A Getaway by LynnE

Chapter 26

Meg could barely find the strength to hang up the gown and crinolines. She stared at it in the closet and thought of other times she'd been reduced to standing forlornly at a closet door, wondering about her future. There was the time back in Ludlow, when she'd found the dress she was going to wear to marry Tim. Meg shuddered at the thought. She thought of the gown and veil she'd worn to marry Ben, and those pearls. Thank God she'd left them back in Sunset Beach.

She played with the rings he'd given her. At the casita, she'd promised never to take them off again, but now? They were still officially engaged, but Meg knew that they'd never have their life together, not with things as they were. Still, she couldn't quite force herself to take them off, not yet.

Too tired for sleep, too restless to even lay down, Meg put a robe over her slip and opened the doors of the bedroom's little balcony, which overlooked the garden. She took the chair from in front of the vanity and sat in the half open doorway, staring out into the darkness, seeing nothing.

Ben found his luggage in his room. He'd been on Bermuda all of eight hours, but it seemed like an eternity had passed. He was exhausted, but he couldn't seem to rest. He unpacked his things and took a shower. Ben made it as hot as he could stand, scrubbing as hard as he could to wash away the taint of the day's fiasco. He tried to think of a way to persuade Meg that they could work things out. But nothing came to him.

Wrapped in the robe, Ben lay on the bed and tried to get some sleep. It wouldn't come to him. He stared into the dark for a while, then rose and dressed again. Maybe he could walk himself so tired he'd have to sleep.

It was two-thirty in the morning. There was no one at the desk. Ben let himself out the front door as quietly as he could, and walked around the main house to the garden. The moon had risen, and as he headed for the garden steps, he saw a longtail fly across its face. As he followed the bird's flight, his eye was caught by a seated figure at an open balcony window.

Meg! He had to see her, to try to talk to her. Impulsively, he scrambled for the ivy trellis at the side of the house. It reached most of the way up to her window. Ben climbed it gingerly. It was shaky, but it held. He perched perilously on the top rung, and made a do-or-die leap for the stone balcony. He made it.

Meg stifled a shriek as Ben appeared from out of nowhere, clinging to the outside of the balcony. "Ben, are you crazy?" She hauled him over the edge to safety.

"Only about you, Meg." He paused, gasping for breath. "I'm getting too old for this kind of thing, but when I saw you at the window, I had to do it. I didn't think you'd let me in if I knocked on the door."

Meg put her head in her hands, briefly. She looked up, "You're probably right about that," she answered tonelessly.

He took her hands in his. "This can't be the end for us. There has to be a way to make this right, there has to. I can't believe that God or Fate or whatever runs this universe could put us through everything that's happened and not let us be together. It's impossible, I won't agree to anything but having you at the center of my life. If I don't have you, there's no point to living. No point at all."

Meg wiped her eyes, smearing her carefully-engineered makeup. Ben thought she'd never looked more woebegone, or more beautiful. "Ben, please," she murmured, her voice breaking. He took her by the shoulders, and drew her close. She tried to pull back, but he held her fast.

"Meg, darling," he whispered, kissing her softly. Her resistance collapsed, and she returned his kiss, hungrily. She thought, this will be the last time.

Chapter 27

Meg gave herself to him, passionately, anxiously, all night. It was feverish, terrible, wonderful; she tried to drown herself in Ben's love, obliterating all thought of the future she'd face with the coming of dawn. His hands, his lips were everywhere, caressing, exciting, calming, giving to her, completing her.

Finally, they slept, locked together, as if the other would disappear if one of them let go.

Morning came, inevitably, against her wishes. Its brightness seemed to mock the gloom that had settled over her heart. The sun was high when Ben finally stirred. "Hello, my darling," he whispered.

She tried to smile at him, but couldn't. "Hey, hey," he admonished, "don't be so sad, we WILL think of something. I know we will."

He smiled, trying to encourage her. "Look, Meg, today is Sunday, let's have a holiday, just for today, eh? We can go exploring around the island. Unless," he kissed her shoulder, and began to caress her, "you'd like to stay here and explore?"

