Significant Others (23 page)

“She doesn’t hate you,” I said. One thing I did trust about Marc was his fitness as a father, and I knew neither of us wanted our problems to impact Hannah. I was mad at him, but I didn’t want to put our daughter in the middle. “She’s upset now, but she’ll get over it. She wants to see us back together.”

“That’s what I want too, more than anything,” Marc said, “if you would just give me another chance. I was your first, Honey. I want to be your only.”

I was still locked in his arms, but I couldn’t look at him. Tears were streaming down my face. He wiped them away.

“Marc, since I’ve been here at Millennium Gardens, I’ve seen how sweet it is to be in love. Age doesn’t matter with people here. What they have together is so special. That’s what I want. Someone to grow old with.”

“Growing old sucks,” Marc muttered.

“Well, yes, it does. But it’s going to happen, is happening. Don’t you want someone to grow old together with?”

“I guess if I have to, you’re the one I want to grow old with,” Marc said. “It’s true. I won’t mind it as much if we’re together. Whatever you want me to do. I can change. I’ll be whatever you want me to be.”

“I want you to be the man I thought you were,” I said stubbornly. I fidgeted with the comforter and tried to shift out of his arms. “I just want you to love me, again, like I’m the only woman in the world who matters to you,” I continued, my bottom lip quivering. “That’s all, Marc. I just want you to love me.”

“Oh, God, I do love you.” Marc was close to tears. He was kissing me, first gently, then desperately like he couldn’t get enough of me. “Forgive me, please forgive me.”

I bit my lip. My body was responding to his, he was saying all the right words, touching me in all the right places. It had been a long time since the two of us had wanted each other like that, desperately, passionately—at least at the same time.

“Marc,” I said softly. “We can’t do this. Everyone’s right out there. I don’t want to do this right now.” But I was lying to myself and to him.

“I know, Honey, it’s just that I want you so much.” And I could feel how much he wanted me. I was shaking.

“Honey, I’m sorry. So sorry.” We were both breathing heavily. “Tell me what I can do to make this right.”

“Sssh,” I said. “It’s okay. I want to believe you mean that.”

“I do,” he said, kissing my lips and holding me.

“Do you really think I have a puny pecker?” he said, trying to make me laugh.

“Well, the evidence indicates otherwise,” I smiled and got a devilish twinkle in my eyes. “Will you take me for a ride on
my
new Gold Wing?”

“As soon as we get home,” he promised. “Now you’ve got to get me out of here in one piece. Maybe stand between me and your brother.”

I laughed. “I should let him take you apart. He’s dying to. And you deserve it.”

“I know,” he said. “Donny never really liked me.”

“He has good instincts about people,” I replied. “I guess I should be grateful you didn’t go after my personal assistant.”

“Your personal assistant is a guy.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s very funny,” Marc said dryly. “And talking about guys, do I have to be worried about this Max guy?”

“No, actually he’s interested in my mother. Oh, Marc, there’s so much going on you don’t know about. I think Donny’s found his father, his real father. It’s that big bulk of a man in the living room. I don’t really understand it yet. My mother will have to explain it to us. And I know you’re against it, but I could really use your help negotiating this merger. I don’t want my mother to sell the company. It’s the wrong thing to do. And we have to give Mr. Reddekker our answer tomorrow.”

“Whatever I can do, I want to help,” Marc said sincerely, folding me into his arms. “I want to be there for you, to make it up to you.”

“I haven’t said I’m forgiving you.”

“I know. I have to win back your trust and I’m prepared to do that. To grovel if I have to.”

“Groveling is a good first step. What about your job offer in New York?”

“We can talk about that later, at dinner.”

“You know I can’t go with you, to New York, I mean.”

“I know,” he said, looking disappointed but resigned.

“And knowing that, you’ll still help me negotiate a merger?”

“Yes,” Marc agreed.

Trying to meet him halfway, I said, “We’ll make it work somehow. I’ll visit often. You can fly home. I’ll find the time. I promise.”

“I need you now, Honey, I need you with me.”

“I know, and I haven’t been there. But all that will change.”

“How can it change if we’re living apart?” he sulked.

“I will find a way,” I promised. “I’m very persistent.”

