Love Never Dies (9 page)

“I can’t,” he ground out between clenched t
eeth, glaring fiercely at Santa Barbara’s holiday drizzle, and fingered the mobile phone. “I have a life here; a chance for a future. You can’t uproot me now. I won’t let you!”

It was
just as Mandy had feared. “If they’ve found out where you are; even if we get rid of Adam Gable, it’s only a matter of time until another one’s coming after you.”

“I can’t abandon the woman I’m involved with now, because if I do I might as well be dead. You’ve got to find some ot
her way! Keep a tail on this Adam fellow and give me at least until New Year’s to decide.”

“We’ll do the best we can Seth,” said Mandy
, and hung up.

He wanted, no he needed, the comfort of Julia’s arms.
He longed to crawl beneath warm covers and seek refuge in her embrace and shut the darkness out. By rights he should tell her everything, but his innate caution, as well as the desire to protect the woman he loved, immediately bullied those immature thoughts aside. Julia wasn’t involved in any of this mess, and damned if he’d drag her clean, trusting nature through the muck.

Yet the rational part of him knew it was way too late for any of these
futile thoughts. He’d knowingly and arbitrarily dragged her into his world and worse yet, had made her his soul mate. No matter what happened, Julia was trapped and Seth cursed his inability to control his own destiny.

Seth wandered into his bedroom and pulled open the top drawer, where he’d fashioned a
secret compartment. He wiggled the thin wooden backing aside and pulled out two items. The first was a deadly blue-black Beretta, loaded and ready. He touched the metal before pushing it aside and lifting the small red velvet box. The lid opened with a creak and he stood for a full minute admiring the exquisite diamond wedding set nestled inside white satin.

He’
d picked out a channel setting where a large one carat diamond engagement ring, with two small .25 carat diamonds situated on each side, sat surrounded by beautiful eighteen carat Italian gold. The wedding band boasted seventeen diamonds recessed within its circular channel. It had cost him nearly two month’s salary, but was worth every penny. Seth vowed that someday these rings would grace Julia’s slim finger. Strangely calm, he replaced the red velvet box next to the Beretta and tapped the gun with his forefinger.

“I will
keep what I need to survive upon this earth,” he pledged.

It
took two full snifters of cognac and three hours of staring sleeplessly at the new aquarium, where a yellow tang, blue angel fish, and Moorish Idol jealously staked out their respective territories, to induce sleep.

Julia arrived bright and early the next morning, a large gaily wrapped parcel peeking underneath her arm.
Attired in faded blue jeans, a bright blue UCLA sweatshirt, and comfortable loafers, she looked and felt cozy and warm. Once he released her from a bear hug embrace she grinned impishly.

“I have a little something extra for you Seth; something I
couldn’t give you in front of my folks.” Julia handed him the good-sized present wrapped in bright foil paper and tied with a golden bow.

Seth let her into the
inviting living room where he’d already lit a fire. He loved fires. Their encompassing warmth always indicated deep love and acceptance to him. Without fail, his father and mother had built enormous fires in the stone hearth every evening during the fall and winter in Canada. The dancing flames made him recall the memory of exchanging his soul with Julia and he felt his spirits lift.

“Another present for me?”

His eyes twinkled and
he wondered if Julia felt the same tugging pull at her heart as he did. He’d known when she was about to approach, almost able to visualize her bounding up the steps; and even before her hand lifted the brass knocker Seth could sense her joyful anticipation of being with him.

He sank down upon the couch before the crackling fire, the Christmas tree lights blinking to his right. Julia dropped to the floor in front of him, crossing her legs Indian fashion and cradling her delicate face in her chin.
Her dark green eyes sparkled up at him, studying his beloved face.

“Don’t even think about it,” Julia warned
, as he was about to tear off the wrapping. “You know that’s not how it’s done. In our family the tradition is to always guess what’s inside before you open a package, so behave.”

“Hmm,” said Seth
, willing to play along with the game. “Well it’s too small to be a convertible,” he stated and pretended to pout.

Julia frowned, sniffing scornfully.
“You can do better than that Hayes.”

“Alright.
Let’s see... it’s way too big for season tickets to the Lakers...” He shook the package, causing her to swat his hand.

“That’s not permitted and you know it,” she chided
, as he grinned.

Seth had purposely done it to torment her.
He observed all the rules yesterday, noting each step of the contrived game. Starting clockwise, each recipient admired each brightly wrapped package without touching it and then thanked the giver before trying to guess what was inside. It prolonged the enjoyment of gift giving and Seth enjoyed the warm tradition, wishing to embrace it as his own. At her expectant face he decided to give it a genuine guess.

“It’s actually a pretty large package and could be just about anything.
It’s fairly heavy so it can’t be an article of clothing. Hmm... I think it’s a book,” he said, “a skillfully wrapped coffee table book on architecture.”

Julia’s face lit up in a bright grin. “A good guess Hayes, but no cigar!”
Her expression could only be classified as smug.

It was now time to move on
to the next stage of the game so he made great fanfare of trying to untie the ribbon. Her fingers twitched in impatience, unable to conceal her acute desire to grab the large package from him and undo it herself because he was so blasted slow! But Julia knew the rules as well as he; one had to be patient. The giver had to suffer while the receiver dawdled and prolonged the gift-giving process, determined to torment the helpless observer.

Seth finally managed to u
ntie the metallic ribbon curled so beautifully around the package before slowly ripping apart the golden red wrapping paper depicting bright Christmas bells. He lifted the lid to the sturdy box apprehensively, staring at the item wrapped securely in bubble wrap. As Seth pulled it out he realized it was a picture frame. Julia had stuffed tissue paper all around the painting to keep it from rattling. As he slowly unwound the bubble wrap his eyes widened in acute appreciation. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes upon and Seth gulped painfully.

