CHAPTER 80
While Garrett was gone, Beth and the baby were once again kept within the confines of Garrett's
room.
Once Beth assured Helen that she was feeling better, and perfectly capable of taking care of the
baby, she only saw the woman at mealtime. Alone, she thought for a long time about what had
happened the night before. The memory of feeling Adam's death and then her own chilled her to
the bone. "Please be careful." She whispered. It was then she remembered something.
"I wonder …" she said to herself as she began to go through Garrett's things. She started with
his closet, and then his bureau and finally with the blanket chest at the foot of the bed. Finding
that it was locked, she rummaged through her makeup bag until she found a hairpin. "Worth a
try." She thought as she began to maneuver the lock.
To her surprise, after a few minutes she heard a click. She'd done it. Lifting the lid, Beth set the
quilt and comforter aside, uncovering what she had hoped to find. "I knew I didn't see Shafer
take you with him." She said out loud as she lifted the sword from the chest. She had watched
from the window when Shafer left, the night he claimed to have killed Adam, and she didn't
remember seeing him take the sword with him.
Holding it carefully, she laid it across her lap as she sat on the bed. Beth began to run her hands
over it. The intricate detail and beauty of the sword she'd heard Adam call Ivanhoe was
magnificent. Her eyes misted over as she imagined the strong hands that would normally be
gripping the handle. With reverence, she wrapped her own small hands around it and held it up
in front of her. She had seen it many times because Adam was never without it, and once after
his workout with Claudia, Adam had even handed it to her, covering her hands with his as he
stood behind her and showed her how to move with the weight of it.
Standing up, she began to move as she remembered, closing her eyes as she imagined the way
his body felt behind her, the way his arms enveloped her as they moved as one. She
remembered his breath against her ear, and the gentle way he had laid the sword down on the
table before turning her in his arms and capturing her lips with a searing and possessive kiss.
She had wanted so much to make love to him right then and there, but they had decided to wait
until after the wedding.
"God why did I waste one moment." She said as she opened her eyes and stared across the
room at the mirror, the fantasy fading as the stark reality of being without him fell upon her. Her
thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coming down the hall, quickly she hid the
sword in the covers of the bed and threw the comforter and blanket back in the chest just as
Helen came in.
Seeing Beth's flushed face, Helen's brow furrowed. "Are you feeling well? Should I call the
doctor?" she asked.
"No, no … actually … I was stretching, you know … yoga." Beth replied when she realized she
was not only flushed, but perspiring. Adam's sword was heavy and she must have been moving
with the sword longer than she realized.
Helen wasn't completely convinced. "I'll bring some more orange juice. The vitamin C will do you
good." She said before setting the dinner tray on the table. A few minutes later she returned with
a pitcher full of juice. "This should help."
"Thank you." Beth replied, anxious to be left alone.
"Want me to feed Cassie for you?" the woman asked, moving to pick up the formula from the
table.
"No … that's ok. She's sleeping. I'll give it to her once I'm done with my meal." Beth replied.
"And then … I think we'll both turn in early. I'm exhausted."
Helen got the message and to be honest, didn't care either way. She got paid irregardless.
Beth ate, fed Cassie, and then laid down beside the sword. For hours she ran her hand up and
down the length of it, carefully avoiding the razor sharp edge. "I wish I knew how to use you."
She whispered as she polished her fingerprints away with the sheet. "But until Adam comes for
us, I will keep you safe."
Worried that Garrett might come home earlier than he'd said, Beth carefully kissed the handle of
the sword, placed it back in the chest and folded the blankets on top. But she didn't re-lock the
chest. Something told her she should make sure that she could get her hands on the sword
quickly if necessary.
Laying back down on the bed, Beth lost herself in the memory of the last intimate moment she
had shared with Adam before Garrett ripped their lives apart. She remembered the way he had
looked at her when they'd said their vows, the tender way he'd kissed her and then had held her
eyes before they had turned to receive the congratulations of their friends and family. She
remembered the way they'd almost lost control in the limousine on the way to the reception. In
her mind she could remember the scent of him, the taste of his mouth, and the way his hands
moved over her dress and dipped inside the bodice to caress and tantalize her almost past the
point of reason before the driver had rapped on the outside window and reminded them of the
party.
Hours later, still lost in her dream, Beth's hand moved over her body as his had, her nipples
pebbling against her palm and her breath quickening. The memory was so vivid and so real that
she half expected to open her eyes and find him there with her. But she dared not open her
eyes. She needed to feel his presence … she needed to feel him.
