Chapter Sixteen
As Natalie packed a suitcase to take to Llanfair, and gathered up all her Christmas shopping, John checked all the windows and doors to see if they had been tampered with. By the time John made it to the master bedroom, Natalie was nearly finished.
"Nothing seems to have been tampered with." He told her hesitating in the doorway. "I am going to need to know who has keys."
Natalie stopped packing and sat on the edge of her bed. "When I first moved in I gave copies to Mom, Jess and Rex. Then Roxy and your mom moved in, so they would have keys." Natalie paused, her eyes widening. "John the whole love crew team lived here, any one of them could have held on to their copy."
John looked at her in disbelief. "You never had the locks changed after that?"
"There was no need to, Marcie and her family moved in right after that."
"That means pretty much anyone could have had access to a key?" John shook his head frustrated. "Okay, who has been in the cottage lately? Any deliverymen? Door-to-door salespeople?"
Natalie shrugged her shoulders. "Not since I've been home. Rex and my mom had the entire place redone. You would have to ask them which painters they used and what store the furniture was delivered from."
John pulled out a notebook and made a few notes even though he knew none of the information would lead him anywhere. With all those keys floating around it would be next to impossible to track them down, especially since 5 of the people had either left town or been murdered.
"All right, I am done," Natalie said gathering up her luggage.
John entered the room and began to help her but stopped when he saw a black leather journal peaking out from under the bed. Stopping, he bent down to pick it up wanting to make sure it was hers and not another message from the stalker.
"Natalie is this yours?"
Natalie looked at him in horror. "Don't touch that," she yelled grabbing the journal from his hands and holding it to her chest. "You have no right to even hold it."
John stood up and tried to apologize but Natalie wouldn't listen. Continuing to hold the journal protectively she picked up her bags and left the room, leaving a confused John in her wake.
Neither of them said anything the entire ride, both having too much on their minds. It wasn't until they had pulled into Llanfair's driveway and Natalie was getting out of the car that John spoke softly.
"I never meant to hurt you."
Natalie was silent for a few seconds. "You completely destroyed me John. For the first time in a long time I was truly happy and all that was shattered." She didn't look at him.
John remained silent, knowing there was nothing he could say that would make it better.
Sighing, Natalie got back into the car and shut the door. "But as much as I want to hate you John, I can't, especially not with everything that's going on." Natalie turned to face him. "As much as it terrifies me to admit it, this is pretty serious. We are going to need to be able to work together if you have any chance of catching this guy."
"Which means?"
"It means that despite what happened you have my full cooperation. Just as long as you let me know what's going on."
"So where does this leave us?"
"I don't know John. To be honest, I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive you for what happened. But I won't let it get in the way of this case. Of your job."
"Will you at least let me explain what happened?
Shaking her head Natalie began to get out of the car. "No. That chapter in our lives is over." Shutting the door, Natalie walked up the pathway to Llanfair trying not to cry.
She had said so herself, that chapter was closed, but instead of feeling like a weight had been lifted of her shoulders she felt heartbroken.
"Natalie! I was hoping you would drop by today." As Vicki went over to embrace her daughter she noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks. "Darling? What's wrong?"
Seeing her mother's concerned face, Natalie broke down and began to sob uncontrollably.
Worried, Vicki ushered Natalie into the living room and shut the doors to ensure privacy. Vicki took a seat beside Natalie, and wrapped her arms around her, holding her as she cried. Overwhelmed by this, everything came pouring out.
Through her sobs, Natalie gave her mother the short version about the pregnancy, how she had found out about Cristian, the fight with John, her miscarriage, and finally about the stalker and the murder that had taken place at the hotel.
Through it all, Vicki stayed surprisingly calm and continuing to stroke Natalie's hair without saying a word.
Once everything was out Natalie began to calm down, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Even though she had been haunted by the memories of that night for months, Natalie had never allowed herself to break down or grieve over her loss. As usual, she had bottled up all that pain, never confronting it.
