Escape with Me

They rode in silence. Ten let the husband comment slip. It wasn’t his place to pry any further into her private life than he had to in order to get the job done. He felt acutely sympathetic toward her. Now that he’d met her, he believed more than ever that she had not been privy to Jeremy Corday’s illegal business dealings.

Once they were in the city of Kitty Hawk, the trip through town and out to North Croatan Highway where Albemarle Health’s Regional Medical Center was located took only fifteen minutes. Ten pulled up to the entrance.

“Go on in,” he said. “I’ll find a parking space and meet you inside.”

She looked at him with those beautiful brown eyes and he fairly melted. “Thank you, Mr. West, but if you have someplace else to be I can get home from here.”

“On the contrary, Mrs. Corday,” he told her calmly, “it would be my pleasure to wait and drive you home. I promised your father I’d look after you and I always keep my promises.”

Lana didn’t know what to say to that. A helpful man who always kept his promises?

She didn’t have time to argue the point with him. Her father needed her.

“Okay then,” she relented with a smile. She got out, closed the door and hurried inside. Ten watched her for a moment as she gracefully walked toward the steel-framed glass wall that encased the automatic doors. His heart was still thudding from the impact of her smile.

He blew air between full lips as he drove away to locate a parking spot. “Lord, this is not going to be an easy assignment.”

* * *

“Keep running,” Dr. Sanjay Khan said to Aaron, his lilting voice kind. “Just don’t overdo it. At your age a couple of miles a day is enough. I’m not even going to prescribe any medication because your arrhythmia doesn’t call for it. I do want you on the aspirin regimen and you need to watch your cholesterol more closely.”

Aaron, lying in bed, one arm behind his head as he sat propped up on pillows, laughed softly. “Doc, you’re not going to take my butter away, are you? What am I going to dip my lobster in?”

Dr. Khan laughed, too. “Butter and lobster, no wonder your cholesterol’s high. I want you on olive oil and good omega-3 seafood like salmon.”

“I hate the taste of both,” Aaron complained.

“You’ll just have to get used to them,” Lana spoke up as she entered the room.

She walked straight over to her father, and kissed him on the cheek, then greeted Dr. Khan with a warm smile and a hearty hello.

Dr. Khan, in his late forties, was about her height and looked fit in his white physician’s coat with a white shirt and black tie underneath, black slacks and sturdy black oxfords. His dark liquid eyes lit up at her hello. “You must be Lana,” he said. “Your father has been expecting you.”

“Yes,” said Lana, smiling warmly. She lovingly gazed at Aaron. “How is he, Doctor?”

Aaron started to say something, and Lana shushed him. He fell quiet, his face a mass of grins. He was so delighted to have her home, he didn’t care that she was being bossy, as usual.

Dr. Khan patiently went over Aaron’s condition with Lana. She asked questions and he answered them to her satisfaction. When she felt there was no more to learn on the subject, she thanked Dr. Khan who told them he had to go but he would be back in the morning at which time he would let Aaron know if he could go home. The doctor advised that there were still test results that hadn’t come in yet.

Alone with her father, Lana fell on him and hugged him tightly. Then she rose and peered into his beloved face, a face that was a pleasant reminder of their shared genetics. He also had a dash of freckles across the bridge of his nose. And if not for his sixty-two years his hair would have been the same red-brown. Today, it was pure white. His skin was a deep golden-brown due to the sun, wind and salt air that he lived in every day. She loved the crinkles around his brown eyes and the bushy white eyebrows above them.

“I’ve missed you,” she said. Tears came to her eyes in spite of her attempt to keep them at bay.

Aaron squeezed her hand. “I’m fine, sweetheart. You know nothing gets me down for long.”

“I do,” she said, trying to sound upbeat. “But the older I get the more I realize that you’re not getting any younger, either. That’s a scary thought. What would I do if anything ever happened to you? It’s not like I have a huge family to fall back on.”

Her mother, Mariette, had a sister, Dorothy—Aunt Dottie to Lana—who lived in Florida. However her father was the last of the Braithwaites in North Carolina. There were some distant cousins in Massachusetts whom he never heard from. He and Mariette had wanted to have more children but they’d only been blessed with Lana.

Lana wanted to have children with Jeremy but he had convinced her to wait a few more years. He said he wanted to enjoy their time as a couple for the first five years of their marriage. Then he said they could have a child or two. If given the choice of having Jeremy’s child with her now or him, Lana would have chosen the child. Just because Jeremy had proven unreliable and less than honest didn’t mean his child would have been tainted. The child would have been loved by her beyond measure.

“You’re only thirty-two. There’s still time to have children and make me a granddaddy,” Aaron reminded her, his eyes twinkling with merriment.

Lana laughed. “In case you haven’t heard, my husband’s a fugitive and I’m in the process of divorcing him.”

