Almost Home

by Macomber, Debbie; Duarte, Judy; Lamb, Cathy; Mary Carter

  Just when their love for each other overtook their nervousness, the door had burst open and they were confronted by Katie’s irate parents and the local police. The horrible scene that followed was forever burned in his memory.

  Katie’s mother wept hysterically while her father shouted accusations at them both. The police officer had slammed Jason against the wall and he’d been accused of everything from kidnapping to rape. The next thing he knew, Katie was gone, and he was alone.

  He’d never seen her again. Never heard from her, either.

  Correction. She’d signed the annulment papers in short order. No letter. No phone call. Nothing. Not even a good-bye.

  Until tonight. Thirty-odd hours before he was scheduled to marry another woman. Then, lo and behold, who should he see but Katie Kern. If it was still Kern, which he doubted. Her parents had probably married her off to Daddy Warbucks a long time ago.

  In the beginning he’d waited and hoped, certain she’d find a way of contacting him. He’d believed in her. Believed in their love. Believed until there was nothing left. Eventually he’d been forced to accept the truth. She’d sold him and their love out. She wanted nothing more to do with him.

  Briefly he wondered if she remembered him at all. He’d wager she’d obediently followed her father’s blueprint for her life.

  That was the way it was meant to be.

  Jason stood and strolled out of the lounge as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He didn’t so much as glance over his shoulder. It gave him only minor satisfaction to turn his back on Katie and walk away from her. He’d go up to his room, take a long, hot shower, and watch a little television before turning out the lights. The next couple of days were sure to be busy. He didn’t need the memory of another woman clouding his mind before he married Elaine.

  He got as far as the lobby. If he could have named what stopped him, he would have cursed it aloud.

  Katie, after all these years. In San Francisco.

  He looked back just in time to see her leaving the lounge. Alone.

  What the hell, he decided. He’d say hello, just for old times’ sake. Ask about her life, perhaps bury some of his bitterness. Even wish her well. It would do them both a world of good to clear the air.

  He waited by the pay phones.

  Although the lighting was dim, it didn’t take him but a moment to realize he’d been right. It really was Katie. More beautiful than he remembered, mature and sophisticated, suave in ways that had been foreign to them both ten years earlier. The business suit looked as if it had been designed with her in mind. The pin-striped skirt reached midcalf and hugged her hips. The lines of the fitted jacket highlighted everything that was feminine about her. Her reddish-brown hair was shorter these days, straight and thick with the ends curving under naturally, brushing against the top of her shoulder.

  Jason pretended to be using the phone. He waited until she’d strolled past him before he replaced the receiver. He spoke her name in a manner that suggested he’d recognized her just that moment.

  “Katie? Katie Kern?” he said, sounding a bit breathless, surprised.

  She turned and her eyes met his. Her lips parted softly and her eyes rounded as if she couldn’t believe what she saw.

  “Jase? Jase Ingram?”

  Chapter Two

  “Jase? Is it really you?” Katie raised her hand as if to touch his face, but stopped several inches short of his cheek. “How are you? What are you doing here in San Francisco?”

  Jason buried his hands in his pants pockets and struck a nonchalant, relaxed pose, wanting her to assume he happened upon her just that moment and had spoken before censuring his actions.

  “You look wonderful,” she said, sounding oddly breathless.

  “You, too.” Which had to be the understatement of the century. He almost wished she’d gone to seed. She was more beautiful than ever.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked again, not giving him time to answer one question before she asked another.

  “I’m in town for a wedding. My own.”

  “Congratulations.” She didn’t so much as bat an eyelash.

  His gaze fell on her left hand, which remained bare.

  “I’ve never…I’m still single.”

  He wasn’t sure congratulations would be in order. He was tempted to blurt out something spiteful about making sure she knew what she wanted the next time around, but restrained himself.

  “It’d be fun to get together and talk about old times,” he said. But before he could claim that, unfortunately, he simply didn’t have the time, she nodded enthusiastically.

  “Jase, let’s do. It’d be great to sit down and talk.” She reached out and wrapped her fingers around his forearm. Regret slipped into her eyes and she bit down into her lower lip and glanced toward the cocktail lounge. “I…I don’t know that I can just now—I’m with someone.”

  “I saw,” he murmured darkly. So much for playing it cool. She was sure to realize he’d spied her earlier now.

  “You saw Roger?”

  “Yeah.” No use trying to hide it. “I was in the lounge earlier and thought that might have been you.”

  “How about dinner?” she suggested eagerly, her excitement bubbling over. He hadn’t counted on her enthusiasm. “I haven’t eaten and—”

  “Some other time,” he interrupted stiffly. He certainly didn’t intend to join her and Daddy Warbucks for the night. He had never enjoyed being odd man out, and it wasn’t a role he intended to play with Katie.

  “But…”

  “I just wanted to say hello and tell you you’re looking good.”

  Her eager excitement died as she stiffened and moved one step back as though anticipating something painful. “There’s so much I have to tell you, so much I want to know…”

  Yeah, well, he had plenty of his own questions.

