The following night, we headed to Le Jazz, the club where Shania had allegedly seen Daniel last. Being Friday night, the likelihood of his supposed twin being there was great. I wore a black lace dress, one which fit snugly and flaunted the developing pregnancy well, and paired it with my red ballet flats. Daniel wore blue jeans and a crisp white shirt.
His lookalike sat at the bar, excitedly talking to the female bartender. Smiles abound, her face was flushed from laughing at whatever he had said to her. Trying not to appear too obvious, I snuck into the corner of the bar closest to him and waited for a moment. I wasn’t showing enough to raise eyebrows at the fact that I was pregnant and at a bar. I didn’t have to wait for long to be served. Almost immediately, the man ahead of me in the queue motioned for me to go ahead of him. I thanked him. At that moment Daniel’s lookalike turned, as though acutely aware of my presence. “Can I get you something?” he asked smoothly.
“A sparkling lemon water,” I requested. Upfront, the resemblance to Daniel was uncanny.
“Call me Dave,” he said assertively, offering his hand. Finding out more about him was going to be easier than we thought. “A sparkling lemon water,” he repeated to the bartender who he’d been talking to before. She smiled then gave me a hostile and brief once over before tending to his request.
“We’ve met before,” he stated as a matter of factly, face to face with me.
“You’re mistaking me for someone else,” I said, certain I would have remembered him had we met before.
“Cadburys chocolate, raisin, no nut,” he offered. “Your favourite?”
“Nice trick,” I mentioned. “You could have found that out in a myriad of ways.”
“Really?” he questioned. “How about this. Peach ice tea and premade carbonara?”
I stared at him blankly. Those were some of my favourites.
“Now…do you recall the summer of ‘04 when you spent time in Australia on exchange?” he asked. “On the Gold Coast?” he asked. “Do you remember the little corner shop in Mermaid Waters?”
“Yes, I do…”
“And the car you drove that day - you couldn’t work out the gearshift, I came out to help you figure it out - you had to lift the knob then pull back for reverse?” he asked, taking me for a stroll down memory lane.
“I don’t get how you know all this?”
“Remember how I tried to chat you up every time you came into the shop?” he recalled.
“I…” A brief memory entered my mind and I recalled a nervous, anxious guy who’d tried to talk to me, but I’d ignored him. David.
“Remember Broadbeach and the Blues Fest?” he asked, hoping he’d jolt my memory. “Dave. David Davenport,” he offered again, winking this time and flashing a perfect set of teeth and dimples. My heart fluttered as I remembered his smile and those dimples. He had a moustache back then. When we’d first met, I had my hair in two ponytail plaits, and wore an old shirt and ripped jeans. I was in the middle of an exam cramming session, and couldn’t be bothered to put on anything fancy to leave the house. I had planned a quick trip in and out of the local grocer, for snacks to keep me fueled while I studied. When I reached the till, David stopped service momentarily to randomly tell me how beautiful I was. I remember thinking how inappropriate he was, then thinking that he didn’t know what he was talking about. David. The man who’d ordered the job that fateful night, and had gotten Daniel to rescue me.
“I thought you were beautiful then. I think you’re even more beautiful now,” he said bluntly.
“Flattery will get you nowhere,” I promised. “It didn’t get you anywhere then, it won’t get you anywhere now,” I said.
“So you say,” he said, half smiling. “But you did go for my brother, who is biologically a carbon copy of me,” he noted. “What kind of game you runnin’ girl?” He joked.
Brother. No wonder the similarity was uncanny. But Daniel had no other siblings as far as he knew. Regardless of that, it was clear they were related, they were twins.
“So, you’re here to challenge the status quo?” I asked.
“No, I’m here to show you what I’m made of,” he replied. “I’m here to tell you what I should have told you all those years ago. I’m absolutely taken by you, and I want us to pick up where we left off. I’ve carried the memory of you in my heart, mind and soul all these years. It’s high time I got back where I belong.”
