Unforgettable (32 page)

“I moved here and made up a new name, didn’t I?”

“Yes. You met someone through the Internet. You came to Hawaii to take a job as a computer programmer—at least that’s what was in the parole report. Dr. Carmichael thought you were a real hard case, but you’d been rehabilitated. She said you kept telling everyone you would die before you’d ever go to jail again.”

Lucky thought for a moment, recalling how
little Brad knew about her. “
I never told anyone here about my past. I didn’t want anyone to know. I’m
positive
the psychologist is right. I never wanted to go to jail again.”

“Who can blame you for not telling anyone? A criminal record is hard for some people to accept. Dr. Carmichael said you were determined to marry a rich man and live like a princess.” He gazed at the mansion she now called home, pausing a moment. “You got your wish.”

No, I didn’t, she wanted to scream. I want to live in a cottage by the sea with you and Julie. And your baby.

“I’m going to make up for all I’ve done wrong. I’m not the woman in the mirror. I’m worse. A total bitch. I—”

He touched his finger to her lips. “I came to tell you all this myself because I know how upset you’ve been, thinking you’re
a bad person.” He bracketed her face with his hands, forcing her to look at him. She saw so much love and anguish that it brought tears to her eyes. “Lucky, don’t blame yourself. You never had a chance. Don’t hate yourself.

“
What you experienced is typical of what happens to many abused children. The abused child becomes the troubled teenager, who then grows into a young adult who runs into trouble with the law.”

“Not always,” she argued. “Many abused children don’t end up in jail.”

“True,” he conceded, “but if you look at the statistics, the majority of criminals came from abusive backgrounds or highly dysfunctional families.”

“I refuse to make excuses for myself. I take responsibility for what I did—even though I don’t remember doing it. I’ve paid my debt to society.” Swallowing the sob rising in her throat, she realized he was smiling at her, love—and acceptance—in his eyes.

“That’s my girl,” Greg said, heartfelt tenderness in his voice. “I knew you wouldn’t look for excuses. Think of this as an opportunity most people never get. That blow to your head changed your personality.”

“It certainly did. Not only was my daughter afraid of me, but everyone else seemed to be expecting—what did Sebastian call it?—a hissy fit. I must have been a prima donna with a temper. How does an abused child become a self-centered, first-class bitch?”

“Your inner personality dictates what you become. You can cave in and be a weak, timid person, or you can fight. I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole story, but you chose to fight.”

“I was mean and self-centered.”

“You had faults. Everybody does. Now you have a second chance to be whatever you wish.”

“I
t took a major head injury to make me a likable person and a good mother.” She shook her head in disgust. “I’m going to make you proud of me.”

“I’m already proud of you. I’ll always be proud of you, angel.”

An ache lodged deep in her chest when she realized that Greg knew everything about her—and still loved her. What she felt for him went beyond love into some uncharted realm of her soul.

“I want you to promise me that you’ll try hard to make your marriage work. You deserve—”

“Don’t you love me anymore?” Lucky asked, aware of how desperately she needed him.

“Of course, I love you. Two years ago when Jessica died, I would have bet anything that I would never endure pain like that again. Wrong. Losing you has been a thousand times worse. I can’t keep seeing you. I’m just torturing myself.” He lightly kissed the tip of her nose. “You deserve to have a wonderful life. Julie’s a great kid, and Brad seems like a nice guy. Forget me. Give your marriage a real chance.”

She choked back a sob, knowing he was right. As long as Greg was in the picture, her marriage was doomed. “I’ll never forget you. No matter where I go or what I do, I’ll always love you. Had things been different—”

“Don’t say it. Things aren’t
different.
You have a daughter and a husband.” He reached into his pocket. “I brought you something. You probably don’t want it. Undoubtedly, you have a safe full of jewels.”

Greg handed her Rudy’s tooth. It was dangling from a fine gold chain.

“Oh, thank you. Thank you. I’ll wear it all the time. I know it sounds silly, but I do feel it brings me luck.” She put it on and the tooth hung just above her breasts. “I’m so lucky— lucky you found me. You’ve given me the greatest gift of all, the ability to know true love.”

