“It says she may be teething. Run your finger along her gums and see if you feel anything,” I said.
He took his finger and put it in Julia’s mouth. “Yep, I feel a lump right here,” he said.
When I walked over to him, he took my finger and placed it on Julia’s gums. “Aw, my poor baby,” I pouted as I kissed her head.
“I’ll go and get the baby Tylenol. That should help her feel better.”
Connor followed me into the kitchen, and I took the Tylenol from the cupboard. I gave Julia her dosage and we sat with her on the couch.
“I can take her, sweetheart. You have to get up for work in a couple of hours.”
“It’s okay. We can do this together.” He smiled as he leaned over and kissed me.
The Tylenol took effect and Julia finally fell asleep. Connor slowly got up from the couch, took her upstairs, and laid her down in her crib. I climbed under my warm sheets and closed my eyes. As I began to drift asleep, I felt little kisses all over my back. I opened my eyes and rolled over.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Connor climbed on top of me and whispered, “I’m going to make love to you and then you can go to sleep.”
“Is that so? What if I don’t want you to make love to me?”
“Ellery Rose Black! I better never hear those words come from your mouth.”
I couldn’t help but laugh when he said that. I held his face in my hands as he hovered over me. “Make love to me.”
“I changed my mind,” he said as he got off of me and rolled over.
“What?!” I exclaimed as I took my pillow and hit him with it.
“So, you want a pillow fight, do you?” He retaliated by taking his pillow and hitting me back.
I stood up on the bed with my pillow in hand and hit him with it again. He jumped out of bed and swung his pillow at me, but missed when I jumped to the other side. As I jumped off the bed, we stood and stared at each other from opposite sides, waiting for the other to make a move.
“You aren’t getting off that easy, baby,” Connor said.
“Bring it on, Black.” I smiled.
He stood there and shook his head. “You wait until I get a hold of you.”
It was now four o’clock in the morning, and I couldn’t believe we were having a pillow fight. Connor finally made his move and ran to the other side of the bed where I stood. I laughed as I tried to dash across the bed to the other side, but he grabbed my leg and I screamed. As I fell onto the bed, he positioned himself on top of me and covered my mouth with his hand.
“Shh...you’re going to wake the baby, and we can’t have her waking up quite yet.” He smiled.
Lying there, I stared into his eyes as he stared into mine and, with his hand still covering my mouth, he asked, “Do you want me to make love to you?”
I nodded my head, and he smiled as he took his other hand and placed it between my legs.
When the alarm went off, I heard Julia whining. We’d only slept about two hours. He turned and looked at me as I rolled over, and he kissed me on the head.
“Go back to sleep, sweetheart. I’ll take care of Julia before I head to the office. You need your rest after your workout last night.” He smiled.
I sighed, rolled over, and went back to sleep. I wasn’t going to argue with him because I was dead tired.
A couple of hours later, I woke up and headed to the kitchen for some coffee. Mason was already over and feeding Julia in her highchair.
“Good morning, Elle. Oh my, look at those bags under your eyes. Did Connor keep you up all night?”
I poured some coffee in my cup, kissed Julia on the head, and sat down across from Mason. “He did for about an hour, but it was Julia who was up all night screaming. She’s teething.”
“Yeah, I know. I hope you used the teething gel in the diaper bag,” he said.
“I didn’t know there was teething gel in the diaper bag! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I forgot, sorry. I figured you go in the diaper bag every day, so you would’ve seen it.”
Just as I was about to answer him, a text message came through on my phone from a restricted number.
“You are one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen and I can’t stop thinking about you. You haunt my dreams.”
Smiling, I showed the message to Mason. “I have the most romantic husband in the world.”
“That’s weird; why would he send it from a restricted number?” Mason asked.
“He likes to play games.” I smiled.
A shower was required before I headed over to the hospital to see Denny. I got up from the table and went upstairs. After I got dressed, I kissed Julia goodbye and took a cab to the hospital. Dana was the only one in the room and she smiled when she saw me.
“How’s he doing?” I asked as I walked over to the bed and touched his hand.
“Still the same, but Dr. Armstrong said that the swelling in his brain went down and that’s a good sign.”
No matter how many times I visited him, it didn’t get any easier. Dana said she was going to take a little break and meet her sister in the cafeteria for coffee. When she left the room, I sat in the chair, took a hold of his hand, and squeezed it tight.
“Denny, it’s me, Ellery. We all miss you so much and we need you to wake up. It’s so hard seeing you like this. I know you’re strong and you’re going to pull through this.”
Just as I was talking to him, my phone beeped with a text message. It was from the restricted number again.
“I hope you didn’t find my last text out of line. I just needed you to know that I find you exquisite and I couldn’t let another day go by without telling you.”
When I tried to send a reply, the message wouldn’t go through. I thought it was strange, but it was Connor, so I would play his game with him until tonight when he got home from work. After leaving the hospital, I had a few errands to run and then I met Peyton for lunch at our favorite restaurant. I walked over to the booth where she was sitting.
