The Other Side, page 5
“Why do you think I had anything to do with it?” There it was out, now she would wait until he answered her.
“Anna left a letter behind, her reason for doing what she did. She named you as the only one.” That did not make any sense to her whatsoever. She had done nothing but try to help her friend.
“The only one what?” She asked as the hospital came into view. None of this was making sense to her. She had not known about the letter.
“It ended like that.” He said and she looked out the window. Not another word was said. Fletcher held her hand as he pulled her through the hospital. She could not believe this was happening.
Eight
Finding her father in the waiting room she felt the tears building again. He looked very tired. She could tell that he had been crying, but he had himself under control again. He stood and wrapped her in his arms.
“She hit a rough spot, but they think she may pull through. The doctor advised me to call you so you could say goodbye.” He choked up on the word goodbye and she felt it shudder through him.
Julie was allowed to go in to visit her mother. The woman that she had turned to all of her life was so tiny and frail. The strong vibrant woman that always had the answer was pale and thin. It was hard to see. Her mother never opened her eyes while Julie visited.
“I am so sorry that you have to go through this, Momma.” Julie said as her hand touched the top of her mother’s hand. It was cold to the touch.
“I know you have given it all you have, but I don’t want to let you go.” There was a deep breath that caused her mother’s chest to rise visibly. Julie believed with everything in her that her mother could hear her.
“Are you new here?” A nurse asked her as she came into the room. Julie shook her head and smiled at the other woman.
“I am her daughter. I work at a nursing home.” Julie said as explanation of her clothing.
“You must be Julie.” She only nodded at the other woman.
“Well congratulations.” That had to be the oddest thing she had ever heard.
“Excuse me.” Because there was no way she could have heard this woman correctly.
“I heard Fletcher Brock telling your father that the two of you are engaged.” There were no words in her at that moment. Nothing.
“Did you see that?” The nurse asked as she looked at Katherine’s face. “She blinked.”
Julie immediately turned her attention to her mother. Had her mother heard this nurse and was responding to her. Her mother blinked again and Julie saw it. Leaning in she waited to see if she would blink again.
“I guess she likes the idea.” The nurse said before she messed with a few of the machines. Julie could imagine she was the only one that did not like the idea of being engaged to Fletcher Brock. Well her and all of the eligible women of Cambridge.
Julie found her father sitting with Fletcher in the waiting room. The moment she entered her father stood and hugged her again.
“Fletcher just told me the wonderful news.” He said kissing her on both cheeks.
“Mom blinked two times.” Julie said because she really did not want to talk about the fake engagement. Her father did not say another word he left her standing there and made his way back to her mother. Fletcher stood then and came to hug her, she pushed him away.
“How could you do that to me here of all places?” Her anger was not going to be dimmed. Her mother was lying in a hospital bed dying and he was out here lying to her father.
“Do what?” Fletcher said as he held her outstretched arms between them.
“Tell him that lie.” Julie shook her head as she saw a few other people watching them. She wondered how many of these people had heard the news.
“It is not a lie.” His words made her want to cry. He was going to play this out to the fullest no matter the circumstances. Julie pulled away from him and made to sit in a chair. Fletcher followed and sat next to her. His hand caught hers and held it against his thigh. She could only imagine how that appeared to everyone else.
“We are engaged, Julie, so stop arguing with me about it.” Again he was barking his orders and she was simply supposed to go along with him.
“How long is this charade supposed to last? I mean am I supposed to jilt you at the wedding?” She was in no mood for his games. She may have just said her last goodbyes to her mother and here he was acting like everything was normal.
“Maybe you should sleep with the best man. I can ask Bradley Canter to be my best man if that would be more to your liking.” This could not be happening at the moment. She had to be dreaming. Well if she was it was more like a nightmare.
“Go to hell.” She muttered when she could not think of anything else to say to him.
“I am taking you with me.” He said quietly as a group moved to sit across from them. She did not know the people, but they were very interested in the man at her side.
“Are you Fletcher Brock?” One of the men in the other group asked and Fletcher turned his attention to that man.
“I am.” He admitted not trying to keep his privacy at the moment. Well that was all fine for him, it was not his life that he was destroying.
“I saw that special interest piece they did on you in the paper. I had no idea you were so into human outreach.” Julie turned her attention to the window and turned off the conversation going on around her. Yes the man did so many wonderful things for others. She wondered if he would take credit for her work at the mission. It did not matter.
