LN Cronan

The publishers are going out of their way now to be good to us Crossfire fans. Who do you think is footing the bill to make it possible for Sylvia to live her dream of meeting fans -- fans around the world? From the whirlwind of events in and around New York City next month to the upcoming trip to Australia? That's not coming out of her pockets - that's coming out of the Penguin Books PR budget.

 I think Angus knew Gideon was raped as a child, the only person under the Vidal roof who believed Gideon. I have a theory that Angus is the one who stopped the rapist from continuing to victimize Gideon -- Angus taking the law into his own hands, because "the system" had already failed to protect Gideon, only a child.  Angus is the only person Gideon absolutely trusts. He trusts Angus even more than Eva herself. Angus had to have done something momentous to earn that trust. Angus has been in Gideon's life since Gideon's childhood. So the only thing I can think of is that Angus put a stop to the rapist, and then Angus gave Gideon the emotional support he needed to grow up, becoming the one good parental figure in Gideon's life, Gideon having been failed miserably by his mother, his father and his stepfather.

If Victor does find out Gideon killed Nathan, a distinct possibility if Graves does another one of her spill-the-beans stunts, then Victor will face an awful choice: Â The police officer in him, sworn to uphold the law, would never want Gideon to get away with murder - premeditated murder at that, the worst kind of killing. And Victor would be even more horrified at the thought of Eva colluding to help cover up the crime after the fact, something that could expose her to a charge of accessory after the fact to first degree murder. Â The father in him, whose desire to protect his own child would know no bounds, could view the situation as Nathan having gotten away with raping Eva -- a short stint in a psychiatric hospital instead of decades in a prison. Like Gideon, he could also view the situation as Nathan would have gotten away with murder if he had killed Eva -- he'd have gone right through the lather-rinse-repeat of being sent to a hospital, not a prison, found mentally incompetent to stand trial. Â It's obvious to me which side of Victor would win out in the end. I can see Victor thanking Gideon for saving Eva's life. And I'll bet Victor would wish he'd been the one to plunge that knife into Nathan himself.

 Now THAT's a possibility. Perhaps it could play out: Gideon dumps Corrine Gideon starts seeing Eva again Eva tells Cary that she's sick of being part of the paparazzi obsession with Gideon's lovelife - so she's refusing to be seen in public with him right now Eva swears Cary to secrecy, begging him to not spread the gossip in the modeling circles he moves in -- lest the gossip get out to some photographer who will start stalking Eva in order to catch a photo of her with Gideon  Because as long as Cary still thinks Gideon is some stone cold heartbreaker, at the very least Cary will be trying to matchmake Brett and Eva. But even more dire, if Deanna Johnson gets hold of Cary while Cary is still angry over what Cross did to "baby girl" then Cary could jump at a chance to help a reporter seriously smear Gideon Cross.

 It broke my heart too, the first time I read Chapter Nineteen, envisioning Gideon crying all night holding Eva, the pair of them lying on the floor of her bedroom. It's like he felt he was unworthy of even being in her bed anymore. Of the times we readers have seen Gideon open and raw in pain, this has to be perhaps the worst.  It makes me wonder, too, how much he cried the day Eva dumped him and in all the days that followed when he didn't even dare communicate with her in any way. I can envision him struggling in front of the cops, after that awful phone call he got from her, to keep from crying. But as soon as he got to the safety of his car, he must have lost it. I wonder what, if anything, Angus could have said to comfort him.  I envision that in the days that followed, he spent a lot of time working late, because perhaps the only times he could halfway concentrate would be after hours, when Eva had already left for the day. Evenings probably alternated between hours of punishing workouts at the gym and dinner business meetings -- the latter probably with Corrine at his side during every one of them. He'd avoid going home for as long as possible, but once there, he probably cried himself to sleep every night -- and probably suffered awful nightmares every night: the old nightmares of being raped, new nightmares of plunging the knife into Nathan's heart, and nightmares of having lost Eva. Â

