Substitute Bride (Special Edition)

by Alexander, Trisha

He thought about their lovemaking the night before. Although she’d seemed a little reluctant at first—probably because she thought he was too tired—she had quickly become just as eager, just as passionate, and just as responsive as he could ever wish.

  He almost laughed as he remembered how—before they were married—he’d worried about that aspect of their relationship.

  “Er, Mr. Hanson?”

  David almost jumped. He’d been so. lost in his thoughts he’d completely forgotten Mark Taylor’s existence. Taylor’s green eyes seemed amused as David stumbled through an apology, saying, “I’m sorry. I worked late last night and didn’t get much sleep. What were you saying?”

  “I said we could have the security system in place next Friday, if that’s agreeable to you.”

  For the next fifteen minutes David forced himself to pay attention and put his wife and his feelings for her out of his thoughts. But after Taylor was gone and David sat leafing through the contract he’d left, he resolved that he would reintroduce the subject of the boys’ ranch when he got home tonight.

  For the first time, David felt a stirring of hope. If Roxanne was really in favor of his leaving the family business, maybe there was some way to.accomplish it.

  Rachel showered and dressed in record time. Again she took special care with her appearance. She wanted to look pretty but not frivolous, so she settled on a black linen sleeveless dress with three rows of decorative white piping around the hemline and neckline. Pearl stud earrings, black-and-white spectator pumps and a soft black leather handbag completed her costume.

  She left her hair in its natural, curly state, knowing David liked it best that way.

  Before leaving the house, she caught sight of herself in the large mirror in the entryway. A well-dressed, attractive woman with scared-rabbit eyes looked back at her.

  Condemned woman walking, she thought grimly.

  With a heavy heart, she headed out the door.

  David swore under his breath and hung up the phone. No answer. Roxanne had obviously gone out, and she hadn’t turned on the answering machine before she’d left the house. Well, there was no help for it. He’d just have to call her later, from Beaumont, where he was going to talk to John Vrable, a possible witness in a case where a former Hanson Drilling employee who had been fired had brought suit against the company. Normally, company attorneys would take care of something like this, but Vrable had refused to talk to anyone unless David was there.

  David checked his briefcase to make sure he had everything he needed, then he gave his secretary some last-minute instructions, ending with “And if Roxanne calls, tell her I’ll try to get back by seven.”

  “Will do,” Carole said.

  Five minutes later, accompanied by their in-house lawyer, he was on his way.

  “He’s not here?” Rachel said.

  “No, Mrs. Hanson, I’m sorry. He and Pete Shearer went to Beaumont to interview John Vrable. You know, in that Bobby Turner case.”

  Rachel nodded. David had told her all about the case when they were in Colombé.

  “I’m sorry,” Carole said again.

  Rachel tried not to look as if David’s not being there was the end of the world, but that’s the way she felt.

  Now what?

  David would be gone all day. He’d try to be back by seven, he’d said. But what if he wasn’t? And what if, in the meantime, Roxanne called their father?

  Oh, God.

  Their father.

  Rachel had promised to call him this morning and give him the Terrazas’ number in Veracruz. Maybe she should go up to his office now and tell him “Rachel” wasn’t going to be home today and would instead call him tomorrow.

  No, she decided upon further thought. She couldn’t take a chance on seeing her father face-to-face. Not today. In her nerve-racked state of mind, it was just too risky. Instead, she took the elevator down to the lobby and headed for the bank of pay phones.

  Pilar put her through immediately.

  “Hi, Daddy,” Rachel said when her father got on the line. “Just wanted you to know I spoke to Ro…Rachel last night.”

  Oh, my God I nearly said Roxanne!

  “Good,” her father said. “Did you tell her I want to talk to her?”

  “Yes, but she and Carlos are going to Mexico City today and won’t be back until late. She said to tell you she’d call you tomorrow.”

  Did he hear that slip?

  Rachel’s heart was pounding so hard she was sure he could probably hear it over the phone line.

