A Double Wedding

by Patricia Knoll

  "Miss Carlton, I'm Bob Fillmore, head of security at Sonora. I was wondering if you would be willing to accompany me to the college."

  As he spoke, he flipped open his wallet and showed her his identification.

  Silvey barely glanced at it before giving him a puzzled look.

  "Accompany... ?" Fear clutched at her heart and she swung the door wide. "Dan..Has something happened to Dan ... Dr. Wisdom?"

  Her visitor shook his head in a quick, sharp negative. "Not in the sense you think. But there is something that he and Dr. Varga would like to discuss with you."

  "Dan sent you? Why didn't he come himself?" "Perhaps you can ask him that when we reach Dr. Varga's office."

  Silvey stared at him for a few seconds. This man was giving nothing away. She supposed it would be okay to go with him, if Dan needed her, but why hadn't Dan called?

  Silvey glanced down at her clothes. Her cotton leggings and loose T-shirt weren't something she would normally wear to go out, but she didn't think Mr. Fillmore would be willing to wait while she changed.

  "All right," she said uncertainly. "I'll get my purse and my, uh ...shoes."

  Mr. Fillmore waited while she gathered her things and locked the house. He held the car door for her with utmost courtesy, but said hardly anything on the drive to the college. Even Silvey's usually outgoing nature was quelled by his reserve.

  The college looked deserted when they arrived. Mr. Fillmore parked in an empty slot by the administration building and held the door for her while she stepped from the car. He was close by her side as they walked into the building. Silvey gave him a nervous look, wondering why he was hovering so. She had the crazy urge to see what he would do if she suddenly made a break for it.

  He took her to Dr. Varga's office, where they found the college president sitting behind a massive desk. Dan sat in a chair nearby.

  Both men seemed to be waiting in grim-faced silence, but they stood when she entered.

  In spite of Dan's unwelcoming expression, Silvey walked straight to him with a smile. "Hello, Dan. How did your excavation go today?"

  To her surprise, she thought she saw pain flash through his eyes, but he merely nodded toward a chair and said, "Why don't you sit down, Silvey?"

  More alarmed than she'd ever been in her life, Silvey backed up until she felt the chair seat against her legs, and sat down shakily.

  "What ... what is it, Dan? Dr. Varga?" She glanced around and saw that Mr. Fillmore had taken a chair opposite her so that the three of them were lined up on one side of the room with her alone on the other.

  Dan started to speak, but Mr. Fillmore held up his hand. "Maybe I'd better start, Dr. Wisdom."

  Dan answered with a sketchy nod, never taking his eyes from Silvey's face.

  Dr. Varga tented his hands on top of his desk and sat forward, looking at her over the tops of his bifocals. "Miss Canton, we decided to begin this matter here and see if we can get to the bottom of it before we call in the police."

  "What matter?" she asked, her gaze darting from one to the other of them, then she caught the last part of his statement and gasped, "Police?"

  "It's about the necklace, Silvey," Dan added. Despite his agreement to let Dr. Varga question her, Silvey could see that he wanted to be in control.

  "What necklace?" she asked. "Why don't you three stop with the terse questions and come right out with it?"

  "All right. We were trying to spare you, give you a chance to explain," Dan said. "We want to know what you did with the Moreno necklace that you found at the Branaman Mountain site."

  "What I did with it? I walked up the trunk of that tree and put it in the top of the stump, remember? You stood right there and watched me." She gave a small laugh as relief flooded her. "Is that what this is all about? Did you forget which tree it was?"

  "No, I didn't forget which tree it' was," Dan answered, his brows drawn together in a fierce frown. "I did watch you put it in, but what we want to know is when did you go back and take it out?"

  "When did I ...? What are you talking about?" "The necklace is missing. When did you take it out?"

  "I didn't take it out. Why would I?"

  "Any number of reasons," Mr. Fillmore broke in authoritatively.

  "Maybe you wanted to make a point. Dr. Wisdom tells us you've been opposed to the excavation."

