“Son, I’m going to tell you something that no one else knows about aside from Anthony” Arranging himself in a more comfortable position, Holten looked at Gabe with an expression that Gabe knew it was going to be serious. Holten took a sip of bourbon and swirled the amber liquid in his glass before beginning what was a well-kept secret. After what seemed like an eternity to Gabe, Holten let out a long breath “When your brother brought Lynesse home, I knew she was trouble and not for him. Now, telling him that was out of the question knowing your brother and how he can be. When he left to go abroad, I had Lynesse followed and let me tell you it wasn’t good. She had lovers from one coast to the other. She didn’t love Shane, she loved the money. Shane couldn’t see that at the time and I knew he wouldn’t believe me no matter what proof I showed him. So, sacrifices had to be made and made them I did” Gabe didn’t understand where his father was going with this. He knew Shane would’ve never believed his father, that was certain but what exactly had his father done? “What sacrifices are you talking about?” Gabe didn’t think he wanted to hear the answer. “I married her instead. I couldn’t let Shane make the biggest mistake of his life and lose everything to that woman. I knew he didn’t really love her, you could see it in his expressions when he was around her. It was an infatuation he had for her. Nothing more. And I would be damned if I didn’t do something about it”. “So you married her instead? I don’t understand? Why would you do that?” Gabe thought he heard of every ridiculous deed and notions in the world but they certainly did not compare to what he was hearing now. “It had to be done” he said “I confronted her regarding her promiscuous ways and she laughed. She said that Shane would never believe me and she was right so, I made her an offer she couldn’t refuse” Holten smiled at his son, waiting for the reaction he knew he’d get. His lawyer thought he was out of his mind as well back then but it was all for a good cause. Gabe had trouble wrapping this around his brain. His father married his brother’s fiancé just so that he wouldn’t get hurt? Gabe looked at his dad, seeing him in a whole new light. “So you married Lynesse knowing that Shane would never speak to you again, just so that he wouldn’t get hurt?” Gabe was confounded at the confession his father gave. He never realized just how much he actually cared for his sons. “Gabriel, I wanted you boys to be out in the world, to make a name for yourselves, so that you wouldn’t become dependent on what was left to you both when I was gone. I wasn’t raising playboys who traveled the world and spent all kinds of money on frivolous things, including women. I wanted you boys to know what it felt like to earn, to know the exhilaration of working for that dollar and being able to spend it how you wanted. Now, I may have gone about it the wrong way but in any aspect, it worked. You both are prominent men with prominent careers that you each worked to get. I wasn’t about to let some fool woman take it away. So, I did the only thing I could. I offered Lynesse more money than she could ever hope to have if she remained with Shane. And with a few more lines, she took it” Holten got up and went to the sideboard to pour himself another drink. He offered Gabe another and he accepted, he needed it after what he heard. After taking a couple of sips and digesting the information, Gabe looked at his father “So you made yourself miserable with a woman to make your son happy without one? Is that it?” Gabe still couldn’t grasp it. It was something he never thought his father would ever do. “Bah! Who’s miserable? After the wedding I went about my business. Like I was going to let her affect me the way she affected Shane. No, I did what I have always done before she came around. I worked” Gabe couldn’t help but laugh at it all. Of all the things, this certainly was the best story he had ever heard. “Now, you’re telling me that she has it in her head that Shane still wants her? She’s delusional if that is the case. Shane hasn’t spoken to her in years”. Gabe looked at his father with somewhat of a surprised look on his face. “Surprised that I know? I told you, I have been keeping tabs on her since the wedding. I know everywhere she’s been and with whom, until now. I think it’s time to take my dear wife in hand, don’t you?” Holten took a large sip of bourbon and contemplated his actions. Gabe had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good but he couldn’t help but laugh at the whole ordeal. ‘To be a fly on the wall’, he thought to himself and sipped his bourbon between chuckles.
