Every time the wild child came near, Colleen made sure to disappear behind the door in the closet. She didn’t want the little girl throwing Olivia’s treasures at her from across the room again. It would be a long time before Colleen banished the image of Olivia desperately trying to save the photo of her son.
But watching them from where she hid in her old closet in the tower, Colleen could see their relationship was much improved. She was happy for them. They deserved…
Colleen startled at a quiet rustling beside her. Before she had a chance to investigate, a head poked out from among Olivia’s dresses. “You! What in the name of all that is holy are you doing here?” Colleen said to Ivy, but it was obvious the woman didn’t hear her.
No good, that’d be for darn sure, Colleen thought. She had to alert Olivia to the danger. Simon was down in the tunnels chasing mice, so she’d get no help from him. She peeked around the door. Olivia, who moments before had been folding clothes, was down on her hands and knees with her head under the bed. She backed out and came to her feet, holding a baseball.
“Here you go.” Olivia looked at the ball for a moment, turning it in her hand before carefully tossing it to George, who stood by the fireplace. “No playing in the manor though.”
“Is Finn coming after work?” the little girl asked.
“Umm, I’m not sure. Maybe. But he might be busy, so don’t get your hopes up, okay?”
“I wonder whose hopes you’re really worried about, the child’s or your own?” Colleen murmured, taking in Olivia’s flushed cheeks. It appeared the rumors she’d heard this afternoon about Finn and Olivia might be true after all.
The members of the Widows Club had been all in a tizzy thanks to Evelyn Harte, owner of the Harmony Harbor Gazette, announcing what she’d seen and heard at the clinic. There were a lot of sour faces at the meeting, including Evelyn’s. She’d hoped for a match between Finn and her granddaughter Poppy. But no sourer than Rosa’s and Kitty’s. Though their pussfaces were not about Finn and Olivia. They were after the same man again.
If Sophie hadn’t called the meeting to discuss the spa, the two wouldn’t have deigned to be in the same room together. They were acting like teenagers, fighting over Kyle Bishop the way they were.
Colleen didn’t know why she was surprised. They’d fought over Ronan too. If only she could find a way to communicate that evil had come to Greystone Manor, they’d at least have a common cause to fight for that would bring them back together again.
Colleen supposed she was lucky that Finn and Olivia had seen the light sooner rather than later and with little help from her. She was going to be busy, it seemed, with their resident evil. Peering through the wardrobe to get a look at what Ivy was up to, Colleen had a feeling she’d need more than luck to deal with this one.
Crouched amongst the dresses with a bottle of what looked like ibuprofen, Ivy emptied the pills into the palm of her hand and then shoved them into the pocket of her uniform. Reaching into another pocket, she withdrew a baggie of white tablets and carefully emptied them into the ibuprofen bottle.
Poison, that’s the only explanation Colleen could come up with for Ivy replacing the original pills with the ones in the baggie. What other reason could there be? Colleen wished she could come up with one because the lengths this one would go to scared the bejaysus out of her. She wasn’t dealing with the likes of Hazel and Paige now. Oh no, this one was tetched in the head.
“I’m sorry, child. I truly am, but I need your help.” Colleen stepped out of the closet, holding up a placating hand while giving George her warmest, kindest smile.
“Bad juju! Bad juju!” The child ran on the spot, screaming.
“No, no, read my lips.” Colleen pointed to her mouth. “I’m GG. I’m good. She’s bad. Ivy’s bad.”
The little girl stopped screaming, and Colleen breathed a sigh of relief, until she saw George’s chin go up and her arm go back.
“No!” Colleen cried, when Olivia moved to comfort George and stepped right into the line of fire.
“George, it was an accident. I’m fine.” Olivia held her stomach as she rolled onto her side on the floor in the tower room. “I’m just going to lie here for a moment.” Red lights from George’s sneakers bounced across her face as the little girl moved from side to side as though she had to go to the bathroom. Obviously, she wasn’t going to relax until Olivia was on her feet. Unless something else was upsetting her…Olivia lifted her head and looked around. “Is the ghost still here?”
“No, in there.” George pointed at the closet.
“Okay, then, we’re going to get rid of that ghost once and for all.” Olivia rolled to her hands and knees, holding back a moan at the sharp stab of pain.
“Olivia! Olivia, are you okay? Someone heard screaming,” several voices, both male and female, called from outside the door. Despite the pain, she took a moment to appreciate that she had so many people in her life who genuinely cared about her.
