One True Love

by Barbara Freethy

  "It sounds simple." Maggie swallowed a lump of anxiety. She had nothing to fear. She was in the right. They were in the wrong. A little self-righteous indignation would be good, she told herself firmly. Get mad. He cheated on you. He lied. He betrayed you.

  She thrust back her shoulders and rapped sharply on the door. She heard a voice, a patter of footsteps, the clicking of the double locks. Then the door slowly opened.

  A woman stood on the threshold, slender and curvy in hot pink shorts and a white midriff top. Her long blond hair drifted down her back. She was a man's fantasy, long legs, big breasts, great hair.

  Maggie put a hand to her stomach, feeling suddenly sick. How could she compete with this?

  Jeremy's hand touched her back, a subtle reminder that she couldn't run away. She had to go forward.

  "Jeremy?" Serena asked curiously, looking from Jeremy to Maggie. "You didn't tell me you were bringing someone with you."

  "This is Maggie Scott," Jeremy said,

  Serena looked at Maggie, the name obviously meaning nothing to her. Keith hadn't told Serena her name.

  Anger rolled through Maggie like a runaway truck. "Your lover's wife," she said forcefully.

  Serena looked taken aback. "Oh, shit! You're that woman who was calling our room in San Francisco." She tried to shut the door, but Maggie stuck her foot out.

  "Not so fast--" Maggie stopped, struck by the sound of a man's voice coming from behind Serena. It called to her like a ghost from the past. Keith was here, in this room, with this woman.

  "You have to leave," Serena said. "Jeremy, how could you do this to me?"

  "She needs to talk to her husband, Serena. Let her in."

  "No, I won't. He left you. He's mine now."

  "Let me in," Maggie yelled. "I want to see my lying, cheating, son-of-a-bitch husband right now, and you're not going to stop me." Before she could move, she heard someone call her name.

  "Maggie," Lisa shouted as she and Nick dashed down the corridor.

  She whirled around in confusion. What on earth were they doing here?

  "What's going on?" Nick asked. "Maggie, please, whatever you're thinking of doing--"

  "Go away," Maggie said. "You can't stop me."

  "Who are these people?" Serena asked, as she folded her arms across her chest.

  "I'm her brother," Nick said.

  "And I'm her best friend," Lisa added.

  "Great. Then you can all have coffee, I'm closing the door now."

  "No, you're not," Maggie said, putting her hand on the door. She turned to Nick. "If you want to watch, you can watch. My husband is in this room -- with his lover -- and I'm not leaving until I see him. Now, all of you get out of my way."

  Maggie practically knocked Serena over as she stormed into the room. The bedroom was empty, but she heard whistling coming from the bathroom. She caught her breath at the familiar sound. The whistling stopped. The doorknob slowly turned.

  Maggie felt like she was about to explode. "Open the damn door, you bastard."

  "Maggie--"

  She shook off Nick's attempt to calm her with an angry shake of her head. She would not be stopped, not now, not when she was so close.

  The door finally opened, and a man stepped out wearing khaki shorts and a navy blue polo shirt. Her heart stopped.

  He was the same height, the same build. His hair was the same color; his face the same shape. Maggie forced herself to look into his eyes, to find the truth.

  His eyes were blue, not brown. Blue!

  That was wrong. And his nose was short and broad, not long and pointed. That was wrong, too.

  She began to shake.

  "Who are you?" the man asked.

  She shook her head back and forth in utter bewilderment. "You're not Keith. You're not Keith." She put a hand to her mouth, feeling suddenly nauseated. He wasn't Keith. This man was not her husband. She'd been following a stranger. A stranger!

  Maggie felt Jeremy move behind her. His hands came around her waist, and she leaned against him, grateful for the support. "It's not him," she whispered.

  Jeremy bent his head. "Are you all right?"

  "No."

  "What the fuck is going on?" the man demanded as Serena walked over to him.

  "She said she was your wife, Mitch." Serena said.

  "This woman is not my wife."

  Serena looked at Maggie. "Who are you, then?" she asked sharply.