CHAPTER 17
Since the fiasco at Shane’s, Penny still wasn’t back to her normal, joyful self. She just couldn’t find a way to heal herself back but she knew it would take time. Greg had offered to hunt Shane down but Penny declined. She didn’t wish any ill will towards him, only happiness, and maybe poison ivy on his honeymoon but that was the extent of her bad thoughts. The only thing Penny knew how to do was keeping busy, and that was what she knew best. She was at work early and left late each day and spent more time with Cathy and her family than she normally had in the past. She hadn’t heard anything from Shane after she sent the congratulatory e-mail of ‘well wishing’ regarding his wedding. She knew she shouldn’t have but, she wanted to be the bigger person and show him that he didn’t hurt her and that the game he played hadn’t fazed her. It was a lie, but he didn’t know that. Although, she hadn’t opened her personal e-mails since she returned home and she had instructed Sarah not to accept any deliveries unless they were work related. What Penny found the hardest, though, were the nights. She had become accustomed to speaking with Shane every night and now that she no longer does, the nights are sleepless. Most of the days, she walks around like a zombie trying to get through it as quickly as possible and other days, she finds it hard just to get out of bed. Especially if she hadn’t slept the night before and that had been the case the last couple of weeks. Cathy had mentioned she take sleeping pills to help get her back on schedule but Penny didn’t want the sedative. This was something she needed to go through and there were no amount of pills that she could take in her lifetime that would help in the long run. She needed to get Shane out of her head and her heart, only then would she be back on schedule. Speaking of schedules, Penny looked at the clock on the wall and realized she was going to be late, “Aw man!” she groaned and grabbed her briefcase and walked out the door. It was a beautiful, sunny day but Penny hardly noticed. The dark cloud that was looming above her tended to eradicate anything beautiful lately and she couldn’t enjoy the warmth of the sun’s rays. As she was heading down the street, she noticed a really tall, really handsome man leaning against a car. He seemed familiar to her but she couldn’t place him. Maybe she had seen him on her way to work in passing or a neighbour she never really noticed before. She ducked into the coffee shop she normally visits on her way to work and was standing in line when she had the feeling she was being watched. Penny turned around and saw the man right behind her. She smiled, turned back around and took a step forward in line. Penny was up at the counter and she gave her order, a large double-double with extra milk and turned to head out the door. Only one thing stood in her way…a very large male.
Tracking her down had been easy enough, once his father got involved. All he did was make a couple of phone calls and next thing Gabe knew, he had an address in his hand. Gabe didn’t want to leave Shane alone any more than he had to but he knew he had to go. Holten offered to put Shane back in shape as long as he brought Penny back with him. Gabe didn’t argue and left to catch a flight. He had been in town for a couple of days and once he found the address, he stayed rooted to it, waiting for her to come out so that he could easily confront her and explain what happened. As she appeared, Gabe couldn’t believe his eyes, ‘Shane had a reason to be nuts about this one’. Smiling to himself, he followed her to a coffee shop. He didn’t think she saw him so he ducked inside the shop as well, pretending to be a customer who just happened to enter the same establishment as her. When she turned around for that brief moment, seeing her face to face, he understood why Shane reacted the way he had. He could tell she was a great woman. How? By the way she was smiling at him. She didn’t know who he was but she was being gracious and pleasant to him while tryi
ng to squeeze by through the crowd of people with a hot cup of coffee. Most people just grumbled their way past, but not her. She easily slipped outside before Gabe had a chance to say anything. With that realization, he quickly cut through the crowd and made it outside as well, just in time to see her cross the street. Gabe made a run for it and got to the other side before the lights changed. ‘Enough wasting time’ he thought and approached Penny with a clearing of the throat so that he wouldn’t alarm her. “Excuse me. Are you by any chance Penelope Dawson?” Penny stopped and stared at this very familiar looking man. It was bothering her that she couldn’t place him anywhere. “Yes I am. Do I know you?” Penny was becoming agitated with herself, it was killing her not knowing. “No. We never met but we