Wildflower (Chapter 36)

Chapter 36

 

            Jose watched the monitor screen and shook his head, that girl was going to die. It was a fact, a sad fact but it was going to happen sooner or later. At the moment Caroline was nursing Delanoz back to health after his almost three week drinking binge. This had been going on for two days and he was tuned in and out of this train wreck. Soon enough her crazy sisters would be back in town to collect her and if cornered Delanoz was the type to take a hostage. If it meant living or dying then Delanoz would selfishly sacrifice this poor stupid girl. All this because of something that happened 14 years ago and was never going to go away.

            For as much as he liked living he sometimes wished he’d just drowned all those years ago, it would have been easier. But he remembered his mother and grandmother crying and that made him regret what he did. Fourteen years later here he was dealing with the same things. Things that were not his fault but he had to pay for anyway. After spending two miserable weeks with them harpies he was ready for this to end. That was not something he wanted to relive, being tied to a bed for two weeks did that to you. It was also humiliating, but that was the past and he wasn’t so stupid anymore. At the time nobody ever knew he was missing because he had a habit of disappearing much like Delanoz, but Nicolas suspected something.

            Now here he was babysitting his older brother trying to keep the sister of the girls that kidnapped him alive. Wonderful, and when Caroline was killed or raped or beat up or something, they would blame the three of them. Why did all the brothers have to pay for the sins of one? He’d had violent girlfriends and they usually had a good reason to brick his cars or whatever else they wanted, but that was his problem and he never hurt them. His relationships never affected his family and nobody ever died. With Delanoz he affected everybody even if they didn’t now and just made the whole family look worse. And the idiot gloated and told Wildflower about how he pushed one of his pregnant girlfriends down the stairs and she died. That was not a good idea; she was the wrong person to tell that to. Maybe she needed to be the one to tell on him, Emilio made them all swear to never snitch on their brother. Wildflower was never sworn into secrecy and she was way too moral to do that anyway. It would be nice for all of this to be over and for Delanoz to be in jail where he belonged.

            Today Nicolas would be home and they could figure out their next move. Jose believed after everything that his little brother had to do for everybody else; he deserved to at least be happy for a little while. This wedding was like a huge target and someone was going to strike at it. Pretty much that day he was going to carry a gun and just shoot anybody that tried anything. The thought was actually appealing. At least that would save him from bringing a date, then again if he didn’t then Cheyenne would think someway about that. He was going to need a date that wasn’t s****y or trashy and wouldn’t knife him halfway through. Someone that wasn’t going to be too clingy or need too much attention because he had to stay alert. In his mind he went through all the possible females that he hadn’t pissed off lately, one came to mind.

 

 

            Wildflower wanted nothing more than to go home and go to sleep, the trip was fine at first but she fainted twice. She was surprised it wasn’t when she did the fashion show, but no it was when she tried on her dress again. The second time was after the photo shoot. Carmen was doing a new wedding line basically inspired by her wedding and she made her model dresses for the Vogue photo shoot. Why she couldn’t just hire a real model she didn’t know, but it wasn’t too bad. It seemed to be wedding dresses that were the problem but she couldn’t tell Nicolas that. He was worried and getting on her nerves acting like she was fragile. Before this she never fainted in her life but now a month before her wedding she did twice.

            Ricky had her car while they were away so he offered to pick them up from the airport. It had been a good idea until her recent health concerned, but Ricky would be just like Nicolas. Doctor Cam checked her out three times and he said she was fine and needed to rest. Doing a photo shoot he said was not resting or staying stress-free. Little did the good doctor know it was impossible to be stress-free in this family that he was so anxious to get into. At least she convinced Carmen to bring him to the wedding even though she said it would give him ideas. Carmen was still with him sort of but she still didn’t want to marry him. She’d been married twice and those both ended badly so she didn’t want to do it again, even though she loved Camden.

            “I think you need to see a doctor,” Nicolas told her.

            “I’m fine,” she replied again.

            “What’s wrong?” Ricky predictably asked.

            “Nothing,” she said glaring at Nicolas.

            “She keeps fainting,” Brooke answered. This was why she shouldn’t have let her sit in the front.

