed her parents of their engagement and although her parents had ultimately accepted that she and Grant were going to be getting married, there was still tension between the four of them.

Her parents had asked that they did not ‘publically’ announce the engagement, at least not for a little while, until they got used to the idea themselves. So now when she and Grant visited Bar Harbor, they had to pretend to be nothing more than relatives. Having to lie about them being together to friends and other members of their family was beyond frustrating for Nikki. There was also the fact that the wedding was scheduled in two months’ time; if they waited much longer to announce the engagement, they'd be already married!

"It's not. Remember that was all explained and sorted out when we applied.
Nik
, it's an administrative error.... That's all."

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the clerk heading back to the counter with a grim look on her face. Nikki winced and shot a worried glance at Grant.

"Don't worry, I don't think she knows how to smile. You can't judge the result from the expression on her face."

"Uh-huh."

As she sat back down at her desk, the clerk glared at Grant. Frowning, Nikki looked up at Grant and then back to the clerk. "Is it straightened out?" she managed to squeak out, although by the disgusted look on the clerk's face she reasoned it wasn't.

"Well, I would suggest to your
fiancé
, Miss Rivers, that if he wants to marry you he should consider divorcing his current wife."

Nikki's mouth dropped as she eyed Grant's face, but his expression was unreadable.
Oh-my-god!

"Grant?" It had to be a mistake. Grant couldn't be married. He'd barely had time for a girlfriend for the most part of his life, let alone a wife!

Grant chuckled and shook his head. "That's impossible. I'm not married, there must be some confusion."

Nikki nodded. "Yes, it's a mistake." She let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was just one big, silly mistake and Grant was going to fix it now and then in two months’ time they'd be Mr And Mrs Grant Rivers. A smile touched her lips, yes it was a mistake, she was sure of it.

The clerk heaved a loud sigh and even had the nerve to roll her eyes at Grant, before spewing off all of Grant's vitals, social security number, birthdate and so on. To each fact she recited Grant nodded the verification.

"And you're married to a Mrs. Diana Rivers, maiden name Williams, licence issued and signed in the state of Virginia." she paused and shot him a smirk, "Oh, and look here, next Tuesday is your three year anniversary. Give your wife my congratulations will you, Mr. Rivers."

"There must be some mistake," Nikki whispered more to herself than anyone else.

The clerk gave Nikki a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry
hun
, this isn't the first time I've seen this happen. Young women coming in here, and not knowing their fiancés as well as they should..."

Nikki shook her head and anger began to rise up within her. "No, he's my uncle for God's sake! I would think the family would know if Grant got married!"

The clerk shot up straight in her chair, her mouth falling agape and Nikki heard a couple faint gasps coming from the line behind her.

"Umm, Nikki.... sweetheart..."

What she had just said out loud suddenly hit her and heat rushed up into her cheeks. This was turning out to be one of the most horrible days of her nineteen years. Looking up at Grant her heart sank to her stomach, the faint surprised look that had crossed his features was gone. She knew at that moment it was true. He was married.

"How could you!" she spat. "Why?"

"Nikki." He attempted to grasp her shoulders, but she shrugged off his touch.

"How? I don't understand."

He leaned into her and though she was tempted to shuffle away, pride kept herself rooted in the spot, and she was terrified to make more of a scene than she'd already caused.

"We need to talk. Privately. I can explain this; it's just a big... misunderstanding. I can fix this."

She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glare at him. "Then fix it,
now
."

Grant ran an unsteady hand through his dark hair, "It's not that simple." He grabbed her arm once more and this time she allowed the contact to happen. "Please, let's get out of here."

She looked around them and noticed at least a dozen sets of eyes glued to her and Grant.
Oh-my-god! This is humiliating
. Nodding she conceded. "Alright, let's go."

Five minutes later Nikki sat in the car with Grant, impatiently awaiting his explanation. How could he
not
know he was married? Did he just forget? How does one forget a detail like that, especially when they consider proposing to someone else? She had so many emotions rushing through her, her head felt as though it were spinning. Nikki thought she was going to cry so she grabbed onto the one emotion that wouldn't have her breaking down in tears and ran with it.

"You had better have a damned good explanation for it!" she fumed, glaring at him from the passenger seat of her Lotus.

Grant sighed loudly. "Well, Nikki, I
was
married."

Without giving it any thought, Nikki slugged his shoulder - hard.

"Ouch! Nikki, what the fuck!" Frowning, Grant rubbed his t-shirt clad shoulder.

