Hearts Entwined

by Gray, Khardine

  Hearts Entwined

  Khardine Gray

  Contents

  Title Page

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Thank you

  About the Author

  Also by Khardine Gray

  Also by

  Hearts Entwined

  Copyright

  Hearts Entwined

  Copyright © 2017 by Khardine Gray

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The author asserts that all characters and situations depicted in this work of fiction are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Always for my mother, Paulette, and sister, Tara. For my dearest husband, and our sons.

  For my dearest friends, Lori, Anne, Sue, and Jackie (thank you for our pizza trips) and Hayley.

  Thank you all for the inspiration.

  * * *

  Chapter 1

  Evie couldn't help it.

  It was pure instinct that made her slam the door in Gage's face. It was a simple natural response to stimuli, given their history.

  What on earth could he have wanted? And, at this time of night. It was nearly ten.

  She hadn't seen him for five years. Five glorious years of peace, knowing that when she went home to visit her family, he'd be in L.A. Far, far, away from Chicago quarterbacking for the NFL, and doing whatever it was quarterbacks did for the Los Angeles Gladiators.

  Evie had gotten used to relishing the thought of going home and seeing her family and friends without the worry of Gage Montgomery - her absolute childhood nemesis - scheming his next bout of antics that would make her life hell. Sure they were adults now and had been for years, but no harm ever came from exercising too much caution.

  Just now she'd foolishly dropped her guard when she opened the door. She'd thought it was the pizza guy, who was already half an hour late. Usually, she would have checked the little peephole before flinging the door wide open. This was the sort of thing that happened to people who didn't check first.

  Gage rang the doorbell again, more persistent this time as if he hadn't irritated her enough. She was hoping the door in his face would have given him the message and he'd go away but no, to her great annoyance he was still here.

  "Evie, please open the door," he called out.

  She shook her head and started to make her way back into the family room where her mother and sister were huddled together waiting for her to come back. Like them, she was eager to resume their chick flick fest. They were in the middle of watching Only You. Evie must have seen that film hundreds of times, but still loved that scene where Marissa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. danced in the street as the saxophonist played Some Enchanted Evening.

  She'd waited for months for this weekend. No way was she going to let Gage ruin it. Everything had been crazy busy at work, and it had been awhile since she'd made it back home. If she wasn't performing, it was all about rehearsals, rehearsals, and more rehearsals. It was a never-ending cycle. This was her first real break and block of vacation she'd had since the year began. Evie had miraculously managed to get close to a month off, and that was only because the first Autumnal concert was canceled due to Maria Porcello's hip replacement surgery. She had a ton of things planned, starting with tonight's fest.

  "Come on, Evie. Please." Gage could sound as desperate as he wanted. The only way she was opening that door was with a priest and a bucket of holy water to douse him with.

  Hopefully, if she ignored him long enough, he'd just go away. And quickly too before the pizza arrived.

  "My grandmother is missing," he called out.

  Evie stopped so sharp in her tracks she almost fell over in the hallway. She had to brace herself by grabbing onto the edge of one of the floating shelves on the wall.

  "I don't know where she is," he continued. There was a hopelessness in his voice that panicked her. The panic sent her rushing back to the door.

  The cold night air blew in as she flung the door open again. "Lucy's missing?" she cried.

  Gage nodded. The soft amber glow from the porch light beamed down on him drawing attention to his striking blue eyes that were filled with worry. As he looked at her, his square jaw tensed emphasizing the clear cut lines of his profile.

  It was her love for Lucy that made her overlook the relation to Gage. Otherwise, there was no way she'd be talking to him.

  Lucy was incredibly dear to her. She was like family. Not only had Evie known Lucy her whole life, having lived right next door to her for most of it, but Lucy had made it possible for Evie to do what she'd always dreamed of. Thanks to Lucy, Evie was a world class violinist who played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as one of their leads. She'd done so well that she now had her own concerts which showcased her original composed music. Lucy had made that dream possible.

  "Have you seen her?" he asked breaking her thoughts. The worry in his eyes told her that this was quite serious.

  "Not since this morning."

  Lucy had been tending to her miniature roses when Evie had gone to see her. She seemed fine then, and happy as she marveled at how her roses had always looked their best in the middle of summer.

  Lucy was a very particular person. She wouldn't just go missing without a good reason.

  Gage released a frustrated sigh and ran his hands through his short black hair, ruffling it even more.

  "Something must have happened. Lucy's normally in bed by nine." She glanced over at the hall clock and panicked even more when she saw it was now five to ten. "What did you do?"

  He eyed her with scrutiny, annoyed at the question. "Me? Why would you automatically assume that I did something?" He stood up straighter and shifted his weight from one foot to the next into a stance that emphasized his athletic physique.

