Full Bloom

  “Huh?”

  “You obviously haven’t read today’s paper.”

  “No.”

  “You might want to take a look at the obits.” He handed it to her. “Your husband’s memorial service is being held tomorrow at two o’clock.”

  “Tomorrow?” she asked, her eyes round and wide. “Does that mean his remains have been located?”

  “I spoke with Lamar. Nothing so far, and Mrs. Fortenberry isn’t convinced they’ll ever be found. She said she needed some kind of closure on this and if they do find the remains she will have a private burial.”

  Annie’s face drained of color, and her emerald eyes looked as though they’d turned to stone. “And she didn’t bother to tell me? She thinks she can just plan a memorial service for my deceased husband and not tell me?” Tears filled her eyes; Annie was suddenly furious. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Come with me, Annie,” Wes said, getting up from his chair. She looked dazed as he pulled her up. “We’re going for a walk. We’re going to practice what’s called anger management. And at this moment you look like the perfect candidate.”

  Annie waited until he’d slipped on his denim jacket before going into the living room and pulling her lined windbreaker from the coat closet. “I hope none of my neighbors see me lurking in the night,” Annie said as she and Wes stepped outside. “They’ll think I’m looking to break in and kill somebody in their sleep. I’ll be hauled off to jail again.”

  “You do look pretty dangerous in that Mickey Mouse jacket.”

  “Theenie, Lovelle, and I went to Disney World last year. They chipped in and bought me this.” She tossed him a dark look. “Don’t try to cheer me up; I’m still mad as hell.”

  “You have every right to be. I’m just trying to teach you ways to deal with it better. Before you discover where Theenie hid the rolling pin.”

  Annie sucked in the cool night air as they crossed the piazza and cleared the front steps, passing the fountain where the cherubs stood in repose. They crossed the yard and started down the sidewalk. Streetlights lit the way, and tall oaks, their massive roots jutting through the sidewalk, formed a high canopy over the cobblestone road that the residents of the historic district had refused to let the city replace with asphalt.

  “I’m going to Charles’s memorial tomorrow, Wes,” Annie said after they’d walked a while.

  “I figured as much.” But he sounded worried. “I think you should maintain your distance with the woman; avoid her altogether.”

  “Eve Fortenberry has never liked me.”

  Wes tried to match strides with Annie, but she was walking fast. “I’m going out on a limb here, but I’ll bet she likes you less since you were arrested for her son’s murder.”

  “Let her think what she likes. She has suspected me of doing something to her son since he first turned up missing.”

  “I wonder why?”

  Annie shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe it was easier for her to think I’d done something to him than to imagine him leaving without even telling her or contacting her in all that time.

  “And now it’s easier for her to hate me than to . . .” Annie paused and shrugged.

  “Accept the death of her son?” Wes finished for her.

  “Yeah.”

  They walked in silence. After a while, Annie felt the tightness in her stomach dissolve, and the muscles in her neck and shoulders no longer felt like rubber bands pulled tight enough to snap. She continued to breathe in the night air. Here and there she caught the unmistakable scent of gardenia, another reminder that winter had somehow escaped them. Wes had been right to get her out; the air had cleared her head, and she felt, oddly enough, rejuvenated.

  “Better?” he asked as if noting the change.

  “I must be. I no longer feel like driving to my mother-in-law’s and slicing all of her tires. I think I’m even beginning to feel sorry for her. Just don’t tell anyone; I don’t want to lose my edge.” She realized they had walked quite a distance. “We should turn back,” she said.

  “Getting tired?”

  “Not really. I’ve caught my second wind. I should do this every night. But that would make it seem like exercise.”

  They turned around and headed for the house. Wes took her hand. “I forgot to ask. How was your evening with Danny?”

  “We had a good time,” she said, trying to keep her tone light. She didn’t want to have to think about Danny right now. She looked at Wes, noted how dark he looked in the moonlight. Mysterious. “I’m, uh, sorry I lost my temper earlier. I haven’t always had a temper. I don’t even know when I got it.”

