“Wait, babe... slow down on this,” Maverick pleaded.
“—I’ll call Mama and tell her to come to watch Noah. We need to get up to the mountain before it’s too late—.”
“Can you chill on this one?” Maverick asked.
“Chill? We need to go to Mayfair!” Delilah repeated.
“I’m putting my foot down,” Maverick replied.
“You’re what—?”
“This has to stop,” he said.
“I’ll drive up there my damn self!” Delilah went for the door. He stopped her. He took Noah from her. Delilah frowned.
“You stay in this room and cool off. Don’t come out until you’re ready to be reasonable.” Maverick said.
“Are you insane?” She laughed through her tears.
Maverick shut the door in her face. He couldn’t lock the door. But he held it closed for several minutes while she tried to escape. He let go of the doorknob and waited for her to defy him, prepared to defeat any argument that she could throw his way. When she never opened the door, he smiled. “I think I won my first battle with mommy.”
Noah pointed at the door.
“She’ll be fine,” Maverick assured him. “Let’s go see what’s in the kitchen for dinner.”
TORMENTED BY EMOTION, Delilah cried herself to sleep. She woke a bit confused by the darkness in the room. The sun had descended, and too many hours had passed. The rest was very much needed. After a deep sigh, she left her bedroom but stopped halfway in the hall to the sound of Queen’s voice. A talk with Queen about Goodiva would help her anxiety, and she’d be sure to delay the drama with her parents for another time. The bands of tension that typically tightened around her throat had now moved to her belly. In the family room, she found Queen and Maverick sharing a six-pack of Heineken. That beer was Queen’s favorite. Her best friend must have brought it over for them to finish off since most stores were closed because of the quarantine.
The sight of them talking with Queen smiling again struck her as odd. When were they always so chummy? They were supposed to be enemies.
“Oh hey, you’ve been asleep. We were waiting,” said Queen.
Maverick gaze cut over to her and his smile dimmed. He had a look of concern. “You feeling okay?”
“Where’s Noah?” she asked.
“Sleep, I checked on him five minutes ago,” Maverick assured her.
“You okay?” Queen asked.
“What’s so funny?” Delilah asked. “You put Noah to bed, then you put me to bed, but have drinks and laughs with Queen?”
“Seriously?” Queen responded. “Don’t be goofy.”
Maverick stood. Delilah went into his arms and hugged his waist with possessive tightness. She stuck her tongue out at Queen. In return, her best friend rolled her eyes. It was all in teasing fun, but Delilah felt a sense of calm come over her just to be in his arms. Maverick lifted her chin to kiss her, and she inhaled him. Cigar, beer, and spearmint gum were all flavors she tasted at once.
“Noah went to bed without me?” Delilah asked.
“I got to bathe him!” Queen chimed in and gave her a salute. “You can thank me for the mess we left the bathroom for you.”
“She did fine. And he fell asleep on Queen right after. Like I said, you needed the rest.”
“You forced me,” Delilah said.
He squeezed her to him and whispered in her ear: “I’ll shower and wait for you in bed.”
Delilah watched him go. She then looked over to her friend with a wide grin.
Queen held up a beer. “Guess he left me to deliver the news. Fine. Take a beer. You’ll need it.”
“C’mon!” Queen said. “Sit down and have a beer with me before I really have to go, Miss Priss.”
“What are we celebrating?” Delilah walked over and accepted the peace offering. She dropped down into the whicker recliner next to Queen.
“First off, Goodiva is in some serious shit.”
“And that’s something to celebrate?” Delilah frowned.
“No. Let me finish. Jaxon Price is to blame for all of this, of course. And we’re on top of his ass. That’s what I’m here to celebrate.”
“How?” Delilah took a swig of the beer.
“It’s complicated,” Queen sighed.
“Try me,” Delilah insisted.
“He’s tied to this police society in Saudi Arabia called the Scorpions.”
“Terrorist group?” Delilah asked.
“No. They are like mercenaries. You would think of it as a mix between CIA and special combat forces. It’s not the kind of terrorism we think of. It’s more domestic. They terrorize their own people with over-policing and military secret service kind of work. His grandfather is a high-ranking official,” Queen sipped her beer. That tone in her voice sounded familiar to Delilah. Queen loved mysteries as a kid, and after becoming an officer of law and order she often pursued cases that others couldn’t solve. In their town, there wasn’t the kind of crime to keep her busy until a serial killer moved in.
“His father Fikrit belonged to this secret police, but he got kicked out and turned into some kind of government informant here in the States.”
“What does any of it have to do with Goodiva?” Delilah asked.
“I think she knows, and she doesn’t care. I think she told us the truth or part of it. She’s in love with him no matter what he did or has done. And there is something else. Something to celebrate. The real big news.”
“Okay?” Delilah said.
“You ready?” Queen asked.
“For what? Just tell me? Stop being weird,” Delilah said.
“We’re about to have another baby in the family. She’s pregnant. Cheers!” Queen said.
Delilah gasped.
“Yep. You heard me right,” Queen stared down at the bottle of beer in her hand. “That’s why she chased us out of her life. Turns out Jaxon kidnapped her to have some kind of miracle baby that could cure him of a blood disease that now the government wants to engineer as a bioweapon.”
“Coronavirus?” Delilah asked.
Queen chuckled. “No. It’s a blood disease, more like a cancer. Worse than COVID. I know it’s confusing, but it’s been confirmed. It’s all true.”
“Who told you all of this?” Delilah asked.
“Armand confessed to the Feds today. Jaxon kidnapped her, planned it all. He has a lab and was doing experiments on her. We found it. He claimed it was for his illness, but he did it. You know Goodiva never wanted kids. And look at—”
“What? Look at what?” Delilah pressed.
“Look at what happened to you,” Queen said and drank her beer.
Delilah sat in stunned silence for a moment. She shook her head in sadness. “Then why would she agree—”
“I don’t know. Maybe she has Stockholm syndrome kind of thing. I just dunno,” Queen said. “But I’ll tell you this; she’s all in it now. She wants to be with him.”
“What are we going to do? How do we stop her from leaving?” Delilah asked.
“We don’t,” Queen mumbled.