Bell , Book and Candle

By DocPaul

Chapter Twelve:  Acceptance…

“What’s going on?” Alex asked as he entered the office, tossing his coat across a chair. Max was pacing the office talking in his phone, sometimes listening, and a few times screaming in a phone. “Jesus! What’s wrong with Max?”

“Liz is missing.” Michael said. Alex’s eyebrow went up at that.

“Missing? Meaning she finally left him, or is she really missing?”

Max disconnected. He had heard that. “This is not a joking matter, Alex! Liz is out there somewhere, investigating a person that put a hit on Michael’s life. Almost pasted him earlier today with a car.” Max pushed his hands through his hair. He was beside himself. Garbage. Did he take out the garbage that morning? Liz hated taking it out.

“Okay, Max, you need to find come kind of control. She might be ignoring your phone call.” Michael frowned at Alex, gesturing for him to make some comment to help.

“What does he mean that you almost were run down with a car? A hit?” Alex looked at his two oldest friends in horror. What? Was it April Fool’s Day? “What the hell is going on?”

They filled him in while Kyle came in a few times and added to the discussion. “Police. We have to contact the cops.” Alex said.

“We have no proof!” Max sat back, almost in defeat. “If they have Liz, what stops them from killing her and disposing of the body? The cops will make them nervous.”

“You’re assuming that they have her.” Alex reminded Max.

“Okay,” Michael looked at his watch. “This is getting us nowhere. Max, I know you’re worried, but this isn’t helping. Go to work. Go home. Wait for Liz. If she is dodging you, angry or whatever, she will show up at home this evening safe and sound, right?”

Max nodded. He looked at his watch. He was late for some appointments. Screw them. He would stop at Liz work and see if any one saw her. The doctor’s office? Max was ashamed, but he couldn’t remember the doctor’s name.

“I need to go pick up something, and get back to Maria’s. I don’t even know how I’m going to tell her that her cat died because of me.”

“What should I do?” Kyle asked quietly, almost afraid of the answer.

“You can come with me. Seems you were watching my back, so why the hell not? I’ve got a lot more to live for right now. Alex?”

