Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (19 page)

“You built me a house?”

“You like it, don’t you?” Malcolm’s brow creased in worry. “I tried to design something I thought you would want, something that fit your personality.”

“You built me a house?” I asked again, completely stunned and unable to think of anything else to say.

“Come on,” he said, taking my hand again, grinning at how flabbergasted he had made me. “Let me show you the rest of it.”

On the first floor of the unfurnished home, there was a dining room connected to the living room, and a family room beside a fully-equipped kitchen. The second floor had three regular bedrooms and a master suite, which was directly above the first- floor living room. The same picture windows were up here, allowing you to take in an unobstructed mountain view. I stood by the windows, unable to process everything at once.

“You built me a house,” I said, still trying to wrap my mind around the concept.

“Yes,” he said, coming to stand beside me. “I built you a house. Do you like it?”

“I can’t accept this,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s too much, Malcolm.”

“Nonsense. You have no choice. I’m giving it to you.”

“No,” I said firmly. “I can’t take it.”

“Why not?” Malcolm sounded offended. It was the last thing I wanted.

“It’s a house!” I said, thinking that was enough of a reason.

“Lilly,” it was one of the few times Malcolm called me by name, “please, take the house. I want you to have it.”

“But, why would you build me a house?”

“It’s what I do,” he shrugged. “I build things.”

“You could have just built me a doll house, not a real house.”

Malcolm chuckled. “I don’t do small, dearest. You should know that by now.”

“But it’s a house, Malcolm.”

“Then just think of it as a large doll house, and consider yourself the doll who gets to live in it.”

I couldn’t help but blush as his statement.

“I thought it would be nice if you had somewhere all your own to go to,” he told me, caressing my face with his hand. “You deserve this and so much more, dearest. I could give you the world if you would just let me.”

If I wasn’t so in love with Brand, I could easily see myself falling for Malcolm. Who wouldn’t be seduced by his model-perfect good looks and gentle nature, at least with me? He had always treated me like I was dear to him, and never shied away from letting me know how much he adored me. But, I was hopelessly in love with Brand, and not even Malcolm’s charms could change that fact.

“Malcolm, I …”

“No, don’t say it,” he said, as if he knew I was going to remind him that I loved Brand. “I know.” His hand left my face and returned to his side. “Just let me fantasize for a moment that this is our house, and that you love me more than you do him.”

I didn’t know what to say. My heart ached for my friend. I wanted to comfort him with words, but knew there weren’t any that would erase his yearning for me to return his affections. I put my arms around his waist and laid my head against his chest. It was all I could give him.

He held me close for a long while, not saying a word, before finally letting me go.

When we returned to Malcolm’s house, he talked me into playing a game of chess on the veranda. Abby and Sebastian were still playing croquet in the backyard. Though, from what I gathered from their banter, it was their second game. Apparently, Abby was true to her word and had won the first game without much effort.

Almost an hour after he’d left, Brand strolled out the backdoor and onto the veranda. I immediately jumped out of my seat, quickly forgetting about the move I was about to make against Malcolm, which would put me within three moves of winning the game, and threw myself into Brand’s arms.

“I really wish you wouldn’t do things like that to me,” I admonished, hugging him so tight I felt sure I was cutting off the circulation below his waist.

“I’m sorry,” he said, hugging me back.

“Did you find the slimy bastard?” Malcolm asked, coming to stand beside me.

“No,” Brand replied, clearly disappointed and frustrated. “He had someone helping him hide his trail. I guess he learned a few tricks from Justin.”

Brand looked down at me. “What exactly did Robert say to you?”

I told Brand what I could remember about my conversation with Robert.

“What do you think he meant?” I asked. “What could he be planning that makes him think I would beg him to kill me?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t put anything past Robert.” Brand looked to Malcolm. “Do you have any idea what he could be orchestrating?”

Malcolm shrugged. “It’s hard to know. Robert’s a sadist. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Brand looked back down at me with a grave expression on his face. “Promise me the next time you even think you see someone who looks like Robert, you’ll phase somewhere safe. It was foolish of you to stay there and talk with him.”

I pulled away from Brand. If there was one thing I hated, it was being talked down to.

“If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t know he was planning something,” I pointed out, trying to keep my temper in check.

“You put yourself in danger unnecessarily, Lilly,” Brand said, not trying to hide his frustration with me. “Nothing is more important than your safety. It was stupid to stand there and have a conversation with someone who’d tried to rape you the last time you saw him!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Malcolm staring hard at Brand, shaking his head.

“Well if I’m so
stupid
, maybe you should stay away from me. I would hate for it to rub off on your genius!”

I was standing at the foot of my bed in my own apartment before I knew it. Had he actually had the audacity to stand there and call me foolish and stupid in the same conversation?

Brand phased in almost on top of me, causing me to fall back onto my bed with him falling beside me. He rolled over and pinned me to the bed. I guess he thought that would make me stay put.

“Lilly, I…”

I phased to his bed back home and quickly stood up before he could follow. I ran to his paint studio, and immediately phased to the street in New York we’d gone to earlier in the day. I hoped he would spend some time trying to find me in his house before figuring out I had simply gone to another room to phase from. I put my arm out and hailed a taxi. A cab instantly came to my rescue, and whisked me away before Brand could follow, leaving a cold trail for him to find.

“Where to, miss?” the cab driver asked.

I had no idea where I would go in New York, but it really didn’t matter. I just needed to go somewhere and phase so Brand couldn’t simply follow me. I knew where I wanted to end up, but I didn’t want Brand tracking me there.