do have someone in common. Shane Somers? I’m his brother, Gabriel” That was it! She knew he looked familiar! “I’m sorry but I have nothing to say” and she resumed walking. This was not what she needed right now. “Then you can listen. I really need to talk to you” Gabe matched her pace. He wasn’t about to let her leave without hearing him and if he had to follow her all the way to Timbuktu then so be it. Penny was about to hyperventilate, why was he here? What could he possibly say that she would want to hear? “Please, I’m late for work. What’s done is done and there is no going back” She could feel the tears beginning to well and she hated herself for feeling them. She didn’t want to talk to him and she certainly didn’t want to talk about Shane. Penny quickened her pace, hoping he would get the message and leave. No luck with that happening. Gabe matched her step for step. He gently grabbed her by the arm and made her stop “What if there is a way to go back? Look, I really need to talk to you. You don’t have to say anything, just listen. And if you still want to walk away then I won’t stop you” Penny could see the determination in his eyes and reluctantly gave him her attention. “Alright. Speak.” That was all she was going to say. She couldn’t fathom what he wanted to tell her and right now, she really couldn’t care. “I need to ask you something before I begin. Do you love my brother?” Now that wasn’t what she was expecting. Looking into this man’s eyes, she could see Shane. She remembered the nights in his arms, the kisses he gave. She remembered the days of laughter and fun. These were things she was trying so hard to forget and now, with his brother in front of her, the memories came flooding back. “I do. I mean I did” she stammered on that answer and cursed herself for it. She didn’t want to deal with this! Looking at her watch, she noticed that she was really late and needed to get going. “Look, I don’t know what kind of game this is but I really do need to get going. Your brother made a fool out of me, plain and simple and I have no desire to go down memory lane and relive it. Now, if you will excuse me.” Penny tried to make her way around Gabe but his hand on her arm prevented it. ‘Can this day get any worse?’ she looked up at a pair of eyes that were so familiar. “Can we go somewhere where we can talk, privately. Please, his health depends on it” With the sound of desperation in his voice, she stopped and stared at this man who was Shane’s brother. Feeling somewhat deflated because she knew what she was about to do, Penny turned around and motioned to him with a wave of her hand to follow “We can go to my place. It’s just around the corner” and with that, she began walking back the way she came with Gabe behind her. She was already late for work so she decided she would just take the day off. Of all the things to happen, this was by far the one thing she never expected.
As Penny walked into her apartment, she excused herself and went to call work to let them know she would not be in today. She had a feeling she was going to need the day off by the looks of Gabe’s demeanour. Once that was done, she invited Gabriel to have a seat at the table in the kitchen and prepared a pot of coffee.
Gabe wasn’t quite sure where to begin so he decided to start at the beginning five years ago. Penny sat and listened to him, paying close attention at the part of the woman who started it all. “So Shane was engaged?” Why he never told her she couldn’t understand. It was no crime to be committed to someone at one point, she had told Shane all of her relationships before him. “He was, yes. You met her, I believe, at the house a few weeks ago. I believe he never told you because it was a part of his life he just wanted to forget” Gabe was gauging her reaction to this piece of news. He didn’t expect her to over react, she didn’t seem the sort of person, but he did expect some sort of comment. He didn’t have to wait long. “That was her? But, what I don’t understand is, if he was engaged to her in the past why would she say they were now? And why would he not say anything? Trying to forget it or not, it’s not something to keep to himself” Penny got up to get a cup of coffee, she needed the stimulant more than she thought. She offered Gabe a cup and he accepted graciously. As she put his cup in front of him, she took her own and sat back down. Taking a sip, she still didn’t know why Shane’s brother was sitting across from her. “Penny, Lynesse left him while he was away on business and married someone else. It was hard for him, back then, to cope with it. It’s not a homecoming for anyone who has a fiancé supposedly waiting for them, if you know what I mean” Gabe took a sip of his coffee, waiting for her to let it sink in. He wasn’t sure if he should mention that the man Lynesse left Shane for was their father