At mid-morning, Mia comes over with baby Rayne. Beckett has some work to do, so I stay with Mia most of the day, and we play with the baby. I convince Beckett to let me wear her in a sling. He is worried about my ribs, but I tell him she is so tiny, I hardly feel her there. I love carrying Rayne so close to my body; we snuggle all day long.
I try breastfeeding, but with all of the stress and time away from her, I don't have much milk, so I give her a bottle. I am not someone who gets hung up about what my body is or wasn't capable of doing. I give her the best I have, and she will love it because my effort is there.
We stay at the lake house for two weeks. It is summer, and I am out of school, and of course, I have taken time off from the New York City Ballet. Mia and I enjoy swimming in the lake and catching up on horror movies, much-needed rest, and a ton of romance novels. Rayne becomes a chubby, adorable baby who starts smiling and cooing. I am absolutely in love with my little girl.
What surprises me most is that I am falling in love with my husband too. It isn't a done deal. He and I both have our grouchy moments because he isn't a great communicator, but he is trying. I appreciate his effort, especially because we sleep together and either make love or touch one another every night. I enjoy nights the most because it is when he and I take the time to talk.
I learn more about his horrible childhood and try to share a little more insight about mine, but I think we are moving past childhood commiseration. He and I need to strategize our life together and how he is going to stay under the radar with CSS while bringing down a traitor. We have our work cut out for us.
Beckett wants us to stay at the lake house for a couple of weeks so that it looks like I have disappeared. Beckett and his troops left quite a mess at the place where I had been held before we flew away and weren’t seen or heard from again. Our plan is to return with a splash as if we'd had some fantastic vacation in a far-off and exotic place and weren't touched by what happened. The reasoning for this is to throw the rebels off and make them understand that we are confident they would never hurt me, Beckett, or our baby again.
I am going to play the fake wife arm candy role in public while Beckett parades me around, building up his reputation by being a married doctor with a baby. I’ll be the sweetheart whom he’d secretly loved—his little sister’s best friend. I am innocent and naive and dumb as dirt—that is the image I choose to play because the sweeter and more stupid they see you, the more they say. I learned this from the men my mom knew. While I am acting vapid, I'll listen to the conversations around me and bring them back to him.
“I think this might actually work,” Beckett says with excitement as we are finally leaving the lake house by boat.
“I know it will,” I assure him. But of course, what do I know?
Chapter Twenty-One
Beckett
After two weeks of near bliss, we return to the penthouse. I have been working remotely, but I need to resume my rotation at the hospitals.
CSS has a way of burying things that need to be hidden—like the fact that my wife had been kidnapped. I am in touch with the head of CSS to let him know Scarlett survived. I tell him we are keeping a low profile until I know who is responsible for her abduction. He understands completely. I don’t know Massimo that well. He is quite an old man. My father revered him like a god. I don’t give him that kind of adulation, even though I spend Christmas with his family every year. I still don't know the man; nobody does.
“What terrible news. I’m glad your wife is safe. We’ll help you in any way you need to find the culprits,” is his response when I tell him.
Of course, I don't take him up on his offer because he could very well have masterminded the plan to kidnap her. Scarlett has solidtheories about the situation, and I think she may be right though she knows nothing about CSS. I need to do my own research to find out who is involved with Carl. It couldn't have just been his own greedy need to get a bioweapon in his hands. Carl told me the drug request had been sanctioned by CSS, but when I sniffed around a little bit more, no one seemed to know much about it.
The strategy is to return to work and society and act like nothing happened. I’ll simply continue to ignore Carl's request, and when he threatens again, I’ll toss him a bone and knock him off track by offering formulas that will do nothing. It’ll take a little while to discover that the drug isn’t working; by then, I hope to have exposed him.
As much as I enjoyed my lake house in Canada, I am happy to return to the city. Being away from patients and work often stresses me out. When we return, I hire more night nurses, and Mia moves back to her own apartment, much to Scarlett's sadness.
“I’m only a few floors down,” Mia says, rolling her eyes at my wife. “We’ll still have our horror movies,” she jokes. I adore my little sister that much more; something else Scarlett has brought into my life.
We settle back into our routines fairly well. Scarlett returns to dance classes and spends most of her time with Rayne. Since I believe Gloria was instrumental in having Scarlett kidnapped, I only use nurses from an agency outside of CSS—one that was recommended to me by a hospital I work for. There is no way that CSS will be involved in our domestic life ever again. Every night there is a different nurse so no one can see our family’s patterns or routines. As soon as Rayne is sleeping through the night we won’t need a nurse, but since Scarlett is still finding her sea legs, I want the extra help.
I find myself enjoying spending my time after work wearing the baby in a sling. Scarlett convinced me that baby-wearing is amazing, and as with most things, I come to discover she is correct. I make food for us while carrying the baby, and Scarlett helps clean up, though I don't like her doing the dishes or working. We have a housekeeper for that. She is busy dancing and strength training with private teachers she chooses and I hire.
She wants to go to a dance studio, but I refuse to let her go out in public. I have a room in the penthouse turned into a dance room with a wall of mirrors and a barre, and I hire a dance instructor to come and work with her as well as a private trainer to help her build her muscles. I don't like having to keep her cooped up in the penthouse, but she understands that when she is out in the world she needs to be with a bodyguard, and she prefers being home to being out with someone she doesn't know. I prefer that too because I don't trust anyone but our family.
CSS often attends benefit balls and parties, and Scarlett and I are going to a movie premiere as her debut as my wife. It is one of the society member’s pet projects. They produced a film with an up-and-coming filmmaker who has just joined CSS. He is a college boy, very slick and a little bit dangerous. He already has quite a reputation for spying and taking out unwanted foes. Filmmaking is just his cover to go into cartel spaces under the guise of being in production on a movie. Governments will grant permits to areas that the cartels protect to seemingly harmless filmmakers. This guy’s job is to share intel with forces that will take out problematic cartel members.
Scarlett comes down the stairs looking absolutely stunning in a crystal blue gown that shimmers in the light. I hate that she has covered up those gorgeous legs, but what is seen through the snug and simple gown is enough to make me want to stay in and never leave.
“Well,” is all I can say.
“Is it too much? It’s one of the ones you bought for me.” I absolutely don’t want her to be insecure. I am looking at one of the most beautiful dresses I've ever seen, which just happens to be gracing the body of the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever known.
“No, you’re perfect. Too perfect. I’m going to have to guard you all night long,” I tease.
“I won't get much information with you tagging along,” she says with a cute snarky bite.
“I'm still not sure I'm comfortable about you being a spy.” I walk over to Scarlett and kiss her beautiful lips, and she smiles.
We walk into the premiere and, as I expect, Scarlett draws most of the attention. She looks like a movie star, and people's curiosity about her is evident in the way they stare. I hold her hand tightly, knowing she doesn't like all the scrutiny. I nod to people I know, and we make our way through the crowd to the bar.
“Two Macallan 18, on the rocks,” I say to the bartender.
