Good Lord. “That’s because I knew I’d found the woman for me. I didn’t want to make any mistakes.”
“David!” she cried in exasperation. “I’m not talking about the time it took to kiss me. I’m talking about all of it. Everything! Don’t you see? I’m not sure you even know who you love or don’t love. It’s too weird, too bizarre.
“This is wrong! We’re wrong!” Tears dripped off her pale cheeks. “Please, if you have any feeling for me, just leave. Please—” she begged.
Five minutes must have passed while he stood there, reeling from the possibility that he might truly have lost her.
“I’ll go.” In a few swift strides he was out the door.
CATHERINE WAITED until she was sure he’d driven away. Then she grabbed her purse and left the condo for her parents’ home.
She picked up her cell phone from the passenger seat and punched in Jack’s number. Be there, Jack. Please be there.
There was no answer.
She floored the accelerator, uncaring if the police caught her on radar. By some miracle she reached her parents’ place without being pulled over. After parking her MG, she peered inside Jack’s garage. Relieved to discover his Porsche was there, she raced toward the house.
“Catherine, darling!” her mother called out from the stairs. She was apparently on her way to bed.
“What are you doing here so late? I thought you’d be with David.”
“I said goodbye to him a little while ago.”
Her mom frowned. “Goodbye?” She hurried over to Catherine and hugged her. “Obviously, something’s wrong. You’ve been crying. What is it? Do you want me to get your father? I’m sure he’s not in bed yet.”
“There is something wrong, Mom. It’s so awful, I—I feel like I’m in a nightmare. But before I explain to you and Dad, I have to talk to Jack.”
“As far as I know, he and Melanie are still in the lounge watching the videos you took of today’s race.”
“Good. Is it all right if I stay here tonight?”
“Since when do you have to ask a question like that?”
“Thanks, Mom. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for the party. I promise I’ll tell you everything in a little while.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.” She kissed her daughter’s forehead before starting up the stairs once more.
Jack met Catherine as she walked to the lounge. “I thought I heard your voice.” His sympathetic gaze took in her tears.
“Oh, Jack—” While she stood there sobbing, he gave her a comforting hug, then led her to a chair.
When she could finally control herself, she said, “It seems Shannon had her reasons for saying what she did, after all.”
“Did he have an affair with her?”
“No. But after he told me everything, I asked him to leave.”
“You two broke up?”
“Yes.”
“But if he didn’t have an affair, and you believe him, then I don’t get it.”
“You don’t understand.” She let out a tormented groan. “I think this might be something only a woman understands. I need to talk to Mom.”
They both looked as ill as she felt. “I’ll go get her,” Jack said, sprinting out of the room.
Melanie walked to her and hugged her without saying anything. A few minutes later, her parents entered the lounge and sat on the other couch.
Her mother said, “Jack told us you’ve broken up with David. That was all he would tell us. What happened, honey?”
Catherine sank back in her chair. There was no easy way to start this. Maybe the best thing to do was just forge ahead.
“When you adopted me, did you know I had an identical twin sister?”
If it hadn’t been such a serious question, the blank expression on their faces might have been comical.
“Just as I thought. You had no idea.”
Her dad straightened. “What’s this all about?”
She rubbed her forehead, where she could feel a headache coming on.
“It started at the speedway three weeks ago, when I accidentally bumped into David in the bleachers. He mistook me for a woman he called Shannon.”
Suddenly everything, the whole story, came out in a rush of emotion. Though she saw them exchange glances several times throughout the long, detailed explanation, her parents didn’t interrupt.
“I know David’s upset, but he has no comprehension of what this news has done to me. He begged me to help him understand my feelings. That’s the problem. I can’t put them into words yet. All I know is, our being together doesn’t seem right. For want of a better word, I—I feel…unclean.”
She felt a sense of relief that everything was out in the open. No more secrets. Her parents knew; they could help her figure out why she felt this way. But the longer the silence lasted, the more frightened she grew. She’d never known her parents to be at a loss for words.
She kept waiting for her father to chuckle and tell her she was making a mountain out of a molehill. Normally, her mother had a ready answer that lifted her spirits. Jack and Melanie sat on the other couch, clutching hands without saying anything.
“Well,” she said shakily, “don’t everyone speak at once.”
Her father darted Jack a searching glance. “There’s absolutely no question in your mind that this Shannon is Catherine’s identical twin?”
Jack shot to his feet. “I’ll let you be the judge of that. Be right back.”
Catherine was in so much turmoil she hardly noticed his departure.
Never in her life could she recall the three of them sitting together without saying one word. She supposed she’d never seen her parents in shock before.
She remembered the pain in David’s eyes when she’d given him back the ring. The pain when she’d begged him to go.
“Here. Take a look for yourselves.”
Jack returned and placed a paper in their father’s outstretched hand. Cameron studied the picture thoroughly before handing it to their mother. She took one look and gasped. They both stared at Catherine.
She wiped her eyes. “May I see it?”