            “Are you sick?” Ricky asked.

            “No, nothing is wrong I saw a doctor,” she said.

            “You chatted with Carmen’s boyfriend that was not seeing a doctor,” Nicolas said. “Go see a real doctor that isn’t whining to you about how Carmen won’t marry him. It won’t kill you I promise.”

            “Listen to him,” Ricky said. She knew that tone and she never disobeyed her brother so she had no choice now.

            “Fine,” she sighed.

            At home she just went up to her bedroom intending to go to sleep. But because this was her life she ended up throwing up in the bathroom. Maybe that explained everything, she was sick. At least that would be better than fainting every time she saw a wedding dress. There was just no way she could think too much into that so she hoped she was just sick. Nicolas found her in the bathroom and carrier her back in the room to bed. Ricky came up to check on her and informed her that she had a fever and he took her temperature like when she was a child. Some girls would love to have men fussing over them, not her. She hated to be sick. One day she was being a model in a big fashion show now here she was sick and pathetic, wonderful.

 

            Nicolas slipped out of the house after Wildflower went to sleep he had to go meet Jose. It didn’t surprise him that his brother was hanging at a bar, he needed a drink anyway. He was concerned for his bride but her brother was there to take care of her so she would be fine. This thing with Delanoz needed to be taken care of and he really needed to get this stupid girl away from him. Maybe if he did he could have a little peace or at least the sisters might finally kill Delanoz and everybody would be happy. At this point he didn’t care anymore if his brother lived or died, it would be easier if he was dead. Admitting that would probably be wrong but he didn’t care anymore; when Delanoz’s crap start affecting his life it was a problem.

            He found Jose charming some bimbo and he rolled his eyes. His brothers were both w****s. Instead of interrupting he went to get himself a drink, he was drinking too much lately. If he remembered correctly he probably had at least two drinks a day. That probably wasn’t alcoholic status yet, but he wasn’t getting drunk so that was at least something. Eventually his brother joined him and the bimbo went to talk to her bimbo friends and were looking in their direction.

            “Her friend is hot you want a little fling before you get married?” Jose asked.

            “Hell no, I can have sex whenever I want to and just with one woman that isn’t going to stab me for screwing her sister, cousin or mother,” he replied.

            “You’re boring since the princess took over your life.”

            “Oh well I will deal with it, what is your brother doing?”

            “Stupid girl is taking care of him, I couldn’t stand watching anymore it was disgusting,” Jose said. He handed him a device that looked like a handheld TV, it could view all the security cameras.

            “Wonderful they are having sex,” Nicolas said when he looked at it. Just in case the sisters found her he looked at all the other cameras, all was well.

            “So how was the trip? Look at all the pretty dresses?” Jose asked and laughed.

            “Carmen got Wildflower to model in her show,” he said.

            “And you let that happen?”

            “I had no idea, I wouldn’t tell her not to do it besides it was just the one time and some photo shoot they did. Not like she’s going to become a model or something,” he shrugged.

            “Models, I should have been there,” Jose said thoughtfully.

            “Anyway, did you find what I asked you to?”

            “Ahh yes I did,” he pulled out his phone and typed a bit. “Here she is.”

            “And you are positive this is the girl?” Nicolas asked he was looking at the picture of a girl of about 13; she was smiling in a school uniform.

            “Yes, meet child number 12, Penny Mandrake,” Jose said.

            “She looks like the others,” he nodded.

            “I think she favors her mother a little more, scroll down and you will see a current photo of dear Vivian,” Jose said.

            “We could work an angle with the kid,” Nicolas said thoughtfully. “He doesn’t know about her being since he’s too dumb to remember who he’s slept with. But I’m certain that Vivian and any other sane woman would not want their child around him. If he finds out he has another daughter and she has been kept from him a good lawyer could make a case for custody.”

            “That girl is lucky she doesn’t know him, the only reason the other mothers let their kids come out is because of custody agreements and they want their money. And because they know the kids will spend five minutes with him the whole damn summer,” Jose shook his head.

            “Just cause we use her to make a deal doesn’t mean we have to tell him, spare the poor child that. We could be charitable and donate her money, Delanoz would never know if we took it from him with all the child support he pays. And what five college tuitions,” he shrugged.

