Love Never Dies

by Loren Lockner

  Julia shifted nervously upon the mauve couch. “No, why don’t you call him Paul. I’d feel so much better if you did since I’m just not sure that I could talk to this Simon in any sort of normal manner. Could you do it for me?

  “Alright,” said Paul, returning to the couch and smiling down at her. His sister had substantially more guts than he. “When would be a good time to meet him?”

  “Tomorrow night, if you guys are free.”

  “Absolutely,” said Paul reassuringly. “Let’s make it for 6:30.” Paul moved confidently to the phone, his broad forefinger punching in the numbers Angie dictated to him. A voice similar to Seth’s answered the phone.

  “Simon Hayes,” came tersely across the line.

  “Hello, my name is Paul Morris and you sent my twin sister a letter indicating you were Seth Hayes’ brother and would like to meet her?”

  “That’s correct,” uttered the quiet voice across the line.

  “My sister’s had a rough time, and while she’s willing to meet with you she’d like to do so only in the presence of her family. I hope that’s alright with you.”

  “Of course,” returned the pleasant voice. “What time is good for you?”

  “How about tomorrow night; six-thirtyish? May I give you directions to her flat?” Simon answered in the affirmative and Paul recited the directions to Julia’s two-bedroom apartment, gave a brief goodbye, and hung up the phone.

  Julia’s arms were crossed defensively across her chest but she managed a brave smile. “So it’s done.”

  “He’ll be here at 6:30. Don’t you worry about anything Sis since Angie and I will be present to back you up. Everything’s going to be just fine.”

  6:30 came way too early for Julia. She straightened the apartment, rearranged the dining room table, adding fresh cut gladiolas as a centerpiece, and even made some cream cheese appetizers for Seth’s brother. Around five p.m. she felt that familiar burning pull within her heart; the one that occurred when she knew Seth was near or agitated. Considering his feelings regarding his only brother, she was certain his soul somehow protested his brother’s intrusion into her life and was letting her know about it in no uncertain terms. The burning sensation, as well as the clock’s persistent march toward 6:30 made her a nervous wreck.

  “I have to see your brother Seth,” she whispered to the ceiling. “It’s the right thing to do and you know that as well as I. I’d appreciate it if you’d try to prop me up for this encounter and be a little supportive okay?”

  Amazingly, her chest soothed and she rubbed her yellow shirt front in gratitude before placing four wine glasses upon a white wicker tray.

  “Try to calm down,” urged Paul nearly ninety minutes later as he approached the wine cabinet and pulled out her one bottle of good brandy, pouring himself and Julia each a stiff dollop.

  “You need to drink this down. I’m sure his brother is a nice enough guy and after he’s been here for a few minutes and you’ve exchanged pleasantries we’ll send him on his merry way. He just wants to touch base with someone he knew was his brother’s girlfriend. It’s the proper thing to do so you’ve got to relax.” Paul fiddled with his wedding band, a sure sign he was agitated, while Angie cast her sister-in-law a knowing glance as she placed silver napkin holders upon the glass coffee table.

  At 6:30 on the nose the doorbell chimed, and since Julia was too nervous to open the door herself, Paul did the honors. He gasped at the sight of Seth’s identical twin, for Simon Hayes was the splitting image of his brother except for three minor details. The first existed in the form of a swatch of silvery hair discoloring his long dark hair near the crown of his head. The second was a thin white scar running from under his nose down to his lip; and the last was the extreme paleness of his skin; a pallor so unhealthy it appeared as if he’d been frightfully ill for the last few months. He immediately stuck out a lean hand to Paul, who shook it warmly.

  “I’m Simon Hayes, Seth’s twin brother.” His voice was slightly deeper and huskier than his twin’s but still possessed the unusual rich tones of the international traveler Julia had noticed the first time she’d met Seth. Julia forced herself to meet his face. Thinner than Seth by perhaps ten or fifteen pounds, the strange white swatch of hair sprouting from the crown of his forehead seemed odd and out of place and reminded Julia of a widow’s peak she’d witnessed once on a friend of her mother’s. Simon’s hair fell shoulder length and he wore a single gold hoop in his left ear.