Her mother started to pass it to Catherine, but Jack forestalled her and held on to it. “This isn’t a good idea, CC. You’ve already decided you’re not going to meet her, so there’s no point.”
“I still want to see her.”
“Mom? Dad? I already warned Shannon she shouldn’t wait for CC to contact her. She’s resigned to that fact. Why don’t you just let it go, CC?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to visit her. I just need to look at it. Where did you get it, anyway?”
“She gave it to me when she came to the house. But if you look at it, you’ll torment yourself all over again with the knowledge that David knew her before he knew you. No way am I going to let you drive the dagger into your heart any deeper than it already is!”
“Your brother’s right, Catherine.” Her father intervened. “If you don’t want to meet her, then don’t look at it. You’re about to open Pandora’s box. You might not be ready for what you find.”
She shook her head. “I have to see her.”
“Here you go.” Jack smiled at her sadly. “Just be aware that we’re all worried about you. You take this step, and everything’s going to change.”
“It already has.” Her voice shook as she held out her hand for the picture.
In Mitch’s words, she’s a gorgeous, knockout blonde.
CHAPTER NINE
WITH TREMBLING FINGERS Catherine raised it, then stared at her family. “Is this some kind of joke? Where’s her picture?”
Lines darkened her father’s face. “You’re looking at it.”
She let out an angry laugh. “This is the same picture on my driver’s license. That’s my blouse. Please don’t tease me. Not about this.”
“Open your wallet, honey,” her mother suggested gently. “Then compare them.”
Quickly she reached into her purse and extricated her licens
e from its protective cover. She held both up. “They’re exactly—”
But Catherine didn’t finish what she was going to say. The smile in her picture was fuller than the smile in the other one.
“This is Shannon?”
Jack nodded soberly.
“She is me.” Catherine couldn’t take it in. “I feel sick.”
Her mother flew over to her. “Quick, honey. Sit on the edge of the chair and put your head between your legs. You’re in shock. It’ll pass. Just keep your head down. Jack, get your sister some water.”
“I couldn’t drink it,” she said shakily. “I’d throw it up.”
After a few minutes, the light-headedness started to pass. Slowly she lifted her head.
Compelled to look at the pictures again, she started to laugh. “If Shannon and I stood side by side, David wouldn’t know which one of us he wanted.” She knew she was becoming hysterical, but she couldn’t seem to stop.
Her father had come over to put his arms around her. He rocked her until the laughter turned to tears.
“CC,” Jack murmured. “It’s not the end of the world. He didn’t have an affair with her.”
“No. I don’t have to worry about that. He came absolutely clean with me about everything. In fact, he was so honest, it almost killed me.”
“Tell us what he said,” her dad urged, sitting on the arm of the chair.
Catherine repeated everything she could remember. “The thing is, even if the connection he wanted to feel wasn’t there, he still kissed her with passion to try and resurrect his initial feelings. He wanted the relationship that much!
“So where does that leave me? When he’s kissing me, is it Shannon he really wants, because he was attracted to her first? But it’s my kisses that turn him on? It makes me sick!”
“Did you tell him that?”
“Not in those exact words. I gave him back the ring.”
Jack’s eyes widened. “What ring?”
“That’s right.” Sniffling, she raised her head. “I forgot to tell you and Melanie. David and I became officially engaged tonight. We were planning our wedding for September first.”
More hysterical laughter escaped. “I’d say our engagement was probably the shortest one on record. I think it lasted about an hour, maybe an hour and ten minutes.”
Jack shook his head. “What a hell of a mess. The poor guy was damned no matter what he did.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s madly in love with you, CC. Tonight he poured out his guts to you. He didn’t have to tell you the truth. A man with that kind of honesty goes way up in my estimation.”
Her father heaved a sigh. “I agree.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “All along, I was too in love to be objective. I wish I’d never met him. I wish I didn’t know I had a twin.”
“We can blame our good friend Steve, the waiter. His interference ultimately placed David in this position.”
“It doesn’t matter who’s to blame,” she cried out.
“He took her to dinner first, kissed her first. I can’t get those images out of my mind. They ruin what I thought David and I had together.”
She reached for her license and put it away. After hesitating, she picked up the photograph again. “What’s she like, Jack?”
“We didn’t talk for more than a few minutes. Obviously she goes where angels fear to tread, but she’s nice.”
Her mother took it from her. “It’s hard to believe this isn’t your picture, honey. She even has the same kind of blouse you have! The one with the embroidery on the collar. It matches your blue sweater.”
“I know. That was the outfit I wore to the speedway the day I met David. She might even have been wearing the same thing when he first met her. Can you begin to understand how strange this all is?”
“Your adoption papers never mentioned that you were one of two live births,” their father muttered, deep in thought. “Believe me, we would have taken Shannon, too, if we’d known.”
Her brother let out a sigh. “It was my lucky day that you didn’t.”
“It was our lucky day, honey,” Robyn assured him.
