Mitch didn’t respond right away, and when he did, all he said was, “Andre?”
Belle kept her answer just as short. “Yep.”
“Are you okay?” That concern once again…it just did something to her. “What happened?”
“He’s trying to frame me for the fire.”
“Uh…what? Frame you?”
“I just had two detectives here questioning me because Andre told them that I was a bitter ex-employee and an even more vindictive ex-girlfriend.”
Mitch laughed. “Oh my word. Are you kidding me?”
“I wish I was.” Belle sighed. She went on to tell him all about the questions the detectives had asked her. With each sentence, she felt the butterflies calm down. One by one.
The knowledge that she had his support, that he was in her corner, eased her worries immensely. She knew she had her family’s support but knowing that Mitch had chosen to step to her side felt different. Significant. He had offered his support when he didn’t need to. She’d done nothing but give him reasons to step away. When she didn’t offer him the relationship he wanted with her, he still hadn’t rejected her.
Her heart was beginning to demand a say in her future. Though everything she’d done up until that point had been to protect her heart, it seemed that maybe that wasn’t enough.
“Did you have someone there for the questioning?” Mitch asked when she finished giving the details of her time with the detectives.
“Rory was here. Just in case I needed a lawyer.”
“Well, I’m glad that it appears you didn’t.”
“Yeah, she felt that when they left here, they weren’t considering me a suspect. That’s a big—huge—relief.”
“I’ll be praying that they can resolve this quickly so that you don’t have any of it hanging over your head,” Mitch said. “Be sure to let me know if you hear any updates. I’m insanely curious to see how this is going to play out in the end.”
“I’ll definitely let you know. No cliffhangers in this story,” Belle promised.
“Do you want to—” Mitch didn’t finish his sentence as voices filled the background. “Sorry, Belle. It looks like I gotta run. I’ll talk to you later.”
As the call ended, Belle had mixed feelings. Though she was grateful that her conversation with Mitch had calmed her down, she wished that he’d finished his sentence. Had he planned to ask her to hang out again? What would she have said?
Though she had all kinds of work to do, Belle found her mind wandering to the way Mitch made her feel. Did it make sense to let one crazy, twisted man turn her away from a normal, caring man? Nothing Mitch had shown her made her think that he would treat her like Andre had. In fact, he’d shown her quite the opposite.
Where Andre had torn her down, Mitch had offered her encouragement. At no time had he made her question her abilities or the way she looked. Nor had he tried to use her to prop himself up. Andre had done nothing but that. He had used her talents to build his business with no concern for her wellbeing.
Belle suddenly found herself in a place where she just wanted to toss all caution to the wind and tell Mitch that he had taken hold of her heart, and she didn’t want to fight it anymore. But, there were still things she had to think through. The truth was that her life really didn’t accommodate the future Mitch wanted, and it wouldn’t be fair to him to initiate anything until she was sure that any changes she’d have to make would be changes she could live with.
It was hard to imagine flipping her life overnight, but at the same time, it was hard to imagine a life without Mitch. Somehow without her even realizing it, she’d come to value him in a way she’d never valued a man in her life, aside from her dad. Not even her brother Jon had supported and cared for her the way Mitch had.
Over the next few days, Belle spent considerable time thinking and—finally—praying about the situation with Mitch and her growing feelings for him. Though the bits of teenage Belle that still existed wanted her to throw caution to the wind, there still existed a larger part of her that remembered the hurt of the past. That part of her, demanded that she think through her decision, and not rush ahead like she had nine years ago.
Slowly, her heart, mind, and soul moved into alignment. The love she’d been denying herself and Mitch filled her heart even as peace about being with Mitch filled her soul. But Belle knew that before she could do anything else, she would have to apologize to Mitch for the hurt she’d caused him by rejecting his feelings for her. And then she wanted to show him that she was in his corner. That in the way he’d been there for her without asking for anything in return, she wanted to be there for him.
The day after feeling like her life had finally fallen into place, Belle received a call that helped put another part of her life into its place. One of the detectives called to let her know that a young man had ended up in the hospital with burns on his hands. At the same time, detectives had been following up on footage they’d found on the security feed of a nearby business, of someone hurrying away from the scene of the fire. When confronted with the footage, the young man had confessed to having been paid to carry out the arson attack.
