Page 102 of Purchase Power
Noah didn’t go out of his way to talk to Lucy, who took to his home like a wayward ghost looking for a friend. Of course, since it was Lucy, she found a friend behind any door she opened.Stacey really likes her…Noah would often take a walk through a house on his breaks, stopping outside of his sister’s door or in the den downstairs to see the gals playing video games or having lunch like it was a fanciful affair at the Met Gala. Lucy was patient to a fault. While she didn’t handle Noah’s sister with kids’ gloves, there was an underlying respect that he appreciated whenever she smiled at Stacey or asked her to read a story while the rest of them dozed on the couches in the den.
He hasn’t seen the other side of her yet.Stacey was enjoying all of the attention, of course, but it didn’t take much to set her off. And with life the way it was right now, things would eventually come to a head when she no longer had access to the rest of the staff and the therapists she considered her personal friends. Stacey would want to eventually go to a park or one of her favorite shops in the city. Noah wasn’t looking forward to telling her no.
Nor was he looking forward to Lucy witnessing one of his sister’s outbursts,
Perhaps he was waiting for the inevitable before approaching Lucy again. Not that it was easy. He was more resolved in his love for her, and he proved that every time they had dinner with everyone else or their paths crossed in the hallway. Surely, he wasn’t the only one who noticed the sparking electricity or the sharp breaths they both drew when they were about to brush against one another. Every time Lucy prepared to speak or squared her shoulders in the middle of the room, Noah was taken back to the night they first met.
He also thought of the last night they made real love.In my room. That’s where I need her to be.
The more he was around her, the more he became convinced that Lucy was the woman meant to become the next Mrs. Gabriel. Marriage wasn’t a selfish motive, however. It was more like this house needed a woman of the family who could make decisions without him, both for the sake of the staff and even on Stacey’s behalf.
Someone to take to functions who was actually inhisemotional corner.
Someone to hold in the middle of the night, when his own nightmares awakened him from the pit of despair.
Someone to look his mother in the eyes and make her see everything she allowed to go on in this house.
Someone who had not been traumatized by the goings-on of this house.
Lucy Craig, whether you know it or not, you will soon be my wife.He thought that while watching her from his office window. She was on a walk with Lacey, Stacey, and Candace, the four of them birdwatching from a single list on someone’s phone. Every time Stacey jumped up in glee, she scared the bird in question away. Having so many people on a walk with her kept her distracted from such disappointment, however.Soon you will be Lucy Gabriel, and I will be the most content man on Earth.
No. Not content.Happy.
He would be thehappiestman on Earth.
Noah had to time it right, however. It had to be organic. He had to be sure that the feelings between them were true, and that he wasn’t reading something into Lucy’s countenance that wasn’t really there. Their relationship had been strained for a reason. Falling into bed together again wasn’t going to cut it. Noah had to do it right. Lucy would know how much he loved her, the first woman he had ever truly loved.
Of course, it was difficult to have a grand gesture while a pandemic raged beyond their walls. Already a member of the day staff that he had sent home became sick with the virus. Thanks to how long it incubated, this meant everyone staying in the house had to be tested for Candace and Stacey’s sakes. Noah found the whole thing quite vexing, and swore he had never felt his brain so rattled as when someone shoved a giant swab up both of his nostrils.
“It’s all right, honey.” Lucy sat with Stacey as she waited to be tested. “It will be over very quickly. It only hurts a little bit. You’ll be…”
“No!” Stacey shied away from the man in the head-to-toe coverings who had so graciously made a house call to collect their samples. “I don’t wanna! You can’t make me!”
“You’ll be fine.” Lucy played with fire as she put a gentle hand on Stacey’s shoulder. Even Noah wouldn’t brave that when his sister was having a spell. Lucy? Who had barely known Stacey for a little over a week? She was lucky her arm wasn’t ripped off and flung down the hall. “I promise, Stacey. It’s a pinch in your nose.”
Could anyone have prepared Lucy for Stacey’s ability to go from 0 to 60 the moment she was reminded of danger? Stacey had such an innate fight or flight response now that Noah could bet which one would manifest the moment his sister was sent into a panic. He hoped for flight right now. He had a sinking feeling it would be the opposite of that.
“No!” Stacey launched from the doctor and the woman attempting to hold her back. Noah had to step in now. Either his presence would calm his sister, or he would at least be available to intervene should she attack. “No, no, no, no! Stop! Don’t make me! I don’t want to!”
“Stace.” Noah attempted his wholesome big brother act by extending a hand to his sister. Candace stood to the side. Lucy took a giant step back, hand on her heart and eyes so wide that she took in every movement before her. Lacey was the only one not present, having been the first to be tested and the first to rush to the bathroom to blow her nose afterward. “It’s all right. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. You know that. There’s no touching that…”
“No!” Stacey shoved past him and took off down the hallway. “Please! Please don’t make me, Noah!”
Those words stabbed him right in the heart.“Please don’t make me, Noah!”had echoed in these hallways when they were small children, and Ronald asked his stepson to go fetch his sister for “a talk.” Back then, Noah hadn’t quite grasped what was happening within his family.I only saw her as a little brat who wouldn’t listen. Now I know she was legitimately afraid of him.He understood what was happening now, too. The unfamiliar man in an impersonal suit wanted to bring great discomfort to a part of Stacey’s body. The language everyone used was similar to what she had heard as a child, from the man who was supposed to protect her from evil – not bring it down upon her.
Noah had his work cut out for him.
“It’s really imperative we get a sample from her as well,” the doctor said. “Since she’s in a vulnerable group, we need to rule out for sure that she doesn’t have it. No conjectures based on the other test results.”
“Yes, and Heaven forbid that one of us test positive but we don’t know about her,” Noah agreed. “Don’t worry. It might take a few minutes, but I think we can get her to calm down long enough.” Noah didn’t often ask his sister to do such uncomfortable things, but he also knew that sometimes he had to cash in his chips. If he promised this was the worst of it for a few more months, he could buy some good will from his sister. Maybe. If he played his cards right and said the right words, whatever those would be right now.
“Do you need help?” Lucy asked.
“No. Stay here.” Noah followed his sister’s trail, one hasty step at a time. Finding her wouldn’t be easy. She hadn’t gone in the direction of her room. Instead, she had run off in the opposite direction. Right for the room where some of her worst nightmares had come true.
“Stacey? Noah pushed open the door to the guest suite. There, amidst the Craig sisters’ discarded clothing and a few items they kept in the living area, was Stacey, huddled on the couch where Noah had done unspeakable things with the woman he loved.
Only to Stacey, this room meant none of that. She had come here either because she saw it as a remodeled safe space where some of her favorite people lived… or as punishment to herself. From the way she wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked back and forth like they were playing chess, Noah had a bad feeling.