She pushed his hand away. "Don't you have to call home?" she asked bitterly. "I'm sure your family misses you."

"You're my family," he protested. They were back on the same merry-go-round already.

"Didn't you hear anything last night? This isn't going to work, Ben! I have to work and you have to go home to your son. God! I'd give anything if Benjy were somebody else's child!"

Ben was offended. "Well there's nobody else's he could be, according to Tyus' test."

He stopped, thunderstruck.

That wasn't true.

Chapter 28

Meg fumbled for her robe. Ben reached for her.

"Wait, Meg!"

"Wait for what? You said it yourself, he has to be your son, and Maria is his mother, and your wife, by the way, and I'm just somebody you like to sleep with. Hopkins was right."

"Hopkins was wrong! Now come here and listen!" He grabbed her and made her sit down on the bed. "Don't you see? I'm not the only one who could be Benjy's father!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ben. No two people have the same DNA."

"That's just it, Meg. There's one instance where two people do. Twins, Meg. Identical twins!"

Meg goggled at the idea. "You and Derek! But didn't he say he never slept with Maria, when we were at the cabin?"

"Derek was a liar, Meg, it was the one thing he was good at." They sat, working through the idea, turning it over in their minds. It was stunning, breathtaking.

Meg spoke first, slowly, dealing with another new idea as it formed. "There's something else, Ben. We don't know for a fact that Maria is Benjy's mother. Maybe the reason she doesn't remember is because it didn't happen. I know there's no way I could forget having a baby, no matter what. Benjy could belong to Derek and Tess, for all we know, or to another woman altogether.

"There must be some test that could be done to see if Maria is Benjy's mother," she went on. "When Maria was hospitalized after the accident at Dana Point, she must have had a complete physical, maybe before they sent her on to Cedar Oaks. Ben, a pelvic exam would have told if she'd ever given birth, I'm sure of it!"

"We'll have to get hold of those records, Meg." Ben was suddenly full of energy. He clambered out of bed and paced the room, too busy working things out in his head to realize he hadn't a stitch of clothing on.
Meg stifled a laugh and threw his clothes at him. "Ben, go to your room and put something else on. I'll order us some breakfast."

Ben grinned and hastily put on his trousers. Gathering up the rest, he tiptoed across the landing to his room in an exaggerated sneak. Meg watched, thinking, you dog, I love you. And if any of this is true and we can prove it, maybe I'll have a right to.

Chapter 29

They spent the next two hours in an unavailing search for more information. Finally, they gave up. Ben tossed his pad and pen onto the table, rattling the coffee cups.

"Meg, its no go today. The records offices are all closed. My lawyer's gone off somewhere. This will just have to wait until tomorrow." She sighed in agreement.

He clapped his hands. "Come on, let's take the afternoon off. How about a picnic on the beach?"

Meg shrugged, "I guess so."

"That's my girl. Get your things together and I'll pick you up in half an hour." He opened the door, then turned back. "I'm not forgetting about this, Meg. It's just there's nothing more for us to do right now. Tomorrow we'll find the truth. For today, all I want is some quiet time with the woman I love. That's you, by the way."

He shut the door behind him.


Half an hour later, Meg answered Ben's knock. She wore a white gauze dress and strappy sandals, and carried a big hat. Under her dress, she wore a white maillot.

"At least I'm finally getting to use some of this sunscreen. Where are we going, Ben?"

"Well, I did some checking and there's a nice pink beach a mile or so down the coast, towards Padgett. It's private, and I've arranged with the owners to keep it that way."

"How's that?"

"It seems a Mr. and Mrs. Laurence own that section of beach and charge a set amount per person to use it on a given day. There's an occupancy limit, and I've paid the entire amount for the whole day. The beach is ours, Meg."

"Ah, I see. And how do we get there? Mr. Barnhart is off today."

"Not to worry," he made an expansive gesture. "We travel tourist-style, by motorbike."