“Were they able to connect him to Andre aside from his word?” Jasmine asked when Belle told her about the latest twist. “Because what if Andre convinces them that you paid the guy to say that Andre paid him to burn his own building?”
Belle stared at her for a moment then grinned. “You’ve been watching too many cop shows, but actually, you’re right. They were able to connect him directly to Andre through their cell phone records and, ridiculously enough, through an electronic transfer of funds. Andre is apparently as bad a criminal mastermind as he was a business owner.”
“I’m super glad it’s over, but it is a bit anticlimactic,” Jasmine remarked.
“Anti-climactic is just fine.” In fact, it was preferable to any other type of ending to the situation with Andre. But in the end, it really didn’t matter how it ended. Belle was just thankful that it was over. Finally! And she couldn’t wait to tell Mitch. Maybe they could go out for dinner. They had more things to discuss than just Andre’s downfall. “I’ll be in my office, if you need me.”
The smile on her face wasn’t diminished a short time later even when she was forced to leave a message for Mitch instead of talking to him. She knew he was a busy person, and that he’d call back whenever he had a moment. It would be exciting to let him know that things were finally over with Andre.
Her heart and spirit were light as she went about her day, and at one point, Belle found herself making a list of things an assistant could handle if she could find someone she felt comfortable hiring. As she jotted down some notes, Belle was surprised to discover that there were more things that an assistant could help her with than she’d originally thought.
Thinking about a future where work wouldn’t be such a focus made it easier to consider handing off responsibilities to someone else. It would have to be someone she felt she could trust, but for the first time ever, she thought that perhaps she could do what her mom and her sisters had been bugging her to do.
When Mitch hadn’t called her back by five, Belle left the office feeling concerned about why he hadn’t responded. It wasn’t like him not to call back. Had her time run out? Now that Belles & Beaus were officially in the new building—though they hadn’t had their grand opening yet—was Mitch done with her?
At home, she tried to focus on the details of the weekend weddings, but it was hard. Mitch’s lack of communication was troubling. She thought about calling him again, but she didn’t want to bug him. Her message was there for him to listen to, and she had included a request that he return her call. She had to trust that he would do just that.
The next morning, after a night of overthinking why Mitch hadn’t called or texted her back, Belle stood in her kitchen, watching with tired eyes as coffee flowed through the Keurig pod into her mug. She had a feeling that this was going to be a multi-pot—never mind cup—of coffee day. No doubt she’d be dealing with an upset stomach by the end of the day because her appetite was non-existent.
The butterfly storm was gaining strength which meant food wasn’t something she’d be indulging in that day. Hearing from Mitch would go a long way toward quieting the storm, but Belle wasn’t feeling as hopeful as she had been the night before.
When her phone rang as she reached for her mug, Belle was quick to abandon the coffee and grab her phone from where it sat on the counter next to her. She felt a surge of disappointment when she saw Rory’s name on the screen, but she didn’t hesitate to answer it.
“Early morning, sis,” Belle said as she retrieved her cup of coffee and took a sip.
“I knew you would be up,” Rory said without apology. “Besides, this is important.”
Belle lowered the mug to the counter, the butterfly storm kicking up another notch. Her mouth was surprisingly dry considering the sip of coffee she’d just taken. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m currently in a meeting with James Dawson, and he told me that Mitch’s family got some distressing news yesterday,” Rory said. “I phoned as soon as I heard because I figured you’d want to know.”
“What’s happened?” Belle whispered, the words forced out through tense vocal cords.
“Mitch’s brother, Ryan, was in the Middle East with a team from his company, and he’s gone missing.”
“Ryan’s missing?” Belle felt an ache in her stomach that eclipsed the butterflies. But the ache wasn’t for herself. It was for the pain she knew that Mitch had to be in, given how close he was with his brother.
Mitch woke up when an elbow landed in his ribs. For a moment, he was confused, trying to figure out where he was. It had been awhile since he’d had to share a bed with anyone. The last time had been with Gabe, and from the sound of things when he returned the rib jab, it was his twin in the bed with him once again. But why?
He lay there for a moment, and slowly, details began to chase away the fog of sleep. But as they did, Mitch closed his eyes again and prayed for sleep to come back. Being awake meant facing the living nightmare his life had become.