George ran to the door and threw it open. “Livy was dead, but I brought her back to life.”
Well, she supposed to George it might have looked like she was dead. The blow had stolen Olivia’s breath and knocked her on her backside. She’d lain there stunned for several seconds before George began pounding on her chest. The little girl’s retelling of the event was somewhat interesting though.
It reminded Olivia of something Nathan would do. Minimize his involvement if it showed him in a negative light and then overblow his actions to make himself out to be a hero. There was a difference though; he never took responsibility or apologized for his actions the way George had just done. Olivia took that as a good sign.
Jasper, Lexi, and Sophie rushed into the room, followed by a breathless Kitty. “Oh my, Olivia, what happened?” Kitty asked, pressing her hands to her face.
Olivia stayed quiet to see what George would say. The little girl glanced at her and then looked up at Kitty. “I threw the ball, and it hit Livy in the tummy.”
Olivia reached for the bedpost to drag herself to her feet. “It was an accident.” George didn’t mention the ghost, so Olivia decided she’d stay quiet about it too. They’d deal with that later.
Jasper and Sophie helped her to stand. “Maybe we should take you to the clinic and let Finn look you over,” Sophie suggested.
“No,” Olivia said, more forcefully than was warranted, but she’d been horribly embarrassed yesterday when Sherry called her out for wasting Finn’s time. In her own way, Olivia had been as bad as the women making up phantom illnesses just to bask in Finn’s masculine beauty. Only she hadn’t gone to the clinic just to look at him or flirt with him. Obviously, Sherry wouldn’t believe her now that she’d caught them kissing in the hall.
And of course, Olivia had admired his Clark Kent good looks when he put on his glasses, his muscular forearm when he took notes, and how wonderful he smelled when he came close…All right, so she wasn’t immune to the man but that was not why she’d gone to the clinic.
She’d made the appointments, each and every one, because she had legitimate concerns for George’s well-being. Her husky voice for one. It was not unheard of for children to develop tumors on their vocal cords. Olivia had done extensive research into all her complaints. Like the way George stared off into space sometimes. It could have been a sign she had epilepsy. The same with the amount of water she’d been drinking. It could have been a sign George was diabetic, not just thirsty as Sherry had sniped.
Olivia had no intention of going to the Harmony Harbor Clinic ever again. Though she couldn’t avoid Finn now that she’d agreed to be his pretend girlfriend. Pretend or not, she needed to call herself something other than his girlfriend. For goodness’ sake, she was thirty-eight. If she hadn’t felt guilty about how much of his time she’d taken up, she would have told him to find someone else.
She glanced at Jasper and Sophie, who were looking at her oddly. She wondered if she’d said any of what she’d been thinking out loud. Then she realized it was probably because she’d just said an abrupt no, so she added, “Thank you,” and smiled.
Kitty held up her phone. “I’ve called Kyle. He’s on his way.”
Well, there wasn’t much she could do about that. Dr. Bishop would be better than facing Finn anyway. Obviously, Jasper didn’t think so. He gave a disapproving sniff. If Olivia wasn’t mistaken, the older man was jealous of Kitty’s relationship with Dr. Bishop.
“It’s okay, Kitty. You can let Dr. Bishop know Finn is on his way. He dropped everything when he heard his Liv had been hurt. In case you guys didn’t know, they’re an item, a thing, she’s his plus one, he’s her boy toy, they’re—”
“Boyfriend and girlfriend,” George said, giving Olivia a little wink.
Olivia gave Lexi a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look. She’d thrown Olivia under the bus to ensure Jasper stopped trying to fix her up with Finn. It was a good thing Olivia had taken the precaution of telling George the truth. The little girl was fond of Finn, and Olivia didn’t want her disappointed when their charade inevitably ended.
Olivia ignored the voice in her head that said she was protecting herself as much as George. With George around to keep her feet firmly rooted in reality, Olivia would be less likely to get caught up in the fantasy that was Finn. Not that she wanted to get caught up in the fantasy, she assured herself. It was going to be embarrassing enough having people refer to him as her boy toy like Lexi had just done.
Kitty beamed. “I’m so pleased to have the rumor confirmed. I’ll let Ida know. Poor thing will be disappointed. She was so hoping Finn and Brie would be a match. Oh well, there’s always Aidan. He’s moving back to town, you know. That reminds me, I have to talk to Chief Benson and see if I can get him to retire too,” Kitty said, her head already bent over her phone.