  “You’ll work it out.”

  They’d arrived at the house. Wes released Annie’s hand once they reached the front steps. “How does hot chocolate with marshmallows sound?” she said.

  Ten minutes later Annie carried two steaming cups of hot chocolate, piled high with marshmallow topping, to the kitchen table. She’d put out a small plate of chocolate chip cookies that Theenie had made a few days before.

  Wes and Annie sipped their cocoa in silence, but she felt his eyes on her. “You’re staring.”

  “I can’t help it. You look so pretty with your cheeks flushed from the walk and your hair all mussed. Like you just spent the last hour or so making love,” he added, and drained his hot chocolate.

  Annie felt something stir inside of her. The attraction she’d felt for him before had intensified into full-blown lust. And something else she wasn’t ready to put a name to. She finished her hot chocolate and carried both cups to the sink, where she rinsed them and stuffed them into the dishwasher. She heard Wes get up, and a few seconds later he slipped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck.

  “How about a shower?” he said.

  She turned. “You mean together?”

  “It’ll be more fun that way. Besides, you know what they say: it’s cheaper if two people shower at the same time.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  He stepped closer and gathered her in his arms, tilted her head up, and kissed her. He ran his hands through her hair, across her shoulders, and down her back before sliding them over her hips and pulling her closer.

  Annie tasted the chocolate on his tongue, felt the strength of his arms. She laid one cheek on his chest. He felt safe, like an anchor holding her in place even with all that was going on in her life. At the same time, his kisses turned her thoughts to mush and sent logic right out the door.

  After a moment, he pulled back slightly. “Is my timing off?” he asked. “I know you have a lot on your mind.”

  She took his hand and led him toward the stairs, where he paused to take off his boots, as though realizing they would make too much noise on the bare steps. Nevertheless, the wood creaked beneath his and Annie’s feet, and she winced, hoping they didn’t wake Theenie. Inside the bathroom, Annie grabbed a couple of towels and washcloths from the linen cabinet.

  “We don’t need washcloths,” he said. “I’d rather wash you with my hands.”

  Annie’s stomach did a little dance at the thought. She put the washcloths back. When she turned, she found him pulling off his shirt.

  Wes reached for the buttons on her blouse, undoing them slowly, pressing kisses against her neck and shoulders as he pushed the material aside and let it fall to the floor. He gazed at the lacy bra she wore. “Nice,” he said, cupping her breasts with his hands.

  Annie could feel the heat of his touch through the fabric, and she stifled the moan low in her throat. Wes reached around and undid the clasp. He tossed the bra aside and pulled her against him once more. Skin touched skin.

  He lowered his head and took one nipple in his mouth and tongued it until Annie felt it harden. He moved to the other nipple and teased it as he reached for the button on her slacks.

  Annie slipped her arms around his neck and sighed as her body reacted; her lower belly warmed. Wes leaned down and pulled off her shoes. Her slacks joined the rest of her clothes on th
e floor. Finally, he removed her panties, and his bold stare drank in the sight of her naked body.

  Annie could not help feeling self-conscious. She and Charles hadn’t showered together often. Their first time in bed had not been at all romantic; he’d simply suggested they strip down and crawl beneath the sheets, where they could “fool around.” His caresses had not been slow and light like Wes’s. She’d felt rushed and, afterward, an enormous sense of disappointment and frustration as Charles held her in his arms stiffly for a few minutes before turning over and reaching for the remote control and turning on Letterman.

  Wes kissed her once more, and his big hands felt like heaven on her body. “Undress me,” he said against her lips.

  Annie was only too happy to oblige. Her knuckles grazed his hard belly as she unfastened his jeans and tugged the zipper. Freed from their clothes, they simply stared at each other.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said. His smile was lazy and sexy as hell.

  “You’re not so bad yourself, big guy.”

  Wes turned on the water, tested it, and motioned for Annie to step in first. He joined her and pulled the shower curtain closed.