or not. He guessed he would go down that road if he needed too. “Wow, that’s harsh. To think what he must’ve felt? I can’t understand how someone who made a promise of commitment of that magnitude can just go off and marry another instead?” Penny was beginning to feel sorry for Shane, for what he had gone through. To lose someone he loved enough to marry that way was heartbreaking to her. Gabe could see the pain she had for his brother and let off a slight grin, this may just be easier than he thought it would be. “What he felt then is no comparison to what he’s feeling now. Penny, his health is failing fast. He is so lost without you, he’s refusing to eat or drink. He loves you. Although he won’t admit it to himself, he does. What Lynesse did was wrong and selfish and believe me she is being taken care of for the trouble she had caused between the both of you. Look, I know my brother and let me begin by saying that he has never been this way about a woman. All he talks about is you, all he looks forward to is spending time with you. Since I came back, it was ‘Penny this’ and ‘Penny that’ and ‘what a great woman Penny is’. The man has it bad and right now, it’s killing him. I’m not asking you to drop everything and run to him. All I’m asking is that you take the time and ask yourself if you really do love him in return and if so, go to him” Penny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Shane loved her? Was that possible? “How do you know he loves me and is not in anguish over this Lynesse person?” She had to be careful, the last thing she wanted to do was jump to an assumption. Protection was key here and she was going to defend her heart no matter what. Gabe started to laugh and Penny looked at him like he just grew another head. “I don’t think it’s funny” she said, not finding anything amusing whatsoever and giving him a look that complimented her tone. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting something like that and I found it amusing. Let me tell you something about the anguish Shane feels for Lynesse. He is so tormented by the loss that he actually threatened, yes threatened, to bury her in the driveway so that he could have the pleasure of running her over every day. He has been fighting with her ever since she showed up at his door. It’s Lynesse that didn’t want to give up. She had somehow put it in her head that he really did want her. So, she ran with it. Penny, Shane’s crazy about you. That night when you were supposed to meet up with him at his place and you weren’t there, he became undone. At first he couldn’t understand why you never showed and he really couldn’t understand why Lynesse was there. But, he tossed her out and did his best to try and find you. Did you know he called every hotel and motel in town?” Gabe could see he was starting to make a dent in this woman’s mind. “I took the next flight out. I didn’t want to stay, it was still to close” she whispered. Penny was trying to comprehend and assimilate all the information Gabe had given her. Could she really have been wr
ong? Did she misjudge all the signs just because of what one person, evil person by the sounds of it, said? Gabriel looked at the clock and noticed that it was fast approaching noon. He needed to wrap this up and get back to Shane. “That would explain why he couldn’t find you. He had called and left messages and when you never called, that’s when he started spiraling downwards” Penny stared at Gabe, she could feel the tears beginning to well up and this time she wasn’t gonna try to hold them back. “When I got to the house, that Lynesse person was there. She practically threw me out after telling me that she and Shane were engaged. I never thought to argue it seeing as how he never told me about her or that part of his past. When he called, I was so hurt I didn’t want to talk to him. Didn’t want to hear what ever excuse he had prepared. I just wanted to be left alone to heal” The tears were uncontrollable by the time she finished. Gabe got up and handed her a paper towel, it was all he could find that was handy. Penny was a royal mess and Gabe couldn’t be any happier, now was the time. “Come back with me” he told her, hoping he wasn’t pushing her too early. Penny lifted her head and wiped her eyes “What?” was all she could muster. “Come back with me. Today. There’s a flight leaving in a couple of hours. I think you both need to talk to each other and the sooner the better. I can have a cab here to take us to the airport in a half hour” Gabe didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he felt himself feeling faint. He needed her to go, for Shane’s sake. He had promised his brother he was going to fix it and dammit, that’s what he was going to do. Penny looked down at the table and saw that her hands were shaking. She didn’t know what to do. Her head kept telling