The Executive's Decision (25 page)

“C’mon back. I just made some coffee. You look like you could use some.”

Zach followed him into the kitchen and sat at the table as Carlos poured them each a cup of coffee. There was silence, but it was comfortable.

He’d never had a brother, but he assumed Carlos was being brotherly in his silence. After all, what did you say to a man you hardly knew when his father, whom you didn’t know, died?

A few minutes more passed and Carlos finally spoke. “The initial shock isn’t as hard as the weeks that follow.” He sipped his coffee as Zach lifted his head. “Right now you still think he’ll walk through the door. That he’ll have something to say. But you know he’s gone. Then you’ll go through the arrangements, the funeral, and those who will come to pay their respects,” he continued. “Then next week you’ll pick up the phone to call him and he won’t be there.”

“You have a lot of insight.” Zach said with a bit of animosity in his voice. How could Carlos know what he was going through? His parents lived twenty minutes away and…

His thoughts stopped as he suddenly remembered who Carlos really was. Yes, he did know what he was talking about. The only difference was that Carlos spoke of the pain of a seven-year-old boy. The pain was still in his eyes.

“Regan told me about your birth parents. I’m sorry about what happened.” He tried to sound as sincere as the sentiment he felt.

“It was a long time ago. But you don’t forget the pain.” He looked up at Zach. “It will ease in time.”

“Thank you.”

Carlos nodded. “Regan is going to go with you?”

“I’ve asked her to. I’ve become very dependent on her.”

“As your assistant?” Carlos’s words had a sharp bite to them, and Zach couldn’t blame him. He’d seen him look her over when they’d walked into the house. Both Carlos and Curtis blamed him, even if they didn’t say so, for the marks Roger Byers had put on their sister. He blamed himself too.

Zach put down his mug and looked at him. “As the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with.” He looked Carlos in the eyes. “I love your sister. I would never hurt her or abandon her,” he promised.

“She’s told you about the last man she
loved
?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I’m not him.”

“There are many likenesses.”

“And many differences. I will not let her suffer. I will take care of her. I have asked her to think about spending her life with me. When I know that’s what she wants too, I will ask for her hand in marriage.” He smiled. “With the consent of your father. And you and Curtis, of course.”

“Of course.” Carlos tilted his head and gave him a slight smile. “She loves you.”

“I know.”

Regan bounded into the kitchen, pulled a travel mug from the cupboard, and filled it with coffee. “I’m ready. I’ll call you when I get there and let you know where I’m staying and what the return plans are. I’m sure we’ll be back very soon. Audrey will probably want to get things taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Then again, I do depend on my assistant. She happens to be the best at what she does,” he said with a smile, and then shook Carlos’s hand, and Regan kissed him on the cheek.

Arianna sat in Audrey’s hotel room with her and waited for Zach and Regan. She’d never witnessed such chaos as she had that morning when she’d met the Bensons for brunch. She never would have known Tyler was sick until he slid from his chair and his wife screamed.

There were no words for her to say to make Audrey feel better. She’d seen the pain on her face when she’d yelled for help and then when the paramedics arrived and she’d rattled off his medical history and medications he was on. Everything had become surreal when Audrey rode off in the back of the ambulance with her husband and Arianna followed in a cab. By the time she had arrived at the hospital, Audrey stood there, as pale as her husband had been, shaking.

It had just been instinct to pull her into her arms and hold her. There was a need to take care of her even though she’d only met the woman.

Now she waited for Zach and Regan to take her place so she could go back to her life. But her life would never be the same. She’d watched a man die. She’d watched a woman lose the love of her life. She’d witnessed love that wouldn’t end even now that Tyler Benson had passed away.

Audrey sipped a small bottle of brandy from the bar. “I appreciate you giving up your day off to be with me.”

“My sister loves your son very much. As far as I’m concerned, that makes us family.”

“Zachary and Tyler were my family. My father died ten years ago after Zachary started with the firm.” She dabbed her eyes. “I feel so alone.”

Arianna moved closer to her side. “Perhaps you should lie down. You haven’t had any sleep. I’m going to go down to the lobby and wait for them, and I’ll be only a phone call away. You call down if you need me.”

“Thank you, darling. Thank you so much.” She patted Arianna’s hand.

Arianna sat in the lobby and waited as she’d promised she’d do. Carlos had called, and her parents had as well. Her mother was already cooking for Mrs. Benson, and her father waited for word of something he could do to help. She’d been in the lobby forty-five minutes when Zach and Regan walked through the doors.

She stood the moment she saw them and headed them off before they could go to the front desk.

Regan ran into her arms and hugged her sister. “How terrible this must have been for you. Thank you for staying with Audrey.”

