Once again she marched through a set of glass doors and approached the receptionist at the desk.
“I’d like to see Mitch Britton, please.”
“I’m sorry. He’s not in.”
“Do you know where I can find him? This is an emergency.”
“He had an appointment at the university today. I have no idea when he’ll be back. I’ll take your name and phone number. If he calls, I’ll give him the information. That’s the best I can do.”
“No, thank you. May I look at a phone book?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Giving her a puzzled frown, the receptionist rummaged in her desk and found it. Catherine turned to the Bs. She suspected David was at his mother’s.
There were five Brittons listed, none of them with the name David or Mitch. But there was a William Britton on Astor Circle. If she recalled correctly, William had been their father’s name.
Catherine thanked the receptionist, then headed out. Determined to waylay David as soon as possible, she revved the MG’s engine and set off for the Britton family home.
It turned out to be an attractive two-story colonial house in one of the well-established residential neighborhoods of Portland. But to her chagrin, there were no cars on the street in front or in the drive.
She supposed he could have hidden his Mercedes inside the two-car garage. The only way to find out was to walk to the front door and ring the bell.
Driven by her chaotic emotions, she got out of the car and hurried toward the house. Before she reached the porch, an attractive older woman happened to open the door to collect the mail.
Catherine knew it was his mother and drew to a standstill. Both her sons resembled her a great deal.
“Hello, Catherine.”
The warmth in the older woman’s eyes caught her off guard. “You know me?”
“Oh, my, yes. David gave me some pictures of the two of you.” His mother sounded so kind. Catherine felt like a fool.
“I—I’m trying to find him. By any chance, would he be here?”
His mother shook her head slowly. “No. I haven’t seen or talked to him in several days.”
“I wonder where he is? An hour ago he came to my place. I thought he might have come here afterward.”
“No. I’m sorry.”
“I—I’m the one who should apologize for bursting in on you like this unannounced, Mrs. Britton, but it’s vital I get in touch with him.”
“Would you like to come in and visit for a few minutes? Maybe he’ll call while you’re here.”
“Didn’t David tell you we’re not seeing each other anymore?”
“Yes. But I’d still enjoy talking to the only woman who ever captured his heart. He looked twenty years old again the day he told me he was getting married. A mother who loves her son as much as I love David doesn’t forget a moment like that.”
Catherine averted her eyes. “If he told you why we broke up, then you’ll understand why I don’t feel it would be a good idea to come in.”
“I know about your twin sister, Shannon. David said he was going to tell her the truth about his love for you.”
“Yes, well, he did that today. And now Shannon’s the reason I’m here,” she murmured. “She’s been hurt so terribly, and someone needs to help her. No matter what’s happened, I believe she’d still listen to David if he was willing to try to comfort her. She’s in love with him.”
“The problem is, my dear, David is in love with you. To do as you suggest would only compound her pain—and his. Your broken engagement has hurt him deeply.” She paused, her expression sympathetic.
A moment later, she continued. “You have to understand one thing about my son. After living so many years with the fear that he might have been responsible for Michael’s death, he’s learned that keeping a secret was the worst thing he could have done. It robbed him of so much happiness growing up. But I have to say I’ve never admired his integrity more than at this moment.”
The tremor in her voice caused Catherine to lift her head in query.
“In telling the truth, he lost you. I know it’s a very tragic loss for him, especially now that I’ve met you in person and can see how lovely you are.”
“Thank you,” Catherine whispered. This meeting with his mother had shattered her.
“If I do hear from him, I’ll tell him why you were here, but I can’t promise anything.”
“No. Of course not. Thank you for talking to me.”
“Anytime.” Her eyes, so reminiscent of David’s, gazed at Catherine with too much tenderness. “It’s strange, but the minute I saw your picture and the diamond ring he’d bought for you, I thought of you as my daughter-in-law, and we hadn’t even met yet.”
Catherine fought to suppress her tears.
I wanted to meet you, too. I wanted to be your daughter-in-law. But not at Shannon’s expense.
“Goodbye, Mrs. Britton,” she managed to say.
“Goodbye, Catherine.”
She made it to the car, but as she pulled away from the curb, she broke into sobs.
David. David.
Once she’d arrived at her condo, she hid her face so that if she ran into any of the building’s other residents, they wouldn’t see her swollen eyes. There was no sign of Shannon’s car.
No sooner had she walked in the door than her cell phone rang. When she answered it, she discovered it was Mitch Britton returning her call.
“Hello, Mitch? It’s Catherine Casey.”
“Hi, Catherine.” He sounded like his usual friendly self.
“I’m looking for your brother, but he’s nowhere to be found. I was wondering if you’d do me a favor. It’s very important.”
“Of course.”
“Could you let me in his apartment so I can wait for him? There’s something I have to talk to him about and he’s not answering my calls.”