            “Caroline is a young girl who mistaken fell for a man who is exactly what her sisters told her he was. The girl is dumb enough to gamble with her own life, but would she tell him about the girl? Even though these b*****s have been on my last nerve all this time, I’d hate for anybody else to get hurt.”

            “Let us hope for the sake of the child that her aunt isn’t so unintelligent or at least that her mother didn’t share that secret,” Nicolas sighed.

            Why was this his problem? They were forced by their father to bury that body and both of them later paid for it. Yet Delanoz got to run around and do whatever the hell he wanted guilt free. Nicolas was at the end of his rope and he was wondering when this would end? It wasn’t going to end with these sisters in fact they could all lose their lives and for what? Hadn’t they already lost enough? No matter what they did to him and Jose, they were the ones that lost their sister and that wasn’t fair. Nothing in life was fair in this family; Delanoz should not have been allowed to do the things he did. Maybe it was his new morals that popped up as a result of being with Wildflower or too much had happened or it was the lingering guilt from years ago, but something had to change.

            “We are going to go over there and drag that girl out,” Nicolas decided. “I can’t let her die; if we do I’m going to feel guilty about it. Even if we have to knock her out and leave her somewhere for her sisters to find, I don’t care.”

            “Damn you for being responsible when I wanna get laid,” Jose replied. “I could have talked them into a threesome. Have you ever had a threesome?”

            “No,” he said unamused.

            “I really suggest you have one before you get married, have fun before you are tied down forever. You are the forever type I know since you’ve never been close to getting married but I’m telling you it will be better to do some things”

            “Focus Jose, Caroline needs us to come get her,” he said slowly.

            “Yeah I got you, we’ll go get her but I’m not giving this up. A month until you’re married and its not even cheating if you aren’t legally bound,” Jose said.

            “Why couldn’t I have just had all sisters?” He asked while messaging his temples, a headache was coming on.

            “Let’s go save this foolish girl so that I can get some,” Jose said finishing his beer. Before either of them move they both got a text and it said the exact same thing.

 

            “How the hell did he get away?” Nicolas asked he was pissed.

            “I don’t know what happened but one minute they were there and the next they weren’t. By the time they got in the car we were going to go in,” the security guy said.

            “Ok, I am a genius for putting a tracker on his car,” Jose said when he came out of the house holding a GPS in his hand.

            “Go over everything and search the house,” Nicolas ordered and the security guy nodded and walked away. “I need to be at home not chasing Delanoz around town.”

            “Yeah and I need to be in between two hot woman,” Jose replied.

            They got back in the car to go find Delanoz. Somehow him and Caroline went for a joyride and the security missed it. This was not good; they needed to get this girl before something happened to her. Considering this was Delanoz the past could definitely be repeating it’s self. This time he was going to be digging a grave by himself. If this girl died that was it, he was going to make sure Delanoz paid for it. Not only did he want to do it he had to do it, because of Hannah. Wasn’t everything because of Hannah? Good thing one of his brothers had a brain; he actually didn’t think to put a tracker on the car. Then again the last time he’d seen Delanoz he was drunk and stupid. Part of him wanted to choke this stupid girl for not knowing better. How could she not know better when he killed her sister? And when her other sisters made it their mission to bring him down? The whole situation was ridiculous, and she sort of deserved whatever she got for being hardheaded and stupid.

            “I am going to strangle this stupid little girl,” Nicolas said.

            “Not if I beat you to it,” Jose said. “S**t, turn back we have a bigger problem.”

            “What now?” He asked, since he was a little pissed and driving he couldn’t look at his phone. Responsibility, it was something he had but was missing in most of his family members.

            “Sadie, Tina and Heather are at the house looking for their sister. Brilliant idea giving the lazy a*s security guys their pictures,” Jose said.

            “I should have stayed in New York,” he shook his head.

            Going back to Delanoz’s Godforsaken house was the last thing he wanted to do, but he did it. This needed to be over and done with. They should have been more responsible and kept their sister out of trouble. If they had then he would be home with Wildflower who was sick. But if he wanted to be free of this once and for all he had to face them. And inform them that this was not his problem and that he didn’t care what they did to his brother anymore. At least that was the plan until he pulled up and there they were.

