Authors: Barbara Freethy
As she stood up, the suite seemed too quiet. She wondered what was taking Nick so long. The ice machine was only a short distance from the room, and Nick had left at least fifteen minutes ago. He must have decided to run downstairs and pick up a special dessert or order more champagne. She smiled at the thought. Nick was so romantic. He always knew just how to make her feel loved and cherished.
She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch to wait. She flipped on the television and ran through the channels. The minutes continued to tick by. Glancing at her watch, she realized an hour had passed. An uneasy feeling swept through her body. She got up and paced, but within seconds the room grew too small for her rising agitation. She had the terrible feeling something was wrong.
Returning to the bedroom, she slipped out of her lingerie and dug through her suitcase for a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. All the while she kept hoping to hear Nick's footsteps or his voice.
Nothing. Silence.
She grabbed the key and left the suite, heading to the nearest ice machine. Nick wasn't there. She tried the other end of the hall, the next floor up, the next floor down. Her heart began to race. She checked the room again, then took the elevator down to the lobby, searching the casino, the shops, the restaurants and bars and even the parking lot, where her silver Honda was parked right where they'd left it. She stopped by the phone back in the lobby and called the room again. There was still no answer.
Kayla didn't know she was crying until an older woman stopped her by the elevator and asked her if everything was all right.
"My husband. I can't find my husband," she muttered.
The woman gave her a pitying smile. "Story of my life. He'll come back when he runs out of money, honey. They all do."
"He's not gambling. It's our wedding night. He just went to get ice." Kayla entered the next elevator, leaving the woman and her disbelieving expression behind. She didn't care what that woman thought. Kayla knew Nick wouldn't gamble away their wedding night. He wouldn't do that to her. But when she returned to her room, it was as empty as when she'd left it.
She didn't know what to do. She sat back down to wait.
When the clock struck midnight, and Nick had been gone for almost five hours, Kayla called the front desk and told them her husband was missing. The hotel sent up George Benedict, an older man who worked for hotel security. After discussing her situation, he assured her they would look for Nick, but there was something in his expression that told her they wouldn't look too hard. It was obvious to Kayla that Mr. Benedict thought Nick had skipped out on her, plain and simple.
Kayla didn't sleep all night. In her mind she ran through a dozen possible scenarios of what could have happened to Nick. Maybe he'd been robbed, hit over the head, knocked unconscious. Maybe he was sitting in a hospital right now with amnesia, not knowing who he was. She hoped to God it wasn't worse than that. But no news had to be good news, right? Finally, she curled up in a chair by the window, watching the moon go down and the sun come up over the lake. It was the longest night of her life.
A knock came at the door just before nine o'clock in the morning. She ran to open it, hoping she'd see Nick in the hallway, wearing a sheepish smile, offering some crazy explanation about losing track of time. But it wasn't Nick. It was the security guy from the night before, George Benedict. His expression was serious, his eyes somber.
Putting a hand to her suddenly racing heart, she said, "What's happened?"
He held up a tuxedo jacket in his hand with a now limp and wilted white rose boutonniere hanging from the lapel. "We found this in a men's room off the lobby. Is it your husband's jacket?"
"I-I think so. I don't understand. Where's Nick?"
"We don't know yet, but this was in the pocket." He held out his hand, a solid gold wedding band in his palm.
She took the ring from him, terrified when she read the simple inscription on the inside of the band, Forever Love, the same words that were engraved on her wedding ring. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak. This was Nick's ring, the one she'd slipped on his finger when she'd vowed to spend the rest of her life with him. "No," she breathed.
"I've seen it happen before," the older man said gently. "A hasty marriage in a casino chapel, second thoughts…"
She saw the pity in his eyes, and she couldn't accept it. "You're wrong. You have to be wrong. Nick loved me. He wanted to get married. It was his idea. His idea," she repeated desperately.
She closed her hand around the ring, her fingers tightening into a fist. Her husband had not run out on her… had he?