Independence & Consequences by M J Marlow (best color ebook reader .TXT) 📕

against his back. It was the hospital. He looked down at her with true regret. “It’s what you are, Rafael,” Isabel assured him that she understood. “Someone else is in need of your talented hands now. Thankfully,” she continued as she kissed his shoulder, “for another reason than I.” She saw his worried look. “I’ll be fine,” she frowned at his worry. “Emilio and Guillermo are downstairs.” When he did not relax, she shook her head. “Come on, Rafael; this is Simon Tremont we’re worrying about! He’d never hurt me.” She shoved him back into the bathroom. “Finish your shower; someone needs you, Doctor.” She left him to his shower and went downstairs to the dance studio he had built for her in their basement. It was also a safe room, complete with every last security device; just in case. Isabel had told him it wasn’t necessary; Rafael had insisted. It was either this, he had told her, or moving in with his father. Though Isabel adored her father-in-law, she did not want to start her life with Rafael on a yacht surrounded by armed guards. Emilio and Guillermo were enough. She warmed up and put on a piece she adored for some freestyle dance. She turned at the end to see Delphine standing there. “What are you doing here?” Isabel asked as the woman came into the room. “Don’t you have some pre-wedding function to attend?” “I’m playing hookey,” Delphine told her. “As much as I love Ricardo, I am beginning to grow very weary of these functions of his.” She smiled as she noted Isabel’s understanding. “What say we go do something together, just us girls?” She remembered the men upstairs. “And your guardians, of course.” “I just need to shower,” Isabel nodded, pleased at the offer. “Fix yourself some tea or something. I’ll be fifteen minutes.” Isabel headed up the stairs and took her shower. As she finished dressing, she joined Delphine and they went to the movies. Isabel let herself relax and enjoy herself. This was the first time she had ever gone out with someone to the movies. She found herself thinking it would have been nicer if she were doing this with Rafael. After the movies, they went to the jewelry store to pick up the bridesmaids’ and groomsmen’s gifts. Delphine was showing Isabel the gift she had chosen for Ricardo when a man and woman came into the store. “Isabel!” Olivia smiled as she saw her former daughter. “What a surprise. Look who’s here, darling, our pretty Isabel.” “It’s nice to see you again, Isabel,” MacGregor bowed his head to her. “Captain MacGregor,” Isabel smiled in return. “May I introduce you to Delphine Swan. She’s about to become my mother-in-law.” She saw Olivia’s eyes narrow and wondered at it. Isabel could see the wheels in Olivia’s mind spinning. “So what are you doing here?” “Olivia and I are looking for a present for my nephew’s fiancé,” MacGregor told her. “You remember Henry. He was my first mate on the cruise.” “He was very protective of me,” Isabel remembered. “Tell him I remember him fondly, and,” she added as she had the man waiting on her pull a hair clip formed of diamonds and emeralds out of the case she was standing by, “ask his fiancé to accept this as a gift from my husband and myself.” “This is far too generous, Isabel!” MacGregor exclaimed. “Nonsense,” Isabel replied. “I could never repay you and your nephew for all your kindness during a very trying period in my life.” She saw his hesitation. “Please, Captain.” “Very well,” MacGregor relented as the clip was put into a beautiful box and handed to him by the clerk. He could see he was not going to make her change her mind. “How are you and young Alvarez doing?” “We are very happy, Captain,” Isabel smiled. “You must come to dinner one night this week.” “I’d like that but I’ll be off on another cruise tomorrow,” MacGregor told her. “How do you know Olivia, Captain?” Isabel asked as Delphine and Olivia moved away. “I spent some time with her on the ship when she and her husband were aboard,” he bit his lip. “I was a bit indiscreet, I must admit.” He looked over at Olivia and smiled. “She is a very fascinating woman.” “Isabel?” Delphine called her over to look at something in the case where she was standing. Isabel excused herself and joined Delphine. “If you care about that man at all,” she told Isabel bluntly, “you will do something to help him. He doesn’t deserve the torment that woman would bring into his life.” She was frowning as she glanced over to the pair. “I watched what she was trying to do to you, child, remember?” “You don’t like her very much, do you?” Isabel asked the woman, intrigued. She knew from Delphine’s look exactly why. “She tried to go after Ricardo, didn’t she?” Isabel looked over at Olivia and saw the woman eyeing them coldly. “He loves you, Delphine.” “No woman could turn his head,” Delphine nodded, and smiled happily. “She is an opportunistic bitch. I would hate for any man to fall into her clutches.” She saw the shock on Isabel’s face and turned to the man waiting on her. “You will see all of this gets to the Alvarez yacht by 7:00?” The man nodded and she smiled. She linked her arm through Isabel’s. “One more innocent pleasure before we get ready for the rehearsal, yes?” Delphine led them out to her car. She drove to a Friendly’s restaurant and they had ice cream sundaes. Then they went to the church where Delphine and Ricardo were to be married the next day and joined the others for the rehearsal. When the rehearsal was over, and the rehearsal dinner concluded, Isabel