Saving Forever - Part 2 (12 page)

The breeze stirred again and her hair tickled her cheek again. She tried tucking the strays behind her ear. She turned her head slightly and the morning sun flashed against the back of her eyelids.
Morning.

She bolted up into a sitting position and checked her watch. Nearly ten. Crap! Weren’t people coming by
at eleven? She shook Elijah’s shoulder. “Wake up. Elijah, it’s almost ten!”

His eyelids fluttered and closed.

Seriously. Should a man’s eyelashes be that long? It was criminal. Charity gave her head a shake and focused on the task at hand. “Elijah!”

This time his eyes stayed open. He stared with a glazed expression before rolling onto his back. He gave her a lazy smile and tucked his arms behind his head. Her words from the moment before finally sunk into his brain. “Shit!” He jumped off the bed. “I was supposed to meet my mother for breakfast at nine. She’s going to be ticked.” He rushed to the door and reached for the handle and paused. “Oops, forgot something.” He ran back and pressed his lips against hers. Between kisses he said, “I’ll shower… and meet you… downstairs… take your time… unless you… want to… shower… with me.”

The image of the two of them in that massive marble shower in her bathroom made her groan. She’d like to spend a day trying to memorize his body. Maybe tomorrow…

She leaned back. Elijah stayed where he was, both hands resting on the bed on either side of her, his back bent and a devilish grin on his face. “Tempting?”

The lost boy from last night had disappeared. She swallowed and then dropped her head back to laugh. Her hair cascaded behind her shoulders and she watched Elijah glance at it, his gaze travelling across her neck, down over her breasts and slowly back up again. He could make her feel like she had this inner sexual power that could drive him crazy. However, now was not the time. They could not be late for this. “You are very tempting, Dr. Elijah Bennet.”

“That sounds like a no.” He straightened and grinned as he shrugged.

“How about a rain check?” She didn’t move. The turned-on her half hoped he would cover her with his body; the responsible half feared if she got out of the bed she would follow him to the shower.

He winked. “Like a swim tonight in the pool… or a skinny dip in the bay?”

He was killing her. All this mental imagery and they had to spend the day with strangers at a funeral. At least, they were strangers to her. “I’m looking forward to it.” She pointed at the door. “Now go. I need to get ready and you’re way too distracting.”

“So are you.” He stared at her before clapping his hands and rubbing them together. “Alrightie then. I’ll see you downstairs.” He turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.

Charity collapsed on the bed and lay there a moment. It was time to stop thinking about what they would be doing tonight and focus on now. She forced herself to get up and clear her head.

Showering, blow drying her hair, straightening it, applying makeup and getting dressed took longer than she thought. She shaved while in the shower
; her hair kept trying to curl instead of staying straight and trying to have her makeup look natural instead of overdone took forever.

She took one final glance in the mirror before leaving her room. She straightened her black dress and slipped on her shoes. She should have brought more jewellery. The leather on the shoulders of the dress made her neckline seem bare. It needed an antique locket or something to give it the right touch. She had forgotten to pack her mother’s necklace and the simpl
e chain she wore would have to do.

She wiped her damp palms against her hips and made her way down the hall to the stairs. The noise and quiet laughter did not prepare her for the amount of people standing in the lobby. She squeezed the railing overlooking the floor below. From her room, she’d heard little floating up from the windows and nothing from inside the house. She couldn’t believe it. There had to be at least two hundred people just in the grand room and
, looking through the large windows, the lawn between the house and water had to have triple that.

Definitely not the quiet memorial service she had envisioned. At least blending in to avoid being the stranger amongst the crowd wouldn’t be too hard. She could almost slip back into her room unnoticed…

Except she’d come for Elijah.  And she couldn’t forget the New Zealand Conservation.

Scanning the faces as she walked down the stairs, she did not recognize a single face. No surprise there. Hopefully Margaret stood just outside with Elijah be
side her.

At the bottom of the staircase, a large pair of wooden doors had been opened and even more people stood chatting and drinking in the large room on the left. Navy blue table clothes and blue hydrangeas sat on the tables. The massive hall should be in a rental building, not in a house. People would pay big money to host an event in there. The massive fireplaces were breathtaking and the chandeliers were miniature matches to the large one in the front entrance. Charity shook her head. She couldn’t
get over the massive size of this place.

A waiter walked by and she grabbed a flute of champagne off his tray. She took a long sip and glanced around. Everyone spoke with New Zealand accents and for once, she felt
too shy to speak to anyone and single herself out. She finished her drink and set the glass down on a table and took another one as another waiter came by.
Slow down.

She smiled at a couple walking by her and made her way to the front door. Everyone here knew Elijah’s father and she wasn’t sure if she even knew his name. It all felt awkward.

A long line of guests stood across the lush green grass. Waiters in navy blue tuxedos served them champagne and finger snacks as they waited. Hadn’t Margaret said she wanted to do something small?

At the end of the queue Margaret and Elijah stood under a canopy tent close to the water. Charity stood undecided on the interlock. It didn’t seem right to cut in front of all these people to give her condolences so she walked to the end of the line around the side of the house. Two pretty girls stood in front of her, each holding a flute of champagne in each hand. They sized Charity up, looked at each other and giggled.

“Are you here for Elijah?” the brunette asked. She was shorter than Charity and carried a thick New Zealand accent. “I’m Tayler.” She held out her hand and laughed. “Here, have another glass. I’m on my third one, anyways.”

“Thanks. I’m Charity.” She accepted the champagne and set her empty one in the glass beside four glasses already piling up.

“Oh! You’re from America!” The curvy dark-haired girl squealed and several people turned around to stare at them. “I’m Amber.”