  “All right,” her father said. “Guess I can wait another day. How are you doin’ today, angel? You plannin’ to spend the day at the hospital again?”

  Oh, thank God, he didn’t hear it. “I—I don’t know. I guess I’ll give David’s grandmother a call. See if she needs anything or wants company.”

  Just then a couple of women walked by, laughing and talking.

  “What’s all that noise?” her father said.

  “Um, I’m out at the mall.”

  “Oh, okay. Well, I won’t keep you, then. You and David plannin’ on droppin’ by the house this weekend?”

  “We…didn’t have a chance to talk about the weekend. We overslept this morning, and David had to rush out”

  “Well, if you want to come to Sunday dinner, Josie always makes enough for an army.”

  “Thanks, Daddy. I—I’ll let you know.”

  “Okay, angel. Thanks for lettin’ me know about Rachel.”

  Rachel was a wreck by the time she hung up, and she worried all the way home. So many lies. So many possibilities for disaster. She couldn’t stand lying to the people she loved, and wondered what on earth was going to happen after they knew the truth.

  She kept thinking she needed to do something, but what else could she do that she hadn’t already done? There was nothing. She had called Roxanne. She had called her father. She had tried to see David. Now all she could do was try to stop worrying and wait.

  Easier said than done, she thought later, pacing around David’s house in an agony of turmoil. She needed to keep busy. If only she could go to her own place and lose herself in work.

  But how could she?

  What if David called?

  What if Roxanne called?

  What if their father called?

  After thirty more minutes of imagining dire happenings and possible scenarios, she went into the bedroom, stripped off the clothes she’d chosen so carefully and put on shorts and a T-shirt. Then, quickly, trying not to think about what she was doing, she packed up everything belonging to her.

  Belonging to Roxanne, she corrected herself.

  Nothing here belonged to her. Not the clothes. Not the furniture. And not the man. She had laid claim to them falsely.

  Now it was time to give them back.

  The interview wasn’t concluded to Shearer’s satisfaction until four o’clock. That was good, though, David thought He could easily make it home by seven. In fact, he might even have time to stop at the office and tell Wylie how everything had gone.

  Before leaving Beaumont, David used his cell phone and dialed his home number. Roxanne picked it up on the second ring.

  “Hi,” he said, feeling that rush of happiness her voice always produced.

  “Hi.”

  She seemed subdued, and he wondered if something was wrong, but then he remembered. She’d wanted to talk to him about something this morning and had seemed upset that he’d had to leave in such a rush. What an idiot! How could he have forgotten?

  “I’m heading home,” he said. “I have to stop at the office first, but I should easily make it by seven.”

  “Okay.”

  “Don’t cook dinner. I want to go to the hospital tonight, and we can eat somewhere afterward.” He softened his voice. “Sweetheart, I know I’ve been neglecting you lately, but we’ll have some quiet time together tonight, I promise, and we can talk to your heart’s content.”

  “Oh, David, you haven’t been negl
ect—”

  “Yes, I have,” he said, cutting her off. “But that’s going to change. I love you. I’ll see you soon.”

  I love you.

  A tear slipped down Rachel’s cheek.

  David was so wonderful.

  And she was so horrible.

  Since they were going against traffic, David and Pete Shearer made good time on Interstate 10 and reached the office a few minutes before six. Thanking Pete for his help, David headed straight for the twentieth floor and Wylie Carlton’s office.

  The loyal Pilar was still at her desk. She looked up and smiled as David approached.

  “Is he in?” David said.

  She nodded. “Uh-huh.”

  David tapped on the half-open door, and at Wylie’s booming “Come in,” entered the sun-filled corner office.

  “How’d it go?” Wylie said, leaning back in his chair.

  “Good.” David laid his briefcase down and shrugged out of his suit jacket. Then he sat on one of the four black leather chairs that ringed Wylie’s massive walnut desk. He had just started telling Wylie about what Vrable had said when Wylie’s intercom buzzed.

