Rage (5 page)

great hall.” Steph had taken many photos of Phillip for her fa-

ther’s magazine in this very room. She lovingly remembered her

favorite being a shot of him at the billiard table leaning on a billiard stick and looking out the window at the sprawling grounds.

She had had it blown up and shipped to her new apartment in

Milan where she planned to hang it in the living room. She was

pulled from her thoughts as she saw a mature luminous brunette

playing Bach on the grand piano and a bearded older gentleman

close by reading on the settee. The butterflies in Steph’s stomach started to riot.

These had to be
Phillip’s parents. Shit.

“Mum. Dad.” Phillip sounded nervous, grasping Steph’s

hand and pulling her forward with him. “This is Stephanie.”

Phillip’s dad dropped his book and crossed to shake her

hand. Phillip had his dad’s thick, unruly hair and sandy beard. In his tweed suit coat and brown loafers, he looked exactly like the type of man who ran a bookstore. He had a nutty professor quality which Stephanie found instantly charming. “I’m Nigel. It’s a

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pleasure.”

“I’m Emily. We’ve heard so much about you.” His mother

moved like the poster child for a finishing school and like her

daughters, her couture was posh. Unlike the rest of the family

who sounded delightfully British, she had a hint of an Irish ac-

cent. Steph smiled at her nervously and glanced down at Emily’s

beige Jimmy Cho’s and her own bright Espadrilles sandals. She

wanted to haul back and kick Phillip square in the ass with them, but realized that asking a straight man for fashion advice was

like asking a rooster for directions to the mall. Emily Kersey

smiled at her, but Steph felt as if her brown eyes scrutinizing

every pore on Steph’s body.

“Nice to meet you, too.” Stephanie’s voice sounded weak to

her own ears.

“You really are the spitting image of your brother. Are you

twins?” She felt Phillip’s hand tighten around hers, and she

blinked at his mother’s question in surprise. There was a palpa-

ble collective tension amongst all present.

“Steph’s four years younger than Cedric, Mum.” Phillip’s

tone was cautionary, and Steph’s attention shot to him. He ap-

peared to be communicating with his mother using only his eyes.

“How—” Steph was about to ask how Emily knew what

Cedric looked like when she saw her father and brother come

through the entrance at the far end of the hall. She gawked at

them and unceremoniously yanked her hand from Phillip’s. She

felt him touching the small of her back as she stared in disbelief while her family joined Phillip’s.

“Dad?” She mumbled in disbelief as he pulled her into a

hug. For the first time that day. she didn’t feel short, since her shoes made him look an inch shorter. She was happy and

shocked to see him. She hadn’t seen him in person in weeks be-

cause of her trip to Japan and Men’s Fashion Week in Paris.

“Bonnie.” He replied. His childhood nickname momentarily

soothed her, but he regarded her with a disconcerting frown. She 25

TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE

knitted her brows, and her eyes shifted to Cedric. He wore his

black clerical suit and vest with his white collar, always the show stealer. He cocked his head to the side and gave her a grim,

knowing look. Like Phillip’s mom before him, he seemed to be

trying to communicate telepathically. Unfortunately, Steph had

never had lessons in that particular dialect. She frowned at him with a puzzled shrug.

“What are you two doing here?” She chuckled as the words

tumbled from her lips giving her question a crass quality. She

felt Phillip’s hands on her shoulders and noticed all eyes seemed to be on him. She turned to look up at him, and he clasped one of her hands between his.

“Stephanie. I’ve asked my family here today because this is

the most important day of my life. I invited yours because I hope you’ll feel the same. I’ve never met anyone like you before, and I know I won’t again.” With each word he spoke, Steph felt like

someone was pushing down on the gas pedal that controlled her

pulse. Her stomach dropped like she was on a roller coaster

when she saw Nanna pull out a tissue and dab her eyes. She

knew how much it meant to him to have her meet his parents.

She was well aware of how private he was and how protective of

his family he was. She felt her whole world slipping away on the current of his determination. Part of her wanted to slap him on

the shoulder and tell him to stop joking around, but the other part (the part that knew he wasn’t playing) wanted to flail her fists on his chest and yell at him that he was about to ruin everything.

When he dropped to one knee before her, she felt as if a

noose tightened around her throat. He paused, and his features

transformed; Phillip, whose front- man swagger landed him on

the cover of Rolling Stone, looked petrified. It was at that mo-

ment that Steph realized she loved him.
Selflessly, painfully
loved him. Because she was torn between horror and sorrow at

what he was about to do to them. He had his finger firmly plant-

ed on the button that would nuke their relationship, and she un-

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RAGE

derstood he didn’t know her well enough to realize it. The cramp in Steph’s side reappeared with a vengeance, and she felt sweat

rolling down her neck. Pain in her shoulder that she assumed was from the impossibly tense situation caused her to reach up and

grasp at it. Unable to breathe or make a sound, she simply locked eyes with Phillip.

He pulled out a ring box and popped it open, presenting it to

her. His vulnerable expression touched a nerve. Phillip was al-

ways confident, but for the first time she was seeing genuine fear flicker across his face, and watching his cockiness evaporate

made it hard for her to breathe. An astoundingly large marquis

cut diamond caught the light. “More than anything in the world,

love, I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”

As her eyes flitted from his earnest face to the ring, some-

one dimmed the lights in the room. Why the hell would they do

that at a time like this? She blinked slowly, feeling suddenly

sleepy. Her legs felt like rubber.