Sophie and Jasper carefully guided Olivia to the side of the canopied bed. “Can I get you anything, Miss Olivia?” Jasper asked.
“Maybe just a glass of water and two aspirin, if you don’t mind, Jasper. Thank you.”
“Certainly, miss.” Just as Jasper took a step away, a bottle of ibuprofen rolled out of the closet.
George gasped, and her eyes rounded. She tore across the room, picked up the bottle, and ran into the bathroom. The toilet flushed. Everyone looked at Olivia for an explanation. “We had a visit from Casper the not-so-friendly ghost,” she whispered. “George said he, or she, lives in the closet. So I gather she thought the ibuprofen was contaminated by bad juju.”
They heard a husky “Uh-oh,” from the bathroom, and then the sound of water splashing onto the floor.
Jasper sighed. “I’ll call the plumber.”
“Are you going to let me check you over now?” Finn asked once he’d gotten rid of their audience hours later. Since George was getting ready for bed, he thought the time was right. He’d have to lift Liv’s shirt to examine her.
“No, I told you I’m fine. You shouldn’t have rushed over and left your patients. Patients who actually have something wrong with them. I hope you told Sherry it wasn’t me who asked you to come.”
“Okay, I get that you’re ticked. But I only said that to Lex because she scared the hell out of me. I thought you were seriously hurt, Liv.”
“Just FYI, some people would consider broken ribs serious. And I can tell you from very personal experience, they’re painful. But that’s fine. I’ll be okay. You can leave now.”
“I’m not leaving until you let me check you over. Come on, how would it look if I don’t take care of my girlfriend?” he teased.
“I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I should dump you after how you behaved.”
“I’ve never seen you pout before. It’s kind of cute.”
Lips pressed together, she refused to look at him as she undid the bottom three buttons of her white blouse. And then, probably because she was ticked, she opened the shirt with a little too much force. The rest of the buttons popped off, leaving him with a perfect view of her lacy white bra cupping what looked to be exceptional breasts and a long length of sun-kissed skin. Except for the fist-sized bruise on her right side. “No,” he said when she went to cover up. “You took a good hit, Liv. Let me have a look.” He shifted on the bed and, as gently as possible, checked to see if her ribs were…
“Holy Fig Newton, don’t do that…Oh,” she half laughed, half gasped.
He tried to keep a straight face. “Holy Fig Newton? Now that’s one I haven’t heard before. I’m almost done. Are you always this ticklish?” he asked, doing his best to keep his eyes off her breasts.
“Yes, oh, ha-ha! Oh, stop, stop now.”
George walked over to the bed wearing a pair of pink Hello Kitty pajamas. “Can you make it better?” she asked, her eyes glued to the bruise.
“It’s not serious…” Liv glared at him, holding her shirt together. “What I meant to say is Liv’s ribs are bruised, so she’ll be a little sore. But nothing’s broken, and I’ll give her something for the pain.”
“You should kiss it better,” George said.
“You want me to kiss it better?” He looked at Liv’s stomach. Her skin had been warm and silky beneath his fingers and definitely kissable.
George nodded.
Liv shook her head. “It’s quite all right. I feel better already. Thank you, and thank you for coming. Good night.”
“He can’t go.”
“Why not?” he asked at almost the same time as Liv.
“There’s a ghost in the closet,” George whispered.
“Oh, right. Okay, how about Finn gets us a vacuum, and then we’ll suck the ghost up?”
George shook her head and crawled into the bed. “It walks through walls. It’ll get out of the canister. But Finn can stay and protect us.” She patted a spot on the mattress between her and Liv.
“I can protect us.”
“No, you can’t, Livy. You’re sore, and I’m little. We need Finn.”
“I think George is right. You need me to stay.” He toed off his shoes and held out his hand. “You need help getting ready for bed?”
Liv gave him a look and then reluctantly took his hand. “No, I think I can manage.” She lowered her voice so only he could hear. “You’re leaving once she falls asleep.”
“Finn, wake up.” Someone shook him. Someone who wore satin shorts and a skimpy top and had warm, silky skin and smelled like hothouse flowers. He buried his face in her soft hair and smoothed his palm over…“Dammit, woman, what was that for?” he said when he got an elbow in the gut.
“Shush. Your hands were where they shouldn’t be.”