However somewhere in her dreams, she realized that she was not alone. There was a presence.
The sound of the door closing and footsteps coming to stand over the bed broke through and
forced her to awaken. When she opened her eyes and the fog cleared, the stoic and seemingly
angry face of Garrett loomed over her. In the semi-darkness of the room he frightened her.
She gasped out loud and then tried to recover, remembering her charade. Garrett's eyes
traveled over her and it was then she flushed to the roots of her hair. The bodice of her gown
was open and her hand was inside, obviously the sensations she'd been feeling had not just been
in her mind.
"Thinking of me?" he asked. His voice was flat.
"I missed you." She lied, not covering herself as she rose to her knees and came to wrap her
arms around him as he stood beside the bed, tugging and urging him to kiss her. She was afraid
because he looked so angry, and hoped that it was whatever Shafer had asked him to do and not
her that was the reason for his anger.
She soon found out that it was her.
Without warning, Garrett shoved her flat onto the mattress and covered her with his body. His
mouth was demanding and his hands rough as he literally ripped the gown away.
"Garrett?" she cried out when he didn't even begin to remove his own clothes. He backhanded
her across the face and then opened his belt and the fly of his jeans before forcing himself inside
her brutally.
Hot tears stung her eyes and she could taste the blood in her mouth from the force of his blow.
She bit down on her bottom lip and forced herself to keep quiet, not wanting to risk waking the
baby. Who knows what Garrett would do if Cassie began to cry. Focusing on the ceiling, Beth
whimpered and prayed for this to be over soon as he pinned her wrists to the bed beside her
head and took her with a rage she had never seen before.
When he was done, he said nothing, but shoved himself off of her and stormed out of the room,
slamming the door and waking the baby when he did.
Beth tried to dry her tears and wiped the blood on what was left of her gown as she slipped on
her robe and moved to pick up her frightened daughter. Curling up in the chair on the other side
of the room, she rocked both herself and Cassie, trying to figure out why Garrett had been so
angry and wondering what he might do next.
Downstairs in the main room, Garrett poured himself a stiff drink and then threw the empty glass
into the fireplace. He'd had a few too many on the plane, and still it didn't help. Picking up the
bottle, he fell back onto the sofa, the events of the day replaying over and over in his mind.
First he hadn't been pleased when Shafer had forced him to leave, and then told him his job was
to stop Pierson. Then when he faced the man and learned that their plan hadn't been as flawless
as he thought, he realized that Leandra had been playing him for a fool. Somehow she had
alerted her family and Pierson to the fact that she hadn't left on her own. He'd gone through the
events at the bed and breakfast and realized it must have happened when he let her change in
the bathroom. "FOOL!" he threw the half full bottle of liquor against the wall.
Helen and the guards had seen him when he came in, so none of them were surprised when they
heard the crash, and no one came to see what was going on.
He hadn't expected Pierson to be so skilled, or so vicious. When he had pushed the man's
buttons and tried to force him to make a mistake, it was he who had made the error in judgement.
The look on Pierson's face and the sound of his shout as he plunged the sword into Garrett's gut
was like that of a rabid animal. He'd never seen anything so crazed or so determined to
eradicate its enemy. It was as if he'd become someone else entirely.
His hand shook as he reached for another bottle and drank it down in deep gulps. Lucky for him
Pierson was more intent on saving his friends than taking his Quickening. Garrett had somehow
managed to stumble and drag himself into the building where the last two guards were watching
the carnage from inside. He convinced them to take him with them as they rushed to the van and
sped away. He'd died in the back of the vehicle, and they had abandoned both him and it before
he had revived.
He had found his way back to the airport and instructed the co-pilot to take off. The man hadn't
wanted to, but found the gun at his ribs plenty of incentive. In his anger, Garrett cut the man's
throat the instant the plane touched down in Italy.
As he remembered how Leandra had charmed him, how she'd made him believe she cared for
him … loved him even, he realized that it had all been a lie. Even if she thought her husband was
dead, she had been determined to get away from him. "Damn you!" he spat. "Damn you!"
Upstairs, Beth could hear things breaking and held Cassie close. "Shhhh sweetheart … shhhhh"
she whispered as she tried to soothe the baby's cries. She didn't know what had happened, but
this was bad … this was very bad. She hoped Rosa had been able to contact Adam and that he
would be there soon.
