Caitlin's Choice (14 page)

“You’ll have to forgive my lack of manners. I heard you on the intercom when you set up the crib, but I was too comfortable to move.”

“I don’t blame you. If I had a handsome husband keeping me warm, I wouldn’t get up, either.”

Maggie arched an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? You know, it’s not necessary to use both guest rooms.”

Caitlin let out an exaggerated groan. “Does your misguided matchmaking ever cease?”

“That depends. Did you lose your bet, or does Erik owe you a hundred dollars?”

“If you don’t count when I called him a pigheaded skunk or when I told him that a teenager at the drive-in had more finesse than he did, I won.”

“Sounds like there’s a good story behind that one,” Erik called out from the living room.

Caitlin lowered her head as the color flooded her cheeks. “Why didn’t you tell me he was up?”

“He and Andrew have been up for a while.”

“Andrew, too? Oh, no.” She leaned back in her chair to peer through the archway at the two laughing faces and grumbled a good morning to them. “Only eight o’clock and already my foot is in my mouth.”

“Your foot is always in your mouth. The hour of the day has nothing to do with it,” Maggie said.

Although Caitlin couldn’t argue with the truth, she still kicked her sister playfully in the leg. She did have an uncanny talent for speaking first and listening afterwards.

Erik appeared in the doorway. “So, Caitlin, tell me why you said my big brother has no finesse,” he urged.

She took another sip of her coffee. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got nothing better to do this morning. Come on. I’m going for a jog up the beach and these two lazy bums aren’t interested in moving. I’ll race you.”

“You’re on,” she cheerfully agreed. A good brisk run would get her adrenaline pumping. If not, at least it would keep her out of trouble.

* * * *

Andrew stared out the window and watched Caitlin and Erik race along the beach. He felt a stab of jealousy toward his own brother. Why couldn’t she relax like that around him?

He was grateful, however, for the opportunity to speak with Maggie alone. Time was running out. His mother and sister were making life a living hell, and he wasn’t sure how much longer Caitlin would be willing to put up with it. He needed answers about her past before they could go forward.

He joined Maggie for a cup of coffee at the kitchen table. “Do you like living on Long Island?” he began tentatively.

“Yes.”

“It gets crowded in the summer.”

“I suppose.”

That was the extent of his ability to engage in small talk. Patience and tact were two virtues he’d never felt the need to cultivate. During a long silence, they both stared into their mugs.

“There’s something I wanted . . .” they said in unison, then stopped and laughed.

“You first,” Andrew said.

Maggie toyed with the edge of a napkin. “I think that you and Caitlin have gotten closer. At least that’s the impression I got.”

He grinned. If Caitlin’s sister had that impression, then maybe he really was making progress.

“I’d like to think we have.”

“I got a letter from my sister, Sissy. You have to understand. Sissy is a bit tactless and selfish. She wanted me to ask Caitlin to make her wedding dress from a picture she found in a magazine. I don’t know if I should mention it to Caitlin.”

Andrew slammed his cup down on the table, sending a swish of dark liquid over the rim. His first instinct was to call the unfeeling bitch and give her hell. How could anyone have the nerve to make a request like that after ten years of silence, particularly for a wedding she didn’t have the decency to invite her sister to?

On second thought, he decided, this might be the icebreaker she needed. Surely her family couldn’t ask that of Caitlin and still ignore her existence.

“Are they going to invite her to the wedding?” he asked.

Maggie frowned and shook her head sadly. “No. Sissy didn’t tell my father. She plans to say I sent the dress.”

“What happened, Maggie? Why is there all this animosity toward Caitlin? And why is she so afraid I’ll find out?”

She recoiled as if the words had been a slap. “I can’t answer that.”

“But you know, don’t you?”

“I can’t tell you,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want to hurt her.”

She raised her head and met his stare. “Three weeks ago you were willing to take her to court for custody. I don’t imagine there’s a more hurtful thing you could do to her.”

“Is that what she’s afraid of? Does she think that if I find out what happened I’ll use it against her in court? Did she do something—”

“She didn’t do anything!” Maggie’s angry outburst gave him more information than she had intended to reveal.

He placed his hand over hers and spoke softly. “But they think she did, right?”

Maggie looked away. “I can’t tell you, Drew. I promised.”

“All right. I’ll wait until she’s ready to tell me on her own. I don’t know what advice I could give you about the dress. She might want to do it for her sister. On the other hand, she’s very hurt by the silence. She’s not quite as tough as she acts.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t want Erik to say anything. Now I’m in a pickle.”

He let out a bitter laugh. Now there was a word to describe Caitlin’s life—sealed in a vacuum, left to ferment in bitter juices, and no way out unless someone opened the lid.

* * * *

Caitlin did her best to keep up with Erik. They jogged for about a mile along the shore before her stamina gave out. She doubled over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Her toes sank in the wet sand as waves lapped against the shore.

She glanced up to find Erik laughing at her. “What’s so funny?”

“You’ve got my brother tied up in knots.”

She struggled to regain her breathing. “And that amuses you?”

“Oh, yes. Serving you with custody papers was unforgivable. What I can’t figure out is why you forgave him.”

She straightened and pushed her hair back from her face. “Who says I have?”

His eyes danced in the morning sun. “You’re just like your sister. Neither one of you can hide what you feel. If there wasn’t something there, you would have been on the first plane back to Singapore.”

“I considered it.”

“But you couldn’t. Did you ever ask yourself why?”

Only a hundred times a day. She had told herself that Tyler was the reason, but that wasn’t true.

