Everett did his best to separate himself from any emotion. He really didn’t want to shout at his sister. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are,” Schuyler retorted. When he tried to turn away, she grabbed hold of his shoulder, making him face her. “You have this ‘tell’ when you lie. There’s a tiny nerve right under your left eye that jumps every time you don’t tell the truth.”
“Then why even bother asking me?” He came close to biting off his question.
“So you can hear the words out loud for yourself,” she told him. “Ev, when you first told me you were going to win Lila back, I didn’t think you had a chance in hell of doing it. I thought you’d eventually come to your senses and forget the whole thing.”
She shook her head, amused by her preconceived notion. “But you’re not the type to forget the whole thing and you managed to bring me around to your way of thinking. A guy like that doesn’t just give up out of the blue.”
Taking his hand, Schuyler tugged on it, making him sit down on the bottom step. She sat down beside him, just the way they used to do as kids whenever they wanted to talk about things.
“What happened?” she asked him.
After a short internal debate, Everett gave her an abbreviated version, mentioning his donation to the Foundation in passing, but not the amount.
He told his sister about going back with Lila to her place, but left it for her imagination to fill in the details of what transpired there. He ended by telling his sister that Lila had suddenly pulled back, saying that things were going too fast and that he needed to go home.
“And...?” Schuyler asked, waiting for him to tell her more.
“And I came home,” Everett said with a shrug. “Or to your house,” he corrected. “I wanted to change out of this monkey suit, get my suitcase and go back to Houston.”
“And nothing else happened?” she questioned, studying his face closely.
“Nothing else happened,” he echoed flatly. He just wanted to get his things and hit the road, putting this night—and Lila—behind him.
Schuyler’s mouth curved in a tolerant, loving smile. “You do realize that your shirt is inside out, don’t you?” his sister asked. “Did you wear it that way at the fund-raiser?”
He glanced down. Damn it, leave it to Schuyler to catch that, he thought, annoyed. “Yup. The whole fund-raiser,” he told her stubbornly.
“I see,” Schuyler replied, watching the nerve just beneath his eye flutter. “Well, maybe nobody noticed,” she said loftily. “Or maybe Lila did and that’s why she told you things were moving too fast and sent you away.” Schuyler’s smile widened. “She didn’t want to be associated with someone who couldn’t dress himself properly.”
“Schuyler—” There was a warning note in Everett’s voice.
Schuyler held up her hands, warding off what he was about to say.
“I’m just teasing you,” she told him. And then her tone changed. “Why don’t you stay here for what’s left of the night and then go talk to Lila in the morning?” she suggested. “Things always look better in the morning,” she added kindly.
“No,” he told his sister, his mind made up. “I need to be getting back. I’ve let a lot of things slide lately and I need to do some catching up.”
“That’s not the Dr. Everett Fortunado I know,” Schuyler told him, rising to her feet when he did. “You can juggle more balls in the air than any two people I know.”
“Not this time,” he answered as he started up the steps. “This time those balls are all falling right through my hands.”
“Want me to help you pack?” she offered, calling up the stairs.
“No, I’ve got this,” he told her, glancing over his shoulder.
Schuyler stood there, arms akimbo, and murmured loud enough for him to hear, “No, I don’t think that you do.”
* * *
“That was some hefty donation that your boyfriend made on Friday,” Lucie said the following Monday morning as Lila passed her open door.
Lila made no answer, merely shrugging in response as she stepped into her office.
Lucie didn’t take the hint. Instead, she followed her friend into Lila’s office. When Lila sat down at her desk, Lucie peered at her a little more closely.
“You look awful,” she observed. Then a small smile lit her eyes. “Didn’t get any sleep all weekend, huh?”
“No,” Lila answered, deliberately not taking Lucie’s bait. Her tone flatly denied any further dialogue between them.
But Lucie wasn’t about to take the hint. “So how was it?” she asked with a grin.
Lila spared her friend a glance. Lucie was now firmly planted on the edge of her desk. “How was what?”
“You know...” But since Lila gave no indication that she did, Lucie further elaborated. “Getting back together with Everett.”
“We’re not back together,” Lila answered, biting off each word. They all had a bitter taste, but that would pass, she told herself. It had to.
“Why the hell not?” Lucie cried. When Lila looked at her sharply, Lucie said, “Anyone at the fund-raiser could see he was crazy about you. When you two left early, I was sure you were going back to your place—if you made it that far,” Lucie added.
This time Lila’s head shot up. She was really hoping that no one had noticed them leaving the fund-raiser. So much for hoping.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she wanted to know.
Lucie sighed.
“Lila, there were so many sparks flying between the two of you that you’d make an electrical storm seem like an afternoon at the library in comparison.” She gave Lila a deep, penetrating look, as if willing the truth out of her. “You can’t tell me that you two didn’t get together after you left the fund-raiser.”
“All right,” Lila replied grudgingly. It wasn’t in her to lie. “We did.”
