A Woman with Secrets

by Inglath Cooper

  “Miracle of modern technology. A little thing called a tracking device.”

  “Why didn’t you just break into my room at the hotel? You’ve had plenty of opportunities.”

  “Too bad I couldn’t consult with you on the proper break-in plan. You are, after all, the expert.”

  “How could you do this, Karl?” she asked.

  “You mean take advantage of you,” he said, his voice layered with disbelief. “How could I not? You were such an easy target. If it hadn’t been me, it would have been someone else.”

  The words hit her like a knife in the chest. And maybe their power lay in the mere fact that she could not deny their truth. Shame flooded through her, dousing any anger she might have still been harboring for her ex-husband. “You’re right,” she said. “I was.”

  His eyes widened, the smirk on his lips faltering. “What? Are you all done with the revenge theme now?”

  She stared at him for several long seconds, long enough for him to shift a little awkwardly on the cot. “As a matter of fact, I am,” she said. “Completely done.”

  She backed up a step, then turned and headed back the way she’d come.

  “Kate,” he called out. “Wait! You need to get me out of here!”

  “Call Tiffany,” she said. And she kept walking. Feeling lighter with every step.

  * * *

  BACK AT THE hotel, Kate said she was going to her room to pack up a few things. Harry and Margo lingered out front, a little awkward now that they were alone again. He took her hand and led her to a bench under a stand of palm trees. They sat for a few moments before either of them spoke, and then it was at the same time.

  “I think we should talk about—” he began.

  “Dad and I are leaving—”

  They both broke off, staring at one another in silence.

  “Leaving when?” he finally asked.

  “This afternoon,” she said. “There’s a five o’clock flight to San Juan.”

  “This afternoon,” he repeated. “But what about—”

  “Harry,” she said. “Last night was lovely, but we both knew it couldn’t outlive this vacation.”

  He had to admit he was a little stunned by this. He thought of all the times he’d been the one bowing out, making excuses. He’d never imagined how it felt to be on the receiving end of it. “Is this about your father?” he asked. “Do you think he won’t approve?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Well, see, I think it is. You can’t leave, Margo. We just found each other.”

  The words swayed her. He could see it in her eyes. But he also saw the conflict there, and he somehow knew he wasn’t going to win this one.

  She stood, pressing a hand to his cheek, then bending down and kissing him. He tasted the sweetness of their night together on her lips, and he could honestly say he’d been changed by it. “’Bye, Harry,” she said and walked away.

  “Margo. Wait!”

  But she just walked faster until she was running, and he was once again alone.

  * * *

  HARRY SAT FOR a long time after she’d gone. Just thinking.

  For a lot of years now, he’d been the one with the trust issues. His life had been what he’d made it. No commitment. Just fun and games. And that’s how he’d wanted it.

  Until now. Until Margo. And he felt as if he’d walked into a wall. Suddenly, his eyes were opened to the truth of his life and its hollow emptiness. He realized that without her, he would be lonely in a way he’d never imagined he could be.

  He wondered how a thirty-five-year-old woman could turn him down because her father disapproved of him. He considered this for a good bit, coming at it from every angle he could come up with. Until it hit him that it wasn’t her father’s approval that she needed. It was something else entirely. She needed to know that he believed she would be safe. That the man she was with would do everything in his power to take care of her.

  Without a single doubt in his mind, Harry knew he was that man. Somehow, he needed to prove it first to Dr. Sheldon and then to Margo.

  * * *

  THE PLANE THAT took Kate to the Dominican Republic was small and noisy. There were only four other passengers on the flight, and she sat with her eyes closed, trying not to notice the bumps.

  She did a cowardly thing and left a note for Margo and Harry. She just couldn’t bring herself to say goodbye in person. Leaving them felt like another loss, and she’d rather leave it open-ended with the possibility that they would see each other again.

  Maybe she’d hung on to this because of how things ended with Cole. Because that loss was real.

  She looked out the window, still able to spot Tango Island in the distance. She knew without a doubt that her life had changed on that island. There, she’d fallen in love with a man who made her want to be a better version of herself. Who, she realized now, would never know whether she’d managed to get it right or not.

  She thought of Louis, too, and the look in his eyes when she’d left him at the orphanage. Couldn’t you adopt him? Lyle’s question came floating back to her. It had seemed preposterous at the time, but she wondered now at her reasons for dismissing it so easily. Selfishness? Inconvenience?

  To her credit, she didn’t think so. Adoption seemed like something worthy of a more responsible person than she’d been, someone who had made better life choices. But then, wasn’t that the person she wanted to be from this point forward? And if she kept looking back at her past, how would she ever move on to a future?

  With a quiet conviction, she suddenly knew what she wanted one of the first steps in this new life to be. She needed Louis as much as he needed her. What better reason was there?

  She watched as Tango Island became smaller and smaller, until it was a speck in the distance and then gone altogether. Only then did she turn around and face forward, content in knowing she would be back.