The black and white pencil sketch was simplistic in style but precise in detail and he remembered the pose from a
n almost forgotten photograph. It had been one of those unique results from Paul’s countless random snapping of the trio as they worked on his condominium. Seth had taken a breather and Julia had flounced down beside him, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning back her head while he gazed down at her. Paul had immediately dubbed it ‘the moment before a kiss.’

Now
a beautiful sketch someone had painstakingly drawn from the original photo and enlarged to a full eighteen inches by eighteen inches emerged from the wrap. The artist had skillfully captured the love and adoration in Seth’s eyes as Julia had smiled back, serene and content in her lover’s arms.

“This is the nicest present I’ve ever received,”
said Seth sincerely. He leaned over the beautifully framed sketch cradled in his arms and kissed her tenderly upon the lips.

“You must help me find a special place
to hang this lovely piece of art. How did you manage to find someone so skillful?”

“Down at the beachfront,” Julia replied
, gazing up at him from her position on the floor. “Lots of artists along the promenade sell their wares and I watched this one man for a long time as he sketched a little boy on a tricycle from a photograph. I realized this would be the perfect present to give you for Christmas. Johan was all booked up, but when I returned with the photo he agreed to try to complete it by Christmas. I only got it back two days ago. You do like it don’t you?”

Seth
touched her hair gently, tucking a wayward blonde strand behind her ear. “I love it,” he said sincerely. “Help me find a place to hang it.” They strolled through the condominium hand-in-hand to determine which wall would be the best to display his prize. Seth finally decided upon the spot right above his bed.

“This way I can gaze at it every night before I go to sleep,” he stated.
Within minutes they’d found a hammer and nail; and the Monet print, previously hanging above his bed, was dispatched to another open section of the room. “Lovely,” he said sincerely, giving her a warm hug as they wandered back to the warmth of the fire and sank upon the couch.

Seth suddenly snapped his fingers.
“Oh no! I forgot to give you your special gift.”

Julia’s face lit up and she clapped her hands del
ightedly. “I just knew it! I knew there had to be something else.”

“
Greedy little thing. Didn’t you like the set of cookbooks you requested, or the gift certificate for that trendy bookstore you’re always spouting on about? And I thought the jacket was simply stunning.”

“Oh it was,” she agreed enthusiastically. “The red wool coat feels just like cashmere and is so stylish, but I had an inkling
there was something else. So what is it?”

Seth gave a secret smile and disappeared for a few moments, finally returning from the recesses of his bedroom with a long slender package
resembling the kind a florist uses when they deliver a dozen long-stemmed roses. The package was feather-light to her touch and Julia caressed the gold foil before venturing a guess.

“Well it’s very, very light.
Perhaps it’s some sort of garment.” Seth leaned back upon the beige couch and folded one leg across the other before giving his dark head a resolute shake.

“Wrong.
Would you like to venture another guess?”

“What is this, twenty questions?” snorted Julia in mock grumpiness.

“I’ll give you two more guesses and if you don’t figure it out I’ll just have to take it back.”

“Wise guy huh? Okay, so it’s not an article of clothing? Ah ha,” said Julia, lifting a red polished fingernail. “You know that I have been dying to see the new production of
Evita
at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; is that what it is, a pair of tickets?”

Seth
mimicked a fake game show buzzer. “While that’s an excellent guess, I’m afraid you’re dead wrong. I will, however, keep that in mind as a future excursion for us.”

“Alright,” said Julia, ticking off what it was not upon her fingers.
“It’s not an article of clothing, a fancy little negligee or something?”

Seth lifted his eyebrows provocatively.
“Now that’s an idea,” he quipped.

“And it’s not tickets to any production at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Hmm, that doesn’t leave much.”

“Just the whole world,” reflected Seth watching her with affection.

It was time Julia got down to some serious guessing so she pushed up the sleeves of her UCLA sweatshirt. “Alright, this guess is going to be it, and if I win and discover the right answer you have to give me a hundred kisses.”

“Ooh,” said Seth, “
am I allowed to give you some hints?”

“Nope, no cheating allowed.
I either do this legitimately or not at all. Let me see,” she tapped her cheek thinking hard. “It’s got to be something I
really
like from that overly smug expression on your self-satisfied face. Let me see, let me see.” A strange idea passed over her face and she shook her head as if chiding herself. “No, you couldn’t possibly have done that; besides it wouldn’t be allowed, not in the least.”

“And what is that?” asked Seth, almost afraid
she’d somehow guessed his special gift.

“Do you remember when we were in the mall a couple of weeks ago and popped into the pet store and
saw the cutest little puppy in the world?”

“Really,” said Seth nonchalantly, brushing an imaginary speck of lint off his spotless white
shirt. Suddenly Julia knew she’d hit the nail right on the head.

“It’s a gift certificate for some sort for a puppy isn’t it?”

Seth cleared his throat shakily. It was as if Julia’s thoughts had meandered through his mind, and try as he might to disguise the perfect gift, she’d still stumbled upon it.

“I think you’d better open the package,” he said softly
, and Julia made swift work of it. Inside the florist box nestled another smaller box also beautifully wrapped in gold foil. Julia chortled in delight and unwrapped the next package. Inside lurked another; a small square box so lightweight it clearly contained only paper. She lifted the lid and inside, rolled like a precious piece of parchment bound by gold foil ribbon, was a white piece of paper. Julia slid the ribbon off and unrolled the letter, reading the short note out loud.