Getting up off the desk, Lucie closed Lila’s door, then crossed back to her desk, coming closer. “And?” she coaxed.
Lila shifted uncomfortably in her chair, but it was clear that Lucie wasn’t going anywhere until she heard all the details.
“And then I sent him away,” she said, jumping to the end without elaborating anything in between.
Lucie stared at her. “You’re joking.”
“No, I’m not,” Lila replied firmly. “I sent him away.”
“Why in heaven’s name would you do that?” Lucie cried incredulously.
“Because things were moving much too fast between us,” Lila blurted out, frustration bubbling beneath her statement.
Leaning forward, Lucie took her friend’s hands into hers. “Lila, honey,” she began gently, “it’s been thirteen years. After all that time, things were not moving fast. They were barely crawling by at a turtle’s pace.” She squeezed Lila’s hands as she looked deeper into her eyes, as if trying to understand, to read Lila’s thoughts. And then it must have hit her, because she sharply drew a breath. “You got scared, didn’t you? He made you have all those feelings again and it scared you.”
Lila looked away. Lucie had homed in on the truth.
But there was no running from the truth. She knew that now.
With a sigh, she nodded. And then she looked up at Lucie. “How did you do it?” she asked, silently begging the other woman for guidance.
“Do what?” Lucie asked.
“With Chase,” Lila said, hoping that Lucie had some sage, magical knowledge to impart. Some words of wisdom that could somehow guide her through this densely wooded area she found herself stumbling through. “How were you able to pick up where you left off with Chase?” The two hadn’t just been high school sweethearts, they’d eloped and had been married—for all of five minutes.
“Very easy,” Lucie answered her nonchalantly. “I didn’t.”
Lila stared at her. She
didn’t understand. “But you two were just recently married.”
“Actually, we’d been secretly married as teenagers and never had it annulled, but didn’t find out until recently. We had to get to know each other as adults, not as the impulsive kids we once were. And that’s what you have to do,” Lucie told her in all honesty. “You and Everett have to do the work and get to know each other all over again—from scratch,” she insisted. “You have to take into consideration that Everett, in all likelihood, may very well not be the person he was at sixteen or eighteen or twenty.”
Lucie circled to the back of the desk and put her arm on Lila’s shoulder.
“And while we’re at it, why do you assume that history has to repeat itself?” she questioned gently. “What if Everett really means what he says and wants to get back together with you not for a romp or a weekend of lovemaking, but for good?”
Lila rose from her chair and paced about the small office. She couldn’t come to grips with the desperate feeling she was experiencing in her gut.
“Even if Everett’s serious, even if he wants things to be different this time around, the past is still standing between us like a giant roadblock,” Lila insisted.
“By the past you mean the little girl that you gave up.” It wasn’t a question. Lucie was reading between the lines. She knew the truth about Lila’s past. In a moment of weakness, Lila had entrusted her with her deepest secret.
“Yes,” Lila cried, struggling not to cry. “It still haunts me,” she admitted. “Holding her in my arms and then giving her up—some nights I still wake up in a cold sweat, remembering how that felt. To have her and then not have her, all in the blink of an eye,” Lila confessed sadly.
“Does Everett realize how you feel?” Lucie asked.
Lila pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I don’t know,” she answered. “I never said anything about it.”
“Did you ask him if he knew?” Lucie pressed. “Or say anything at all about what giving her up did to you?”
“No,” Lila admitted in a low voice, avoiding Lucie’s eyes.
“Then for heaven sakes, talk to him about it,” Lucie urged. “Tell him how you felt giving up your baby. How you still feel.”
“I can’t,” Lila said. “I just can’t. Lucie, I know you mean well, but just please, please leave me alone right now. It’ll work out.”
It will, Lila told herself as Lucie walked out of her office.
It had to.
Chapter Eighteen
“All right, I’m here,” Everett declared when his sister opened her front door to admit him into her house several days later. “I got Blake to take over a few of my patients, had the rest of them rescheduled and drove right out because you sounded as if this was urgent.” His eyes swept over her and she certainly didn’t look as if she was in the throes of some sort of an emergency. “Now what’s this all about?”
Instead of answering his question, Schuyler said, “I can’t tell you here.” Getting her purse, she took out her car keys. “In order to explain, I need to take you some place first.”
Everett looked at his sister suspiciously. This wasn’t making any sense to him. “Where?” he wanted to know.
Again she avoided giving him a direct answer. “You’ll understand everything once we’re there,” Schuyler told him, hurrying toward her spacious garage.
Fetching her red BMW, she pulled up next to her brother. “Get in,” she told him, leaning over and throwing open the passenger door.
Since he’d all but raced out of Houston, driving at top speed until he’d reached Austin because he was extremely concerned about Schuyler, he went along with her instructions.
“You’re being awfully mysterious about all this,” he accused.
“The mystery will be cleared up before you know it, big brother,” Schuyler promised, mentally crossing her fingers.
Everett suddenly sat up a little straighter in the passenger seat as a thought occurred to him.