  * * *

  AT THREE O’CLOCK, Margo followed a porter to the lobby with her suitcases. She’d been trying to call Kate’s room for the last hour and still hadn’t reached her. At the front desk, she asked if Kate was still in the hotel, only to learn that she’d already checked out. Margo couldn’t believe that Kate would have left without saying goodbye. She was still trying to figure out what to make of this when another young woman behind the counter handed her an envelope.

  “Your father asked that I make sure you receive this,” she said with a smile.

  Margo glanced around the lobby, expecting to see him. He was nowhere in sight so she opened it and pulled out a letter written on the hotel’s stationery. She read the first line, her eyes speeding across the words.

  My dearest Margo,

  I would hope by now, despite my often clumsy methods of showing it, that you know how very much I love you. I think it’s sometimes difficult to take a step back and look at our own actions with an objective eye. Since the day you walked back into my arms after I had come to think I would never see you again, I have tried to hold on to you, terrified, I guess, that you might disappear as you had before. I hope you will look at my motivation rather than my mistakes, though I know there have been plenty. There’s been a destination for us both on this trip. Mine to the realization that what I really want is to see you happy and fulfilled. Now you just need to figure out what yours has been.

  Love,

  Daddy

  With those last two words, a sob rose out of her chest. She pressed her hand to her mouth, crossing the lobby to sit on a wide leather chair where she read the note over again.

  “Hey.”

  She looked up to find Harry standing in front of her, his hands shoved in his pockets like a little boy unsure of his reception. “Do you know anything about this?” she asked.

  “He wants you to be happy, hon,” Harry said, his voice soft.

  “What did you say to him?”

  “That I want to be the man responsible for your happiness.”

  Fresh tears welled in her
eyes, and she let them fall, not bothering to wipe them away. “Harry. Be realistic. How could this ever work?”

  He sat down next to her, took her hands in his. “Seems to me that it starts with the two of us wanting it to. From there, all options are open.”

  Before her sat a man she would never have imagined herself with. He had lived a life that could not be more opposite from hers. But did that negate the possibility that they could merge the two? There was no doubt that such an attempt would be a leap of faith. She had no idea if there was a bottom below. But she wanted to find out. And so she reached for his hand and jumped.

  * * *

  COLE AND GINNY arrived in Miami just before six o’clock. On the flight from Atlanta, she’d entertained him with games of old maid and go fish. It amazed him that they could have been apart for this long and pick up where they’d left off, father and daughter. Only he realized that wasn’t exactly true.

  Two years ago, he wouldn’t have had time for a game of cards. Or rather, he wouldn’t have made time for it. There was the difference. And he was unspeakably grateful that he now had another chance to get this right.

  Angry as he had been with Pamela, it had been painful to listen as she’d tried to explain her actions to their daughter. When she’d finally run out of words and lapsed into a stilted silence, Ginny had sat quietly, studying her mother for several long moments before saying, “I wish you hadn’t done that, Mama. I thought Daddy didn’t love me anymore.”

  That was the stake through Cole’s heart, and if it hadn’t been for his own agony, he might have actually felt sorry for Pamela. Regret clouding her eyes, she’d reached for Ginny’s hand, only to shrink back when the child refused to let her touch her.

  Cole had no desire to stoke resentment in his daughter, but he did understand that she would need time to work through her feelings on everything that had happened. And he intended to give her that time.

  On the way to the rental car parking lot, he called Harry. He’d spoken to him earlier, letting him know that he and Pamela had reached an agreement on how they would divide Ginny’s time between them and that he was heading back to Tango Island to get the boat. He wanted to show his daughter where he’d been the past couple of years. The hotel put him through to Harry’s room, and Cole barely recognized his friend’s voice when he answered.

  “Are you underwater?” he asked.

  Harry cleared his throat and said, “Not exactly.”

  “You sound all choked up.”

  “To tell you the truth I was in the middle of telling the woman I love how much I want to marry her.”

  It took a moment for this to settle, and then Cole said, “You were what?”

  “You heard right,” Harry said, a smile in his voice now.

  “Wonders never cease. Margo, I presume?”

  “Yep. And you know what’s even more amazing?”

  “What could be more amazing than that?”

  “She said yes.”

  “That is even more amazing.”

  “Aw, come on, now. Congratulations are in order!”

  “You’re right,” he said, smiling now. “They certainly are. Congratulations, old man. I never thought I’d see the day.”

  “It’s all about finding the right woman.”

  “Oh, now you’re an expert on the subject.”

  “You can’t deny my success.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “You’ve had a little success of your own, you know.”

  Cole didn’t have to ask. He knew Harry was talking about Kate.

  “She left this afternoon. In fact, she ought to be getting into Miami any time now. She was flying out of the Dominican Republic.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Harry.”

  “You’re not going to hold the boat thing against her, are you? Because if you do, it’s just—”

  “Harry. Let me speak to Margo.”

  After a series of rustling sounds, Margo said hello.

  “I take it you know what you’re getting into.”

  “I have a bit of an idea,” she said, then giggled and told Harry to keep his hands to himself.

  “He’s a good man, Margo.”

  “I know,” she said. “And Cole?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Kate’s a good woman.”