  “I’ve been hoping to meet you for some time,” he admitted. Julia noticed a brown leather briefcase hanging like a satchel over his shoulder as Paul moved aside to allow Simon Hayes’ entry.

  “You must be Julia,” he said quietly, and extended a lean hand toward her which she grasped almost reluctantly. When he squeezed the slender appendage, she felt her heart burn painfully. There was no doubt about it, Seth wasn’t only a witness to his brother’s arrival but seemed highly agitated by his presence.

  “I’m so sorry about your loss. I would have come sooner but certain circumstances prevented my traveling down here.” He seemed to flounder so Angie piped in.

  “We understand since it was such a tough time for us all. Please sit down. Can we get you something to drink?”

  “Just water would be fine.” He waited as Angie poured his drink, letting his eyes wander around the tasteful apartment.

  “Did you hear about his death immediately?” asked Paul, seating himself beside Simon and pouring himself a glass of white wine. He lifted his eyebrows to Julia, but she gave her head a nervous shake. She was in no state to drink.

  “No, not until late February. I’d been down in Detroit working on a project before zooming off to Manitoba for six weeks to finish up another. When I got home to Toronto, there was a message on my answering machine from my brother’s lawyer informing me my brother had died in early January. I guess his employer had contacted Martin somehow, and now that I was home, there was going to be a reading of his will. By this time my brother had been dead for nearly seven weeks. Less than three days later I was involved in a fluke car accident and was incapacitated for several months. You probably consider me some sort of heartless jerk to have missed his funeral but it was history by the time I heard about it. Once I felt better and could get additional time off work I flew to LA, rented a car, and drove up here. It had been almost ten months, and the more time that passed, the more difficult it was to call. I finally realized a call just wouldn’t hack it after all this time and had to meet you in person.”

  “I take it you and your brother weren’t close?” observed Paul, who disliked his sister’s tight face and clenched hands as she perched on the edge of her easy chair across from the jean-clad Canadian.

  Simon took a deep drink before answering. “Over the past year we weren’t, but before that we were inseparable. We had similar tastes and after our parent’s deaths we remained physically and emotionally close. We attended the same college and both received degrees in architectural design.

  But, about a year ago we went our own ways after having a terrible spat. Seth didn’t write me for a full six months and when he finally did, it was just a brief note to inform me he worked for a firm called Bastam, Hughes, and Glickstern in southern California. He said he wasn’t going return to the east coast for awhile and suggested we keep up a mild correspondence until we worked out the problems we’d had.”

  “And what problems were those?” asked Angie, never hesitant to ask a direct question. She sampled the olive and cream cheese appetizers never once removing her searching brown eyes from Simon’s gray ones.

  Simon’s breath released in a sharp hiss and the trio swore a flush of embarrassment stole over his pallid cheeks. “We had a fall out over a woman,” he said reluctantly. “I mentioned we had similar tastes and well, my brother was seeing someone and then…”

  “Don’t tell me anymore,” said Julia abruptly. “I get the picture!”

  Simon turned toward her, obviously relieved. “An
yway, I just wanted you to know that in the last few months of his life, from about October to January, Seth wrote me more often, sending me an occasional e-mail from work and indicating he’d met someone and was very serious about her. He told me he was living with her brother and was extremely happy with the arrangement. Seth even suggested I fly down for Easter to meet all of you. I could tell he’d gotten over much of his animosity toward me and was content to let bygones be bygones since he and I were all that we had left.”

  “I thought you have a cousin?”

  “That’s true, but Lucas… well, he’s a wild one and God knows where he is now. He’s a photojournalist and one week he could be in Kenya and the next, somewhere in the Northwest Territories taking pictures of stinky musk oxen. I’m lucky if I get an e-mail from Lucas every six months. Since our family was spread out I wanted to reestablish my relationship with Seth. Lucas’ parents died when he was just a teen, and then, well, my mom…”

  “We know the story,” said Paul breaking in. “Seth told us about your mom dying of ovarian cancer and what happened with your father.”