  “Please, Jase. I’ll make some excuse, tell Roger I’ve got a headache and meet you back here in an hour. I deserve that much, don’t I?”

  “All right.” He may have sounded reluctant, but he wasn’t. He had plenty he wanted to say to Katie himself, plenty of questions that demanded answers. Perhaps he should feel guilty—after all, he was marrying another woman in a couple of days—but God help him, he didn’t. Maybe, just maybe, he could put this entire matter to rest once and for all.

  “I’ll meet you in the dining room,” he said.

  “I’ll be there. Thanks, Jase,” she murmured before turning and hurrying back to the cocktail lounge.

  Jason headed up to his room and phoned for dinner reservations. It wasn’t until he stood under the pulsating spray of the shower that his hands knotted into tight fists with a rare surge of anger. Katie had betrayed him, abandoned him, rejected his love. He’d waited ten long years to vent his frustration, and he wouldn’t be denied the opportunity now. Once again he experienced a mild twinge of conscience, dining with another woman without Elaine knowing. His excuse, if he needed one, was that getting rid of all this excess emotional baggage was sure to make him a better husband.

  At least that was what Jason told himself as he prepared to face the demons of his past.

  Katie couldn’t quell the fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach. The last time she’d felt this anxious about seeing Jase had been the night they’d eloped. Her cheeks flushed with hot color at the memory of what happened, or, more appropriately, didn’t happen. Her heart ached for them both, and for all the might-have-beens that never were.

  With her heart pounding and her head held high, she walked into the hotel lobby, half expecting Jase to be waiting for her there. He wasn’t, and so she headed directly for the restaurant.

  Although he’d approached her, he hadn’t seemed any too happy to see her. She understood his dilemma. By his own admission, he was hours away from marrying another woman. Katie should be pleased for him, glad he’d found a woman with whom to share his life. What an ironic twist of fate for them to run into each other now.

  He w
as almost married and she was practically engaged. Roger had been after her to marry him for months and his pleas were just beginning to hit their mark. The last time he’d asked, she’d been tempted to give in. He was kind and gentle. Affectionate. But what she felt for Roger didn’t compare with the hot urgency she’d experienced with Jase all those years ago. That had been hormones, she told herself. Good grief, she’d been little more than an eighteen-year-old kid.

  Jase was already seated when she joined him. The hostess escorted her to his table. He’d changed clothes, and damn it all, looked terrific. Just seeing him again stirred awake a lot of emotions she’d thought were long dead, long buried. But then, she’d always loved Jase.

  “So we meet again,” he greeted with a telltale hint of sarcasm. One would think he’d already experienced second thoughts.

  Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea to meet after all, Katie mused, but damn it all, he owed her an explanation, and for that matter a hell of a lot more. She’d pined for weeks for Jase, waited, believed in him and their love. She’d literally been ripped from his arms and never heard from him again.

  Katie made a pretense of reading over the menu, something Jase appeared to find fascinating. She made her selection quickly and set it aside.

  “Tell me, what’ve you been doing these last ten years?” she asked, wanting to ease into the conversation. There’d been a time when they could discuss anything, share everything, but those days were long past. Jase was little more than a stranger now. A stranger she would always love.

  Slowly, he raised his head until his gaze was level with hers. She’d forgotten how blue and intense his eyes could be. What surprised her was how unfriendly they seemed, almost angry. She’d always been able to read his moods, and he hers. At one time they were so close it felt as if they shared each other’s thoughts. Just when it seemed he was about to speak, the waiter approached with a bottle of Chardonnay.

  Katie rarely indulged in alcohol, but if there was ever a time she needed something to bolster her nerve, it was now. The first sip, on an empty stomach, seemed to go straight to her head.

  “Let’s see,” he said after their server left, sounding almost friendly. Almost, but not completely. “After I signed the annulment papers you sent me, I joined the Marine Corps.”

  He mentioned the annulment documents as if they meant nothing to him, as if it were nothing but a legal formality, one they’d discussed and agreed upon before the wedding. Surely he realized what it had cost her to pen her name to those papers. How she’d agonized over it, how she’d wept and pleaded and tried so hard to find a way for them to be together. It would have been easier to cut out her heart than nullify her marriage. Her fingers closed around the crystal goblet as the memories stirred her mind to an age and innocence that had long since died.

  “When my enlistment ended with the Marines, I went back to school and graduated. I work for one of the major shipping companies now.”

  “West Coast?”

  “East. I’m only in San Francisco for the wedding.”

  She noticed that he didn’t tell her anything about the woman he was about to marry, not even her name.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  “Let me see,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. “I attended school, majored in business, graduated cum laude, and accepted a position with one of the financial institutions here in San Francisco.” She downplayed her role with the bank, although she was said to be one of the rising young executives.

  “Just the way daddy wanted,” he muttered.

  Katie bristled. “If you recall, my parents wanted me to go into law.”

  “Law,” Jase returned, “that’s right, I’d forgotten.”

  That wasn’t likely, but she let the comment slide. They’d both carried around their hurts for a long time.

  The waiter came for their order and replenished their wine. Perhaps it was the Chardonnay that caused her to risk so much. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “Didn’t you even try to find me?”

