The Heartbreaker

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “You’re making this up to make me feel better.”

  “I’m not. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. I used to be so jealous of you when he said that.”

  Alana chuckled. “God, Bethy, were we a pair or what? Hating each other and loving each other desperately at the same time. Each of us trying to be number one with Dad. I figured I’d lost that contest, so I made sure I had Mike, even though he really belongs with you.”

  Beth leaned her head against Alana’s. “You’re sure you’re okay with that?”

  “It’s a relief, in a way. I’ve struggled so long to deny the attraction between you two. It was exhausting. I’m glad to finally give it up.”

  “So you’ve always known what the stained-glass piece in my studio was all about.”

  Alana nodded. “Many times I was tempted to have some accident happen to that piece, but it’s so beautiful that even in my most jealous moments I couldn’t destroy it. I didn’t think either of us would get another shot at Mike, anyway, but when I heard he was back, and knew you’d spent time with him, I was like a fire horse hearing the bell. I had to get back here and try to get him, or at the very least keep you from getting him.”

  “That’s amazing.”

  “It’s stupid, is what it is. And he doesn’t even turn me on, at least not the way a guy should if you plan to spend your life with him.”

  “Then why haven’t you fallen for somebody else?”

  “More stupidity.” She laid her head back against the worn upholstery. “I really need a shrink. I thought if I let myself become seriously involved, maybe even get married, then I wouldn’t be available if Mike did come back. And you might be. You married to Mike would be such a blow to my ego that I had to guard against that horrible possibility at all times.”

  “And now your worst nightmare will come true.”

  “Now that it’s here, it feels just right Everything’s the way it should be, with two people I love getting together at last. After all, you’re the only family I’ve got—you, Mike and Ernie.”

  Ernie. Beth thought of what she’d seen and heard tonight. She wondered if she should tell Alana about it. If she did, she’d also have to tell Alana what she thought it meant. She could be wrong. The strain of the moment might have caused her to imagine something, to hallucinate. She’d read about such things, and maybe she’d just experienced the kind of tricks the mind could play when under tremendous stress.

  Maybe she’d known herself where the rope was, and she’d only thought Ernie had been standing there telling her about it The emergency brake was a logical thing to think of, and so were the rocks. If they’d seemed lighter than they should have been when she carried them, that was probably due to the sort of adrenaline rush that allowed mothers to lift cars away from their trapped children and not to some ghostly presence lightening the load.

  She’d be foolish to describe what she’d seen and get Mike and Alana all excited and worried for nothing.

  “You know, when I was in the Jeep, I thought I heard Dad’s voice,” Alana said.

  Beth’s head snapped around toward her sister. “What?”

  “I couldn’t be sure, and the water and thunder were making a lot of noise, but I thought I heard him say You’re all going to be okay.” Alana’s voice became choked with emotion. “I...um...probably imagined it.”

  Beth felt her own throat constrict with impending tears. “Maybe not.”

  “I want to believe he talked to me, Bethy,” Alana whispered.

  “Then believe it,” she murmured, and swiped the tears from her cheeks. If their father really had talked to Alana, then maybe Ernie had really talked to her. “We...we need to go back to the hospital after the guys finish with the Jeep.”

  “Yeah, we sure do. Poor Ernie must wonder what all the fuss was about. Here he finally gets us together again after eight long years, and then all hell breaks loose. But I don’t think we should tell him how dangerous it was.”

  “Probably not” Beth swallowed. “But he might know.”

  “Yeah, not much gets past Ernie. I love that old guy. When he gets better I’m taking him on a canoe trip with me. The Ozarks were beautiful. Maybe he’d like to go there.”

  Beth let the tears slide silently down her cheeks and prayed that Ernie would indeed see the Ozarks with Alana and the rain forest with his son.

  Mike opened the driver’s door. “I think that’s about it,” he said. “We’re going to leave the Jeep here if it’s okay with you, Alana. Jonas offered to pull it into town, but I think he’s done plenty for us already, so I said we’d arrange for a tow in the morning, after the rain stops.”

