Momentous Kisses: Love in Sandy Beach (8 page)

Allison did go back to sleep, and when she woke up almost at noon her nausea was gone. She showered and was about to leave for Russell’s clinic to meet with the facility manager when her cell phone rang.

“Hey, Reese. I was just stepping out. What’s up?”

“I wanted to remind you about the barbecue at Mom and Dad’s two days from now.”

Allison wrinkled her eyebrows. “Gosh, totally forgot about it. What’s the date?”

Reese laughed into the phone and told her the date. “Now that you’re with a man you forget about the rest of us? That’s not nice, Ally.”

Allison froze.
I should have had my period by now
. She grabbed a calendar and checked the dates again.
I’m three days late. That has never happened before.

She vaguely remembered the first time she’d slept with Russell after the party. The condom had slipped off, but she hadn’t worried about it.
Guess maybe I should have. No way. That’s not possible. Is it?

“Ally?”

Allison shut her eyes and tried to breathe through her panic. “I’m here.” Her voice quivered despite her best efforts to keep it calm and steady.

“What’s wrong?” her sister asked.

“Nothing.”

“You’re fighting with Russell, aren’t you? What about? Maybe I can help…”

“I’m not fighting with Russell. He’s so wonderful, the best man I’ve ever met. I’m falling in love with him. A lot.”

“Then what is it? I know something is wrong. If it’s not Russell, what then?”

Allison scrambled for a believable excuse. “I guess I’m just nervous. It’s the first time I’ve fallen in love that much.”

“Try again.” Of course her sister saw through her feeble excuse.

Allison sighed. She might as well tell her. “I’m late.”

“Late?” It took a few moments until Reese grasped the momentous meaning of
late
. Then she whispered into the phone, “Tell me you used condoms.”

“Of course we did, but the first time something went wrong and it slipped off.”

“Oh my god! You need to make sure.”

“Ahh, I’m probably late because I’ve been so stressed out with the trip and everything.”

“Allison Paxton, you need to buy a test and take it right away. Promise me or I’ll come and do it for you.”

Despite her panic she had to laugh. Reese would be capable of rushing to Chicago and forcing her to take the test. “Fine. But I’m sure I’m panicking for nothing.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about. Go get a test and then call me with the results. Today.”

“Okay, I will.”

“When?”

Allison laughed, even though she was scared. “Right now. I’ll run down to the corner store and buy a test right now. Will that satisfy you?”

“Yes. I’ll be waiting for your call.”

Allison threw on her shoes and hurried down to the corner convenience store. She kept her eyes down and picked up the first test she spied. She paid for it and then tucked the brown paper bag under her arm and hurried back up to Russell’s apartment.

She entered the bathroom and with trepidation, followed the directions on the test, setting the test stick on the counter and refusing to look at it until the two minutes had passed. Taking a deep breath, she scrutinized the test strip, paling and bursting into tears when she saw not one, but two blue lines in the window.
I’m pregnant.

She sank to the bathroom floor, crying in complete shock. After several minutes, she crawled into the bedroom and called Reese. Her sister knew immediately the outcome of the test when Allison bawled into the phone.

“Ally, honey, you need to calm down. Please stop crying.”

More sobbing was the only response.

“Come on, this isn’t the end of the world. Women get pregnant every day.”

“Not single women and not me!” Allison cried into the phone, completely hysterical.

“Ally, stop crying. Everything will be fine.”

“I can’t.” She hung up the phone and sunk back onto the bed, bawling with desperation. When she finally calmed down, another fear entered her mind.
What if Russell thinks I got pregnant on purpose to trap him into marriage?

That notion brought about a whole new bout of tears. She needed to get out of there. Now. Outside she dawdled aimlessly around, until she found herself on the way to the lakeshore. At the promenade she walked for a long time, finally stopping to rest and let the tears flow freely. What was she going to do?

Russell put his key in the door of his apartment, grinning from ear to ear about the surprise he’d planned. He had arranged for them to have a romantic dinner aboard a restaurant ship down at the harbor, where he’d spill the good news. All of it.

He quietly opened the door with the intention of sneaking up on her from behind and taking her in an impassioned kiss. But the kitchen was empty. He called out, “Sunshine. I’m home!” No answer. That was unusual. His smile faltered as he entered the bedroom, expecting to find her there. Empty.

A dark feeling crept into his heart. A feeling he’d believed gone for good. He stepped back into the hallway and shouted for her. “Ally?”

He opened up the guest bedroom door. Her paintings were gone, all of them – her suitcase as well. With sagging shoulders he shuffled back into the dining room, where a pink Post-it on the table captured his attention.

He picked up the note with a sense of dread, flopping onto the couch, his hopes and dreams crashing down around him as he read the note.

Dear Russell,

I’m sorry, but after thinking about this I’ve come to realize that you were right all along. This test was a mistake and any type of relationship between us wouldn’t work.