While Garrett was gone, Beth and the baby were once again kept within the confines of Garrett's
room.
Once Beth assured Helen that she was feeling better, and perfectly capable of taking care of the
baby, she only saw the woman at mealtime. Alone, she thought for a long time about what had
happened the night before. The memory of feeling Adam's death and then her own chilled her to
the bone. "Please be careful." She whispered. It was then she remembered something.
"I wonder …" she said to herself as she began to go through Garrett's things. She started with
his closet, and then his bureau and finally with the blanket chest at the foot of the bed. Finding
that it was locked, she rummaged through her makeup bag until she found a hairpin. "Worth a
try." She thought as she began to maneuver the lock.
To her surprise, after a few minutes she heard a click. She'd done it. Lifting the lid, Beth set the
quilt and comforter aside, uncovering what she had hoped to find. "I knew I didn't see Shafer
take you with him." She said out loud as she lifted the sword from the chest. She had watched
from the window when Shafer left, the night he claimed to have killed Adam, and she didn't
remember seeing him take the sword with him.
Holding it carefully, she laid it across her lap as she sat on the bed. Beth began to run her hands
over it. The intricate detail and beauty of the sword she'd heard Adam call Ivanhoe was
magnificent. Her eyes misted over as she imagined the strong hands that would normally be
gripping the handle. With reverence, she wrapped her own small hands around it and held it up
in front of her. She had seen it many times because Adam was never without it, and once after
his workout with Claudia, Adam had even handed it to her, covering her hands with his as he
stood behind her and showed her how to move with the weight of it.
Standing up, she began to move as she remembered, closing her eyes as she imagined the way
his body felt behind her, the way his arms enveloped her as they moved as one. She
remembered his breath against her ear, and the gentle way he had laid the sword down on the
table before turning her in his arms and capturing her lips with a searing and possessive kiss.
She had wanted so much to make love to him right then and there, but they had decided to wait
until after the wedding.
"God why did I waste one moment." She said as she opened her eyes and stared across the
room at the mirror, the fantasy fading as the stark reality of being without him fell upon her. Her
thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coming down the hall, quickly she hid the
sword in the covers of the bed and threw the comforter and blanket back in the chest just as
Helen came in.
Seeing Beth's flushed face, Helen's brow furrowed. "Are you feeling well? Should I call the
doctor?" she asked.
"No, no … actually … I was stretching, you know … yoga." Beth replied when she realized she
was not only flushed, but perspiring. Adam's sword was heavy and she must have been moving
with the sword longer than she realized.
Helen wasn't completely convinced. "I'll bring some more orange juice. The vitamin C will do you
good." She said before setting the dinner tray on the table. A few minutes later she returned with
a pitcher full of juice. "This should help."
"Thank you." Beth replied, anxious to be left alone.
"Want me to feed Cassie for you?" the woman asked, moving to pick up the formula from the
table.
"No … that's ok. She's sleeping. I'll give it to her once I'm done with my meal." Beth replied.
"And then … I think we'll both turn in early. I'm exhausted."
Helen got the message and to be honest, didn't care either way. She got paid irregardless.
Beth ate, fed Cassie, and then laid down beside the sword. For hours she ran her hand up and
down the length of it, carefully avoiding the razor sharp edge. "I wish I knew how to use you."
She whispered as she polished her fingerprints away with the sheet. "But until Adam comes for
us, I will keep you safe."
Worried that Garrett might come home earlier than he'd said, Beth carefully kissed the handle of
the sword, placed it back in the chest and folded the blankets on top. But she didn't re-lock the
chest. Something told her she should make sure that she could get her hands on the sword
quickly if necessary.
Laying back down on the bed, Beth lost herself in the memory of the last intimate moment she
had shared with Adam before Garrett ripped their lives apart. She remembered the way he had
looked at her when they'd said their vows, the tender way he'd kissed her and then had held her
eyes before they had turned to receive the congratulations of their friends and family. She
remembered the way they'd almost lost control in the limousine on the way to the reception. In
her mind she could remember the scent of him, the taste of his mouth, and the way his hands
moved over her dress and dipped inside the bodice to caress and tantalize her almost past the
point of reason before the driver had rapped on the outside window and reminded them of the
party.
Hours later, still lost in her dream, Beth's hand moved over her body as his had, her nipples
pebbling against her palm and her breath quickening. The memory was so vivid and so real that
she half expected to open her eyes and find him there with her. But she dared not open her
eyes. She needed to feel his presence … she needed to feel him.