We strode out of the bedroom hand in hand. A big smile lit up Hannah’s face. Donny looked disgusted and disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to rearrange Marc’s face.

“You caved,” he mouthed. I shrugged.

Right now, Donny had a lot to deal with, and I thought it would be best to leave my brother alone with Daniel, and with my mother, to work things out. Donny was sprawled in a chair and Daniel was sitting on the couch opposite him. Both were brooding and agitated, facing each other warily like sullen bookends. There was still no sign of my mother.

“How about if I steal my two best girls for a fancy dinner?” Marc said, reaching for Hannah’s hand, trying to break the tension.

Hannah looked at me and then back at Marc.

“It’s okay, honey,” I assured her. “It’s all okay.”

I waited for the inevitable round of negotiations. Hannah and Marc love Mexican food, and when the three of us go out together they always insist on Mexican even though they know how much I hate it.

“How about Italian?” Marc suggested.

“Sounds great, Daddy,” Hannah replied sweetly, as if they had already rehearsed the conversation.

Maybe a leopard could change its spots.

“Hannah, what did you do with your Mom’s communications toys?”

“Marc, they’re not toys,” I insisted.

“They’re in my purse,” Hannah replied, handing them to Marc.

“Now be a good girl and go in and get your dad a nice big glass of something, a soft drink, water, whatever.”

Hannah sprinted into the kitchen.

Marc was definitely up to something. He could scarcely contain his smile.

Hannah came back with a tall glass of Diet Coke.

Marc held the BlackBerry gingerly with two fingers and with a gleam in his eye, balanced it over the glass.

“Marc, no!” I screamed, when I realized what he had in mind. “You wouldn’t dare drown my BlackBerry.” I grabbed it from his hands.

“That’s one way to get rid of it. Do you think you can leave it home for one night?” Marc asked.

I frowned and agreed, managing to look mildly repentant while he confiscated the device.

“And hey, Honey, why don’t you go and change. Put on something flashy!”

Surprised, I walked into my room to find the mildew dress. No time like the present to see how much my husband had really changed. When I returned to the living room, Marc whistled.

“You look great in that dress,” he said. “Why haven’t you ever worn that before?”

I rolled my eyes.

Hannah took Marc’s hand and Marc took mine. We walked out the door, our little family intact, at least for the time being.

Chapter Fifteen: Reunions

Donny and I were arguing in whispers about the advisability of barging into the bedroom to talk to his mother when she finally opened the door. Her face was tear-stained, her eyes swollen, her pallor ashen. I noticed she was wearing a tiny diamond chip on a gold band on her wedding-ring finger. That was a milestone, I knew, parting with her husband’s ring. I took a closer look at the ring she was wearing. It was the promise ring I had sent her while I was overseas. She was wearing my ring. That must mean something. It was a reason to hope.

“Daniel,” she said, looking up at me, blinking away the tears. Something was definitely wrong. “I’ve got something to tell you.” Then she noticed Donny. “And you too, Donny.”

“Dorothy,” I said, calling her by the name I used to know her by. She looked surprised.

“I took your letters,” she said.

“They’re
your
letters.”

“Then you know?”

“When did you first know?”

“When I saw you walking toward me at the dance,” Dee Dee said. “You really haven’t changed much. And I thought you’d figure it out when we danced together, and then when we...but you didn’t.”

“I knew there was something special about you,” I said. “I was drawn to you from the beginning.”

“Mom?” Donny asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, Donny,” she sighed. “I’m sorry if I worried you and your sister.”

He held out the sheaf of letters.

“You read the letters?” she asked.

“Are these my father’s letters?” he asked, turning to me. “Is this man my father?”

Dee Dee looked at her son and her face seemed like her heart would break. She couldn’t say the words, but she nodded. Her tears wouldn’t stop flowing.

Donny’s eyes remained locked on mine. Neither of us knew what to do next.

Then I reached out and embraced my son.

“Donny,” I said, tears pooling in my eyes. “My son, oh, my son. Are you really my son?”

“D-Dad?” Donny managed, choking on the words he’d been holding back, words he’d wanted to say for so long.

Neither of us could speak for a long time after that. We just hung on to each other, tried to grasp the miracle.