He pulled her into his arms and she relaxed, sinking into his welcoming embrace. His eyes were usually a searing blue, but now there was nothing in them except a profound sadness that
nearly destroyed her. He loved her and had helped her through the worst crisis of her life. What did he get in return? Heartache.

His lips met hers for a sweet kiss filled with the pain of parting. His tongue touched hers for one last time. Strong arms that had carried her up the cliff cradled her in a final embrace. Vibrant blue eyes that had gazed at her so often with love and understanding looked into hers, silently telegraphing the anguish he was feeling.

“Goodbye, Lucky. Be happy.”

Greg released her, then clicked his fingers. Dodger hopped up, gazing expectantly at Lucky. They walked down the beach to the access path. Dodger kept looking over his shoulder, baffled that Lucky wasn’t coming.

“Goodbye, my love,” she whispered after they’d disappeared from sight. “Have a wonderful life.”

32

L
ucky walked into the party beside Brad and quickly scanned the small group to see if anyone looked familiar. No one’s face triggered a response, but then maybe she hadn’t met these people. This was a business affair.

Everyone looked chic and sophisticated. Rich. She glanced at the diamond sparkling on her finger, a stab of guilt buried in her chest. The institute scraped by, getting donations where they could. When she was more comfortable with Brad, she was going to ask him to make a contribution. Almost as if he knew that she was thinking about him, he reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

“Thanks so much for the Suburban,” she whispered as they walked across the lanai to the bar.

“You can exchange it for another color, you know.”

Lucky smiled at Brad, thinking how lucky she was to have him. She had walked back from the beach to find he’d come home early. He’d bought her a car to drive Julie to school. Minutes later, Julie had returned from preschool and had been thrilled with the car. They’d taken it for a drive around the
island, getting home just in time to change for the party. They hadn’t had a moment alone so she hadn’t told Brad about her past. She owed him the truth. The woman in the mirror might have deceived him, but she wasn’t that person anymore.

Brad paused to greet a couple and introduce Lucky. She made herself sound upbeat and happy. Still, she couldn’t help gazing out at the beach. They were two doors down from where they lived, the distance so close they’d used the footpath rather than drive. This mansion was directly in front of the grove of date palms where she’d said goodbye to Greg.

“Welcome back,” said a familiar voice from behind her. She turned and faced a handsome man, instantly realizing that she knew him even though her brain wouldn’t supply his name. Tall with close-cropped blond hair and intense brown eyes, the man smiled at her, canting one eyebrow slightly, a gesture that seemed very familiar.

Lucky was wearing the most conservative cocktail dress she owned, a white halter-top creation. It nipped in at the waist and skimmed her hips, falling in wispy folds of sheer silk to her knees. The only jewelry she wore was Rudy’s tooth. The man’s eyes went right to the tooth dangling above her cleavage.

“Remember me? Judd Fremont,” he said, his eyes meeting hers again. “Interesting piece of jewelry.”

“It’s a shark’s tooth,” she explained, uncomfortable that Brad had moved away to talk to another man. “It’s good luck, like a rabbit’s paw.”

“
Rabbit’s foot,
”
Judd corrected her, then snapped his fingers at a passing waiter. “Bring a glass of Cristal for Kelly.”

The way he gave the order and the intensity in his eyes told her that he was a powerful man, someone who expected to be obeyed. She wondered how “Kelly” had dealt with this man. “Call me Lucky,” she told him.

Suddenly, his eyes became flat and as unreadable as a stone, but his words were kind. “I guess after all you’ve been through, the name Lucky suits you better than Kelly.”

“What’s Cristal?” she asked, feeling uneasy.

“Your favorite drink—expensive French champagne. I always keep a case in the wine vault for you.”

Inwardly, Lucky groaned, but smiled politely because he looked immensely pleased with himself—or some
thing. “Were we good friends…
before?”

He leaned so close she could smell an expensive men’s cologne, whispering i
n her ear, “Very, very close…
friends.”

Sourness invaded the pit of her stomach. Was he implying they’d had an affair? Judd smiled, a slow knowing smile, arching one brow again. That was
exactly
what he meant.

“I don’t remember anything about the past.”