However somewhere in her dreams, she realized that she was not alone. There was a presence.
The sound of the door closing and footsteps coming to stand over the bed broke through and
forced her to awaken. When she opened her eyes and the fog cleared, the stoic and seemingly
angry face of Garrett loomed over her. In the semi-darkness of the room he frightened her.
She gasped out loud and then tried to recover, remembering her charade. Garrett's eyes
traveled over her and it was then she flushed to the roots of her hair. The bodice of her gown
was open and her hand was inside, obviously the sensations she'd been feeling had not just been
in her mind.
"Thinking of me?" he asked. His voice was flat.
"I missed you." She lied, not covering herself as she rose to her knees and came to wrap her
arms around him as he stood beside the bed, tugging and urging him to kiss her. She was afraid
because he looked so angry, and hoped that it was whatever Shafer had asked him to do and not
her that was the reason for his anger.
She soon found out that it was her.
Without warning, Garrett shoved her flat onto the mattress and covered her with his body. His
mouth was demanding and his hands rough as he literally ripped the gown away.
"Garrett?" she cried out when he didn't even begin to remove his own clothes. He backhanded
her across the face and then opened his belt and the fly of his jeans before forcing himself inside
her brutally.
Hot tears stung her eyes and she could taste the blood in her mouth from the force of his blow.
She bit down on her bottom lip and forced herself to keep quiet, not wanting to risk waking the
baby. Who knows what Garrett would do if Cassie began to cry. Focusing on the ceiling, Beth
whimpered and prayed for this to be over soon as he pinned her wrists to the bed beside her
head and took her with a rage she had never seen before.
When he was done, he said nothing, but shoved himself off of her and stormed out of the room,
slamming the door and waking the baby when he did.
Beth tried to dry her tears and wiped the blood on what was left of her gown as she slipped on
her robe and moved to pick up her frightened daughter. Curling up in the chair on the other side
of the room, she rocked both herself and Cassie, trying to figure out why Garrett had been so
angry and wondering what he might do next.
Downstairs in the main room, Garrett poured himself a stiff drink and then threw the empty glass
into the fireplace. He'd had a few too many on the plane, and still it didn't help. Picking up the
bottle, he fell back onto the sofa, the events of the day replaying over and over in his mind.
First he hadn't been pleased when Shafer had forced him to leave, and then told him his job was
to stop Pierson. Then when he faced the man and learned that their plan hadn't been as flawless
as he thought, he realized that Leandra had been playing him for a fool. Somehow she had
alerted her family and Pierson to the fact that she hadn't left on her own. He'd gone through the
events at the bed and breakfast and realized it must have happened when he let her change in
the bathroom. "FOOL!" he threw the half full bottle of liquor against the wall.
Helen and the guards had seen him when he came in, so none of them were surprised when they
heard the crash, and no one came to see what was going on.
He hadn't expected Pierson to be so skilled, or so vicious. When he had pushed the man's
buttons and tried to force him to make a mistake, it was he who had made the error in judgement.
The look on Pierson's face and the sound of his shout as he plunged the sword into Garrett's gut
was like that of a rabid animal. He'd never seen anything so crazed or so determined to
eradicate its enemy. It was as if he'd become someone else entirely.
His hand shook as he reached for another bottle and drank it down in deep gulps. Lucky for him
Pierson was more intent on saving his friends than taking his Quickening. Garrett had somehow
managed to stumble and drag himself into the building where the last two guards were watching
the carnage from inside. He convinced them to take him with them as they rushed to the van and
sped away. He'd died in the back of the vehicle, and they had abandoned both him and it before
he had revived.
He had found his way back to the airport and instructed the co-pilot to take off. The man hadn't
wanted to, but found the gun at his ribs plenty of incentive. In his anger, Garrett cut the man's
throat the instant the plane touched down in Italy.
As he remembered how Leandra had charmed him, how she'd made him believe she cared for
him … loved him even, he realized that it had all been a lie. Even if she thought her husband was
dead, she had been determined to get away from him. "Damn you!" he spat. "Damn you!"
Upstairs, Beth could hear things breaking and held Cassie close. "Shhhh sweetheart … shhhhh"
she whispered as she tried to soothe the baby's cries. She didn't know what had happened, but
this was bad … this was very bad. She hoped Rosa had been able to contact Adam and that he
would be there soon.