by Trish Morey
‘I’m sorry.’
‘What are you sorry for?’ She managed a tremulous laugh as she shifted away. ‘You’re the one who saved me, aren’t you?’
‘You were doing a pretty good job of saving yourself when I saw you. Did they tell you you’d broken Jo’s nose with your foot? Remind me never to get in your way in bed.’
She smiled a wan smile of resignation. ‘I think we both know there’s not much chance of that happening.’
A pause followed her words; she wasn’t sure what she was expecting to come, and she wasn’t sure whether she was more relieved or surprised when he did speak. ‘It’s my fault. I should have suspected how dangerous Jo was when we discovered he was stealing. I should have known he’d come after you.’
So he wasn’t mourning her loss from his bed? That was good, wasn’t it? Sophie’s teeth found her lip, bit down on the pain of swollen tissue and suddenly realised the old habit was something she hadn’t done for what seemed like ages.
She nodded numbly, wondering more about the lip than anything else. Maybe because that seemed easier to deal with.
‘I want to explain about Jo.’
‘There’s no need.’
‘Believe me, there’s every need. Will you hear me?’
She sat down on the bed. What choice did she have? Until the doctor came, it wasn’t as though she was going anywhere. And it wasn’t as though it was going to change anything. ‘Okay, I’m listening.’
He took a deep breath and blew it out in a rush. ‘After Emma’s death I got home from Italy as soon as I could. I couldn’t believe it. I blamed myself for not insisting she come with us, like we’d originally wanted. I was a mess. I wanted to break something—someone—Jake. He was lying critically injured in a coma and I wanted to go finish the job.’
Sophie lowered her lashes, aching inside for her brother, lying in hospital so close to death, and for the tortured man who’d just lost his fiancée.
‘Jo stopped me. At least, I thought he stopped me. I credited him with saving me in those dark days, of saving me from myself. When we met a few years later, after he’d been in the army and was looking for a job, I wanted to repay him. My business was just taking off. I gave him work, thinking I was repaying his friendship. His loyalty.’
He ground the word out between his teeth, his voice growing bitter. ‘But all the time he was living a lie. I thought it bad enough when I discovered he was planning on pocketing half the pay-off money, but he’d already betrayed me in the worst possible way and I’d been too blind to see any of it. He told me that Jake had taken advantage of Emma while I was away and that he was probably taking her off for a back-street abortion to hide the evidence when they crashed. He fed me all this at the same time he was holding me back from wanting to tear your brother limb from limb.
‘And to think I’d thanked him all these years for holding me back…’ He shook his head. ‘But then I learned of Monica’s plans to marry Jake, and what had happened before all came rushing back. It wasn’t just Jo feeding my hatred—I know I had more than plenty to go round myself—but it was almost as if Jo wanted your brother gone more. He told me your business was in trouble and needed cash. It all fitted with the idea your brother was in it for the money, and that you were too.’
He looked at her, his eyes dark with regret, underlined with shadows she hadn’t noticed before. ‘I was wrong, Sophie. So wrong.’ He looked broken, shattered, and it was all she could do not to go to him, put her arms around him and tell him it didn’t matter.
But it did matter. So many people’s lives had been ruined back then; the shock waves continued to wreak devastation, even now, so she stayed where she was.
‘It was Jo who got Emma pregnant,’ she whispered. ‘Not Jake. He… He raped her.’
And he closed his eyes, his chest expanding on a breath. ‘I know. Which is why he didn’t want Jake around.’
‘But Jake couldn’t remember.’
‘Jo didn’t know what he knew. He couldn’t take the risk of the marriage going ahead and the truth coming out. He didn’t want your brother anywhere near me. He was going to take the money and run. And he would have, if you hadn’t tipped me off with numbers that didn’t make sense. I have a lot to thank you for, Sophie. Even more to apologise for.’
It was something, at least.
‘Jake seems to think Emma had come to him out of desperation. But I keep wondering why she didn’t go straight to the police.’