“So Brad tells me.”

Though quietly spoken, there was a hint of something in his voice she couldn’t quite define. Lucky had the distinct impression he expected to resume their relationship—whatever it had been. The waiter arrived with a flute of champagne. She took it and politely sipped, the bubbles rising off the top, tickling her nose.

“Excuse me,” she said, mustering a smile. “Brad promised to introduce me to all his friends.”

Lucky hurried to Brad’s side and he introduced her to everyone. She noticed they avoided discussing her brush with death, but they all knew about it. Once Brad had brought her home, her story had been front-page news. Although people didn’t question Lucky about her experience, she caught several of them looking at her oddly.

“
I just love your necklace!
”
exclaimed a plump blonde with a neck like a shar-pei and bright blue eyes. “If you’re wearing it, I’m sure it’s the latest.”

“It’s a one-of-a-kind piece,” Lucky replied, then decided she sounded haughty. Evidently, this woman knew her—even though she didn’t seem familiar—and recalled her pass
ion for clothes and jewelry. “
What I mean is, this is a tooth from a shark I helped save.”

The blonde’s jaw dropped, making her neck wrinkle even more. “Really?”

Pele’s ghost had been headline news in Maui, but obviously Honolulu was too sophisticated for island lore to be turned into front-page news. Lucky had probably been relegated to a single column beside the obituaries until they discovered she was Brad Wagner’s wife.

“I wear it to remember Rudy.” And the man who loved me enough to give me up.

The blonde took a step back, and Lucky thought she might actually run.

“Do I know you?” Lucky asked quickly. “Some people look familiar, but I don’t remember their names.”

“My hair was brown like yours, so you probably don’t recognize me. I’m Mitzy Morgan. Not that you ever paid any attention to me,” she said with more than a trace of sarcasm. “You never had anything to do with women.”

Because I’d spent ten long years surrounded by women. But she couldn’t remember that episode of her life, and now she needed a friend like Sarah. “I’m sorry if I was rude to you in the past. I don’t remember what I said or did to offend you, but please forgive me.”

“We-
ll
, we-
ll
,” stammered Mitzy. “You didn’t do anything exactly. You just never said more than hello. I never saw you except when Judd had a party like this.”

Time to make a friend, Lucky thought.
“
Would you like to have lunch one day next week? Julie comes home at one-thirty, so we’d need to eat on the early side.”

Mitzy beamed. “Sure, I’d love to.”

“Do you have children?” Lucky asked.

“Three. That’s why my waistline went south on me.”

“Good.” Lucky shook her head. “I mean, it’s good that you have children. I need some advice about raising my daughter.”

Clearly, Mitzy Morgan was astonished—and delighted— that Lucky was consulting her. They spoke at length about the various problems of raising young children. Mitzy wasn’t as insightful as Sarah, but she genuinely loved her children and gave Lucky some helpful tips: Expect children to come home
from school with words like
studmuffin.
They learn outrageous things from the older children. Keep them from watching MTV as long as possible.

Lucky was just feeling comfortable when they went into dinner. Judd Fremont had an open-air style house with an enormous dining room that led onto a lanai with a lagoon, where three white swans were serenely floating, barely rippling the placid water. Brad escorted her to a place card that read “Kelly,” and she sat down at a table so long it could have doubled for an airplane runway.

Mitzy, Judd, and Brad were seated too far away for Lucky to be part of their conversations. The people around her were discussing local politics. She tried telling them about the institute’s work with the monk seals and the whales, hoping these wealthy people could be parted from their money for a worthy cause. It didn’t work.

By the time dessert and coffee had been served, Lucky wondered if solitary confinement could be much worse. No doubt it was, but this wasn’t her idea of fun. She gazed wistfully at the grove of date palms down at the shore. In her mind she could still see Greg’s face as he spoke about her imprisonment. He had been so loving, so understanding. Tears sprang to Lucky’s eyes.
Was she ever going to get over him?

“Excuse me,” she said, getting up. She headed down the hall to fix her lipstick. She’d had so much time on her hands that she’d been watching talk shows, learning a lady should always excuse herself from the table and never apply lipstick in public. It sounded like a silly rule, but it gave her an excuse to get away.

