One Secret Night

by Yvonne Lindsay

  “No.” His response was absolute. “I don’t believe in second chances. I am really very sorry for what you went through, Isobel, but your circumstances are vastly different from ours. And I think, on that note, I should go. We’re never going to agree on this issue. Thanks for the wine.”

  He stood to leave, surprised that Isobel seemingly had no more to say on the subject. At least until she saw him to the door.

  “Trust Tamsyn,” she urged as he walked away into the chilled night air. “Trust her to know what’s the right thing to do about your mother.”

  “Why can’t you just trust me to know what’s best for my sister!” he snapped, and turned sharply on his heel to stride away into the darkness.

  He simmered with anger all the way back to the house where, unable to help himself, he stood at his window staring down at Isobel’s cottage—watching as, one by one, the lights went out, leaving the dwelling in darkness. Why the hell had he gone there? It certainly hadn’t been with the intention of arguing about Tamsyn. So what had led him there? Had he wanted to warn her off Cade? Or was it simply to stamp his own possession upon her? Or maybe even to root out the source of his fascination with her so that he could attempt to control it, to control his reaction to her.

  Whichever way, he’d failed.

  Ten

  “These are fabulous!” Tamsyn squealed, her face brightening. “Have you shown Cade and Cathleen?”

  “Not yet. I’ve got an appointment to see them and their restaurant staff later this afternoon.”

  Isobel leaned back in the chair at Tamsyn’s office desk, and watched the slideshow of shots she’d done to date for The Masters new catalog as they slipped across her computer screen. She couldn’t help but feel an immense sense of pride in the quality of the work she’d done here. Despite Ethan’s remark about mall photos and grumpy babies and toddlers, she felt she did her best work featuring people, and she’d tried to incorporate that here within the guidelines set by Tamsyn and the marketing team.

  Even the shots of Raif and his father, tending vines in the distance in what were indisputably her best landscape shots ever, still lent that personal family touch. The body language between the men spoke volumes as to their relationship and how close they were, how much respect they tendered for one another. Of course a lot of the art of that was lost on most people, but it still gladdened her heart to see that she’d captured it, even if from a distance.

  Had Ethan and his father been like that? she wondered.

  “I love that one.” Tamsyn interrupted her reveries. “I know it’s the vineyard and all that and the way the sun’s dropping over the hills looks fantastic, but I really see Raif and Uncle Edward in that shot. Can we crop it around them more?”

  “Sure,” Isobel agreed and hit the necessary keys. “Like this?”

  “Yeah. Any chance I could have a print of that? I reckon Uncle Edward and Aunt Marianne would love it.”

  “No problem. I’ll put the image on a CD for you and you can have it printed any way you want it.” To Isobel’s surprise, a look of sadness washed across Tamsyn’s face. “Tam? Are you okay?”

  Tamsyn gave her a watery smile. “Just missing my dad, I guess.”

  “That’s only natural.”

  “His death was so sudden, it took all of us by surprise. And now it’s just me and Ethan, I feel like I need to hold on to something, you know? We’ve lost that connection in our lives,” she said, gesturing to the cropped photo on the screen. “I don’t want to lose it completely by forgetting a thing about Dad. I’ve tried to talk to Ethan but he won’t even discuss him at all. It’s like now he’s gone, for Ethan, he’s really gone. End of story, move on. Dad was the same way, when it came to our mom. I was so little when she died that I barely have any memories of her at all. And now we’ve lost them both, I...I just wish I had more of them to hold on to.”

  Tears spilled over her lower lashes and traced silver streaks down Tamsyn’s face. Isobel pushed out of her chair and pulled the other woman into her arms, rocking her silently. She felt Tamsyn’s grief like a sword in her gut. It didn’t need to be this way. It was wrong of Ethan to withhold the information about their mother. Totally and utterly wrong.

  Tamsyn spoke through her tears. “I don’t understand the way Ethan’s dealing with it. Family means so much to him. But Ethan’s just moved on from Dad’s death so quickly. I miss Dad, but I don’t think my brother does at all. I just don’t understand how he can pretend losing our father is nothing to be upset about.”

  “Everyone grieves differently,” Isobel murmured, biting back the words she really wanted to share with Tamsyn.

  “I know, and I’ve read about the different stages of grief. To be honest, I think Ethan is locked in anger—he’s mad at Dad for something. What, I don’t know. Whether it’s the fact that he died so unexpectedly or something else...he just won’t talk about any of it with me.”

  “All you can do is keep trying. He’s not the kind of guy who shares his feelings easily, is he?”

  A strangled laugh fell from Tamsyn’s mouth. “No, he’s not. He’s always been very staunch, even when we were kids. Some people think he’s unsympathetic, but I think it just comes down to the way he shoulders responsibility. He was always the ringleader when we were growing up, and he seemed to think that meant that he wasn’t allowed to ever get scared or upset. He wanted to be like Dad—and Dad was always steady and in control. But now he’s gone even beyond that. It’s as if he’s not allowing himself to care at all. He’s gotten more distant with our aunts and uncle...and with me. I just wish I knew why.”

  “You miss your brother—the way he was before your father died,” Isobel said with sudden clarity.

