“Attention everyone!” Arthur said, tapping a polished silver fork against a crystal champagne flute.
Gabe would have liked a bottled water or soda. As it was, no one had offered him anything to drink. No surprise there. “Let’s all gather around to sing to the birthday girl.”
Everyone turned to Gram, who didn’t bother to look merry. Despite his dark mood, Gabe had to grin.
Louisa and Evan took their places next to Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes, who stood to the right of the couch where Gram sat. Sarah and Arty also stood nearby. Beverly stepped in to light the candles, which was no small task. Gabe wouldn’t be at all surprised if she had insisted on 85 candles on the cake, perfectionist that she was.
Evan wrapped a possessive arm around Louisa’s waist, he noted with a frown. Even more disturbing was that she didn’t resist. She looked up to find him watching her, and immediately looked away again. What was the business with the ring? He was afraid to guess. His hopes slunk deeper and deeper into a black pit of despair.
She met his eyes again. This time, a slight grin tipped her mouth. Okay. He would give her the benefit of the doubt, at least until he heard it from her that she didn’t want him. She very easily could have decided to wear the ring so her parents wouldn’t ask any questions, not wanting to ruin Gram’s day.
The candles were finally lit, and Beverly raised her arms like a conductor in front of her orchestra. She started everyone on a loud rendition of “Happy Birthday,” her arms waving rhythmically through the air. Her voice rang out in perfect harmony of the other voices. Gabe grimaced. He never thought he’d miss the standard off-key version that was typical for this song. At least old Aunt Elna had the decency to sing out of tune.
The song ended and everyone applauded. Evan offered his help to Beverly with cutting the cake. Louisa stood behind him, and Gabe noticed how she stared at Evan, almost as if she were trying to memorize his face. The sick feeling in his stomach worsened.
****
Louisa moved aside as Evan and her mother handed out slices of cake. Evan easily and automatically had stepped in to help. He fit right into the Rhodes family, no question. She gave a little sigh, troubled. He fit in better than she did.
The sound of fork pinging against a champagne glass for the second time that night quieted the room. “Everyone, Louisa and I have an announcement to make,” Evan said in a loud voice.
We do? Louisa turned a puzzled expression to him, and warning bells blasted through her mind. Oh, no. Not again. She touched his arm, hoping to halt whatever it was he planned to say.
He charged ahead, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “With Senator Rhodes’ permission of course, Louisa and I would like to get married as soon as possible because we want to get started on a family. With elections coming up, and with all the time I’ll be on the road, we thought sooner would be better than later.”
Louisa stumbled against him. A family? He’d been so adamant about not wanting any more children. What was he trying to do, catching her off guard like this? She stared wide-eyed at him, then glanced over to where Gabe stood near the hall. His jaw was set and he practically glared at her.
Everyone around her applauded. She wanted to scream. Could no one see how awkward this situation was? Could no one see how cruel it was to her? To Gabe?
“Oh, my dears, I’m so happy!” Beverly gushed, wrapping them both in a practiced embrace, careful not to mar her makeup or her hair.
Louisa was a ragdoll—limp and lifeless as her family hugged and congratulated her and Evan. Her slight smile felt glued on, that any minute it could fall onto the floor where her mother could step on it with her sling-back pumps. How dare Evan put her in this situation?
****
All hope drained away as Gabe waited for Louisa to refute Evan’s claim. Why couldn’t she see what he was doing? Evan obviously felt threatened by Gabe, so he’d suddenly changed his mind about wanting kids, hoping that would sway Louisa his direction. And how convenient to plan it all around the elections. Gabe would bet Mr. Politician later reneged on this decision to have children with her.
Louisa met his gaze across the room as her parents chatted happily with Evan. Well? Gabe demanded silently. What’s it going to be?
Evan caught her up in a hug just then, yanking her gaze away. She didn’t make an effort to stop the celebration.
Well, that’s it. Gabe’s world turned black. It was over. He’d been a fool, thinking she could ever go against the wishes of her family. He knew she loved him, even though she hadn’t told him so. But, obviously, love wasn’t enough. It hadn’t been enough last time. Why had he thought it would be enough now?
Her parents would never think of him as anything but poor, white trash, and apparently their influence over Louisa was just too powerful. She was still far too intimidated by them. Disappointment collided with the pain in his heart. He’d thought she’d changed.
Sarah stepped beside him and touched his arm as he reached for the doorknob. “Gabe. Don’t leave. Talk to her.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Sarah. Obviously.” He motioned to Louisa and Evan, who stood arm in arm near her parents. “Tell her good-bye for me.”
“Gabe, wait—”
The slamming door cut off the rest of Sarah’s words.
****
Louisa craned her neck toward the front hall, smiling absently at friends and family as she glanced past them.
“He’s gone.”
Louisa turned and looked down at her grandmother. “What? You mean Gabriel?” she asked in a loud whisper.
“You know damn well that’s who I meant. He left. And I can’t say as I blame him.”
A giant thud landed in the pit of Louisa’s stomach, as if a one-ton weight had dropped down her throat. She brushed past Evan and her parents and headed for the front door. Sarah and Arty stood nearby. “Sarah, did you just see—?”