“Steffy?” Cedric hadn’t called her that nickname in years.

He sounded like he was yelling right in her ear, and he sounded

very upset.

“Bloody hell! She’s going to faint!” Linda shrieked, and for

Stephanie, the world went black.

27

The setting sun cast the waiting room in an azure glow.

Phillip caught sight of a man packing cigarettes and leaving for the exit. He chased him down like a heroine junkie and begged

him to buy one off him. Sadly, the man recognized him and with

stunned awe handed him the entire pack. Phillip took it and

thanked him, stuffing one-hundred-pound note into the man’s

breast pocket. Outside, he paced with a vengeance. Helplessness

consumed him. It seemed impossible that just that morning he

had stroked Stephanie’s angelic cheek while she slept next to

him. And now, for all he knew she could be dying. and he was

forbidden to see her.

Yes, he’d made some bad calls. When Steph first passed

out, he was sure—from his expert knowledge of girls fainting in

his presence—that she’d merely swooned. But when Cedric

slapping her across the face didn’t get her to open her eyes, he literally felt his heart stop. Linda shouted that her pulse was way too fast and began barking directions. For minutes he stood mute and useless while everyone around him sprang into action. It was all a bit of a blur, but certain key moments jumped out at him.

Adam felt Steph’s forehead and demanded someone call 911,

Cedric asking if she was taking anything and if she’d eaten any-

thing today. Danielle and his mother ran back and forth getting

blankets and pillows. Adam and Cedric left the room to hunt for

a thermometer. His own dad placed a cool cloth on Steph’s fore-

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RAGE

head and assured him that she’d be “just fine”.

Grandad came into the room, phone in hand, and said he’d

called for an ambulance to take her to Portloais. That’s when he finally found his voice.

“No. No way in hell. You always said you’d never send one

of the
horses
to Portloais.” He snapped.

“Phillip! I’m seeing all the signs of shock here,” Linda

barked like a drill sergeant as she wrapped Stephanie with a

blanket. The unnatural way she flopped in Linda’s arms like a

life-sized Raggedy Ann doll caused his hands to tremble. “We

have to keep her warm. She needs a doctor immediately.”

“Right. Preferably one who didn’t graduate last in his

class,” he yelled at her then realized he was wasting precious

time. He shoved Linda aside and picked Stephanie up, blanket

and all.

“Phillip. You should wait for the medics,” Nanna wailed,

but he didn’t even slow his step.

“I’m taking her to Tullamore. I can be there before the am-

bulance even gets here.” He was at the door, and after fixing

Danielle with a menacing look, she mutely flung it open for him.

“I’m coming with you,” Linda demanded as she chased him

down the steps.

He didn’t remember much about the drive except the police

trying to pull them over just outside of the city. He blew by as if they were standing still and didn’t give them a second glance.

Linda spent the entire drive turned all the way around in her seat.

Stephanie was lying in the back, deathly pale, wrapped in the

blanket like a burrito. Linda had insisted on propping three pillows under her ankles for some reason that still eluded him, but she’d had many first aid classes while he’d been wasting his time in poetry, so he deferred to her judgment. He stole one glance at her in the rearview mirror and knew he couldn’t look back at her again until they reached their destination or he’d completely lose it.

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TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE

A team of medics met them with a gurney at the entrance.

He later learned that Danielle had called ahead of them. The po-

lice pulled in behind him, but Phillip was already chasing

Steph’s gurney into the building shouting at the staff. Linda

practically tackled him.

“Phillip! Go and talk to the coppers. I’ll explain to the nurs-

es what’s going on,” She insisted. Just like that, the situation was plucked from his hands.

The police were unbelievably cool, all things considered.

After a stern talking to and agreeing to pose for a photo with

them (so they could prove they’d met him to their girlfriends),

they let him off with a warning. Sometimes being famous had its

perks.

Linda soon resurfaced with two cups of coffee. “They said

it sounds like she had a hot appendix that burst. They’re prep-

ping her now for emergency surgery.” Phillip had blanched at

the word surgery. He’d known something was terribly wrong

with her, but the mental image of someone slicing into her

caused him to cover his eyes with his palms as if somehow he

could block the vision from his mind. He desperately wanted to

smoke at that moment. Unfortunately, Cedric and Adam arrived

along with his parents, and he had more pressing problems than

his cravings.

“You ignorant punk!” Adam shouted, shoving him more vi-

olently than he would have thought possible. “You could have

killed her with your thoughtless cavalier bullshit.”

“Dad!” Cedric’s volume was loud, but his voice was calm

and collected. Adam didn’t even glance in his direction. If looks could kill, Phillip would have been hangin’ with St. Peter, as

Steph would say. The force of Adam’s right cross snapped Phil-

lip’s head back, knocking him into a potted tree behind him. His coffee splattered all over the window next to him. Linda gasped, and Phillip’s hand shot to his aching jaw. He gawked at Steph’s

father in surprise. Both Cedric and his father grabbed Adam and

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RAGE

pulled him back, restraining him.

“Can’t be bothered to wait for the professionals? What if

she had crashed on the way here? You could have killed my little girl.” Adam shouted menacingly at him, spittle flying everywhere.

“Dad! Phillip
got
her here, and she’s getting the help she needs.” Cedric’s delivery carried throughout the waiting room,