“Hudson Hamilton.”
“I know he was in our class,” Angie said, looking thoughtful. “Wasn’t he?”
“Yes. If I remember right, he was the class valedictorian.” How could anyone forget that?
“Oh right. Hudson—shaggy brown hair, sort of nerdy? I have so much on my mind, sorry. Now, what was it you were asking?”
“Is he coming to help decorate?”
Right away Angie shook her head. “Not Hudson. I would never ask Hudson.”
“Why not?”
“Come on, Coco, you’re not serious, are you? I can barely remember who he is.”
She was serious, but it was best to let this pass. Coco had wanted to see him again as soon as possible. She hoped she’d get the chance at the dinner later that evening. “He’s coming tonight, isn’t he?”
“I think so.”
“Can you check?”
Looking frustrated, Angie glanced around at the team of decorators. “Can I do it later? We’ve got a lot to do here, Coco. Why the sudden interest in Hudson, anyway?”
“I bumped into him last night. Literally.”
“Has he changed? Did he evolve into a hunk or something?”
“No…yes. I didn’t recognize him, but that was more me than it was him. He looks pretty much the same, though a lot better dressed, I’d say. We’ve all changed, right?”
“Not Donny Applegate,” Lily Franklin called out.
A flurry of activity was going on around them. There were six-foot ladders positioned by the basketball nets and signs hung around the room. Posters were taped to the wall with highlight photos from their glory days at Cedar Cove High.
“Remind me who Donny Applegate is,” Coco said to Angie.
“Donny was the lead in the play our senior year. He played Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Remember?”
Coco didn’t.
At her blank look, Angie giggled. “I’m not the only one who doesn’t remember everyone in the class.”
“What about Donny?” Katie asked, joining Coco. “What makes him so special?”
“Nothing really,” Angie admitted. “Well, other than the fact that he’s still acting. Ashley Lambert claims she saw him in a television commercial.”
“Was he?”
Angie shrugged. “Don’t know. He didn’t return the information sheet.”
“So he isn’t attending the reunion?”
“I guess not, but Ashley said she recognized him immediately, and she should know because she went to Homecoming with him when they were sophomores.”
“But just think, Donny getting a role on national television.”
“It wasn’t national,” Lily corrected. “It was local. For Flush King Plumbing.”
Coco rolled her eyes. It apparently didn’t take much to impress her classmates.
“Okay, Coco, are you ready to help now?”
“Ready, willing, and able. Just tell me what you need me to do.”
Her assignment was to decorate the tables. Angie had rented tablecloths in their school colors of maroon and gold. With Katie’s help, Coco covered each table with memorabilia from the year of their graduation: CD covers, old magazines, class photos and such.
When Lily noticed, she called out, “Hey, Coco, that’s super-cool.”
Again with Katie’s help, they arranged the centerpieces on each table. The decorations were cheap and tinselly, but when they finished, Coco had to admit the tables looked nice.
They’d completed everything by four o’clock, which allowed the group two hours to change clothes for that night’s events.
Angie stopped Coco just as she was about to leave. “You asked about Hudson.”
“I did.” She didn’t bother to hide her enthusiasm. “Did you see if he’s paid for tonight?”
Angie set her laptop on the table and opened it. She balanced it on one arm while she did a quick search. “Let me see. Hudson Hamilton. Does anyone else find the name Hudson rather odd?” she mumbled, as she searched her records.
“It’s probably a family name,” Katie suggested.
“What a terrible name to give some kid,” Lily said, coming to stand behind Angie.
“It distinguishes him,” Coco argued, uncertain why she felt obliged to defend him. “Besides, I heard it’s a name that’s trendy.”
“Hudson?”
“Actually,” Katie said, entering the fray, “there’s a famous Christian missionary who worked in China named Hudson Taylor.”
“Really. How’d you know that?”
“I read about him.”
“You always did like to read, didn’t you?” Lily said, studying Katie.
Angie looked up. “He’s here, but he didn’t fill out the questionnaire, so there’s nothing here that I can tell you.”
“Oh,” Coco said, doing her best to disguise her disappointment.
“Would you mind rechecking to be sure James Harper is signed up for the dinner?” Katie asked.
“Of course he is.” Coco was convinced of it.
Again Angie looked down at the computer screen. “I just closed out of the program. Can’t you two just wait until tonight and hook up with old friends?”
“I guess,” Katie said wistfully.
“All right, all right,” Angie muttered, reopening the program and focusing on the small screen. “Yes, James has paid up, too. Didn’t I already tell you that?”
Katie didn’t bother to answer.
They headed out of the gymnasium. Angie and Lily stayed behind to let in the catering group while Coco and Katie started toward the parking lot.
As they neared Coco’s car, Katie slowed her steps. “I should have asked if he’d paid for one or for two,” she said.
“Why didn’t you?” Coco asked, and unlocked the car.
“I was afraid. If James is bringing a date or a girlfriend, I don’t think I could bear it.”
“Katie—”
“I know. I know. I’ve got to let go,” she said, cutting Coco off. “After tonight I’ll have my final answer and I’ll accept whatever it is. I won’t have any other choice.”