‘I don’t know. Except her parents were very strict. Maybe she thought they wouldn’t believe her. After all, he was supposed to be my friend. I’d asked him to look after her while I was away…’
She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could turn off his pain when she had so much of her own to bear. Because, if he’d blamed himself for her death before, now he had more reason than ever. Damn. She would not feel sorry for him! Not when he was hardly the victim in all this. She swallowed back on a sob.
‘It was you who gazumped us at the Tropical Palms, wasn’t it? So you could get me to the island. Have us all thinking the wedding was going ahead. All while you hatched your plan to pay off Jake in the background.’
His hands curled into fists at his sides. Then he nodded, his eyes the bleakest black.
‘You made the phone call before the helicopter like I said, didn’t you? And then you made out you’d been calling up the island, to let them know we were coming. You lied to me.’
‘By omission—I tried to justify it to myself. But, yes, you’re right. I lied to you.’
‘And you were going to keep me, weren’t you, as long as Jake had Monica? “An eye for an eye, a root for a root”. That’s how Jo put it. That’s why you slept with me, wasn’t it, Daniel? To get even at the basest level with someone you decided long ago you’d hate for ever.’
‘Those were not my words!’
‘But that was your intent! I was to be your prisoner in paradise, and you thought you might as well take advantage while I was here.’
‘Sophie, it wasn’t always like that, you have to believe me. Yes, I thought there was justice in having you with me while he had Monica. And, yes, to make that happen I made sure the Tropical Palms got an offer it couldn’t refuse. I know that nobody can understand, but I had to do whatever I could to ensure I had complete control over this wedding. It was the only way. Only then, when you got here, I found more reason than ever for you to stay.’
‘Because you had sex on tap?’
He blinked slowly and when he opened his eyes their deep sincerity almost made her look away. ‘I told you you were the best, and it’s true.’
She heard the rattle of a tea trolley and looked hopefully towards the door. Any interruption would be preferable right now to hearing these pointless words. She was good at sex, and he was in love with a dead woman.
It was never going to be a fair contest.
She stood up and started fussing with the recalcitrant zip on her bag, realised her toiletries were still in the bathroom and got frustrated with the slow progress. Where the hell was that doctor, anyway? Not that any doctor could help her now, because no doctor could help what was hurting inside her.
She took a calming breath. ‘Look, Daniel, thanks for being there yesterday. Thanks for stopping by and explaining all that. Please give my regards to Millie. Please let her know I was relieved to hear she hadn’t been hurt.’
He frowned. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Back to Brisbane. I have a flight booked. Meg’s going to meet me at the airport.’ She injected a dose of enthusiasm she didn’t feel into her voice. ‘I can’t wait to catch up with all the news.’
‘Sophie, I want you to come home.’
‘I am going home, Daniel. My home.’
‘But the wedding? What about the wedding?’
‘Didn’t you hear the news? I’m not needed here any more.’
He looked at her, dumbfounded. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘Why so shocked, Danie
l? I thought you’d be pleased. It’s what you wanted, after all: the wedding’s off.’
His mind and senses reeled. He’d assumed he’d pick her up from the hospital and take her back to the island where he could soothe away her bruises, gentle her pain. He’d thought if he explained everything she might eventually understand, might forgive him.
She had to forgive him.
And he’d thought there was time, because there was a wedding to plan and she’d never walk away from that.
But if there was no wedding…
‘What happened?’
She put a hand to her hip and tilted her head with the falsest smile she could muster. ‘You know, it was the strangest thing. Apparently Monica overheard Jake talking to me on the phone and insisted he tell her what all the secrecy was about. When he told her that you were offering him money to break off the engagement, and had been responsible for dispensing with her last few boyfriends, she refused to believe you were capable of such a thing. You. The perfect brother.’ She laughed a little. ‘Imagine that.’
His hands fisted in his hair. What the hell had he done?