“Which is nowhere,” I replied, bursting his bubble.
“Hm…,” he said pensively. “Funny, I recall things differently.”
“How so?”
“We met, we had a good time, I tried to get with you, you kept blowing me off, til that one night at Tom’s place, I thought you were willing to give being with me a go, but that led nowhere in the end…”
“Yeah, well, what good did that do – you disappeared a week later, and I never heard from you again. I tried calling you…”
He shook his head in response. “And I tried calling you. I had to leave when I did, and couldn’t say goodbye.”
“You know, you said you called, yet I got no messages from you.”
“I left messages, you probably just didn’t get them,” he said.
“Or you never called.”
“Of course I called,” he said, frowning in response. “We had bricks for phones back then. The likelihood of messages not coming through was high if I recall correctly.”
I tried not to laugh but I did.
“Look darling, I’ve wanted to go back in time and meet you again, see how our lives would have turned out had we kept at it…,” he said. “I came back, and you were gone,” he said. “A friend of yours told me you’d gone back to Switzerland. I tried making contact with you through Friendster, couldn’t get to you for many years. Then I hear you’re in Texas, and you’ve fallen in love with someone new.”
I listened intently, reflecting on the fervour with which he told me his side of the story. Looking at him now, the resemblance to Daniel was clear. They were identical twins, and looked like mirror images of each other, save for the scar on David’s face that ran from beneath his nose to the top of his lip. Impulsively, I raised my hand to touch the scar.
“Cleft palate,” he said abruptly when my hand met his face. He kissed my fingers and I quickly pulled my hand away.
“I didn’t know you had such a scar – you were heavily moustachioued back then,” I recalled.
“Indeed I was,” he said, laughing fitfully. “Remember how you’d told me you’d consider dating me if I lost the moustache?”
I nodded in response.
“Well, here I am, sans moustache,” he said, opening his arms wide in gesture to pull me in for a hug.
“You know I’m married, don’t you?” I asked.
“Does it look like I care?” he asked, leaning in further to talk to me. I could smell his aftershave. Burberry for Men. The scent took me back to a moment with him several years ago, the last time I saw him, the one time I’d agreed to go on a date with him. A lot had changed since then, but the passage of time had made David more becoming. More beautiful, more desirable. Casting the thought aside, I turned my mind to Daniel who sat at the bar not far from us. I didn’t know how to break the fact that I’d almost had a thing with his brother many years ago.
“Should I tell him, or will you?” David asked, reading my mind.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I stated.
“Oh yes there is,” David challenged. “Given half a chance, we could’ve been together.”
“I hear you, David, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Daniel and I happened.”
“You and Daniel wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me,” he stated.
“You know, Daniel’s been there for me in more ways than one. He’s been looking for me all his life, and it feels like I’ve been looking for him all my life.” I said.
David leaned in closer. “Therein lies the problem darling. You feel like you’ve been looking for him all your life.
Could it be that you feel you missed an opportunity with me and you’ve really been looking for me? I mean, what are the odds that you’d fall head over heels in love with my twin brother when it’s me you saw first? Your heart wasn’t receptive to me then, could it be that your heart is receptive to me now? Could it be that…”
“Don’t go there David,” I said. “If we were meant to be we were meant to be.”
“You and him? Or you and I.”
“I think you know exactly what I’m saying. Stop tripping’,” I warned.
He shook his head, half smiling again. “Alright, I hear you, darling. What you’re tryin’ to say is that I never had a chance. Not then, not now. If that’s the case, I’ll keep my fantasies, up here,” he said motioning to his head, “…and in here…” he said, tapping his heart, “…and you’ll live your reality with him…,” he said with finality, his fingers gracing my fingers, briefly lingering on the imprint that was left on my ring finger from the wedding band I wasn’t wearing. “Just so you know, as long as I’m alive, I won’t give up hope on you loving me one day and living a new reality with me in it.” I quickly pulled my hand away from his. Daniel was watching, and I did not want to give him the wrong idea. “In the meantime, you’ll have to get used to me being around, I’m family now,” he said, winking.
