“I’ll always consider you the sister I never had,” Denise whispered as they hugged. After loading her vehicle, Leanne headed back to Seattle with tears clouding her eyes. News of Mark’s rescue reached her two days later. Muriel Lancaster phoned, sobbing with joy and relief. Mark had been rescued by Special Forces, who said it was a miracle that both men were alive. Because she was so overcome with emotion, Muriel couldn’t answer Leanne’s questions. That night Leanne slept a solid eleven hours, not waking even once. She didn’t expect to hear from Mark personally. She had every reason to assume his attitude toward her hadn’t changed. None of that mattered, however, because Mark was alive.
Nearly two weeks passed. Muriel gave Leanne regular updates on Mark’s condition. He’d been severely beaten and was in bad shape when rescued. After being stabilized by the medics, Mark was flown back to the States. McPherson flew his parents to the Washington, D.C., hospital where Mark was receiving treatment. A short while later, he was released. Muriel kept her informed, but Leanne recognized that her mother-in-law did so without Mark’s knowledge or consent.
Tuesday afternoon, nearly three weeks after Mark’s rescue, Leanne stopped in the cafeteria to grab soup and a sandwich for lunch. She often ate on the hospital patio. It was early August now, a beautiful day with cloudless blue skies and a gentle breeze wafting in off Puget Sound. She found her favorite spot on a concrete ledge under a dogwood tree. Sometimes friends joined her and, while she never rejected their company, she was just as happy to eat alone.
No sooner had she settled down and opened her soup container than she noticed a man in a wheelchair with his back toward her. She lowered her spoon as a tingling sensation went through her. The man reminded her of Mark.
The width of his shoulders, his hair with the small cowlick she’d loved to run her fingers through… But the last thing Leanne had heard, only two days ago, was that Mark was at a rehab facility on the east coast, recovering from his injuries.
Was it possible? Could this be Mark? If her ex-husband was at the hospital, presumably it was because he planned to approach her. Perhaps he hadn’t seen her enter the patio area. Perhaps he was waiting for her.
Leanne was afraid her mind was playing tricks on her. Mark was always in her thoughts, so it stood to reason that she’d look for hints of him in every man she saw. Still…
When she couldn’t stand it any longer, she got up, discarded the remains of her lunch, then walked over to the table with the big sun-bleached umbrella.
It was Mark.
His face revealed evidence of his capture. His jaw had been broken—his mouth was wired partially shut—and one side of his face was swollen and bruised. His left arm was in a cast. Just seeing him with these injuries unloosed all the grief in her heart. She couldn’t bear the thought of the man she loved in such pain.
He glanced up and smiled crookedly. “Would you care to join me?” he asked, gesturing to the opposite side of the table. His voice was slightly muffled, and he seemed to have some difficulty speaking.
Leanne tried to respond, but couldn’t. After two or three futile attempts, she finally managed to ask, “What are you doing here?”
She hadn’t meant to sound unwelcoming, but thankfully he didn’t take offence.
“I came to see you.”
That was the only logical explanation and yet she couldn’t understand it. A hundred questions circled her mind and she could hardly sort out which one to ask first. All of a sudden, it became more important to tell him one simple truth than to ask any of her questions. “I love you,” she whispered brokenly. “I never stopped loving you. We both made mistakes—”
“We did,” he said and, reaching across the table with his free hand, he took hers. Like teenagers they held hands, fingers gripping tightly.
For a long moment neither spoke.
“You went to stay with my parents,” he eventually said. A huge lump had formed in her throat and all she could do was nod.
“Dad said you kept their spirits up until Denise got there.”
“I tried,” she said hoarsely.
“While I was held captive, all I could think about was you,” Mark told her. His thumb grazed the top of her hand. “It didn’t matter how often they beat me, I kept telling myself I had to stay alive because I needed to get home to you.”
“You’re home now.” She placed her other hand over their clasped ones.
“There’s never been anyone but you, Leanne. There never will be anyone but you.”
“Why did you ever say otherwise?” He’d withdrawn those words, but the lie still upset her.
“I was afraid you might come back, and I wouldn’t have the strength to send you away a second time.”
“Oh, Mark.”
“I knew it was wrong. The hurt in your eyes tormented me for days. That’s why I sent you that letter. I was always faithful to you, Leanne. Then and now.”
She leaned forward and touched her forehead to his.
“The doctors said I shouldn’t come, but I couldn’t stay away any longer.”
She laid her hand lightly on his swollen jaw. “Oh, Mark.” Chills shot through her at the thought of his suffering.
His hand covered hers, and he brushed the tears from her cheeks. “You are so beautiful.”
Somehow she managed to laugh. “Sure I am. My eyes are red and watering and my nose is probably running.”
“Beautiful,” he insisted.
All of a sudden Leanne sensed someone behind her. She twisted around and saw Denise.
“Do you two lovebirds want me to disappear for a while or is it safe to join you?”
Leanne stood and hugged her sister-in-law.
“She drove me over from Spokane,” Mark explained. “I flew in yesterday,” he added.