T and A? Charity almost burst out laughing at the synonym that went with that. It suited these two perfectly. She wondered how many young women were here to see Elijah. When was the last time the prodigal son had been home? Charity took a swig of her drink and smiled at Tayler and Amber. “Yes, I’m originally from
New York. Elijah works at my father’s hospital.” Might as well play the connection card with these two. She’d be spending the next hour at least in line with them.

“Squee! Isn’t it beyond sexy that he’s a doctor now?”

Squee?
How old was this girl? Or maybe her IQ was lower than her age. Charity did not want to have this kind of conversation. “Did you know…John?” John! That was his name! She needed to slow down on the champagne. Her lips had numbed and a light buzz running around her head did not involve any bees or other insect.

“He played golf with my father.” Tayler waved her hand and leaned close to Charity but didn’t bother trying to lower her voice. “I never spoke to the guy. I just want to see Elijah.”

T and A giggled. Charity tried hard to not let her eyes roll. Fifty minutes later, they had moved up the line but the conversation did not change. Quite a few people now stood behind them with more women similar to Tayler and Amber. Apparently Elijah had been quite the dynasty playboy in high school. She learned he played every sport, was an all-rounder in cricket, which then needed to be explained to her that he excelled in batting and bowling. She still had no idea but nodded her head like she knew. It wasn’t hard to figure out he’d been popular because of his personality and abilities, but also because of the money and prestige that came with his parents’ money.

Another fifty minutes passed before they finally reached the tent. A large picture of Elijah’s father stood on an easel with flowers around it. Charity hadn’t seen a picture of him and nearly stumbled when she noticed it. Elijah looked
like the younger version of the man. Same bright blue eyes, strong jaw and even their laugh lines where similar. That could be Elijah in forty years.

She watched Elijah as he smiled, shook hands and hugged well wishers. He wore expensive styled clothes which seemed different to the ones she’d seen him wear back in
New York. It was like the tux he’d worn to the Christmas Extravaganza; she had thought it simply belonged on him and she bet now it had some seriously expensive designer label on it. He looked quite comfortable in his surroundings. The doctor image she carried in her head seemed lost – like it didn’t belong here.

He looked up and met her gaze. She stood about ten people away and his smile made her breath catch.

“Did you see him smile at us?” Tayler elbowed Amber and the two girls giggled and started fixing their tiny dresses and touching their hair.

They didn’t see Charity point at them and give Elijah two thumbs-up the next time he looked at her. He squinted and leaned slightly to see who she pointed at. She nearly laughed out loud when Elijah’s eye
s went huge followed by a you’ve-got-to-be-joking look.

“Finally!” Amber muttered when the person in front of them let go of Elijah’s hand and turned to talk to Margaret.

“Elijah!” they cried in unison and hugged. Charity half expect one leg on each of them to bend at the knee and bring their heels up towards their bums. They both gushed and chatted at the same time to him making Charity dizzy from their annoying dialogue. Or it might have been from the glasses of champagne.

“Call us.” Amber slipped a piece of paper in his pants pocket and giggled as she patted his bottom. The two girls finally let go of him and walked right by Margaret, not even acknowledging her.

“Charity.” Elijah’s voice snapped her attention back to him. He hugged her tight. “You didn’t have to wait in line.”

“T and A kept me entertained.” She grinned at his raised brows and nodded beside her. “The brunette is Tayler and the dark
-haired one is Amber. Apparently they met you at different times but have become fast friends. I believe at one point during our two hours together there was an offer to join their posse, but I think it’s been retracted.” She enjoyed hearing his chuckle, but stopped joking and put on a sympathetic face when the person behind her coughed purposely. “I don’t want to hold you up. I just wanted to say that I’m really sorry about your dad. I would have liked to have met him.” She reached for his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you for inviting me.”

Margaret stepped close beside her son, her face appearing friendly but the fire in her voice did not go missed by Charity. She spoke quietly so only Charity and Elijah could hear. “Can you stop chitchatting with my son? Some of us have to be here till the end.”

“I’m so sorry.” Charity side
-shuffled so she stood in front of Margaret. “I didn’t realize… My apologies.” Had Margaret even noticed T&A walk right by her? The fierce woman probably thought it had been her holding up the line the entire time. Charity squared her shoulders and held her hand out. “My condolences with the loss of your husband.”

Margaret shook her hand. She smiled politely. “Thank you, but you never met the man. You can’t possibly commiserate or sympathize
with how I feel.”

Charity blinked in surprise. Seriously? Could the woman be anymore rude to her? She’d brushed off the earlier comments and made excuses for her harshness but now, in the hot sun with a few drinks in her, she had to physically bite her lip to stop a retort she would regret. She glanced at Elijah but he was quietly chatting with an older gentleman and hadn’t heard. So she forced a tight smile as she pulled her hand out of the woman’s cool fingers. She turned and muttered, “No wonder Elijah left.”

“Excuse me?” Margaret spoke loudly. Nearly everyone in the tent area turned their heads to watch. “Did you say something?”

Cheeks burning
, Charity thought quick and lied. “I said: I wonder how Elijah felt. How he feels, you know, with being so far away and losing his father.” She met Margaret’s glare and blinked innocently; meanwhile her heart pumped a furious rhythm so loud she was sure everyone could hear. Could this trip feel anymore awkward? Margaret’s Jekyll and Hyde personality seemed aimed directly at Charity. Either the woman wanted to use her as her punching bag or … Charity refused to let herself finish the thought.

Out of the corner of her eye a large white truck with a green and blue symbol on it pull
ed along the parking area near the grass. The New Zealand Conservation had arrived. She spoke quietly, not sure if Margaret would be angry if she gave the “secret” away. “The endangered birds have arrived. Why don’t I go speak with them and see where a good spot for their release will be?”