  “Sounds fine to me,” Alana said. “Considering we’re all alive, I don’t care what happens to the Jeep.”

  “It’ll need some major time in the shop. There’s sand in the engine.”

  “Who cares?” Alana said.

  “I agree,” Mike said. “I’ll get Jonas’s address and phone number so we can find him when we think up some way to say thank-you.”

  “Maybe he needs a stained-glass window in his ranch house,” Beth suggested.

  Mike smiled at her. “He just might. Well, I’ll tell him goodbye and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Beth and I want to go back to the hospital and let Ernie know we’re okay,” Alana said.

  “Yeah, I thought we’d do that.” Mike glanced at the two of them. “Although when he gets a look at us, he may not believe a word we say. You look like a couple of drowned rats, and I’m probably not much more attractive.”

  “Not much more attractive?” Alana glanced at Beth. “Did you hear what this egomaniac just said?”

  “Yep.” Beth laughed through her tears.

  “Listen, Tremayne,” Alana said, shaking her finger in his face. “Never assume that you’re even somewhat more attractive than the Nightingale sisters. Got that?”

  “Got it,” Mike said, laughing as he closed the door and started over toward the rancher’s truck.

  Beth hugged her sister. “I love you, Alana.”

  “And I love you, too.” She pulled back and gazed at Beth. “But you do happen to look like crap right now.”

  “So do you.”

  “But Mike looks worse, right?”

  Beth grinned. “Right. Always worse than us. Because we are the one, the only—”

  “Nightingale Sisters!” they shouted together.

  ALANA AND MIKE remained in a cheerful mood all the way back to the hospital, but the closer they got to town, the quieter Beth became. She tried to tell herself everything was fine, but she didn’t believe it.

  Mike even resorted to some gentle teasing as they left the truck and started toward the hospital entrance. “Hey, Gloomy Gus. News flash, the good guys won.”

  She managed a smile. “I guess I’m a little tired.”

  “I think we’re all running on fumes,” Alana said. “We’d better stoke up on caffeine before we head back to Bisbee.”

  “And we’re going to a coffee shop,” Mike said. “I’ve had enough of that stuff out of a vending machine to last me the rest of my life.” He ushered them through the door ahead of him. “You two beautiful ladies may go first,” he said.

  “Now you’ve got the idea,” Alana said. “Training, right, Beth?”

  “Right.”

  Mike and Alana continued to joke with each other as they continued on toward Ernie’s room, but Beth’s stomach twisted with anxiety as they neared the nurses’ station for Ernie’s wing.

  Judy, Ernie’s favorite nurse, was there. She looked up as they approached.

  When Beth saw Judy’s expression, she knew. She put her hand over her mouth to hold back a sob.

  Judy came toward them, looking directly at Mike. She held the jaguar tooth necklace in one hand. “I’m sorry, Mike. Your father—”

  “No!” Mike roared. He pushed past her and raced down the hallway.

  Beth ran after him, with Alana at her heels.

&nbs
p; He burst into the empty room, where the bed was already stripped, then bolted out again, running straight toward Judy. “Where is he? Where have you taken him?”

  Judy put her hand on his arm. “He’s being kept...somewhere else. We tried to reach you, but we weren’t sure if you’d be back tonight, so—”

  “What do you mean, being kept somewhere?” Mike stared at her, obviously refusing to hear the truth.

  Alana started to sob.

  Beth walked over to Mike and slipped her arm around his waist, holding on tight. Fine tremors ran through his body. “We’d like to see him, Judy,” she said.

  “Of course. Come with me.” Judy started down the hallway.

  Beth tried to urge Mike to follow Judy, but he wouldn’t budge. Instead he began to shake more violently. She wrapped both arms around him and held on as the trembling became sobs. At last he crushed her against him and buried his face against her neck. “Don’t leave me, Beth,” he cried brokenly. “Don’t ever leave me.”

  She could barely speak, but he needed to hear her voice. “Never,” she whispered fiercely. “I love you, Mike. I always have, and I always will.”