He led her down the stairs to the desk, where a stack of extra towels and a picnic basket were waiting. Mrs. Wynters eyed him with mistrust. Meg didn't notice; she was busy checking the contents of the basket.

"Ben, we have no napkins. I'll just get them." She darted off.

Ben turned to Mrs. Wynters. "I'm not the enemy, you know."

She stiffened. He covered her hand with his. "This is all very difficult and complicated, and I can't go into it now, but please trust me on one thing." He looked in the direction where Meg had gone, "I love her. More than anything or anyone in this world."

* * * * * * *

Tom Williams was slow getting up after a restless night. When he finally staggered to the kitchen, he was met with a withering glare from his mother. She was just taking off her gloves.

"Church was lovely, thank you, Thomas."

Thomas. He was in big trouble.

"Just exactly how late did you get in?" she asked frostily.

"Not that late, Mom. Maybe 1 in the morning. I just had trouble getting to sleep. Something happened at the party."

"Yes, I heard. It was all over church this morning. You can't imagine how exciting it is to have your son a topic of conversation; total strangers speculating about his sex life."

Tom grinned into his coffee. "Did they go into detail? I'm sorry I missed it. How lucky did I get?"

Alice Williams chuckled in spite of herself. "Tommy, it's not funny. Not really. That poor girl, what horrible things that man said about her. I'm glad you hit him."
"That's not very Christian of you, is it?"

"My old granny used to say that sometimes turning the other cheek meant getting your head knocked off. Anyway, public opinion is with you and Meg; Mr. Hopkins, it seems, was well liked by nobody. I just wish…" she stopped. "Never mind."

"Just wish what? Go ahead, Mom, say what's on your mind."

She hesitated. "I just wish all this fuss didn't make it impossible for us to be close to Meg any more."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He felt his temper rising.

Alice sat heavily at the table. She suddenly felt old. She knew her son would hate it, but she had to say it. "Honey, sit down."

"I'll stand, thanks. Go ahead." He folded his arms and waited.

"You have three young daughters, son. How would it look if they spent time with a woman who is steeped in scandal, however innocently she got there? Maybe you should quit the project."

Tom stared at her. "I don't believe it. Thirty-five years ago, when you were just a kid, before you and Dad were even married, you had the guts to stand up to cops with truncheons and water cannons and dogs, for the sake of folks you didn't even know. So they could vote and do as the rest of the town did. You got tossed out of the garden club and shunned in church. People you'd grown up with crossed the street to get away from you. But you did it, because it was right.

"Now you're saying that you want me to cave in because of gossip? This is incredible! Meg Cummings has been a good friend to us. She gave our company a chance, she gave ME a chance, and 'Lando, too! And now you want us to turn our backs on her?"

"Tommy, if it was just you and me, it would be different. But we have to be concerned about the girls."

"How does Meg Cummings' relationship with some guy in California affect the girls?" He turned for a moment to watch them, playing in the backyard with the neighbor's cat.

"It's just that rumors and scandal can damage our reputation."

"You mean guilt by association?" His face set like stone. Tom Williams addressed his mother as if she were a stranger. Maybe she was; it sure didn't feel like he knew her.

"You don't like my friends? Feel free to leave at any time. The girls and I will manage just fine."

Tom rinsed the cup in the sink and set it on the drainboard. Without another word, he stalked back to his room to dress.

"Oh, honey," his mother murmured, "I was afraid of this."

Chapter 30

"Hey, who's for the beach?" Tom called. The ensuing scramble for bathing suits and swim toys lightened his heart. Gillian and Maggie helped Lissa get ready. Tom packed up a cooler, checked everybody for sunscreen and beach gear, and ushered the girls to the rental car. Alice hung back, unsure.

"You coming?" he asked, when the kids were out of earshot.

"I wasn't sure you wanted me to."

"Sure, I do, Mom. Especially since I'll need you to explain."

"Explain? About what?"

"About why you just told me a big fat lie, and what you're really trying to say. You never once in all the time I've known you gave a damn for anybody else's opinion, and you taught me to feel the same. I can't see you changing your tune now because of the girls." He hoisted the cooler and strode to the car.

