CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – "We Should Have Stayed in Mexico"
For a moment we were all frozen in time, just like in a movie, where animation is temporarily suspended and you wait to see what will happen to unfreeze the frame. Josef moved first. He rushed over to Sarah and put his arms around her, and she grabbed him and hugged him as she sobbed against his chest while he kissed her hair and murmured things into her ear. I looked at Mick and he just shrugged and raised his eyebrows, as if to say, 'you know as much as I do.'
I saw Coraline standing behind Mick, watching Josef and Sarah as they tearfully reunited. She looked over at me and glared, and I felt like shrinking. I supposed this was how she had imagined her own reunion with Mick, but here I was in her way! I looked at Simone, who had a look of horror and disgust on her face, and I felt both sorry for her and relieved that Josef had seen her reveal her true self to him. Mick and I hadn't had to say a word to him about her.
"Excuse us," Josef said as he gallantly pulled a starched, white handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Sarah. He put his arm around her back and led her off toward Mick's office. A few seconds later, we heard the door shut behind them.
"What is going on here?!" Simone said in a low but very shaken, frantic voice. I got up from my chair.
"I don't know, Simone—do you want to sit down? Should I get you some water?"
She looked daggers at me. "I don't need water, Beth! I need to know what in the HELL this is all about!"
I felt Mick come up behind me and instantly felt the strength of his presence.
"Simone," he said evenly, "I think it might be best if you leave for now. I'm sure Josef will explain everything when he gets home. We don't know what's going on either, but let's give them some time to talk. After fifty-some years, I think that would be kind, don't you?"
She crossed her arms and looked at him, the hard-as-nails attorney coming out again. "I'm not going anywhere until I know what this is all about!"
"Your choice." Mick said, turning away from her and around to face me. "Beth—Maybe you could go get us some waters. I think we could all use a little cool-down right now." I nodded and went to the kitchen.
I heard him talking to Coraline. "Come sit down, Coraline. I have a feeling we'll all need to discuss some things here. Maybe you can shed some light on this—ah—what's happening here."
I walked in with a tray holding glasses and several bottles of cold water, which I set on the coffee table. Coraline took a bottle and began drinking right out of the bottle, wiping her lips with her fingers after the first huge gulps.
"Ask me what you want to know, Mick," she said matter-of-factly, looking at him with a face I couldn't read.
"How long have you been human again? You took the cure again, didn't you?"
"Yes, that would be correct, Mick." She took another swallow of water. "Mmmmm. You forget how good even plain old water tastes when you're a vampire! Right Mick? Ah well! I've been human now for about two months. Are you still human too?"
"No." He said it bluntly and looked at the floor.
"Oh, my! It didn't last as long for you as it usually does for me then! I'm so sorry, Mick!"
He looked back up at her and said, "Well, my human time was cut a little short. . ."
"Josef turned him back into a vampire!" Simone said with a gleam in her eye.
I was thinking that Simone could possibly cause a lot of trouble here with her blurting things out. She knew I was pregnant! What if she blurted that out! It was easy to see why Coraline was here—she wanted Mick back—that was sure an easy read, observing the way she looked at him with those big doe eyes, in stark contrast to the way she looked at me—if looks could kill! The tension was so thick I could have sliced right through it!
"Why don't you start telling us what happened with you and Sarah in New York, and tell us why you're here now," Mick said in a level tone.
As Coraline began her tale, I thought about all of the things that could go terribly wrong here tonight! Josef was probably seriously re-thinking his relationship with Simone, and that would be unpleasant, especially with Sarah returning from the land between life and death! Now Coraline was here for Mick, and Simone knew our secret! How long would she wait until she told her about the baby? Oh dear! I took a huge breath of air and reached for a water bottle. I poured it into a glass just for something to do. I didn't know who to look at! I wondered what was going through Mick's mind right now. He was obviously weighing his words very carefully, and I knew I needed to simply stay quiet and let him handle his ex!
--
Josef held Sarah tightly against him in the dark office.
"Sarah! How is it possible that you're here? Tell me I'm not imagining you!"
Sarah wiped her eyes and blew her nose and looked up into the eyes of her one true love.
"It's really me, Charles!" She sniffed. "I know--for you, I've been gone for fifty years, but for me, I only saw you yesterday! How did this happen!"