  Wylie frowned and punched the intercom. “I’m busy, Pilar,” he started to say, then stopped. His face lit up. “Really? Rachel’s on the line? Well, put her through.” He reached for the phone. “Pilar says ‘my wayward daughter from Mexico’ is calling.” His smile couldn’t have been bigger.

  David smiled back. So Rachel had finally decided to call her father. Good. He’d hated the fact that they were estranged, and he knew it bothered Roxanne, too.

  “Rachel? Hello? Rachel? Thought you weren’t gonna call me until tomorrow. Leastways, that’s what Roxanne said when I talked to her earlier.”

  David looked at his watch. It was twenty after six already, and he’d promised Roxanne he’d be home by seven. He got up. This conversation could take a while. He mouthed a goodbye to Wylie and picked up his briefcase.

  Wylie, obviously listening to whatever it was Rachel was saying, waved back. “Your sister already told me. You’re married, right?”

  “Tell her I said hi,” David said.

  Wylie frowned. Listened. “Are you pregnant?” he boomed.

  David grimaced and walked to the door.

  “Dammit, Rachel!” Wylie was saying. “What’s wrong with you? Would you just tell me whatever it is?”

  David reached for the doorknob.

  “What? What the hell are you talkin’ about? What do you mean, you’re not Rachel?”

  David stopped dead in his tracks.

  “Is this some kind of joke?” Wylie said.

  David turned around.

  Wylie’s eyes, shocked and confused, met his. He pressed a button, and suddenly Rachel’s voice sounded through the speaker box.

  “No, Daddy,” she was saying. “It’s not a joke. This really is Roxanne, and I’m in Mexico, and I’m married to Carlos.”

  David’s heart felt as if it were going to burst right out of his chest. His mouth dropped open.

  “B-but you can’t be!” Wylie said. “You…you married David two weeks ago.”

  “No, Daddy, I didn’t. That was Rachel who married David. Rachel…pretending to be me.”

  “Rachel!”

  Rachel! David stared at the phone.

  “Yes,” Roxanne continued. “I’m the one who met Carlos at that consulate party. I know it was wrong, but I just couldn’t seem to help myself. I fell in love with him, Daddy, and I didn’t know what to do. I was so unhappy. Rachel begged me to tell David how I felt, but I was afraid to. I was afraid you’d be mad at me. The wedding was so close and all the plans were made. You were so happy about it. I just couldn’t see any way out of it. I thought I had to go through with the wedding.”

  David stood numbly, her words pummeling him like stones. Roxanne had run away. Not Rachel. Roxanne.

  “Then,” Roxanne continued, “the day of the wedding, Carlos came to the church. He said he couldn’t go home and leave me behind. He asked me to come with him. And…and I suddenly knew I couldn’t go through with marrying David. It wouldn’t have been right. So, like a coward, I ran out, leaving Rachel to deal with the mess. She…she told me she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go out there and tell you and David that I’d run away…so she put on my wedding dress and pretended to be me.”

  Wylie looked as stunned as David felt. “Why didn’t you tell me, David?”

  “David!” Roxanne said. “Is David there?”

  “Yes, he’s here,” Wylie said.

  “I didn’t know,” David said. His voice sounded as if it belonged to someone else. “I didn’t know.”

  “Oh, my God,” Roxanne said. “You’ve got me on the speakerphone, don’t you? That’s why the line sounded so funny. David? Did…didn’t Rachel talk to you this morning?”

  David swallowed. “No. No, she didn’t”

  “Oh, God. Oh, David, I’m sorry.”

  So that was why she had been so troubled.

  That was why, even when they were in Colombé, she’d acted as if something was bothering her. God! What a fool he was! Rachel! It was Rachel he’d married. All this time…

  Suddenly everything fell into place.

  All the little differences in “Roxanne’s” behavior. All the “new” facets to her personality.