Chapter Eighteen of Bared to You - The Readers Guide  This chapter covers Monday (day 15) - two weeks to the day since they first met in the lobby of the Crossfire.  Key plot developments: For the first time, Eva says "I love you" to Gideon. Eva gives Gideon a promise ring Eva makes a regular Monday one of the happiest he's ever had at work. Eva learns how creepy his half-brother is, as she and Gideon see secretly shot video of Christopher sexually using Magdalene.  New characters None in this chapter  The L-Word In the back of Gideon's car, on their way to work, Eva told  him, for the first time, "I love you." (page 266) Struck speechless, he didn't say anything. But shaking violently, he held her tight for the remainder of the ride. Following up her words, Eva had flowers delivered to Gideon's office three times starting in the morning and going through early afternoon. She included flirtatious cards, reminding him of the limo ride when they made love for the first time, also reminding his about making love in his parents' library, and thanking him for all the amazing sex. He responded to each delivery by sending sexually suggestive notes to her office. Over lunchtime, she bought him a promise ring in exchange for the ring he'd given her Sunday night. Late afternoon, during a 15-minute break in his day she got to see him in his office, she gave it to him. Sensing he was overwhelmed, she feared maybe she's gone too far too fast, so she tried to ease off a little. In turn, that made him afraid she was trying to back off on having told him she loves him. "I meant every word, Gideon," she swore him, and reassured, he replied, "I'll make you say it again. You'll scream it by the time I'm done with you." (page 270)  Christopher Jr. The Creep On Sunday afternoon during the music industry party that the Vidal estate, Gideon made love to Eva in the library. Twice, they got caught by others. First was Magdalene, who inadvertently walked in them - and immediately fled. Only Eva spotted her at the time. Soon after, Christopher Jr. on purpose walked in, this time while Gideon and Eva were engaged in something a bit more discrete. Gideon had to make Christopher leave. Monday morning, Eva (and Gideon) found out that Christopher sexually took advantage of a despondent Magdalene soon after she had seen what had been going on in the library. The Christopher/Magdalene tryst, which happened in an out-of-the-way location on the grounds, was secretly videotaped by Cary -- who then emailed the tape to Eva as a warning for her to steer clear of Christopher. Eva opened the email on her smartphone in Gideon's car, and thus he watched the video too. It was apparent on the tape that Christopher knew Magdalene's body well - and thus he'd f****** her before. What she couldn't see, but Eva/Gideon could see on the tape, was a contemptuous look on Christopher's face. He was using Magdalene. Now Eva understood why in the past, Gideon had tried to order Eva to stay away from Christopher. Now that Eva's seen proof there was good reason, Gideon offers some detailed reasons behind his warning. Christopher hates Gideon, jealous of all the attention Gideon got when the pair of them were younger attention Gideon had been receiving because of the suicide of Gideon's birth father. "So now he wants what's mine. Everything he can get his hands on," Gideon said by way of explanation why Christopher would f*** a woman (Magdalene) in love with Gideon. (page 266) The Magdalene episode was especially upsetting to Gideon though, because he'd never dreamed Christopher would go so far as to seduce her. "I thought Maggie would be safe from him. Our mothers have known each other for years. I forgot how much he hates me." (pages 265-266).

Chapter A Day Re-Read Project - Today is Chapter Nineteen of Bared  This chapter runs Monday evening (day 15) through Tuesday evening (day 16).  Key plot developments: For the third time, Eva witnesses one of Gideon's sexually violent nightmares. This time it's in her bed, not his, and it's the worst yet. Still deeply asleep, he attempts to rape her. Her Krav Maga defense skills coupled with Cary coming to her rescue, stops things. A shattered Gideon wants to leave afterward, but she convinces him to stay. Even though Cary is in a formal relationship with Trey, Cary starts a friends-with-benefits relationship with a female model, having her sleep over Monday night, to Eva's chagrin. On Tuesday night, Trey catches Cary and the model in bed together.  Once each of us has read Chapter Nineteen, our homework assignment from Sylvia herself is for each of us to pick our favorite quote or paragraph.  The chapter re-reads also have been the springboard here for lots of discussion. We're continuing to touch upon the chapter of the day, but even more, discussion has been jumping backward into the earlier chapters and forward in the story (even into Reflected and into what we've got for Entwined - Chapter One of it, part of Chapter Two, the snippets and the snapshot clues.) The re-read of one chapter daily is leading us to analyze how different parts of the Crossfire saga have been connecting.