"Turning you went terribly wrong, Sarah. You never came out of it. I kept you in my apartment all of these years, and you never woke up, but you never aged either! I can't believe this! I mean, how—Sarah--how are you even here?"
"Can we sit, Charles? I'm feeling a little shaky. I'm still not used to being up for more than a few hours at a time."
"Of course! I'm sorry! What am I thinking?" Josef picked Sarah up in his arms and carried her to Mick's office chair behind the desk. He sat down, keeping her on his lap. She put her head against his shoulder and began to relax into him. "Is that better?"
She nodded against him. "Oh, thank you—it's so much better! And I need to feel you close to me! Charles, I didn't know what I'd find—Coraline had no idea what you were up to, and I was afraid that by now you'd have married someone else! I was so terrified when I found out I'd been asleep for all of these years! Oh, honey--I still love you! No time has passed for me, you see."
"Sarah, this is such a shock for me, but I'm so happy that you're all right. Please tell me—how did you ever wake up again? I'll admit—I'd lost all hope that you'd ever come back to us."
She sighed a big sigh. "I woke up in a bed I didn't recognize with machines beeping and a woman staring at me—I didn't know who she was! I was so scared! I tried to get up, but I couldn't—I had no muscles to move with. I could talk, though, thankfully! I asked the woman who she was and what was wrong with me."
"And that was Coraline?"
"Yes, she told me her name and said she was a friend of yours, and that she had been in New York looking for me. Then she sat down on the bed and held my hand so I wouldn't be so scared. She was really nice to me, and she told me that when she found out what had happened to me, she knew she had to come see me for herself. She said you had tried to go on with your life, but that you must still love me because you had never found another woman to take my place."
"That's true. I did tell her that several months ago when she was in the hospital after she was badly wounded. I thought she might die, and I wanted to see her one last time—she introduced me to my best friend, Mick St. John—we're in his place right now. I was in a hurry to get out of town that day, and she was in pretty bad shape from her injury, so I wasn't sure how much she'd remember, but it sounds as though what she's told you is true. So far."
"Yes, Coraline told me all about Mick and you, and how you are such great friends. She said she was married to Mick, but that they had been separated for a long time. She really loves him, though! She's hoping he still loves her too."
"Let's not go into that now, but I seriously doubt he will ever take her back. She treated him very badly when they were together."
"She says he's a vampire too, but that he's human temporarily because of that compound that she gave me."
"She gave you the, um, the compound? We also call it "the cure."
"Oh, yes. Yes she did."
"Can you tell me about it? About what happened after you woke up and found Coraline with you?"
"Okay," She took a breath and sighed. This was tiring, but leaning against Charlie was heavenly!
"Well, I woke up and Coraline was bandaging up my arm—it had a cut on it. She said she had some kind of compound that vampires use to become human again, and she wanted to see if it would help me wake up, so she put it in a cut in my arm, and it worked, very quickly, I guess! She said I woke up in about a minute!"
Josef kissed her on the cheek. "That's a miracle, Sarah. An absolute miracle."
"That's what Coraline called it too. But I couldn't move! After fifty years of sleeping, I guess my muscles had forgotten what to do, so the next day, Coraline had me taken by ambulance to a really nice place outside of the City, and I spent about six weeks there. They got me walking and using my muscles again—it was so hard, Charles! I even had to learn to eat again!"
"Sounds like some kind of rehab facility."
"That's what it was! It was called Lakeside Rehabilitation! They were all so great to me, so happy I'd come out of a coma, which we told the doctors had been for a year, not fifty! And Coraline came to visit me almost every day. By the time I was ready to leave, she had told me all about the world I've missed out on for the past fifty years! It's so amazing! People have little tiny phones they walk around with, and they don't have any cords!"
"I know—cell phones. It's amazing how technology has changed in such a short while, Sarah. I'm sure Coraline did a good job of filling you in, but you're going to have to learn a lot to live in this world! It's not anything like fifty years ago!"
"I can see that! Just the airplane we came out here on! I couldn't believe it! It didn't have propellers! And we didn't have to stop to re-fuel, even though we came coast-to-coast! It was fabulous!"
"Well, I'm not sure that's the word I'd use for it, but yeah, jets are much faster than airplanes."
"And we had little televisions on the back of the seats in front, and they were so tiny! I'm so excited to have you show me everything in this new world, Charles!"
"It'll be a bit confusing at first, but I swear we'll get you all up to date on things, Sarah. I need to know some other things first. Like—where is your father?"