  She shook her head at him. Clearly, he'd forgotten who he thought he was talking to. Their years of no contact must have made him mistake her for one of those air-headed women he was used to that would believe everything he told them and fall at his feet, worshiping him for his good looks.

  Evie was no fool. She'd known Gage since she was eight and had a good twenty-five years of getting to know this guy. Granted, for five of those years she hadn't seen him, but the point was she knew him.

  Knew his facial expressions inside out. Knew his mannerisms. Knew that that guilty look in his eyes signaled he was covering up something and that hard blink he just did meant he was aware that he'd just been caught out.

  "What did you do Gag
e?" She pursed her lips together and folded her arms, staring him down.

  He answered by rolling his eyes. "Good night, Evie, it was nice to see you."

  Gage moved away from her and proceeded down the steps that led to the front lawn. His powerful well-muscled body moved swiftly, and with that commanding air of confidence he used when he played football.

  Evie frowned. There was no way he was going to dismiss her like that.

  She grabbed her coat off the stand by the door and ran, catching up to him as he reached Lucy's front porch. He looked thoroughly annoyed when he saw she'd followed.

  "Gage, I know something happened so you might as well tell me. It might help us find her."

  "Us?" His brows drew together, and he narrowed his eyes at her.

  "Yes us. When it comes to Lucy, there's an us. So start talking." She squared off with him putting her hands on her hips, as if her mere frame of five feet and four inches were comparable to his towering stature of six foot seven.

  He sighed slumping his shoulders, then reluctantly tilted his head, signaling her to follow him inside.

  The beautiful fragrance of roses tickled her nose as she stepped in. It grew stronger when she went into the lounge which was adorned with roses in bouquets, pots, and vases. The deep pink hues of the flowers matched the wallpaper color perfectly and the rectangular shaped wall light glass shades. Lucy was obsessed with roses and had always said they were the best flowers to make you feel great about yourself.

  By the wooden French doors was a tripod stand with a music sheet. From where Evie stood she could see the sheet was filled with hand-written musical notes, but the notes stopped towards the middle of the sheet. It signaled Lucy was writing music again. She'd stopped for a long time due to being so busy with her students. Evie had hoped that once Lucy retired she'd go back to composing. It looked like she was doing exactly that.

  Lucy's old violin rested on the little side table near the sofa. It may have been awhile since Lucy had been her teacher, but Evie still got excited at the thought of hearing her play. The woman was an absolute legend comparable to the greats of the past like Vivaldi, Corelli, and Paganini. Evie might have gone to Julliard and played for the New York Philharmonic, but she'd had Lucy, the very best violin teacher in the world.

  As Evie followed Gage into the kitchen the first thing that caught her eye was a large box on the breakfast table marked Federal Express International.

  "This is the cause of all the trouble." Gage pointed to the box, shaking his head in dismay.

  Evie went over to it and looked inside. It was filled with letters, very old looking letters that had turned brown with age. They were addressed to Lucy Caldwell. Caldwell was Lucy's maiden name.

  "It came this afternoon, shortly after I arrived," Gage continued, picking up one of the letters that had been opened. "My grandmother lived in Italy when she was younger. It was during World War Two. My great grandfather was an assistant to the U.S. diplomat at the time."

  Evie's mouth dropped on hearing that. Of all the years she'd known Lucy this was the first time she'd ever heard of this. She couldn't have been more stunned, and quite surprised that Lucy hadn't shared something so significant.

  "I didn't know that at all." Evie bit her lip.

  "She doesn't talk about it. This is probably why." He sighed in frustration. "There's like a thousand letters in here, all from her first love who she thought was dead."

  Evie gasped, and all she could do was stare at him, tongue-tied. How unreal, and completely bizarre. She couldn't imagine how Lucy must have felt when she found out.

  Gage rubbed the back of his neck and adjusted the collar on his jacket before he sat down on the nearest chair and slouched against its wooden back. He pulled in a breath and continued to explain. "The first letter she read was from him telling her he was alive and that he was going to come back as soon as he could and ask her to marry him. She read a few more to me, but as you can see there's plenty to go through." Gage shook his head and grimaced. "She really doesn't need this right now."

  He said that like it was a bad thing. "What do you mean? Shouldn't it be good he didn't die?"

  "Evie, she wanted to go to Italy tonight and find him."

  Of course Lucy would want to do that. It was the very thing Evie would have done if it had been her.

  "Gage, why didn't she get these letters earlier, why now?"

  He leaned across the table and retrieved a more modern looking letter that was next to the box.

  "This is from the consulate in Italy." He handed the paper to her.