  “Yes, it’s exactly that. We grew up without a mother, we’ve lost Dad. I feel like I’m losing my brother, too.”

  “Talk to him,” Isobel urged, letting Tamsyn go and grabbing a box of tissues off a nearby shelf. “Make him listen to you. He loves you.”

  “I know.” Tamsyn blew her nose, then turned away from Isobel and wrapped her arms around her body as if shielding herself from her grief. “I just feel like I’m stuck on the outside, y’know? As if I’m on the outside of my own life, looking in like some kid with their face pressed on the glass at Haigh’s Chocolates.”

  “Oh, yeah, that place on the corner of Rundle and King William? I am so that kid!” Isobel laughed at Tamsyn’s analogy and tried to lighten the mood, but even so she could still feel her friend’s pain emanating off her in waves.

  “I think we’re all that kid.” Tamsyn smiled through her tears. “I love Ethan dearly. He’s my rock, and always has been, but he’s so determined to be strong for me that he won’t let me in. He won’t show me what he’s really feeling when all I want is to be able to share our grief and help each other work through it.”

  “Can you talk to Trent about it? After all, you are going to be married to him. He should be helping you through this, too.”

  An expression Isobel couldn’t quite put her finger on appeared in Tamsyn’s eyes.

  “We’re both always so busy with work that we barely see each other. Then, when we do manage to coordinate our schedules and get together, I can see he’s stressed with the demands of his job and I really don’t want to burden him with anything else.”

  Just privately, Isobel thought that to be pretty unfair. If you couldn’t unload to your partner, who the heck else could you unload to?

  Tamsyn sighed and sank into a chair. “I just feel so alone sometimes. I always used to be able to talk to Ethan about virtually anything, and now I really feel like he’s holding something back from me.”

  “He is,” Isobel blurted before she could give a second’s thought to the ramifications of what she’d begun.

  “He what? What do you mean?” Tamsyn asked, her face creased in confusion.
>
  Isobel took in a deep breath. Too late to take back those two insignificant words now. In for a penny, in for a pound, she decided. “He is holding something back from you. You need to ask him about it.”

  “What? What is it, Isobel? And how come you know about it, if it’s such a big secret?”

  Oh, God, Isobel thought, she’d really opened a can of worms now. “When I came here that first night, it wasn’t the first time I’d met Ethan.”

  “I knew it!” Tamsyn said. “I knew there was something between you two. I could feel it. He’s usually so polite and accommodating when we have a guest and he was so not that way with you. So come on, give up the details.”

  Isobel cringed inwardly but there was no way she could fudge the truth. Tamsyn deserved that, and more.

  “We actually met, by chance, the night before. We, uh, we were intimate with one another.”

  Tamsyn’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “You guys had a one-night stand? But Ethan never—”

  “Nor do I, but we did. I also never expected to see him again, so coming here and being brought face-to-face like that was a little disconcerting for us both.”

  The other woman looked at her, assessing what she’d said and narrowing her eyes slightly before speaking. “That’s not all, is it? That’s not what Ethan’s holding back from me.”

  Isobel closed the short distance between them and squatted on her haunches in front of Tamsyn, reaching for her hands and holding them firmly. “No, it isn’t. Ethan confided something in me, something I have no right to tell you but it’s something you most definitely deserve to know. Since it appears he has no intention of sharing it with you—and since it’s obviously creating a rift between you—I’m going to tell you what he told me.”

  Tamsyn paled. “It’s got to be something awful. Do I really want to know?”

  “Maybe not. I know your brother thinks you don’t. He’s trying to shelter you, keep you from getting hurt. But you need to know, Tam. You deserve the chance to decide how you want to handle this yourself.” She squeezed Tamsyn’s hands, then spilled the truth.

  “Your mother is still alive. Your father hid the truth from you all these years. Ethan only found out that Friday he came to the city. If he’s angry at your father, that’s why. He’s had to battle with the discovery on his own.”

  For a few moments, Tamsyn was stunned silent. When she finally spoke, Isobel was surprised at the anger in her voice. “He didn’t have to, not on his own. Never on his own. He could have had me, if he’d been willing to trust me.” Tamsyn’s pain was evident in every word she uttered.

  “He’s your big brother. He just wanted to protect you.”

  “Oh, don’t go making excuses for him.” Tamsyn pulled free from Isobel’s clasp and stood abruptly, her movement sending her chair skidding backward on the polished wooden floor. “In case either of you hadn’t noticed, I’m a grown woman. He had no right to keep that information from me. Neither of you did.”

  Before Isobel could utter another word, in her own defense or otherwise, Tamsyn was gone, the door slamming behind her. Isobel sat down in the chair that Tamsyn had so rapidly vacated. Her hands shook and her stomach churned uncomfortably. Ethan would be livid. He’d never understand why she’d found it necessary to impart the news he’d been so determined to keep to himself.

  A tremor rocked her body at the enormity of what she’d set in motion. What on earth had she done?