However, I am encouraged that it looks like Eva is now taking charge in making the decisions about her and Gideon conducting a secret love affair. It's Eva -- as a cops daughter -- "  .... couldn’t take the chance that she’d told me her suspicions just to see if I’d run to him and prove that his breakup with me was a well-crafted lie."  So in Chapter One, this is how Eva has taken charge of the situation: Walked away from Gideon as soon as she told Gideon what he needed to convey to his defense team (what the detective had just done). Recognized that she couldn't even telephone Gideon about Deanna Graves gunning for him -- "I needed to warn Gideon, but there was no way for me to contact him that couldn’t be traced." Made the decision that she'd have to keep the secret even from Cary -- and even from Dr. Peterson too. The very first words out of her mouth, upon finding Gideon had snuck in to her apartment to see her "It’s dangerous for you to be here."  For two-plus awful weeks, Gideon had been calling all the shots - and making stupid mistakes along the way: Getting caught seeing Eva (the family dinner) after he'd already killed Nathan Taking Eva's telephone call while he was at the police station, putting himself into a position where he lost it over a telephone call they'd easily been able to trace Approaching Eva in front of witnesses at the Crossfire Chasing her to Dr. Lucas' office Going off with her in his car, and inadvertently getting spotted by a beat cop with the two of them in one another's arms  Now Eva is going to be the one calling the shots in the cover-up, I think. I hope so, that she gets back having a say in the matter. Actually gets back more than that -- gets back control. And puts Gideon into a position where he has to trust her. he has to yield up his control-freak-nature. The Oscar Night snippet shows this:  â€œShut up, caveman. I’m not into that ‘me Cross, you Cross little woman’ bull****,†I snapped. “In case you’ve forgotten already, we made a trade. You got me, and I got you. I protect what’s mine.† â€œEva, don’t fight my battles for me. I can take care of myself.† â€œI know that. You’ve been doing it your whole life. Now, you’ve got me. I can handle this one.â€

As a cop's daughter, Eva realizes it's too dangerous to tell anyone else the truth. Eva even walked away from Gideon, knowing it was too dangerous to even have any more contact with him, period, for the foreseeable future. From Chapter One:  I was suddenly struck with the knowledge that I would have to keep a dreadful secret from my best friend.  Cary was my touchstone, my voice of reason, my favorite shoulder to lean on–and a brother to me in every way that mattered. I hated the thought of having to hold back what Gideon had done for me.  I wanted desperately to talk about it, to get help working it out in my head, but I’d never be able to tell anyone. Even our therapist could be ethically and legally bound to break our confidence.  Cary might suspect Gideon had something to do with it. The thought had even crossed Eva's mind the weekend she dumped him. Monica and Stanton almost certainly suspect Gideon had something to do with it. But none of them can ever be told for certain by either Eva or Gideon. Direct knowledge would put any of them into the same place Eva is right now - colluding to cover up the crime. Also from Chapter One:   We were colluding to hide a crime, and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t seriously bother me–I was the daughter of a police officer, after all–but the alternative was too awful to consider.  So yes, this is really going to s*** that Cary cannot be told the truth that Gideon felt he had very good reason for deliberately hurting Eva. All Cary knows right now is Gideon broke Eva's heart. And if Cary figures out, as he probably will, that Gideon and Eva are sneaking around, Cary may assume the worse - Gideon is cheating on Corrine and keeping Eva on the string. I think Cary would be seriously ticked off at the prospect of Mrs. Corrine Cross with all the respect and Eva regulated to being Gideon's mistress.