* * * * * * *

Meg hung on for dear life, to Ben and her hat, as they took the curve at speed.

"Ben!" she hollered. "Maybe you should slow down?"

He eased up on the throttle. "Sorry, I just got a little excited."

She caught her breath as they slowed to a gentler pace. "Whew, that's better." Meg relaxed her hold on Ben's waist.

"If you let go, I'll speed up again," he warned. Sensing her puzzlement, he explained "I like it when you hold me."

It was good to be lighthearted for a change. Meg savored a feeling she'd almost forgotten. She was still chuckling as they pulled up to their private beach.

Ben tapped on the Laurences' door, and handed in a check to their housekeeper. They left the motorbike and strolled down to the pristine sands of the private beach. Meg exclaimed at the beauty of the pink sand and the aquamarine water. It was some forty yards to the water from the grove of palms where they spread their blanket.

Meg squirmed out of her dress and kicked off her sandals. She raced for the water. It was cool and so clear she could see to the sandy bottom. She swam a few strokes and popped up, "Ben, Ben! Come on! The water is wonderful!"

He stripped off his pants, shirt and shoes, and strolled down from the blanket, in no hurry at all. Finally, he dived in, and disappeared.

"Ben?" She couldn't see him anywhere. Meg treaded and searched the water from shore to horizon. "Ben!" She was seized and dragged under.

Meg opened her eyes under water; there he was, grinning like a kid. She kicked him as hard as she could and made for the surface.

"What was that for?" He rubbed his injured leg.

"For being an idiot! You scared me, Ben. I thought something had happened to you." Meg was too shaken to appreciate his games.

"I'm sorry." He swam over and took her into his arms. She put her arms over his shoulders and rested against him as they bobbed in the water. He could feel the tension in her body. Ben kissed her softly.

"I didn't realize, Meg. It's been very hard for you lately, hasn't it?" She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Ben stroked her hair.

He kicked gently until they were in shallow water, then rose and carried her back to the blanket. Ben took the some of the extra towels and wrapped her up, holding and warming her. They lay down together.

As the sun filtered through the palms, Meg fell asleep in his arms. He studied her face. There were little blue circles under her eyes, and around her mouth frown lines he hadn't seen before. This is my fault, he thought.
North Padgett Beach was a little crowded, but the Williams clan found a nice spot next to the fence separating it from the private property just beyond. Alice liked to be by the fence, that way she could hang up the kids' stuff. She watched Tom in the water, his three little ones draped all over him.

She tried to look at him impartially, from a stranger's point of view. No doubt about it, while not classically handsome, her son was attractive. He had light brown hair (which badly needed cutting), kind blue eyes, a strong jaw. Years of hard work and rough and tumble play had given Tom a strong physique and muscular grace. She nodded, my boy's a hunk. Alice grinned at the thought.

She and Bart had tried and tried, but Tom was the only child of their union who'd lived more than a few hours. All their love and hope was invested in him. And he seemed to have sensed that from the beginning. Tom had always been such a helpful, responsible boy. He was sensitive and gentle, full of compassion for those in pain, and he believed ferociously in justice.

All his life, Tom stuck close to home, never working anywhere but in Bart's business. He married his high school sweetheart and gave no sign after three girls of feeling cheated and wanting a boy. He'd endured Jan's sudden, horrible death with a hero's grace.

Alice felt the sting of tears. My boy has been cheated. All the way down the line. He's lost so much. And if he's fallen in love with Meg Cummings, he'll lose again.


There was a scramble as the kids came up the beach, chased by their dad. It came to a tumbling halt in Alice's lap. The girls were flapping their arms, trying to shake the water off on grandma. Tom stood there, eyes alight with joy.

Alice distributed towels and hugs and sent the girls down to the water's edge to build a sand castle. "Don't go in the water without telling me," her son instructed. He grabbed a towel and sat down.

"All right Mom, let's have the truth this time."

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