“He would’ve found a way to get to you, with or without me. I figured it was the least I could do.” She looked from one to the other. “I owe you both so much. I wanted to help fix things for you.” A slow smile came into play. “Although I have to say you don’t seem to need much help.”
“Where are the girls?” Leanne asked.
“With Mom and Dad in Spokane.”
Leanne sat down, her hand once again holding Mark’s. She needed to be close to him, needed to touch him, in order to believe he was really here. With her.
“Did you ask her?” Denise directed the question to Mark. Then, not waiting for a response, she said, “As you might’ve noticed, it’s a bit difficult for him to speak.”
“Denise,” Mark warned in a low growl.
His sister ignored him. “He wants to ask you to marry him, but first he wants to know if you’re interested in that doctor you mentioned. I told him you weren’t, but he wants to hear it from you.”
“Denise!” This time his growl was louder.
“Oh, hush. If I left this to you, you’d mess it up for sure.”
Denise winked at Leanne. “You love my brother, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Leanne said, laughing softly.
“Told you so,” Mark’s sister said to him in a know-it-all tone. She turned to Leanne. “And you’d remarry him in a heartbeat.”
“I would.”
“That’s what I thought.” She exhaled loudly. “Well, then, my work here is done. Oh, just one more thing.”
“What?” Mark said impatiently.
“My girls could do with a cousin. Don’t keep them waiting too long.”
Mark gave a strangled laugh. “We’ll get on that.”
“Yes, we will,” Leanne promised.
Her soon-to-be husband raised her palm to his lips and dropped a kiss there.
Leanne had her husband back, and her world had been set right. This time she wasn’t taking anything for granted. This time, when they spoke their vows, it would be forever.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The first week after Macy left town, I went to her house every day. On the weekend, I was there two or three times. When it became apparent that she truly m
eant what she’d said and would be gone for an extended period, I cut back on my visits.
The second week I came by twice. A man on the neighborhood watch committee questioned me one evening. After that, I figured I’d better make myself scarce. The third week, I was over only once and then, after a month, I didn’t go back. Yes, Macy had meant what she’d said. I tucked the ring in the back of a drawer and tried to forget about it. I should have returned it; sooner or later I would.
My only consolation came from Harvey. I spoke to him every day that first week, although it did little good. The two of us were like wolves howling at the moon, miserable and lost without Macy. I have to admit that by the end of July I was pretty pathetic.
“Has she ever done anything like this before?” I asked her cantankerous next-door neighbor that first week. I recalled that day in mid-June, when she’d taken off and not come home until evening.
“Oh, she’d leave for a few hours when she got upset. She has that place she goes when she needs to think, but she’s never been gone this long. My guess is she went somewhere else,” Harvey said.
“Where would she go?”
“If I knew that,” he yelled, “I’d go after her myself!”
“What about her family?”
Harvey shrugged. “Doubtful. If she did go to her parents’ in New Mexico, her mother would likely send her right back.”
Harvey’s suspicions proved correct. When I called her parents, I learned that Macy hadn’t been in touch in several weeks. I explained who I was and said I loved Macy. Her mother had never heard of me. That was another big dent to my pride. By then, it had received so many dents I was beginning to feel like a car abandoned at the junkyard. I asked Mrs. Roth to contact me if she talked to her daughter. She didn’t call and I could only assume Macy hadn’t gone running to her family for solace.
“How’s Sammy doing without Macy?” I asked Harvey the second week. She’d taken the three cats with her, wherever she might be.
“He misses her as much as you and I do,” the old man said starkly.
The third week, Harvey called me after ten one evening, so excited I had difficulty understanding him. “Turn on channel thirteen,” he finally said, enunciating slowly and clearly as if I were some backward pupil.
As it happened, I had my TV on and flipped to the proper channel just in time to catch the end of the grocery-store commercial that had caused Macy such trouble. Seeing her in that 1960s costume again set my heart racing.
“You see her?” Harvey demanded.
“Yes.”
“Looks good, doesn’t she?”
I nodded, knowing Harvey couldn’t see my response. But that was okay because he knew how I felt. I was so hungry for the sight of Macy, I would’ve crawled inside the TV set if I could have.
“Miss her, don’t you?” he said with surprising gentleness.
“More than I could ever have guessed. You?”
“She’s a pest.” He sighed. “Never thought I’d say this, but it’s downright lonely around this place without her.”
“At least you’ve got Sammy.”
“If you want him, come and get him,” Harvey retorted.
“He’s all yours.”
That was an empty promise if I’d ever heard one. “No, you keep him,” I said.
“Sammy’s company, all right,” Harvey said next. “But half the time he’s over at Macy’s door, whining because he misses her and those darn cats. I swear I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I was whining myself.
“You coming by tomorrow?” Harvey asked.
I squared my shoulders and my resolve. “No.”
“Why not?”
“She isn’t there, is she?”
“Not yet.”
“Then I can’t see any point in coming by.” My friendship with Harvey was a good reason, but I preferred to keep in touch with him by phone. It was just too painful to visit her house, her neighborhood.
“You want me to call when she comes back?”