 Honestly, defense lawyers wouldn't want to hear that. For one thing, it seriously restricts their ability to put their client on the witness stand. If Gideon told them he did kill Nathan, they couldn't put him on the stand, lest he commit perjury by denying he did it when the prosecutor cross-examined him.  If he blurted it out to his lawyers, that would be one thing. But they wouldn't ask him that question pointblank themselves.

 News business? Or selling the story? Deanna identified herself to Eva as a freelance reporter, meaning she makes her living by selling stories to various news organizations.

Snapshot #3 is of a coffee cup and the word "business." A common theory is it has to do with Eva at work, perhaps continuing to help out on marketing that blueberry flavored coffee ....  BUT ....  In Entwined Chapter One, Deanna says to Eva, " .... pretty soon you’re going to figure out that Gideon Cross was using you to get Corinne Giroux jealous enough to come back to him. When you smell the coffee, call me. I’ll be waiting."  What if that coffee cup relates to the remark "smell the coffee." Maybe in Chapter Three, Eva calls Deanna to start manipulating her? Deanna already knows that Brett is waiting in the wings, and Snapshot #4 is of a microphone stand. Eva manipulating Deanna in order to spin the story the way Eva and Gideon want it spun? Now spinning the Brett story as a better cover than the not-working-anyway Corrine cover?

 The story about Gideon going postal on Brett is bound to get out anyway. Might as well control the spin from behind the scenes. Because when it comes to Gideon and Eva's history as a couple supposedly already long over and done with, Gideon could use all the media spin he can get.  I just hope it's Gideon and not Deanna in control of the story.

 Maybe word getting out about the big drama after the concert a few weeks earlier. Deanna Johnson to blame? From Chapter One of Entwined, we know that she knows Eva's got a "rock star waiting in the wings." Deanna digs up dirt on how Gideon went postal? And runs the story?

When Deanna Johnson tried to entice Eva into getting even with Gideon (yeah, good luck with that!) she tried provoking Eva by saying, " .... pretty soon you’re going to figure out that Gideon Cross was using you to get Corinne Giroux jealous enough to come back to him. When you smell the coffee, call me. I’ll be waiting.† Gideon appeared in press photos with Eva for only a week and a half in Bared to You. The timing of Corrine's return to New York happened to coincide with Gideon pulling Eva out of the spotlight, because Nathan had just gotten into New York too.  I can see where Johnson would draw the wrong conclusion: photos of Eva, then Corrine comes back, then no more photos of Eva.  But overall, Eva's vanishing from the public spotlight is to the benefit of Gideon and Eva right now -- it helps bolster his "side" of the story he didn't love Eva (and thus had no motive to kill for her.)  Here's the timeline for Gideon and Eva being photographed as a couple:  Saturday: their first date, the advocacy center dinner. Red carpet shots of them arriving in formal attire (Eva in that red dress!) Monday: their first day as boyfriend and girlfriend. Passionate kiss picture staged by Gideon on the sidewalk near his gym. Deliberate leak to the media by his PR people that Eva is the "significant woman" in his life. Wednesday: the lunchtime argument in Bryant Park. Pictures of them fighting and then making up. More passion. "Let that go viral" Gideon said. Wednesday one week later: the fundraiser Corrine crashed. Red carpet shots of Gideon and Eva arriving.  And that is it -- that Eva knows about, that is, and thus we readers know about. Only twelve days total, start to finish, with a big chunk of time missing (the pair of them were broken up for four days.) Gideon quits letting them get photographed as a couple. Then not too long after, he allows himself to start being photographed with Corrine.