“Sure. I’m on my way home from the university. I’ll meet you in the lobby of his building in twenty minutes.”
“Thank you, Mitch. I’m leaving now.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IT WAS TWILIGHT when Jack drove his Porsche to the garage where David’s car was parked.
David got out of the passenger seat. “Thanks for being there for me, Jack. I needed that.”
“So did I. Keep the faith.” Jack clapped him on the shoulder and they both went their separate ways.
David climbed slowly into the Mercedes. Unable to bear the thought of his own company, he decided to head to Mitch’s apartment. When his cell phone rang, he automatically answered it.
“Hey, David, guess what?” his brother cried excitedly.
“Mitch? I was just planning to come by your apartment.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s a surprise waiting for you at yours.”
His heart started to pound. “Catherine?”
“Yeah. She’s been looking all over Portland for you and asked me to let her into your place to wait. I told her to meet me in the lobby.”
“How soon will she be there?”
“She’s probably already there.”
Jack had prophesied that nothing would remain static.
He sucked in his breath. “I’ll take over from here. Thanks, Mitch.”
David drove as if his car had wings. Sure enough, when he entered his building’s parking area, he saw her car in one of the guest spaces. Adrenaline charged his system. He leaped from the driver’s seat, craving the sight of her.
“Catherine?” he said softly as he entered the lobby. For the moment they were alone. She’d been gazing out the other set of doors. At the sound of his voice, she whirled. One glance told him how anxious she was, how desperate.
He fought to keep his hands at his sides. “Mitch told me I’d find you here.”
“I’ve been looking and calling everywhere for you.” She was out of breath.
“Well, I’m here now. Let’s go upstairs where
it’s private so we can talk.”
“No, we don’t have time!” she blurted. “Shannon’s gone!”
“She probably needed to get away by herself.”
David could tell Catherine was trembling. Her beautiful gray eyes glistened with tears.
“When I’m hurt, I have a family to go to. She has no one! I’m really worried about her, David. She left my place so heartbroken, you can’t imagine. When I phoned the hospital, they said she’d called in sick. Mom and Dad haven’t seen or heard from her. I just phoned Jack and he doesn’t have a clue where she could be.”
His elation that Catherine had come to him made it almost impossible to remain calm, but somehow he had to contain his emotions.
“What would you like me to do?”
“Will you try to find her? Please? She loves you. Even though she’s hurting, I have a feeling she’ll listen to you.”
“She’s probably gone to Tacoma for the night.”
“That’s what I think. She has a friend, Amy Walsh. I called Amy’s number several times, but no one answered. Still, she might get home later. I think it would be best if you went to her apartment and talked to her. Find out if she’s heard from Shannon. I have her address.”
“Even if I tracked Shannon down, what would you want me to say to her, darling?”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“How can I not? I’m in love with you. I always will be.”
“David,” she said in exasperation, “you’re the only one who can convince Shannon that I really care about her, that I want us to start over. If she doesn’t want to live with me, Mom and Dad have invited her to stay with them for as long as she wants. They think she’s wonderful, and that would be a good solution for all of us. You could make her listen.”
Maybe the gods were on his side, after all.
“You’re right. It’s a good idea.”
“Thank you, David!”
“Don’t thank me before you hear the condition.”
“What?”
“I’m not stepping one inch from this lobby unless you come with me.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t.”
“Why not?” he demanded. “She already knows the truth about us.”
“No. Don’t ask me!” she begged.
“Catherine, darling, you’re the only one who can extend her your parents’ invitation.”
It pleased him that she couldn’t refute his statement.
She bit her lip. “After the speech you made about never seeing me or Shannon again unless it was by accident, how’s she going to feel when she sees you and me together at Amy’s door?”
“I suspect she’ll forgive us when she realizes we cared enough about her welfare to come looking for her. Especially since we were concerned enough to drive all the way from Portland to Tacoma to make sure she’s all right. That ought to give her a lot to think about.”
Several people walked into the lobby, inhibiting Catherine from responding. Though it was a calculated risk, David took advantage of their presence.
In a voice the others could hear, he said, “Hold the elevator, please?” Then he turned to Catherine. “What will it be? The decision is yours.”
Three different people who all lived in the building were watching them with uncommon interest. He knew he’d put her in a difficult position. He could practically hear her working it out. If she refused to go to Tacoma with him, then he’d go upstairs, and that would be the end.
She hesitated so long he realized he’d underestimated her determination to stay away from him.
“So be it,” he muttered, and started for the elevator.
“No—wait!” she called just as he entered and the doors began to close.
He wedged his foot in the opening and squeezed his way through. “Let’s go, shall we?”
Without asking her permission, he caught her elbow and ushered her to his car. For the moment, it was enough just to be able to touch her like this.
