The Ideal Man (Buchanan-Renard #9)

The Ideal Man (Buchanan-Renard #9) Page 23

“You sound like my mother.”

“Just do it, sweetheart. Play nice.”

Her father rushed past them and opened the front door.

Annie spotted Ellie. “I didn’t think you would make it,” she cried out. “I’m so happy you’re here.”

The sisters were talking a mile a minute as they hugged each other. Though they were speaking at the same time, they still seemed to understand what the other was saying.

Ava stood behind Annie, waiting. She clutched a notebook in her arms, and Max noticed she acted irritated that she was having to wait for Ellie’s attention. When it was her turn, she gave Ellie an air kiss on her cheek.

“I’m glad you decided to behave like an adult and come home for the wedding,” Ava said. She lowered her voice. “And, by the way, you are in the wedding.”

“No, I’m not,” Ellie replied.

She plastered a smile on her face and introduced Max to her sisters. She didn’t say anything negative about Ava, though there were a few choice words she would have liked to use. Then she introduced John.

He had been standing in the door with his head down. When she said his name, he looked up, but he didn’t look at Ellie. His face was red, and his eyes darted back and forth as though they were afraid to meet hers. He nervously stepped forward and shook Max’s hand, and the room fell silent. Finally, he glanced up at Ellie and said, “Congratulations.”

“Congratulations for what?” she asked.

“The Chapman Award.”

“The hospital won the Chapman?”

“No, you did.”

She shook her head. “You must be mistaken, John. I would know if I’d won it.”

“Oh, Dr. Westfield probably wants to tell you himself,” he said. His embarrassment turned his complexion an even deeper shade of red. “I guess I ruined his surprise.”

“How did you find out about this?” she asked, still believing he’d made a mistake.

“I was talking to Westfield’s assistant about some papers I still hadn’t received for the hospital here, and she mentioned the news to me. Everyone at St. Vincent’s is so excited. It’s such a huge honor, and it means they’ll get additional grant money and other funding. You should be hearing from Westfield anytime now. You’re going back there, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she answered. “I’m not signing a contract, though. I promised Westfield I’d help out for a little while when they need me.”

“You did win it, Ellie,” he assured her.

Now that the initial awkward moments were out of the way, Ava had lost interest in the conversation and had gone into the kitchen to talk to her mother.

“What’s a Chapman?” Annie asked.

John answered. “It’s a prestigious award given for outstanding achievement in the field of medicine. This year it was awarded to Ellie and, therefore, to her department, too. It’s a coveted prize,” John stressed, “because it’s so rarely given. The last Chapman Award was presented eleven years ago to a senior resident and his department in Memphis.”

“Will there be a presentation?” Annie asked. “And will Ellie get a medal or something?”

John smiled at Annie, glad to have somewhere else to direct his attention. “She’ll get a little more than a medal. The award comes with a large cash prize. Half goes to the department and half to Ellie. She won’t even have to pay taxes. That’s included in the award.”

“That would certainly help with your loans, wouldn’t it?” Annie said.

Ellie was still incredulous. “If I had won it, Dr. Westfield surely would have called me by now.”

Her father kissed Ellie’s forehead. “Even if you didn’t win it, you know your mother and I are very proud of you, don’t you? We may not be able to brag about you to the relatives and our friends the way we’d like, but you know how we feel.”

“Yes, Daddy, I do.”

“My chicken’s going to be all dried up if we don’t eat soon,” her mother called. “John, would you mind taking Annie’s suitcase upstairs to the lavender room? Annie, fill the water glasses please.”

Max’s cell phone rang. Ben was calling. He excused himself and headed to the office again for privacy. He was crossing the hallway when he heard Ava ask Ellie whether she had brought a long black dress to wear in the wedding, or whether she needed to buy one. Without breaking stride, Max turned around, grabbed Ellie’s hand, and pulled her with him into the office.