"Coraline said he died. I cried when she told me Daddy was dead!" She stopped and wiped tears from her face as Josef just held her. "He'd be ninety-three by now, so it makes sense that he's dead, but the last time I saw him, he was only about forty! He was my Daddy, Charles! I miss him! And mama too! Oh, I wake up to this world where my parents have died, and I didn't even get to say good-bye!" She kept crying softly and Josef felt terrible that he couldn't do anything to help—except just to be here and listen.
"I know, Sarah. He loved you so much. He had a very hard time when you—ah—wouldn't wake up." Josef's mind was racing. Sarah and Coraline were right—Old Man Whitley was dead. He'd had that confirmed before he left New York to come back to L. A. back when Mick and Beth had come out and saved his life from that damned assassin the old man had hired to kill him!
"Did you find out how he died?"
"No, but I guess he was really old—I guess if I'd been able to wake up a few months ago, I still could have seen him! Oh, I just missed saying good-bye to my Daddy!" She dabbed at her tears and sniffed. "Mama died a couple of years ago, but I'm really hurting, you know? It's like yesterday I had Mama and Daddy and today I've lost them both! I'm an orphan now!"
Josef looked around for tissues, but didn't see any. The handkerchief was getting soaked, he noticed. How terrible for her to wake up to a world so different than the one she left! His deepest sympathy went out to her. Oh, if he could only have known back then what would happen! He'd have never tried to turn her!
He rocked her back and forth in the chair and said soothingly,
"It's okay, honey. I know they both really loved you, right up until they died. They always hoped you'd come back to them."
He had to leave it at that. The truth was, they never saw Sarah after she left to be with him. They assumed he had killed her, and he never told them anything different, simply moved away and made a new life as Josef Kostan.
"You saw them? Charles? You saw them before they died?"
"No, I just kept in touch with your father's care-givers. Over the years, Sarah, I've been back to see you often. It made me feel better just to be with you, even if you couldn't talk to me."
"Oh, Charles! If only we could have spent all these years together! I've missed out on so much!"
"Sarah, honey, stop. You haven't missed anything. I'm still here, and you're here now—maybe we can start over."
"Oh, I truly hope so!" Sarah kissed his cheek. "Nothing has changed for me, but I know—you have to get used to having me around again. I'll wait for you—as long as it takes! I love you so much, Charlie."
Josef started at her use of his nickname. It was so much a part of who they had been. Now he'd have to tell her that on top of everything else that was different in her world, he was as well. No longer Charles Fitzgerald, the man she had known back in New York. Josef was very different from the Charles she knew! He wondered if she could really still love him, once she got to know him again!
Josef hugged her hard against him. It felt so good to have her in his arms again. Old feelings long ago pushed aside were rapidly resurfacing. What a shock! To find out Simone was not the woman he had thought she was, and at the same moment he was finding out who the true Simone was, Sarah showed back up in his life! This was almost too much to process, even for an old soul like himself!
"Did you get back to your house Sarah? I heard your father died there. He was very ill at the end."
"Yes, before we left New York, I made Coraline take me to our apartment! It's still there, Josef! Just like I remembered it! Almost like fifty years hadn't passed! But nobody was there; it just sits empty. And I looked and looked for my necklace and my diary, but I couldn't find them! I hope they're not lost forever!"
"I have them, honey. Don't worry—I'll give them back to you. We can go back and clear the place out if you'd like to do that--I'm sure your father would want you to have his things. He must have a will—but then, maybe not."
'Quick thinking, Josef!' He told himself! The old man thought Sarah was dead! Why would he leave her anything in his will? Oh, wow. This was a mess! He hugged Sarah again. No matter what the mess was, they'd work it out. All that mattered was that Sarah was okay.
Sarah snuggled in closer. She felt so safe now that she was back in his arms again. "I'd like you to take me back there sometime."
"We'll do that soon. But tell me now, you got better at the hospital, and then you decided to come and surprise me? Why did you come here to Mick's place? Why didn't you go to mine And why didn't you call me to tell me you were alive?"
"Well, first of all, Coraline didn't want me to call you. She said it would be such a great surprise if I just came home to you! I didn't believe her after she told me how long you'd been waiting for me, but I said it would be okay. I really wanted to be all well and walking when I came to you."
