Rush of Redemption (Rush Series #2) (29 page)

She missed Rush. She missed
the brush of his fingers against her cheek. She missed the sound of his voice
as he spoke to Blake. She missed the way his eyes lit up when she’d walked into
his line of sight. But there would always be more Olivia 
Terrys
 and she couldn’t cope with that kind of pain.
It was better if she just ended it now, the pain would eventually go away. In
order to preserve her sanity, she refused to read the society page of the
newspaper. She didn’t want to know who the latest beauty was for billionaire
playboy, Rush Drayton.

She had called Gavin
Lassiter, her boss from the 
LaMont
 Gallery,
to tell him she wouldn’t be able to return. She was too afraid to leave Blake
with anyone. Gavin had hated to lose her skills, and between the two of them,
they had come up with an alternative situation. Instead of her going to work,
the work would come to her. Since her spare room already had a worktable
installed in it, the transition was seamless.

So in time, her life fell
into a semblance of a life. There were parts of it that were full and other
parts that left that awful hollow feeling in her chest. 
Sundra
made it a point to either come for dinner or they’d
go out on the nights Blake was gone. Trinity’s father called continuously, but
she ignored the calls. He was tied into too much to the pain in her life. And
she struggled enough to maintain a grip on sanity without him rocking her
fragile existence askew.

It was Sunday afternoon and
Trinity and 
Sundra
 were at a mutual
friend’s wedding. The wedding was held outside and set up in one of Savannah’s
inner courtyard parks. The day was sunny and bright and the champagne flowed.
The weather, this close to fall, was mild and balmy, the humidity almost
nonexistent. Trinity had purchased a new dress for the occasion, a strapless,
pale pink dress piped with black. It hit her mid-calf and swirled elegantly
against her legs. She wore her hair up and her makeup was minimal. She stood
next to her flamboyant friend, who was dressed in a bright, cherry-red,
form-fitting dress. Most redheads couldn’t get away with wearing a red dress,
but 
Sundra
 was the exception. She laughed
and made the rounds, dragging a reluctant Trinity along with her.

They were standing in a
group of people and 
Sundra
 was regaling the
group with a story about being a cheerleader at the private Catholic high
school she’d attended. Trinity’s face had just broken into a smile when she
caught a glimpse of someone across the crowd that made her blood run cold and
her smile faltered… Olivia Terry. Frantically, Trinity began looking around the
crowd for Rush. She didn’t know if they were still dating or not, but she
wasn’t prepared to see Rush yet.

With her heart pounding she
turned around in a complete circle to find Rush before she came upon him by
accident. She glanced back at Olivia Terry and was surprised when Hunter 
Amhearst
 moved towards Olivia and handed her a
drink. 
Hunter and Olivia?
 Trinity guessed
Rush was tired of playing house with her as well.

Trinity must have been
staring because it drew 
Sundra’s
 attention
and she turned to see what had captured her attention. 
“Son-of-a-bitch!”
 
Sundra
murmured. “I can’t believe he’d be here with her.”

“Have you seen Hunter lately?”
Trinity asked her.

“I saw him at my father’s
firm, for about ten seconds. But he was acting all weird and couldn’t seem to
get away fast enough,” 
Sundra
 replied.

It was as if their
discussion of him drew his attention, because Hunter turned in their direction.
He smiled hugely when he saw Trinity and excused himself from Olivia and made
his way towards her. He faltered a little when he saw who she was with, but
once set on his course, he continued. When he reached them, he gave a small,
brief acknowledgement to 
Sundra
 before
pulling Trinity into a quick hug.

“Hey. I wondered where
you’d gotten off to,” he said to Trinity.

“Well, I’ve turned into
quite the homebody lately. That’s what happens when you have a child,” she said
with a smile.

Hunter nodded and furled
his brows. “Can I talk to you?” he asked Trinity quietly.

“Of course,” she replied.

Moving a little ways away
from the group and 
Sundra
, Hunter’s hand
remained on Trinity’s elbow as he leaned into her and asked, “Have you seen
Rush lately?”

The questioning smile on
her lips faded as she shook her head at his words.

“I know it’s probably not
my place to say, but he’s not doing so 
good
 from
what I hear,” he said.

Trinity stilled next to
Hunter. “I’m… I’m not with him anymore, Hunter… not since he was in the islands
with…” she glanced across the courtyard to the woman he’d just left, “Olivia.”

Hunter shook his head. “You
saw the paper?”

“Of
course.
 And he didn’t deny it. I’m sorry, Hunter.
I’m not trying to be rude about your… date, but how could I stay?”

“He wasn’t with her,”
Hunter said quietly.

“I think it’s great that
you’d defend your friend, Hunt, but I saw the proof.”

“She was with me in the
Caymans. I went with my father and she’d gone with hers. They are all tied up
in business together, my father, Olivia’s father, and Rush. If you’d looked
closer at the pictures, you’d have realized most of them were shot here in
Savannah from before and not in the islands. I saw it as well. Olivia and I had
a good laugh over it. I didn’t know you’d believe it. I mean, Rush was so head
over heels for you. How could you doubt it?” Hunter said.

Trinity’s mind swirled.
Rush had said to her, 
The
 newspapers
want to sell papers, Trinity. At some point, you need to quit believing
everything you see and start believing in what you know
. She’d not
understood and he’d let her go. He’d not fought for her. This hurts almost more
than thinking he’d cheated on her. He’d not left her for someone else… he’d
just left.

Thinking of his first
words, Trinity asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

“I hear he’s drinking too
much and working too much. I’ve been told he’s quite the bear these days,”
Hunter said.

“There’s nothing I can do.
I’m sure he’s just worried about his projects,” Trinity replied softly.