“It was my pleasure,” she said as she watched Zach walk toward them, his face long and drawn. His eyes were sad like his mother’s. “Zach, I’m so sorry for your loss.” She gathered him in her arms and held him tightly. “She’s okay,” she whispered in his ear, and he held her tighter.

“I appreciate you being with her.”

“They are wonderful people. I’m so glad I got time to be with your dad. He’s so proud of you.” She kissed him on the cheek. “C’mon, I’ll take you up to her.”

Arianna laced her arms around them both and escorted them to Audrey’s room. It was dark and quiet when they entered. Regan and Arianna stood by the door while Zach moved to his mother.

“Mother,” he said softly as he touched her cheek.

“Tyler?” Her voice cracked as she opened her eyes. “Zachary.” She sat up into his arms.

Zach stayed with her, and Arianna took her sister back to her apartment.

Arianna handed Regan a cup of coffee as she sat at the counter of her small kitchen. She watched her sister dig through her bag and pull out her notebook. Her eyes were purple and black with bruises. Red marks marred her cheek. Cuts and gashes covered her arms. And yet she sat at the counter in the kitchen going over notes she’d handwritten in regards to Zach’s father’s services, calling the hospital, making more notes. Arianna shook her head.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I don’t know. This is such a shock. I certainly wasn’t prepared for…”

“Reg, I mean how are you feeling after your attack?”

“Oh.” Regan laid down her pen and slowly shifted her eyes to Arianna’s. “I’m sore. My face is ugly, my arms are all cut up, and I’m pissed off. Other than that…”

“You’re amazing.” Arianna lifted her mug to her.

“Why’s that?”

“Some maniac attacks you one day and the next your making funeral arrangements for your boss’s father.”

“He’s more than just my boss’s father.”

“Say it. He’s who?”

Regan smiled. “Zach asked me to think about spending the rest of my life with him.”

Arianna nodded her head, not shocked by the statement. “And what did you tell him?”

“I told him I love him and that’s what I want too.”

“That’s a big step for you. This hasn’t been one of your better years. Are you sure you want to commit to that?”

Regan fisted her hands on her hips and gave her a long cautious look. “I haven’t decided whether you’re testing me or just being a ray of sunshine in my life.”

Arianna let out a snort. She knew her pretty well. Regan’s problem had always been too much optimism, and she’d been the opposite, always full of pessimism. “You love him?”

“Yes.”

“You want to marry him?”

“Yes.”

“Alexander?”

“Thinks I’m dead and so is the baby.”

“And if he finds out otherwise?”

Regan waved her hands in front of her and shook her head. “There’s no reason for him ever to find out.” But her voice cracked, and that worried Arianna.

“And Zach knows what you went though? He understands that you gave birth to another man’s baby and then your family told him she died? You told him that Curtis told him you died too? He understands that the asshole got away with almost killing both of you just so he could move on with his life and you wouldn’t be any problem? He understands?” Her voice was rising because she found it highly unlikely that any man would be perfectly okay with such a thing. Even the wonderful Zachary Benson.

Regan was biting her bottom lip. “I don’t think Zach is the kind of man to back away from me for any of those reasons.”

“You haven’t told him everything? You didn’t tell him about the baby?”

“No.” Regan stood and walked toward the window. “I’m not ready for that.”

“You’re playing with fire.”

“Like I said, I don’t think he’s the kind of man to back away.”

“You don’t
think
he is. That’s an awful lot to swallow.” Arianna sipped her coffee. “I hope you’re right.”

They flew back to Nashville with Tyler’s body the next afternoon, and Regan went back to work arranging everything for Audrey, at her request.

People began to stop by the house, and Audrey accepted the visitors graciously. She needed to be a hostess; it was what she did best. Zach followed his mother through the house, which Regan assumed he’d probably done as a young boy as well.

John Forrester stood at the door of Tyler’s office and watched Regan work. His arms crossed as he leaned against the doorjamb. “You are the most amazing woman I have ever known. How do you feel about marrying older men?” He smiled as she looked up at him.

“I almost didn’t recognize you.” She stood and crossed the room to greet him.

“Most people are surprised to find I have clothes that require shoes without steel toes.”

She laughed easily with him. “Oh, John.” She threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. “I feel so bad for Audrey and Zach.”

“Tyler Benson was a wonderful man. I knew him for thirty years. He was like a brother to me.” He held her at arm’s length and gazed over her. “Damn it, that asshole did quite a job on you, didn’t he?” He pushed a strand of hair from her face and looked over the bruises that still lingered three days later.

“Hell of a week.” She smiled, but tears were in her eyes.

“I should never have taken you on that site.” He kissed her gently on the forehead and gathered her back in his arms again. “I should have known better.”

“There is no making out in my father’s office.” Zach stood in the doorway, his voice humorous but weary.

“I asked her to marry me.” John held tight to her. “But hell, I think she likes you better.”