“Just take me another three blocks,” I told the cab driver. Since I only had a twenty-dollar bill in my back pocket, I didn’t want to spend it all on a cab ride to nowhere.

When I got out of the cab, I phased to Utha Mae’s trailer. I knocked on the door and called to her. She immediately opened it.

“Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” she said, holding the door open for me.

I walked into her trailer.

“I needed to see you,” I told her, trying to keep myself from crying.

“Come and sit with me, child. Tell me what’s wrong.”

We sat down on her brown suede sofa, and I couldn’t prevent the tears that began to flow of their own accord.

“Brand and I had a fight,” I said, wiping the tears from my eyes, refusing to get too upset in front of her.

“What about, baby?”

I regretted not being able to tell Utha Mae everything. I said as much as I could without bringing her into my troubles.

“He’s upset with me because I talked with someone dangerous to get some information we needed. He called me foolish and stupid. Can you believe that?” I snorted.

“Well,” Utha Mae sat back on the sofa, watching me, “was he right?”

“What? That I was foolish and stupid?” Was she actually going to take his side?

“Was the person you talked with a danger to you?”

I shrugged. “I suppose he was, but that doesn’t give Brand the right to call me those things.”

“I’m not saying he was right, baby, but you need to consider his feelings. I’m sure he doesn’t really believe you’re either of those things. He wouldn’t want to marry you if he did. You probably just scared him silly, and he was lashing out in the wrong way, and to the wrong person.”

“Well, he needs to learn I won’t just stand around and be talked to like that.”

“Which is why you’re here?”

“Yes,” I said, feeling a little guilty for using Utha Mae’s home as a safe haven. “I’m not sure he’d think to look for me here.”

“Well, it’s always good to let a man know where you stand. Since you’re here, why don’t you help me make us some supper? I think your mom went out with someone, or I’d tell you to go get her, too.”

I was at Utha Mae’s for almost two hours before the phone rang. When she answered it, I knew it was Brand on the other end of the line.

“Yes, she’s here, hon. Do you want to talk with her?”

Utha Mae handed me the phone, forcing me to stop hiding and handle the situation like an adult.

“Hello,” I said.

“Come home,” he begged. “I’m so sorry, Lilly.
Please
, come home.”

The heartbroken way he made his request tore down my resolve to stay mad at him. It seemed like love made you strong against certain situations, but completely weak when it came to the one you were in love with.

“Can you come get me?” I asked. “I don’t have my car here.”

Utha Mae had already asked me how I got to her house, since she didn’t see my car parked outside. I had to concoct a lie and told her I hired a taxi service in Lakewood to get to her home, because I didn’t have my car with me at the time of my fight with Brand.

“You know I’ll have to actually drive there,” Brand said, slightly frustrated that our reconciliation would not be happening immediately. If he just showed up at Utha Mae’s, it would cause her to ask too many questions.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I promised him. “I’ll be here waiting.”

“Ok, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

I hung up the phone.

“So, are you going to forgive him?” Utha Mae asked me.

“I already have,” I sighed. “I love him too much to stay mad at him, especially when he sounds so pitiful.”

“Good. I like knowing you’re in love with a good man. I just wish Tara would find someone I felt comfortable leaving her with.”

“Leaving?” I asked, taken completely off guard. “Are you going somewhere?”

“We’re all going somewhere eventually, baby. My time is coming,” Utha Mae said, putting a hand to her chest. “I would feel better if I knew Tara had someone to share her life with, who loved her as much as Brand loves you.”

“Don’t talk like that,” I told her. “You’re going to be with us for a long time.”

The sad smile on Utha Mae’s face worried me. “Only the good Lord knows when He’ll be calling me home. None of us can predict when our time will come, baby, but I do know that I’m getting old. I don’t feel like I have much longer to wait.”

I didn’t push the issue and attempt to convince Utha Mae she had to live at least another twenty years. But who knew what would happen? For all I knew, I might only have two more months to live.

“Utha Mae,” I sat down with her at the kitchen table. “Can I ask you something?”

“You know you can ask me anything, baby.”

“Would you think less of me if I married Brand now, instead of waiting until I got out of college?”

Utha Mae looked confused. “What difference would it make when you married him?”

“It doesn’t, I guess.” I desperately wanted to tell her why I was thinking about moving up the wedding, but knew I couldn’t. “It’s just that I never wanted to end up like my mom. The only thing most people know about her is that she dates a lot of men. I don’t want to be known just for being married to Brand.”

“Child, you’ll be known for the deeds you do in your life. Whether you marry him now or in four more years doesn’t really make a difference in the scheme of things. But, I will say that I probably wouldn’t be so willing to let you marry him if he wasn’t able to provide for you so well. He can take care of you, and he seems mature enough to be someone you can lean on. He’ll support you in more ways than just with his money. He loves you more than I’ve ever seen a man love a woman. Well, at least as much as my Harry loved me anyway. You know,” Utha Mae had a wistful expression on her face, “we married when we were eighteen.”

Harry had been Utha Mae’s husband. He died from a stroke when Tara and I were only two years old, so we had no memory of him, but Utha Mae had stayed true to him all these years. She never even looked at another man. Many of the single men from her church had tried to take her out, but she always refused their attention, saying her heart would always belong to Harry. Even though he was in Heaven, Utha Mae didn’t feel any less married to him. She was just waiting for her time to join him in paradise.