“I want to hear all about your life,” I began. “I can fill in the blanks for you about mine. I have so much to tell you, but I don’t know what to say, how to start. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’m so happy to have you now. This place, this tribute you assembled, it’s pretty special. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, son.”

****

I watched the two of them begin to bond, get to know each other for the first time, poring over those infernal World War II books. They were so much alike. Like carbon copies. Of course I had seen that over the years, watching Donny grow up. But now, to see the two of them together, in the same room… Well, it was amazing, sort of like those pictures they show on the sports channel, of famous people who have an uncanny resemblance in the “Separated at Birth” segments. It was like I knew all along something was missing from my life but I never knew what that something was and suddenly, when I had it, all the pieces fit. And all my questions were answered.

But of course this was just the beginning of Donny’s questions and his wonder at finding his real father. Not that Stan wasn’t the best father in the world to Donny. He had proved that in so many ways. That was why I married him, although it was clear now that Daniel was back in my life that the love I’d felt for Stan was a different kind of love. And for Donny, Daniel was salve on all that bottled-up raw longing, the salve that would finally start the healing process. The two of them had so much to catch up on, so much time to make up for.

Donny wasn’t thinking straight now, but he would come to resent me for not telling him about Daniel. Especially when I told them that I knew Daniel was looking for me. I knew he was alive the night before my marriage to Stan. And I did nothing. And I was prepared to face up to that. But when I did, it would be the end of this beautiful dream.

I was determined to return to Atlanta and see the merger through. I couldn’t disappoint Honey and Donny. I just couldn’t. I knew that. As for Daniel and me, what did we really have? A memory so many years ago. Was that enough to light a spark and reignite a full-blown relationship? I wasn’t sure about anything. Did I love Daniel for what he was and what he once meant to me or for the man he’d become? Or did I love him because I was drowning in loneliness? Maybe a little of both. We were two different people now, who had gone off on two different paths. We’d always be connected by Donny, but I knew I was fooling myself if I thought there could be anything more between us. If he would even want there to be. And Daniel’s ties were here. His dream was to start his own detective agency right here in Millennium Gardens. And the people here needed him. He could do so much good. So why would he want to follow me to Atlanta?

It had been a trying day for all of us. A lifetime of questions was not going to be resolved in one afternoon. I was exhausted and weak and I couldn’t face any more conflict right now. It took some convincing for Daniel to leave. He agreed under one condition. I had to promise to meet with him and Donny together later tonight after I was rested, to sort things out and decide where we would go from there. The whole situation was a big, complicated mess.

Daniel walked out the door, followed by Donny, muttering something about wanting his son to see his uniform.

I needed to get out of there, too. I grabbed a light sweater, ran a brush through my hair, rinsed my face, and put on some lipstick. I was sure my eyes were still bloodshot from all the crying. But since I’d met Daniel, I’d actually started to pay attention to my appearance again. I was finally back among the living. And it felt good. Although I didn’t know how Daniel and Donny would feel toward me after we had our talk. Both would blame all those wasted years on me, years that Donny could have known his real father. But I didn’t see them as a waste. I was very happy with Stanley, and he was a wonderful father to my son. And if it weren’t for Stan, I wouldn’t have had Honey. She was the light of my life.

I wanted to wish Max a Bon Voyage. He had been so sweet and shy when he’d withdrawn his invitation to the cruise. It sounded like he’d memorized a script when he called me on the phone. Yes, he’d definitely been practicing. He hadn’t wanted to hurt my feelings, I knew. I had been expecting it and I had pretty much decided not to go with him anyway. I was delighted when Birdie came along to take my place.

I opened my front door, and when I turned around to lock it, I noticed a fresh red Seniors Against Sin flyer taped to the outside. Irritated, I tore it off the door, balled it up in my fist, and stuffed it into the pocket of my slacks. I’d discard it in the trash on my way back home from Max’s. I walked down the breezeway to the end of the hall. I got to Max’s apartment and knocked on the door. There was another red flyer taped to his door. Would these people ever stop? Were they kooks or were they dangerous? I was almost glad I wasn’t going to stay in Millennium Gardens long enough to find out. Max would be troubled by the flyer, so I removed it and stuffed it into my other pocket.