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Chapter Thirty-Five
Elizabeth spent a couple hours preparing for the client meetings she had scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. If she hadn’t been so consumed by wondering what Joe and the kids were doing next door, and wanting to be with them, she would have probably finished her work sooner.
She pulled the wedding detail list from her briefcase and double-checked to make sure every task had been completed. Staring at the list, her vision blurred. An image of Joe, wearing a tuxedo, waiting for her on the steps of an altar, flashed through her mind. The image was so clear—Max and Molly stood at his side, and Nick and Sam stood behind him. Holly and Jody paraded up the aisle in front of her. Joe’s intense, dark gaze held hers, boring into her soul. This man she’d met only months ago already knew everything about her. The thought both scared her and pleased her. She shivered.
The list came back into focus, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was on task.
She tidied up the house a bit before setting the table for dinner. At 5:00 p.m. she popped the chicken into the oven and began preparing the rice and asparagus. She’d just finished getting dinner set when a knock sounded on her front door. Excellent, they’re on time. She loved when everything went according to schedule
Without hesitation she opened the door to find an elegant, well kept, older woman standing on her front porch.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m looking for Elizabeth Shaw?” the woman replied.
She stared at the woman for a moment before she realized she’d seen her face before. It was in a photo in Patrick’s office. Oh my gosh! Patrick’s mother, Felicia James, stood at her doorstep.
Adrenaline surged through her body, and without response, she moved to shut the door, but the woman quickly stuck her foot in the way.
“Ms. Shaw, it appears we have some business to discuss,” Felicia said as she pushed open the door, and entered the house.
“What business would that be?” Elizabeth questioned, forcing herself to remain calm.
“Don’t play with me, missy! You know damn well why I’m here,” the unpleasant woman growled as she shifted her gaze from Elizabeth’s eyes to her stomach.
The intensity of Felicia’s glacier-blue-eyed gaze nearly burned a hole through her. Who does this woman think she is? I’m done being bullied by these rich, callous people.
Deciding to toy with the woman a bit, she choked down the lump of fear in her throat. “I don’t know what you are talking about. Why don’t you come into the living room, and sit down and tell me what’s going on.”
Felicia nodded and took a seat on the large brown leather chair and Elizabeth took a seat on the couch.
The woman sat silent for a moment with her hands clutched around her Prada Pebble Calf Shoulder Tote. She cleared her throat. “How much...how much will it take to make you go away?” she asked, getting straight to the point.
Elizabeth pondered the question the woman just posed to her. Hmm, I wonder how much money my disappearance is worth to her.
“Excuse me, but why would I go away?”
The angry woman’s pale cheeks turned fire engine red. “Don’t play with me, missy. You don’t know who you’re dealing with. I can make things very difficult for you if we don’t come to some sort of resolution here and now.”
Her pulse hammered. She knew by the belligerent look on Felicia’s face, and her harsh tone, that she meant business, and was going to let nothing stand in the way of Patrick’s sole inheritance of the Palmer James Empire. But what she didn’t understand was the woman’s interest in Joe. She could understand why the spiteful woman would want to eliminate her from the equation, but why him? On the flipside, what Felicia didn’t seem to realize was that she had taken all she was going to take from these people, and she was done being pushed around.
