Rose of Betrayal (58 page)

At this stage of the
game, unable to trust anyone, to the guard's dismay, he rudely dismissed him.
 
Confident he was alone his fingers’ biting
into the frame flipped it over to reveal a picture of their secret cabin in the
Teton’s.
 
Heart sinking, knees feeling
like they would give away any moment brought him hard against the shelves to
sustain equilibrium.
 
He had been right
from the beginning his inventiveness conjured up a situation multifarious than
it really was.
 
All Ted really wanted was
revenge.

           
Not
knowing who would survive, Brad knew he could not leave until providing for
Sam's future.
 
Changing his will would
mean no matter what happened she would be well off monetarily.
 
Moving to his office, attempting to unlock
his door, he was shocked when the bolt remained steadfast.
 
Back leaning against the door jam, weary eyes
closed, he could not believe what was happening.
 
Was Ted trying to tell him his life was in
danger as well?
 
Baffled, flaring anger
raised his foot and propelled it forward with sufficient power to spring wide
the door sending splinters in multi-directions.
 
Just the way Ted intended, everything appeared normal.
 

           
Slowly
moving to his desk, he surveyed the contents.
 
Head jerking back he reexamined one corner where he found a snapshot, he
did not know existed of Ted, Sam and himself taken on Thanksgiving.
 
Chills massaged every muscle of his body when
he recognized Ted’s letter opener, the tip pointing directly at the photo.
 
A genius Ted was, no one knew Brad never
owned a letter opener.
 
Either Ted was
warning him he had taken care of Sam and now it was his turn or, all three of
them were in danger.
 
He preferred to
believe the later.

           
Slipping
the snapshot from the frame, he tucked it into his jacket pocket.
 
Upon doing so, he noticed the door concealing
his safe was ajar.
 
Immediately plucking
its' contents, he examined them carefully.
 
The only thing opened and resealed was an envelope containing his
will.
 
Frantically tearing at its' flap
he flipped through the pages.
 
A business
card fell to the floor, Thomas McGregor, Attorney at Law.
 
Quite possibly everyone had an attorney's
business card attached to their will, everyone except Brad.
  
Tom never gave him one, and no one knew the
combination to the safe except Ted.

           
Scrambling
for his phone, Brad’s finger punched in the numbers each entry filling the room
with imaginary audible sounds.
 
Despite
repeated ringing, no one answered.
 
An
excruciating pain throbbed in his skull bringing with it an omen that time was
running out.
  
He could not wait any
longer.
 
The suspense was killing
him.
 
If Ted wanted him he would give him
his best shot, but first he wanted answers.

           
Sitting
at his desk a quick amendment to his will distributed half of his accumulated
wealth to Sam.
 
Replacing the document
into the envelope with a short letter of explanation, he scribbled a map revealing
the location of the cabin.
  
Visually
seeking the calendar apprised him tomorrow was Monday.
 
Placing the envelope where the one person he
could trust would find it in the morning, he began his journey into the
unknown.
 
Maggie would recognize his writing
and know instantly it was imperative.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                  

CHAPTER 45

“MARCH, 2011”

           
Filling
the doctors’ reception area, women in diverse phases of pregnancy their ages varied
from eighteen to the mature woman who decided their biological clock was
ticking.
 
Some were exchanging details of
their experiences faces aglow with excitement and anticipation.
 
Others behaved as if it were an everyday
occurrence.
 

           
Sam
sat alone fidgeting with a baby magazine doing little to retain her
concentration, her adversity to keeping her appointment apparent by the scowl
on her face.
 
She did not need a doctor
to confirm she was expecting.
 
Morning
sickness plagued her for weeks and she had missed two menses.
 
It was Bernie that insisted on the physical,
flitting over her until her nerves were raw.

           
The
appointment was precious time away from her boutique, the refuge she craved
after returning from the honeymoon.
 
Ted
had been patient, understanding and attentive, the epitome of the perfect
husband.
 
Still the two weeks away seemed
like a millennium.
 

           
Ted’s
former visits to the Hawaiian Islands honed him into a versed tour guide that
took great pride in explaining the sights, the history, and unique tropical
foliage.
 
Their honeymoon suite was an
elite secluded villa presenting a private pool, beach, and an enormous deck
over-looking the ocean positioned to provide superior views of the exultant sunsets.
 
They dined in exquisite restaurants, danced
at the most celebrated nightclubs, walked hand in hand on the many beaches
where they swam and sun tanned sipping exotic tropical concoctions.
  
The crisp blue skies, the tanning rays, and
a handsome, virile husband a potpourri few women could resist.
  
She, could not have asked for more, and yet,
longed to return to New York.
 

           
Their first night together was
difficult.
 