"So, didn't you think that would have been some information I'd have liked to have known, before now?"

He sighed again. "Well, no. Not really."

Not really!
The anger within her bubbled and she slugged him a second time, nailing his shoulder in the exact spot as the first one.

"Ouch! Nikki, will you calm down a minute,
please
. Look. It's complicated. It wasn't a
real
marriage."

"How in the hell could it not be a real marriage, according to the state of Virginia it sure is real.
And
still legitimate, Grant!"

"Without getting into details..."

"Of course - no details. I never get details about anything in your life!" Nikki interrupted.

Choosing to ignore her interruption he continued. "The woman is Diana Williams. She was my partner for a case a few years ago. It was critical that everything looked as official as possible, in order to pull off what needed to be done, so we got married, all official like in Virginia. Once the case was finished, I signed the divorce papers and then the agency sent them to Diana to sign and make it an official divorce. I haven't seen her since the assignment was completed, over two years ago. The divorce should have been taken care of as soon as the case was complete. The agency
assured
me it was taken care of. So what we'll do is this... We go home, I'll contact the agency, and we'll get this all straightened out. It's nothing to worry about, sweetie."

Reaching across the seat, Grant attempted to caress her cheek with the back of his hand, but she edged herself away.

"Nikki, please..." the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes both coaxed her to be reasonable. She
wanted
to be reasonable, but reasonable didn't seem to be in her at that moment.

"Did you fuck her?" She didn't know why the question came out, but there it was, jealousy personified over a woman of little to no significance to Grant - if what Grant told her was true.

Confused by her unexpected question Grant let his hand drop and sat up straight in his seat, his grey eyes studying her vibrant blue ones for a moment. "What kind of question is that?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Nikki glared at him. "I want to know if you fucked her, Grant."

"W-what does it even matter?" His tone rose slightly, as he was visibly holding onto the last ounce of his patience.

"It matters to me."

Shoving the key into the ignition he started the car. "You really want to know?" he asked not looking at her, but instead focusing on backing out of the parking slot.

"Well, I asked didn't I?" Nikki had to bite back her sarcasm; she was just being plain nasty now, she knew this, but again she couldn't help it.

Now out of the parking slot, Grant shoved the car into gear, stomped on the gas and sent the car jolting forward. "Yes, I fucked her. Are you happy now?" He didn't bother to look in her direction, instead keeping his focus on the traffic as he sped out onto the highway.

With a huff, Nikki directed her attention straight ahead, watching as the car zipped in and out of traffic as they headed for home. "For the record, if we had a sofa in my apartment, you'd be on it tonight, buster!"

If Nikki had turned her head to look at Grant, she would have noticed the amused smirk formed on his lips as he drove home at speeds in excess of those posted.

****

It had been two days since they’d received the bad news about the marriage licence and as they sat in the jet plane waiting for it to take off on its way from Boston to San Francisco, California, in search of Diana Williams, Grant's patience with Nikki's attitude was wearing extremely thin.

He had called the agency when they arrived home after receiving the bad news and from his understanding the agency had sent the divorce papers to her to sign, but she never did sign and return them so they could be properly processed. And they had 'forgotten' to inform Grant of that little hiccup in the plan.

The agency sent a new set of papers for him and Diana to sign, but this time Grant didn't want any loose ends, he signed the papers and was going to be standing there watching Diana sign her name to them and file them personally. The agency assured him that they would see to it that the divorce went through quickly so he could carry on with his life with Nikki as planned.

As the plane began to make its way down the runway, Grant heard Nikki's sharp intake of breath. This was her first time flying, and though she refused to admit it, she was evidently nervous. Reaching over he took her hand in his and gave it a little squeeze. Surprisingly, and to his relief, she didn't pull it out of his grasp like she'd been doing the past couple of days whenever he tried to initiate any type of physical contact.

Thank heavens for small miracles
, he thought as she clutched his hand.

The way she'd been avoiding contact with him, he might as well have had the plague. What was even more shocking was the no sex. Nikki needed sex at least once a day when he was home, several times usually. She was determined to remain pissed; even if it deprived her of one of the things he knew she loved the most.

Once the plane was in the air and flying at a nice steady pace, he felt a nudge in his side. When she realized she had his attention she leaned over to him so her mouth was almost touching his ear. A shiver ran down his spine at the feel of her warm breath caressing his ear and neck; his cock immediately took notice, rising to attention.