The Bridesmaid's Gifts

by Wilkins, Gina

  Pamela sighed. “This is what I get for being friends with someone who knows what I’m planning,” she muttered, only half-teasingly. “I can’t get anything past you.”

  Aislinn gave her a warning look.

  Sighing again, more gustily this time, Pamela took a step backward. “Call me anyway,” she said. “Just to talk.”

  “I will,” Aislinn promised. And she would, because despite everything, she was fond of Pamela.

  Smiling at Ethan again, Pamela excused herself and went to rejoin her husband, who had just finished paying at the cash register.

  “What was that about?” Ethan asked quizzically.

  She lifted a shoulder. “Long story.”

  He didn’t push. “You say you’ve known her a long time?”

  “Yes. Since high school. She’s a good friend.”

  “Does she know about your…well, you know?”

  Resisting the impulse to roll her eyes, Aislinn said shortly, “She knows.”

  “Have you ever had a feeling that helped her out?”

  “A few times.”

  “And she believed you. Took your advice to heart.”

  She nodded. “Of course.”

  “Can you give me an example?”

  She lifted her eyebrows at him.

  “Hey, you’re expecting me to go to a lot of trouble to pursue one of your hunches. It wouldn’t hurt to give me some verification that I wouldn’t be wasting my time.”

  “You’re asking for references?”

  His mouth twitched. “Just anecdotal evidence.”

  “Fine.” She propped her elbows on the table and loosely clasped her hands. “I told her where to find her husband.”

  “Had she lost him?”

  “Not like that. I told her where to go to meet him initially. I had a feeling she should go to a certain store at a certain time, and she did—and as she was driving through the parking lot, looking for an open space, someone backed into her car.”

  Ethan lifted an eyebrow. “And that was a good thing?”

  “Yes. Bill, her husband, was driving the car that hit hers. He apologized, they exchanged insurance information—and phone numbers—and a year later they were married.”

  “And you knew she was going to meet him that way.”

  “Oh, no. I just knew she should be at that place at that time. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like it was important.”

  “And now she’s trying to repay the favor.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  He smiled briefly. “It was obvious that she’s trying to set you up. With someone you’re not interested in meeting, apparently.”

  Aislinn sighed, wondering if she was the only one at this table with better-than-average intuition. “I don’t know who she’s picked out for me this time, but you’re right. She’s undoubtedly got another prospect in mind.”

  “Another prospect?”

  “She’s been trying to match me up for more than a year. She’s made it her personal mission.”

  “Actually, she reminds me of someone. My dad has this office manager—Heidi Rosenbaum. Nice woman, but she can’t bear to see a single adult. She’s always trying to match people up. I ran into her at the grocery store last month and she started telling me about some woman she wanted me to meet. A schoolteacher.”

  “And you told her you weren’t interested.”

  “I told her I was fully capable of finding my own dates if I wanted.”

  “Why do I get the feeling you weren’t particularly polite about it?” she asked, amused by the image.

  “Let’s just say subtlety doesn’t work well with Heidi.”

  “Did you hurt her feelings?”

  “Not possible. She just patted my arm and told me I knew where to find her if I got too lonely.”

  She studied his face. She doubted that he had much trouble finding companionship when he wanted it. But she suspected that for the most part he was content with his own company.

  “You don’t get lonely very often.”

  “Right.”

  “But you get sad sometimes.”

  He frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He knew. But he didn’t want to talk about it. And she wouldn’t press just now, while they were getting along so well.

  Ethan changed the subject rather abruptly. “How are you with a computer?”

  “In what respect?”

  “I thought I’d go online on Joel’s computer this evening, maybe do a little research about Carmen Nichols. Needless to say, I don’t have a lot of experience with that sort of investigation. I just wondered if you have any advice to offer.”

  “I haven’t had any experience at finding long-lost people, either,” she replied. “But I spend a lot of time online looking for inspiration for new cake designs, learning new methods, that sort of thing.”

  “Maybe between the two of us, we could find some information—if you’re not too busy and you’re interested in looking into it with me, of course.”

  “You’re asking me to come to Joel’s this evening and help you do computer research?” she asked for clarification.

  He nodded. “Unless you have other plans.”

  He had taken her by surprise again—just as he had when he’d shown up at her shop and when he’d asked her to dinner. Why was Ethan suddenly looking for ways to spend time with her?

  “I don’t have other plans, actually,” she admitted. “But I don’t know how much help I would be to you.”

  He shrugged. “It was just a thought.”

  Maybe he was just trying to make amends, of sorts, for the way he had treated her from the time they’d met. Maybe he figured that since she was his new sister-in-law’s best friend, it was better to stay on friendly footing. Or maybe, despite his denials, he was just getting a little lonely after all, here in this town where he knew so few people.

  “All right,” she said, hoping she wasn’t making a mistake. “Maybe together we can find some information that would lead you to your brother.”

  While he looked far from convinced that their search would change his mind about what had happened to Kyle all those years ago, he seemed satisfied that she had agreed to assist him.