Alex shrugged. “I’ll go tell Isabel what’s going on so she can get home and support Max in case Liz doesn’t come home.” The room was quiet at that thought. No one wanted to think about Liz not coming home. Not even in passing.

~~~

Alex waited for Isabel. She was still in makeup, and she had a thirty minute segment to shoot. He had watched for over an hour. No one ever told him that it took so much to get a show going. Every shot and angle was measured. Food was cut and prepared beforehand to speed up the process. Alex was amazed how much technical skill went into something as simple as a cooking show.

Isabel.

Alex stood stunned as she walked out of makeup. She was just that, stunning. Her hair was perfect. Her body, usually covered in gross, unfashionable, oversized clothing was for once in a nice dress with an apron that made the curves of her body apparent. She looked like a fashion model without the gawky awkwardness over a painfully thin body. Isabel’s was perfect.

“Alex,” she said in her soft almost breathless voice. “I’m sorry you had to wait.”

Alex just shook his head, bemused. “Um, no problem, Iz.”

“Isabel.” She turned to the man that called to her. She was on in two. Nodding, she looked at Alex shyly and smiled.

“Sorry.” Then to Alex’s amazement, a look of devilment sparked in her eyes. Alex looked at her questionably, but she quickly went over and talked to this man, pointing back at Alex. They talked for a moment, and then Isabel went on the sound stage, under the lights, and in front of the cameras. Suddenly, she changed.

From a soft spoken Isabel, she suddenly became a more assertive, self-assured Isabel, with a firm voice and a smile. Alex saw it. Cooking. It was cooking. She knew it. Loved it. It calmed her. Here she was a master of what she surveyed. The show was taped with no audience, so the incredible shyness she suffered wasn’t there. Even though hundreds of thousands viewers saw her at once, all she saw was that one camera. An audience of one.

Alex was so caught up in thought he missed the entire introduction to her show, but her voice finally broke through.

“So today we have a special studio guest and helper. For those who are radio fans and classic rock aficionados this will be a treat! Alex Whitman, the late night disc jockey for San Francisco ’s own KSAN 107.7 The Bone, Classic Rock that Rocks!”

Alex was shocked. Damn. A man next to him handed him an apron, and pushed him towards the sound studio and setup. Alex met Isabel’s eyes, and the challenge was there. Smiling, he quickly donned the apron and went to join her. Startling her, he bent down and kissed her right there on camera. Not an intimate kiss, just a quick peck to her…well, damn. It was going to be her cheek. Really it was, but then there were her lips, partial parted just below his, so he kissed her lips, and smiled in the camera.

“Hi, I’m Alex. Great to be here. Thanks for inviting me, Isabel.”

Isabel recovered quickly from the unexpected kiss, but the charming red bloom on her face remained, making her even more beautiful than before. “Alex, so glad you could come today.” Isabel looked at the camera and smiled. “Alex had me as a special guest on his show the other night, so I felt that his listeners who might have decided to join us today might enjoy meeting him.”

Alex laughed looking at the layout. “What we doing here, Iz?”

“Well, today we’re going to do a nice grilled Chilean Sea Bass with a special blend of lime and herbs marinade, make a quick pilaf, and some special corn muffins. Think you can do that, Alex?”

Alex looked at Isabel, making her blush even more. “I’m game!” Staring at the camera Alex smiled, his classical Whitman charm oozing all over the place. “Fair warning to the viewing audience though. Proceed with care! I can not cook!” Alex looked off to the people behind the camera. “Some one cue us some music. Blue Oyster Cult, please. If I’m cooking, then we’ll be needing ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’, aw, a song appropriate for so many occasions.”

Isabel laughed and began to show Alex how to prepare the marinade for the fish, as they cleaned the fish and put it to chill. Taking out a pre-chilled fish from marinade, they immediately put it to grill. The pilaf was easy, and Alex tossed in the ingredients while Isabel stirred and told the audience tips on keeping it from overcooking and sticking. They did great until they got to the corn muffins.

“Now this is a real easy recipe for muffins, so let’s let Alex mix them together.” Isabel carefully instructed him and the audience, but while she was talking to the camera Alex picked up the salt and tossed it in the bowl, staring at it like it was a real mystery.

“Alex, how much did you put in there?”

Alex actually looked guilty. “Um, how much was I supposed to put in there?” He asked.

“A teaspoon.” Isabel held up a measuring spoon, and Alex looked at the small bowl he had dumped into the larger one.

“Um, well….that was sort of how much I tossed in there.” Alex said to the camera with a large smile. While Isabel was removing as much excess salt as she could, Alex was making gestures to the camera to not eat his muffins, that they were definitely deadly!

“Alex, stop that. Here, stir this while I add the eggs.” Looking at the camera, she smiled. “Obviously you don’t want to add a fourth of a cup of salt. Try just one teaspoon.”

“Am I stirring okay?” asked Alex with some devilment. He was all over the place slapping batter everywhere. Isabel’s organizational genes went into overload, horrified by the demon in her clean, neat kitchen.

“No! Not so fast!” Her arms came around Alex, taking his hands, slowing him down, and showing him how to fold in the ingredients making them light and airy. Alex smiled big at the camera as the delectable Isabel was hugging him from behind.

“This type of cooking should only be done between adults!”

The people behind the camera laughed as the antics on the camera continued.

After the show, Alex was on the set talking to people from the crew, as they ate the prepared food. Isabel was strangely quiet again, blushing. Alex tried to get her to eat her food, but she shook her head.

“Alex, I have to go change and have all this makeup taken off, can you wait?”

“Yeah, but don’t change on my account.” Isabel smiled and went back into makeup and wardrobe. Alex looked at the people around him. “So, my muffins are ready! Who wants to try one?” The entire group held up their hands in surrender and slowly moved back and away from Alex’s lethal muffins. Laughing, he continued to make jokes and charm the entire crew while Isabel was getting through with her normal day.

“What’s going on, Alex?”

Alex navigated the driving, glancing at Isabel, he frowned at her clothes. She was back to Isabel in a sack mode. “It’s Liz.”

“Oh God! Is it the baby? Is Liz okay?”

Alex dropped a hand to Isabel’s and grabbed it. “We don’t know. She’s missing.”

