The Other Twin

by Nan Dixon

  Bess leaned her head against Daniel’s shoulder.

  “But we’re making some changes.” Pop pulled open the box flaps. “Starting with a new company name.”

  “It’s always been Forester Construction.” Nathan shook his head. The company was an anchor in his life. He didn’t want it to change, too.

  “Now it’s more.” Pop handed Daniel and Nathan caps in the company’s green color.

  “Pop.” Daniel read the name on the cap. “This isn’t necessary.”

  “Forester and Sons Construction,” Nathan read. For once the words didn’t dance. Sons.

  “The lawyer’s making it official, but we’re partners.” Pop put on a cap. “Well, you each have thirty-three percent of the company. Your mother and I have thirty-four.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Nathan hugged Pop and whispered, “You didn’t have to.”

  Pop patted his back. “I did.”

  Mom called into the tree. “Kids, can you come here?”

  “Don’t get too close to Pop,” Nathan said as they came down the ladder.

  Pop pointed a finger. “I’m feeling good.”

  “And you’re going to stay that way,” Nathan replied.

  His mother reached into the box and pulled out miniature caps for Issy and Josh. Nathan’s heart squeezed tight.

  Nathan adjusted Issy’s and pulled her ponytail through the back. “There you go, short stuff.”

  Josh handed his to Nathan. “Can you help me?”

  Surprised, he adjusted the clasp then tapped it on the kid’s head. “You can wear that when you help in the evenings, slugger.”

  Josh grinned. “I will.”

  “You’ve got the kid working on-site?” Daniel asked.

  “Long story.” And Nathan wasn’t going to ruin this moment. For the first time in his life he wasn’t the family screw-up. The boy who couldn’t read belonged.

  But the joy was hollow. He wanted to share this triumph with Cheryl.

  At least he had Issy. He hugged her tight and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She was his family.

  * * *

  CHERYL RUBBED HER ARMS. The apartment was quiet without Josh, Nathan and Issy. Not that Issy made much noise.

  Nathan had sent a text that they were eating at his parents’ house. At least that’s what she interpreted from the garbled message.

  He’d once told her stress magnified his problems. And texting was exhausting, so he usually called. Apparently he didn’t want to talk to her.

  She stripped off her work clothes, hopped in the shower and scrubbed away the smell of burgers.

  She’d made sliders for the wine-tasting. Even though they’d cooked and served in the courtyard, she still smelled like grilled food. The guests had loved the different patty choices. The food and wine combinations had been her idea, but it was hard to take any pride in that when her world was upside down.

  Nathan had forgiven her, but refused to rekindle their relationship. She’d been a fool and lost another man she loved. This time it was her fault.

  She rattled around the apartment, picking up toys, stripping beds and doing laundry. Paid a couple of bills and balanced her checkbook. The bathroom needed scrubbing, so she did that. All things she hadn’t had time to do while the kids had been sick. She read ahead in her history class and made brownies, adding a mint-chocolate frosting.

  It was almost the kids’ bedtime. She brewed her tea and sat at the top of the steps, listening to the cicadas’ song ebb and flow. Muffled laughter filtered into the courtyard from both Fitzgerald House and Carleton House. A couple held hands on a garden bench. Something she and Nathan could have had, but she’d let slip through her fingers.

  A tear snuck down her cheek. She could only blame herself. She leaned against the wooden post. Even after Brad had died, she’d never felt this alone.

  A truck rumbled. Nathan.

  She met them in the parking area. Nathan climbed out of the driver’s seat and gently closed his door. “They both fell asleep.” His deep whisper carried across the lot. His eyes held hers until he moved to the back door.

  “I’ll carry Josh.” She started to hurry around to the other side.

  “Take Issy.” He opened the door. “I’ve got him.”

  Cheryl climbed on the running board and unbuckled Issy. The little girl’s eyes opened halfway.

  “Hi, pumpkin.” She wedged her hands behind Issy and lifted her out of the seat. “Let’s get you to bed.”

  Her little arms locked around her neck. “Okay,” she sang.

  Cheryl hugged her tight, catching Nathan’s eye.

  He nodded, his smile strained. “That’s the tenth word she’s sung today.”

  He hoisted Josh onto his shoulder and grabbed both kids’ backpacks.

  They moved side by side up the steps. “What did the doctor say?” she asked, breaking the silence.

  “I’ll...I’ll... Maybe...” He shook his head in frustration. “The words are twisting. Let’s get the kids to bed and I’ll show you.”

  They went through her apartment. Maybe they should have traded kids and gone their own way, but they’d developed habits. Habits they would have to break.

  Nathan carried Josh into his bedroom.

  “Do you want him to brush his teeth?” he asked.

  “One night won’t hurt him,” she replied.

  Nathan stripped off Josh’s shorts and cap and put him in the bottom bunk. “He had his last antihistamine dose at my parents’.” He glanced at her. “Daniel made sure each kid got the right amount.”

  Her face flamed. “I said I was sorry. I was just...”

  “I shouldn’t have said that.” He held up a hand. “You have a right to worry.”