  The warm water felt good against Annie’s shoulders and back. Wes wet the soap, made lather, and then spread it across her back. He put the soap aside and began kneading her neck and shoulder muscles until Annie felt them go lax. He massaged her back as he washed. Annie sighed.

  “Feel good?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I guess I was a little tense.”

  He chuckled and turned her around. “There are other ways to relieve tension, you know.” He soaped her from head to toe before slipping his hand between her thighs. Annie cried out softly as he brought her to orgasm. She grasped his shoulders, buried her face against his chest, and shuddered.

  “Sweet,” he said.

  Once she stopped trembling, Annie washed his back and hips. She soaped his chest and stomach before moving lower. He was already erect. Palms slick with soap, Annie closed her fist around him and brought him to full arousal. Wes laughed softly as he stilled her hand, rinsed himself, and turned off the water. They dried quickly and moved into the bedroom.

  He wasted no time, running his tongue lazily across her body, to her center, until Annie clutched at the covers and bit back the moans that accompanied the burst of pleasure that was as powerful as the first. Wes moved over her, and she arched high as he filled her. They moved together fluidly. Annie felt her eyes tear with emotion at the beauty of their coupling, the exquisiteness of their joined bodies, and the sound of her name on Wes’s lips when he lost himself in her.

  Afterward, he gathered her close and they lay there quietly as their heartbeats slowed. Wes glanced down. “Why the sad look?”

  “I’m just tired,” she said. “It’s been a long night.” She couldn’t tell him the truth: that she was beginning to care about him too much too soon, and that it terrified her.

  Wes arrived at Lamar Tevis’s office shortly after 10:00 AM and found the police chief sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, both feet propped on his desk. He looked up. “What happened to your face?”

  “I cut it shaving.”

  “Holy cow!”

  “I have information on the Fortenberry case,” Wes said.

  “Can I get you a cup of coffee?” Lamar asked. “We also have cheese Danish. Homemade, I might add, by our dispatcher. Yesterday it was cinnamon rolls, and the day before that—”

  “No thanks,” Wes interrupted.

  “Grab a chair and tell me what you got,” Lamar said.

  Wes told him what he knew about Donna and Norm Schaefer.

  “So Fortenberry was having an affair with his boss’s wife. Sounds like trouble waiting to happen.”

  Wes reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out the sapphire and diamond earring, and placed it on the desk. “She lost this at Annie’s place.”

  Lamar pulled his feet from the desk. “Hey, this is nice,” he said, picking up the earring and studying it closely. “Are these real diamonds?”

  “Yeah. I just had it checked out at the jewelry store down the street. You’ve got a full karat sapphire and another karat of diamonds, all high-quality stones.”

  “I’m confused,” Lamar said. “What does this have to do with anything?”

  “It puts Donna Schaefer at the house during the time Annie was away.”

  “Was that the only time she went to the house?”

  “Mrs. Schaefer visited at Christmas, months before Charles came up missing. It was the same Christmas her husband bought the earrings. Annie said the woman loved them so much she wore them all the time. She and Charles had planned to leave together, but he didn’t show.”

  Lamar reached for a notebook and began scribbling.

  “Here’s my theory,” Wes said. “Although she denies it, I think Mrs. Schaefer was angry when Charles didn’t arrive at her house as planned and she drove over to confront him. They got into a bad argument, and it became physical.”

  “Why do you suppose Fortenberry changed his mind?”

  “Maybe he met someone else in the meantime. He had a reputation for cheating on his wife.”

  “Did Mrs. Schaefer’s husband know about the affair?”

  “I’ve got information that suggests he did.”

  “Okay,” Lamar said, scratching his head as though he was having trouble taking it all in. “It sounds like you might have something here. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to back up and start from the beginning. Just so I get my facts right.”

  “No problem.”

  “By the way, how in the world did you get this information?” Lamar asked.

  “From a very reliable source.”

