by Arlene James
Determination firmed William’s face, and he stepped closer, grabbing her arm and spinning her about. “Not until I’ve had a few choice words with you, sister dear.”
She wrenched her arm from his grip and glared over his shoulder at Betina, who had the sensitivity to look uncomfortable as those in the shop stared avidly. “How dare you bring her here?”
“Let’s find a little privacy, and I’ll explain it to you.”
“Not now, or can’t you see that I’m busy?”
“This can’t wait.”
Seizing her arm once more, he propelled her toward the next room, at the same time signaling Betina with a jerk of his head to follow them. They were barely inside when Tony appeared, eyeing Cassidy anxiously. “Want me to call someone? The police maybe?”
Cassidy grimaced. She’d threatened Paul with the police, but that had been an act, and William was her brother. Better just to get it over with so she could take care of business. No doubt once she’d told them what they wanted to hear—that hereafter she wouldn’t be seeing Paul for any reason—they’d go away and leave her alone. Then she could get on with her life. Somehow. She lifted her chin and shook her head at Tony. “Just take care of the customers.”
He looked doubtful, glancing at each of her visitors with as much curiosity as concern. “If you need anything...”
She bowed her head dismissingly. “Thank you.”
He hesitated a moment longer and then withdrew. Cassidy turned to her companions and found her brother engaged in a meaningful look with Betina Lincoln. After a mere second or so, Betina pulled her gaze from William’s and targeted Cassidy.
“You’ve ruined my life,” she said, taking a casual step forward. She looked very cool and elegant today in slender gold knit slacks and matching turtleneck worn beneath a chocolate brown jacket with suede lapels. She did not look like a woman whose life had been ruined, not even like a woman whose life could be ruined.
Cassidy shook her head. “I haven’t done anything to you.”
“How can you say that?” Betina countered. “You’ve taken from me the only man I’ve ever wanted.”
Wanted, not loved. Cassidy smiled at the choice of wording, wondering if Betina even realized how easily she gave herself away. She folded her arms and cocked her head. “I feel sorry for you,” she said, “not for the reasons you think, but I do pity you.”
Betina sent a confused look at William, who instantly leaped to her assistance. “It’s true, Cass. Paul degraded and debased her, and she let him because she loves him, and then he tossed her out. Just when things were beginning to work out for them, you entered the picture.” He put a hand to his chest, humbly saying, “I take full responsibility for that. Knowing how...impressionable you are, I shouldn’t have led him straight to you as I did. I just never dreamed he’d be so unscrupulous—or you so foolish.” He glanced up sheepishly, adding, “I did warn you. I told you all about his situation.”
Well, this was rich. Cassidy could almost laugh. She let her hands fall at her sides, then brought them to her hips, striking a cryptic pose. “Paul is not the sort to abuse or debase women. He’s a decent, caring, honorable man—”
“He used me for sex!” Betina exclaimed.
“Oh, please. You used sex to try to trap him. He was human enough to play along, for a bit, but then he became ashamed and sickened, and he broke it off.”
“How dare you?” Betina snapped, advancing closer, her hands knotted into fists.
William neatly intervened, stepping between them and saying hastily, “How honorable is a man who breaks his vows?”
“Vows?” Cassidy echoed. “What are you talking about?”
“He brought in the family,” Betina informed her hotly. “After swearing not to, he bullied them into banding against me!”
“It’s true!” William insisted. “All the years I’ve worked for Barclay’s I’ve heard about that vow. He made a public pledge! He signed papers! Then, after promising to make things right with Betina, he went against everything and convinced the family to become involved. Betina’s own parents were told vile things about her in order to win their compliance! You can’t let it happen, Cassidy. If not for Betina then for yourself! How could you ever trust him after this? How could you live with him knowing what he’s done?”
“You’re insane,” Cassidy said slowly. “Both of you. I don’t know what’s happened, but I do know that Paul would never break his vow. He couldn’t live with that. He’d resign first.”
“That’s what he wanted you to believe!” Betina insisted. “He’d say or do anything to get what he wants, anything!”
“Then why would you want him?” Cassidy countered. “Answer me that, if you can. If Paul’s so awful, why have you gone to such ludicrous lengths to force him into marriage?”
For a moment Betina’s mouth worked like that of a fish, oxygen going in but no sound coming out. Finally she thrust an impatient look at William and grated out, “Say something! Convince her!”
William took a deep breath. “Sh-she loves him anyway.” Cassidy rolled her eyes. “They owe her, Cassidy! The whole family owe her! All her life they’ve denied her the s-social prominence a-and position to which she’s entitled! She’s had no say in her own life, no control, not socially, not financially, not in any real way.”
“All because I’m not a Barclay by blood!” Betina fumed. “You don’t know what it’s like being the odd man out, the different one. They could’ve adopted me, made me their own, but my stepfather wouldn’t hear of it. They wouldn’t even let me forget my accident of birth. They made me maintain contact with my real father, no matter that it shamed me. I didn’t even want people to know that I was connected to that nothing, that nobody!”