Pulling away from her mother, Natalie began to wipe away her tears and waited for Vicki to say something. Vicki remained silent for a few moments, still trying to digest everything. For once in her life, she was at a loss for words.
"You are moving back in to Llanfair." Vicki said firmly, after a few minutes of silence.
"Mom…"
"I mean it Natalie. You are staying here until this over."
Surprised at her mother's forceful tone, Natalie nodded in agreement. She had grown up without any real parental figure and still found herself surprised when Vicki used the "this is not up for discussion" tone.
Vicki stood up and started pacing the room, her earlier calmness begging to fade. "I don't understand who could do something like this." Turning away from Natalie, Vicki blinked away tears knowing she needed to stay strong for her daughter. "Natalie, promise me you will be careful. No running off to try and find this guy, no scheming with Rex. Promise me you are going to let Bo and John handle this."
"I promise." Natalie said softly, and for once she actually meant it. Even though she wouldn't admit it, Natalie was scared. He not only managed to get close enough to her to take pictures, but had also gotten into her home undetected. Natalie knew that whoever was doing this meant business and obviously knew what they were doing.
Vicki smiled weakly at her daughter and sat back down. As much as she was worried about this stalker mess, Vicki knew that it was the situation with John that needed to be dealt with. "Darling, why didn't you come to me sooner? No one should have to go through all that alone."
"Rex was there."
"I wish you had come to me."
"I know I should have, but I couldn't. I just wanted to run away and hide from everything and everyone. I'm sorry." Natalie looked down at her hands, ashamed to meet her mother's eyes.
Reaching across the ottoman, Vicki took Natalie's hand and squeezed it. "You're here now and that's all that matters. Now, about what happened with John…"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Darling, you have every right to be hurt and upset with John, but have you actually talked to him about what happened?"
Natalie shook her head. "There's no reason to. I will cooperate with him on this stalker case, but after that is over will go back to avoiding him."
"But will you be able to do that? After everything you two have been through, all those years of friendship."
"John and I were never friends," Natalie said softly. "I was either hating him or in love with him. Never was it just platonic." Natalie paused trying to force the memories away. "I'm not going to continue to be angry or spiteful toward him, but I don't think I will ever be able to trust him again. Not after what he did."
"Natalie, John has always gone above the call of duty to protect you. In the past he has proven himself to be a very honorable man. I really think you need to give him a chance to explain."
Just as Natalie was once again going to disagree, Jessica's voice called out, "Mom?" Seeing this as a way out of the conversation, Natalie smiled at Vicki. "Thanks for everything mom, but I am going to go unpack my stuff." Standing up, Natalie quickly kissed Vicki's cheek, and opened the doors. "Hey Jess, Mom's in here."
Jessica smiled warmly at her sister. "Hey Natalie, what are you doing here?"
"I am going to be staying here for awhile," Natalie said pointing at her luggage. "You know, spend the holidays with my family."
"That's wonderful isn't it, Mom?" Jessica asked her face lighting up. Vicki nodded, understanding that Natalie wanted the stalker thing kept under wraps. "It certainly is."
After talking to Jessica for a few minutes, Natalie excused herself saying that she needed to go unpack. Once she was upstairs and in her old room, Natalie flopped down on the bed the conversation with her mother weighing on her mind. In the past, whenever Natalie had had a problem and gone to Vicki, her advice had been prefect. However, this time she wasn't so sure.
Getting up off the bed, Natalie walked back over to her bags and gently picked up Cristian's journal. Going back over to the bed, she sat holding it, debating on whether or not to force herself to read it. As much as she wanted to, part of her was scared. This was all she had left of her husband, and Natalie wasn't sure if she was ready to face whatever was in it.
Taking a deep breath, Natalie began to open the book but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Natalie quickly stuffed the book into the drawer beside the bed and called out, "come in."
Jessica's head poked in. "Mom and I are going to bake Christmas cookies. You want to come and help?"
Natalie was about to decline, but seeing the childlike excitement on her sister's face, she changed her mind. "Sure, Jess." For now, the past would have to wait.