The music at the bar seemed to have suddenly gotten louder. There was no denying that David was an incurable flirt and would continue to be persistent in getting his advances across.
“I’m married to your brother. Act like you care,” I stated over the music. He didn’t seem to care.
“Fair game if you ask me,” he said jovially, flashing me a cheeky smile. “I don’t see a ring on your finger,” he noted. It was quite obvious how much he enjoyed challenging the status quo. Or was it an attempt to disarm me and get me to drop my defences? I didn’t have to wonder much longer. Daniel stepped in.
“I see we have the same taste in women,” Daniel stated as a matter of factly.
David smiled, getting up from his stool and giving him the once over. “That and then some,” he said. He didn’t appear surprised to see Daniel. He’d been expecting him.
“I’m David, your brother. Literally separated at birth,” he stated.
Daniel acted cool, but I knew inside he was trembling. “Okay. Alright, I can see the resemblance. How long have you known? Like I never even knew you existed. Until now.”
“For as long as I can remember,” David replied.
“I don’t know whether to hug you or to punch you,” Daniel stated. “The last few weeks have been rough, though I take responsibility for my part in the mess I made. Your being here only added fuel to the flame, though.”
“I’d take a hug any day over a neat right hook, mate.” David stated, his Aussie accent a clear and smooth drawl.
“A neat left hook,” Daniel corrected. I couldn’t tell whether he was pleased or pissed, though I noted he was a little out of character, and a little less confident than usual.
“Ah, you’re a leftie. One thing we don’t have in common,” David said.
Daniel looked puzzled. “Leftie as in left-handed,” David clarified, his Aussie accent quite apparent.
“Right,” Daniel interjected. “If you were anything like me you’d want the left hook and not the hug.”
They stood there face to face. Near spitting images of each other save for a few differences. David was a leaner, romantic looking version of Daniel. His hair was wavy and untamed, more of a sun-kissed copper brown hue than Daniel’s warm chestnut brown hue. Oddly their laugh was the same. As was their smile, dimples and all. Daniel didn’t laugh or smile as much as David did, whereas the laugh lines on David’s face were evident. Other differences were much more subtle, and I would come to know them in the weeks that followed.
“Mate, I never pictured I’d be a dead ringer for you. It was fun while it lasted,” David confessed.
Daniel and I looked at him blankly. “Dead ringer – lookalike,” David explained. “Looks like I’m going to have to school you on a bit of Aussie lingo, mate.”
They pumped fists.
I suggested dinner. David quickly agreed. Daniel took convincing this time, which was unusual, where food was involved. “I have to eat. The babies have to eat,” I told him.
“Yes, of course,” he said almost mechanically. The fact that he was clearly shocked at David’s sudden insertion into our lives was slowly becoming apparent. “Babies,” he said proudly. I’m going to be a father!”
“And I’m going to be an uncle. Congrats,” David said wholeheartedly, giving him a huge pat on the back.
The look on Daniel’s face said it all. Beneath the joy of meeting his brother again after years of separation lay a myriad of questions and a clear undercurrent of doubt and apprehension. I imagined that he wondered why David had stayed away for so long, and why he had come to find him now. I imagined that he wondered why David had suddenly staked a claim on me after all these years.
They were deep in discussion when I stepped away from them to go to the Ladies.
“You staying somewhere local tonight?” I asked of David on my return.
“Yep, a motel off Interstate 35 has been my home for the past few weeks,” he replied.
“Surely you can’t continue staying there,” I stated, concerned, looking at Daniel for consensus. He avoided my gaze.
“I’ll be fine. I’m a bit of a rolling stone,” David explained.
“He can stay with us, can’t he, Daniel?” I asked, nudging him on the shoulder and commanding his attention. The expression on his face showed he was not very enthusiastic about that idea.