  BETH NIGHTINGALE officially promised to love and cherish Mike Tremayne, forsaking all others, on a warm afternoon in October. She suffered a few prewedding jitters, especially when she allowed herself to remember that her prospective groom had run out on a similar event eight years ago. But Mike showed no sign of leaving this time.

  Most of the town, invited or not, came by for the ceremony. Beth chose to hold it outdoors in a ribbon-and-flower enhanced area of the quaint little park on Main Street, conveniently located just below the Copper Queen Hotel, where preparations for a wedding dinner were underway.

  Alana was Beth’s maid of honor, and Mike’s best man was Jack Nesbitt, his best man from his first abortive marriage attempt. Jack had moved to California and was now running a flight school. Mike invited him to try the whole thing again, and this time Mike promised to go through with the ceremony. Jack flew his own plane over for the occasion.

  Beth wore a wide picture hat and a flowing dress of old lace. Alana, with Beth’s blessing, wore a stunning shade of royal purple. Mike surprised everyone by insisting on a tux for himself and Jack. “Because you’re worth it,” he’d told Beth. “And I’ll bet it’s been part of your fantasy all along.”

  The wedding fulfilled every nook and cranny of her fantasy, from the bouquets of flowers dangling artfully from the trees to the look of pride on Mike’s face as he waited for her to begin walking down the makeshift aisle between rows of folding chairs. The vows were to be exchanged beneath a latticework arch that Beth and Alana had transported to the park and decorated with flowers. To one side of the arch was a wrought-iron stand displaying Beth’s wedding gift to Mike, the circle of stained glass titled The Embrace.

  Beth had chosen to walk down the aisle alone, although she’d confided to Mike and Alana that she wouldn’t be alone. With each step she took, Pete would be on one side and Ernie on the other. She’d finally told Mike and Alana about her vision on the night of the storm, and the three of them had decided their fathers had joined forces one last time to pull their kids out of a jam.

  The recorded music began, and Beth started walking in measured steps toward Mike and her new life. And as she’d expected, she felt the presence of Pete to her left, and Ernie to her right. By the time she took Mike’s hand and faced the minister, she was battling tears of joy.

  Mike squeezed her hand. “I love you,” he whispered.

  “I love you, too,” she murmured around the lump in her throat

  The precious words were spoken, her mother’s wedding ring slipped on her finger, and then, at last, Mike’s strong arms held her dose. “Forever,” he murmured, just before he kissed her.

  Alana let out a whoop, and the assembled guests followed suit

  Mike lifted his head and smiled at Beth. “We’re a hit, Mrs. Tremayne.”

  “Ready to party, Mr. Tremayne?”

  He rolled his eyes. “If we must” He started with her down the aisle amid cheers and congratulations. “But once it’s in full swing, we’re sneaking out,” he said in an undertone.

  “Whatever for?” Beth said, smiling at everyone as Mike whisked her along.

  “I’m dying to find out what sort of sexy stuff you bought to go under that very proper wedding dress.”

  Beth thought of the risqué white satin garments that moved so deliciously against her skin as she walked. “Just the basics.”

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “Goodness, what sort of woman do you think I am?”

  “Just the sort I want.”

  And at long last, Beth knew that it was true.

  WELL, PETE, WE DID IT. Wasn’t easy, but danged if we didn’t pull it off.

  Looks like it. I’ve never seen Mike or Beth looking happier. Even Alana seems to be glowing today.

  Probably has something to do with that Jack fellow. He’s been making cow eyes at Alana, and every once in awhile I notice her lookin’ back.

  You know, Ernie, I can’t say I’m surprised about that. I guess I never told you, but Jack got drunk at the rehearsal dinner eight years ago, took me aside and poured out his heart. Seems he’d loved Alana for years, but he hadn’t said anything because she was Mike’s girl, and Mike was his best friend.

  So why the heck didn’t he move in when Mike moved out?

  He tried. She wouldn’t have anything to do with him.