Since he was on the phone, Ellie waited to explode, but it took work. She wanted to grab Ava by the shoulders and shake some of the smug attitude out of her. Annie passed by the door saying she was going upstairs to get something out of her suitcase, and a minute later Ellie heard her laughing. She knew why. Annie had seen the color on the walls of her room. For some reason her sister’s laughter took the edge off Ellie’s anger. She had promised her mother she would try to get along with Ava, and by all that was holy, that was exactly what she was going to do. She would not allow her sister to provoke her.

While sitting on the window seat waiting for Max to finish his call, she got a text from Addison MacBride asking about prenatal vitamins and water retention. It took four texts for Ellie to answer all her questions, and then Addison asked if Ellie would consider coming to Honolulu for a visit. She responded that she would love to visit, but she couldn’t commit to a date because her schedule was so screwy at the moment.

That was an understatement. She didn’t know what she would be doing the next two months or even the next two weeks. Her future was dependent upon the FBI apprehending the man who was hired to kill her. That is, if there was only one. Had the Landrys hired more than one hit man? And how exactly did one know where to go to hire a killer? You certainly couldn’t place ads in the newspapers. Those were becoming antiquated anyway. The Internet, she decided. You could get anything on the Internet if you knew where to look. Maybe the Landrys Googled it, she considered. Perhaps they typed “Need hit man” and then clicked the search button.

Okay, her mind was wandering and her thoughts had become loopy. Max had walked to the other side of the office and was listening intently to what Ben was telling him. Ellie didn’t particularly want to leave him to join the others, but she was about to get up and go into the kitchen to help when her cell phone rang.

Dr. Westfield was calling, announcing to her that she had, indeed, won the Chapman Award. She was shocked and humbled. She thanked him profusely, then she listened as he raved about what the award would mean to his department. She had never heard Westfield jubilant before and doubted that she ever would again.

Ellie decided to wait to tell the family. Tonight was all about Ava and the wedding, but she did want to tell Max right away.

After he finished his call, he turned to her. She saw the grim look on his face and forgot all about her happy news.

“What happened?”

“Someone got to Greg Roper.”

“What do you mean, got to him? Did he get hurt?”

He shook his head. “We don’t know, he’s missing.”

Ellie’s mother appeared in the doorway. “Dinner’s on the table.”

“We’ll talk about this later,” he said.

Dinner was a trial of endurance for Ellie. Her parents tried to keep the conversation light, but there was an undercurrent of tension waiting to erupt. After two glasses of wine, Ava was no longer even pretending to be interested in anything anyone else had to say. She wanted to talk about the wedding and all the work she had done to make it perfect. No one was going to ruin it, she declared more than once, and Ellie couldn’t help but notice she stared at her each time she said it.

Ava made another snide remark, this time about Ellie’s outfit, and that did it.

“John, you’re right,” Ellie said. “I just heard from Dr. Westfield. I did win the Chapman.”

“I told you so,” John said, beaming. “I really wasn’t surprised when I heard. I always knew you were the best surgeon in the hospital. The residents were amazed at your skill. You should have heard them talking about you in the lounge. Westfield called you brilliant. Did you know that?”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”

“And getting him to say anything positive about any of his surgeons would take a miracle. You were always special, Ellie.”

Ava didn’t utter a word, but the evil eye she gave John said it all. She was seething inside.

“Congratulations,” Annie said. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Honey, that’s wonderful news,” her father said.

“Yes, wonderful,” her mother agreed.

“Does everything always have to be about you?” Ava demanded.

Ellie burst into laughter. “Oh, Ava, you just never change, do you?”

Ava’s chin came up. “I’m taking that as a compliment,” she said. “And by the way, you are going to be in my wedding.”

“Are you asking?”

“No, I’m telling you.”

Max was fascinated by the conversation among the sisters. He’d lived with brothers most of his life, and he now realized how unbelievably different sisters were. In his family, any major argument was settled with a couple of good punches, unless their parents were around, and then the problem was resolved and they moved on. There were no hard feelings. His brothers didn’t hold grudges, but Ellie’s sister Ava certainly did.

“My being in your wedding isn’t going to stop any rumors, Ava,” Ellie protested.

Annie nodded. “She’s right, Ava. This wedding is making you a little paranoid.”