  Eleven

  Ethan left the winery with thunder in his face and murder on his mind. Okay, so maybe murder was taking things just a little too far, but Isobel Fyfe had definitely overstepped the mark. They’d only discussed this very thing last night—he’d reiterated his stance on the matter and yet she’d gone behind his back and told Tamsyn about their mother.

  His ears still rang with Tamsyn’s vitriolic verbal attack from only moments ago. She’d accused him of all manner of things, including treating her like a child and of pushing her away. He hadn’t known what to say. She’d been so angry he decided that it probably didn’t matter what he said—nothing would diffuse the situation.

  Damn Isobel for sharing news that wasn’t hers to tell.

  His footsteps echoed sharply on the flagstone path. Isobel had better be at her cottage because what he had to say to her right now did not need an audience and, the way he felt, he wasn’t going to hold back even if she was with someone else. Rage roiled inside him as he lifted his fist to hammer on her wooden door which, to his surprise, opened before he could make the first strike.

  “I’ve been expecting you,” Isobel said calmly. “Please, come in.”

  Ethan let his arm drop uselessly to his side. She was expecting him. Well, wasn’t that nice?

  Isobel turned away from him and moved into the sitting room area, gesturing for him to take a seat.

  “I’d rather stand. This won’t take long. I’ve just been with Tamsyn, although I guess you already knew that.”

  An intense haze of anger dried the words in his throat and he fought to swallow it down. Ethan’s fists clenched at his sides and he slowly and deliberately unfurled his fingers, one by one, as he fought to control his fury.

  “Why?” he said, when he was finally able to get the growl out of his voice. “Why did you do it?”

  To his annoyance, Isobel looked cool and composed.

  “Because someone had to and you wouldn’t.”

  “You had no right.”

  “It’s not about my rights—it’s about Tamsyn’s rights. She deserved to know.”

  Ethan huffed out a hard breath. “What? Deserved to know that our mother was apparently an alcoholic? One who drove away from here, filled to the gills with wine and with both of us in the car, on her way to meet her lover? A car that she crashed, injuring both of us but allowing her to walk away unscathed—and never come back for us? Do you think Tamsyn is really better off knowing all that?”

  He put up a hand as Isobel made to speak. “Don’t say a word. You’ve said more than enough already. You didn’t have the full story and you didn’t respect my right to withhold it from Tamsyn. I believe now that our father was right to keep the truth from us. We didn’t both need to have our childhood memories of our mother tarnished. But now you’ve taken that choice away from me with your interference.”

  “Horrible or not, I still believe Tamsyn deserved to know. You might not have wanted to face up to the truth, but she at least had to be given the chance to know what happened and decide for herself how she feels about it.”

  Isobel stood her ground. Her posture straight and stiff, her blue eyes blazing. She wasn’t going to back down and admit she’d been in the wrong and knowing that just spiked his ire even more.

  “You don’t know any of us well enough to have made that judgment call.” Despite the fire raging in his veins his voice was cold and hard. “You’re not part of our family, you don’t know what we’ve been through. We were better off without our mother, that much is clear. Now that you’ve told Tamsyn she’s still alive, she has some harebrained idea that she needs to find her.”

  “As I would myself, if I had that chance, which is exactly why I told Tamsyn. You grew up with your father as your mentor. Who did Tamsyn have?”

  “She had all of us—the whole family. We’ve always been here for each other. Why would she need some drunk who didn’t care enough about us to stay? Who actually took money in exchange for agreeing to abandon her children?” he answered scathingly. “Your meddling has created a far bigger problem than having grown up without a mother. Didn’t you stop to think beyond the actual words you said? Did the ramifications of Tamsyn knowing only the smallest amount of information not occur to you?”

  “She’s upset, of course—”

  “Upset? Upset?” Ethan pushed a hand through his hair in frustration. “Of cours
e she’s upset, but worse, she feels abandoned now on top of everything else. And she wants to know why. She’s a determined young woman, Isobel. She won’t rest until she knows the full truth behind what happened and, dammit, she doesn’t need that cluttering up her life right now.”

  Isobel eyed him carefully. “She doesn’t? Or you don’t? Be honest with yourself, Ethan. You don’t need this as a complication in your life. You were quite happy to just trawl on in your own private kingdom, maintaining the status quo. Don’t you remember your mother? Don’t you remember the good times with her? Tamsyn was too young for any of that but now she still has a chance to learn about her and, if she’s lucky, to forge a relationship with her. Yet you still think you had the right to stand in her way of happiness.”

  “What happiness? Our mother abandoned us. Do you think she really wants Tamsyn to walk back into her life now? What happens when Tamsyn tracks her down and gets rejected—when instead of barely remembering a mother who died, she gets to have crystal-clear memories of her mother telling her to her face that she doesn’t want her?”

  He was viciously pleased to see Isobel flinch at that, but she still didn’t back down. “You can’t know that will happen. And even if it does, all you can do is be there for her. Tell her the whole truth, and then help her deal with it. Let her help you deal with it. You can’t protect her by shutting her out. She feels like an outsider in her own home. Did you know that?”

  Ethan felt her words suck the anger out from deep inside him, leaving behind a void of darkness and hurt. He shook his head abruptly.

  “I suppose she told you that during your little heart-to-heart?” he bit out.