            Seeing them here glaring at him was different than taking the high road. These women were trying to punish him and Jose for things that they didn’t do. Taking the high road and telling them they could have Delanoz and even assisting them in retrieving their sister, it was all well and good. But he was a revenge minded person and they had been pissing him off for years and he tried to be nice about it. Being nice never really got you anywhere; it was when people feared you that they were better at listening. Which made sense because you would listen to the guy that could and would kill you more that the friendly helpful guy. And he had better things to do than deal with these women. So he said a silent apology to Hannah, because he just knew that he wasn’t going to be able to be nice to her sisters. This really had to end.

            “Nicky, I have missed you so much,” Sadie greeted.

            “What do you want?” He asked.

            “Our sister, where is she?” Tina asked glaring at him.

            “Riding around,” Jose answered looking amused. Of course he was amused, he was always amused.

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” Tina asked.

            “It means that your little sister is very stupid and you are all very stupid. Did you really think sending her to seduce him was a good idea? Which of you came up with that?” Nicolas asked, he was sort of amused too.

            “Where is she?” Heather asked looking worried.

            “Framing D for killing her? Really I need to know who thought of that,” Jose said. “It just goes on the long list of idiotic ideas you’ve collectively come up with.”

            “Caroline has nothing to do with that,” Tina said.

            “It was Tina’s idea,” Nicolas said. “Can’t you see the guilt in her eyes?”

            “Yeah, I think you’re right,” Jose nodded.

            “This isn’t funny,” Sadie paused. “How is your fiancé doing? Is she well?”

            “I would not go there if I was you,” Jose warned.

            “I hear she had some troubles,” Sadie went on. “Does she know what type of person you really are? She seems like a nice person, I’m concerned for her.”

            “How is Penny?” Nicolas asked and all of their faces went pale. Unlike them he could remain calm and well he would kill everyone of them if they ever came never Wildflower. There was nothing to worry about.

            “Just tell us where Caroline is,” Heather demanded.

            “You know I was going to be nice and return her to you but your little sister has a thing for Delanoz, you know something about that Tina, don’t you? You fell for him right? Anyway we were trying to be nice and give her back because let’s face it we all know she should not be with him. But before we could get here they left. So maybe you should have babysat her better,” Nicolas told them.

            “You’re lying,” Tina accused.

            “No actually I’m not, I’m sick of your games. Its been a long time and obviously you suck at all this so give it up and let it go,” he paused knowing he shouldn’t say it. “None of this is going to bring Hannah back.”

            That got the effect that he knew it would they stared at him. The Mandrake sisters were attractive woman, white blonde hair, fair skin, brown eyes, they all looked alike. To other men they were probably really attractive but all he saw was years of this mess. If they weren’t such pretty girls then Delanoz wouldn’t have made it his hobby to have sex with all of them. Then again just the fact that they were sisters would have done it. Though Nicolas would never admit it he made the mistake of having sex with Sadie but that was awhile ago but, not long enough. By the looks of things she never told her sisters that and it was good because nobody ever needed to know. His life would be a lot easier, he realized, if they weren’t in it. But as easy as exterminating them would be that little bit guilt hit him again and he thought of Hannah.

            “How can you dare say her name?” Heather asked, she was the quiet one. “Your brother killed her and buried her and you think that’s ok?”

            “No I do not, but what has all this accomplished? All you managed to do was make your little sister fall for him and I can tell you that is a bad thing.”

            “Look, we are trying to find him so you can have your sister back but maybe you should keep her on a leash. She came here to him, I was there when she came to the door and I told her to leave. Guess what? She didn’t listen and now they are both gone,” Jose told them.

            “If anything happens to her, all of you will pay for. Your whole family knows what he’s done and none of you could be decent enough to at least tell us where she is buried,” Tina said. Heather looked away with tears in her eyes and Sadie stared at the ground, only Tina was brave enough to look him in the eyes.

            “Nobody knows,” he admitted. He knew better than to go down this road where that ended where he had been the one to bury her. That truth he couldn’t admit, Wildflower knew and that was bad enough.