“You can understand how it is, Cass!” William said urgently. “How many times have our own parents shamed and appalled us? Haven’t you ever thought how different our lives might be if not for the accident of our births? We never had a real chance to be anything, but Betina does, and they won’t let her take it! Don’t you see?”
“My God,” Cassidy breathed. They truly were obsessed, both of them, and their mutual obsession had drawn them together, not in love, not even in affection, but in greed and pride, to plot and scheme against what they saw as an unfair world. William, oh, William! To think of the guilt she’d borne for his shame, his obsession. He had heaped that guilt on her himself—and she had let him. “It’s true,” she whispered. “It’s true!”
William sent Betina a triumphant look. “You’ll do it then?” he said, rushing at Cassidy to seize her by the upper arms. She flinched and tried to draw away. “You’ll do it?”
“D-do what?”
“You’ll tell Paul that you want no part of him. Make him understand that you want no part. And tell him why, make certain he understands that it’s his lack of honor you cannot accept, that his refusal to do the right thing has ruined him in your eyes.” He shook her then, pleading, “Will you do that, Cassidy? Will you help us right this terrible wrong? You’re our only hope now. Make me proud of you for once, little sister! Do this one thing for me!”
One thing? As if she hadn’t done hundreds, millions of things to try to win some small measure of regard from him. She began to understand finally, not just about William, not just about herself and William, but about Paul and what he had been trying to tell her earlier.
“I think I see it now,” she said. “He’s found a way to free himself, hasn’t he? He’s managed to get free of your schemes, and you need me to hook him for you again! You want me to shame him into doing what you want.” She had to laugh then. It was either laugh or scream. “You don’t know, do you? You don’t know that I’ve already done what you want!” Tears filled her eyes as she stared at her brother. “Oh, I am a fool,” she whispered. “You’re right about that. For me, he was willing to give up everything you covet so desperately, his business, his career, even his family’s trust and regard. For me. But I couldn’t let him. I’m not
worth that, you see. You taught me that, William. You taught me that! And because of it, I turned him away this afternoon!”
William paled. “When?” He shook her again, roughly this time. “What time was it? Tell me!”
She shook her head, trying to clear it. “T-two. Around two.”
William released her as suddenly as if she’d burned him, his gaze going to Betina. “Before he called me. Before he called me!”
Betina put her hands to her head, her eyes gone wild. “What do we do now? What do we do now?”
“Nothing.”
Cassidy spun around to find Paul standing in the doorway, Tony peering over his shoulder. Her knees went weak, and she stumbled toward him. He took one step and swept her hard against him, his arm locking her to his chest.
“Paul!”
“It’s all right, sweetheart. It’s all right. You were right. We are free of them. Not in the way you think, but free, nonetheless. I would have resigned. I even wrote the letter and gave it to the family. It was the only solution I could live with, but it wasn’t necessary. My family, you see, are as devoted to me as I to them. Once they understood that it’s you I love, they took action of their own.” He lifted his gaze to spear Betina. “They gave me their shares. I now control seventy percent of all Barclay stock. Betina has no power over me or the company.”
“No!” Betina screamed. “No, they wouldn’t!”
“Oh, but they did,” Paul told her calmly.
“Because they know they can trust him,” Cassidy supplied, pulling away from him to turn back to the others. “They know, as I know, that he would never do the things you accuse him of.”
He brought his hands up to her shoulders and squeezed gently, pulling her back against him. “I’m not proud of some of the things I’ve done,” he said, “but I would never break my word to my family. That’s why I couldn’t ask them for help. It never occurred to me that they would step in of their own free will, though it should have. They’re like that, quiet, careful, a little restrained, I suppose, but their love, their support, is total.”
“For you, maybe,” Betina muttered hatefully. Real tears flowed from her eyes and stained her cheeks. “They never loved or supported me!”
“Of course they did,” he told her, sighing. “It never made a moment’s difference to them what your last name was. You only got away with this nonsense as long as you did because of their readiness to claim and support you. But love and acceptance was never enough for you. What you want is complete control over the family, the business, everything, and you thought you could do it by controlling me. But control is not the key. The key is responsibility. They trust me because I am willing to shoulder the responsibility of fulfilling their trust, just as Cassidy has been willing, for so long, to be bullied and belittled by her own brother in an attempt to keep peace in the family.”
“That’s why we are the strong ones,” Cassidy said softly, placing her hand over his and looking back over her shoulder at him. She understood that William was weak despite his bluster and criticism, just as Betina was weak despite the schemes and threats and tantrums. Now she was beginning to realize that she was strong, strong enough to do what was best for those she loved whatever the cost to her. That was a lesson Paul had taught her, one of many.
“That’s it,” Paul said after a long, silent moment. “It’s all over. I suggest you both vacate the premises immediately. Otherwise Tony will call the police. Won’t you, Tony?”
Cassidy had forgotten about her young clerk’s presence. She twisted to one side and looked around Paul to find him leaning against the wall with arms folded. “Won’t you, Tony?”
He glowered for a moment, but then he pushed away from the wall and nodded, a smile hitching up one corner of his mouth. “Sure. Whatever you say.”
Cassidy smiled at him. “Thank you, Tony, for everything.” He glanced at his feet almost shyly. Then he puffed out his chest, folded his arms and said with surprising force and authority, “All right, you two, out you go! No backtalk now. I’m just a step away from that phone.”
