Sweetest Desires (A Sweetest Day Romance) (26 page)

Chapter 35

Katharine had tried to reschedule
her flight so she could return home immediately, but it was impossible to get an earlier direct flight out of LAX. The best she could manage was to switch to another airline so she wouldn’t be on the same flight as Natalie.

If things had worked out as she’d wished, she would’ve spent a few glorious days in sunny Califo
rnia with the three adults she loved the most. It would’ve been like being back in college all over again on double dates. As it was, the best she could do was to spend two days touring Los Angeles alone and change hotels. She wanted to neither see nor hear from Natalie, and she thought it best to avoid Carson, as well. Luckily, she’d declined the invitation to stay with Vince and Alaina.

She phoned her older sister, Sadie, to give her the telephone number of her new hotel room. She also couldn’t withhold what had happened between her and Natalie, swearing her sister to secrecy as to her new location.

Sadie often visited Katharine in Atlanta while she continued to reside in Ohio. But when CJ was born, she decided to make Atlanta her permanent place of abode. That was probably a good move since she was the only close living relative Katharine had. Nine years ago, their parents were killed in a freak accident when a private plane had exploded in midair and some of its debris had landed on top of the car they occupied while en route.

Before ending the call, she had a chance to speak to CJ and Bethany, and as usual, Bethany complained of CJ harassing her. CJ talked about the fun he was having. After vocalizing their love to Katharine, they asked her to also give Aunt Natalie some love from them.

She doubted she’d ever get a chance to relay the message. But she certainly didn’t want the children to suffer because of her new feelings toward Natalie.

When they’d handed the phone back to Aunt Sadie, Katharine said, “Remember, you promised not to tell Natalie, Stephen, or Carson where I am, right?”

Sadie was silent.

“You promised, Sadie.”

“I think it’s stupid. You’re pulling yourself further and further away from a good man who’s just going through an emotional crisis.”

“Never mind that. Just promise.”

“I think you’re making a grave mistake, lil sis. You’d better get control of this situation before you lose him completely. And another thing. You and Nat have been tight since college. She values your friendship way too much to jeopardize—”

“Sadie, please! I didn’t call to ask your opinion.”

“All right, all right,” her sister said. “Just be careful, that’s all.”

“Bye, Sadie.”

“Bye.” Sadie sounded regretful, as if she didn’t want to end the call.

* * *

Despite flying first class and receiving plenty of attention from the flight attendant, Katharine couldn’t relax and enjoy the flight. Her mind kept returning to Natalie’s betrayal. The magazines the attendant had brought weren’t helping, and staring out at the clouds couldn’t distract her, either. She’d shared her most private secrets with Natalie. If need be, she’d have given her own kidney to save Natalie’s life. She couldn’t process the idea of Natalie gossiping with Vincent about such intimate details of her life, her marriage. Apparently, everything had a dollar value—even friendship.

She heard Vincent’s voice in her head repeating the title of his upcoming film,
What She Did for Love
. Natalie knew darn well that Katharine had enhanced her body for the love of her husband. It was no coincidence the main character in Vincent’s new script had done the same thing. Now, thanks to Vincent’s announcement at the open house, people all over the world would see her life on the big screen and soon afterwards on DVD in the comfort of their homes.

In her mind, she kept seeing herself as a scared, lonely woman, cut off from her husband and her best friend. True, she had cut off Natalie, but it felt like the other way around. She’d been dropped. Everyone had let her down somehow, walked away from her, lied to her. Betrayed her.

Katharine could sense a headache building behind her eyes. She was certain Natalie had told her family and friends everything about Carson. The private details of her failing marriage were now fresh gossip. People she didn’t know were already talking about her and what she’d done for love.

Katharine turned her head away to hide her tears from the passenger sitting next to her. The tears relaxed her exhausted mind and body, and she fell asleep.

* * *

It was wonderful to be home. The first thing she did after the cab driver dropped her luggage at the front door and drove away was to check the messages on the answering machine. Her dentist’s office had called to reschedule her appointment at her request. The other messages were from telemarketers, friends of CJ and Bethany, and a former high school clas
smate advising her of the meeting of the reunion committee. The last message was from Stephen.

“Hi, Kat. It’s Steve. Please hear me out before you decide it’s none of my business. You and Nat have been friends far too long to allow something like this to happen. I’m sure it’s all a mix-up and you just need to talk with her. Even though she maintains her innocence, and I believe her, Natalie’s a nervous wreck. Don’t let Satan steal a beautiful friendship from you, Kat. Please give me a call when you get this message. Love you.” He’d said it all quickly as if he’d thought she was going to hang up on him.

Katharine rolled her eyes. “Of course you believe her; she’s your wife!” she said sharply to the air. As far as she was concerned, nothing and no one could ever make her talk to Natalie again.

She quickly watered the indoor plants and d
espite the drizzle, the outdoor plants, too, and gave them a healthy dose of plant food.

Before phoning Sadie to tell her she would pickup CJ and Bethany as soon as she showered and changed clothes, she decided to check her overflo
wing mailbox. She dumped the pile of bills and letters on the dining room table and sorted through the pile, weeding out the trash and separating the bills and Carson’s mail from her own correspondence.

Coming across an Express Mail envelope a
ddressed to Katharine O’Connor with a postmark from Mexico, she looked at it curiously for a moment, wondering what it could be, and then opened it to find divorce papers, stamped “certified copy.”

She closed her eyes and groaned, but tears slid through her eyelids and down her cheeks. What was Carson doing to her? Why was he toiling with her feelings? Forcing herself to sift through the rest of the mail, she found a brown envelope with the Chapel of Love, Reno, Nevada, as the return address. It too was addressed to Katharine O’Connor in an Express Mail pouch. She fumbled to open it and pulled out the contents with trembling hands. It seemed to be a set of three or four photographs.