“I think it’s more than
that. Maybe you should call him or something?”

Trinity immediately shook
her head. “I couldn’t possibly.” Needing to change the conversation until she
had a chance to digest the information Hunter had given her, she said, “How
long have you and Olivia Terry been an item?”

“On and off for a while.
But we 
kinda
 rekindled it in the Caymans.
She’s fun… nothing serious, though,” Hunter said, as he cut his eyes over to
where 
Sundra
stood, looking at them quizzically.
“Well, I need to get back to Olivia before she sends out a search party. 
If you get a chance, check on Rush.
 He’s a really good
guy and I think you were good together. Okay?” he said.

“I’ll think about it,”
Trinity said, knowing she wouldn’t.

As he turned to go, Hunter
stopped and said, “How’s your father doing? It looks like things are really
heating up with that case of his. How many death threats has he had, like
forty?”

Trinity blushed. She must
seem like the most uncaring person. Not wanting to say she didn’t have contact
with her own father, she said, “I… he’s fine, I think. Only the good die young,
right?”

Hunter smiled and gave her
a quick hug and nodded once again to 
Sundra
 before
he moved back to Olivia and her group.

Sundra
 came to her quickly. “What did Hunt want?”

“He said Rush wasn’t with
Olivia in the Caymans,” Trinity said in a voice which conveyed her uncertainty.

“But what
about the pictures?”
 
Sundra
 asked.

“He said most of them had
been taken in Savannah before. He said… he was with Olivia in the islands, not
Rush,” Trinity said softly, not trying to hurt her friend. 
“Sorry, 
Sundra
.”

Sundra
 shrugged her shoulders. “What do I care? We’ve not been
together for a long time. We’ve both moved on,” she said with false bravado.

“I know,” Trinity said
gently.

Trinity was still thinking
about Hunter’s words when Anna brought Blake back home later that night after
his Sunday visit with Rush. As she accepted her precious baby from the other
woman, Trinity asked her as casually as she could, “Anna, how is Rush doing?”

Anna paused and then said,
“I don’t think he’s well.” Obviously not wanting to elaborate, Anna said, “I
must be getting back. I’ll see you Tuesday as usual?”

“Yes, of course, Tuesday,”
Trinity replied.

After Anna had left,
Trinity hugged Blake to her and kissed his dark hair. 
As
she inhaled his scent, she could smell Rush’s cologne that lingered on him.
 Her
chest tightened. 
No!
 She was not going back down that road.
She didn’t know what was wrong with Rush, but there was nothing she could do to
help him. Not that he’d welcome her help anyway.

~*~

On Thursday of the next week, Anna stopped on her way out after
dropping off Blake from his routine visit. “Trinity, Mr. Drayton has requested
to change his visitation day this week from Sunday to Saturday, if that’s
possible.”

“Of
course.
 Whatever works better for him is fine with
me,” Trinity assured her.

“I’ll let him know, ma’am,”
Anna said as she turned and departed.

Trinity couldn’t help but
wonder why Rush needed to change his visitation day. Maybe he had a hot date
planned and expected it to run over into Sunday morning. The thought stabbed so
hard at her heart, she winced against the pain. The day would come when Rush
Drayton would marry and Blake would have a stepmother. She didn’t know how
she’d deal with that.

Saturday came and Anna
picked up Blake as scheduled. Trinity spent the morning working on a painting
damaged in a fire before deciding she needed a break. Since Blake wasn’t with
her, neither was any security. She’d long since been newsworthy. Changing into
a pair of white Capri pants and blue and white striped shirt, Trinity made her
way out of her building and headed down to a nearby café for lunch. She wanted
to enjoy the last remaining days of warmth and chose a seat outside on the
sidewalk.

She’d just ordered a glass
of tea and had sat back to watch the people going up and down the street when a
voice behind her had her tensing.

“Hello, Trinity,” her
father said quietly.

She turned her head and met
his gaze steadily. 
“Father.”

“Do you mind if I join
you?” he asked.

Trinity was confused by his
mannerisms. Normally Arthur demanded 
things,
 he
didn’t ask permission… at least not from her. It was probably this factor which
caused her to allow him to sit.

“By all means,” she said
with a wave of her hand.

As her father sat, Trinity
took in the stylish cut of his silver hair and the expensive cut of his coat.
While he’d always been a nice-looking man, today, he really looked his age.
Like her, he ordered tea from the waiter. He sat for a long time without
speaking. Instead he looked up and down the street as she’d done.

Finally, he said without
looking at her, “How have you been?”

“Fine.”

He cleared his throat.
“I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“I’ve… been busy,” she
replied.

He glanced at her before
shifting his eyes away. “I wanted to talk about your last visit to my office,”
he said quietly.

Her face flamed at the
memory of her rant about her mother still being alive. This time is was she who
looked away. “You don’t have to say anything. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have accused
you… I just wanted… I just needed… I don’t know what I was thinking,” she tried
to explain.

“Trinity, I want you to
know that there was never anyone I loved more than your mother. There is not a
day that goes by that I don’t miss her.”

Trinity’s spine stiffened
at his words. “How can you sit there and say that to my face?”

He glanced down at his hand
wrapped around his tea glass. “I heard through my ‘resources’ what happened
to 
Marlena
 in Mexico,” he said softly.

She sat back and stared at
him, wondering where her father was going with this. Was he going to blame her
for 
Marlena’s
 death? “So, you know it was
her who sent me the package?” As another thought occurred to her, she leaned
forward and rasped, “Did you know? Did you know she was setting me up to be
kidnapped again?” she asked incredulously. 
“Me and my
two-month-old son?”