  “I’ve gotta go,” he said, too quickly, “but I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Ginny will be with me.”

  “I can’t wait to meet her.”

  They hung up then, and Ginny passed him a piece of construction paper on which she had drawn a family of bunny rabbits. The daddy rabbit had really big ears. The mama rabbit had extra little feet. And the babies had noses that were a little too long for their faces. “It’s beautiful, honey,” he said. “Thank you.”

  “They look kind of funny,” Ginny said, but he could see that she was proud he liked it. And he did. Looking at his daughter’s picture, he realized that something didn’t have to be perfect to be irreplaceable.

  He glanced at his watch as the bus pulled to a stop in front of the rental office. He took Ginny’s hand and led her down the steps. “There’s someone else I know who apparently has a talent for drawing. If we hurry, I think we can catch her. I’d really like for you to meet her.”

  * * *

  THE PLANE TOUCHED down in Miami at just after six-thirty. Kate followed the line of passengers through the corridor into the main terminal, trying not to notice the hugs and kisses awaiting each of them.

  She lowered her head and threaded her way through the throng, picking up her pace as she reached the edge of the crowd.

  “Kate!”

  The voice stopped her cold, and she stood for a moment, certain she’d imagined it.

  “Kate.”

  This time, she turned, and there he was. Cole. Looking at her with those incredible blue eyes. A beautiful little girl standing next to him, her hand clasped in his. He walked closer, stopping in front of her.

  “This is my daughter, Ginny,” he said. “Ginny, this is the lady I told you about. The one who likes to draw.”

  “Hi,” she said, her voice soft and sweet, shyness making her drop her gaze.

  “Hi, Ginny,” she replied, her throat suddenly tight. “What do you like to draw?”

  “Rabbits.”

  “I like rabbits,” Kate said.

  “She’s pretty good,” Cole added.

  Ginny looked up. “He’s my daddy, so he doesn’t notice when I mess up, but I mess up a lot.”

  Neither of them said anything for a few moments, the silence weighted.

  “I guess that’s what we do when we love someone,” Cole said.

  Kate felt his gaze on her and forced herself to look at him. Her heart was beating way too fast, and she was suddenly afraid to believe what she’d heard.

  “We’re going back to Tango Island tomorrow morning to get the boat,” he said. “Any chance you’d like to go with us?”

  It was the last question she’d expected, and she couldn’t find any words to answer him. She wanted to ask him about all the other stuff. Her deception. His understandable disillusion.

  But she could see that he had put it all aside. Closed the door.

  It couldn’t possibly be this simple.

  But then, maybe it was.

  Maybe when it was real, it was this simple.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I’d very much like to go with you.”

  Something she would have to call happiness lit his eyes. He reached down and lifted the handle of her bag. Ginny volunteered to help him pull it. Cole put his arm around her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her temple.

  And together, they walked through the airport and out to his car. No directions needed. She’d finally found her true north.

  EPILOGUE

  Gold is where you find it.

  —American Proverb

  SOMETIMES, IT WAS hard for Kate to believe the way life could change in a single year.

  But as she stood just outside the circle of her
family and friends, she was grateful for what she now had in a way she couldn’t express.

  They were back on Tango Island, this time for a two-week working vacation where they were building an addition to the orphanage. Margo and Harry were scrapping over the same hammer, both declaring it the one they’d laid claim to that morning. Margo was six months pregnant, and Harry had actually become one of those husbands who felt all the same things she was feeling. Morning sickness. Back pain. Mood swings. Another one for the talk shows, Margo said. Kate thought it a good example of how love could change a person from the inside out.

  And then there was her family. She still had trouble saying the words without a shiver of fear that this happiness might disappear as quickly as it had appeared in her life. Cole stood at the top of the ladder, Ginny hovering at the side and passing him nails one at a time. Louis had his feet planted wide and solid, hands steady at the base of the ladder in his own effort to make sure his daddy didn’t fall.

  Louis’s protectiveness of both her and Cole brought tears to her eyes every time she let herself think about the reasons behind it. The adoption was finally completed two months ago, six months after she and Cole were married in a small island church overlooking the ocean.

  Ginny loved having a brother, and Kate still had trouble believing that she’d been given the privilege of having these two amazing children in her life.

  Cole hammered the last nail, calling out, “That’s it. We’re done for the day.”

  He started down the ladder, and Louis didn’t move until he was safely back on the ground. Only then did he and Ginny start jumping up and down, chanting, “We’re going to see the dolphins! We’re going to see the dolphins!”

  Harry and Margo had arranged to take the two of them, along with the children from the orphanage, to a dolphin show on the other side of the island. Kate and Cole had volunteered to chaperone, but Harry had insisted he and Margo needed the practice.

  Ginny and Louis gave them each a hug and a kiss. Then Kate and Cole stood in the dusty driveway, watching as Scott directed the group onto the open-sided bus Harry had rented for the excursion.

  They waved as it pulled away, laughter and chatter flowing out behind it. When the bus was out of sight, Cole turned to her, brushing the back of his hand across her cheek. “Ah, we’re actually alone,” he said.