She dropped the first photo, which showed Carson’s hand relaxed affectionately on Deanna’s shoulder, as if she was his own flesh and blood; she looked at the second snapshot. Her stomach contracted at the sight of Carson and Cindy in wedding clothes, his hand resting intimately around her narrow waist. Swallowing the dread that choked her, she moved on to the third picture, which showed them cheek-to-cheek. Nausea rose in her throat, nausea and rage.

Recalling that photographs could be faked, she studied Carson’s face closely. He looked younger and happier, but it was definitely Carson.

There was more. Beneath the last photograph was something even more frightening—a marriage certificate. This one had red lettering stamped, “certified copy.”

This can’t be
. She closed her eyes, willing the nausea to recede.

Her puffy eyes fixed on yet another envelope. The return address read W. Freeman. Underneath it was the name
Atlanta Ledger
with its mailing address.
What would Freeman be sending me in the mail?
she wondered numbly. Whatever it was, she didn’t have the strength to open it, let alone read it. She had more pressing, more serious concerns awaiting her with Carson and Cindy.

She needed to talk to Natalie, to tell her all about it, but then she remembered that she’d cut off all communication with her former friend. Weakly, she lifted the phone and dialed Sadie.

The phone rang six times before Sadie’s voice said, “You’ve reached the Keller’s residence. Please leave a message after the tone.” Katharine wanted to talk to her sister directly, but the loud beep forced her to speak.

“Girl, where are y’all?” Katharine said in a fake, girlfriend-type voice as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m back, but, uh, could you do me a favor and keep the children for another night? I have some things I need to take care of this evening.” She swiped her fingers underneath her eyes and inhaled mucus. “I’ll call and talk to you all later. Love you much.” She’d managed to keep her voice cheery, but she felt miserable.

Everyone was deserting her. The two adults she loved most had betrayed her trust. She wouldn’t be surprised if Natalie knew all about Carson giving her a Mexican divorce and marrying Cindy. She entertained the thought that Natalie and Stephen had flown to Reno to attend the ceremony.

Then again, it could be a conspiracy of Cindy’s. But she quickly shook away the theory. A woman would have to be deranged to be so manipulative. Officially certified, seal-stamped documents don’t lie. Photographs could be altered, but these were real. She was sure of it.

She went to her room, locked the door, and fell across the bed with her clothes still on. Sleep overtook her within minutes, a murky sleep filled with the images of Carson and Cindy. When the telephone rang, she had to claw her way through a molasses-thick fog to reach consciousness.

Carson’s voice sounded amazingly cheerful. “Hi, Kat. I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you looked at Vincent and Alaina’s. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to—”

She caught her breath at the sound of his voice. “Why are you calling me?” she broke in. “Why don’t you leave me alone? Why don’t you go be with your—your new wife and daughter!”

“I need to talk with you about the article.”

“Article? What article? What kind of game do you think you’re playing? You’ve shattered my heart for the last time. Just leave me alone!” She slammed down the phone wondering why he didn’t respond to her statement about his new wife and daughter.

Of course! she thought. That’s why Carson made his cameo appearance at Vincent’s: to tell me he’d married Cindy less than two hundred miles away in Reno. And the article he was probably referring to was the certificate of divorce.

Her face felt tight from the dried tears. She grabbed her keys and fled out the door.

* * *

After driving around for hours, Katharine shoved forward the hood of her rain slick cape she’d always kept rolled up in the glove compartment, and knelt in the wet grass of her family’s cemetery plots. “I need your help, Father,” she prayed aloud. “It’s all such a mess. Nat and Stephen. Carson and Cindy. Freeman and me. Tell me what to do. I can’t fix this without You.”

Observing the soft patter of the rain against the flowers was soothing. A raindrop trickled down her cheek to the corner of her mouth. She licked it with her tongue, tasted salt, and realized it wasn’t a raindrop at all. “I trusted Carson,” she told her heavenly Father.

“I’m so confused. You hold the key to all this. She swept a strand of wet hair away from her face. “You have to help me,” she said. “Give me something. Anything! Help!” she cried loudly.

There was no answer. Some people would call her crazy for sitting there in the rain, talking to a God she couldn’t see and surrounded by tombstones. But Katharine knew God was listening and that her dad and her granny, if they were listening, too, would understand her dilemma. And even if God didn’t answer her right away, He heard her heartfelt cries.

She lifted her head to watch a plane from afar lift off from the runway and climb until it disappeared into the clouds. She wanted her problems to disappear. In spite of her raincoat, she shivered in the dampness.

At the center of her jumbled emotions, one piece of knowledge shone suddenly, painfully clear. She was a free woman, permanently detached from the man she loved; from a relationship that seemed to have no future, no hope of anything beyond feeding the hunger that wouldn’t leave her alone. She cried silently as the rain fell around her.

At last, she raised her aching body, lowered her chin to shield her eyes from the rain, and found her way back to her car. Somehow she had to find the strength to pick herself up and move on with her life. “I can do all things through Christ Jesus,” she kept repeating. She desperately wanted to believe those words.

She had three days left of her vacation, but now that things had taken a drastic turn, she didn’t want to spend the time alone at home with her thoughts. It wasn’t healthy. She decided to forfeit the rest of her vacation and return to work.

What had all the passion been about a few weeks earlier when Carson had confessed his love and apologized for his behavior? Had he been trying to connive his way into bed with her for one final round when he really wanted to be with Cindy for the long haul?