“I don’t know. There’s something about Andrew. He can be so—” Sexy. Tempting. Exciting. For once she kept her thoughts to herself. “—charming when he wants to be.”
He had charmed the pants off her, both figuratively and literally.

“So what’s the problem?”

“Your mother, for starters.”

His face clouded over with regret. “I know she’s been giving you a hard time.”

“That’s not the problem. She gives Andrew a hard time. His blood pressure skyrockets every time he has a conversation with her.”

“Mother doesn’t converse, she lectures,” Erik corrected with a trace of humor.

“Yes, well, as you know, Andrew doesn’t sit by idly and get lectured. He lashes out. And you know who she’s going to blame in the end? Me.”

“Talk to Andrew.”

“Then he can get a double dose of aggravation. That will really help his blood pressure. He can’t threaten your mother and sister into accepting me, and I don’t want to put him in a position where he has to choose.”

Erik lifted his shoulders helplessly. “I’ve tried to convince him to let you move back into the apartment. He won’t listen. He believes his son should be in his house.”

“I know. But if he won’t back down, then I wish he would back off. I don’t want him to get hurt—or to get caught in the cross fire myself.”

“I’ll talk to him, but to tell you the truth, he’d take it better coming from you. He lashes out because he thinks Mother is hurting you. She hasn’t changed. He has.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our mother has always been cold and undemonstrative. Before he met you, Andrew used to be just like her. I know he has an odd way of showing it, but he cares about you and Tyler.”

“Well, you’re half right. He cares about Tyler.”

“And you as well, Caitlin.” Erik placed his thumb under her chin and tilted her head up. “And I think you feel the same. Maybe in time, when the hurt and the anger fade, you’ll even be able to admit it.”

* * * *

After covering herself with a generous dose of sunblock, Caitlin stretched out in a beach chair next to her sister and turned her face up to the sun. Tyler and Allison were soon asleep on the blanket underneath a huge umbrella, lulled by the gentle lapping of the waves against the shore. For ten minutes, she enjoyed the blessed silence, until she realized that Maggie was never silent for that long.

“What’s eatin’ you, Margaret?”

“Oh, God, no one’s called me that in ages.” Maggie grinned. “Remember how Sean used to call me The Shadow because I followed the two of you everywhere?”

At the mention of her brother, Caitlin felt a hollow ache in her chest. Sean had been more than her brother, he had been her best friend. She reached in her bag for her sunglasses and slipped them on. A weekend that had started with such high expectations had quickly become an emotional fiasco.

“Does it bother you if I talk about the family, Caitlin?”

“No. Of course not,” she lied. “Have you heard any news recently?”

“Well, I got a letter from Sissy yesterday.”

“That’s nice. How is she?”

Maggie shrugged. “You know what she’s like. Expects everyone to go all out because she’s marrying into the Fletcher family.”

“And she’s welcome to them. I suppose she expects a big gift from you.”

“She might have gone too far,” Maggie muttered.

Her sister rarely spoke with anger about anyone. Maggie had even forgiven Andrew, so the resentment in her voice surprised Caitlin.

“What do you mean?”

“Promise me you won’t get upset.”

“About what?”

“Sissy wanted me to ask you to make her wedding dress. The one she picked out costs seventeen hundred dollars, and she thought you could make a copy.” Maggie’s words tumbled out with breathless anxiety. “I’d understand if you said no.”

Well, give the girl points for audacity, Caitlin thought, willing away the tears that sprang to her eyes. Still, Sissy was her sister and years ago Caitlin had promised to make her wedding dress. She kept her promises, even when the rest of the family had forgotten theirs. For hadn’t they promised to love each other forever?

“Tell her I’ll do it,” she choked out.

“I shouldn’t have told you. Me and my big mouth,” Maggie groaned.

“I’m glad you did. It will be a pleasure to help marry her off to Quinton Fletcher. Besides, it will give me something to do this week. I can go to the design center and use the large cutting tables. It’s the perfect excuse to avoid Joyce.”

“Joyce can be a witch.”

Caitlin would have chosen a more appropriate rhyming word. She changed the subject. “Do you and Erik have plans tonight? Maybe we can con Andrew into taking us out to dinner.”

Maggie’s smile returned, broad and knowing. “It wouldn’t take much conning. He’d agree to anything you ask.”

“Anything but moving back to her apartment,” Andrew’s voice grumbled from behind. Maggie reddened, but Caitlin was undisturbed.

“People who eavesdrop on private conversations never hear anything good about themselves,” she tossed over her shoulder.

“Not your conversations, anyway.” Andrew sat on the corner of the blanket next to her and handed her the bottle of suntan oil. “Would you do my back, honey?”

Caitlin bristled. Honey ? Had he actually called her honey? What was next, Sweetie? She took the cap off the bottle and held it firmly in her grasp. Placing her free hand on his back, she urged him forward. His triumphant grin faded as she pulled back the elastic waistband and squirted half the bottle of oil down the back of his swimming trunks.

“Don’t you ever call me honey again!”

Andrew straightened. Maggie’s barely suppressed giggles and Caitlin’s outright snicker sent the blood straight to his face.

“You vindictive little brat.”

He came to his feet and hoisted Caitlin out of her chair. Effortlessly he carried her waist deep into the water and tossed her in. She came to the surface laughing even harder.

“I hate it when you laugh at me,” he growled.

“I know. That’s why I do it.”

He dunked her under the water and held her for a few seconds. When she came up for air coughing and sputtering, he was stricken with guilt.  He hadn’t meant to hurt her, only teach her a lesson.

“I’m so sorry.” He pulled her into his arms and patted her back until she stopped coughing. “Are you all right?”