Ted's desire was so urgent he
took her repeatedly.
 
At first slow,
patient, and guarded wanting to fulfill his husbandly obligations to insure an
orgasm for his virgin bride.
 
Despite his
pain-taking foreplay, he failed to launch her toward that far off glorious
place where senses burst into bolts of electricity.
 
Discouraged, feeling like he had the right,
throwing all caution aside, he rode her like a stallion.

           
She knew his frustrations resulted
from feelings of inadequacy she presumed he had never experienced before.
  
As the days passed, filled with self-guilt,
summoning memories of her night with Brad enabled her to duplicate the tremors,
the whimpers, and groans, the frantic undulations helping to convince her new
husband he was the perfect lover.
 
She
became proficient at summoning his crest quickly then snuggled close as if to
explain with her body the ambivalence of her heart.
 
The knowledge she sated him, the warmth of
his caress, his very presence served to assuage her conscience.
 
Deep down she feared she would never become
the wife he wanted without cleansing away the guilt of betrayal.

           
Nighttime was worse when they made
love, when she was unable to close her eyes without Brad visiting, his face
strained from the urgency of his deep lunging strokes.
 
Under her palms, she felt the smooth slide of
his shoulder, the roughness of hair on his chest.
 
She smelled his heady male scent.
 
Felt the huge length of him buried inside her
core, replayed his raspy sounds as he plundered her loins with unremitting
punishment.
 
His dark eyes drowned with emotion
as he shuddered, his hands clamoring for her buttocks offering no escape from
his abundant stream of seed.
 
Meanwhile,
she laid there, eyes riveted to the ceiling, her body like a robot programmed
to duplicate the motions introduced to her by the phantom of seduction that
brought her new husband exulting fulfillment.
 

           
Comprehending her marriage was three
months old was difficult when it felt more like an eternity.
 
Playing her trump card was becoming more
difficult.
 
She longed for Ted to break the
shackles of her desires.
 
Immerse her,
blinded, deafened, crying, into a dark realm of extreme pleasure capable of
making her cry out in ecstasy.
 

           
It was not from the lack of trying
every time he made love to her he incorporated new positions, erotic potions,
and an array of sex objects.
 
Frightened
by his obvious proficiency, at first she resisted, and then unable to deal with
his resulting anger, succumbed, therefore pregnancy was not a surprise.
 
Even now, her brow furrowed with bewilderment
wondering why he refused to use protection when he adamantly proclaimed a
family was far into their future.
 

           
Lethargically walking into the
doctors' office, she worried once Ted found out he might compel her to seek an
abortion.
 
The thought reinstated her
nausea.
 
Telling him could not happen
until it was too late.
 
It would be her
secret, hers - alone.
 
After all,
Ted was everything any woman could want, he cherished her, and she knew in his
own way he loved her.
 
In time he would
adjust to father-hood, all she needed to do was shed her guilt and wash Brad
from her mind.

           
A difficult task when his apparition
appeared vividly in her mind, materializing when least expected, in the middle
of work, at dinner and in endless dreams at night when she tossed, and turned
and whined until Ted covered her with his body, and made love to her.
  
Struggling to rid herself of the demon above
her was an enticement for Ted to plunge his engorged member into her, arch his
back release his virility then collapse.
 
When the demon finished, she would open her eyes to find Ted quivering
beside her coated with the sweat of his expended desire.
 
Thus, she felt like she was serving a life
sentence with no parole until she could go to that wondrous foreign place with
Ted and bury Brad's memory.

           
Knowing sleep would not eclipse her,
she lingered beside Ted until certain he had dozed off.
 
Slipping from bed, she made her way through
the darkness to the living room where she welcomed the thick cushions of the
sofa.
 
Cuddling a pillow combated the
cold, the loneliness.
 
Clinging to an
opened book pretending to read, she held the red rose kept pressed between the
pages, and relived her one night of euphoria.
 
A herd of wild stallions could be stampeding around her for all the
notice she took of what she was seeing as her mind fenced with her
emotions.
 
Ted did not need to know about
her night with Brad.
 
Whom would it
hurt?
 
Odds were he would never find
out.
 
What good would it do to tell him?
 
Meanwhile her conscience screamed . . . “Tell
him.”

           
During her examination she, never
heard the doctor or nurse, never felt a thing.
 
Upon returning to the boutique she officially reported to Bernie there
was nothing to worry about, she was not pregnant.
 
The doctor suspected fatigue, change of
routine and the stress from her new business was to blame for her recent
illness. In a few days, she would be fine. Hugging Bernie, she thanked her for
her concern reassuring her friend she would try to slow down.
 

           
Perplexed, Bernie watched Sam walk
away wondering if she had been truthful.
 
Flinging nagging intuition aside, she returned to work.