The Admirer's Secret (25 page)

MARC: (looking at Julie’s full plate) Aren’t you hungry, honey?

JULIE: (wincing) No, not really. I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m not feeling too well today. My stomach’s been acting up today. Something’s not right.

MARC: Do you want something to drink? Maybe you should order a ginger ale or something.

JULIE: Yeah, that might help. Thanks, hon.

Marc signals for a waiter, who quickly approaches their table.

WAITER: What can I get for you?

MARC: A ginger ale for the lady, please.

WAITER: I’ll be right back with that for you.

MARC: Thanks.
                            JULIE: Thanks.

The waiter leaves and Marc and Julie sit in silence listening to the music.

MARC: (looking about the room) Are you feeling well enough to dance?

JULIE: (considering) Are you serious? Right now?

MARC: (gesturing with his hand) Sure. C’mon. I want to dance with you.

He stands up and holds out his hand. Julie giggles and covers her mouth, then accepts his hand and follows him to the dance floor. While they are dancing, the waiter returns with Julie’s ginger ale. He leaves it in front of Julie’s empty seat. Suddenly, Haley bolts from her seat at the bar and runs to the empty table. She pulls from her pocket a bag.

HALEY: (keeping her eye on Marc and Julie dancing) You should have thought before you went after another woman’s man, Julie.

She looks to make sure no one is watching, then dumps the contents of the bag—a heap of ground up powdered pills—into the drink and stirs it with Julie’s spoon until it dissolves.

HALEY: You’ll be sleeping well tonight—and forever. Enjoy your last night on earth, Julie.

Haley stuffs the empty bag in her pocket and rushes back to her seat at the bar. Her eyes are fixed on Marc and Julie dancing.

MARC: (brushing his fingers against Julie’s cheek) Y’know, something tells me that tonight is going to be a special night.

JULIE: (leaning her face into his touch) Hmmm… I think you might be right.

The music slows, then fades. Marc and Julie walk hand-in-hand back to their table and sit down. Haley watches intently from her seat at the bar. She pulls the brim of her ball cap down a little more to shadow her face.

MARC: (grabs Julie’s hands from across the table) I have something I’ve been wanting to ask you.

The flicker of the candlelight illuminates Julie’s face.

JULIE: (smiling shyly) Oh really? Now I’m curious.

Julie lets go of Marc’s hand and absentmindedly reaches for her drink—the spiked ginger ale—and pulls it closer to her. She holds it with both hands and pulls it up to her lips. Yet she pauses and holds the glass there, hovering just below her mouth.

MARC: Well, you know I’m always full of surprises. (he laughs)

JULIE: (joins in laughter) That’s true. So what do you want to ask me?

Haley is still intently watching, mumbling something inaudible to herself.

MARC: (fumbles through the inside pocket of his blazer) I want to ask you…

While Marc reaches into his jacket pocket, Julie takes a sip of her drink. Haley smiles wide as she watches from afar.

HALEY: (to herself) Goodnight, Julie.

Marc pulls out a black box and sets it on the table. Julie’s eyes widen with surprise. He opens the velvet lid, revealing a diamond ring. The table candlelight sparkles against the stone.

MARC: Will you marry me? Will you make me the happiest man for the rest of our lives?

JULIE: Yes! Yes I will marry you! This is the happiest day of my life.

HALEY: (whispers) And the last.

DISSOLVE OUT

“Haley, are you ready to go?” The nurse’s voice startled Haley, and she whipped her head up and quickly spun her hand and the papers behind her, and sat on them.

The nurse carried a bag and dumped the contents beside where Haley sat. A sweater, jeans, tennis shoes, and a matching ring and necklace tumbled out of the bag onto the bed.

“Does this look like everything?”

“Yep, I think that’s everything,” Haley answered sweetly. She was getting better and better at the act every day. But today it started weighing on her. Guilt. She sensed it near.

“Well, then you can go ahead and get dressed and they’ve arranged for transportation for you. Your mom has been notified, but you can call her from the desk downstairs if you want to talk to her before you leave. Any questions?”

“No, none that I can think of. But I do want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. Without the staff here, I wouldn’t have been able to get better and be going home right now.”

A warm, beaming smile etched across the nurse’s face and she pulled Haley into a bear hug.

“You are so sweet, Haley. I know you’ll be just fine out there.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“Just remember—one day at a time,” the nurse said as she let go and walked to the door. Haley nodded affirmatively and watched her disappear around the corner and out of sight. When the soft tread of footsteps dwindled in the distance, Haley grabbed the jeans the nurse had dropped off and reached into the back pocket to see if it was still there. She felt the crinkled paper. Yep, it was still there. She pulled it out and unfolded it.

Marc’s handsome face looked back at her. It was one of her favorite pictures because usually his gaze looked past the camera. Rarely could she get a direct front-face shot. But this particular picture captured everything she loved so much about him—from the sparkle in his eyes to the crease of his mouth. She turned the photo over.

Always and forever
.

“Don’t worry, baby,” her voice strained, nearly scratching over the words before pocketing the picture. “I’ll be coming for you soon. We’ll be together once again.”

She needed her happily ever after.

Chapter 48

S
ure enough, the letter the receptionist held out to Haley had her name on it. As Haley dropped her bag to the floor to wish her final farewell to Suzie at the front desk, the sweet black receptionist with perfect white teeth practically glowing beneath fire-engine red lipstick dropped an envelope in Haley’s open hand.

“This be addressed to you, sweetheart,” Suzie said with her likable southern drawl.
“And I cancelled the cab since your mom wants to pick you up instead.”