"I guess I can understand that, but honey, I'd have come to see you in the Center! I'd have gotten you the best doctors!"
"Oh, Coraline took care of it. She really is very nice!"
"Ah, well—I'm really glad she was nice to you." He patted her arm comfortingly. About tonight, though—Coraline knows where I live—why didn't you both come to my place?"
"We did, but you weren't home, so we came here. She said if you weren't home, you'd probably be here with Mick."
"I guess she knows me too well. She thought it would be just Mick and me here, huh?"
"Well sure—we didn't know you'd be here with a group! Oh, Charles! I was so relieved to see you! I was so happy you were here—I have nobody now except you!"
Josef pondered her words and decided that was true. All of her friends would be very old by now, and her parents were dead, so that left him as her sole contact to her life. Wow.
"Yes, I'm glad I was here too, Sarah. You can't believe how I felt when I first saw you! I was just so stunned and happy!" Sarah leaned her head back and looked him in the eyes.
"I didn't know if you'd be happy to see me, and then there was that woman yelling at you!" She pulled herself upright in Josef's lap. "That woman! Charles, why was she screaming about not having your baby? She really frightened me! She was being horrible!"
"Oh, Sarah." Josef sighed, wondering how much he should tell her. She seemed awfully fragile right now, and that was understandable! "All I can say is this—a lot of things have changed in fifty years, but that doesn't mean we can't work through this."
Sarah was immediately worried. "So—was Coraline wrong? Charles! Did you get married?" She started to cry softly into the wilted handkerchief. "I knew it! You're so handsome and wonderful—of course you'd get married!"
"No—I haven't gotten married, Sarah! I just could never find anyone who meant as much to me as you did!" He kissed the top of her head. "Trust me, honey, I'm going to try to work things out, but it might take a little time. Please be patient."
Josef patted her on the arm again to try to settle her down. She always had been a little emotional.
"Well, Charles, I really hope that maybe you can love me again! But I think I need to know just WHO that woman is out there! And why was she saying things like that to you?"
Josef fingered a lock of her hair. "Sarah, don't be upset by this, okay? Her name is Simone, and she has been my attorney for a while. Recently she's been my girlfriend, but as of tonight, I realized we weren't right for each other, and we're going to break up. That's what you heard—she was very upset that we were breaking up. I realized tonight that this relationship wasn't right for either of us. The crazy thing is that you showed up tonight! Of all nights, you show up tonight!" He shook his head.
"You mean just as you're breaking up with your girlfriend, your old fiancée comes back."
"Right. You appear as if by magic right when I need you most. That's the way it was before, Sarah, and you cannot believe how much I've missed you all of these years!"
Sarah moved her head again to look up at him. "I don't care if it's been a thousand years since I saw you last—I love you as much now as when you kissed me goodnight after our last date."
"I—Sarah, I've missed you so much!" The last few words got caught in his throat, and he could feel his eyes begin to mist up. As he said the words, he realized just how true they were—he'd never gotten over her! Josef moved his arm from behind her back up to cup the back of her head as he bent over to kiss her. Memories flooded back to him as his entire body reacted to the smell, taste and touch of her. As their mouths met, he felt all of the emotions he had stuffed for so many years resurface, and excitement swamped him as he felt her lips move beneath his as she kissed him back, causing a stir in his groin and an ache where his heart should be beating.
"Sarah, I can't believe you've come back to me!" He kissed her again, this time with such passion that he felt her body reacting to him, pressing closer to him as she sighed against his lips and kissed him back, and he felt drunk with happiness at holding her again, kissing her! His Sarah!
"Oh, Charlie!" she said against his neck, "I was so afraid that you wouldn't even care about me anymore!" She felt profound relief being back in the arms of the man she loved. She reached up and pulled him to her again.
He couldn't believe how quickly everything about her came back to him, as if fifty years of sadness were all vaporizing, and all of the old feelings he had for her inside of him rose up and took over, pushing aside every moment without her, putting her here so close, as if no time had passed at all! He loved the feel of her arm around him, her hand in his hair, her mouth taking and giving. She was so soft and warm, and she felt so great as she turned her body to press against him as much as was possible within the limits of an office chair.
As the kisses lingered on, he thought, 'My God! I do still love her!' How unbelievable was this! After all these years, here she was in his arms and in his life again! He leaned back in the chair as far as it would recline, and she went back with him, still pressing herself close to him, no doubt feeling the growing evidence of his desire for her.