  "I'm Maggie Scott." Maggie said the words slowly, finding comfort in the security of her name. At the moment, it was the only thing that seemed real.

  "Am I supposed to know you?" Serena asked again. "Jeremy, could you explain, please?"

  "Maggie." Jeremy squeezed her waist. "Do you want to tell her?"

  "Yes." Maggie took a deep breath. "You wrote a letter to my husband, Keith Scott, about a month ago."

  "I don't remember the name..."

  "You said you missed seeing him on his weekends in L.A. You wanted to know if he'd ever found the courage to tell his wife or if he'd simply changed his mind about the whole thing. You signed it, With Love, Serena."

  Serena's confusion slowly turned into understanding. "Oh, that letter. Keith. Yes, I remember him."

  "I should hope so. You were having an affair with him," Maggie said, still trying to put the pieces together, only they didn't seem to fit anymore.

  "I wasn't having an affair with Keith Scott," Serena said, rolling her eyes as if she found the idea utterly ridiculous. "Is that what he told you?"

  "He didn't tell me anything." Maggie put a hand to her mouth as the bile of reality rose in her throat. "Oh, my God, he's dead. He's really dead." Her eyes blurred with tears. "He's not here. He's not alive. It wasn't a game. It was real. The fire was real." She turned to Jeremy in desperation. "My husband is really dead."

  Jeremy stared at her with compassion. "I'm sorry."

  "He's dead?" Serena asked. "I don't understand."

  "Do you want to finish it, Maggie?" Jeremy asked quietly.

  "Who the hell are you?" Nick demanded.

  "Someone who cares about your sister," Jeremy replied.

  Maggie ignored both of them, her attention focused solely on Serena. "You didn't know he was dead, did you?"

  Serena shook her head. "I wouldn't have written him if I did, although I guess that explains why he never got back to me. I was surprised, because he was so taken with the ring." She paused. "Did he tell you about the ring?"

  "What ring?"

  "The ring he wanted to buy for you."

  "He never said anything about a ring," Maggie replied. "When I got your letter, I couldn't help wondering who you were. There was perfume on your stationery. Your words sounded so personal, intimate. You mentioned weekends in L.A, with Keith, weekends when he was supposed to be on business, weekends when I couldn't call him; he could only call me."

  "I didn't mean to imply--"

  "The day before he died, he withdrew eight thousand dollars in cash," she said, cutting her off. She needed to tell Serena everything, to get rid of every last doubt. "The withdrawal and your letter seemed tied together. I decided to find you, so I could ask you if he'd given you the money. But when I heard you'd gone to San Francisco with a man you'd once thought was dead, and then we saw you getting into the cab..." Her voice drifted away as she once again looked at the man standing next to Serena. "You look like my husband. When I saw you, I started thinking maybe he hadn't died. Maybe he'd taken out extra life insurance as an attempt to ease his guilt on running off with Serena."

  "I think I can answer one of your questions," Serena said. "The eight thousand dollars was the price of a diamond ring I showed your husband. I sell jewelry, Mrs. Scott. Your husband came in to the Beverly Hills store where I work several times last year. He fell in love with a ring that he wanted to give you for your anniversary. He told me that you'd married young and didn't have a proper ring."

  She stared down at her empty finger. She'd taken off the ring to sleep with Jeremy. Now, she
felt like a traitor to Keith.

  "Your husband was a nice guy," Serena continued. "Although he never could quite get the courage to buy you that ring. He said he'd been brought up to be sensible, and you'd probably rather have a new car than a new ring. I told him he was crazy. Any woman would want a ring over a car."

  She nodded, her eyes filling with tears. It sounded just like Keith, practical to the end.

  "He told me how much he loved you," Serena added. "He said you'd been together forever, but the marriage just got better and better. It sounded like a fairy tale to me. I guess that's why I wanted him to buy you that ring. It seemed like a good way to have happily ever after."