~~~

Michael went in through the store front with Kyle trailing. They had to stop six different places before Michael found what he was looking for, and in all that time, Kyle had remained quiet.

“Stan, how’s business?”

“Pretty good.” Stan looked at the bag that Kyle was carrying with interest, but he refrained from asking. “The girls are still upstairs. Tess has been down a few times.”

“Thanks.” Michael went through the back door and up the stairs.

“Getting comfortable here, Mike?”

“Yeah, well, I like this place.”

“I’d say you like the owner.”

“That too.” Michael didn’t want to talk. He was uncertain about this, and Kyle was making it worse. Tess answered the door immediately. She was quiet, and Michael could see the pinkness around her eyes that the crying had continued since they had left.

“How is Maria?”

Tess shrugged. “Not so good. I tried to get her to call Jake, maybe go in for a visit, but she refuses. She says she’ll be okay.” Tess let them in and went into the kitchen. “I was thinking about cooking something. I don’t know…”

“Here, Kyle will help you.” Michael said. Damn. He doubted Kyle could cook either. There was no way he was touching anything that either of those two could concoct. Leaving them to mix up sure poison, he went into Maria’s bedroom. It was dark. She was lying on her side on the bed, staring at the wall.

Joining her, he slipped behind her as his arms came around her, but not too tightly. “Hey.”

Maria turned in his arms and held him tightly as her slim arms went around his neck. She was still not talking, but at least she was no longer crying. Michael tipped up her face and took in the devastation. Her eyes were slightly puffy and her nose was also a little pink. Her mouth looked…well, hell it always looked perfect to him. Kissing both of her eyes, he rested his forehead against hers.

“Sorry, Maria. I’m sorry about Jinx. If I hadn’t let her go…”

“Shh. It’s not your fault.” Maria kissed him softly. He closed his eyes, because it was his fault. She didn’t know that. Not yet. “I’m glad you didn’t get hurt.” Maria’s eyes flooded with tears again. “I don’t think I could stand that.”

“I’m fine.” Michael’s pocket made a sound, and Maria sat up a little. Do or die. It was now or never. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of fluff. It was a black furry ball that was so tiny, it fit in his large hand. Maria stared at it, almost mesmerized, uncertain what it was, until its mouth opened and it yawned. Then two large gold eyes stared back at her.

“Michael…”

“I know he’s not Jinx, and nothing can replace your cat, but I thought maybe this would help.”

Maria made a soft sound in her throat as she carefully took the small kitten from Michael’s oversized hand. The little cat started purring immediately and Maria smiled and laughed through the tears. Lying down on the bed with Michael facing her, they put the kitten on the bed between them. He chased Maria’s finger, and tried to attack one of the buttons on Michael’s shirt.

“Is he okay? Do you like him?” Maria nodded. She was at a loss for words. That never happened to her. “I thought he was sort of excellent. It took six pet shops to find him. He’s already had all his shots, and his front claws are out, but his back ones remain. He needs to be fixed in about three weeks.”

Maria’s voice was soft, almost whispering. “What should we name him?” Her hands kept coming back to the kitten, and he chewed on her finger, making her laugh softly.

“I don’t know.... Martin?”

Maria laughed. “Eww. Something better.”

“I think he deserves a great name, so you might want to take your time and get to know him first.”

Maria nodded, laughing at the kitten. Looking up at Michael, she leaned across and kissed him softly on the lips. “Thank you.” She seemed to hesitate. “Can I tell you something?”

“Anything.” Michael was playing with the kitten, letting him attack his hand.

“My father gave Jinx to my mother before I was born. She was a really old cat.” Maria swallowed hard. “My parents were old before they had me. Not terribly old, but in their thirties. They tried before, but my mom, she couldn’t have children, so I was not only a surprise, but a gift.” Maria ran her hand over the kitten’s soft fur. “My dad knew she was sad about not being able to have kids, so he gave Jinx to her.”