“You’re late,” she said.
“Just by five minutes and you’re always late. You were late for your own wedding.” I laughed.
She sighed. “I know. Don’t remind me.”
“So, tell me all about the fabulous honeymoon,” I said as I took a sip of water.
“It was amazing! I didn’t want to come home.” She pouted.
I reached in my purse for my phone when I heard it beeping. As I pulled it out, there was another text message from that same restricted number. Connor must be bored today or something, I thought.
“I hope you’re enjoying my text messages. A woman as stunning as you should be told every day, multiple times. To me, you’re a queen and you should be treated as such.”
I smiled and laughed at the same time as I shook my head.
“What’s so funny?” Peyton asked.
“It’s Connor and his game playing. Look at the text messages he’s been sending me since this morning,” I said as I handed Peyton my phone.
“He’s so romantic. Why the restricted number, though?”
“I don’t know. To keep it interesting, I guess.”
She smiled at me and then continued to tell me about her and Henry’s honeymoon. Once we finished lunch, we walked out of the restaurant and parted ways. When I arrived home, I was greeted at the elevator by Mason and Julia.
“Girl, wait until you see what’s in the kitchen for you.” He smiled.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I put my purse down and walked to the kitchen. I gasped when I saw three dozen pink roses sitting in separate vases on the counter.
“Looks like Connor has really outdone himself today,” Mason said.
I walked over and pulled the card from one of the vases. It read:
To the most beautiful woman in the world.
No one will ever come close to your beauty.
My heart melted when I read that, and I couldn’t wait until Connor came home. As I set t
he card down, I heard my phone beep. There was another text message from that same number.
“Beautiful flowers for a beautiful woman. I want you to think of me every time you look at them.”
A few hours had passed and Connor finally arrived home. As he stepped off the elevator, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight before he even had the chance to put his briefcase down.
“Wow, now I like that greeting.” He smiled as he kissed me. “I thought I was going to get yelled at for not calling you all day. You wouldn’t believe the shit going on at the office right now. I was in back-to-back meetings all day.”
I smiled at him and walked back to the kitchen to take the chicken out of the oven. Connor followed behind me.
“Where did those flowers come from?” he asked.
“From someone who thinks I’m the most beautiful and exquisite woman in the world.” I smiled as I set the chicken on the stove.
“Of course you are, baby, but who sent them?”
I turned around and looked at him. “A hot and sexy man sent them to me, along with those romantic texts all day.”
Suddenly, Connor got angry. “Ellery, I will ask you one last time: Who the fuck sent you those flowers and what texts are you talking about?!” he yelled.
I couldn’t believe how upset he was. This was his game and he had the nerve to yell at me.
“Jesus, Connor, calm down. You’re the one who sent them. Why are you yelling at me?”
As he looked at me, his eyes turned dark. “I didn’t send you those flowers or any text messages today. I told you I was in back-to-back meetings all day!” he yelled again. “Give me your phone!” he commanded.
He was scaring me and I didn’t like it. With shaking hands, I opened the text messages on my phone and handed it to him. As he read them, the look on his face was daunting. He looked at me and then back at the flowers. He picked up the card from the counter and read it.
“When did these flowers come?” he asked.
“I don’t know. They were delivered when I was out with Peyton.”
Connor pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed it. “Mason, it’s Connor. Were you here when the flowers for Ellery were delivered? I see. Thank you,” he said as he hung up.
“He said that when he and Julia got home from the park, they were outside the door.”
“Connor, I thought they were from you along with the text messages. Now you’re scaring me,” I said as my bottom lip started to quiver.
“Why the hell would I send you text messages from a restricted number?”
“I thought you were playing with me.”
He sighed as he paced around the kitchen, running his hands through his hair. “These aren’t from me!” he yelled.
I couldn’t stand there and be yelled at anymore. I didn’t know what was going on, so I took off up the stairs and went into my bedroom. After I locked the door, I threw myself on the bed, scared and shaking that someone, other than my husband, was saying those things to me and sending me my favorite flowers. While I was lying there, Connor knocked on the door.
“Ellery, open the door.”
“No! Stay the hell away from me.”
“Baby, please. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you like that. We need to talk about this, so please open the door.”
He sounded like he had calmed down, so I got up from the bed and unlocked the door. With a turn of the knob, he opened it as I sat on the edge of the bed. Connor walked in and sat on the bed next to me. He put his arm around me and pulled me into him as he held my head against his chest. I started to cry.
“I’m sorry. Please forgive me, Ellery. You just have no idea the terrible thoughts that are going through my head right now.”
“You fucking scared me, Connor.”
“I know I did. I’m sorry. It’s just the thought of someone saying that shit to you is unnerving, and I took it out on you, and I shouldn’t have. Please, baby, look at me.”
I lifted my head up and Connor wiped the tears from my eyes. He took my face in his hands and softly kissed my lips.