  “Try?” he repeated loudly, attracting the attention of other diners. “I nearly went mad looking for you. Where the hell did they take you?”

  “London…to live with my aunt.”

  “London. They don’t have phones in England? Do you realize how long I waited to hear from you?”

  Katie bowed her head, remembering how miserably unhappy she’d been. How she’d prayed night and day that he’d come for her. “She wouldn’t let me,” she whispered.

  “And that stopped you?”

  She swallowed against the tightness gathering in her throat, combating it with her anger. “You might have tried to find me.”

  “Of course I tried, but it was impossible. I was just a kid. How was I supposed to know where they’d sent you?”

  “I told you about my father’s sister before, don’t you remember? We’d talked about her and how my parents wanted me to spend the summer with her before I went away to college. She’s a law professor and…” She hesitated when the waiter returned with their salads.

  Inhaling a calming breath, she reached for her fork. The lettuce was tasteless and she washed it down with another sip of wine. That, at least, calmed her nerves.

  “Your aunt—sure, I remembered her, but I didn’t have a name or an address. Someplace on the East Coast, I thought. A lot of good that did me.” He tossed his hands into the air. “I don’t possess magical powers, Katie. Just exactly how was I supposed to figure out where you were?”

  “You should have known.”

  His mouth thinned and he stabbed his fork into the lettuce. “Perhaps it’d be best if we let sleeping dogs lie.”

  “No,” she cried emphatically.

  He arched his brows at her raised voice. She wasn’t the timid young woman she’d once been, shy and easily intimidated.

  “I want to know what happened. Every detail. I deserve that much,” she insisted.

  The waiter, sensing trouble, removed their salad plates and brought out the main course. Katie doubted that she had the stomach for a single bite. She lifted her fork, but knew any pretense of eating would be impossible.

  Jase ignored his steak. “I did everything I knew how to do to locate you. I pleaded with your father, asked him to give me the chance to prove myself. When I couldn’t break him, I tried talking to your mother. The next thing I knew they slapped a restraining order on me. It wasn’t easy for me, you know. Everyone in town knew we’d eloped, then all at once I was home and you were gone.”

  “I’d never been more miserable in my life,” she whispered. He seemed to think being shipped off to a heartless, uncaring aunt was a picnic. “I loved you so much…”

  “The hell you did. How long did it take you to sign the annulment papers? Two weeks? Three?”

  “Five,” she cried, nearly shouting.

  “The hell it did,” he returned, just as loud.

  The entire restaurant stopped and stared. Jase glanced around, then slammed his napkin on top of his untouched dinner.

  “We can’t talk this out reasonably, at least not here,” she muttered, ditching her own napkin.

  “Fine, we’ll finish this once and for all in my room.”

  Jase signed for their dinners and led the way across the lobby to the elevator. They stood next to each other, tense and angry on the long ride up to the twentieth floor. She paused, wondering at the wisdom of this, as he unlocked the room. She relaxed once she realized he had a mini-suite. They wouldn’t be discussing their almost-marriage with a bed in the middle of the room, reminding them they’d been cheated out of the wedding night.

  “All right,” she said, bracing her hands against her hips. “You want to know about the annulment papers.”

  “Which you signed in short order.”

  She gasped and clenched her fists. “I signed those papers while in the hospital, Jason Ingram. I ended up so sick I could barely think, in so much pain and mental agony I was half out of my mind.”


  The color washed out of his face. “What happened?”

  “I…went on a hunger strike. My aunt constantly stuck those papers under my nose, demanding that I sign them, telling me how grateful everyone was that they found me before I’d ruined my life.”

  Jase turned and stood with his back to her, looking out over the picturesque San Francisco skyline.

  “Day after day, I refused to sign them. I insisted my name was Katie Ingram. I wouldn’t eat…”

  “You could have phoned me.”

  “You make it sound so easy. I wasn’t allowed any contact with the outside world. I was little more than a prisoner. What was I supposed to do? Tell me!”

  Her question was met with stark silence.

  “I tried, Jase, I honestly tried.”

  “You ended up in the hospital?”

  The years rolled away and it felt as though she were a naïve eighteen-year-old all over again. The tears welled in her throat, making it difficult to speak “In the beginning I thought the stomach pains were from hunger. I’d lost fifteen pounds the first two weeks and…”

  “Fifteen pounds?” he whirled around, his eyes wide with horror.

  “It was my appendix. It burst and…I nearly died.”

  “Dear God.” He closed his eyes.

  “My mother was there when I came out of surgery. She looked terrible, pale and shaken. She pleaded with me to sign the annulment papers and be done with all this nonsense. She claimed it was what you wanted…. I was too weak to fight them any longer. You’re right, I should have been stronger, should have held out longer, but I was alone and afraid and so terribly sick. I remember wishing that I could have died—it would have been easier than living without you.”

  Jase rubbed his hand along the back side of his neck. “I thought…assumed you wanted out of the marriage.”

  “No. I tried to hold out, really I did. More than anything I wanted to prove that our love wasn’t going to fade, that what we felt for one another was meant to last a lifetime.”