When at last the long kiss ended, he was as breathless as she was. "I still love you, Sarah. I can't believe it, but I love you as if no time has even passed for us! I want very much to make love to you."
"I want that too, darling—do you think we could go to your place?" She was shaking in his arms, and he held her tightly, trying to calm her, and in the process of doing that, by holding her close, he was also able to compose himself!
He knew taking her to his house wasn't an option. Simone must be there now!
"You know—Sarah? I think we need a hotel room for tonight—would that be okay?"
She looked at him with unabashed passion in her eyes. "I don't care where we go, but honey, I just want to be with you tonight."
"Me too, Sarah. Oh, me too!"
--
Mick, Coraline, Simone and I all sat in silence for several minutes, after we had heard the explanation of how Sarah had been healed by the cure. It was an amazing story, and I wondered why Coraline had bothered to bring Sarah back to Josef. I knew their friendship went back at least a hundred fifty years, give or take, so maybe it truly was a simple matter of trying to make an old friend happy! I had a hard time believing this woman was capable of anything selfless, though, even if she had begged Lance to spare Mick's life the last time he saw her! My radar was on high alert—I didn't trust her as far as I could throw her.
Mick sat in stunned silence. He had been warned that his ex was in the States, but he sure hadn't considered that she'd have done all of this and then shown up on his doorstep the moment he got back from his honeymoon! As usual, her timing was eerily flawless. Catch him when he's vulnerable—that had always been her game! And right now, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on with his friend and the woman he'd lost so many years ago!
Finally Simone broke the silence. "What could be taking them so long!" she fumed, looking at her watch.
"This is going to take some time, Simone," Mick said as he saw her move to get up off of the couch. "Simone! Stay there—leave them alone!" He was motioning with his hand for her to stay.
"I don't have to do what you say, Mick! Josef is MY guy, and I don't want HER trying to get her clutches on him!"
"I don't think any of what you just said is the case, Simone. Josef has loved Sarah for decades, so like I said, just leave them alone." His voice was low and somewhat threatening.
Simone shot upward and took a step, but Mick was very quick to catch her. He took her by the arm and walked her to the door. He opened it, and I could barely hear him speaking, but I could tell he was out of patience with her. I got up and went to where they were standing. Mick was talking, and Simone looked both angry and scared.
"I'm telling you nicely, Simone, that you need to leave now. Josef will be home to work things out with you later, but right now I have to work things out with Coraline, so I'm telling you—you need to just go home now. I'll have Josef call you when he and Sarah are through talking."
I put my hand on Mick's shoulder. "Simone, I think Mick is right—you do need to get home. We all have things to do, and we're all tired and stressed out."
Simone just looked at us, the St. John United Front, asking her to please leave us alone. I was almost surprised when she simply turned on one heel and stomped out. I could hear the click of her heels as she walked down the hall.
Mick and I looked at each other and sighed collective breaths of relief. He nodded toward Coraline, who was watching us very closely. "What do we do with HER?" I asked very softly, mostly mouthing the words. Mick raised his eyebrows and shrugged, then motioned for me to walk ahead of him. I went and sat back down in my chair, and Mick sat down beside me. We were both staring at Coraline.
"So what's with you guys?" She asked in a sweet, sing-song-y voice. "Have you moved in together now?" She looked at our two rolling suitcases. "Have you been somewhere recently?"
I looked at Mick and he was looking at his thumbs, which were pressing hard against each other, a sure sign of tension. I was afraid of how she'd react if he told her the truth, but then another part of me wanted him to tell her. If she was human right now, then maybe I really didn't need to fear for my life! After all, I did have two strong vampires here to protect me!
"Coraline," Mick began, and I could tell he was hesitating, probably afraid of how she'd react. "Beth and I just got back from our honeymoon. We've been in Mexico for a couple of weeks."
I watched her closely, and she looked as though she'd been punched in the stomach and fed persimmons at the same time.
"Say what? You two are married?" She sounded so incredulous! I wondered why she thought this was so preposterous!
Mick looked at me and tried to smile reassuringly. "Yes, Coraline, we're married, and we certainly didn't expect to come home from our honeymoon and have all of this land in our laps!" He gave me a little sideways glance that made me feel suddenly better.
"I'm not sure I believe you, Mick! How could you marry her! She's a human!"