            “That is a lie,” Sadie said.

            “Believe what you want, just don’t bother us or you will regret it. I’m done being nice, your problem is with Delanoz, not us so deal with him. I have better things to do then find your sister that you handed over to him and deal with your games. If you really wanted him dead you would have killed him it’s been 14 years,” Nicolas said annoyed. He looked at his phone he had a text from Wildflower. She wanted to know where he was.

            “Is that her?” Sadie asked with a mischievous look on her face. That was a change, and that meant she was up to something.

            “If you’re bored go stay in the house and wait and see if your sister comes back,” he told them. “And if she doesn’t this time it’s your fault.”

            “Is that a threat?” Tina asked.

            “Jose, don’t you have something to do?” He asked his brother.

            “Oh I do, but they are amusing at least. Ladies, it has been wonderful to see you, I don’t want to see any of you again. Ya know you should consult with my exes they are better at revenge than you are. Have a great night,” Jose said pleasantly.

            They went back to Nicolas’ car at that and didn’t let them reply. He needed to tack Jose back to the bar to get his car and his bimbos and then he could go home. When the plane landed it was the afternoon, now it was past midnight. At this point he needed more than a drink; he needed a whole bottle of something very strong. All this accomplished was making more work for him. At this point he was almost certain that he did more work outside of his actual job than he did when he was at work. Life would have been easier if he just worked in the lab like he originally wanted to, he loved science. But like a lot of things in his life he did not get a choice in that.

            Thirty minutes later after a brief conversation with Jose and dropping him off, Nicolas was home. He dragged himself through the garage, set the alarm and went up to his office. Liquor was his friend right now, so he took a bottle with him to his bedroom. Wildflower opened her eyes and stared at him, so much for trying to be quite. She sat up and turned on the lamp beside the bed. Now he just felt guiltier, she looked pale.

            “Hey, I’m sorry I woke you up,” he told her. He went over to kiss her and it was obvious she still had a fever, she was burning up.

            “Where did you go?” She asked looking at the liquor bottle in his hand; he sat it on the floor.

            “Brotherly problems, nothing to worry about,” he said dismissively.

            “Carmen called,” she said lying back down. “Said I probably picked something up from her models, most of them are sick now too. She also said something a little crazy.”

            “What?” He asked, knowing his sister it could be anything.

            “Um she wants me to model for her,” she said. That was not what he was expecting. “Apparently she really liked some pictures from the fashion show and people asked her about hiring me. Weird right?”

            “So what you’re going to become a model?” He asked unsure of how he felt about that.

            “No, I’m so not the model type and I don’t wear a size 0 at all or close to it. Just random but Carmen wants me to come back out there next week, even though I told her no,” she told him.

            “Are you feeling any better?”

            “Not really, Ricky didn’t want to leave me. I think he misses having someone to take care of since we are all too old and I was his favorite. But I made him go home and promised not to get out of bed,” she said closing her eyes.

            “I’m sorry I was gone so long,” he told her.

            “I know,” she replied.

            “I’m going to take a shower real quick and I’ll be back,” he said and she nodded.

            “Honey, I’m tired,” she whispered.

            “I love you,” he said and kissed her forehead.

            “Me too,” she said obviously half sleep.

            Nicolas got up and took his liquor in the bathroom with him. The next few days were not going to be fun, especially since his birthday was this week. Pretty much his headache was never going to go away.

 

 

            Wildflower hated being sick, especially since it was Nicolas’ birthday and she wanted to do something special for him. Her birthday was when they met, so she wanted his to be special. The plan had been to make him dinner and chase everybody out for the whole night. And she was going to wear something tight and revealing over something lacy and barely existent. When Thursday came around she was just starting to feel better. He was barely home all week anyway, so it would have been nice to be together. So she tried her best to put things together.

            Brooke and Jay were going to take the kids over to that barely used empty house, for the night. Tammy was away until before the wedding visiting family. So she got the empty house part but she didn’t get out of bed the afternoon. Her fever had been gone for two days but she was still a little tired and lightheaded. Brooke and Christina helped her a lot with everything and suggested that she shouldn’t do this, but she had to. Even though she knew Nicolas wouldn’t care if they did or didn’t do something. Next week was both Corey’s and Ariela’s birthdays, she didn’t have time to be sick.