  No wonder she had known about his desire to start the ranch for underprivileged boys. No wonder she’d acted as if she were harboring a secret. No wonder she kept saying there was something she had to tell him.

  Of course it was Rachel he’d married.

  How could he ever have imagined it was anyone else?

  The knowledge reverberated through him.

  Rachel.

  And Roxanne had married someone else.

  Somehow, that realization did not hurt him the way he might have imagined it would if he’d ever thought about it.

  But Rachel’s deception.

  That was another story.

  All this time…she had been pretending. Images from their honeymoon flashed through his mind.

  Everything she’d said.

  Everything she’d done.

  All false.

  His shock slowly faded. Hurt and anger warred to take its place.

  Even though it would be easy to succumb to the pain, David pushed it away. It was bad enough that Wylie knew what had happened, and that—when he got over his shock—he would probably feel sorry for him. There was no way David was going to let him see the extent of the hurt he felt from the betrayal of his daughter.

  He clenched his fists, welcoming the anger that coursed through him, anything to chase away the pain.

  How could Rachel have done this?

  Why had she done this?

  He thought about her waiting at home.

  “I have to go,” he said. His voice didn’t sound like his own.

  Wylie nodded sympathetically.

  “David!” Roxanne said. “Wait. Don’t go yet. I— I want to talk to you.”

  “I’ll talk to you later,” David said. “Right now I’ve got other business to take care of.”

  Then he swung on his heel and stalked out of the office.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After David called, Rachel loaded all of Roxanne’s belongings—as well as the few of her own that she’d brought to David’s—into Roxanne’s car.

  Then she waited, trying to keep calm as the mantel clock ticked the seconds away.

  Five o’clock.

  Five-twenty.

  Five forty-five.

  Because she had to do something, she tried practicing what she would say when he got there. How she would start explaining.

  She couldn’t just blurt it out.

  Oh, by the way, David, guess what? I’m not really Roxanne. I’m Rachel.

  Oh, God. She put her head in her hands.

  What was she going to say? How do you tell someone the person he loves isn’t really that person at all? That everything he believes in is a
hoax? That both his marriage and his wife are a sham?

  Maybe she should start out by saying she wanted to tell him a story. Relate the events as if they had happened to someone else.

  No, that was cowardly, and she’d been enough of a coward. It was time to stand tall. Be brave. Face the music. “Oh, just listen to me!” she said despairingly. “I sound like every bad cliché in the book.”

  She glanced at the mantel again and again.

  Six-ten.

  Could those hands move any more slowly?

  Six-twenty.

  Six-thirty.

  With each tick, Rachel’s heart beat harder and her stomach felt more unsettled. She wanted it to be seven o’clock. She wanted this horrible confession to be over with. She wanted whatever was going to happen, to happen.

  Walking to the front window, she looked out. It was a typical summer evening in David’s active neighborhood. A twenty-something woman whizzed by on a ten-speed. Across the street, two young children played with a terrier in their front yard. Next door to them was a fortyish couple doing yard work. Down the street, a young man washed his car.

  Everywhere she looked, people were going on with their lives, doing ordinary things in ordinary ways, not knowing or caring that here, in this house, Rachel’s life was falling apart around her.

  Six thirty-five.

  She took several deep breaths. Calm, try to stay calm. Very soon now she would hear his car in the driveway.

  Slowly she turned away from the window, and her gaze traveled over the living room. Although she was unsure about many things, she was certain about one. This was the last time she would be here.

  The very last time.

  Fighting tears, she looked at each object and each piece of furniture, committing it to memory so that years from now, when the heartache had faded and she could stand thinking again, she could look back and remember this place and time with David.

  Everything belonging to him was dear to her.

  The stack of National Geographics on the bottom shelf of the bookcase. The gold nugget paperweight David had brought back from Saudi Arabia. The silver-framed photograph of his parents—looking so young and blissfully happy—on their wedding day. His favorite pillow. The new James Lee Burke novel he hadn’t yet started. His favorite leather chair with the indentation where his head always rested.