Cameron rubbed his head. “For my own satisfaction, if nothing else, I’m going to contact the attorney who handled your adoption and see if he can find out more information for us.”
“How sad you two girls were separated.” Catherine’s mother eyed her tenderly. “When you were very young and got mad at Jack over something, you used to tell me you wished you had a sister.”
“I didn’t really mean it.”
“To think all along your identical twin was alive and well in Tacoma, Washington. Twenty-eight years you’ve been deprived of the knowledge of each other’s existence. Incredible.”
Cameron got to his feet. “It’s a damn shame David Britton is caught in the middle of this. Now that I know the background, I can understand he had compelling reasons for keeping quiet until now.”
“Dad? It would have devastated me no matter when he chose to tell me.”
“How can we help you, honey? What do you want to do?”
“I don’t honestly know, Mom.”
“Is Shannon aware that you’re the woman David loves?”
“No. David told me that when she came to his office with the news that her twin had been seen at the restaurant, she asked him to go to dinner with her to talk about it some more.
“That’s when David declined. He told Shannon he was in love with another woman and planned to get married. But he didn’t name me, because he wanted to save her unnecessary pain.
“You see, I’d already told David I had no interest in meeting my twin. He assumed Shannon and I would never get together, so there was no point in telling her.”
Impatiently Catherine dashed the tears from her eyes. “It’s a nightmare. I don’t know what to do.”
“There’s no black or white to a situation like this,” Robyn said, sounding far away. “This is only an observation, honey, but as long as you don’t have any desire to meet your twin, I can’t see you resolving your feelings for David.”
Cameron slanted her a penetrating glance. “It’s all a matter of how deeply you love this man. How much are you willing to risk?”
Catherine felt as if she’d been thrown off a ship to flounder in these stormy seas. “I’ve got to be alone for a while,” she said abruptly. She rose to her feet and slung her purse over her shoulder.
Everyone got up and walked her to the door. Her parents stood arm in arm. “Whatever decisions you make, this family will always support you. We love you, honey.”
She nodded. “I know you do. I’m the luckiest person in the world to have you for my parents.”
“Ditto for me,” Jack muttered.
Melanie kissed her goodbye. “Call me if you need to talk,” she whispered.
DAVID CHECKED his car clock. Quarter after two. Catherine hadn’t returned to her condo. He’d driven past her parking spot a dozen times in the past two hours.
She wasn’t answering her cell phone. He had no doubt she was with her parents. Considering the state she was in, they’d probably insisted she sleep over. If that was the case, there was no point in waiting for her.
But until he could talk to her again, there was no point to his life, so he might as well stay put. If she hadn’t come home by morning, he’d go to his condo and get ready for church. Maybe he’d find her there. He was prepared to do whatever it took.
He felt so wired, every time a resident of the building pulled in for the night, his heart jumped a mile. To keep from thinking, he’d switched on the radio, choosing an all-news station. It hadn’t done any good, but the noise was company of a sort.
As the two-thirty station break was announced, he saw her MG turn into the drive leading to her parking space. He shut off the radio and quietly left the car.
She got out of hers and started walking toward the lobby. In the moonlight her hair shone like gossamer.
“Cat
herine?” He called to her from several yards away.
He heard her gasp before she spun. A gentle breeze had sprung up, molding her dress to the curves of her body, outlining her slender legs.
“I didn’t mean to startle you, but obviously it couldn’t be helped. Please don’t go in for a minute.”
She hesitated. “How long have you been out here watching for me?”
“On and off for several hours. I feel like a criminal awaiting execution, but I don’t know my crime. I’ve hurt you when I only meant to honor you by telling you the truth. Help me understand you, Catherine. I’ve known pain before, but never anything as excruciating as this.
“I love you. I can’t bear the thought of losing you. I realize you need some time. But how much? When are you going to let me see you again?”
“I don’t know.” She sounded as though she was shivering. But the night was warm.
“What don’t you know?”
“I saw her picture tonight.”
“You’re two completely different people.”
“I thought it was my picture.” She wasn’t listening to him. “Do we kiss alike?”
“Don’t do this, Catherine. You’re torturing yourself over something that exists only in your imagination.”
“I’m not surprised she’s in love with you. If you kissed her the way you kissed me the first time, she’ll never get over it.”
A shudder ran through his body. “Whatever she thinks she feels, it isn’t love. It couldn’t be. She will get over it. But you and I aren’t going to get over what we feel for each other.”
“Be that as it may, she’s my sister! My twin!”
“I know.”
“What if I decide to meet her?”
“What if you do?” He fired the question back.
“She met you first. She loved you first.”
“We’ll deal with it.”
“How do you deal with that?” she cried. “We’re both in love with the same man! What do I tell her? Should I say, I’m so sorry, Shannon. I know David liked you in the beginning. He’s crazy about our looks, but for some reason he likes me better now. I hope you realize it’s nothing personal.”
The Unknown Sister Page 13
