Chapter 36

Of all of the things K.C. had expected to read this was not it and now he wasn’t sure what his father had been thinking when he pushed to buy the hotel much less allowed him to come here as the representative for the company.

He had to know that K.C. would do some investigating into a subject that had been a sore topic with his Mom as long as he could remember. His brother and sister had been reluctant to bring up St. Sebastian after a while but he had never forgotten about it.

K.C. now understood why Frederika Whitfield had been vehemently against him coming to do this job. She would not have wanted him to come down and discover something so horrifying had occurred. His Uncle Frank had been trying to protect his older sister when they chose to keep this information secret from his siblings and himself.

He went back and managed to finish reading the article when his cell phone vibrated on his hip. K.C. checked the screen quickly and saw that it was Gabrielle and ran a shaking hand through his hair as he slumped on the hard plastic chair.

K.C. wasn’t sure he would be able to keep this from Gabrielle when they were so in tuned to each other but he was going to have to until he could speak to his parents. K.C. texted her back telling her they were still on before he closed down the computer.

It was hard to find time to be together so instead of quantity, they had quality time and every minute was special for them. He and Gabrielle were meeting for dinner at his house and she would be spending the weekend with him.

Michael was now more or less living at Jarrod’s house because the place was a ‘bloody mansion’ after all and Georgie stayed over a lot. Jarrod’s place gave them more privacy since he had a suite but Michael would be returning to the mainland to begin training camp just after Carnival was over so they were desperate for the time together.

As it was he had spent so much time on the island his parents had called K.C. to complain because usually he went home to Denver during the off season. He had only spent a few days there the couple of times he had left the island.

Michael had confessed to K.C. that he had never felt like this with any other woman and he was seriously considering asking Georgie to move to Norfolk with him. Alex, quarterback for the Admirals would spend a few days before he returned to Norfolk and he would be staying at Hotel Stewart also.

Michael had been singing the praises of St. Sebastian to his friend and teammate. He had fallen in love with the island just as his friends had. He went diving several times a week with Bryan and he and Chris were gym buddies.

       Michael had even taken over one of the classes when the regular instructor had pulled a muscle much to K.C. amusement. The gym owner was very happy because membership had increased not just because Carnival was coming up and people participating liked to get in shape but because a lot of the women liked to stare at Michael’s ripped body.

Georgie had not been pleased at first but Michael had apparently reassured her that he wasn’t interested in any of the other women and she had taken the class to everyone’s amusement. He had not told her that the class was for retirees who wanted to stay healthy and viable members of society.

K.C. walked over to the heavy mahogany desk to thank Mrs. Wells for her assistance and he missed the speculative look on her face he was so deep in thought.

“I knew Frederika Leon and that girl didn’t have a mean bone in her body. Patrick was a different story however and it was a tragedy what happened but many of the people on the island felt she was better off leaving afterwards. She and her brother both deserved a fresh start and I hope you aren’t trying to dig up anything to hurt either of them wherever they might be.” The woman said in a stern voice.

K.C. stopped in his tracks as he was getting ready to walk away and turned back to see the look on her nut brown face and was glad that after all this time his mother still evoked this much loyalty.

“Mrs. Wells that is the very last thing that I want to do.” He assured her earnestly before leaving.

He was distracted for the rest of the afternoon and when Gabrielle showed up at seven he barely let her come through the door to drop her salad on the kitchen counter before he gave her a bone crushing hug.

“K.C. what’s wrong?” Rielle asked worriedly when she was released.

Looking up at him, she could see he was a little pale and his usually sparkling eyes were troubled.

He knew that he couldn’t tell her the truth yet, he was still processing the information and she didn’t know that his mother was from the island.

“I received some disturbing news today.” He said solemnly staring down at her and Gabrielle felt her heartbeat slow.

“Is it something to do with your family? Is it your Grandma Rae or Grandpa David?” she asked knowing how much he loved them.

“No, it’s not my grandparents. Look, Gabrielle I don’t want you to worry about this. I just need some time to figure things out.” He said knowing her concern was genuine.