            Carmen called her everyday begging her to come out and model for her new Ads. Doing the fashion show and one photo shoot was one thing but she was no model. Apparently she wasn’t the only one to be noticed during fashion week, Allie was too. People were calling Carmen about her too. Of course modeling was the perfect job for Allie, the girl loved attention. Wildflower just found it odd that anyone would want her as a model other than Carmen who was basically family. Part of her was curious enough to take a flight out for the weekend like Carmen wanted her and Allie to. Maybe she would explore this thing. At the very least it would be something to do and interesting.

            Late in the afternoon she was dressed, the food just needed to be heated and the house was empty. It was pass the time that Nicolas said he would be home. She waited in the TV room; the noise helped her to pretend that being alone didn’t bother her. Nobody was here to hear her scream or to be there to rescue her. In her plans she didn’t factor in spending this much time alone or that she would be afraid. She text Nicolas and tried to calm her nerves, usually he responded pretty quickly, not this time. A knock at the door made her jump and she wasn’t sure she wanted to answer it. Who would be knocking at the door? Flashbacks to the night of the break-in came to mind. Where was Nicolas at when she needed him?

*************

            Today was a bad day, like he knew it would be that was just his birthday. He was supposed to be home an hour ago but Wildflower was just going to have to forgive him, he told her he didn’t want to celebrate anyway. But he felt bad because she obviously was trying hard even though she was still sick. And he hadn’t been home much dealing with this stupid situation. Delanoz and Caroline were still missing and they ditched the car. The Mandrakes were camped out at his house plotting; too bad they didn’t know the house was still wired. He fired the worthless security people he had watching the house already. So that was how they slipped up because they didn’t think he could see.

            Imagine his surprise when they got a visitor and it was Cody. How she got involved with them he didn’t know, but this was a big problem. It meant that everything changed now, and it was why he was late. If those stupid witches were involved with Cody then it was very possible they were involved with Owen too. That was why Sadie felt the need to taunt him. Now he really was probably going to kill them. But he couldn’t act; he needed them to lead him to Owen.

            Thinking about Owen had him realize that Wildflower was home alone and that got him out of his office. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? She never needed to be alone. In the car he called her cell phone but there was no answer, she didn’t answer the house phone either. It was a little over an hour ago that she text him and when he wrote back she hadn’t responded. Why was he so stupid? He drove home as fast as he could while continuing to call her and still getting no answer. If something happened to her again she was never going to forgive him and wouldn’t forgive himself.

 

            Wildflower was surprised when she went to the door, Ivan was there. She hadn’t seen him since she came back from New York. Really he was never around anymore, Ricky had been by everyday that week to check on her but Ivan kept his distance. She knew why he never came by anymore but that didn’t mean she liked it. He was a part of her and lately she didn’t feel connected to him at all. Wasn’t it bad enough that she felt a hole where Daisy should have been everyday? Now she knew how Sammie must have been feeling without Jordan.

            “Do you not want me in your house?” He asked standing in the doorway, she moved aside to let him in.

            “What are you doing here?” She asked him.

            “I heard you were sick so I thought I might check up on you,” he said.

            “Well I’m better now,” she shrugged.

            “I’m sorry that things are weird right now,” he told her.

            “Why are things weird? You never talk to me anymore, I feel like we are strangers,” she told him.

            “I was just trying to figure things out, clear my head a little,” he said.

            “Well you can tell me about that in the kitchen, I need to sit down,” she said. She walked pass him and down the hall to the kitchen.

            “Are you feeling ok?” He asked looking at her concerned.

            “Yeah, just tired,” she said. He was the one to get her a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and gave it to her.

            “Why are you all dressed up?”

            “It’s Nick’s birthday.”

            “Then why are you here alone?”

            “Good question,” she sighed. “I guess I’ve been stood up.”

            “If it makes you feel any better you look pretty,” he said.

            “Sadly it doesn’t, I feel crappy,” she said. “So talk to me Ivan.”