“My fiancé’s mother is here.” She heard that part and drug her attention back to the group.
“I had not heard that you were engaged.” The blond woman in that group said with a smile in his direction.
“Yes I am. It happened recently so the news has not gotten wind of it yet.” Fletcher stated and she really wanted to get up and leave. This was not the place for the man to put his plan into action.
“Congratulations.” The same blond said but Julie could tell that she did not mean it.
“I need some air.” Julie said as she stood. Fletcher was quick to follow and never released her hand. She started for the door to the hall way.
“People are going to think you work here.” Fletcher said as he walked next to her down the hall.
“I don’t care.” She admitted. Julie also did not want him telling anyone else about this bogus engagement.
“Can you please stop telling people we are engaged? It is bad enough you told my father this lie.” Julie said as the automatic doors swooshed open and she stepped out into the fresh air.
“It is not a lie. The sooner you accept that, the better.” Fletcher said as he stood holding her hand.
“I am surprised you aren’t going to make me marry you.” Julie was just talking she did not mean anything by it. Anything was better than thinking about her mother in that condition.
“I would, but you are going to sleep with the best man.” Rolling her eyes she faced him, enough was enough and she was done with it.
“I am not sleeping with the best man. I am not sleeping with anyone until I am married for real.” There let him chew on that for a while. If he would, knowing him he would probably try to make her do it anyway.
“So maybe we should get married and then you can cheat on me. The press would love that.” The man was impossible. She was not sure if she should believe him or not.
“Yes they would, Cambridge’s Golden Boy, couldn’t keep his wife happy.” She was in a bad mood and it was showing in the way she goaded him. In a split second Fletcher had her back against the wall and he was lowering his head to her’s, she did not have a moment to even think about what was about to happen.
When his mouth covered hers she was lost. The contact removed all thought from her brain. Gentle at first he pressed his lips to hers and she felt the surge rush through her. Then he was applying a little more force and his tongue was touching her lips. Julie opened under his tongue and allowed him to invade her mouth. Fletcher knew exactly what he was doing as he coaxed her tongue into a dance with his.
She felt her arms go around his neck and she was kissing him right back. When he lifted his head she saw the smile on his lips.
“I think I can take care of my wife just fine. Shall I prove it?” That was the slap that she needed to get her back to reality. What on earth was she doing? They were standing outside of the hospital. The hospital where her mother was quite possibly dying and she was out here locking lips with a man she hated. But she was not so sure she hated him at the moment. That kiss had touched her deep down and made her feel things that she had never felt before.
“No.” Julie was not sure that had come out of her mouth. It sounded quiet and breathless. Fletcher moved just enough to allow her the room to breathe.
“I think marrying you and then having you cheat on me is the best option.” Fletcher said and she could believe that the kiss had done nothing to him. He was simply plotting his revenge.
Later after they had returned to the waiting room and her father told her to go on home, they left. The doctor said that her mother had stabilized. The only thing they could do now was wait and see. Fletcher held the door open for her and she got into his car. It seemed that no matter what she said to him, he was going to do what he wanted. To think that it was her own stupidity that had given him the idea of marrying her for real. She should have just kept her mouth shut.
“So when do you want to get married?” He asked after he had the car out of the parking deck.
“I don’t.” She stated, her gaze locked on the landscape just outside of her window.
“We are.” That was so like him and she was not sure what to say to him. When she opened her mouth around him things always got worse.
“You can not force me to marry you.” She reminded him quietly. If he thought he could he was sadly mistaken. Then again if he wanted to marry her, she would probably be married to him before she had a chance to think.
“I can do whatever I want to.” He returned and she believed him. The man had always done what he wanted to. Admittedly most of the time if had been at the benefit of others.
“Can I see the letter Anna left behind?” With every thing going on at the moment that was something she felt she needed. It was highly doubtful that he would allow it, but she had to try.
“I will ask my mother to bring it, when I call her to tell her about the engagement.” Now he was going to lie to his mother, that was something that she just could not imagine. It was bad enough that he had lied to her father and she had not tried to correct it.
“You are seriously going to lie to your mother?” It was so hard to believe. This was the Golden Boy, the one that could do no wrong. It was hard to imagine him doing anything wrong.
“It is not a lie.” He said again and she was tired of that argument.
“It is a lie. You can not just tell someone that they are engaged and expect it to go over well.” Or expect them to just accept it and go along with it. Honestly she believed that anybody else would have gone right along with him. To bad she was not just anybody else.