  Happily ever after. Her husband had loved her. The tears fell down Maggie's cheeks unchecked. Keith had been faithful to her and the children. And she'd doubted him. He had never given her any reason to doubt him, but somehow she'd let it happen. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't believe in you." She hoped that somewhere he could hear her, he could understand that it was only loneliness and grief and fear that had led her to such a ridiculous conclusion,

  She looked around at the group, suddenly realizing the size of her audience. "I'm sorry for barging in on you, Serena. We'll go now." She headed toward the door, breaking free from Jeremy, brushing by Nick's outstretched hand and Lisa's concerned face.

  Once in the hall, she leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths. It was over -- finally.

  Lisa gave her a compassionate smile. "Are you all right?"

  "I will be."

  Nick frowned. He tipped his head toward Jeremy. "What are you doing with this guy?"

  "He's a friend."

  "Really? Since when?"

  "Since I went to L.A. looking for Serena."

  "I'm Serena's neighbor," Jeremy offered. He extended a hand to Nick, who ignored it. Jeremy shrugged and dropped his hand to his side.

  "Nick, don't be such a jerk," Lisa said. "He's just worried about his sister," she told Jeremy.

  "I'm worried about your sister, too." Jeremy's glance moved from Maggie to Nick. "I wish I could say I'd heard a lot about you, but I can't."

  "Likewise," Nick replied tersely. "And if you've been messing with Maggie--"

  "Don't yell at him, Nick." Maggie straightened up. "He only tried to help me."

  "By doing what, taking you on a wild-goose chase?"

  "No, by listening to me and being there and not telling me I was crazy."

  "You should have talked to your family."

  "I tried. You told me I needed to see a shrink." She sighed, "Although you were right." She turned to Lisa. "Keith is really dead."

  "I know, honey."

  "There was no mystery at all. The money was for my ring. He was leaving for L.A. that weekend. And our anniversary would have been a week later."

  Lisa hugged her, and she couldn't help but cling for just a moment. She felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her for the second time in less than a year.

  "It will be okay," Lisa murmured. She pulled back and gazed into Maggie's eyes. "You won't have to go through anything else alone, Maggie. I'll be there for you, whatever you need, whenever you need it."

  "And so will I," Nick said.

  Maggie smiled at their somber faces. "I didn't go nuts because you two weren't around, although I am happy to hear you'll be around a little more often in the future. It was me, all me. I created this in my mind. But I'm okay now."

  "Are you ready to go home?" Lisa asked. "The children have missed you."

  "Children?" Jeremy's sharp question drew her immediate attention.

  She looked into his eyes and saw a mix of anger and pain. "Yes, I have three children. Roxy is thirteen. Dylan is eight, and Mary Bea is five. I have a dog, too. Her name is Sally. She likes to bring dead animals into the house. I'm a mom, Jeremy. A single mom with a house in the suburbs, a station wagon, and a lot of baggage."

  "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "I didn't want to ruin the fantasy,"' Maggie said in a whisper. She walked over to him and kissed him on the lips. "I'll never forget you."

  "This is it? The end?"

  "Do you think you could write a better one?"

  "Hell, yes." He grabbed her by the shoulders. "You can't just walk out on me."

  "Then walk out on me, Jeremy."

  "No! Maggie..." He twisted a strand of hair through his fingers. "Last night..."

  His husky words tore apart what little was left of her heart. She felt as if she had betrayed not only Keith but also Jeremy.

  "Last night was incredible," she said, cupping his face with her hands. "But I have to go back to reality, to my kids. They need me. And I need them. It will be okay now, because I know the truth. I don't have any more questions. I'll find a way to live without Keith, and..." She stroked the side of Jeremy's face, feeling the tears well up behind her eyes once again. "And somehow I'll find a way to live without you, too."

  "You don't have to."

  "I do. I really do."

  She pulled away from him, struggling to maintain the little control she had left. She turned to Nick. "Can I have a ride home?"

  He nodded. "Of course you can. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

  "You were there. You just weren't the one I wanted." Maggie turned one last time to Jeremy. "Good-bye. Take care of yourself."

  "You, too."

  "Let's go home," Maggie said. "Let's all go home."