So if the Times Square scene happens in Chapter 16 instead of Chapter 4, hopefully Cary won't be on Team Brett anymore -- and up to his occasional pot-stirring. Â The potential mixture of Brett talking with Eva and Cary at an event having something to do with Vidal Records and with Gideon in the vicinity is a recipe for t-r-o-u-b-l-e. No more fist fights, please, between two alpha males trying to lay claim to Eva. Let's just stick to verbal catfights between women trying to oust Eva from Gideon's side.

 We use the term "stands" too. It varies according to type of sports venue. Just to confuse y'all even more

Victor Reyes is a fan of the San Diego Padres baseball team. I can see him enjoying games in the bleachers, seats easily affordable on an ordinary cop's salary. Maybe even bringing Eva to games back in the day when she was living near him. Â Gideon is a New York Yankees fan -- and well, let's just say he'd never sit in the bleachers. He'd have access to the best seats in Yankee Stadium.

From Wikipedia: In American English, bleachers or stands are raised, tiered rows of seats found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways access the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a row of seats. Seats range from simple plank seats to more elaborate seats with backrests.  Note: in baseball stadiums, the "bleachers" refers to a specific section of the stadium, the "cheap seats" -- the seats farthest away from the section of the playing field where all the action takes place (the bases). Bleachers are far less expensive than the prime seats near the bases, but the bleachers also are a really fun place to watch a game, because they draw a far more diverse crowd. There - you learned a little bit of sports trivia today!

I'm working longer hours to get all my work projects done. But I'm enjoying my work days a lot more these days. It can get awfully boring being based in a home office. Online interaction is my social outlet during the day.

I hope Sylvia isn't saying, "curses, I've been foiled! - they've figured out Brett isn't appearing in Chapter Four after all." Â LOL

And I learned something -- I thought the Spanish pronounciation was EE-va. I stand corrected - it's AY-vah, like the German pronounciation. . It's similar to the German, which also is AY-vah (I know a German-American woman who pronounces her name AY-vah - but I also know an EE-va)

Outstanding, figuring out today's snapshot was from Times Square!!!! Standing ovation!!!!  Maybe the Brett snippet does go with Chapter 16 instead of Chapter 4.  Very clever ......

So in Chapters 16 and 17, we learn for certain Gideon's a dominant, and based on some of the partial stuff we know about the f*** pad back from Chapter 9, the story strongly suggest that Gideon's adventurous sexual nature involves some kinkiness. We also know the only place he'd ever taken lovers prior to Eva was that hotel. In Chapter 21, we'd learn the supposed reason Corrine finally threw down an ultimatum with Gideon - his refusal to spend entire nights with her.  What if there's more to it than that? What if at the time, Corrine couldn't handle Gideon's level of kinkiness, sensing what the pair of them weren't doing was making love? She finally figured out from the sex that Gideon was not acting like a man in love -- and so she was betting on the fact that if he stood to lose her, then he'd come to his senses he loved her? The REAL dealbreaker was Gideon was too closed off to fall in love?  Which might make sense why Corrine came running back now -- seeing photographic evidence through the tabloids that Gideon finally was open enough to fall in love. Even Deanna Johnson told Eva (in Entwined Chapter One) that Eva got the "iceman" to thaw. So it was apparent even to someone who didn't know Gideon well that he'd opened up. Corrine, who knew him a long time, even thanked Eva for getting Gideon to open up.  This could be long-term good for Eva -- if she can finally be convinced Gideon all along truly was different with her than with anyone else. None of those women who came before her -- that long line of brunettes -- mattered. Finally put her nagging insecurities to rest?

With all the other women who came before Eva, starting with Corrine, is was f****** plain and simple. With Eva, it was making love. Even that first time in the limo. It was only in hindsight he recognized it. He told her as much (see page 327). Â He doesn't need toys in a hotel room with Eva. She's blown his mind in many other places and in many other ways -- he's learning all over again how to actually have consensual sex, the best kind ever - lovemaking. Â (He'll take a b*** job in his office and monkey sex in the back of his limo over toys in a hotel room any day, LOL).