  "You think I stole it?" Disbelief and horror washed over Silvey and her eyes shot to Dan's face. When she had first walked in, she had thought he looked grim. Now she realized he was cold and distant.

  His eyes were examining her in the impersonal way he might look at a potsherd or a specimen-not as if she was the woman who loved him.

  She shook her head slowly from side to side. "Dan, you don't believe that, do you?"

  The expression in his ice blue eyes didn't alter by so much as a degree. "I can only believe the evidence of my own eyes. I saw you put that necklace into the tree after I told you we couldn't remove it from the site." His lips drew together in a thin, straight line. "You tried it on. I saw the look on your face...."

  "But ... but that doesn't mean I ..."

  "When I got permission to do the excavation and returned to the site today, the necklace wasn't there. You and I were the only ones who knew where it was and I know I didn't take it."

  Silvey put a hand to her throat where her pulse pounded against her palm. "And so that automatically makes me the guilty person, right?"

  Dan gazed at her for a few seconds. Finally, she saw emotion begin to move in his eyes, but the emotion she saw didn't comfort her. It was pure rage. His voice was flat when he answered her. "I don't see any other explanation."

  Hurt sliced through her heart so sharply, it was physically painful.

  Dazed, Silvey looked down to see if she was bleeding.

  "Do you have another explanation, Miss Carlton?" Dr. Varga asked.

  "How ... how could I? I don't know anything about this. I didn't take the necklace."

  "Come, come, Miss Carlton." This time it was Mr. Fillmore speaking in an impatient, no-nonsense voice. "It was there when you and Dr.

  Wisdom left the site and it isn't there now."

  "I don't know where it is. I didn't go back and take it. How could I?

  There was a lock on the gate and I certainly don't have the key."

  "But you're an acrobat," Dan said quietly.

  She turned to him, tried to focus on him, but it was as if she was caught in a nightmare where things shifted and changed, and made no sense. "What?"

  "You could have climbed the fence with no problem. You showed me how easy those kinds of stunts are for you, remember?"

  She remembered. She remembered everything about that wonderful day. She remembered how, she'd realized that she was in love with him. Didn't that mean anything? She looked at his face.

  Obviously not. He didn't believe her. He really didn't believe her.

  Mr. Fillmore moved in his chair as if anxious to be done with this.

  "Miss Carlton, we're questioning you here because we understand you have a personal relationship with Dr. Wisdom."

  Silvey's face burned, but she spoke defiantly. "Not anymore, I don't,"

  she said.

  Dan sat forward, then stood and moved to stand before her. "Just tell us what you did with it, Silvey, and we'll get it back and forget this whole thing."

  Love meant nothing to him. Nothing. She had been building air castles when she thought he could love her. He had told her he hadn't seen enough love to recognize it. He hadn't felt enough to know what it felt like, either.

  In a sudden, blinding spurt, her hurt was replaced by pure, savage fury. She shot to her feet and stood with her hands clamped onto her hips.

  "You can just forget this whole thing right now," she insisted. "I'm sorry that necklace has disappeared, but I didn't take it. What would I want with it?"

  "You speculated that it might have belonged to one of your ancestors."

  She stuck her chin out. "That's not
proof that I took it!"

  "The necklace is of great historical value, which means that to somebody it had great monetary value."

  "Then hadn't you better be looking for someone who needs money?"

  "You needed money," he observed pointedly.

  Hurt surfaced again, but she fought it down. "And I made the mistake of accepting a loan from you. That's going to change," she said recklessly. "You'll get your money back faster than you can shout 'stop thief,' and...."

  "I don't want the damned money back," he said through his teeth.

  "No." She pointed a finger at him and made jabbing motions a few inches from his chest. "You want me to give you back a necklace that I don't have, didn't take, and don't know where to locate."

  "You and I were the only ones who knew where it was," he said, reaching out and grabbing her hand, firmly but inexorably in his own. "We were the only ones on that mountain."

