“You don’t look fat,” Vaughn said seriously. “You look beautiful.”
Nora blushed again and laughed. “When you called, I didn’t know whether to tell you on the phone or not,” she said. “But then I figured, it’s one of those things that’s easier to tell a person in person.” Vaughn suddenly noticed the flash of the ring on her left hand—a delicate gold band encircled with diamonds.
“How long?” he asked, not trusting his voice to get out the words.
Nora smiled and laughed again. “It’s just been a year. This is a little surprise,” she said, patting the mound beneath her coat. “But it’s a surprise that makes us very happy.”
Vaughn didn’t think he could take another surprise, personally—but at least he was learning to roll with the punches.
“I’m very happy for you,” he said, not knowing yet whether he meant it.
Nora reached across the table and took his hand, squeezing it in her earnestness. “Vaughn, we had our time, and it was great,” she said. “But honestly, after you left me that day in New York, I really believed I would never see you again.” Her face became serious. “And for the past couple of years, that’s pretty much been true.”
Vaughn had known all along that things might not work out, but he hadn’t been prepared for the sadness he was feeling now. He’d really lost his chance, hadn’t he?
If you die in the field, there’ll be no wife at your funeral, he thought.
“Nora, I understand,” he said, trying to sound upbeat even though he was getting glummer by the second. “Things were a lot different then, and you were right not to wait for me.” He gestured to the flowers. “Even if I did come—finally.”
Nora nodded. “Vaughn, I won’t lie. I was in love with you, and getting over you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” she said, emphasizing the last words. “But at the same time, there was always something unspoken between us—something you could never talk about.” Vaughn began to protest, and she raised her hand to stop him. “I don’t know what it was, and I don’t want to know now,” she said, tears coming to her eyes, then finally spilling over her long lashes onto her cheeks. Her voice grew husky. “I’m just very glad to see that, whatever it was, you’re all right.”
Vaughn placed his hands over hers. “I feel the same way about you,” he said simply, trying to accept the situation, since it didn’t look like it was going to change anytime soon. “Now tell me all about this guy you got married to.”
Whipping down the New Jersey turnpike on his way back to Washington, Vaughn felt his sadness lifting. His thoughts about Nora, he was starting to realize, hadn’t been so much about her as about the fact that all around him, people were falling in love, working through their marriages, and being together. And although it hurt to think that he’d never know what could have happened between them, he knew deep down that he hadn’t been in love with Nora—just with the thought of ending how lonely he truly was.
He’d felt under so much pressure to make a choice—any choice. All around him, people were making decisions—Akiko, Betty, his teammates at the Farm, even his mother. Somehow, he’d thought that if he got a family as quickly as he could, his life would just fall into place around him.
But that wasn’t true. Not only because Nora already had started her own family, but because life just didn’t work out that way. It wasn’t something you ordered off the menu at Burger King, and it wasn’t something you could find in other people’s lives.
It’s not even something I could find in my father’s diary, he thought, thinking of the notebook that had fallen behind in a fire that had happened thousands of miles away. Maybe it’s better that I’ll never know his private thoughts—at least not before I know myself a little bit better. And meanwhile, I’ve got my friends, my next mission, and a Whopper at the next rest area I pass, Vaughn thought, feeling better already. I’m just going to take it slow.
Maybe for now, he’d start by getting a dog.
DON’T MISS ANY OF THE
OFFICIAL ALIAS BOOKS
FROM BANTAM BOOKS!
ALIAS: DECLASSIFIED
THE OFFICIAL COMPANION
THE PREQUEL SERIES
RECRUITED
A SECRET LIFE
DISAPPEARED
SISTER SPY
THE PURSUIT/A MICHAEL VAUGHN NOVEL
AND COMING SOON
CLOSE QUARTERS/A MICHAEL VAUGHN NOVEL
Alias: The Pursuit
A Bantam Book / July 2003
Text copyright © 2003 by Touchstone Television
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eISBN: 0-375-89040-8
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eBook Info
Title:Alias: The Pursuit
Creator:Lizzie Skurnick
Publisher:Bantam Books
Format:OEB
Date:2003-08-26
Subject:Fiction
Identifier:Skur_0375890408
Language:US English
Rights:Copyright 2003
The Pursuit (Alias) Page 13