Sarah opened the paneled door and shoved her through. “Run.”
Louisa scurried along the cobbled walkway to the sidewalk, scanning the street for Gabe’s maroon rental car. Panic rose to her throat at the long line of cars parallel parked on each side of the road in both directions. A car door slammed off to the right. Her head jerked that direction, and she saw Gabe’s car in front of the McAllisters’ place, four houses down.
“Please don’t leave yet, please don’t leave,” she muttered under her breath in time with her hurried steps, the soles of her shoes slapping the pavement. An engine revved. When she was two houses away, she caught Gabe’s eye through the windshield, and she waved at him. For a long moment, she worried he might drive off anyway. Finally, he turned off the car and leaned back into his seat to wait for her.
The driver’s side window moved slowly down as she approached. Her labored breaths consolidated into a gasp at his expression. The mask was solidly in place, his dark eyes hard and cold.
“You’re leaving,” she breathed out.
One of his eyebrows lifted. “I saw no reason to stay.”
“But I—” She pressed a hand to her chest to calm herself. “I thought you wanted to talk.”
“There’s nothing more to say, Louisa. It’s like the old saying, actions speak louder than words.”
“He caught me off guard. What was I to do? Challenge him right then and there?”
“Yes, Louisa, that’s what you should have done. If what he said wasn’t true, you should have spoken up. Instead, you let everyone at the party believe that you and Evan are this happy little couple who can’t wait to get married and make babies.” He snorted. “You act like this weekend never happened.”
“That’s not true.”
“You should have known the minute you saw Evan again how you felt.”
“It’s not that easy, Gabriel.”
“Sure it is. Either you love me enough to go against your parents’ wishes, or you don’t. I think you’ve been using Evan as an excuse, when this really has nothing to do with him.”
“Of course
it does. I’m engaged—or was engaged—to him. You’re asking me to go back in there and hurt his feelings—”
Gabe slammed his fist on the door. “What about my feelings, Louisa?”
She blinked fast a couple of times and heat rose to her face. Her breathing shallowed. “How the hell am I supposed to know what your feelings are? You keep everything locked tight inside. You put on that mask so I can’t tell what you’re thinking and you certainly won’t tell me. What am I supposed to do?”
“Okay. How’s this? I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. But the cold fact is your parents and I will never get along and they’ll never support the idea of you and me together. That’s not going to change. The only thing that can change is your attitude. Until you accept that we’re not going to be one big happy family, you and I won’t work. You can’t have it both ways.”
“You’re asking me to choose between you and my family, Gabriel. That’s not fair. I can’t do that. I shouldn’t have to.”
“I’m not asking you to—” He shoved fingers through his hair, tousling the dark waves. He blew out a long breath. “Listen, we can talk until we’re blue in the face, but it won’t do us any good. You obviously find the life Evan can offer you more appealing than what I can offer you. So go on. Marry him. Move into his penthouse. Have his children. Send them to the best schools, have the right friends, join the right clubs, be the perfect politician’s wife just like your mother.”
Her anger deflated quicker than a balloon with a pinhole in it. He was giving her to Evan. “Gabriel, I don’t want any of those things,” she whispered, dropping to her knees in front of his door. “You know that.”
“But your parents want those things for you. And that’s more important to you than what you want for yourself.”
“Do you really think I’m so spineless?” she asked softly, hurt but afraid he might be right.
His nostrils flared, and he stared straight ahead through the windshield. “You know, I used to think we’d still be married if Joey hadn’t died, that all our little problems wouldn’t have escalated like they had. But now I’m not so sure.”
Hot tears burned behind her eyes. “That is a horrible, horrible thing to say.”
He just shrugged. “But it’s the truth. You would have eventually succumbed to your parents’ pressure, just as you have now.”
She jumped to her feet and flailed her hands in the air. “So all of this has been my fault, is that what you’re trying to say?”
“No. I’m saying it’s high time you start thinking for yourself and cut the apron strings. That’s what I’m saying.”
Louisa staggered backward. “If that’s what you think of me, then you can just—you can just…go to hell!” Her voice verged on hysterical and shook like a bleating lamb.
Gabe turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. He met her eyes squarely. The mask was gone, his brown eyes drowned in pain. “I’m already there,” he said quietly. “Good-bye, Louisa. Be happy.”
Chapter Eighteen
Sarah stepped out of the house as Louisa made her way slowly up the walk. “Well?”
Louisa shrugged, void of emotion. “It’s over. He’s gone.”
“You didn’t try to stop him?”
“What was I supposed to do? Throw myself at his feet and beg him to stay?”
“That’s not such a bad idea.”
“What would be the point, Sarah? It probably would never work between us anyway. We’d end up with the same problems as before.”
“Do you love him?”
Louisa stared at the toe of her shoe, grinding an imaginary something into the cobblestone. She finally nodded.
“Does he love you?”
“Yes,” Louisa whispered.
“Then where’s the problem?”