“I didn’t know.”

“I know. I never…” Maria just shrugged. He knew. She never talked about it. “Now you’ve given me a kitten.” Maria said in wonder. He gave her a kitten, not to replace Jinxy, but so she wouldn’t be sad. “Thank you.” Maria kissed him again. Maria’s mouth softly tasted his, her breath mingled with his, and together, they slowly savored each other. Michael’s heart was pounding in his chest when she said, “I love you,” in a soft sigh into his mouth.

Reaching down, Michael picked up the tiny cat and deposited him over the side of the bed onto the floor. The kitten happily explored the room, chasing his own shadow and tail, while Michael explored Maria.

They were tangled in the sheets and each other, with the sweat of their bodies mingling, when Maria glanced over the side of the bed to see the little furry ball of black chasing something across her room. A button. It looked like one she tore off Michael’s shirt once. Michael’s hand tilted her face to look at him again. Green eyes met brown, and neither of them could speak for a moment. When he finally did, his voice sounded so deep and distant, even to Michael.

“Marry me,” he whispered, and she knew that this was it. Now or never. He would never expose himself or his heart this openly again.

“You are the last man I would ever marry, you know that, right?” Michael nodded, but that didn’t mean anything. He had changed. She could too. Love could change things. He never believed that before, but now he did. Maria reached up and brushed the hair off his forehead tenderly. The mark was there. The small scrape that had bled earlier from when he hit the pavement. So close. Losing Jinx hurt terribly. Losing Michael would have been so much worse. “Yes,” she said against his lips. “I’ll marry you.”

Michael laughed, and did something she didn’t expect. He let her go. His arms had been holding her tight, but suddenly her skin was cool from the loss of him. He was half hanging off the bed, searching under the bed, fighting the little cat over some article of clothing. Dragging his jacket out from where it had ended up under the bed, he recovered what he was looking for.

Sitting up, and gazing at her, he opened a jeweler’s box. “Good, then you can have this.”

Maria sat up and looked in the box, staring at the ring. For the first time in her life, she was truly speechless as Michael took the ring and pushed it on her wedding finger. He kissed her hand above the ring, and redirected it to his face, as her fingers feathered across his features.

Maria’s hand dropped to his chest, and she was mesmerized by the sight of the ring on her finger, and her hand against his chest. It was a moment of déjà vu. A sense of having seen that before, or perhaps it had been in her dreams.

“Don’t be afraid,” Michael said against her lips. “We’ll work it out.” Maria nodded. There were so many things that she needed to tell him, but after all these years of silence, she was afraid that the words were lost inside.