“We need to find out who’s doing this. I put a call into Detective James, the private investigator who worked with me on the Chicago fire. He’s coming over in a while and so is Paul.”
As I nodded my head, I got up from the bed and went into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and tried to remove the mascara stains from under my eyes. The day that was going so well and made me so happy had all just gone to hell. Connor stood in the doorway of the bathroom and looked at me.
“Are you okay, Elle?”
“Do I look okay, Connor? Some stranger is stalking me, sending me text messages and my favorite flowers, and my husband just got done screaming at me. So to answer your question, no, I’m not okay. I accept your apology, but I really just want you to leave me alone for a while so I can take in everything that just happened.”
Suddenly, we heard Julia cry from her crib. “I’ll tend to Julia and leave you alone,” Connor said with an attitude.
I sighed as I closed my eyes and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. I needed to talk to Peyton, but my phone was downstairs. The last time I saw Connor that angry was back in the hotel room in Michigan. The way he yelled and the look he had in his eye brought back all the memories I never wanted to remember again. Once I finished wiping the mascara from underneath my eyes, I put my hair up in a ponytail and changed into my yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I walked past the living room. Connor was giving Julia her bottle. As I walked into the kitchen, I grabbed my phone from the counter and noticed the roses were gone.
“Did you throw the roses away?” I asked Connor as I walked over to the bar.
“You bet I did,” he replied.
The bottle of Jack was already sitting out and so was a shot glass. As I poured myself a shot, I looked over at my husband. “Did you get this out?”
“Yes. I figured you’d be coming down for some,” he replied as he looked down at Julia.
“Thank you,” I said as I threw the shot back and set the glass down. “I’m scared,” I blurted out as I poured another shot.
Chapter 31
Connor
I looked over at Ellery and saw the fear in her eyes. I wanted to go to her, but I was feeding Julia. I never should’ve yelled at her the way I did. But when I read those messages and saw the flowers and the card, a fear crept up inside of me that someone was after my wife. Ellery continued to slam a couple of shots as I burped Julia. She had just finished her bottle, so I set her on the floor amongst her toys. Ellery stood behind the bar, and I walked over to her.
“Come here,” I said as I embraced her. “I know this whole thing is scary, but I promise you that I’ll never let anything happen to you or Julia. We’re going to find out who’s behind this and they’re going to pay. I’ll see to that.”
“Who would do something like this?” she asked.
“I don’t know, baby; some sick, twisted individual,” I said as I tightened my grip around her.
The doorman rang up and said that Detective James and Paul were downstairs. I told him to send them up right away.
“Mr. Black, it’s nice to see you again,” Detective James said as he shook my hand.
“I wish it was under better circumstances,” I sighed.
Paul walked over to Ellery and gave her a hug. “Are you okay, Elle?” he asked.
I escorted the detective to the living room and offered him a drink. Paul got up, walked over to the bar, and poured himself a glass of bourbon.
“Detective James, you remember my wife, Ellery.”
“Yes, I do. It’s nice to see you again.”
Ellery gave a small smile as she nodded her head. I sat down beside her and held her hand.
“Your husband has filled me in on what’s going on. Can I see the messages you received today?”
Ellery reached over, took her phone from the table, and handed it to him. As Detective James scrolled through
the messages, I got up, walked into the kitchen, and grabbed the card that came with the flowers.
“He sent her three dozen roses with this card attached,” I said as I handed it to him.
“Have you met anyone new recently?” he asked.
“I meet people every day, detective.”
“What about the showing at the art gallery?” Paul said as he looked at Ellery.
“I met and talked to a lot of people there.”
“Did you notice anyone as being odd or felt like something was off with someone?” Detective James asked.
“No. Not that I can remember,” Ellery replied.
“I’m going to take a screenshot of these messages. You didn’t change your number already, did you?”
“No, I was going to do that first thing tomorrow morning,” I said.
“Well, don’t. We need to see how far this person will go. It could just be a couple of messages and then he’s done with it. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything unless he threatens her in some way.”
Julia started getting fussy, so Ellery picked her up. She said she was taking her upstairs to change her diaper. As soon as she was out of earshot, I looked at Detective James and said sternly, “I will use every resource I have to find out who’s doing this. I will not stand by and wait until he harms Ellery or Julia. I don’t give a shit about the law and I’ll warn you now, if I catch him first, I’ll kill him.”
“Connor, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Detective James said. “My men and I will be on this. After all, you’re paying us very well,” he said as he got up from the chair. “I’ll start first thing in the morning, and I’ll try to find out where those flowers came from.”
“Thank you, Detective James,” I said as I shook his hand.
“No problem, Connor. We’ll find this son of a bitch. Try not to worry.”
As I shut the door, Ellery walked into the room with Julia. “Did Detective James leave?” she asked.
“Yes, baby, he did,” I replied as I walked over to her and gave her a kiss and took Julia.
“What do you want me to do, Connor?” Paul asked.