  Julia could have sworn that Simon let out an extended sigh of relief. “So he told you that? Well good for him. For years he wouldn’t even talk about it. Anyway, when they read Seth’s will, we discovered he’d divided up his holdings in Toronto.”

  “Toronto? Why would he have holdings in Toronto?” asked Julia bewildered, speaking for the first time.

  “That’s where we lived before coming here.”

  “I thought he was from New England?”

  “Well we did live in New England; several places as a matter of fact. But we have dual citizenship. We stayed in Connecticut for a while and New York later on, before our parents moved to Toronto when we were teenagers. My brother liked it so much he bought a condominium on Lake Ontario. After his death I sold the condo as per the will’s instructions, and… um… have the proceeds. I thought that maybe…,” he floundered, clearly embarrassed by the whole situation.

  “Simon, it’s time for a glass of white wine. California makes some pretty nice ones. Why don’t you relax for a few minutes and we’ll talk about the will later.”

  Mira whined from Julia’s bedroom, desperate to be let out. “I’m sorry,” apologized Julia. “But I need to attend to my dog. Please try some of the appetizers. I made them this afternoon.”

  Simon sampled one of the delicious snacks and sipped a glass of chardonnay as Julia checked on her overeager dog. Angie and Paul engaged Simon in a conversation about the weather and he chattered on about how lovely the weather was in Santa Barbara compared to the east coast and Canada. By the time Julia returned he’d launched into a clever story about how his and Seth’s preference for old time rock ‘n’ roll had nearly driven his jazz-loving dad to gray-haired distraction. Finally, after a few minutes, he sighed heavily and reached for his satchel.

  He handed a piece of paper to Julia. “Unbeknownst to me, Seth rewrote his will to include you, sending a certified and witnessed copy to our family lawyer in Toronto. You can see he left half of what he owned to me and the other half to you.”

  “I don’t really… Julia sputtered. “I don’t want it!” she cried, suddenly panicked.

  “I knew you wouldn’t want the condo and since I couldn’t bear to keep it I sold it to a friend in the real estate business. It netted me about three hundred thousand Canadian dollars, which is roughly two hundred and twenty thousand U.S. dollars. Half of that is one hundred and ten thousand dollars and I had the bank draw a check in U.S. funds payable to you. It’s yours Julia. It’s what he would have wanted.”

  Julia stiffened in her chair, knuckles turning white on the fine wood armrests. “I don’t want the money,”she cried, suddenly rising and batting away Simon’s hand and the embossed cashiers check. “I just wanted your brother, not his money or anything else. You take it. Give it to someone else, anyone! Please! I don’t want it at all!” She bolted from the suddenly quiet room and a few seconds later they heard the slam of her bedroom door.

  Simon placed a hand on his forehead, turning even whiter than his previous unhealthy pallor. “I thought perhaps if I waited… if I gave her a little more time she’d be better about this. I was wrong I guess.”

  “You have to understand Simon that your brother and my sister were inseparable. I have never seen two people more compatible or more in love. They spent every minute they could together and sometimes I swear they could read each other’s minds. Neither one cared a whit about money.”

  Simon’s head jerked up and he appeared almost fierce, the pale scar pulling at his lip as he scowled. “Good God, they became soul mates didn’t they?”

  “We believe so,” said Angie sadly. “He told us the story about your parents’ belief in soul mates late last October. That’s when he related how your dad killed himself.”

  “I prayed that after what happened to my dad, Seth would be smart enough never to pull that stunt. It’s amazing Julia survived. She… ah… never contemplated…?”

  “No,” shot back Paul. “She believed Seth wouldn’t have wanted her to do that. Rest assured she’ll never kill herself, no matter how lonely she becomes.”