Coco didn’t feel she was in any position to lecture her friend about relationships. Because of her personality and being a people person she’d never had trouble meeting men. However, any time she began to get close to serious with someone she found an excuse to back out. It went without saying she had trust issues. She wanted to blame Ryan, but the truth was—and she’d recognized it long ago—the problem was hers. Several really wonderful men had drifted in and out of her life, and she’d let them go out of fear.
“I’m afraid,” Coco said, choosing her words carefully, “that you’ve built up James in your mind. He was your hero, your first love, and over the years you’ve turned him into some knight or prince who can do no wrong. In your eyes he’s perfect, and the reality is that like every one of us, James is flawed.”
“Of course he is. We all are. All I’m asking for is another chance with him. Is that so hard?”
Coco opened her car door and shook her head. “You’re putting way too much pressure on him and on yourself, Katie. You can’t expect to make up for ten years in a single weekend.”
What her friend said was true. Nonetheless, Coco realized Katie couldn’t help but hope.
“Let matters evolve naturally,” Coco continued. “Now that James has had a chance to see you and know that you want to talk, he needs time to absorb it, to open his mind and his heart to you. I believe he will, but if not, then it’s his loss. And”—she hesitated—“something he will eventually regret.”
Katie nodded and seemed to realize the wisdom of Coco’s words.
They drove back to the inn in silence. Katie immediately headed to her room. “I’m going to shower and change for tonight.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Coco stepped across the hall but as soon as she was in her room, she changed her mind. She was more curious now than ever about Hudson.
Sitting on top of the bed with her l
egs crossed, she logged on to her laptop and Googled Hudson Hamilton’s name. She found three Hudson Hamiltons.
Three. So much for all that talk about his unusual name.
One looked to be a mental case. Obviously that wasn’t the Hudson Hamilton who’d graduated from Cedar Cove High. The second Hudson’s bio caught her attention immediately. She scrolled down and found his photo, confirming it was him.
“Hudson,” she repeated, her heart pounding. “Really?” Goodness, she wondered if any of her other classmates had a clue about him. He wasn’t anything like what he’d been in high school. She remembered Hudson being utterly socially inept. Every time he’d talked to her it seemed his tongue had gotten tied up in knots and the words had stumbled out of his mouth making little sense.
Taking her laptop with her, she leaped off the bed and scooted across the hall and pounded on Katie’s door.
“It’s open,” Katie called out from the other side.
Coco nearly fell into the room in her eagerness to share what she’d found. “You won’t believe this,” she said, bouncing onto Katie’s bed.
Her friend stood wide-eyed with one towel wrapped around her head and the other around her torso. “Believe what?”
“Hudson.”
Katie frowned and narrowed her gaze. “Will you please tell me why you’re so stuck on Hudson?”
“I don’t know; the fact is I’ve been trying to figure it out myself. Maybe it’s because I discounted him when we were in school.” And maybe because she’d felt this sudden connection with him. Whatever the reason, he’d captivated her. He was her alluring mystery man. Rather than invent an excuse, she whirled her computer screen around for Katie to see. “Hudson works at the University of Washington. He does cutting-edge medical research.”
Katie remained emotionless and stuck out her hand as if to say, And…? “That surprises you?”
“Yes…I mean, okay, so he’s smart, really smart. We knew that in high school; I admire the fact that he’s doing something with his life and making a difference.”
“You’re smart, too.”
“Oh hardly, but I’m good at what I do, building apps.” She didn’t mean to discount her own abilities. She enjoyed her job, but Hudson’s work was important, life-changing.
When he’d asked her to Homecoming all those years ago, she’d turned him down. Regretting that now, she hoped to rectify things tonight. She would turn the tables and ask him to dance.
I stared at Bob for several uncomfortable moments before I started toward the house. “Come inside,” I said, my heart rampaging inside of me. I yearned to hear what he’d come to tell me and at the same time dreaded finally hearing the truth about Mark.
Bob followed me and Rover trotted with him, then rushed ahead and led the way up the porch steps. My faithful companion waited for me to open the door as if he was just as eager to hear what Bob had to say as I was.
“Should I make tea?” I asked, knowing tea could be an excellent shock absorber. My mother had always brewed tea when she wanted to have a serious discussion or when she felt the need to comfort me. In the weeks following the news regarding Paul we drank enough tea together to warrant a stock investment in several name brands.
“Sure,” Bob said. He made his way into the living room and sat close to the very edge of the sofa cushion while I went into the kitchen. Once again, his hat was in his hands and he slowly rotated it, his gaze focused on it as if looking to read an inscription on the inside of the brim.
My hands shook as I poured the boiling water into the ceramic pot over the tea leaves. I didn’t trust myself to carry in a tray, fearing I might drop it in my nervousness.
“I’ll leave it to steep,” I said, as I joined Bob. I sat in the chair directly across from him and tucked my hands prayer-wise between my knees. Rover sat on the rug next to my feet, his chin resting on top of my right foot as if to secure me in place. I held my breath and waited.