  Looks like a different story, now. She’s sittin’ next to him, flirtin’ to beat the band. She’ll have him drinkin’ champagne from her shoe before the night is over.

  Speaking of that, Ernie, my friend, pass the bottle.

  With pleasure. Want one of my cigars? They’re imported.

  You know what, old buddy? I just think I might.

  BETH GLANCED AROUND at her guests as they enjoyed the wedding supper she and Mike had planned so carefully. She sniffed. Then she leaned toward Mike. “I smell cigar smoke.”

  “Nobody’s supposed to be smoking in here.” Mike took inventory of the room. “Must be coming from outside the dining room. Nobody has a cigar, Beth.”

  She sniffed again. “But it’s so strong. And it smells like...never mind. I must be going crazy.”

  “No, you’re not,” Mike said quietly. “I smell it, now, too.”

  She looked into his eyes, and there was a suspicious sheen of moisture there. A lump formed in her throat. “Mike, you don’t suppose...?”

  His voice grew husky. “That’s the brand he used to buy when there was a really special occasion. And this certainly qualifies.”

  “It could be somebody passing by who smokes the same brand.”

  “Or maybe he’s here, sharing our happiness.” He took her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “After all, you just agreed to be my wife. Miracles are happening all around me today.”

  “That’s a lovely thing to say.”

  His grip tightened. “I have a few more up my sleeve. Come home with me and you’ll find out what they are.”

  “Now?”

  “They’ll never miss us. And I want so much to be alone with you.”

  Beth slipped her hand in his. “Then I’m all yours.”

  IS IT MUCH TROUBLE to get these cigars, Ernie?

  Why, Pete?

  Take a look at where the happy couple is headed.

  They’re sneakin’ out!

  They sure are. And unless I’m mistaken about how these things go, we’ll need another box of cigars before you know it.

  Hot diggity dog. Grandbabies.

  Here’s a sneak peek at

  Colleen Collins’s RIGHT CHEST, WRONG NAME

  Available August 1997...

  “DARLING, YOU SOUND like a broken cappuccino machine,” murmured Charlotte, her voice oozing disapproval.

  Russell juggled the receiver while attempting to sit up in bed, but couldn’t. If he sounded like a wreck over the phone, he could
only imagine what he looked like.

  “What mischief did you and your friends get into at your bachelor’s party last night?” she continued.

  She always had a way of saying “your friends” as though they were a pack of degenerate water buffalo. Professors deserved to be several notches higher up on the food chain, he thought. Which he would have said if his tongue wasn’t swollen to twice its size.

  “You didn’t do anything...bad...did you, Russell?”

  “Bad.” His laugh came out like a bark.

  “Bad as in naughty.”

  He heard her piqued tone but knew she’d never admit to such a base emotion as jealousy. Charlotte Maday, the woman he was to wed in a week, came from a family who bled blue. Exhibiting raw emotion was akin to burping in public.

  After agreeing to be at her parents’ pool party by noon, he untangled himself from the bed sheets and stumbled to the bathroom.

  “Pool party,” he reminded himself. He’d put on his best front and accommodate Char’s request. Make the family rounds, exchange a few pleasantries, play the role she liked best: the erudite, cultured English literature professor. After fulfilling his duties, he’d slink into some lawn chair, preferably one in the shade, and nurse his hangover.

  He tossed back a few aspirin and splashed cold water on his face. Grappling for a towel, he squinted into the mirror.

  Then he jerked upright and stared at his reflection, blinking back drops of water. “Good Lord. They stuck me in a wind tunnel.”

  His hair, usually neatly parted and combed, sprang from his head as though he’d been struck by lightning. “Can too many Wild Turkeys do that?” he asked himself as he stared with horror at his reflection.

  Something caught his eye in the mirror. Russell’s gaze dropped.

  “What in the—”

  Over his pectoral muscle was a small patch of white. A bandage. Gingerly, he pulled it off.

  Underneath, on his skin, was not a wound but a small, neat drawing.