  Simon studied his Rockports. “She must be one tough lady and that is admirable in itself. Look,” he said rising. “I don’t want to take up anymore of your time and I’ve certainly upset Julia enough. I’m planning to remain in town for a while since Seth’s firm wants me to look at some of the projects he started and hadn’t been able to complete. I’ve taken three months off for my health and thought I might be able to help them out. About the money; I don’t want it or need it, and hell… it’s really hers after all. Please Paul, could you make sure she takes it. I don’t really care what she does with it.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” said Paul, walking the taller man to the door. “Would you mind if I handed this check over to my mom and dad and explained the situation to them? They have a trust account for Julia that my grandfather started, which totals about fifteen or sixteen thousand dollars which she’ll inherit when my grandma dies. My Grandmother Rose has been adding to it for years and is such a steadfast old bird I’m certain she’s not going to meet her maker for a long time. What if I take this money and place it into that account? It’ll earn interest and a few years down the road, when things are more tolerable, it’ll be waiting for her.”

  “You’d do that for me?” asked Simon, so clearly relieved his cheeks flushed with gratitude.

  “I’ll take care of it tomorrow. You can give me a call later to guarantee the money is invested. Hell, I’ll even send you a statement and you can check on it now and again to see how it grows.”

  “I trust you implicitly. If you were a friend of my brother’s then I know you’re a man of honor and integrity because my brother was. I, on the other hand, well that’s another story. Do you think Julia will mind if I call upon her in a couple of days to see how she’s doing?”

  “Don’t just stop in to see her,” blurted out Angie defensively. “Phone her first. You’re a bit of shock since you look so much like your brother.”

  Simon stuck out a hand to Angie and Paul. “I’m very glad to have met you after all this time. My brother only had wonderful things to say about you in his e-mails. I’ll be giving Julia a call in a couple of days and see if she needs anything. If you want to contact me, this is the number of Seth’s firm.” He fished a pen out of his briefcase and wrote down a number and address. “This is where I’m staying; it’s one of those suite hotels equipped with a little kitchen. If you’d like me to speak to your parents I would be happy to do so.”

  “I’ll keep in touch,” responded Paul, who held true to his word.

  A few days later Simon called Julia at seven in the evening during a short October squall.

  “How are you doing Julia?” he asked tentatively.

  “I’m much better now. I’m sorry if I was rude the other night but I was so overwhelmed at the moment I didn’t know how to de
al with you. While it’s been over nine months since he died, in many ways it feels just like yesterday.”

  “I understand completely. Would you mind if I drop by and give you something? I didn’t feel comfortable handing it to you with your brother and sister-in-law present. Seth sent me something and I made a few modifications and would like to present it to you as kind of a memory of him. I also want to talk to you about something that’s been bothering me.”

  “Alright,” said Julia evenly, sounding calm, although she actually trembled at the idea of meeting him again. Her chest burned in warning. “You can stop by now if you like.”

  Within thirty minutes Simon stood upon her doorstep. He’d dressed casually in blue jeans; his dark hair parted in the middle to allow the dark strands to hang freely down instead of combing it back as he had before. He resembled a rock ‘n’ roll star, not a staid architect, and Julia smiled. The resemblance between him and his brother had diminished greatly and she was certain Simon had planned it exactly that way. Simon entered her apartment and lowered his satchel onto the floor beside him before sinking down onto the soft cushions of the cream couch.

  “Would you like something to drink?” she asked politely.

  “Yes, that would be nice. Do you have an iced tea or something?”

  “Yes, but I also have a very nice cognac. In fact, it’s one your brother gave me.”

  “An iced tea will do.”

  Simon reached inside his satchel and handed her a folder after she returned with the glass of icy peach tea. He sipped at it politely as she gasped at the pictures inside.

  “He sent these photographs to you?”

  “Yeah, I thought they were lovely. That’s the dog I heard the other night?”

  “Yes, she’s out on the balcony. Would you like to meet her? I’m afraid she’s not an adorable puppy anymore and now weighs almost forty pounds. I suggest you brace yourself since she’s quite friendly.”