He recognized that voice. “Liv, sorry. I forgot where I was. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
She shook her head, pressed a finger to his lips, and then pointed across the room to the door. He carefully lifted up on his elbow. He saw shadows under the door and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I don’t think it’s a ghost.”
She curved her hand around his neck to bring his ear to her mouth. “Of course it’s not a ghost, but I could have sworn I heard the door open. That’s what woke me up.”
He grinned at her, enjoying the intimacy of their late-night chat. Which made him realize just how comfortable he’d grown around Liv. He enjoyed being with her, and he thought that should make him more nervous than it did. “I thought I woke you up.” He walked his fingers along her bare arm.
She closed her hand over his. “Don’t you dare. You’ll wake up George.” She nudged her head at the door. “Would you mind taking a look?”
He eased off the bed so as not to wake George and padded to the door. Carefully opening it, he looked out in the hall. Simon ran between his legs and into the closet. He closed the door, put on the security lock, and returned to the bed.
“It looks like Simon stays in the closet. Could that be what George saw?”
“Going by where she was aiming the ball, I’d say her ghost is bigger than Simon. You know, she doesn’t like him much either. I’ll have to shoo him out of the closet before she sees him in the morning.”
“How are your ribs? Do you need another pain pill?”
She glanced at him. “You’re not worried I’ll become addicted?”
Beneath the sarcasm, he thought he heard a hint of hurt. There was something more than bruised ribs going on with her. He wondered if it had anything to do with the favor he’d asked of her. First things first. “Liv, you know as well as I do how careful you have to be with opioids, but I’m not worried you have a drug problem or a problem with alcohol. You already know that though, so what’s up with the ’tude? You were pretty prickly with me earlier.”
She plucked at the sheet. “After what Sherry said to me yesterday, it hurt when you told Lexi you couldn’t just drop everything for something as benign as a sore stomach.”
“I didn’t say that. But I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.” He slid his arm around her and gently tucked her in beside him. “You weren’t the only one Sherry got to yesterday. I should have put a stop to the parade of singles. In my defense, I couldn’t write them all off as marriage obsessed. And the thing was, the patients with legitimate complaints…Let’s just say they’re not what I’m used to. In the Congo I was dealing with life-and-death decisions every day. Not—”
“Neurotic women dragging their stepdaughters to the clinic at the first sign of the sniffles?”
He angled his head to look at her. “I don’t think you ever brought her in for the sniffles.”
She made a face. “In my defense, I did research her symptoms.”
“Remind me to disable Google on your computer,” he teased at the same time feeling a rush of tenderness for her. He knew why she overreacted and jumped to the worst-case scenarios. It was natural and no doubt incredibly stressful for her. Was it a little stressful for him too? Even a bit annoying? Sure it was. But despite his teasing, she needed to know that all she had to do was pick up the phone and call him. “Liv—”
She cut him off before he had a chance to tell her. “Don’t worry. I won’t bother you anymore. Julia put aside a stack of self-help books for me. I don’t want to turn George into a hypochondriac.” She looked up him. “You don’t think I already have, do you?”
“You don’t have to worry about George. The kid’s resilient. But Liv, for your sake, it might be a good idea if you talked to someone. They could help you—”
“I’ve been to a therapist before. He wasn’t helpful. He—” She gave her head a slight shake and blinked up at the canopy.
“Tell me.” She was quiet for so long that he didn’t think she was going to answer him.
“He thought, they all thought actually, that my fight to keep Cooper alive had turned into an obsession. That I was doing more harm than good. Nathan and his parents told me I was being selfish to put Cooper through another clinical trial. But even if there was only a small chance it could save his life, I had to take it. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I just let him go without a fight. Do you think I was wrong? Do you think I was a horrible mother?”
If Nathan Sutherland wasn’t already dead…“No, I think they were wrong. You loved your son. You did what you thought was best, and that’s all that matters.”
She nodded and then told him about the different trials Cooper had been involved with—everything she’d done to keep her son alive, all the nights she’d spent on the phone talking to doctors and researchers, searching for answers—as though she still needed to defend herself against her in-laws’ and husband’s accusations.
Finn took her hand. “Liv, look at me. You have nothing to feel guilty about. If Cooper was my son, I would have put him in the clinical trials too.”
“Really?”
“Really. And I’m not just saying that to make you feel better. You did everything you possibly could for your son.”