“Will you marry me?” He asked as he turned the car down the road that led to his house.
“No.” She answered a little too quickly. She was sure that it was not going to make much of a difference.
“That is not an answer that I will accept, so let’s try this again.” He pressed a button on his sun visor and the gate slid open.
“Will you marry me?” She knew that he was not going to give up. She was not ready to just bend to his will either.
“No.” She said again and saw him shake his head.
“You get one more chance or I pull all the funding from your mother’s care.” There was no way he would do that. She spun her head in his direction.
“You wouldn’t do that.” She could hear the disbelief in her tone. There was just no way he could be that cold.
“Will you marry me?” He asked for the third time and she bit her lip. That no had almost burst forth and that was not something that she wanted on her at the moment.
“Fletcher, you wouldn’t.” However, something in her told her that he would. The man would get what he wanted by any means necessary. If she had the chance she could discuss this with her father and then maybe they could work something out. She knew that was not going to happen. The house was mortgaged to the hilt, there was not a dime left in the savings account. Medical costs had depleted every available resource. When the car was parked in the garage he turned his head to face her.
“Yes, I will marry you.” Because he was going to get what he wanted. And what he wanted more than anything at the moment was to destroy her. Opening the door she got out of the car and made her way to the workout room. There was a matter of cleaning up the bucket and mess that she had left behind.
“Don’t worry about that tonight, you have been through enough. Would you like to have dinner with me?” He asked but she was certain it was not a request.
“Do I have a choice?” Because if she did she would choose to not join him. The time she had already spent in his company was enough.
“No.” His answer was exactly what she expected.
“Then why did you ask?” Julie asked looking him in the eye. He was a very handsome man, but he knew it. The fact that he always got what he wanted had not left him unscathed.
“Because I am a gentleman. Would you like to shower before we go out?” In all honesty she did not want to go out at all. But a shower would give her a bit of a reprieve from him, and at the moment that was what she needed.
“Yes.”
“The guest bedroom at the top of the stairs is where I placed all of the items I bought for you. You can shower and change there.” She resisted the urge to ask him to pick out her clothes for her. Instead she took the bit of a break and headed for the stairs. She heard him on the phone before she made it to the first step.
The shower was her solace it was her place to let it all go. The tears rolled from her eyes as she thought about her mother. The image of that woman at the mission came back to her and those children. Where were they sleeping tonight? Hopefully there would be somewhere for them to go. It was awful to think of those innocent children sleeping on the street with their mother. Again she found herself wondering what had led the woman to that point in her life. It did not matter either way, because she was there.
The door to the bathroom opened and she could make out his silhouette through the frosted glass. He moved to the sink and she saw him sit something down.
“Items I would like for you to use this evening.” He said before leaving the bathroom. The man had to be kidding. No he wasn’t she thought. There was something about being dictated to that did not sit well with her. It also did not help that he was using her mother to manipulate her. What kind of a person would do that? The items turned out to be lotion, deodorant, and perfume all in his favorite scent. Shaking her head she decided to just go with it. There was no reason to go against him anyway. It would just make her life that much easier.
Entering the bedroom she saw that he had placed a dress on the bed with a pair of hose. She looked all over the bed but did not find one piece of underwear. There was no way he thought she was just going to wear the dress with nothing underneath. Searching the drawers turned up nothing either. Even the closet held nothing for her. Her own clothes were gone from the bathroom. She did not even see him pick them up. Heading for the hallway she jerked the door open. He was reaching for the knob, his sudden appearance shocked her.
“If you think I am wearing that dress without underwear you are crazy.” The words just burst out of her mouth before she could stop them. Fletcher held up the items in his hand and she wished she had not said a word.
“I was bringing you these, but your idea sounds so much better.” Then he was turning and leaving with the underwear still in his hands.
“Wait.” Julie tried but he simply continued walking.
“I am sorry.” That did not get him to stop. Quickly she ran after him and placed herself in his path.
“Please.” She tried again when he stopped and looked down at her.
“I like the thought of you naked underneath your clothes.” His words warmed something inside of her, she tried to push it away. This desire was not something that she was used to. Nor was it something she felt comfortable with.
“Please, Fletcher.” The fingers that gripped her towel were starting to go numb.
“Tell me one of your deepest darkest secrets.” He said his voice doing that thing where it sounded so deep and sexy. Their eyes met and locked. She was not sure what to say to that. Admittedly she was a boring person with no secrets. Well there was one, but it was not deep or dark.