He didn’t want her to worry about something that she couldn’t really do anything about.

“I- I just want to help.” She said, more than a little hurt that he was shutting her out.

K.C. wasn’t so wrapped up in his dilemma that he couldn’t see what he had done and drew her outside to a lounger not far from the pool and they sat down together.

“I know you want to help and I love you for it, but right now there isn’t anything that you can do. Just let me get a handle on it and we’ll talk about it later okay?” he promised.

Rielle searched his face before nodding slowly and she put her hand up to touch his face.

“I’m here for you. Anything I can do to help you I’ll be there K.C.” Rielle told him smiling at him bravely.

And that was why he loved this woman he thought to himself. She wasn’t trying to force the issue and make him talk or ignoring that something was going on. Gabrielle wanted to face what was going on and solve it and he loved that about her.

He gave her another hug this one leading to a make out session that almost had him burning the steak and potatoes.

“How are the plans coming together for the parade?” K.C. asked as they ate.

Rielle shook her head with a wry smile, his trying to distract her was not very subtle but she would forgive him this time.

“We are cutting it close, but we should have the choreography down by next week.” She told him seeing his genuine interest.

Rielle was referring to the group of students at her school that were participating in the children’s Carnival parade. She and another teacher were responsible for teaching them a dance to perform in front of the viewing stand and they had been practicing every day for two hours for the past three weeks in preparation for the festivities that would begin on the fifth of July.

Several of the other teachers were responsible for the costumes which were colorful creations of feathers, poster board, sequins, glitter and satin in various bright colors.

Rielle had another week left to get the kids ready and she would be marching with them so she had to make sure she was ready as much as the kids.

The parade route was a long winding one that would take them through the heart of Plymouth, the capital of St. Sebastian which was on the southern coast of the island.

~*~*~*~*~

Fourth of July signaled not only Independence Day with its symbols of patriotism complete with flags and fireworks but also the beginning of Carnival. People came from all over the world to celebrate and reunite with friends and family.

There were contests held for Calypso King and Queen, King and Queen of the band, the Carnival Queen, Prince and Princess and steel pan competitions that had been occurring several weeks before in the various parishes. The winners from the various contests would be in both the children and adult parades.

There was also a contest for toddlers on Tuesday night and seniors on Thursday night that was wildly entertaining. Apparently the little ones couldn’t understand that they needed to filter what they said and sometimes revealed things their parents wished they hadn’t. The elderly felt they didn’t have to filter either much to the chagrin of their grown children.

The Food Fair happened on the Wednesday before the parades and government offices closed at noon to accommodate their employees and most private employers followed suit.

J’ouvert was another tradition that occurred on the island, early Thursday morning revelers tramped through the city led by the popular local bands playing their songs for that year.

Each band had a few songs but the most popular tune played during the two parades would be crowned Road March on the final night of Carnival which was a huge honor.

There was a Carnival Village set up in Plymouth where colorful wooden booths were open from sunset to midnight where local foods and drinks were sold for the two weeks of the main Carnival events. In the adjoining children’s village games of chance and rides including the Ferris wheel, roller coaster, bumper cars, and the merry go round were enjoyed by all ages.

Tropical Delights had a booth open and because Godfrey and Carmel had stayed for Carnival they took turns manning the booth. They were bombarded by customers until they ran out of ice cream on the hot July evenings and then they were free to enjoy the live music that played on stage in the center of the village.

The third weekend in July was coming around faster than she would have liked and the madness that was Carnival was almost over. K.C. had never been to a Carnival before in all of his travels so this was a new experience.

He was going to be driving the support vehicle for Gabrielle’s floupe, which was a combination of a float and a troupe so he would see the children’s parade from a different vantage point.

They would watch the Adult’s parade on Saturday from the sidewalk and like most residents the Halls had a spot where they sat along the parade route year after year.

Rielle and K.C. enjoyed the Food Fair and he came back with a small brown paper bag filled with mini guava tarts which were now a close second to chocolate as his favorite dessert.