  "Are you sure? Remember the flat tires?"

  His eyes sharpened. "Do you think those crazy old people took ... ?"

  "Oh, of course not. The way they bumble around, we would have seen them. And if they'd tried to climb over the gate after we locked it they would have broken their necks."

  Dan went very still, staring at her as if an idea was forming in his mind. His hand went lax so Silvey was able to pull hers away.

  Seeing the newly intent expression on his face made her think he was about to come up with some fresh accusation against her.

  Crippling sorrow warred with hurt and anger inside her. She had to get out of that office or she was going to be sick.

  She took a deep breath, forcing it past the lump of misery in her throat. "I'm leaving, gentlemen," she said, her furious gaze sweeping the room and coming back to Dan's stony face. "Since I didn't take the necklace, I suggest you concentrate on finding the person who did."

  Head high, she stalked from the room. She heard Dan say something short and urgent to Mr. Fillmore as she hurried down the hall.

  She was only a few steps from the building's front door when Dan caught up with her. His hand wrapped around her upper arm and brought her around to face him.

  "Wait a minute, Silvey."

  "No," she said. To her horror, tears started into her eyes. She turned her face away-so he wouldn't see them. "I'm leaving."

  "You don't have your car. Come on. I'll drive you home."

  Open-mouthed, she stared at him. "What in the world makes you think I would accept a ride from you?"

  "You have no choice." Maintaining his grip on her arm, he started off. "You'll either ride with me, or I'll carry you home. Either way, I'm taking you there."

  Silvey wanted to dig her heels into the carpet, but she knew he would simply pick her up and carry her. With a hop and a skip, she caught up with him, jerked her arm from his grasp, and stomped along beside him, down the hall and outside to his car.

  He unlocked the door and waited until she was seated and had her seat belt fastened before he closed the door. He obviously thought she would jump from the car and run away if he didn't watch her every move. She should do it, she thought in disgust. It would confirm everything he already thought about her. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction, though. She was completely innocent.

  In unrelenting silence, she folded her arms across her chest and sat that way through the entire ride to her house.

  When they pulled into her driveway, she had her seat belt off and the door open before the car stopped rolling. "Don't bother to see me inside, Dan. This is the last we'll be seeing of each other."

  "That's what you think," he growled, following her from the car. "I'm coming inside."

  Silvey was on her porch by this time, her key poised for the lock.

  She turned to him and laughed in disbelief. "Absolutely not. You've done enough harm to me today. Go away."

  "No." He took the key from her hand and unlocked the door, then stood by resolutely as she flounced inside.

  In her living room, she slapped the light switches on and cranked the air conditioner up to full blast, even though she doubted it would do much to cool her anger. Finally, she turned on him.

  "Don't you know when you're not wanted, Dan? Go away."

  His jaw clenched as he stared at her. "I'm waiting for something."

  "For me to throw you out? Or for me to call the police?"

  His sharply defined features grew harsh. "You can't do the first, and you won't do the last."

  "Just watch me." She started for the phone.

  "Silvey," he said calmly. "I'll just tell them my fiancee is upset and having prewedding jitters."

  Her hand on the phone, she swung around to gape at him.

  "Your...?"

  "Fiancee," he supplied.

  Inarticulate with rage, it took her a few moments to form a reply.

  "Well, when she shows up-whoever the poor, unlucky girl is-maybe she can help me throw you out."

  Dan walked to her and removed her hand from the telephone. "You won't want to do that-and stay off the phone. I'm expecting a call."

  Silvey made a strangled sound and whirled away from him. She picked up the first thing she saw, which luckily for him, turned out to be a small pillow, and hurled it at his head.

  He caught it easily in one hand and tossed it onto the sofa. "Why don't you go make us something to eat, Silvey? It'll help the wait go faster."

  "If you think I'm going to feed you, you really are crazy!" But it was an excuse to get away from him while he waited by the phone, though, so she whipped around and strode from the room.