Mitzy joined her. “Which way to the little girl’s room?”

“There’s one right down the hall on the left. I’ll use the bathroom upstairs.”

Lucky was upstairs in the bathroom doing the silly lipstick thing when something dawned on her. She had given Mitzy directions, then found this bathroom. She hadn’t known her
way around her own home, yet in this mansion that could double for a hotel, she knew how to find the bathrooms.

If you’ve done something over and over, you remember it. Like logging onto the computer. She must have been in this house a lot. Something wasn’t right here. She rushed out of the door, intending to get Brad alone and ask him, and almost bumped into Judd Fremont.

“Judd, I knew how to find this bathroom.” She pointed down the wide hall lined with tree ferns and soft lights artistically highlighting the alcoves built into the walls. “There’s an office down there. Why do I know all this when I almost had to leave a trail of bread crumbs, like Hansel and Gretel, to find my way around my own house?”

Judd chuckled, his dark eyes alight with humor. “You’ve been reading fairy tales to Julie, I see.” His brow canted slightly. “This house should be familiar. You and Brad lived here while they built your house.”

“Oh, that explains it.” Lucky was relieved yet still troubled. It was Judd, she decided. The man gave her the willies. Had he followed her upstairs?

They were walking down the hall now, and he was telling her something about the special lighting in the house. He stopped
in
front of a mirrored alcove, showcasing an unusual plant
in an
exquisite container. The coral-colored plant had a single
blos
som the size of a football. It had three petals in soft coral, the color deepening to a vivid crimson in the throat of the flower.

“It’s new,” Judd told her with unmistakable pride. “It’s a rare, endangered species from the Amazon rain forest.”

“What is it?” The flower didn’t look like anything she’d ever seen.

“This is the largest orchid known to exist. It’s got a ten-syllable zoological name, but collectors call it Orinoco Sunrise because the first plant was discovered on the banks of the Orinoco River. Now there are only a few left.”

“Who took it out of the rain forest? That’s illegal,” she
said, remembering all Alan Dunbar had told her about the harmful stripping of Hawaii’s rain forest.

“I bought it from another collector.” Judd’s tone could have frozen lava. “They’re cutting down the Amazon rain forest so rapidly that these beauties will be gone forever—without collectors like me to save them.”

“
I don’t remember that much about the Amazon. But I know that Hawaii’s rain forest is being stripped of its rare orchids. I heard about it when I was on Maui. There’s no excuse for it. The government is doing everything it can to preserve our rain forest.”

Judd smiled slightly. “Well, I’ll be. You’ve tur
ned into an environmentalist.”

“I want to preserve the earth’s treasures, like the plants and animals, for Julie.”

“Naturally, you do,” he said, leading her down the hall. “I couldn’t agree more. At some point, the Brazilians will stop cutting down their rain forest. When they do, collectors can give them orchids to replant.”

He stopped in front of another alcove. Here was another plant, in yet another container, that must be priceless. This orchid was an unusual shade of blue, and it had multiple blossoms with serrated edges like Rudy’s tooth.

“Watch this,” Judd told her as he reached for the light switch.

The hall became pitch black, with only faint light coming from the far end where the stairs were. In the darkness the orchid’s petals glowed slightly, giving off a faint blue-white light.

“Wow! How does that work?”

Judd had moved closer. Lucky could smell his cologne again, and she edged away. If they’d been intimate in the past, she wasn’t repeating her mistakes, one of which had obviously been Judd.

“This beauty comes from Zaire—another nation that does nothing to protect its rain forest. The phosphorus in the soil
combines with the plant’s own chemicals, so that it glows in the dark.” He’d moved closer again, and she felt the heat of his body. “Don’t inhale. It gives off a poisonous gas.”

Lucky reached for the wall, her fingers searching until she found the
l
ight switch.
Fl
ipping on the lights, she said, “I don’t smell anything.”

Judd smiled at her, the twinkle back in his eyes. “It’s practically odorless. I built a special chamber just for them. It has a ventilation system to keep the poisonous fumes from building up, otherwise somebody could wander in there and die.”