            “Uh I was confused about some things and I’m sure Ricky told you about that but coming over here would have just been weird. I’m sorry if I hurt you by avoiding you, everything is clear to me now and everything is fine.”

            “So I guess you are done with your feeling for Allie?”

            “I was mistaken about that,” he said carefully. But now that he was here and she could look him in the eyes she knew the truth. “Not important anymore, I’m sort of seeing somebody. Ricky’s girlfriend set me up with her friend who I apparently brought home and we slept in bed together awhile back. Her name is Jessica, thought I could bring her as my date to your wedding, unless of course you changed your mind about the whole thing?”

            “I’m still getting married if I don’t die first, but I think you should bring her. Ricky is bringing Sydney, his non-girlfriend,” she shook her head.

            “Yeah um that whole thing is weird, she sets him up with guys but is always at his place and they have sex,” Ivan told her.

            “We have a strange family,” she replied. “Speaking of such, Mom is getting out soon. Aunt Maria said that she talked to her and she’s out the end of next week. Just in time for Monster’s birthday, which Chris says she’s not going to be invited to.”

            “Are you going to let her come to your wedding?”

            “I don’t know, maybe if she can behave,” she shrugged. All she wanted was one day with no drama; she deserved at least that much. Then again she wanted to do something special for her fiancé’s birthday but that wasn’t happening, maybe it was a sign like with the wedding dresses.

            “Something is wrong,” Ivan said staring at her.

            “I’ve just been sick; I caught something from Carmen’s models. The one I replaced was sick and the other ones got sick too,” she said dismissively. At least she was clinging to that fact so she didn’t have to think anymore about the fainting. Doctor Cam said it was just probably stress and she wanted that to be true.

            “We didn’t use to lie to each other,” he said in almost a whisper. It was obvious he felt guilty about that.

            “I know,” she nodded. “Carmen had me try on my wedding dress and I fainted.”

            “Why?”

            “I want to believe what her doctor boyfriend said about it being stress and me not eating a lot lately and not sleeping much, but it happened twice. I’m freaked out about getting married I think,” she admitted.

            “Its ok,” he said taking her hand. “Not that I know anything about marriage but I’m thinking it would be weird if you weren’t freaked out. But why haven’t you been sleeping and eating?”

            “Actually until Brooke pointed it out and Carmen discovered that I’d lost weight I hadn’t noticed,” she sighed and laid her head on the table.

            “Come on,” Ivan said suddenly standing beside her. “I’ve never seen you look so pale and you look exhausted, I’m taking you up to bed.”

            “Fine, its not like Nick’s here anyway. Will you stay with me?” She asked, even though they weren’t as close as they should have been she didn’t want to be alone.

            “Crazy, I wouldn’t leave you if you’re sick,” he said and she smiled.

            Ivan picked her up and carried her up to her bedroom. She never thought she was light enough for anybody to carry but Nicolas was always carrying her around, it kind of made her think of being a damsel in distress. Right now she sort of was, weak and pathetic and in need of being taken care of. One of these days she was going to become independent again, this was not her week though. And she really didn’t mind curling up with Ivan, it reminded her of the past when their souls use to feel connected. At the moment she was desperate for that connection, she needed it very badly. Daisy died five years ago last Thursday.

            Maybe that explained things a bit, but nobody said a word about it. That might have been because nobody wanted to upset her this close to her stupid wedding. Part of her just wanted it to go away; she didn’t want to talk to Scarlet about weddings things anymore. In fact she let Brooke handle all that stuff now. Nicolas was distracted and paid her zero attention anymore, even today. Hadn’t she gone to a lot of trouble considering she could barely get out of bed? Wildflower was definitely annoyed with him and was almost glad he didn’t come home because if she was honest she didn’t want to see him. Maybe she was a little moody because of Daisy, and she felt guilty for not being here and not visiting Daisy’s grave. And she was tired of looking over her shoulder worrying Owen was going to attack her or if he was going to come after the kids or someone else in her family.

            For this one moment she was with Ivan and everything was ok. That was what she needed. So maybe she should take Carmen up on her offer and go back to New York for a few days. At least then she could clear her head and meddle in Carmen’s love life to distract herself with. The decision actually wasn’t that hard.