  Aislinn followed Ethan to Joel’s house after dinner. She stopped by to say hello to Nic’s mother next door before joining Ethan. Susan seemed to be enjoying her visit home, but she admitted to Aislinn that she was looking forward to returning to Europe to be with her son. She would spend another couple of weeks here after Nic and Joel returned, visiting with them, and then she would return to Paris until her next visit home at Thanksgiving.

  Susan didn’t seem to find it odd that Aislinn was visiting Ethan that evening. She seemed to believe that Aislinn was simply being sociable, keeping her friend’s brother company for a few hours. Aislinn was content to leave it at that. Taking her leave of Susan after a brief, pleasant exchange, she walked back to Joel’s house to help Ethan search for his long-lost brother.

  Curled into a chair next to Ethan’s, Aislinn arched her back and was rather surprised when several muscles protested. She glanced at her watch. Had they really been sitting here for almost two hours, staring at Joel’s computer monitor?

  Ethan sat in another chair at the keyboard, a legal pad with several pages of scribbled notes at his elbow. He looked around when Aislinn moved. “Getting tired?”

  “Just a little stiff.” She stood, stretching out the kinks. “Do you mind if I have a glass of water?”

  “Of course not. There’s a filtered pitcher in the refrigerator. Help yourself.”

  “Thank you. Can I get you a glass?”

  “Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks.”

  She was returning with a glass in each hand when the telephone rang. “That’s Joel,” she said without checking caller ID. “I assume you’re not going to tell him yet what we’re doing.”

  “You assume correctly.” He answered the phone, chatting for a few minutes with his brother wh
ile Aislinn sipped her water.

  She was beginning to think he wasn’t going to mention her at all when she heard him ask if Nic was nearby. “Aislinn’s here, keeping me company for a while,” he added. “They’d probably like to say hello to each other.”

  Taking the receiver from him with a smile, Aislinn said, “Hi, Nic. How’s the honeymoon?”

  “Paradise,” Nic answered fervently. “It’s so beautiful here, you wouldn’t believe it. It’s going to be tough coming back home and going back to work. And speaking of home, how’s everything there?”

  “Same as always. I saw your mom earlier. She’s having a great time catching up with her old friends.”

  “I talked to her yesterday. It did seem like she was enjoying her visit. I could tell she’s looking forward to rejoining Paul, though. She really loves it over there.” Changing the subject, Nic continued, “So, you’re spending the evening with Ethan.”

  “Yes, we’ve been having a nice visit.”

  “Have you?” Nic sounded surprised—and a bit suspicious, as if she wondered what exactly was going on between Aislinn and Ethan.

  Aislinn didn’t blame her for being curious. After all, neither she nor Ethan were overly sociable types. And they hadn’t exactly gotten off to the best start.

  “Has Ethan been giving you advice about your business? Joel said there’s nothing he loves to do more than talk to small-business owners about ways they can restructure.”

  “Yes, he’s given me a few tips about my business.” He had advised her to add the chocolate-caramel cake and the lemon-orange cupcakes to her menu, which she supposed made her answer an honest one.

  Looking around from the computer, Ethan gave her a quizzical look. She wrinkled her nose at him and returned her attention to the phone call.

  “I’d better go,” Nic said. “Joel and I are going for a late-night walk on the beach.”

  “Sounds very romantic.”

  “I guess it would be if one of us didn’t insist on starting a footrace every time.”

  Aislinn laughed. “Gee, I wonder which one of you that would be.”

  They hung up shortly afterward.

  “I appreciate you not telling them what you and I are really working on this evening,” Ethan said without looking around again.

  She returned to her seat beside him. “I promised you I wouldn’t.”

  “Do you always know who’s calling before you pick up the phone?”

  “It was a pretty safe guess that would be Joel.”

  “True, but you didn’t answer my question.”

  She sighed. “I usually know, especially on my home phone.”

  “How often? On your home phone.”

  “Maybe nine out of ten calls.”

  “That’s a little more than random chance.”

  “Maybe.”

  To her relief, he let it go. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything else tonight, do you?”

  “No.” She was sure they wouldn’t, actually. She’d known for the past half hour that there was nothing left to find online, but she’d kept quiet, letting Ethan check every possibility he could think of.

  Pushing away from the desk, he turned his chair to face hers, the legal pad in his hand. “So we’ve read every old news report we can find of the storm and the accident. We’ve learned that a couple of people expressed concern at the time that the bodies were never found, but that eventually everyone seemed to accept that the severity of the flood made the search too difficult. Prevailing theories seemed to be that Carmen and Kyle were trapped at the bottom of the river somewhere beneath debris and would never be found.”

  Aislinn nodded. “That’s what most people believed.”

  “I remember that my dad went out every day for a long time, driving down the river, taking his fishing boat out whenever he could. After the first night, he didn’t believe Kyle was still alive, but he hoped to finally find him so they could give him a decent burial.”

  Her heart twisting at the grief the family must have experienced, Aislinn murmured, “There was nothing for him to find.”