‘So you’ll no doubt be delighted to hear that they had a huge argument and it all got too hard—she couldn’t marry anyone who didn’t think the sun shone out of her brother, like she did, and he couldn’t marry anyone who didn’t believe him.’
She sucked in air.
‘So you finally got what you wanted. I hope you’re satisfied.’
She turned back toward her bags and made another effort at zipping up the zip, trying to make this chapter in her life final, all her efforts concentrated on the task in hand.
‘Sophie—’
She spun back round. ‘You’re still here?’
‘I’ll speak to them. I’ll fix it.’
‘Good luck. It didn’t sound too fixable when I heard the news.’
‘You can’t go. I said you were the best, Sophie. I meant it.’
Her sore lip suffered another ill-timed bite. ‘You played me for a fool—making love to me and flattering me like you actually cared. When all the time you just wanted to keep me held hostage in paradise, so I’d fall for your charms and believe you took this wedding seriously. Why the hell shouldn’t I go?’
‘Because I love you.’
He wasn’t sure who was the most shocked. She stood stock-still, her face drained of colour on one side, the garish blue bruises on the other standing out all the more.
While he reeled inside from the thunderclap discovery. He loved her. That was why he’d rejoiced when he’d discovered she wasn’t after his money. That was why he’d rejoiced every time Jake had turned his offers down, and why he didn’t rejoice when he’d heard the news the wedding was off. And that was why he’d never wanted to let her go.
‘I didn’t realise it myself. I didn’t know until now. But why else would I spend hours in meetings thinking about you rather than what’s on the agenda? Why would I rush home every day? Because I couldn’t get you out of my head. I wanted to be with you, Sophie, because I love you.’
‘No. You’re in love with Emma. Always have been. Always will be.’
‘I loved Emma. I know she’ll always be special in my heart. But you’re the one I love.’
She dipped her head in her hand and breathed deep. ‘There are too many people hurting, Daniel. So much damage done. How can you expect me to embrace your love? How can you expect me to return it? Even… Even if I wanted to.’
She looked up to see hope in his eyes for the first time in days. ‘Daniel, you have to let me walk away. You have to give me time.’
The door burst open, the doctor bustling in and swiping up the charts at the end of her bed near her packed bag. ‘Someone anxious to go home, then?’ He looked up at her, switched his glance to Daniel and turned his gaze down to the chart. ‘Hope I didn’t just interrupt something important.’
She gave a wan smile and shook her head. ‘Not at all. Mr Caruana was just leaving.’
EPILOGUE
IT WAS the kind of day you wished you could bottle—not a cloud in the azure sky, the cerulean sea dotted with pleasure craft and a tempering sea breeze to keep the temperature from climbing too high.
It would have been perfect if her heart hadn’t been permanently lodged in her mouth since she’d arrived.
Kallista had turned on its best and Meg had done a brilliant job bringing it all together while Sophie had held the fort in Brisbane these past couple of weeks. A white pavilion had been installed on a grassy patch near the shore and festooned with colourful bougainvillea over fluttering white chiffon, the perfect, romantic setting for the perfect wedding.
And it was. She’d slipped in, arriving on the very last launch when everyone was busy with last-minute details. She’d planned it that way. Even a couple of weeks away hadn’t been enough to make her forget or stop her longing. But it seemed it had been long enough for Daniel. He hadn’t contacted her in all that time. Clearly his profession of love hadn’t meant a thing. She’d done the right thing by walking away.
What she hadn’t planned was how highly strung she felt. She almost cried when she saw Jake up front with the celebrant, pulling at his collar, looking nervous and excited, like every proper groom should. She did cry when she saw Monica, the most beautiful bride she’d ever seen, her smile joyous, her face radiant, as she walked down the aisle on the arm of her proud and equally beautiful brother to the man she loved.
The tears continued when she saw the men shake hands as one man handed the bride over to the other, and then when bride and groom exchanged vows and kissed she cried again.