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  "There's no place like home," Lisa whispered as she unlocked the door to her condo and walked inside. It was Thursday afternoon, and she'd been gone almost a week. Six days away should not have changed her life, but they had, and her oasis of comfort and security suddenly seemed strange and unsettled.

  The wallpaper she'd lovingly put up, the couch she'd paid bundles of money for, the pictures she'd chosen so carefully -- it was all an illusion, a pretense of a normal life. But her life here in L.A. had never been normal or honest. She'd denied her past, her husband, her child, her mother and her friends. Now her condo didn't seem calm and cool and unfettered by emotion -- it just felt lonely and empty.

  She dropped her overnight case on the floor and sat down on the couch, closing her eyes for one long, restful minute. As soon as she did, she was once again swept back to the day before. After driving Maggie home, the evening had been spent with family, and for a few hours Lisa had enjoyed being part of it all again. But when the kids and Maggie went to bed and her mother, aunt and in-laws finally went home, it was just her and Nick.

  For several long minutes they'd stood in Maggie's living room just staring at each other. Then she'd finally found the strength to tell Nick she would be going home the next day.

  His gaze had turned hard, bitter, angry, but it wasn't the anger that had bothered her the most, it was the disappointment. She'd wanted to make it go away, but there were no words. Apparently, he had no words either, because the silence had gone on and on. Finally, he'd just walked to the door and slammed it behind him. She'd run to the window to see if he looked back, but he didn't. He got into his car and drove away, and she was reminded that she'd once done exactly the same thing to him.

  A wave of pain ran through her. Opening her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and tried to focus on the present. She'd made the right decision in leaving. She was home where she belonged, and her reunion with Nick was over.

  Oh, damn. Her eyes filled with tears, and her stomach clenched into a familiar knot. She didn't want to miss Nick. Not now, not so soon. But making love to him had brought him alive in every possible way. She could still taste his lips, feel his hands on her body, smell his cologne, hear the timbre in his voice when he said her name.

  God!

  She pressed her fingers to her temples. It would pass, she told herself. She would forget him -- the way she'd done before.

  Liar. Her own conscience mocked her, and she tried not to listen, but the word ran around and around in her head. She'd never really forgotten N
ick; she'd just locked him away and now he was free to torture her again with memories of loving him, memories that were all too recent.

  Getting up, she walked over to the blinking red light on her answering machine and hit Play. It was time to get back to reality. There were three messages from Raymond on the machine, each one asking her to come to the office as soon as she got back, each one more impatient than the last. How could she blame him? She'd let him down. She'd let Nick down. She'd let everybody down. Why? Because she was a coward.

  Moving toward the window, she gazed out at the sprawling city view, feeling more alone than she had in a long time. Her gaze moved to the nearby trees, searching for a very familiar bird, but the branches were empty.

  "Fool," she whispered to herself. "There is no magic in life. Go to work. Forget him. You did it once. You can do it again."

  * * *

  Lisa reported to work at eight o'clock on Friday morning, still having no idea what she would say to Raymond. Fortunately, he was away at a meeting most of the day, so she closeted herself in her office and tried to work. She didn't get far. Nothing seemed to work any more. It was clear from her brief conversations with co-workers that Paul was handling the Nature Brand account, and while she wanted to drum up some healthy indignation about it, she couldn't find the energy. She couldn't seem to care -- about any of it. Her mind kept driving back to San Diego, to the people she'd left behind, to the people who'd reminded her of the woman she'd once been, of the life she once led.

  She'd thought over the past eight years that she'd found a new life, a new normal. But it didn't seem to fit anymore. No one else had changed, but she had.

  The office staff dwindled by six, but she lingered behind, knowing that she needed to speak to Raymond before another day passed. He returned around seven, walking into her office with a somewhat wary smile. "Elisabeth. Finally." She got up from her desk, accepting his kiss on the cheek with a shaky smile.

  He stood back, his gaze growing serious. "It's over, isn't it?"

  She sucked in a deep breath. "Yes. I'm sorry."