23
Saturday morning . . .
Riley’s cell phone vibrated her to life. When her eyes darted open, she saw Christian sitting in a chair by her side, wide-awake, sipping a cup of coffee. He apparently had never gone to sleep and must have worked all night. She was surprised her phone could receive calls now. She was even more surprised that anyone had slept through the storm. But most were still sleeping. She picked her phone up. It was Max. She sat up, shook off her sleepiness, and answered the phone.
“Looks like we’ve got service,” she said.
Max’s voice came through. “The hurricane doesn’t seem to be as bad as they expected. Given its speed, it had to go through here pretty quickly. But it’s still churning out there. We’re probably in for another couple hours of strong winds and then a day of heavy gusts. Everyone all right over there?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s okay here.”
His voice wasn’t right. And she knew it. “What’s wrong, Max?”
“Riley, I’ve got some terrible news. Are you with all the guests?”
Riley looked around at the guests. A few were up; some grabbed coffee and breakfast, while others sat and talked quietly. “Yeah, I’m in the ballroom. Please tell me Gabby’s okay.” The panic rose in her throat and her pulse quickened.
His voice returned reassuringly. “Oh yes, Riley. I’m so sorry. Your family is fine. This isn’t about your family. Can you go out in the hall?”
She pushed herself off the cot. “Sure. Yeah, I’ll go out in the hall.”
Christian obviously noted the panic in her voice. He got out of his seat quickly. “You okay?” he whispered.
“Yeah,” she mouthed. “Something’s happened.”
“Tamyra?” he questioned.
She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, then walked from the ballroom. “Is it Tamyra? Did she take a turn for the worse in the middle of the night?”
“I haven’t heard anything about her. I assume that whatever word you got last night is the same. It’s Mitchell Fulton, Riley.”
Riley felt the knot in her gut grow. “Oh no, Max. What? Please tell me he’s okay. Please.”
“His plane went down last night. He didn’t have a chance.”
She had to sit down. She walked down the hall and sat on a bench, bent over, and put her head in her hands.
“Are you there, Riley?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. I can’t believe this, Max. He was coming to be with Laine. She begged him not to come. She begged him.”
“I’m so sorry. But his office called. They didn’t want her hearing this over the phone or on the news.”
Riley looked around; the hall was completely barren. “We don’t even have television in here; the power still isn’t working. And I can’t believe you were able to get through to me, in all honesty.”
“Well, I know she’s very fond of you, Riley. I felt like she needed to hear this from someone in person. They felt that way too; that’s why they called me.”
She shook her head again. Tears fell down her face freely now. Laine had finally gotten free from her shame. Finally she loved him the way he deserved, the way she deserved. And now this. “I can’t believe this.”
“I know; it’s horrible. And I know with everything that has happened there this week, this might feel like too much, but you—”
“No, you’re right.” Riley swiped the tears from her eyes. “She needs to hear it from me. She stayed because of me. Oh, Max—” she broke completely—“she stayed because of me.”
“Hey, hey . . . it’s okay, Riley. It’s okay. Listen, if you don’t think you can do it, I will come over there and tell her.”
She sniffed and tried to regain her composure. “No . . . no. I can do it. It’s just crazy. It’s all just crazy.” She shook her head and wiped her tears away again. She looked up and saw Christian making his way down the hall toward her. She stood. “No, I can do this. I need to do this.”
“Call me later and let me know how everything is over there. I know you and Christian have done a great job.”
She looked at Christian and gave him a broken smile. “It’s been wonderful to have him here to work with. I’ll call you later.” She ended the call.
“Is Tamyra okay?” he asked when he reached her. “Are you okay?”
“It’s Mitchell. Laine’s husband.” Her voice broke as she spoke. “He was flying here to be with her. He didn’t want her to be alone in the storm. His plane went down, Christian.” Her tears fell freely again. “He didn’t survive.”
“Oh, Riley.” He reached out and pulled her toward him. Her head rested at the top of his chest, nestled beneath his chin. “I can’t believe this. This is horrible.”
“I’ve got to go tell her.” She pushed away from him and raised her face to look into his. “Can you take care of the other guests? She’ll need me. I’ll have to figure out how to get her out of here and home.”
“Sure. You don’t worry about anything here, okay?”
“Thank you.”
Riley walked toward the ballroom door. Her legs felt like they had just finished a full marathon. Christian placed his hand in the small of her back as he opened the door for her. Laine sat up and stared at her when she paused in the doorway, unable to even step inside.
* * *
Laine knew in her gut when she had gone to sleep that something wasn’t right. She didn’t know how she had