She dabbed at her eyes as the congregation cheered the newly married couple and filtered behind them along the shore. At this rate she’d be a complete puddle by the time they made it to the speeches.
‘It’s good to see you again.’
She blinked and he was there, gloriously there before her, all magnificent male, dressed in a suit fit for a god. Appropriate, really, given what lay beneath. ‘How have you been?’
Lonely.
‘Busy. How about you?’
‘The same.’ He was looking at her with those hungry eyes, warm and sensual, his mouth turned into the beginnings of a smile although there were lines of strain there too. ‘You look beautiful.’
She smiled. She had red eyes and a heavy heart, but she’d take the words in the spirit they were given.
‘Sit with me at the reception,’ he said. ‘I got Meg to save you a seat.’
‘Of course.’ Sitting with him meant nothing. As sister of the groom, she’d expected not to be able to fade entirely into the woodwork. She could last a few hours in his company; she’d almost convinced herself.
They got corralled into wedding photos of family and friends and it seemed like ages before the party moved to the long-house pavilion. In pride of place was the cake Millie had made for them spilling with orchids in soft pinks and whites. ‘It’s beautiful, Millie,’ she told the woman as they embraced. ‘You’ve done a wonderful job.’
Millie wiped a tear from her own eye. ‘We’ve missed you, Sophie. Him more than anyone. He’s been like a bear with a sore head. Worse these last few days, waiting for you to turn up. You’d think he was the one getting married. Will you be staying a while?’
She smiled, not sure how she should feel about Millie’s revelations. Excited? Hopeful? Or had he merely been dreading her presence. ‘Just overnight. I have to be back in Brisbane.’
The older woman’s face dropped momentarily. Then she sighed and nodded. ‘I understand.’
Did she? Sophie wasn’t sure she understood herself.
Finally everyone filed in and took their seats for the reception. Daniel held out her chair for her. He leaned down as she lowered herself, his warm breath like a living thing stroking her ear. ‘I’ve missed you, Sophie.’ And she felt his words all the way to her toes. ‘I’ve missed you bad.’
‘You didn’t call.’ She tried to keep the hurt from her voice
, and failed miserably.
‘I thought you needed space.’
‘Oh.’ What did that mean? But she nodded and picked up her wine, taking a sip, her eyes on the bride and groom. They were so happy and so much in love it almost hurt to look at them. ‘How did you do it?’ she asked. ‘How did you get them back together again?’
He followed her gaze. ‘I had a lot of bridges to mend before that happened. Luckily you’d shown me how.’
‘I did? How?’
He looked around at the appetiser that had just been placed in front of them. ‘Are you hungry?’
She shook her head. She knew what was on the menu; she’d put the courses together that week she’d spent on the island. She knew it would be fabulous without tasting a thing. Besides, there was something she needed more than food right now.
He took her hand and they headed for the beach, where the sun was just beginning to set, lighting the warm, tropical world with its soft glow.
‘I spent too long in a world of hatred,’ he said as they kicked off their shoes and set off along the sand. ‘It consumed me. Powered me. Drove me to think I was doing right, when I was doing wrong. I hurt Monica. I thought I was protecting her and I hurt her.’
He stopped and looked at the sun and she saw the glint of moisture in the corner of his eyes. ‘You taught me that the bonds of love were stronger than the chains of hate. You taught me that love wasn’t about control. Love was being able to let something go, and trust you would keep it for ever.’
He looked down at her, taking her chin so softly in his fingers that her skin tingled at the contact. ‘You taught me that, Sophie.
‘And, even though I didn’t want to let you walk away from me that day in the hospital, even though I knew it would break me and that however long it took would be hell, I knew in my heart that if I was ever to truly have you I would have to let you go and hope above hope that you would return to me.’ He rested his forehead against hers and she put a hand to his cheek, relishing the touch of the face she had dreamed about every night since she’d left.