“Sure, he can,” he said reluctantly. “For now.”
“Hey guys, I’ll introduce you to a few of my mates in a bit? We’ve got a private booth in the back. You alright to hang for a while before taking off for the night?” David asked.
Daniel cast a glance at his wrist watch. “It’s getting late, it’s going on 9 o’clock now…” he started.
“Way too early to be getting back,” I said, much to Daniel’s dismay. “Let’s hang for a while,” I insisted.
David winked at me in response. “I’ll be back in a moment. Wait here.”
Turning to me, Daniel asked, “So, you know him for sure?”
My stomach sank. “Yes. I do. Met him in Australia.”
“You had a thing?” Daniel asked point blankly.
“Yes, and no. Close but nothing eventuated.”
“I see,” he said in response, deflated. He ran a hand across his forehead, something he did when he was anxious.
David was back in moments, as he’d promised. “The kitchen’s closing in 10. I took the liberty of ordering a few meals we can share,” he announced. “Come, our table awaits.”
David introduced us to a few of his friends that night, Jeremiah being one. At least 6 foot, he towered over me, and came across as being very peaceful in spirit. His eyes, a startling grey blue, were in stark contrast to his sable skin. Daniel and I settled in to a booth, and he joined us while David went to the bar for some more drinks.
“You alrie mon? You look like you gonna crack,” Jeremiah noted, giving Daniel a friendly pat on the shoulder.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Daniel said in response.
“Lighten up man, things are never as bad as they seem,” Jeremiah advised.
“Right. I’m not sure they can get much worse,” Daniel said. I could tell he was cut at the fact that David and I had known each other in the past.
“This beautiful woman is your wife?” Jeremiah asked. Daniel nodded in response. “Never underestimate the power of hello. You made it past hello. You convinced her you’re worth it. Now’s the time to focus on today so you never have to say goodbye tomorrow.”
“I hear you,” Daniel replied.
“Beautiful lady,” Jeremiah said, addressing me. He flashed a perfect set of teeth when he smiled. “You love him, yes?”
�
��I most certainly do,” I replied.
“Love is the greatest of all things. And marriage. A union of two souls. What God has joined together, no man will be able to separate,” Jeremiah said. Quoting scripture, Jeremiah was speaking the language Daniel understood. I saw Daniel noticeably loosen up.
“I hear you. Thanks for that. You’re alright man,” Daniel said. “Come here often?” he asked, trying to place him.
“No mon’,” Jeremiah replied quickly. “Just came here to hang loose after work. Dave managed to rope me into coming tonight.”
“I see,” Daniel replied. “What do you for a livin’?”
“I’m a surgeon – Maxillofacial,” he replied. “David’s our visiting Maxillofacial surgeon,” he explained.
“Hm…” Daniel said, pensively. “Visiting?” he asked.
“Yep, just on secondment from his practice in Australia,” he said. “He’s somewhat of a pioneer in the field, we’re lucky to have him on board, training our younger fellows in cleft palate surgery.”
“I see,” Daniel stated, somewhat taken aback. Jeremiah could sense that discussing David was a sensitive subject, so he changed topic, choosing to discuss me instead.
“So, how did you meet?” he asked.
Daniel and I looked at each other, then both spoke at the same time.
Jeremiah laughed. “You two are so in sync with each other.”
I smiled in response, but noticed Daniel was not as jolly. I squeezed his hand under the table. He squeezed my hand back, and I noticed the look in his eyes was forlorn.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, above a whisper.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Daniel, don’t tell me it’s nothing.”
“I’ll tell you later,” he said.
“Guys, do you need a moment alone?” Jeremiah asked.
“No,” Daniel and I said in unison.
“Great,” Jeremiah stated. “You still haven’t told me how you met, I’m keen to know.”
I squeezed Daniel’s hand under the table again and replied on his behalf, “A series of unfortunate events brought us together, and the rest is history.”
My Dusk My Dawn Page 14