On the fourth ring, he heard, “Glen Cove Nursing Home. Ms. White speaking.”
“Shannon? It’s David Britton.”
“David! It’s so wonderful to hear your voice!”
Trying to ignore her effusive warmth, he said, “I’m glad I found you in your office. I have the news you’ve been waiting for. Your twin came to see me today. She wants to meet you.”
“Oh, David! You don’t know what this means!” He heard the joy in her voice before she broke down crying.
“Jack Casey put his sister in touch with me. She was thinking Saturday might be the best time to meet, because it might be more convenient for you.”
“It wouldn’t matter which day,” she told him, her voice trembling. “I’d meet her anytime, anywhere.”
“So if it was arranged for then, you could be at my office by, say, one o’clock?”
“I could be there today if you wanted. After what you’ve told me, I’ve decided to drive down from Tacoma on Friday and stay at that same hotel. Please, would you meet me there? This calls for a celebration. I want to buy you a drink in the bar.”
His hand tightened around the receiver. “You know why I can’t do that, Shannon.”
“But this is my way of thanking you for helping me.”
“I understand the person you really have to thank is Steve, the waiter at the Crompton steakhouse.”
“I’ve already thanked him. I’m so excited I know I won’t get any sleep for the rest of the week. Couldn’t you and I at least meet for breakfast on Saturday? I want to repay you for everything you’ve done.”
“That isn’t necessary.”
“Surely your fiancée would understand.”
He recalled his words to Catherine and her reply.
You think delaying the truth will hurt her any less?
Maybe she’ll never have to learn the truth.
“Shannon—just plan on being at my office at one.”
The quiet on her end increased his guilt. He couldn’t handle much more of this.
“All right,” she said in a tear-filled voice. “I’ll be there. Thank you.”
There was a click.
The nightmare had entered a new phase.
He walked to the bar and poured himself a drink. After downing it in one gulp, he reached for his phone to call Catherine. As it turned out, she was still at her office.
“Hello, David. I saw it was you on the caller ID.”
He swallowed hard. She’d schooled her voice to sound like her business self. After everything they’d shared, his first impulse was to tell her he was on his way over to see her, whether she liked it or not. But he couldn’t do that, not after what he’d learned today.
“Catherine? I just got off the phone with Shannon. She’ll be at my office on Saturday at one.”
“This Saturday?” She sounded terrified. More than ever, he knew it was best to get this first meeting over with as soon as possible.
“Yes. That sounded fine to her.”
There was no reply for a moment, but he could hear her shallow breathing. “I’m sure she was thrilled to hear from you,” she finally said.
Don’t, Catherine.
“Shannon’s been waiting for this moment a long time. What I heard in her voice was excitement. She’s finally going to meet her twin.”
She took a shuddering breath.
“Catherine, she knows I’m in love with someone else and assumes I’m formally engaged. If she should bring up anything about my fiancée on Saturday, understand that I couldn’t disabuse her of the fact that you gave me back the ring.”
“She wanted to meet you alone, didn’t she?”
He sucked in his breath. “Naturally she wanted to thank me for getting you two together.”
“No. It goes much deeper than that.”
Change the subject.
“Why don’t we drive out of town somewhere tonight for dinner?”
“I can’t. I—I’ve got to hang up.”
He groaned inwardly. “I understand. If you feel like arriving early on Saturday, I’ll be in my office by twelve-thirty. Call me on your cell phone and I’ll come out to the front door to let you in. Good night, darling.”
He hung up quickly, unable to bear hearing the click on her end first.
“CC? WE’RE GOING to be late if you don’t get a move on.”
“I can’t decide what to wear.”
Jack walked into her bedroom. “Good grief—this place is a mess! I can’t even see the bed.”
“Don’t tease me right now, Jack. Do you like this café au lait jacket with my cream top and pants?” She’d bought it to wear to the race in Vancouver with David.
“You look great. Everything you wear looks great. Let’s go.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I know, I know—I’m a man. I get that from Melanie all the time. CC—the clothes aren’t important. Okay? We have to go.”
“Thank you for coming with me. I’m sorry it meant you had to miss today’s race in Vancouver.” They left the condo.
“I wouldn’t let you do this alone. There’s always another race. Anyway, what’s a brother for?”
Catherine gave him a strained smile. “Where’s Melanie? I thought she’d be with you.”
“She had to work at the blood bank today because of some emergency.”
They opened the doors of his Porsche and got in. “David must feel like he’s in hell right about now.”
At the mention of his name, her heart jumped. “I don’t want to talk about him.”
“The guy’s suffering. Have a heart, CC.”
“So am I.”
Saturday traffic was always bad. Finding a place to park downtown was next to impossible. Jack used the building’s underground car park, then escorted her to the elevators.
The building seemed fairly empty as she and Jack hurried down the hall and past Reception. But when they rounded the corner, Catherine froze.
Not five feet away, she saw her twin standing in front of David’s office door. Catherine’s first thought was that she was looking at herself in a mirror.