  In the kitchen, she jerked the refrigerator door open and removed items for sandwiches, which she carried to the table. Seating herself on one of the chairs, she began slapping together sandwich after sandwich until she had used an entire loaf of bread, then she sat staring at the mound of sandwiches and wondered if she was losing her mind.

  The wild maelstrom of emotions she had experienced in the past two hours began to calm and focus on the thing that hurt her the most.

  She was in love with Dan Wisdom, but he distrusted her, thought her a thief. She had been a fool to think he would change, would come to love her. She offered him her most precious gift, her love and trust, and he'd thrown it right back at her.

  Silvey pushed the sandwiches away, laid her head on the tabletop, and began to cry in great, gasping sobs that came up from the depths of her soul.

  She didn't know how long she sat like that, trying to purge her being of the sorrow, and of the love, but the next thing she knew, she felt Dan's hand on her head.

  She turned her head to dislodge it, but he said, "Silvey, listen to me."

  "I've listened," she mumbled. "I don't want to hear any more from you." She lifted her head and stared at him with red-rimmed eyes full of accusation. "I loved you, but that didn't matter to you."

  "It mattered," he answered grimly.

  "Oh, yes, sure it did. It mattered so much that I was the first person you thought of when that necklace turned up missing." She stood up to face him and threw her hands wide. "Of course. I'm the obvious suspect. I'm a woman, aren't I? I'm a woman who needed your money, therefore I'm willing and able to do whatever is necessary to keep taking things from you, I ..."

  "Shut up, Silvey, before you say something you'll regret."

  "The only thing I regret is falling in love with you, but, fortunately, that's not a permanent condition. It can be cured like appendicitis, or... or...."

  "It was John Ramos."

  The statement was so unexpected, she stopped and stared. "What?"

  "Bob Fillmore just called. The thief was John Ramos. He's got the necklace and was trying to find a private collector to buy it."

  Silvey leaned weakly against the table. "How ... did Mr. Fillmore find out?"

  "You told me, and I told him to question Ramos."

  "How could I have told you? Are you saying you think I knew that...."

  "No, no." Dan held up his hand, then he ran it over his face. F
or the first time, Silvey could see that he looked haggard and exhausted.

  She refused to believe it had anything to do with her and fought down the surge of compassion that filled her heart.

  "I'm explaining this badly," he said.

  "You do seem to be better at accusations than you are at explanations."

  Dan gave her a steady look and she subsided. "When we were in Dr. Varga's office, you said we needed to be looking for someone who needed money. Then I remembered that you're not the only acrobat I know."

  "John," she said softly.

  "Yes. He qualifies on all counts. He's always poor-mouthing about the money he has to pay to his ex-wives."

  "Did he follow us, and ...?"

  "Yes. After he dropped you off at your house that morning, he followed us up to the mountain and onto the site-remember I had to leave the gate unlocked-and saw us find the necklace. He's a dishonest idiot, but he's no fool. He knew how valuable it was. He probably figured it would be weeks before I got permission to excavate and when the necklace was discovered missing, I would suspect some anonymous pot rustler."

  "Instead, you suspected me."

  Dan's face spasmed. "I'm sorry, Silvey. I didn't know what else to think."

  "You could have trusted me."

  "Trust and love go together, Silvey, and we've already established that I don't know much about love."

  "You don't know anything about it," she sighed, beginning to turn away.

  "I'm learning, Silvey. I'm learning fast. I know I love you."

  Her head came slowly around to face him. "What did you say?"

  "I love you, Silvey."

  Hope fluttered in her chest, but she ruthlessly shoved it down. "You can't. You don't know anything about it."

  "I know I was a damned fool to think you had anything to do with a theft. I know you're not like any other woman I've ever known." He took a step toward her. "I know I wouldn't blame you if you told me to get out of your life, but I hope you won't."

  Silvey shook her head and covered her face with her hands for a moment. "You can't change this quickly. Two hours ago you thought I'd committed a crime, now you're saying you love me."