"What I want to know, Coraline, is why are you really here, and why did you bring Sarah Whitley with you? Just what are you up to this time? It wasn't long ago that you set me up to get killed in a cemetery when you were posing as Morgan Vincent. You can't blame me for being suspicious of your motives."
His voice demanded an answer. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Oh, Mick! I was trying to do something nice for Josef! I found more of the cure!" She dug in her handbag and brought out three small, tin boxes. "See? I have more in my hotel room! Mick! You can be human again too! I came to tell you that if you want to be human again, I can give that gift to you."
I looked at him quickly to see if he wanted to take her up on it, but he wasn't looking at her.
He sighed, then said in a resigned voice, "I don't want the cure right now, Coraline. I'm fine just the way things are."
"But Mick! You hate being a vampire! I came all this way to—tell you"—she was looking at me warily. "I'm sorry, Beth. I'd like to speak to Mick alone."
"She stays right here," Mick told her, putting his hand on my knee. "Whatever you want to say, you say to both of us."
Coraline rolled her eyes. "Oh, this is so embarrassing. Mick—I wanted to give you the cure so we could—she stopped and looked at me. "Sorry, Beth, but I had this idea, you see—I thought Mick might take me back if I would give him a child, so I came back with the cure and I thought we could just—have a baby. I mean, unless he gets the cure from ME, he'll never be a father, and I'm not going to give it to him if he's with you." She gave me another evil glance, then she looked back at Mick.
Mick must have felt me move. I wanted to say something, but he squeezed my knee, so I kept silent. I saw his jaw clenching.
"Think about what I'm saying, Sweetie!" She was pleading with him now. "You know I love you, Mick! You know I never stopped! Even after you tried to kill me, I still loved you! And I'm back now so we can have a family of our own!"
"Oh, like you were going to do when you kidnapped me?" I interjected into her little spiel.
I felt Mick squeeze my knee firmly, so I kept quiet and let him do the talking.
"It's too late, Coraline—it was too late twenty years ago and it's certainly too late now! Beth and I are married! Get over this thing with me already and get on with your life!"
"But a BABY, Mick! Our very own child! We can do this! I'm offering you something that no other woman can offer you!"
"You are offering me nothing but pain and agony, Coraline! Don't you get this? It's been over between us ever since our wedding night! You're the one who ended our marriage, not me!"
"Well—if it was so OVER, Mick, why did you keep coming back for more? Huh?"
Mick and I flinched at the same time. She was pulling out all of the stops!
"You have to understand this, Coraline--I've finally found someone who loves me just for myself, no conditions, and she doesn't even care that I'm a vampire! It is SO over with you—you know it has been for twenty-three years. Hell, Coraline! I thought you were dead all of those years! If I meant so much to you, wouldn't you have tried to get in touch? I thought I had killed you, and I put you in my past, and that's where you'll stay. I'm asking you now, please, please! Just go back to whatever life you've been living without me and leave us in peace. There's no peace for me when you're around. I'll never, EVER trust you again."
"But—Mick! I just brought Sarah back to life! Can't you see I've changed? All I wanted was to make Josef happy and to make YOU happy! To give you a baby, and I want us to be together—forever—once you told me you'd love me forever! I want forever with you, Mick!"
"Forever is dead for us, Coraline—it died when you decided to turn me. You never told me what you were, never asked me if I wanted it, you just did it! And I have hated you ever since then! In fact, I've hated myself and what you made me ever since that night! I've finally let go of my hatred, thanks to Beth, so release me and let's agree we're better off without each other."
"But you'll never have a child! Mick I can give that to you! Let me do this—for you!"
Mick's hand was squeezing my knee so tightly that I put a hand over his to settle him down. I wasn't going to tell her about our baby, and I knew Mick wouldn't either!
"I don't care about that any more, Coraline. I'm sorry I ever said anything about wanting a family. I said that to you once in anger, as I recall, because you took that possibility away from me without even asking me if it was important to me! I had envisioned being married and having a family someday, and you stole that little dream, but I can live with it now. Beth and I will live with the decision you made for me. Just—please—go away. I don't want to see you anymore, and I certainly don't want you back in my life!"
She got up and picked up her purse. "Fine! I'll leave you for now, but think about this, Mick—think about what you're giving up. Think about life with a human too, while you're at it! You know she can never satisfy you like I can!" The look she gave me was haughty and purely evil. Mick caught it and was on his feet so fast I didn't even see him move.