Allison

Dumbfounded, he read it a second time, and a third. A searing pain stabbed through his heart. He felt like someone had shot a big hole in the middle of his chest. Empty. Lost. Abandoned. It had happened again; whenever he loved someone, that person left him.

He pulled out his cell phone and called her.
I need to talk to her. There must be a logical explanation. This must be some kind of bad joke.

It went straight to voicemail, so he tried again. And again. Until he finally saw how futile it was. He sat rigidly on the couch as the voices in his head went into overdrive.

You knew this was going to happen. Every time you try to be happy, your life falls apart. You finally found out you love her and she’s left you. Everyone you love leaves. You don’t deserve to be happy.

He called her again, continuing late into the night, but each time all he got was her voicemail. The more he tried to figure out where things had gone wrong, the more he grew angry at her. How dare she stand him up like this? The whole test was her idea and now she’d backed out?

Russell had started to work up a genuine rage when his beeper went off. He picked it up on autopilot and glanced at the number. It was the clinic, and amidst his fog of confusion and self-pity, reality set in and he remembered that he was the doctor on call tonight.

The answering service informed him one of his patients had experienced complications after waking up from the anesthesia.

Tossing the note on the table, he hurried back to the clinic and dealt with the situation in front of him. It was almost three hours before the emergency was under control and he returned home with an empty feeling.

He paused outside the door, wishing the past few hours had been nothing more than a dream. That he’d open the door and find Allison waiting for him with a bright smile on her face. But Russell was a realist. He knew what he’d find on the other side of the door. Emptiness.

In an impulse he rushed out to the garage, with the intention of driving to Sandy Beach and demanding an explanation from Allison, but then he stopped himself. It was past midnight and it wouldn’t make any sense to drive two hours, arrive in the middle of the night, and then have to rush back before dawn to arrive at the community clinic the next morning at 7 o’clock.

Sad beyond belief, he dragged himself inside and fell onto his bed fully clothed. It would be best to wait for the next morning. Maybe things would look brighter then?

Allison wept the entire drive back to Sandy Beach. It was sheer luck she’d been able to control the car at times, but she made it.

Instead of going home, she headed straight for her favorite spot near the lighthouse. She’d spent hours sitting in this exact spot watching the sunset and the waves roll in. Usually the place helped her find calm and reconnect with herself. But tonight, nothing lightened her mood.

I’m pregnant. It’s Russell’s baby, but I can’t tell him. He’ll believe I’ve done it on purpose to trap him. I’ve lost him.

She’d manage to cope alone and forget Russell Barkin. He was a thing of the past. But her phone kept ringing and reminded her that the past was still trying to reach her.  She finally turned it off; she just couldn’t talk to Russell right now, or to anyone else for that matter. Sometimes solitude was a blessing.

Allison stared into space towards the lighthouse. After a while, darkness fell, but she kept sitting there with her legs crossed, her head heavy from too many tears, unable to stand up and walk home.

Her tears dried up, but they left behind a jumble of thoughts she couldn’t quiet. It was almost midnight when she made her way back to her small place. Sleep, though, wasn’t in the cards for her. Too many thoughts rolled around in her head.

She finally fell into a restless sleep. In the morning she woke to the already familiar queasy stomach. But that didn’t mean anything, right? Everyone can have a queasy stomach.

The day before she’d stopped at a convenience store before returning to Russell’s apartment and purchased one pregnancy test of each brand the store had carried. Just in case. Three tests in total.

One hour later she was still sitting at the kitchen table glaring at three positive tests when the doorbell rang. She glanced at the door, not sure if she should answer it or not.

What if Russell had driven up here to confront her?

When the person on the other side of the door pushed the buzzer again, she crept to the window and peeked out, relieved to see her sister. Reluctantly, she opened the door and Reese came barging right in. As soon as the door closed, Allison found herself wrapped in her sister’s arms. It was enough to break the dam she had on her emotions, and she sobbed brokenly in her arms.

“I had to drive down here when you wouldn’t answer your phone,” Reese told her. “I was so worried about you.”

Allison wiped the tears from her eyes. “You didn’t have to drive all the way down here.”

“It’s only twenty minutes, and of course I did, honey.”

Allison hugged her sister, taking the wad of tissues pressed into her hand. “Thanks.”

“What did Russell say when you told him?”

“I didn’t. I escaped before he came home.”

“Ally. Why would you do that?”

“I don’t want him to believe I did this on purpose.  It’s better if he doesn’t know.”

Reese didn’t point out he would eventually find out; they were bound to see each other at family events. Instead, she caressed Allison’s head like her mother had done when they were young. “Russell has a right to know. It’s his decision if he wants to continue a relationship or not.”

Allison quirked her eyebrows., “No. It isn’t.”

Reese knew her sister well enough to slightly change the topic. “So, how was the week with him?”

“Fantastic. He is such a wonderful man. Caring, fun, full of surprises, and a fantastic lover.”