Her slim arm went up around her neck, holding him tight, before she kissed him again, she said, “I love you.” Michael smiled slightly and said it back, against her mouth. This time it was going to be different. This time it already was.

~~~

Kyle and Tess trudged back up the stair carrying bags of takeout. After nearly burning down the kitchen, when the noise started from the other room, Tess grabbed her bag and Kyle’s hand and dragged him out of the apartment. They discussed all the possible local places to pick for food, taking long enough to give Michael and Maria privacy.

“So are they always that loud?” Kyle asked as he ate an eggroll from on of the bags.

“Always.” Tess stole the bag from him. “Don’t eat the food before we get back.”

“I was hungry.”

“You can wait. You’re not going to starve.” Tess retorted, rolling her eyes.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “Are you always this arrogant and nasty?”

“Of course not! You just take it that way.”

Kyle laughed derisively. “Nope. You mean it that way. You’re dismissing me with a toss of your curls. Of that I am sure. What? Is it because I didn’t finish college?”

Tess resented his belief that she was a snob, but he was right. She did think less of him. Her entire family was geared toward over achievement, and he was the antithesis. “Why did you stop? Going to school, I mean?”

Kyle laughed. “Basically, I was invited to leave, but why is a different question. I made it so that they were forced to kick me out. I knew it would bug my dad.”

“You do things to make your father angry?”

Kyle made a face. “No. I did things to make him notice me.” Kyle looked at her. She was in her fashionable clothing. She was studying to be a doctor. She lived without real problems. She was confident and self-assured. She was everything he was not. “Bet you come from a well-balanced happy family.”

Tess actually smiled at the mention of her family. “We weren’t perfect if that’s what you’re asking, but yes, there was a lot of love there.”

“Well, I guess my parents loved me in their own way. When I was a kid, their love or their rendition of it felt like a mule kick to the head. Both of them pulling at me, trying to get me to take sides, they wanted me to love one of them more than the other. It was hard.” Kyle spent enough time in recovery to know that avoiding the hard issues didn’t do much good. All the running, and in the end, you were right back to where you started still staring at the same problems. “I chose to escape. My mother was the perfect teacher of that, and my absentee father in his own way was too. I never stepped up to the plate, because I never had to…not until recently.”

Tess looked at him. Her blue eyes intense, as she did the one thing most people in Kyle’s life never did. She was listening. Really, listening. “What happened recently?”

“I saved my brother’s life.” Kyle smiled. So it was his fault. He had to live with that. But, putting all his usual bullshit aside, he had followed through and been there to save Michael.

“Tell me.”

Kyle told her the entire story. They got back to the apartment and were unpacking and reheating the takeout, as the story was nearly complete. Kyle studied her carefully. Would she be disgusted? Hate him? In a roundabout way, he had caused the death of a beloved cat, and therefore had hurt her roommate Maria.

“You’re blaming yourself, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

Tess nodded. “Good. You deserve it.” Tess grabbed his hand, and held it tight forcing him to look at her. “But don’t take on more than your share. Michael being a target isn’t your fault. If you hadn’t given up those two bids, he would’ve probably been targeted sooner. It sounds like this Brody Davis guy needed Michael out of the way. If that’s the case, no one would have been watching, and Michael might have already died in some tragic accident, and no one would be any the wiser.”

Kyle smiled. She made him feel a little better. “Still…”

“Still, you were wrong.” Tess looked at Kyle. He wasn’t so bad. Not really. He responded to a little attention like a greedy child. “You might have to work for your brother for a long time to make restitution.”

“He probably wouldn’t want me anywhere near his business now.” Kyle said. That was another big regret. He was actually having a good time with Michael, and the work wasn’t that bad. It paid well, and he liked this co-workers.

“You’re wrong about that,” said Michael from the doorway. “You owe me big, little brother. Don’t think I’m going to let you wiggle out of your unpaid obligations. Though I am going to insist you find a place to live.”

Kyle smiled shyly. He hadn’t expected Michael to give him a break, but Michael seemed pretty even tempered lately. Nicer. Even more approachable. Maybe it wasn’t Michael, maybe it was actually himself that was changing. Kyle hoped that was true. It had been real lonely out there in the cold all his life, he wouldn’t mind living in the warmth for a while.

Tess squealed with excitement when Maria came into the room with the bit of black fluff that was all eyes. The two women made strange noises and cooing sounds at the small kitten, and Kyle’s eyebrow went up. Now, how the hell did Michael know what to buy? He had dragged him from shop to shop, but the moment he saw this one kitten, he bought it without a second thought. Looking at Tess, Kyle wondered if Michael could lend him some advice on how to get her not to think he was not a waste of her time.

His brother, Michael giving relationship advice was enough of a scary thought to send Kyle wishing for a psychologist.

~~~

It was late when Michael’s cell phone rang. They had been talking about what was happening, and both Tess and Maria made good insightful suggestions. Maria couldn’t believe that Brody Davis was evil, not the Brody Davis she met in her store! Now the Brody Davis she knew as a businessman, well...she reserved her judgment.

“Yeah, this is Michael.”

Maria was lying on the sofa with her head in his lap and the kitten on her stomach, out like a light. Looking up, she listened to him talk on the phone. It was short and curt.

“What?” Maria was almost afraid to ask.

Michael looked at Kyle. “Liz never came home.”