Shannon was dressed in the same cut of jacket as Catherine’s, only it was part of a matching brown pantsuit with a cream top. They both wore bone-colored sandals and carried matching handbags. Their hair had been cut in the exact same style, same length.
She hung back.
Her twin must have sensed people behind her because she turned to face them.
Catherine found herself staring into a pair of questing gray eyes as familiar as her own.
Dear God.
They continued to stare at each other without speaking.
“Are you all right?” Jack whispered.
“It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Shannon spoke first, then smiled.
“Yes. Utterly incredible.”
David opened the office door. He wore a formal stone-gray suit, and Catherine held her breath, stunned again by how attracted she was to this man.
Instantly his gaze locked with hers. He sent her the private greeting she’d come to crave. It said he wished they were alone. It said he’d missed her. It said that now she was here, life had meaning again.
David—if you only knew.
“It looks like everyone’s met. Come in.”
The minute they stepped inside, Shannon grabbed David’s arm and smiled at him with tears in her eyes. The love radiating from her ripped Catherine apart.
“When I came here last month, I hoped but never dreamed this day would come.”
Catherine noticed how smoothly David eased himself away by walking toward his inner office door and opening it.
“Well, now that the miracle has occurred, Jack and I are going to leave you to get acquainted while we go downstairs to the coffee shop. Take as long as you need. We’ll bring you some coffee in a while.”
“Don’t panic,” Jack whispered in Catherine’s ear. “You two need time alone.”
“Make yourselves at h
ome, ladies.”
The men left the suite.
Catherine thought she was going to be sick right then and there.
“I know you didn’t want to meet me,” Shannon began. “David told me to expect this reaction because you didn’t know about me and haven’t been looking for me.
“If you never want to see me after today, I’ll understand. I’m not saying I’ll like it—” her voice cracked and she took a deep breath “—but I’ll live with it if I have to. It’s just that my mother told me I had a twin somewhere. I didn’t know if it was true or not. She was in the last stages of pneumonia. She said, ‘Shannon—you have a twin. You have a twin.’ Then she died.
“I’ve been trying to find you ever since. First Steve—the waiter—then your brother verified that what she’d told me was true. I was overjoyed to learn I had a sister. Not that I wouldn’t have loved a brother, but I always wanted a sister.
“My adoptive parents were schoolteachers who lived on a fixed income. They adopted me late in life and couldn’t afford to adopt another child. Dad was a good man, but stern.
“After he died of a heart attack, my mother cried a lot. I know she regretted the fact that they didn’t arrange to get another child, a sibling for me. But Dad felt that one was all they could handle, and she would never have gone against his wishes.
“I think it’s the reason she hoped I’d find you some day. But I don’t have any papers. I have no idea where we were born or how we got separated. Or why.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “But right now I’m so happy to be looking at you at last, nothing else matters.
“I was hoping we could be friends. If I want it, I’ve been offered a job as an administrative nurse at a hospital here in Portland. I applied for a position at the institute’s clinic, but David told me it’s against policy to employ a participant.”
Her eyes beseeched Catherine. “There’s nothing in this world I would love more than to live near family.” She half-sobbed as she said, “This time it would be my very own flesh and blood.”
Catherine could think of nothing to say. She felt numb, her emotions paralyzed.
“They say twins communicate before they’re even born,” Shannon went on. “I’ve been reading a lot about it. How their tastes are similar, their gestures. Look at our outfits, and our hair!”
Catherine had been looking. And listening.
She sank down in the nearest chair. “I admit this has come as a shock,” she began. “Your picture was exactly like my driver’s license picture. We own the same outfit.”
“The blouse with the embroidery on the collar? Blue?”
“Yes.” She paused. “My parents had no idea I was a twin. Dad’s working with the attorney who arranged for my adoption. They’re going to try to find out what happened.”
“That’s marvelous! Maybe they’ll learn the names of our birth parents. Oh, there’s so much I want to know. So many questions to ask. What kind of work do you do?”
“I’m an architect.”
“An architect—” The wonder in her voice humbled Catherine. “Did you design the home I saw when I met your brother?”
“Don’t I wish! No. That’s my father’s creation. He’s Cameron Casey, a renowned architect in the Northwest.”
“I see. Does your mother work?”
“She gardens as a hobby—she’s incredible. People come from miles around to see the grounds at our house. She can make anything grow.” She gave Shannon a faint smile. “But I hear you’re an administrative nurse with a master’s degree. You run a whole nursing facility. That’s an enormous responsibility.”
“That’s nothing compared to what you do. Maybe one of our relatives was Frank Lloyd Wright.”
“Or Florence Nightingale,” Catherine interjected in the same light tone, because it was either say that or have a nervous breakdown.
“Jack told me you’re still single like me. Are you dating anyone seriously?”
“No.” At this moment, Catherine could honestly answer no. “Are you?” She had to ask. It was like probing a sore tooth, but she felt compelled to hear the words.