Their father offered everyone at the table a glass of wine, but Ellie declined. After Ava’s third or fourth argument on the subject of the wedding, Ellie excused herself from the table, went to the kitchen, and carried back a gallon of milk and a glass. She plopped both down in front of her plate.

“Put the milk in a pitcher,” Ava instructed. “We aren’t hillbillies.”

Ellie ignored her, poured herself a glass, and took a sip.

“I don’t think I want to listen to this,” their father said. “Come on, Claire. You, too, Max and John. We’ll let the girls hammer out their differences.”

Her mother gave Ellie a slight shake of the head and a warning look before she left to sit on the porch with the others. Ellie wouldn’t have been surprised if she had used two fingers to point to her eyes and then point to Ellie’s to let her know she would be watching her.

As soon as the sisters were alone, Annie turned to Ellie. “Why didn’t you tell me about Max? He’s hot,” she whispered. “Isn’t he? A man with a gun and a badge. There’s something sexy about it, don’t you think?”

“He wears a gun and carries a badge because he works for the FBI, and he’s also a friend, so I invited him to come along.”

“Bet he didn’t know what he was getting into,” Annie said with a quick nod toward her twin.

“He’s too tough looking for my liking,” Ava said with a shrug. “John’s so much more polished.”

“Is he just a friend?” Annie asked.

“Yes, and, Ava, I’m not going to be in your wedding.”

“Yes, you are. It’s the only way.”

“Please, let’s not argue,” Annie begged.

“Annie, are you feeling okay? You’re so pale,” Ellie asked.

“I’m tired,” Annie said. “I’ve been up since five this morning, and I didn’t get to bed until late.”

Ellie turned back to Ava. “What do you mean, it’s the only way?” “Yes, the only way to what?” Annie asked.

Ava explained, “Being in the wedding is the only way to put those vicious rumors to rest.”

“What vicious rumors?” Ellie asked. She poured another half glass of milk and took a sip. Being close to Ava was going to give her an ulcer. Fortunately, she wouldn’t have to put up with her for long.

“You know.”

“No, I don’t know. Explain the vicious rumors.”

Ava straightened in her chair and glared at Ellie. “Fine. People are saying I broke up your engagement.”

“I don’t understand how people in town would know that,” Annie said. “Who would have told them?”

“No one had to tell them,” Ava said. “Mom had spread the word about John before Ellie ever brought him home. All of her friends knew she was bringing him to meet the family. They had to wonder why he was suddenly marrying me and not her.”

“But that’s not so awful,” Annie protested. “That wouldn’t necessarily ruin your reputation.”

Ava scoffed. “That’s not all. Someone, and I don’t know who it was but I’m guessing it was Mom’s best friend, Mrs. Grimes-you know Mom had to confide in someone-anyway, someone spread the rumor that John and I were found in a… compromising position the day after Ellie brought him home.”

“Didn’t that happen?” Annie asked. “I wasn’t here, but Mom said-”

“Whose side are you on?” Ava demanded.

“I’m not on anyone’s side. I’m simply asking if it really happened. Did it, or didn’t it?”

“That isn’t relevant,” Ava snapped.

“I guess I’ll have to ask John,” Annie said.

“You keep him out of this. Yes, okay, I did have sex with John while he was engaged to Ellie, but I don’t think anyone needs to know about it.”

“So it’s the truth, not a rumor. You do know the difference,” Annie said.

“Look at you,” Ava said. “Just finished law school, and you think you’re a prosecutor. Quit interrogating me.” Her voice reeked of sarcasm.

“I’m simply asking you how you can call the truth a rumor,” Annie persisted.

“Because I want to.” Ava raised her voice to a shout. “I am determined to quell these vicious rumors because I have to live in this town, and I don’t want people talking about me behind my back, saying terrible things about my character.”

Annie looked at Ellie and rolled her eyes. “Ava, are you sorry for what you did to Ellie?”

“No, of course not. Why should I be sorry? It was meant to be. John loves me, and I love him.” She pushed away from the table and stood. “I’m going to check the backyard again before John and I leave. I probably won’t get back here until the garden party, but if I need anything, I’ll call you.”