“You awake, bro?” Mitch asked, keeping his voice low in case he wasn’t, but Gabe shifted on the bed beside him.
“Unfortunately. Kinda wish I wasn’t,” Gabe replied. “Wonder if we got any more news through the night.”
Mitch let out a sigh. “I have a feeling that if there had been any significant news, someone would have woken us.”
Both of them fell silent because honestly, there wasn’t anything to say. Their brother had disappeared, and there was nothing they could do about it. Word was that he wasn’t the only member of his team who was missing, but of course his absence was the one the brothers felt most keenly.
As soon as the news had come, their dad had gathered them all at the house for prayer. And then the church had immediately begun a prayer chain for Ryan and his team. Mitch had to admit that he’d hoped that storming the gates of Heaven with prayer would have brought some positive results through the night, but the fact that he and Gabe had slept through, meant there had been no good news. Hopefully, it also meant they hadn’t received any bad news.
Without saying anything more to Gabe, Mitch swung his feet over the side of the bed and sat up. He rubbed his hands over his face a few times then reached for his phone. The display told him it was just past seven, so there was no hope of going back to sleep. He got to his feet and headed for the bathroom attached to Gabe’s bedroom.
There had been no chance of him going home to deal with the ramifications of the news by himself. That wasn’t how their family operated. They needed the support of each other which meant that when the worst happened, they stayed close together. Even last night, Dalton and Danica had given up their rooms so the married couples with their kids could stay at the house too.
Mitch took a quick shower, then grabbed a pair of Gabe’s jeans and a T-shirt to wear until he could make it back to his place to pick up some more clothes. Or, hopefully, he could head back to his own place because the news came that Ryan had been safely located. By the time he was done dressing, Gabe had already left the room, so Mitch headed downstairs as well.
“You all need to eat.”
Mitch heard his dad’s words as he neared the kitchen. He discovered that the majority of the family was already gathered there. Clearly, he wasn’t the only one who had had trouble sleeping. Though it was a normal work day, he doubted that anyone would be leaving the house. Except for Levi, maybe.
Until they knew for sure what was up with Ryan, he knew he wouldn’t be the only one not able to work. Thankfully, Mark was excellent about stepping up to the plate when Mitch wasn’t able to be everywhere all at once. Or, as in the current situation, anywhere at all.
Still, he needed to get in contact with Mark before the day started. If there were any issues, he needed to know about them even if he wasn’t able to be at the sites. He was just glad that the work was done at Belle’s—
Belle.
He’d forgotten about the message he’d received from her the day before. He’d just listened to it when his dad had called about Ryan. Absolutely everything else had faded from his mind at the news.
Mitch sat down at the table, not paying much attention to the conversation going on around him as he placed a quick call to Mark. He let him know that he’d be sticking close to the house that day. Mark didn’t hesitate to assure him that he had everything under control. And Mitch believed him.
“Eat up, son.” A plate with a full breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast appeared in front of him.
“Coffee,” Gabe said as he sat down beside him. He had a mug in each hand and put one in front of Mitch.
After bowing his head to say a prayer for Ryan and his team, along with the food, Mitch opened his eyes and stared at the bounty on his plate. Did Ryan have something to eat?
The sound of sniffles drew Mitch’s attention, and he looked up to see Sammi fighting back tears as she cradled her baby close. Mitch knew that it wouldn’t be long before others began to cry as well. It had happened the night before, and it would likely happen a few more times until they had word that Ryan was safe.
They were all too aware of where Ryan had gone missing. Their parents had always wanted them to be globally informed. They’d raised them to understand that they had a privileged upbringing, not just because they were part of a family with money, but also because of living in Canada. There were Christians around the world who lived with the constant threat of death because of what they believed. And they were well aware that Ryan had gone missing in a part of the world that wasn’t friendly to Christians or foreigners.
Mitch had no doubt that while none of them were actually talking about that, they were all thinking about it. Their concern was as much about the location in the world as it was about the work that Ryan and his team might have been doing there. When Marcus Black had called his dad with the news, he hadn’t given many details, just a general location and the fact that Ryan had been there with a team from work.
It hadn’t been encouraging.