Bob raised his head and held my look for the longest moment before he spoke. “Mark moved to Cedar Cove a few years before you—two, I think. He mainly kept to himself and took on odd jobs. Peggy and I didn’t see much of him until you moved to town. We recently talked about the difference in him shortly after you arrived.”
“What difference?” No one had mentioned any of this before now.
“Peggy deserves the credit; she’s the one who noticed Mark coming out of his shell. For one, he showed up at the farmers’ market on Saturday mornings and then Peggy and I started seeing him around town more often. He did his work, and collected his paycheck. You have to admit the man is a talented craftsman. But he didn’t go out of his way to make friends—that is, until you arrived.”
“What does my move to town have to do with any of these changes?” I wasn’t sure I followed Bob’s line of thinking.
“Peggy says Mark fell for you. I don’t know that much about these things; I leave that up to the wife to explain. Peggy thinks Mark was waiting for you to get over the loss of your husband before he declared himself. It makes sense, I suppose. Mark was smart not to rush you or make a move when you were vulnerable and grieving.”
Thinking back over the last year, I could see what Peggy believed could be true. I had been blind to his feelings, but none of this mattered now. “I want to know why Mark left.”
“I’m getting to that,” Bob said. He set his hat aside and slowly rubbed his palms together, as if warming his hands. “Peggy told me a few weeks back that you were asking questions about Mark. How I met him and the like.”
I nodded. “I know he has a deep, dark secret and I wanted to dig up what it was.” I felt embarrassed to admit that now.
“When Peggy asked, I mentioned that I thought he might speak German.”
“Yes,” I said eagerly. “Peggy did say something about that.”
“As it happens, Mark has an affinity for languages. I believe he speaks six or more. Fluently. German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, and Arabic.”
“Mark?” He’d never let on. Not even once. “Arabic?” I repeated. “Really?”
Bob glanced down at the rug and nodded. “Yes. Before he left, Mark told me his story. In order to understand him you need to know that his family has a strong military background. Both his father and grandfather were career military. His grandfather was a World War Two hero and his father got the Silver Cross in Vietnam. It was expected that Mark would enlist as well, and he did. He joined the army, the same as his father and grandfather, following his college graduation.”
“His given name is Jeremy,” I whispered. That much he’d voluntarily told me. “Mark was actually his father’s name.”
Bob straightened. “I thought he might have told you that. I still think of him as Mark.”
“Me, too.” It was what I’d always known him as, and Jeremy felt foreign to me.
“His father died just before Mark moved here.”
It hurt that Mark had given Bob this information and had left me almost completely in the dark. All this had to be tied to the reasons he felt the need to leave, but it still pained me that he hadn’t been the one to explain it himself.
“He had a sister who died when she was in her early twenties. Cancer, I believe. His mother took it hard and died shortly afterward and then a few years later his dad fell ill and died as well. His entire family was gone, and all within a short amount of time.”
“So there’s only Mark left?”
“Only Mark,” Bob confirmed. “He was especially close to his father.”
That much I knew. The one and only time Mark had mentioned his father to me, his words and his voice had revealed the depth of his love and pride for the man.
“Mark served three tours of duty in Iraq.”
“As a translator?” Seeing that he was fluent in several languages, it made sense.
“I’m not completely sure of his role other than the fact that he worked gathering intelligence. I don’t know how much you know about how the military works.”
“I was in ’Nam myself and it was hell on earth. And you can bet it wasn’t any Sunday School picnic in Iraq, either.”
“I don’t suspect it was,” I said.
Bob started rotating his hat again and leaned forward. “Mark worked with a young Iraqi man who, at great personal risk to himself and his family, fed Mark information. The two became as close as brothers. When Ibrahim married, Mark attended the wedding, and when his wife gave birth, Ibrahim gave his son a name that loosely correlates to Jeremy.”
I tensed, afraid of what Bob was about to tell me next.
“Ibrahim and his wife had a second child. A girl. Mark loved both children and celebrated their births with this man who’d become as close as family.”
“And…?” I could feel my throat tightening.
“Toward the end of his third tour Mark’s unit was ordered to pull out of Iraq. He wasn’t allowed to tell Ibrahim what was happening or why. The American military installation disappeared overnight.”
I tensed. If Mark hadn’t been able to tell his friends what was happening or why…“What about Ibrahim and his family?”
Bob looked away and didn’t answer, as if carefully weighing his words. “Mark’s orders were specific. He was to tell Ibrahim nothing. The less the other man knew about the orders, the better it was for him in case he was taken and interrogated later. He’d served his purpose and was no longer an asset. I know it sounds harsh, but the military felt the Iraqi army had been properly trained and it was time to go.”
“You mean to say Mark was ordered to leave his friend and family behind?” Surely the army understood the possible consequences to Ibrahim and his wife and children if the country was overtaken…as currently seemed to be happening. Anyone known to have relationships with Americans would have been vulnerable.
“Yes, the military knew and so did Mark. The worst of it was that after all the help Ibrahim had given the Americans, and at great personal risk, he would now be left to the mercy of those threatening to take over the country.”
Silver Linings Page 17