“Thanks, Suzie.” Haley saw no familiarity in the handwriting; it wasn’t from her mother—the only person who had written her since first being admitted. And it was postmarked from
Westfield, so it couldn’t have been her own handwriting disguised.

With a distracted wave good-bye
, Haley grabbed her belongings and headed for an empty chair in the open lobby area where her mother was to pick her up. She wriggled into the seat and let her fingers drape over the edge of the envelope. Something within her warned her—or perhaps not so much a warning but a promise—that this letter would change her life.

Her fingers hesitated before slipping under the crease, and with a smooth movement she tore an opening in the fold. A college-width lined piece of paper was folded into thirds, and even before opening it she could tell the whole page had been taken up with inked handwriting. She unfolded the paper, then read:

Dear Haley:

I hope this letter doesn’t come too late, but I’ve had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to say to you if given the opportunity, so here goes.

Everyone needs forgiveness. Everyone has struggles. Maybe we’re all mental in one way or another…
some of us just hide it better than others. But we all seek the same thing: love. A love that knows no conditions, a love that accepts us in our broken, frail humanity. That’s why you picked me, isn’t it? You wanted love.

It’s a need we’re born with. You’re not crazy for wanting it; you just went about it all the wrong way. So I’ve written you to share with you the right way. While I can’t offer you my love, I can offer you the only real source of it, and He’s the one who created you. He’s the one who can wipe the slate clean for all the dark things you’ve done, all the dark thoughts you’ve entertained. I’m sure you’ve heard it before—God is love. That’s not just a catchphrase, Haley. It’s real. I learned it the hard way too, and it’s something I’ll never let go of. So, you’re not alone, Haley. Just accept the free gift that only true love can give: forgiveness. I forgive you for what you’ve done to me, and I hope you’ll forgive yourself and let God heal you…
and love you. I promise that if you stop trying to find it everywhere else, you’ll find it in Him.

Marc    

Tears threatened. Her throat tightened. As Haley laid the open letter on her lap, a drop fell from her eye, rolled down her cheek, splattered on the paper.

Accept it
, something told her.
Someone
, rather. Her head turned in search of the voice, but no one was near. Was it God? Was He really speaking to her?

Accept the gift—forgiveness.

But I’m not worthy of forgiveness,
she pleaded with the voice. “It’s too late for me,” the words audibly came out.

It’s never too late.

Marc
offered to let it all go. No twisted repeat performances. No more nightmares. No more blackouts. No more searching for a love that didn’t exist. There was a promise right in front of her—a promise to start over. Accept it, or reject it. That was the choice.

Accept it,
again
came the soft whisper.

Haley reached into her jeans’ back pocket where her past, present, and future was tucked behind the fold of fabric. The picture of Marc. She examined it more carefully. It was just a face of a man, a man she hardly knew. A man who didn’t love her. Was this really what she had been fighting for?

Let me love you,
the voice spoke with more urgency this time,
in a way that Marc can’t.

She gazed at Marc’s face—yet the picture grew fuzzy with the onslaught of tears. Her fingers grabbed the photo paper, then tore it in half. And in half again and again until it was nothing but a pile of unrecognizable shreds. Her body crumpled to a mass at the floor, but no one seemed to notice. No one seemed to care. And she was glad. She wanted no comfort except that of the only One who could comfort her.

No faking this time as she laid bare her soul before her Maker on the grime-crusted lobby floor as white-smocked nurses ambled by.

It was real this time as she surrendered her make-believe world for the real one. Finally it was finished.
She could move on… in the realest sense of the word. 

Epilogue

H
aley’s foot touched the brake, then eased off as she turned into her gravel driveway. The familiar crunch of rock beneath her tires welcomed her home. She’d spent the drive home with her mother catching up on all the latest Westfield gossip—Blake Hendricks finally proposed to Brenda (it only took him a decade!), Katrina Hodgins was pregnant after four years of trying, and Jeannie Coswell got her tongue pierced to complement her latest tattoo rebellion.

WHAM 1180’s news radio compensated for any lack of conversational fodder, though with Haley drilling Gabrielle about everything and everyone, there was rarely a dull moment.

Except for this particular moment.

Haley relished a moment of nostalgia as they approached her home, where she belonged and where she would help her mother pick up the pieces of their old life and rebuild. That was her focus now; love and
Hollywood could wait.

As her eyes scanned the knee-high weeds lining the driveway, something on the
radio begged for her attention.

“A verdict in the Susan Michaels mur
der case has been reached today,” the news anchor said.

Haley reached for the volume knob and turned it up.

“Sorry, Mom, but I gotta hear this,” Haley said.

The car jolted to a s
top, humming in the background.

“After the latest evidence exonerated her husband, Allen Michaels, investigators have found producer Brett Copper guilty of all charges. When his alibi was debunked as to his whereabouts during the murder, investigators researched cell phone records that showed Susan’s last call before her death was to Copper. Furthermore, DNA showed her pregnant with his child.
”

“Oh my goodness,” Gabrielle muttered.

“During the trial,” the news anchor continued, “the jury felt the motive and evidence were sufficient to put Copper behind the murder. More about the case can be found on our website. Allen Michaels, in true Hollywood flair, has already sold the rights to his memoir chronicling the details of the events, titled
A Fatal Affair: The Allen Michaels Story.
”

Haley turned off the radio as the anchorwoman moved on to less interesting news. As the car drifted forward again, she glanced at her mom. “Well, I guess I know what I’ll be reading next.”