 

            When Nicolas got home and the front door was unlocked he was worried. Nobody ever left the door unlocked anymore. The TV was on but nobody was in there and Wildflower’s cell phone was on the couch. There was an open bottle of water on the table in the kitchen and two chairs were pulled out, but no one was in there. He also noticed that she had made dinner and that just made him feel guiltier. Before he completely lost it he went upstairs and was surprised to find Ivan coming out of his bedroom. Ivan gestured for him to be quiet, which probably meant Wildflower was asleep. So they both went back downstairs.

            “Little late aren’t you?” Ivan asked.

            “Is she ok?” Nicolas asked trying not to react to Ivan’s tone.

            “Not really,” he said. “Want a funny fact? Your birthday makes five years and one week since Daisy died.”

            “She never anything about that,” Nicolas admitted. And he just felt guiltier.

            “Yeah, I didn’t think she would. Especially not now, she’s sick and Wildflower never gets sick,” he paused. “She’s like a freak of nature, never once when we were growing up and not even if everybody else in the house was sick. Only once before was she ever sick, that when Daisy died.”

            “What are you saying?”

            “Nothing, I’m just making conversation,” he shrugged. “She’s not the same anymore; I guess I shouldn’t expect her to be. Anyway she still doesn’t feel well and she’s sleep and she’s kinda pissed at you.”

            “I know,” Nicolas said. “I’m trying to protect her, trust me if I could sit here with her every second I would.”

            “What will you do if you find Owen?” Ivan asked staring at him with a little suspicion.

            “When I find him and I am pretty closer to finding him, I will kill him,” he said without hesitation.

            For a minute they both stood there. Ivan was probably trying to figure out if he was serious or not. Of course he was going to question this. Was it really wise to leave his beloved twin sister alone with someone that admitted that he intended to kill someone? Even if he was killing for her? In Nicolas’ opinion it wasn’t a good idea and somebody should have been responsible enough to keep him away from Wildflower. But it was good for him that nobody looked too deep enough into him, if they did then she would be gone. Once Ivan was the suspicious one, he really needed to be more vigilant. Then again if any of her brothers was then he wouldn’t have taken her home with him that first night.

            After Ivan left Nicolas went up to his bedroom and opened the door. There she was, his angel, sleeping peacefully. A dress was hanging over the chair and lingerie was thrown on the dresser. She’d gotten everybody out of the house and made dinner for him and he ruined it. Since she was sick she shouldn’t have bother and well he never wanted her to bother at all in the first place. His birthday was bad luck, obviously proven by the fact that her sister died five years and one week ago.

            Thinking back he tried to figure out what he was doing the week before his birthday five years ago. What he remembered he wished he could forget. That day the Mandrakes messed with Delanoz’s car hoping to kill him. And he ended up with Sadie that night, too bad that wasn’t the last time. He never really dug into what happened to Daisy, maybe he needed to now. Curiosity always got the better of him. Everything Ivan said made him wonder about certain things. Before he could go off to investigate Wildflower stirred. In the middle of rolling over she opened her eyes and stared at him for a minute. Then she closed her eyes again as if he wasn’t there and he deserved that.

            “Baby, I’m sorry,” he told her.

            “What’s your excuse this time?” She asked after awhile with her eyes still closed.

            “Just got caught up,” he said. Half truth half lie, he couldn’t tell her the full truth because she would worry.

            “I’m leaving for New York tomorrow,” she informed.

            “Why? I thought you didn’t want to model for Carmen?”

            “Yeah well I might do it and Allie wants to go out too.”

            “Alright,” he said. Right now he couldn’t tell her no without a fight. “I can change some things around so I can go with you.”

            “No need,” she said opening her eyes to stare into his. “There is no reason for you to go with us.” Pretty much, he was in a lot of trouble with her and it was going to be awhile before he dug himself out of it.

Reviews

[romancewriter09]

the beginning was boring but the end was amazing

[deeps]

Wow! Talk about a interesting read here, This is amazing! I like this it was very well written and held toegther well. Full of wonderful imagery and vivid detail. Youi're very talnted.