and Rafael went home. Despite the happiness they were both feeling, there was an urgency to their lovemaking; as if they both knew something was going to come after them; something they might not survive. * Despite their uneasiness, days passed before any sign of danger was seen. Isabel went to the theater, guards in tow, and joined the other dancers for a planning session of their next production. Isabel and the others were warming up for a practice when the doors at the top of the auditorium opened and the last woman she wanted to see came striding down the aisle. Olivia smiled at her as Simon took her hand and kissed it. Then he called for the company’s attention. “Children,” he beamed, “I have the honor of introducing you to a new member of our Board of Directors, Olivia Alvarez. She has kindly consented to oversee the business for our company while Delphine is on her honeymoon.” He saw Olivia to her seat as if she were a queen, and clapped his hands. “Places! We will show her how excellent you all are. The piece from the Swan Lake where we meet our swans, and then the hunters come.” He went to the piano and played the piece, smiling happily. Olivia and he had a long talk earlier. She understood what he wanted for their Isabel. With her help, he was going to see to it that she would do as he suggested. Isabel would become the dance, with no thought of anything else. He watched her dance and knew it was the right decision. She belonged to the world, not one man who would take what she was born to do away from her. He let them rest after their practice and then called them to attention. “We have decided that our next production will be ‘Giselle,’ Simon informed them. “Auditions for the leads will be held tomorrow.” “It doesn’t matter,” one of the girls muttered as they were dismissed. “We all know who the lead is going to.” “She deserves it, Martha,” one of the other girls snapped at her. “No one can match Isabel. She dances each role as if the moves are a part of her.” “I might not be auditioning,” Isabel told them both as she rose gracefully to her feet. They looked at her, stunned. “My husband and I are thinking of finally going on a honeymoon.” “Simon will be devastated,” Quinn said as he came up to her. “You know he counts on you, Isabel…” “Then he’ll just have to stop,” Isabel broke in. “I have a life outside of this company.” She saw their pretend horror and laughed. “Sacrilege, isn’t it?” She saw Emilio and Guillermo coming down the aisle. “I’d better get moving.” She looked at the girl who had defended her. “You’re still coming to dinner tomorrow, Helen, aren’t you?” “Wouldn’t miss it,” Helen smiled. Isabel nodded and left, missing Simon’s dark look. The girl hadn’t even greeted her mother-in-law. He wondered if he were right about what he and Olivia were planning to do to the girl. But then he remembered the way Isabel danced, her outright joy when she was lost to the music, and knew it had to be done. Isabel could not be lost to a mundane life as a housewife. He escorted Olivia to the car and they drove to Isabel’s house. Once Olivia had dealt with the guards, they found Isabel. She was in the dance studio, lost in a freestyle piece that had her beaming with happiness. The happiness died as she saw them. “I don’t recall inviting either of you to my home,” Isabel said coldly. She wiped her face on a towel hanging off the back of a chair. “You can leave now.” “You’ve gotten very rude since you married, Isabel,” Olivia said as she came into the room. She looked around. “Nice studio.” “You didn’t come all this way to admire my dance studio, Olivia,” Isabel frowned. “Since Simon is here, I suppose he has convinced you that I should give up my marriage and pursue a career.” “You are a very talented young woman, Isabel,” Olivia replied. “You were forced into this marriage for something that wasn’t your fault. I don’t want you wasting your life away when you could be doing something you truly love.” She nodded to Simon. “Simon agrees with me. It’s time you were taken somewhere you can rethink your life.” “I am perfectly content with my life the way it is,” Isabel exclaimed. “Why are you making such an issue out of this? Rafael and I have agreed that I can have a career, if I want it.” “If you want it?” Simon snapped. He held Isabel’s arms against her body, glaring at her. “You can’t seriously believe that your life should contain anything but dance! It is completely unthinkable.” “I’d thank you to take your hands off my wife,” Rafael’s cold voice filled the room. He failed to see the needle as Olivia slipped it back into her pocket. “Isabel? Are you all right?” “I’m fine now,” Isabel told him. “Olivia and Simon were trying to persuade me to audition for the next ballet. But,” she continued as she glared at her two uninvited visitors, “I was just telling them that you and I are going to San Matteo. I couldn’t possibly accept a role if we’re going to be gone.” She felt the shock of their attack wearing off and felt very weary. “I pushed myself a bit harder than I should have. I’m going to lie down.” “We’ll be leaving,” Olivia nodded. She gestured to Simon and they left the studio and went upstairs. Once they were back in Simon’s apartment, Olivia sat on the couch and watched the man pace in fear. They had been caught. There was no way that the Alvarez family was going to take what they had tried to do to Isabel lightly. He grew more and more terrified with each drink. Olivia finally made him sit down and scolded him. He looked at her in confusion