Betina looked for a moment as if she would pitch another of her infamous fits, but then she seemed to realize the futility of such an effort. With a glare of pure hatred, she swept past them and stalked out of the room. A moment later they heard the door to the sidewalk slam. William cleared his throat. “Cassidy, I’m, uh...”
Cassidy sighed. “Go away, William. I really don’t want to be around you right now.”
His mouth thinned, and he nodded. “Perhaps later you’ll feel more reasonable.”
“Cass is the soul of reason,” Paul told him. “I, on the other hand, am not feeling particularly reasonable where you are concerned at the moment. I suggest you spend the holiday break getting your résumé in order. I don’t think we’ll be able to use you any longer at Barclay Bakeries.”
Cassidy was sorry to hear it, but she said nothing, merely bowing her head in acceptance. She understood that Paul could no longer trust William, even if William did not. His look of incredulity turned bitter, and he lashed out, as he always had, at her.
“I knew this would happen! I knew you’d cost me my job!”
“On the contrary,” Paul said firmly. “I’d have fired you some time ago if not for your sister. I could overlook your condescending behavior toward me so long as you performed your job well, but your treatment of your own sister was enough to convince me that you are not the sort of individual I want for an employee. Nevertheless, I continued to tolerate you because of her concern for you and my respect for her judgment. No longer. You are finished at Barclay Bakeries.”
“You promised!” William reminded Cassidy hotly. Sighing, she nodded. “I know I did, but surely you see it’s best for everyone this way.”
“Best?” William scoffed. “How would you know what was best for anyone?”
“I’d watch my mouth if I were you, Penno,” Paul said wamingly. “Whether or not you are allowed any other part in our lives will strictly be up to Cassidy. Now get out before I rearrange your face with my knuckles.”
William threw one last look of disgust at his sister and stomped away, no doubt feeling very ill used. “Poor William,” Cassidy whispered. “He really doesn’t have any clue.”
Paul’s hands tightened on her shoulders. He sucked in a deep breath and blew it out through his nose. “It’s over. It’s finally over.”
She carefully stepped away from his touch and turned to face him. “Is it? Is it over for us, Paul?”
He tilted his head. “You tell me. Did you mean what you said earlier today?”
She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. “No. It was lies, all lies. I wanted to be as brave and selfless for you as you had been for me.”
He put a hand to the back of his neck, bowed his head and looked up at her from beneath the crag of his brows. “You didn’t spend the night with Tony?”
“No. Well, yes. I mean, I was afraid to go home, afraid you’d show up and convince me to let you resign your position at the company, even knowing all that would cost you, so I spent the night at Tony’s. I slept on his couch. Actually, I tried to sleep on his couch. I spent most of the night crying.”
Paul shook his head and reached out for her, hugging her close. “I figured it was something like that, but I’ll tell you true, I’m not sure that even if it had happened, that would have been enough to keep me away from you. I love you, Cassidy Penno. I think I would forgive you anything.”
She slid her hands under his arms and hooked her arms upward around his shoulders. Leaning her head back so that she could look him in the eyes she said, “Do you really think, given the way you treasure my virginity, that I would waste it on a boy like Tony?”
A smile lifted the corners of his mouth, and he whispered huskily, “I was so afraid you would hate me for leaving you that night.”
“No. I only loved you all the more.”
“Nothing I’ve ever done has been more difficult than that.”
/> “I know. I found out firsthand just this afternoon how very difficult it is to give up what you want most.”
“It’s only possible, I think, if it’s done for someone you love even more than life itself.”
That was it exactly, the most important lesson he’d taught her. Or had they learned it together? Tears filled her eyes, tears of sheer joy, and she pulled him close to bring her mouth to his. But first...
“Paul,” she whispered, brushing her mouth across his before pulling back a fraction of an inch, “will you marry me?”
His answer was in his kiss. She never doubted for a moment that it was a resounding yes.
Epilogue
“Now this is one of my favorites,” Paul said, sliding the photograph from the album sleeve and passing it to Joyce, who reached past her distended stomach and carried the photo closer to her face for study. She lay like a beached whale in the corner of his favorite sofa, propped up with paisley pillows and a silky fringed shawl that Cass had draped over one corner to “soften and sensualize the leather.”
She smiled. “Oh, yes, very nice. You make a wonderful Prince Charming.”
He grinned and looked to his wife. “Yes, but what about that Cinderella?”
Cassidy giggled, thinking of the shimmering, gossamery wedding gown hung with acid-free paper and netting in a specially designed plastic bag in her closet upstairs. “Theme weddings are such fun.” More fun, though, was what came after. She shivered, remembering what had transpired on their wedding night when her Prince Charming had knelt at her feet and burrowed beneath her skirts to remove her acrylic “glass” slippers.
Joyce had passed the photo to Cal, who glanced at it and handed it back to Paul. He asked Cassidy, “Have you thought of adding weddings to your consulting business?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Frankly, no. I’m booked solid for the next two years as it is. Business is so good that we’re selling the costume shop to Tony.”