"Out. Now." He grabbed her arm and whisked her to the door, opened it and pushed her out. When the door was shut, he watched her on the monitor. She stood for a moment, then walked off down the hallway.
"I'm so sorry about that, honey. She's completely crazy. We're going to have to keep a watch on her."
"She scares me, Mick. What if she finds out I'm pregnant? Do you think she'll try to kill me?"
Mick rushed over and knelt in front of my chair. He put his head on my knees and I put my hands on his head. "I won't let anything happen to you, Beth! I promise! If I have to kill her, I will—but no harm will ever come to you or our child because of her. I swear to you, I'll keep you safe from her!"
"I know you will, Mick, but that doesn't mean I'm not scared of her."
"You should be scared of her! She's a menace! She's a wild card! I never know what's in her twisted mind! Oh, honey, I'm so sorry about all of this."
I ran my fingers through his hair, his head still on my lap. He was upset and so was I, but we'd figure out how to deal with her.
"I know you're sorry, Mick, but it's just something we'll deal with together, okay? I trust you." I listened for any sound coming from the office, but didn't hear anything. "I think Josef is the beneficiary of Coraline's goodwill. At least someone is happy! They've been in your office for an awfully long time!"
"Can you imagine catching up on fifty years' worth of conversation? I'm thinking I'll probably have to drive them somewhere—I'd think Simone drove the car back to Josef's. I want you to come with me, though. I don't want to leave you alone until we figure out where Coraline is and what her next move will be."
"I agree, Mick—I'm not going to wait around for her to kill me!"
"Don't say that—don't even think it. We're just going to be cautious for now, okay? I'll figure out how to get rid of her!"
Just then we heard the office door open and we both looked up. Out walked Josef and Sarah, hand-in-hand, smiling and looking a tad disheveled.
"Well," Mick said, "good to see you again! You must have had a—a lot to talk about!"
"Yeah, Buddy—can you drive us to the Regent Beverly? We still have a lot of catching up to do."
"I'll just bet you do!" Mick said. "Let me get my keys. Honey? Do you need a coat?"
"I don't have one here. I'll just use this blanket" I said as I opened up the ottoman.
"No, here," Mick said as he put his leather jacket over my shoulders. "Let's get these two somewhere so they can be alone. Oh—I told Simone you'd call her, Josef."
"Oh, no. I don't think I can take that. . ."
"Please? Just call her, Josef--if you don't, I'm afraid she'll be over here pounding on MY door!"
"All right—I'll call her in the car. Let's go."
In the car, I heard Josef on his cell phone, but it wasn't Simone he was calling. "Max! Josef. I need a favor. Can you go to my place and get Simone out of there? Yeah, I'll call her and tell her you'll be stopping by to escort her out. Thanks. It's good to have a bouncer when you need one."
I felt a chill. I remembered asking Josef to take care of Dean Foster and I hoped he wasn't going to take care of Simone in the same manner. I looked at Mick, and he looked at me with a 'stay out of this' kind of look. I had to hope for the best, I guessed.
Simone felt a chill go up her spine as Josef said the words over the phone. "I need you to pack up and leave, Simone. I think maybe it's better if you do it while I'm not there. I'm going to let you do that tonight, and by morning, when I get back, I'll expect you to be gone. A friend of mine will be over soon to help you. He'll put your things in your car. I'm sorry this didn't work out, Simone, and I do want to get together to talk this out, but tonight we're all too emotional."
"Josef! I can't believe you're saying this! Josef! We were going to have a life together!"
"But you don't really love me, Simone—I never realized that until I saw you tonight, reacting to what I want for my life. Face it—I'm not what you need, and that goes both ways. It's much better to make this break now." He heard her crying on the other end of the phone.
"The doorbell is ringing. I suppose it's your friend. Josef, this is so cruel. You're dumping me on the PHONE! I'll never forgive you for this!"
"I'm sorry, Simone, but really, it's going to be easier for you to just pack up and leave without my being there. I'll call you in a few days." He heard the click as she hung up on him and thanked the Universe that he hadn't turned her!
--
Back at her apartment, Coraline paced back and forth in her room. How could Mick go off and marry that little freshie! How dare she get her hooks into him like that! Mick belonged to HER, Coraline! This wasn't over, not by a long shot! She'd figure something out—she just needed to think.