  But she didn’t have the right to call Nathan stupid. That was the worst part of everything she’d done this morning.

  “I’ll take Issy.” He held out his arms. During the transfer, Nathan’s hand brushed her skin and tingles skittered through her.

  He tucked Issy’s head on his shoulder. “If you want to grab the monitor, I’ll show you the stuff from the doc.”

  She tucked Josh in, turned on the monitor and clipped the receiver to her shorts.

  Nathan’s apartment door was propped open. She could hear him murmuring in Issy’s bedroom. She hesitated then headed to the living room. He came in a minute later and collapsed into his recliner.

  “Is she asleep?”

  He nodded. “I talked to the day care director. They can go back next Monday.”

  “Good. Good.”

  He looked up, his gaze icy. “Do you want to keep our old schedule?”

  She swallowed. Would she be able to be around Nathan that much? Even exchanging kids required communication and sharing information. She didn’t have another support system but could she stand the pain of being near Nathan? “Yes, if...if I haven’t ruined everything.”

  He let his head drop into his hand. “Okay.”

  The silence between them was as sharp as her chef knife and cut as deep.

  She broke the painful quiet. “What happened at the doctor’s?”

  “The doc wants to see her every week. She thinks Issy believes she shouldn’t talk, so she suggested she sing.” He grabbed a file and handed it to her without explanation.

  The same horrible picture was there, but this time there were three more. A face with x’s for a mouth. One with a yellow-haired stick person and a very small figure in the corner. And one with a stick person sitting on top of another. “Is this you?”

  He nodded. “And the other is...” He gritted his teeth and shook his head, like he couldn’t find the right words. “Issy’s mom.”

  “She drew smiles on your faces.”

  He
nodded.

  “You’ve done a good thing here.” She should have seen that earlier.

  “She’s my daughter.” His words were simple.

  “You’ve come a long way from when you wanted me to take care of her.” She pushed off the sofa and headed to the door. “You look beat. I’ll let you get some sleep.”

  “Cheryl.”

  She turned, hoping he would let her crawl into his lap and hold him. “Yes?” Even she heard eagerness in her voice.

  “I’ll watch the kids in the morning.”

  “Oh.” She deflated like her first soufflé. “I’ll make breakfast.”

  “We’ll eat here.”

  “Of course. I’ll head home.” In the hallway between the apartments, she shivered. The summer heat couldn’t thaw the ice forming around her heart.

  * * *

  NATHAN SHUT OFF the ball game and tugged over his laptop. He and Daniel had gotten a good start on searching for Heather. Maybe his fingers and brain would let him do a little more.

  The screen opened up in Cheryl’s email. Just seeing her name hurt. She must not have logged off the last time she’d used his computer. He shouldn’t look. This was none of his business. But an email subject line in all caps flashed like neon.

  He clicked it open.

  The money’s not enough. Send more or the video goes out.

  Video? The email was sent by J Smith. He ran the mouse over the address and clicked Search Emails. The program popped up four more opened emails.

  He started with the earliest one. There was an attachment and he clicked it open.

  A woman bobbed on a guy’s lap with all the requisite moaning and groaning of low-budget porn. Why was this garbage in Cheryl’s email? Then he read the message threatening to turn the video over to the Fitzgeralds if she didn’t pay.

  Cheryl was being blackmailed? He watched the horrible thing again. It was grainy but Cheryl’s face was clear. Except when he saw only her back, it wasn’t Cheryl. On one butt cheek, there was the flash of a tattoo. He stopped the video. There. A rose. Cheryl didn’t have a rose anywhere.

  He ran his hand through his hair. Cheryl must have told this J Smith to jump in a lake—right? This wasn’t her. The Fitzgeralds wouldn’t believe this crap.

  He clicked into her Sent mail, no longer feeling guilty about invading her privacy, and found her note saying she’d sent twenty dollars. Who in their right mind blackmailed someone who barely had anything? “Shit.”

  He pushed out of the recliner, letting the laptop snap closed. How could she have given in to this? She was smarter than that.

  He picked up Issy’s monitor, the laptop and headed to Cheryl’s apartment.

  Nathan paused with his fist in the air, ready to pound on her door. He let his hand slip back to his side and took a deep breath. He couldn’t go in guns blazing. One more deep breath and he rapped on her door, straining to hear footsteps.

  “Nathan?” she said through the closed door.

  “Yeah.”

  The door popped open. “Is Issy okay?”

  He slowed, appreciating that her first thought was his daughter. “She’s sleeping.”

  “So is Josh.” She backed into the kitchen, biting her lip. “What’s up?”

  He set the computer on the table. “I need to understand this.”

  “I can help you.” She leaned over.

  He opened the computer to the message she’d sent.

  “You looked at my private mail?” Her hand covered her mouth.

  “Did you send some asshole money?”

  She slumped into a chair, shutting the computer. “Levi.”

  “Why would you do that?” He stalked to the sink and back.

  She exhaled. “Because the kids were sick and I didn’t have time to deal with this.”

  “Because of this crap?” He opened the computer to the video file. Moaning filled the room.

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “Turn it off.”