  “From what I recall, my mother was amazingly strong during the whole ordeal. Later I heard her tell people that she got through it by concentrating on Joel and me. She said she didn’t have the luxury of going to pieces because we depended on her so much.”

  “I could tell your mother is a resilient woman. She’s been through a lot.”

  “She has.”

  “Was she close to your sister-in-law? Joel’s first wife?”

  It was probably because she was watching him so closely that she saw the emotions swirl in his eyes. Most people wouldn’t have seen them, she guessed. Ethan was very good at hiding his feelings.

  “Yes, she and Heather were very close.”

  “I’m glad she’s been able to welcome Nic to your family as warmly as she has. I know it was difficult for her at first.”

  “Mom never wanted Joel to be alone forever. And it had been six years since Heather died. Nic was just a little different than Mom had expected. Once she got to know her, she couldn’t help but like her.”

  She’d picked up some undercurrents in that exchange that she wanted to mull over later. For now, she directed the topic back to their search. “So now that we’ve found out all we can online, what are you going to do to find more information about Carmen?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m no private investigator.”

  “Have you considered hiring one?”

  “And tell him what? That a woman who denies being a psychic has a feeling my long-lost brother is still alive and possibly living somewhere in Georgia?”

  “It does sound a little far-fetched when you put it that way.”

  “Yeah. A little.”

  “But I’m sure private investigators have heard stranger stories.”

  “Probably. But I’m not sure I’m willing to pay some guy an outrageous hourly fee to look into this.”

  Especially since he was still a long way from being convinced there was anything to look into, Aislinn finished silently.

  “Maybe you should look up some of Carmen’s surviving family members. Maybe some of her friends.”

  “And ask them what? If they’ve heard from her?”

  She shook her head. “They wouldn’t have. But maybe they had noticed odd behavior from her in the days or weeks leading up to the accident. Maybe they heard her talk about places she wanted to visit or things she wished she could do. Anything that might lead you into a new direction.”

  “Sounds like a lot of trouble,” he grumbled.

  “It will be,” she agreed. “But it’s worth a try, isn’t it?”

  “Is it?” His expression had turned distant and brooding again, to her regret. It had been kind of nice working side by side with him, having him seem open to her input, willing to accept the possibility that there could be some validity to the things she had told him. But something had changed, and it seemed to have happened when she’d mentioned his late sister-in-law.

  Clasping her hands in front of her, she leaned slightly forward in her chair, their knees almost touching as they faced each other. “If there’s a chance—even a very slim chance—that I’m right about Kyle still being alive, wouldn’t you want to find him?”

  Ethan was silent for so long that she began to wonder if he was going to respond. And then he lifted one shoulder. “I guess so. I mean, I haven’t ever really considered the possibility that he survived that flood. What you’re talking about—kidnapping—was never something my family even considered after he disappeared. Yeah, sure, they wondered why Carmen took him out that day in weather like that. They wondered why no bodies were ever found, but considering the circumstances, that wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities.”

  He pushed his chair back and stood, walking across the room to stare out a window. She doubted that he saw anything out in the neatly manicured back lawn. Even though he wasn’t looking at her, his attention was focus
ed entirely on her as he said, “Now, thirty years later, you tell me there’s a chance Kyle could have survived. That he somehow grew up without us, matured into a stranger with a different history than ours, probably no memory of any of us.”

  She had already thought of those things—how painful it would be for the family to accept the years they had lost with Kyle, how wrenching it would be for Elaine and Lou, especially. Moving to stand beside him, she spoke quietly. “It’s going to be difficult, for all of you.”

  He turned, glaring at her in a way that might have intimidated some people. “I’m beginning to wonder if we’re both crazy. You for the things you say and me for listening to them.”

  Though she could understand why he would feel that way, she couldn’t help flinching in response to his adjective. “Neither one of us is crazy,” she said more forcefully than she had intended.

  “Then why am I listening to you?”

  She gazed up at him. “Because you’re keeping an open mind—just in case I’m right.”

  “I’m not sure that’s it.”

  “Then why are you listening to me?”

  He surprised her by reaching up to cup her face between his hands. “Maybe it has something to do with your eyes.”

  “What—” She had to stop to clear her throat. “What about my eyes?”

  Looking somberly down at her, he murmured, “They’re mesmerizing. Maybe you’re really a hypnotist rather than a psychic.”

  She tried to smile. “Very funny.”

  His head lowered toward hers. “I don’t think I was joking.”

  His lips were on hers before she had a chance to say anything else.

  Chapter Nine

  There were no predictions or special insights in Aislinn’s mind when Ethan kissed her. Actually, there was nothing at all. He had rendered her completely incapable of forming a coherent thought.

  She hadn’t kissed many men in her solitary, self-protective life. But she didn’t need much of a base of comparison to know that Ethan was pretty much a pro at this. Amazing, actually.

  She couldn’t imagine why he was kissing her. And it utterly astonished her to realize that she was kissing him back.