Looking at her now, he asked, “Hey, Schuy, you’re not pregnant, are you?” As the question came out of his mouth, he began grinning so widely, his lips almost hurt. He’d thought his sister would get married first before starting a family, but that didn’t negate his happiness for her. “Wow, that’s terrific. How far along are you?” he asked excitedly. “What does Carlo think about this? Have you picked a godfather yet?”
Apparently overwhelmed, Schuyler took a second to speak. “Hey, slow down,” she said then. She slanted a look in his direction before turning back to the road. “So you like the idea of babies,” she said, obviously referring to his exuberant reaction.
“Of course I do. How far along are you?” he asked her again.
“I’m not,” Schuyler told him.
Everett looked as if his bubble had been pierced, sending him twisting in the wind. “Wait, I don’t understand. Then you’re not pregnant?” he asked, more confused than ever.
“No,” Schuyler answered. “I never said I was. You jumped to that conclusion,” she pointed out. “Let me have my wedding first, then we’ll see about babies.”
Everett slumped back against his seat. “Okay, then I don’t understand,” he said, confused. “What’s this all about?”
Schuyler bit her lower lip, stalling. “I already told you—”
“No, you didn’t,” he insisted, trying to keep his voice even. He didn’t like games, especially not at his expense.
“Just hang on a little longer and you’ll see what this is all about.”
Everett sighed. “Well, since you’ve kidnapped me, I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“I didn’t kidnap you,” Schuyler informed him. “You got into the car of your own free will.”
That’s not how he saw it. “You just keep telling yourself that,” he said. Laying his head back against the headrest, Everett closed his eyes. Running around and not getting much sleep was finally beginning to catch up with him. “Wake me whenever we get to wherever it is that we’re going,” he told her.
* * *
“We’re here,” Schuyler announced not five minutes later.
“Well, that didn’t take long,” Everett commented. Sitting up, he looked around as his sister got out of the car.
Schuyler had driven them to the Fortune Foundation.
Alert, not to mention annoyed, Everett glared at his sister when he got out. “Hey, why are we here?”
“You’ll find out,” she said cheerfully.
Neither his mood nor the look that he was giving her over the hood of her car improved.
“Schuyler, just what the hell are you up to?” he demanded.
“You’ll find out,” his sister repeated. She gave him what she no doubt hoped was an encouraging look. “Just give it a few more minutes.”
But Everett didn’t move an inch. “And if I don’t?”
“Then you’ll never know how things might have turned out.” When he still didn’t move, Schuyler looked at him plaintively. “Do it for me, Everett. Please,” she implored.
“Damn it, Schuyler, you owe me,” Everett snapped, finally coming around the sporty red vehicle.
Schuyler inclined her head and gave him a wink. “We’ll see.”
* * *
Lila was engrossed in drawing up the following week’s schedule for the volunteer doctors when Lucie walked into her office.
“Save whatever you’re working on, Lila,” Lucie told her. “I need your full, undivided attention right now.”
Surprised by Lucie’s serious tone, Lila looked up. “What’s going on?”
Instead of answering her, Lucie looked over her shoulder and beckoned to someone. Just who was she summoning to Lila’s office?
Totally stunned, Lila was immediately on her feet when she saw him.
Everett was the last person she’d expected to
see here. After practically throwing him out of her house, she’d never thought she would see him again.
She fisted her hands, digging her knuckles into her desk to keep her knees from giving way.
She shot an angry look at her friend. “Lucie, what have you done?” she demanded.
“Saved two really nice people from a lifetime of loneliness and heartache,” Lucie answered. Then she stepped out of the way, allowing a bewildered-looking Everett to enter Lila’s office. But not before she gave a big grin and a high five to a well-dressed woman behind him.
Schuyler, Lila recognized.
Peering into the office around her brother, Schuyler declared, “I hereby officially call this intervention in session.”
With that, she stepped away from the doorway.
Following her out, Lucie told the two people who were left in the room, “And don’t come out until you’ve resolved this properly.” And then she closed the door behind her.
“This your idea?” Lila asked Everett.
“Hell, no,” he denied. “I think Schuyler cooked this up.”
“Not without Lucie’s help,” Lila said accusingly. Furious, she let out a shaky breath. And then she turned toward Everett. She was furious. “You know you can leave,” she told him.
“I know.” Lord, but he had missed her, he thought now, looking at Lila. “But since I’m here...maybe we should talk.”
“About what?” Lila wanted to know. “What is there left to say?” Restless, uneasy, she began to pace within the limited space. “I trusted you once and got my heart broken for my trouble.”
Her accusation hurt. But this wasn’t one-sided. “I could say the same thing,” Everett countered.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Everett, stunned. “You?” she questioned. What was he talking about?
“Yes,” he informed Lila. “I’d trusted you, too. Trusted that you’d be with me forever—and then you walked out. It wasn’t easy for me after we broke up. I might have gone on with my studies—because that was what I was supposed to do—but there was this huge, empty, jagged hole in my chest where you used to be.”
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