“A wise decision, as I told you over the phone,” her father said. He patted the side of the bed and Lana sat down. He hugged her close. “Lana, there’s only one way to get on with your life when something as devastating as what happened to you occurs. You have to keep moving forward. You had plans before you met Jeremy. Some of them you put on hold for him. Becoming a mother was one of them. Jeremy’s not in the picture anymore. You have the reins. Don’t allow his behavior to define the rest of your life. We can’t control other people’s behavior. All we can do is control how we react to it.”

“And even that’s hard to do,” Lana said.

“Have you ever noticed how the important things in life are always difficult to accomplish? That’s because God wants you to recognize the blessings in life when you’re presented with them, and appreciate them.”

Lana looked at her father with a deadpan expression. “Are you saying my experience has been a blessing?”

“Now you know what kind of man you married. It would have been worse if you had been with him twenty years instead of five and all of this happened,” Aaron said reasonably.

“It stings pretty badly right now,” Lana asserted.

“Of course it does, but eventually they will find him, and you’ll be able to face him and tell him to go to hell and you’ll live through it. You’re tougher than you think.”

Lana knew her father was right. After she had admitted to herself that Jeremy had faked his death and run away, she had spent weeks beating up on herself for being so gullible and allowing herself to love a man like him. Now, if she ever saw him again she believed she would stomp on him. She was that angry with him.

She smiled at her dad. “What about your health and you being in the hospital for the first time in your life. Is that a blessing?”

Aaron’s smile grew wider. “It got you home, didn’t it?”

Lana rolled her eyes. “You never quit.”

“Never, baby girl.”

Lana stood up. She looked around the room. Flowers were on every available surface. “Your women?” she joked, referring to the number of bouquets.

“Well, you know...” he said with no modesty whatsoever. “What can I say? There are more women than men in our age group. Somebody has to take up the slack.”

Lana went to read a few of the cards attached to the bouquets. Sure enough, they were from females. Some names she recognized, some she didn’t. One in particular was of interest to her. It was her high school English teacher, Miss Ellen Newman.

“Miss Newman, Daddy? You’re seeing Miss Newman?” She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.

“She’s an attractive woman,” Aaron said. “And we share certain interests.” He raised his eyebrows in a lascivious manner, which made Lana guffaw.

“I don’t want to hear anything about Miss Newman’s certain interests,” Lana hurriedly told him.

“I was just going to say she likes going fishing, too,” Aaron said innocently.

“I’ll bet,” Lana said dryly. She turned to face him again after reading the message on another card: Get well soon, Tiger! It had been signed by another female admirer whose name she didn’t recognize.

“Maybe giving up butter and lobster aren’t the only things you should think about letting go,” she said with a laugh.

“I’d give up the shellfish before I gave up the ladies,” vowed Aaron through a smile.

Chapter 4

Ten was waiting when Lana exited her father’s hospital room. She looked up, and he was there as if out of nowhere. She smiled at him, and was reminded of the fact that she hadn’t gotten the chance to question her father about this good-looking man. She’d wanted to know his opinion of him.

“Oh, Mr. West,” she said, “there you are. Look, really, I can get home from here. Don’t trouble yourself any longer.”

“Are we going to go over that again?” Ten asked with a smile that brought out the dimples in both cheeks. Lana’s heart did a little flip-flop. Oh, calm down, she told the out-of-control muscle. But then, it wasn’t as if it’d gotten much exercise lately. Not since she’d relegated the male species to a genus lower than an earthworm.

It was unkind to be rude, though, so she tolerated his enthusiasm.

She began walking toward the bank of elevators here on the fourth floor. Ten fell into step beside her. “How’s your dad?”

“Cracking jokes with the best of them,” she said. “If I didn’t know better I’d think this is some ruse just to get me home. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Ten squirmed a little when she said that. Guilt wasn’t an emotion that he had time for though. Lana’s presence could very well flush out that rat Jeremy Corday.

He grimaced. Okay, where had the name-calling come from? Formerly, he had thought of Jeremy Corday only as the subject of an FBI dragnet. No personal feelings had entered into it. Now all of a sudden he was attaching derogatory labels to him? Maybe it was because he had not before been so close to someone Corday had damaged with his underhanded behavior. His sympathy for Lana was growing by leaps and bounds.

He regarded Lana with a quizzical look in his eyes. “You’re joking, right? Would it take something as elaborate as that to get you to come home?”

For a moment he thought he’d overstepped his bounds because Lana simply stared up at him without saying a word for quite some time, even though it was probably only a few seconds. Then she sighed and said, “I don’t know you. You’re doing a story on my dad and I don’t want to say anything that might end up in that story. I’m sure you understand.”

The elevator doors opened and he and Lana watched as several people got off the conveyance. He was now alone with her and he pressed the call button for the lobby. “I’m off the clock,” he said. “I promise you as a journalist and, better yet, as an honorable human being, that anything you say will go no further than right here, right now.”

Lana laughed quietly. “Now see, here we are with the same conundrum. I don’t know you well enough to trust that I can take you at your word.” She’d had her fill of charming men. Not to mention, Jeremy, who had a way of making you divulge everything about yourself until you were laid bare.

Her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you spill your guts to me?” she challenged.