The charged silence between them was nothing like the easy quiet on the drive with Jack earlier. Night had come to the Northwest. He turned on the headlights, which automatically lit up the dash. In the semidarkness he could study her profile to his heart’s content.
Needing to touch her, he reached for her hand. She tried to pull away but he held on tightly until she let her hand relax in his. She still refused to look at him. That was all right. As long as there was this much physical contact, he wasn’t going to complain. Not after two weeks of hell without her.
They passed the turnoff for Chehalis. Another hour to go. He switched on one of their favorite tapes. Rachmaninoff’s Theme on Paganini took him back to a night they’d gone to the symphony, the second week he’d known her.
That was the night she’d turned to him during one of the most beautiful passages. It was the moment he’d been waiting for—the sense of unspoken commitment between them. It had been unmistakable. She couldn’t possibly listen to this music and not remember.
He rubbed his thumb slowly against her palm. “I love you, Catherine.”
She lowered her head.
“How bad was it after I left you alone with Shannon?”
“Bad,” she whispered in a husky voice.
“It’s always darkest before the dawn. That old cliché is as true now as the first time I heard it.”
“What if we find her and make everything worse?”
“It couldn’t get worse. There’s only one way it can go from here.”
She shivered. “I pray you’re right.”
“I know I am.” He lifted her hand to kiss each finger. She was trembling. “I’ve missed you.”
Her gasp resounded in the air. “Please, let’s not talk anymore.” She reached out to turn off the tape.
“You’re exhausted. Why don’t you sleep until we get to Tacoma?”
SHANNON SAT in Amy’s kitchen, watching her make coffee. “You’re so wonderful to put up with me, especially since you were on the night shift at Glen Cove. I know I’ve been awful company.”
“Hey, that’s what friends are for. You’ve done the same thing for me plenty of times.”
“I should have listened to you when you told me to forget what Mom said about my being a twin. Then I would never have met David. I would never have quit my job and sold the house. Honestly, Amy, I don’t think I’ve ever been in so much pain in my life.”
Her friend brought their mugs to the table and sat down. “I realize it hurts, but two weeks ago you told me you suspected he and Catherine were an item.”
“I know. But it’s one thing to think it, and another to walk in on them today and have him announce it point-blank!”
Amy sipped hot coffee. “How would you have liked him to handle it?”
“As soon as David met Catherine at the speedway, he should have told me.”
“I thought you said that legally, he couldn’t do that. By the time she decided to meet you, the two of them had fallen in love.”
“But he knew how much I loved him! That knowledge alone should have made him forget his damn rules and just tell me.”
“But he didn’t know how you felt. How could he on the strength of one date? Anyway, speaking of rules, let me show you a little book I picked up the other day. It’s in the bedroom.”
When she returned, she put it in front of Shannon.
Rules That Work. A Woman’s Guide to Marriage.
“I think we’ve read every word on the subject, Amy, and we’re still single.”
“This one’s different. I’ve studied it from cover to cover. The opening statement says, ‘Love implies mutual reciprocity between two people. If that isn’t your situation, then you’re not in love.’
“That isn’t what happened to you and David Britton. He was attracted enough to take you out to dinner and kiss you good-night. But that was the end of it. He never led you on, he never took you out again or accepted any invitations from you. Which means you couldn’t have been in love with
him! You were infatuated with him.
“According to the author, infatuation has nothing to do with love. It’s a phenomenon that goes on in one person’s head only. It’s a fantasy. It has nothing to do with anyone else. An infatuated person is like a teenager who thinks she’s fallen in love with a rock star she’s never met and never will. It’s all in the mind. It’s fiction.”
Shannon finished her coffee. “I don’t think I can take this tonight, Amy.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you. But, Shannon, I recognize myself on every page of this book. At thirty years of age, I think I’m finally starting to see what I’ve been doing wrong all this time. Remember that thing I had for Stewart?”
Shannon nodded.
“After I read this part about infatuation, I felt like an idiot. I wasted a whole year on him. For nothing!”
“Multiply that by a hundred and you’ll know how I felt today. I couldn’t stand being in the same room with her, so I left the condo and drove here as fast as I could.”
Amy put some doughnuts on the table.
“I know she’s an architect, but what’s she really like?”
“She’s everything I’m not.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Shannon. Of course you two are different! You grew up apart. You may have identical bodies, but you have your own spirits, your own talents, your own virtues and flaws. Do you like her?”
“I did.”
“Until…”
“Until I found out she was planning to marry the man I love.”
“I thought we’d already established that it isn’t love you feel for David Britton.”
“No. You did.”
“I know it’s been awful, but from what you’ve told me, they never intentionally tried to hurt you, and they’ve even broken their engagement.”
“That’s not going to last more than five minutes.”
“Then it means they’re in love, because what they share is mutual and it isn’t fantasy. They’re living the reality. That’s what I want for both of us.”
The Unknown Sister Page 19