“You know the problems. It’s everything that’s happened between us, it’s my parents. It’s Evan.” She swiped at her tears. “All I wanted was a chance to think everything through. But then Gabriel shows up here unexpectedly and—”
“And in the meantime you let Evan continue to think things are peachy by announcing your plans for the future right in front of Gabe.”
“Evan caught me off guard,” Louisa said in a small voice.
Sarah made an annoyed sound through clamped lips.
“Besides, I care about him. We’ve been together for a long time. I can’t toss that aside just because—”
“—just because you’re in love with another man?” Sarah bonked herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand. “What was I thinking?”
“I know, I know. But the thing is, Evan and I have had a great relationship.”
“Great for who? You or your parents?”
“Do I have a sign on my forehead that says ‘Pushover,’ or something?” She laughed, trying to bring some levity to the conversation. It didn’t work. “Come on, Sarah. Of course it’s nice that my parents like Evan. It makes things easy, you know?”
“Yeah, well, easy ain’t always best.”
“So you’re saying I should dump Evan and go running to Gabriel.”
“I would.” She cocked her head back and tilted it slowly from side to side as if loosening a kink. She checked her watch. “Look, I need to get back inside and grab my hubby. He needs to be at work in less than an hour.”
Louisa wandered through the house, making idle chit chat when necessary, deep in thought when not. Had she really been more concerned about her parents’ feelings than her own? Than Gabe’s?
She remembered the party the night Joey was killed. It had been a celebration for some coup her dad had made in the House. As usual, her mom had gone all out. She’d even hired a musical trio to entertain the guests.
Louisa had been put to work by her mother and was circulating through the rooms refilling coffee cups. She’d noticed Gabe standing off by himself near the piano, nursing a Scotch on rocks that had long since melted. Usually at family gatherings, he either entertained Joey or hung out with Arty, but this time Joey was asleep in the playpen upstairs, and Arty was on a 24-hour shift at the hospital, being in his first year of his residency. Gabe had looked so alone, not just because no one spoke to him, but because of the way he’d distanced himself from everyone with his closed posture and aloof expression. She’d gone over and urged him to mingle, but the next time she saw him, he was in the same place and still alone. She’d continued with her hostess duties.
Thinking back, she couldn’t remember a family get-together when she’d stuck by his side for more than a few moments. She was always helping out, leaving Gabe to fend for himself. Knowing how uncomfortable and unwelcome he felt, whether justified or not, she should have made more of an effort to be with him. He would have done the same for her. She’d been pretty selfish.
Blinking back tears, she noticed the shrimp platter on the serving table was running low on cocktail sauce. Even though the party was sure to wrap up soon, she needed something to do. She wasn’t in the mood to be sociable right now. Scooping up the silver tray, she headed for the kitchen.
Gram leaned over the counter, peeling and eating the chocolate off the dipped strawberries. She appeared only mildly embarrassed over getting caught.
“You look sick,” Gram said as Louisa ladled cocktail sauce into the silver urn.
“Gee thanks, Gram.” She wiped up some sauce that had dripped onto the granite counter.
“Wanna play hooky and go outside with me for some fresh air? Don’t say no. I’ve been hiding out in here for about ten minutes now. It’s only a matter of time before your mom finds me.”
Louisa took her arm and helped her onto the patio, glad to get away. It was a beautiful afternoon, yet most of the guests remained indoors.
They made their way slowly into the yard to the picture-perfect garden bench situated among impatiens and ferns beneath the old maple. Gram’s joints creaked as she sat down. She patted the space beside her. When Louisa sat, Gram swung out and slapped her ha
rd in the arm.
“Gram!”
“You’re a dummy. I should hit you again.”
Louisa rubbed the sore spot. For an old lady, she had quite the right hook. “What was that for?”
“I told you. You’re a dummy. I saw the way you kissed Gabe this afternoon.”
Louisa sat upright. “What?”
“The deaf thing doesn’t work until you get to be my age, missie. The kiss. When he dropped you off this afternoon. I saw it from my window. Looked like a doozie.”
Louisa realized her mouth hung open, so she shut it. “You see a lot, Gram,” she said weakly.
“More than you realize, missie.”
“But why’d you hit me?”
Gram looked ready to slap her again, so Louisa scooted to the far side of the bench.
“Evan’s big speech back there,” Gram said. “What’s with letting him go on record like that?”
This topic of conversation was getting old. Louisa sighed and searched for an easy explanation. All she came up with was, “I don’t know, Gram.”
“Gabe’s a good man. He always treated me like a friend.” She cleared her throat. It took a while. “I was sad to see your marriage end. I thought inviting him to the wedding would be the perfect way to shake up your relationship with Evan. I finagled the invitation to Gabe’s opening, too, you know.”
Louisa wasn’t surprised to hear that, wondering vaguely if Gabe knew. “Wait.” She blinked. “You staged that with Cedric, too, didn’t you? So Gabe and I would be forced to have dinner alone with each other.”
Gram smiled her answer.
“Why have you been working so hard at playing matchmaker, Gram? What makes you think Gabe and I would work out this time around?”
Gram was silent a while. She finally spoke. “Do you remember how opposed your folks were to Arty and Sarah’s relationship in the beginning?”
Deliver the Moon Page 21