Savage Beauty - Peggy Webb Page 0,46
then after the holidays I’ll help you find another place to live. All I want is your happiness.”
“Stephen, I want you to be happy, too. You’re a good man, and you deserve a good woman who is right for you. Thank you for taking this so well. And for making it easy for all of us to get through the holidays.”
“Thank you, darling.”
She probably would have let him kiss her, but he decided to make her wait for it. After what she’d done to him tonight, she deserved to go to bed worried that her bad decision might cost her the best thing that had ever happened to her. Where else was she going to find a famous billionaire with his good looks and charm? Not to mention one willing to take on an obstreperous teenage daughter.
“Good night, Stephen.”
When she stood, the lights from the chandelier and the fireplace caught in her hair. It looked is if a thousand stars shone through the sunset-colored strands.
He would never let her go. Never.
Chapter Eighteen
When Lily arrived at the hospital the next morning, she found Cee Cee awake and more alert than the day before, but far too fragile to remember or talk about anything that had happened. Still, having Annabelle there overnight had put some color back into her cheeks. Her daughter was perched on the foot of the bed, chatting about her rose cultivar, while the sitter Jack had hired was in the corner knitting.
Ethel McCarter was an older woman with curly white hair and the sweet round face of the Pillsbury doughboy. She called both girls dear heart and looked as if she wouldn’t swat a fly. Even though two uniformed officers were guarding the door, Lily felt better knowing this motherly woman was always within Cee Cee’s reach.
As she and Annabelle left the hospital and drove home, she made a mental note to call and thank Jack.
“Mom, did you know Mrs. McCarter has a baseball bat behind her chair.
“You’re kidding me?”
“I’m not. She said if anybody came after Cee Cee she’d send them straight to Kingdom Come.”
It felt wonderful to laugh again with her daughter. And on such a beautiful day. Though it was still only nine o’clock in the morning, Annabelle had opened the sunroof of the Jeep, and the sun was shining through almost as if it were a spring day. The crazy thing about Ocean Springs’ winters was that the temperature could be in the forties one day and the sixties the next.
“I’ll bet she would, too,” Lily told her daughter. “Jack said she’d once coached a girls’ softball team at Mississippi State University.”
“No way! That’s awesome.”
“Do you want to go back to the house so you can rest?”
“Just drop me off so I can change clothes. I told Stephen I’d be at the greenhouses today.”
“You called him?”
“No. He came by the hospital, early this morning before you got there.”
So, he really was trying to repair their fractured relationship. Still, Lily felt nothing except curiosity.
“How’d it go?”
“Okay, I guess. Cee Cee had a bad spell when he first got there, but Mrs. McCarter managed to calm her down.”
“I’m glad.” Security waved her onto the estate, and she dropped Annabelle off at the front door, but not before leaning across the seat to hug her and say,” I love you.”
As she drove to her office, she thought of the many times she’d carelessly sent her daughter off with nothing more than a warning not to be late coming home, or some inane reminder not to forget her coat, her backpack, or her swim meet at seven.
I’ll never again be that careless.
She entered Lily’s Designs determined to catch up on the work she’d neglected during her search for Cee Cee. She opened her computer to the makeover designs she was creating for the Forresters. They were a lovely family of four who had moved from New Jersey to Ocean Springs in November and had hired Lily to renovate their house overlooking the beach.
The morning passed quickly, and she grabbed a sandwich around the corner for lunch. When her phone pinged with a text from Stephen, she was shocked at how fast the afternoon was flying by.
Don’t wait dinner for us tonight, darling. Annabelle and I are going on a secret Christmas shopping expedition. We’ll grab a bite afterward. It will be a great way to have some private father/daughter time.
Lily had mixed feelings, but the shopping trip showed how hard Stephen was trying. And Annabelle deserved some fun.
Okay,