“Coupla hours.”
“I can’t wait that long.”
“Or a coupla minutes.” He gripped her shoulders tighter and said without equivocation. “I can fly it, but it’s your call.”
In under two hours they arrived at the ICU waiting room, where Olivia was sitting alone, hugging her elbows, staring into space. She shot to her feet when she saw Bellamy, but made no move toward her when Dent appeared behind her.
Bellamy asked, “Are we too late?”
“No.” Olivia sat back down as though her legs had given out from under her. “He’s drifting in and out of consciousness. They’re afraid he’ll lapse into a coma. That’s why I called you when I did. This may be your last chance to speak to him.”
Bellamy crossed the room and put her arms around her stepmother. They clung to each other for several minutes, crying together. Eventually Bellamy pulled away and blotted her face with a tissue. “When can I see him?”
“The doctor is with him now. He’s trying to determine if there’s anything viable they can do. The nurse promised to come and get me when we can go in.”
She looked past Bellamy toward Dent, who had come no farther than the doorway. “Dent flew me here,” Bellamy explained. “Fortunately we were able to leave almost immediately after I spoke with you.”
Olivia thanked him with cool politeness.
He acknowledged her thanks with a nod, then said, “I need coffee. Can I get some for either of you?”
They shook their heads in unison. Then, as soon as he was out of sight, Olivia looked at Bellamy with a mix of bewilderment and annoyance.
Bellamy took a deep breath, reasoning that she had just as well be straightforward. “He and I have spent time together and have become better acquainted over the last couple of days. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Well, thank you for that, because I don’t understand. Not at all.”
“Then at least give me credit for being a grown-up who can make up my own mind about people.”
She hadn’t meant the rebuke to sound as stern as it did. Contritely, she reached for Olivia’s hand and pressed it between hers. “I can see why you and Daddy didn’t consider him an ideal boyfriend for Susan. He wasn’t like the sons of people in your circle. He was unpolished and disrespectful.”
“Our dislike extends beyond his lack of manners, Bellamy. We hold him partially responsible for what happened to Susan.”
The blame was misplaced and grossly unfair, but rather than dwell on that, Bellamy countered more diplomatically. “He didn’t come away unscathed. He’s never gotten over being a suspect.” She paused, then said, “Neither has Steven.”
Chapter 13
Olivia flinched. “Steven?”
“Dent and I went to see him.”
“In Atlanta?”
“We flew there last night and saw him today.”
“How was he?”
“He looked wonderful. He’s definitely in his element. The restaurant is gorgeous, and it was packed for lunch.”
Olivia searched her eyes for a moment, then looked down at their clasped hands. “Did you meet William?”
“Olivia.” Bellamy waited until the other woman was looking her in the eye. “Why am I the last to know that Steven is in a seemingly solid and very happy relationship?”
“Did you ask him that?”
“He told me that he cut all ties to his former life, including me.”
“Then you have your answer.”
“It hurts,” Bellamy whispered.
Olivia stroked the back of her hand. “Don’t be too hurt. Even I wasn’t introduced to William until after they’d been together for more than a year.”
“It didn’t wound you to be shut out?”
“Of course it did, but I was given no other choice except to honor Steven’s wishes for privacy. Years ago, he asked for distance from the family.” She smiled sadly. “I granted it because I love him, and I understood where he was coming from.”
Her expression turned reflective. “He didn’t have a very happy childhood. He watched his father die slowly of ALS. He’d barely reached adolescence when I married Howard. Who couldn’t have been a better stepfather,” she was quick to add. “But Steven’s transition into the new family was difficult.”
Olivia had no idea how difficult.
“He was fine with you,” she said. “You two took to each other right away. But he and Susan had personality clashes. Steven was introverted, Susan the polar opposite.” If Olivia believed personality issues were the only problem that had existed between Steven and Susan, then clearly Steven had kept Susan’s abuse hidden from her and Howard. If he had wanted them to know, he would have told them, so his secret would remain safe with Bellamy.
“Sometimes I think…” Olivia hesitated, but when Bellamy prompted her with an inquisitive tip of her head, she continued. “I think Steven must have felt a bit abandoned when Howard and I married. He’d had me all to himself for years, then suddenly had to share me with another man. And my love for Howard was so passionate, so consuming, that Steven might have felt slighted.”
She dabbed at fresh tears and spoke in a voice made husky by emotion. “Howard is my Prince Charming, you know. My knight in shining armor. I loved my first husband dearly, but what I felt for him was like a spark to a bonfire when compared to the way I feel about your father. When we met, Howard seemed larger than life to me. Can you appreciate that?” She looked into Bellamy’s eyes, seeking understanding on a woman-to-woman basis.
Bellamy nodded. To her twelve-year-old self, Dent had been larger than life. He’d been that way in her daydreams as well. “Yes. I know exactly what you mean.”
“My first husband’s prolonged illness had been a financial drain. There wasn’t much left in the coffer after he died, so I was lucky to have my job at the accounting firm. I wasn’t a charity case, but I was on a budget.
“So here I was, a working single mom. And there was Howard, a man of wealth, importance, and position. He excited and terrified me all at once.”
“Why terrified you?”
“I knew from the start that he had fallen in love with me, knew he wanted me in his life. He told me so on our second date. And, Lord knows, I wanted him. But I was afraid of failing to live up to his expectations. What if he thought that I’d married him only for the security and benefits that came with him? I would have loved him no matter what, and wanted so badly to make him happy, to make his life as full and complete as he’d made mine.”
Bellamy squeezed her hand. “You have. There’s absolutely no doubt of that, Olivia. You’ve been his lifeblood. As his only surviving child, it almost pains me to say this, but when he draws his last breath, it will be your name on his lips.”
With a sob, Olivia leaned forward and rested her forehead against Bellamy’s shoulder. For a time, Bellamy stroked her back, giving her what small comfort she could when her Prince Charming was about to leave her.
Eventually she sat up straight and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Okay, I’ve had my cry. We got off the subject. Why did you go see Steven at this particular time?”