  He slammed the screen shut. “Do you think anyone who knows you wouldn’t guess this was a fake?”

  “You know it’s not me?”

  “Of course I do. The woman has a tattoo on her butt.”

  “Really?” Her head jerked up.

  He nodded. “Why didn’t you tell them to go to hell?”

  “I didn’t get the chance.” Her feet rested on the edge of the chair and she wrapped her arms around her legs.

  “Come on.” He didn’t believe her excuses.

  “I was ashamed. I worried it would hurt our relationship.” She swallowed. “But I destroyed that all by myself.”

  He knelt next to her chair. “You could have told me.”

  “I didn’t know what to do.” Her lips trembled. “And then I missed the deadline.”

  She’d never trusted him. “We’re calling the cops.”

  Her face went white. “No.”

  “You can’t let this go.” He touched her leg. “Did you think once you sent Levi money, his friend wouldn’t ask for more? You’re smarter than me and I know they won’t stop.”

  “I...” A tear trickled down her cheek.

  “Honey, we have to call the cops.”

  Her voice shook. “I know.”

  He wanted to take her in his arms and wipe away her tears. That couldn’t happen. But he could help her with this problem.

  He called the Savannah police department and set up a time the next day to take Cheryl to the station. If it wasn’t the kids keeping him from working, it was Cheryl. Then he called Bess and asked her to watch the kids.

  “You don’t have to go with me,” she said after he’d relayed the meeting time.

  “We’ll go together.”

  * * *

  CHERYL EXHALED AS she entered the police station.

  Nathan moved to the desk and asked for Detective Gillespie.

  After Levi had tried to kidnap Josh, she’d been here. She’d had to admit she’d let Levi steal from her and Josh. She and Josh had lived in a terrible part of town because she’d been afraid Levi would find them.

  That time, Gray had solved her housing problem and he and Abby had saved her from Levi. She’d been such a weakling.

  It was time to stop relying on other people to fix things for her. She had to stand up for herself.

  She glanced at Nathan and straightened her shoulders. He’d barely said a word to her.

  Nathan looked over at her. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. She had to be.

  “Mrs. Henshaw?” Detective Gillespie walked to where they waited. “Sorry you’ve had more trouble.”

  “So am I.” She stood. “You can go now, Nathan.”

  “But...” He held up the computer bag.

  “I’ll tell the detective what happened.” She held out her hand for the bag.

  “I want to help.” Nathan looked at her, but his eyes were cold.

  The detective waited.

  “I have to do this myself.”

  “But you’ll need a ride back to Fitzgerald House,” Nathan said.

  “I’ll make sure she’s get back,” Gillespie said.

  She held out her hand and Nathan finally handed her the bag. “Thank you for dropping me off.”

  Step one in standing on her own two feet.

  * * *

  NATHAN MEASURED AND measured again. Then he checked the specs on the flattop. Damn, everything had better fit. The kitchen equipment arrived in an hour. After Cheryl had sent him away from the police station, he’d spent the morning double-checking all the measurements. His emotions were in a tangle. He felt as if she’d rejected him again.

  “This looks great.” Daniel strolled into the restaurant.

  The
tile was laid and grouted. The heated floors worked.

  “Gray’s on his way.” Daniel wiped a hand on the kitchen wall tile. “I’m guessing you didn’t lay this on brick.”

  Nathan shook his head. “We put up drywall.”

  Daniel prowled around. “I found an interesting support group.”

  “For me? A single man’s guide to child-rearing?”

  His brother turned back. “Aren’t you and Cheryl helping each other out?”

  “Yeah, but she...we’re not together anymore.”

  “What did you do?” Daniel came and stood in front of him.

  “Nothing. She thought...” Nathan snorted. He wouldn’t air their problems.

  “Sorry, bro.” Daniel touched his back. “You two looked good together.”

  “Josh didn’t think so.” Whoops. No trash-talking Cheryl’s son.

  Daniel grimaced. “I have noticed that.”

  Nathan shrugged.

  “I found a dyslexia support group.” Daniel raised an eyebrow. “They meet every week. The comments on the site sounded inspiring.”

  Nathan rolled his shoulders. “I’ve given up on groups.”

  “I want to help.” Daniel moved in front of Nathan, frowning. “I should have done more when we were growing up.”

  Nathan’s heart thumped. “I wouldn’t have taken your help. I hated that everything was easy for you.”

  “I hope we’ve gotten beyond that.” Daniel gave him an awkward one-armed hug.

  “Bess really is changing you.”

  His brother grinned. “I know.”

  Nathan took a deep breath. “I talked to the Savannah cops about Heather.”

  He didn’t tell his brother that he’d been at the station because Cheryl was reporting a blackmail scheme. That wasn’t his story to tell.

  “I should have thought of that,” Daniel said.

  “I need to send the pictures she’s drawn.” A four-year-old’s drawing wouldn’t give away an identity, but maybe there was something there they could use. “They’ll try to find her.”

  Gray and Abby came through the door. “Truck’s pulling up,” Gray said. “Let’s get the kitchen set up before Abby rearranges things.”

  Abby elbowed him. “I heard that.”