“No. My last serious relationship ended about six months ago. Then a while back, I met David Britton while I was looking for you.”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I fell so hard for him. He’s the most wonderful man I’ve ever known. We had one date, but then he never called me again, except for business reasons.” Her voice quavered. “He says he’s getting married to someone else.”
More tears ran from the corners of her eyes. “I’m still trying to understand how he could have met and fallen in love with someone else so fast. Maybe if I tell you about it, you can help me figure out what I did wrong. I know he liked me at first. That’s what—”
There was a tap on the door and Jack and David came into the room carrying cups of hot coffee.
Catherine jumped from her chair. She wanted to run and keep on running, but she knew she couldn’t.
David had begged Catherine to let him tell Shannon the truth before the two women met. Catherine had refused to consider it.
That had been a terrible mistake. Now Shannon was confiding something painful and private to her, the way sisters did. Heavens! They were sisters. The proof lay before Catherine’s eyes.
She couldn’t possibly tell Shannon about her and David now. His gaze searched Catherine’s as he handed her a cup, but she looked away.
Jack sidled close. “Do you want us to leave?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Hey, Shannon, did CC tell you she designed the renovation for the Crompton warehouse where you had dinner?” Jack leaned comfortably against David’s desk.
No. Don’t bring that up.
“Actually,” Catherine said quickly, “Shannon told me she’s been offered a prestigious job at a hospital here in Portland.” At that revelation David shot Catherine an enigmatic glance. “Which one did you say it was, Shannon?”
“I don’t think I mentioned it. It’s Sacred Heart.”
“I’ve been in there a few times.”
Shannon stared at Jack with concern. “Why?”
“I guess CC didn’t get around to bragging about me yet.”
“Jack is Oregon’s foremost race car driver,” David said. “One day he’ll probably win the Indianapolis 500.”
“I thought your brother, Mitch, was headed in that direction.”
David gave a careless shrug of his shoulders. “He’s dropping the racing circuit to go to graduate school.”
“CC?” Jack began, almost too casually. “While we were in the coffee shop, you had a message on your cell phone. You’ve got a client, Mr. Ray, waiting for you at your office. I guess it’s some kind of emergency so you’d better deal with it right now.
“I have to drive over to the track in a few minutes to see the guys about my race next week. Why don’t you go with me, Shannon? We’ll pick up my girlfriend, Melanie, on the way. Later on, I’ll bring you back here to get your car.”
“I can drop you at your office on my way home,” David offered quietly.
Catherine stood in a kind of stupor while she finished her coffee. There was no Mr. Ray. Something was going on. David must have sensed she needed an escape; obviously he and Jack had concocted this excuse. But she also knew Shannon was expecting something of her.
“I’m sorry, Shannon. I had no idea we’d be interrupted like this. Why don’t you go with my brother and Melanie? I promise you’ll have a great time.” She reached in her purse. “Here. This is my business card. I have your number now. We’ll call each other and get together for lunch next week.”
Catherine could tell that Shannon wished they were meeting sooner. But all she said was, “That sounds wonderful.”
“Come on, Shannon. The guys in the crew are going to think you’re Catherine. It ought to be very amusing.”
“Just don’t leave Shannon alone with Phil.”
“Phil’s my best friend.”
; “He’s a terrible tease.” There was a time when Catherine had been very attracted to Jack’s partner. Phil was divorced and he’d had several subsequent relationships; as a result, she’d been a little frightened by his experience with women. But although Phil had flirted with her, he’d never actually asked her out.
“Never fear, Shannon. You’d be safe with him,” Jack assured her.
“Well, all right, then.” She turned to Catherine.
“I’ll see you next week.”
Catherine nodded. She probably should have shaken her hand or kissed her cheek, but for some reason she couldn’t seem to move.
Shannon lifted her eyes to David. Catherine couldn’t watch. “Thank you for letting us meet here.”
“It was my pleasure.”
Shannon followed Jack out the door.
David shut it with his foot.
“I could tell this was very hard on you,” he said.
“After talking it over with Jack, I thought it would be wise to cut this first meeting short. Shannon is a force to contend with. Right now, a little goes a long way.”
She sucked in her breath. “I’m glad you intervened. Th-there’s something I have to tell you.”
“Do you want to talk here, or shall we do it in the car?”
“Here, and then I’ll call a taxi.”
“I said I’d drive you home. That’s what I intend to do. Let’s go. We can talk on the way.”
His no-nonsense tone propelled her out the door. Afraid he might touch her, Catherine made sure she kept enough distance between them. The last thing she wanted was to have Shannon catch a glimpse of them and think they looked like a couple.
Once inside his car, he gave her a frank stare. “How long do you plan to allow this deception to continue?”
Averting her eyes, she lowered her head. “She’s so nice, David. You can tell she’s lost everything. I admire her for being able to function the way she does without family, without anyone.
“With her brains she could have been a doctor, but she chose nursing. It’s probably the hardest kind of work there is, the hardest kind of service a person can render. That’s what she’s given her life to.”
The Unknown Sister Page 15