Reese rolled her eyes. “So why did you run away?”

Allison shrugged her shoulders.

“Honey, you are making rash decisions. You need to tell him.”

Allison continued to shake her head, totally unreceptive to her suggestions.

Reese didn’t insist further. When Allison had her mind set it was next to impossible to convince her otherwise. “I have to leave for work. Promise to call me if you need anything. And don’t forget the barbecue tomorrow night.”

Allison panicked. “The barbecue. I can’t go!” There was no way she could spend any time around her mother right now. Bridget Paxton had a radar for finding out everything her kids wanted to hide.

Reese could see the fear on her face and promised, “I won’t say anything. We’ll find a way to keep Mom in the dark. But you have to be there or she will know something’s going on, and then you’ll be on her list.”

“Yeah. And that’s the last thing I need.” No one wanted to be on her mother’s watch list. That meant Bridget would be showing up unannounced and talking to anyone she thought might have information to share. It was the worst possible scenario, and Allison was willing to do just about anything to avoid that.

Russell was worried sick – and furious at the same time.
Why won’t she answer my phone calls?

He didn’t understand what was going on with Allison, but right now he didn’t have time to ponder it any longer. He was sitting in a restaurant downtown, waiting for Joyce Armstrong to arrive.

Since his sister Toni had coupled up with Douglas Armstrong, he’d grown to like Joyce. She treated him as one of her kids, and he actually enjoyed her motherly caring for him.

They’d agreed to meet for lunch a while ago; she wanted to pitch him the newest project of her charity for neglected children, “Joys for Children.”

It was a worthwhile charity, and Russell didn’t mind helping out with whatever she needed. Minutes later Joyce arrived and the warmth of her smile echoed in her voice when she greeted him. “Russell, how good to see you again.”

Her welcoming attitude eased the pain in his heart, and after talking for a while about the upcoming charity event, he was glad he hadn’t cancelled the lunch date. That woman was simply amazing; at sixty she still had the drive and energy of a young woman, combined with the wisdom and warmth of a mature lady. He well understood why all the Armstrong siblings and their partners loved her so much. Heck, even he loved her.

He waited with his announcement until the waiter took their empty plates away. “So, I’ve made a decision about the clinic.”

“You have?”

He nodded.  “Yes. It was long overdue, but I finally told Dex I wanted to stop doing cosmetic surgery.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t imagine he took that very well.”

“He didn’t. We decided it would be best for the clinic and for me if he found someone to buy me out.”

Joyce put her hand on his arm. The gesture reminded him of his own mom, and he had to blink away a tear. Joyce would never take her place in his heart, but maybe, just maybe it was time to revisit the grief and let it go.

He felt like a traitor, but wasn’t that what life was about? Bad stuff happened, but you had to deal with it and move on? He didn’t have an obligation to feel miserable for the rest of his life, or did he?

“So what will you do instead?” Joyce’s voice broke through his reasoning.

“I’m not sure yet, but whatever it is, it will be to help people.”

Joyce sent him a wave of love with her smile. “I’m very proud of you, Russell. If you follow your heart, you’ll find the place you’re supposed to be. I have to admit, it’s pained me to see you so miserable.”

“I didn’t realize it was so obvious.”

“Not to everyone, but remember, I raised seven children and have a sixth sense for hidden emotions. I know you’ve never gotten over losing your parents.”

When he looked at her with his mouth open, she continued, “Russell, it might be time you let go of the hurt from the past. Your parents loved you and Toni so much, they would have never wanted you to live your life this way.”

“What way?”

“Hiding from love. Hiding from investing your emotions in people and situations. Your mom would have wanted you to be happy, to find a girl you love, to start a family of your own, have children.

“You can’t have the good without experiencing the bad as well. It’s like day and night, one doesn’t exist without the other. But trust me, it’s worth it in the end.”

Russell wasn’t sure he believed her but he appreciated the advice. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“You do that. Now, I need to run or I’m going to be late to meet with the board of directors. I have to tell you I enjoyed Sam and Grant’s party at the beach house so much.

“It had been almost quite a few years since I’d last met all of the Paxton kids. Allison is such a sweetheart. I hope you’ll find a happy girl like her to share your life with.”

Russell didn’t dare to breathe, afraid he’d choke.

Joyce gave him a scrutinizing look before she continued. “Speaking of Allison, I was almost positive I saw her down at the lakeside yesterday afternoon. She was sobbing and looked very troubled, so I left my lunch and hurried down to where I’d seen her to offer my help. When I got to the place, no one was there. But, then it probably wasn’t Ally. What would she be doing in Chicago?”

Russell stared at the woman as she stopped speaking; he felt exposed. Was this a coincidence or did Joyce know something?

He mumbled something unintelligible, and quickly waved her goodbye, now seriously worried about Allison.
My Ally was crying in the park? What was going on?