her no but her heart was screaming yes. She needed time to think, but there wasn’t time to do that either. She felt like she was in a tug-and-pull contest with her being the rope. She looked at Gabe and was about to say something when she heard her name being yelled from the front hall. Looking towards the front, Penny saw Cathy storm down the hallway. “Are you okay? I called your work to see how you were and they told me you called…” That was as much as Cathy got out once she realized Penny wasn’t alone. Cathy looked at her friend’s tear stained face and looked at the stranger standing beside her. From a quick description Penny gave her about Shane awhile back ago, Cathy assumed it was him standing in her friend’s kitchen making her cry. “I hope you are a religious man” Cathy said, giving him the meanest look she could summon. “Why is that?” Gabe had no idea who this woman was but he had a feeling he didn’t want to find out, taking a step back he found himself trying to use Penny as a shield. This woman was small but she was looking extremely fierce and that was enough to give Gabe a warning. “Because you are about to meet your maker” was all she said before she made a dash towards him. Penny stood up and held her friend back, trying to control Cathy was like trying to control a bull. “Cathy! It’s not him! It’s not Shane!” Cathy stopped struggling with her friend and looked at her “What kind of dimwit do you take me for? He’s exactly as you described him. Tall, blonde and good looking but not for long” Cathy looked at Gabe “You dirty, rotten bastard. How could you do a thing like that? How could you play with someone’s emotions like as if they were nothing of importance? Penny is an amazing woman who deserves way better than you. How dare you show up here” and with a voice that could’ve melted steel she added “Come a bit closer so that I can show you exactly how we handle scum like you” and she made another lunge towards Gabe. Gabe was certainly impressed. There was no way he would ever raise his hand to a woman but he would defend himself if necessary. Penny held onto her friend and looked over at Gabe who was beginning to grin. “You’re no help” she said to him and looked at Cathy “Cat! Listen to me! It’s not him! It’s his brother, Gabriel” Cathy held up once she heard that “His brother?” was all she could say. She looked at Gabe and saw the grin on his face. So, he too was a smug one, well the way Cathy saw it, if she couldn’t have the real thing, a duplicate was good enough. She made another lunge towards Gabe again and Penny was almost knocked over by the force of it. ”Cathy! Enough!” cried Penny “For crying out loud, enough already” Cathy heard the strain in Penny’s voice and halted all attacks on Gabe, giving him a dirty look before putting her attention to her friend who was sitting down, looking exhausted. “I’m sorry, Pen. I guess I just got carried away” Penny grabbed the chair and sat down. Cathy knelt down beside her and rubbed her leg “When I saw him standing there and you had tears on your face, I jumped to the conclusion that he was Shane” Cathy stood up and looked at the man who she almost massacred. “Why are you here?” Cathy wasn’t one for subtleties. “Cat? I gotta leave for a few days. I need to take care of a few things so I don’t want you to worry, okay?” Penny interrupted Gabe before he could answer Cathy’s question, which was fine with him. He accomplished what he came here to do. “I’ll call a cab. Can you be ready in a half hour?” Gabe began to take out his phone and dial when Cathy spoke “Going? Where are you going?” Cathy took a hold of her friend’s face in her hands and looked into her eyes, the pain and anguish she saw there answered her question “You’re going to him, aren’t you. You’re going to see Shane. Honey? Do you think that’s a good idea? He is getting married, remember?” At that last remark, Penny began to laugh. She couldn’t help herself. She looked at Gabe and saw him smiling and that made her laugh even harder. “Someone wanna let me in on the joke, here?” Cathy looked from her to Gabe with a perplexed look on her face. “I can’t explain now. I will call you when I get a chance. Gabe?” he looked at her when she said his name “I can be ready in fifteen” and with that, she got up and went to her room to gather a few things. She couldn’t believe she was doing this but, this time, she was listening to her heart. And it told her to go. “Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!” Cathy said exasperated, “where is she going?” Looking at Gabe, she demanded a response and, as far as she was concerned, no one was going to leave until she got one. “Have a seat there, slugger. You’re gonna need it” Gabe pulled out a chair and Cathy sat at the table and listened while Gabe gave her the condensed version.
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