I had to give that some consideration. “No, I don’t think so.” I didn’t mean to have a defeatist attitude, but I’d done all I could. As far as I was concerned, it was Macy’s turn.
“No?” Harvey echoed in disbelief. “What’s the matter with you, boy?”
First, I don’t like being referred to as a boy, and secondly, Macy had been clear about what she wanted. And what she didn’t want. The way I saw it, if she couldn’t love me enough to see past our differences, a relationship between us had no potential.
“I gave it my best shot, Harvey,” I said. “Macy doesn’t want to be part of my life, so I’d better live with her decision.”
“She loves you,” he argued. “But she’s afraid. She’s never been in love like this before.”
“I have,” I reminded him. I knew what it meant to love someone else, the way Hannah had loved me, and this wasn’t it. Macy might think she was in love with me, but her actions certainly contradicted that.
“Let the girl have a second chance,” Harvey said. I smiled at his feeble attempt to patch things up. He could argue all he wanted, but his arguments were irrelevant, since Macy was nowhere to be found. I insisted I was done with Macy; nevertheless, I sat up for several hours, staring at the TV, flipping channels, looking for a repeat of the Safeway commercial just to see her again.
That said, I do have my pride. To prove I was getting over her, I accepted a blind date and actually had a semienjoyable evening. The woman, Carrie, was a friend of Melanie’s, Patrick’s wife. Carrie was a perfectly nice person, but she wasn’t Macy. She had an easy laugh but she didn’t make me laugh, didn’t make me think or challenge me. Nor did she try to feed me cat food or drag in a stray dog to love and protect.
One date was all it took. I realized I wasn’t nearly as over Macy as I’d hoped.
What particularly disturbed me was the fact that Macy had never finished the mural. It remained three-quarters completed. Every time I walked past it, I looked at that jungle scene, those parrots and that baby giraffe, and thought of Macy.
Nearly everything in her life seemed to be like this unfinished painting. She had good intentions, but one thing or another kept her from following through with what she started. Apparently, this translated into relationships, as well. I was just another unfinished project discarded along with the mural on my wall.
My guess was that this inability to complete anything went back to her childhood. In one of those lengthy phone conversations, during which we chatted for three or four hours, I’d learned that Macy had always been considered a bit odd by her family. They had little patience with her often-roundabout approach to things and her idiosyncratic views. And they rarely showed much interest in any project she undertook. The only person who understood and appreciated her had been her grandmother. I’d come to love her quirky nature, but I couldn’t get past her ability to walk away from people and projects.
Linda caught me staring at the mural the first week of August. “Do you want me to find someone to finish it?” she asked.
“No, thanks.”
“It’s funny, isn’t it, how she simply vanished like that?”
Funny isn’t the word I would’ve used. “Yeah,” I said and headed for my next appointment.
“Before you go in there, I need to tell you this is a new patient. He’s, well, a bit of an unusual case.”
I nodded. “Thanks for the warning.” She wore a strange expression and I couldn’t help wondering what was so different about this new patient. I soon found out. When I walked into the room, I found Harvey sitting on the exam table, his legs dangling down so far they touched the floor. “Harvey,” I said, unable to disguise my shock.
“I made my appointment like everyone else,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture.
“I’d like to remind you that I’m a pediatrician.”
“And I’d like to remind you that I came at my appointment time. Don’t tell me you’re
going to refuse me treatment.”
“No.” If Harvey was seeking medical help, I’d do everything I could, and that included referring him to a specialist. If necessary, I’d personally escort him to every appointment. I’d come to love this old man as much as Macy did, probably more. I wouldn’t turn my back on him the way she had.
“You’d better sit down,” he said.
“That bad, huh?” I teased. Because of the chest pains he’d occasionally mentioned, I suspected the problem was with Harvey’s heart, although he didn’t seem any worse than the day we’d met.
I plugged my stethoscope into my ears. “Let’s start by listening to your heart.”
“I’m not here about my heart.”
“All right,” I said, removing the stethoscope. “Why are you here?”
Harvey took a moment to answer. He nailed me to the stool with his piercing gaze, then said, “Macy’s back.”
I was glad I was sitting down. Still, I couldn’t immediately form the words to question him. “When did that happen?” I finally asked.
“Couple of days ago. She doesn’t look good, either.”
“Oh.” I was reluctant to show interest, but at the same time I was curious. I just didn’t want Harvey to know it.
The old guy frowned at me, but I wasn’t intimidated. I’d learned months ago that he was all growl and no bite.
“She’s lost weight and she didn’t have any to lose.”
Lips pinched, he shook his head. “She’s nothing but skin and bones.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” And I was. “Where did she go?”
“To a friend’s place on the other side of the mountains, near Wenatchee.”
She’d never mentioned a friend near Wenatchee. I wondered if this person was male or female.
“I told her about you hanging around the place for a month or so.”
I’d rather he hadn’t; nevertheless, I was curious to know her reaction.
“And?” I asked in a bored voice. I doubt I’d fooled him but my pride demanded the pretense.
“She didn’t say anything.”
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