Ten shrugged as if that was no tall order. “What do you want to know?”

“Just the basics,” she said, eyes raking over his face.

“Okay. I’m thirty-five, single, I live in D.C. but I was born in Virginia,” he placed his hand on his chest. “I attended the University of Virginia where I earned a master’s degree in literature.”

“Literature?” asked Lana skeptically. “What can you do with a master’s in literature?”

“Exactly,” said Ten, grinning. “So I parlayed my interest in filmmaking into a career. I love books and writers. I focus on literary themes.”

“Do your parents also love books and writers?”

“Not particularly. Why?” he asked out of curiosity.

“They named you Tennison after Tennyson, the poet, right?”

Ten laughed. “That’s a funny story. Let me preface this by saying my parents really love kids.”

Lana burst out laughing. A ridiculous reason had come to her of why he’d been named Tennison, but she had a hard time believing it. “No,” she interrupted him, “Don’t tell me you’re the tenth son: Ten is son...Tennison?”

“Not the tenth son, but I am the tenth child, and the last. Thank God. My parents have six sons and four daughters. I’m the baby of the family.”

Lana was laughing so hard tears were rolling down her cheeks. “I’m sorry if I’m being insensitive. Just the notion that your parents named you Tennison because you were their tenth child is so...sweet.”

“Nice save,” Ten said, laughing along with her. “But you’re being too kind. It’s my guess that by the tenth child, with two sets of twins among them, they were running out of names and brain cells. Naming me Tennison is an easy way to remember I’m number ten.”

Lana wiped her tears away. “Do you still have all your brothers and sisters?”

“Yeah,” said Ten. “And my parents. Believe me, when we get together for family reunions it’s quite a production.”

“How many nieces and nephews do you have?” Lana asked.

“Last count, twenty-seven,” Ten said without hesitation. “I’m the only one of my nine brothers and sisters who hasn’t had any children.”

“You’re a lucky man to have such a big family,” Lana said, smiling up at him.

They arrived in the lobby. Stepping out of the elevator, Ten glimpsed the same man they’d seen at the airport. He was sitting in the lounge area pretending to be engrossed in a magazine.

Ten didn’t allow his gaze to linger in case Lana, who had recently proven very perceptive, caught him observing the stranger. Then, he would have to explain himself.

“Now, will you let me drive you home?” he asked Lana.

Before Lana could reply, a shrill female scream erupted from the throat of a petite African-American woman bearing down on them. “Lana!”

Ten couldn’t believe his ears when Lana let go with a piercing scream of her own. “Bobbi Lee!”

The two women hugged there in the middle of the huge lobby, their exclamations echoing loudly off the high ceiling and marble floor.

“I heard you were in town,” Bobbi Lee said, her pretty face shining with affection.

She was five-five to Lana’s five-nine and she had a pleasantly plump figure. Her long black hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing green scrubs and white athletic shoes.

After she’d let go of Bobbi Lee, Lana took a good look at her. “What is this, a new career?” The last time she’d seen her old high school friend and fellow cheerleader, she was working as a receptionist at a dentist’s office.

“I’m a registered nurse now,” Bobbi Lee told her proudly, “as of the first of the year!”

“Congratulations,” Lana said with warmth. “How do you like it?”

“I love it,” said Bobbi Lee. Then she looked up at Ten. “Oh, I’m sorry if I interrupted something.”

“Bobbi Lee Erskine, this is Tennison West.”

Bobbi Lee and Ten exchanged hellos after which Bobbi Lee said, “Yes, I heard you were making a movie about Mr. Aaron.”

Small towns, Ten thought. I’m here for three days and I’m already the subject of gossip.

“Actually, it’s a documentary,” Lana provided.

“Well, you know Miss Gladys can’t get her details right to save her life,” Bobbi Lee said with a laugh. “Momma still works for her and Momma gets the gossip from her and by the time she passes it on to me the facts are a bit screwy.”

“How is Miss Louise?” asked Lana.

“Past the age of retirement and with no plans to retire,” Bobbi Lee quipped. Her facial expression turned sober. “I know Mr. Aaron’s here having tests done on his heart. I’m not keeping you from him, am I?”

“No, we were just leaving after visiting him. He’s going to be just fine.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Bobbi Lee said enthusiastically. “I was heading home myself. Can I give you a lift? It’d give us a chance to catch up.”

“Oh, thanks, Bobbi Lee, but I’ve already got a ride home,” Lana said regrettably.

Ten who had been watching the man who had been watching Lana out of the corner of his eye saw his opportunity to tail him. “Don’t give it a second thought. Go with Bobbi Lee. I’ll call you later to see if you need anything. I’m staying at Miss Gladys’s place, so I won’t be far away.”

“Okay,” Lana reluctantly said. She still wasn’t a hundred percent trusting of Ten quite yet but he seemed nice enough. “Thanks for your help today.”

Ten murmured, “My pleasure,” as Lana and Bobbi Lee walked toward the exit. He then took out his cell phone and pretended to check his messages.

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