  Dear Signora,

  Our archivist found this box of letters while doing a survey of our old storage facility. The sender continued to send to us although your father had long since returned to America. These letters seemed to have been placed in the facility for safe keeping, but somehow had been misplaced with some other items of value. We can only apologize with deep sincerity for this occurrence, and for any inconvenience caused. While they are decades late we felt you would appreciate having them.

  Please contact us if we can be of any assistance to you.

  Warm regards,

  Pierre Portofino

  Chief Archivist

  Poor Lucy. Evie could only imagine how she must have felt.

  "She got upset with me when I told her she couldn't just go off to Italy. She was even more furious when I said he was more than likely dead by now." Gage frowned and looked at her as if he thought she'd side with him.

  "You said that to her?" She gave him a withering stare.

  "Of course I did," he replied sharply.

  "Why would you do that? How could you say such a thing to her?"

  Typical Gage with his lack of compassion.

  "Evie, my grandmother is eighty-nine, and this guy is probably the same age or older. What are the chances of him still being alive? The letters were from the forties. It's two thousand and sixteen." He opened his palms as he spoke and looked at her askance. "Come on, even you can't bust my ass for talking straight."

  She stared at him, wanting to be angry but found she couldn't. He was right. She couldn't believe that she was admitting that he was right, but he was.

  "Okay, so you told her you thought he was dead?" she asked, trying to reason out what could have happened. However, the hair on the nape of her neck stiffened as realization began to dawn on her. "And that she couldn't just go to Italy?"

  He nodded. "Yes, and now I don't know where she is. I've been walking around for hours looking for her. I went to the park, the supermarket, that lake house she always plays at. And nothing. There's no sign of her."

  Evie closed her eyes and bit her lip again. Sometimes she wished she didn't know Lucy so well because right now she had an uneasy thought of where she might have gone, her nerves tensed the more she thought about it.

  "She's gone to the airport Gage," Evie stated.

  Gage straightened up immediately. "That's ridiculous. She wouldn't do that. She doesn't even drive."

  "Taxi. Gage, she's gone to the airport, and if I know her she's totally on her way to Italy."

  As he rose to his feet, Evie reached for her car keys.

  * * *

  Her hunch was right as always when it came to Lucy.

  It didn't take long to get to O'Hare International, and it didn't take long to find Lucy either amongst the sea of people moving around. It was Gage who spotted her first. She was sitting alone in the waiting area sobbing as she held her purse close to her chest. Her snowy white hair that was always neat and rolled up into a bun hung in loose disheveled waves about her tear streaked face.

  Evie had always thought she looked great for her age. No one would ever believe

  Lucy was nigh on ninety. However, right now she looked her age, and her tiny, flowerlike frame looked as if the life had been sucked out of her.

  Evie's heart broke as she observed her and her emotions propelled her to Lucy's side.

  Lucy looked relieved to see them but wa
s so choked up she found it hard to talk.

  "My dear girl." She sobbed catching her breath as Evie hugged her. Gage stood beside Evie looking down at Lucy, his shoulders hunched with worry.

  "I'm so sorry," Evie told her. "Gage told me what happened."

  Lucy's delicate shoulders shook as she cried harder. "My Angelo never died. He never died." Lucy pulled away so she could retrieve the letter from her bag. Her hands shook as she handed it to Evie to read.

  Lucy,

  I'm alive. I was presumed dead because I got captured in enemy territory. I escaped with some comrades, and I'm on my way back to Italy as I write this. Wait for me. I'm going to ask you to marry me. You'd better say yes. I love you.

  Ciao Bella.

  The words gripped her heart, and when Evie looked at Lucy she saw the wealth of pain and desperation within her pale blue eyes.

  "Please help me to get to Italy. I don't know how to use these things." Lucy held up two of her credit cards. That explained why she was still here.

  "Grams, please come home." Gage knelt down in front of her.

  Lucy glanced over at him and shook her head. "I can't. I should never have left Italy. My heart told me he was alive."

  "Grams those letters are really old. Things might not turn out the way you want. I don't want you to be more heartbroken than you already are." He offered an affectionate smile.

  Evie had never seen this side of Gage. She'd wrongly thought earlier that he had no compassion, but he seemed to be filled with it. She was also glad he didn't mention death, although he was implying it.

  "Lucy -" Evie began, but Lucy interrupted.

  "No. I won't give up on him again. I still love him." She said with deep conviction. "I feel the same and in my heart I know he's alive. Please help me to get on a plane. That is all I'm asking."

  This was so hard. So very hard. Evie didn't know what to do, and Gage looked hopeless.

  Lucy looked from Evie to Gage and started to cry even harder when neither of them budged.