He was surprised to see Lewis Coleman; his job site manager’s white F-150 pickup parked outside the gate of his house when he drove up.

K.C. opened the gate electronically and drove in before walking back out to meet the other man. He had dropped Gabrielle off at her house and she would drive her vehicle up to pick him up so they could go back down to the village.

“Hey Lewis, what’s up?” he asked the easy going, brown skinned man who had been a great help on this project.

They shook hands in greeting, the other man hoping he hadn’t made a mistake by coming up here.

They had decided to give the crew the rest of the week off knowing that with all of the events going on this last week of Carnival there would be a lot of absenteeism. Rather than dock the men they had shut down the job, not a lot could happen with the government closed anyway so it was not a big loss.

“Hey K.C., I went to the hotel because the security guard called me with a situation. A young woman showed up at the site looking for you and he couldn’t get in touch with you.”Lewis explained and watched the blond man glance at his vehicle’s tinted windows with a frown.

It was impossible to tell who was in the vehicle all he could make out was a figure.

“My phone was on vibrate since it was impossible to hear it over all of the noise at the Fair.” He told the other man and saw him smile in understanding.

“What happened to the woman that showed up at the Tropicana?” he asked when Lewis seemed reluctant to broach the subject further.

“She claimed to be a friend of yours but…” the brown skinned man began but he heard a noise behind him and stopped.

K.C. watched the man turn to look at the truck and as if on cue the door opened and his expression turned to stone when he saw who emerged from the vehicle.

A white broad brimmed hat hid the occupants face for a moment before the woman’s face was revealed as she tossed the hat back into the cab of the truck and slipped her sunglasses to the top of her head.

“Hello lover.” Tiffani Hudson said in a light voice.

The huge smile on her pale face could only be described as a pretense because the last time they had spoken she had acted as catty as she looked calling him everything from a freak of nature to a homosexual.

He had forced her to call off the wedding or risk everyone finding out about her lover and he had been adamant that he didn’t want to see her again. K.C. couldn’t believe she had the fucking gall to show up here just when he had his life worked out, her timing was incredible.

Lewis was not as inclined to ignore the obvious as the red head was, he had seen his employer’s eyes turn cold as he stared at the pretty woman, and the bad feeling he’d had congealed in his stomach. The only relief was that Gabrielle Hall was not here, he liked that young lady unlike this demanding witch who had complained all the way up the hill.

She had acted like he was driving a goat cart and not a fairly new truck he had bought from a local leasing company. Miss Tiffani was a piece of work all right and he didn’t know how K.C. was going to manage her but he wished him luck.

“Lewis I’m sorry you wasted your time but this is not a friend of mine.” He said in a hard voice ignoring the woman’s greeting and speaking to the other man.

“K.C. honey, don’t be like that.” Tiffani interrupted strolling over to put her hand on his chest.

Her cloying perfume made him wrinkle his noise as she reached up to press a kiss on his mouth which he dodged in time and she only caught his jaw. Her touch repelled him and he actually felt dirty when he grabbed her wrists to remove her hands.

“Tiffani, you are not welcome. Lewis can take you back to your hotel room or the airport for all I care, but you need to leave here.” He replied looking into the dark blue eyes of his ex-fiancé.

She pouted up at him and K.C. wondered what he had seen in this spoiled only child of a former airline executive and his socialite wife.

Tiffani could talk about fashion and knew everything about pop culture, but she couldn’t hold a conversation much past that. K.C. blamed himself for getting caught up with her, she had dangled her bait and he had swallowed.

He should have known that something was wrong when only Marcus had liked her, but then at twenty-six he was still into the packaging and not much else.

Those days were thankfully over for him however as he looked down at her and saw past her looks to see the real woman. She did not hold a candle to Gabrielle and while he did not deserve her love he would do everything in his power to protect his relationship with her.

Damn it Gabrielle would be here shortly to pick him up. He did not want Tiffani saying anything to upset her.

His expression became thunderous as those thoughts crossed his mind. No way did he want this bitch coming into contact and poisoning the best woman he knew outside of his family.