  Annie and Theenie slipped into River Road Baptist Church and sat in the very last row. Several people glanced at them, and Annie wondered if her oversize sunglasses offered the disguise she’d hoped for. Under normal circumstances she would have sat up front with the immediate family, but the current circumstances were anything but normal. Eve Fortenberry walked into the church, pain etched into the deep lines on either side of her mouth, making her shoulders sag with the burden of it. Annie’s heart went out to the woman who’d never really welcomed her into the fold despite all Annie had done to be a good wife.

  On a table at the front of the church was a portrait of Charles, young, handsome, and smiling. More regret.

  As though sensing Annie’s deep sadness, Theenie covered one hand with hers. Annie was glad Theenie had insisted on attending the service with her. She looked about the church and saw Norm Schaefer sitting across the aisle, staring at her. He looked angry; Annie suspected he’d already been questioned. He was alone. Obviously Donna had chosen not to attend.

  “Scoot down,” Theenie said, interrupting Annie’s thoughts.

  Annie looked up. Jamie and Max stood at the end of the row. She immediately made room for them. “Thanks for coming,” she said, relieved to find two friendly faces in the crowd.

  Jamie reached around Theenie and took Annie’s hand. “We thought you’d need a little moral support, but we have to leave as soon as the service is over. A couple of employees are out sick with the flu, so we’re covering for them.”

  Annie smiled and nodded as a woman began singing “Amazing Grace.” Afterward, people walked to the podium and told of warm and sometimes funny experiences they’d shared with Charles. Annie found herself smiling from time to time. She had forgotten that side of her husband.

  Once the service was over, Annie made her way toward Eve, hoping to catch up with her before she was ushered toward the limo that had been provided by the funeral home. Annie touched Eve’s shoulder lightly, and the woman turned. She had obviously been so caught up in her pain that she hadn’t noticed Annie in the crowd, because her face suddenly became as cold as a barren winter ground.

  “Eve, I’m so sorry,” Annie began. “I can only guess how hard this is—”

  “What in the name of God are you doing here?” Eve
hissed. “How can you even show your face?”

  Annie had never seen such contempt. “I was his wife.”

  “You’re a cold-blooded murderer is what you are.”

  “We should go,” Theenie said, nudging Annie.

  “I did not kill your son,” Annie insisted. “I can’t believe you’d even think it.”

  “Go home, Annie. I can’t bear the sight of you. Go back to that new boyfriend of yours that I paid for.”

  “What are you talking about?” Theenie asked when Annie merely stared back at the woman in utter confusion.

  Eve looked at Annie, eyes narrowed. “You don’t even know, do you?” When Annie shook her head, Eve almost smirked. “You poor little fool. He’s a private investigator. I hired him to find out what you’d done to my son.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “I should drive,” Theenie insisted as they approached Annie’s car. “You’re far too upset.”

  Upset didn’t come close to describing how Annie felt. You poor fool. Eve’s words echoed in Annie’s head. And that’s exactly what she was. Wes Bridges had been hired by her mother-in-law to look into her claims that Annie was responsible for Charles’s disappearance. Renting a room in her B & B had made it easy. Sleeping with her had provided the intimacy Wes thought would make her more open to a little pillow talk.

  “You haven’t driven in years,” Annie said. Her face and limbs felt numb and her chest tight. She gulped in several breaths. A horn blew and Theenie pulled her from the path of a car.

  “Are you okay?” Theenie asked.

  Annie nodded.

  “Give me the car keys.”

  “It’s a stick shift.”

  Theenie shrugged. “It’s been a while, but I can do it. You need help getting into the car?”

  Annie shook her head and climbed into the passenger seat as Theenie took her place behind the steering wheel. She started the car, and it leaped forward and died.

  “Clutch,” Annie said.

  “Oh yeah. It’s all starting to come back to me now.” Theenie tried again, and the car lurched forward. “You want me to take you home?”

  “No. I can’t face Wes right now. Take me to a bar.”