Dana now understood. “Hockey.”
“They even made a ‘head rub’ vow to play again one day. That’s about as serious as it gets. So when I saw the Borcher Skating Rink across from the hospital, and realized it was the day of love, it had to be.”
“For such a cynic, you’re quite the hopeless romantic.”
They just smiled at each other.
Heidi Borcher wasn’t in such a loving mood. She looked like she was going to explode upon spotting the two children on the ice.
“There is no way he’s come this far, just to throw it all away like this. His immune system is not ready.”
“At some point, we have to realize that they’re just kids … and we have to let them play,” Guy said.
“That’s exactly right—they’re kids. And kids need parents to help them make the right decisions.”
She began heading for the ice, but Guy grabbed her arm. “Let them be alive … just for a few minutes. It’s good to remind him what it’s like to live. Provides incentive to get better.”
“He’ll live a lot longer if we get him back to the hospital.”
She pulled her hand away and began marching down the bleachers with the intent of pulling her son off the ice with any force necessary.
Billy looked out to the ice. Ryan was on skates, dressed in a jersey over a hooded sweatshirt, with padded hockey pants, and a winter hat over his bald head. Carolyn was in a Supergirl outfit. Her dress was MIA, and the only remnants of her original outfit were her Mary Jane shoes which slipped and slid as she ran over the ice surface—but no fear of falling. And if she did, she was wearing a hockey helmet for protection. She was no longer allowed on skates, since she’d likely break every bone in her body without ever knowing it. Hockey might have been in her DNA, but it wasn’t in her future. It just didn’t mix well with CIPA.
They pushed the puck around the ice, to the sounds of sticks tapping against the hard surface and the blades of Ryan’s skates cutting through the ice. Ryan then took a wicked slap shot at the goal, which was set up at the one end. But in doing so, he lost his balance and crashed to the ice. It only further fueled his mother, who picked up her pace.
But she stopped when she heard the sound.
It was laughter, echoing throughout the rink. Loud, joyful laughter, coming from her son. She looked confused at first, as she probably hadn’t heard that sound in the seven months they’d been here.
Carolyn giggled, “You fell, Ryan.”
But then she lost her balance as well, and went crashing to the ice, right on her tushy. Now Chuck was the one on the edge of his seat. When Billy had first met him, he took pride in his daughter’s highwire act, but since Beth’s passing he’d taken over her role of paranoid worrywart.
Now both kids laughed hysterically, laying on the ice, side by side. It seemed as if all the trials and tribulations that Carolyn had faced the last sixteen months, washed away in her laughter. As did Ryan’s. They were both free and happy … for the moment … which was all any parent could want for their children.
Heidi returned to Guy’s side without a word.
When they picked themselves up off the ice, Ryan played goalie, while Carolyn tried to get the puck past him. But Billy saw his ulterior motive. This experience, the escape and now the hockey, had taken more out of him than he wanted to admit. And this way he could hold on to the goal to brace himself without any injury to his pride.
Carolyn took a wild swing of her way-too-big-for-her hockey stick, and sent a screamer right between Ryan’s legs, before his slowed reactions could stop it.
“Five hole!” Carolyn screamed out, elated.
The small crowd cheered her. She pushed her oversized helmet away from her eyes, and noticed them for the first time. She locked eyes on her fans, and one in particular. “Billy—you came to see me play hockey!”
He just smiled at her and waved.
Ryan’s competitive nature took over and he found a second wind. He skated out from the goal with impressive speed and agility, cutting sharp angles. He swooped behind one of the many pucks scattered across the ice, and with lightning quick wrists, sent it into the back of the net before anyone knew what happened.
Carolyn looked on in awe. And Chuck and Guy traded glances of admiration. It would take a hockey professional to understand just how talented Ryan Borcher was.
But it didn’t take a doctor to know he wasn’t yet himself. The one shot appeared to zap his remaining energy, and he leaned on his stick as a crutch, while Carolyn took the lead.
Despite the slowing pace, their supporters cheered them on; even Heidi.
Let’s go, Ryan! Let’s go, Ryan!
Car-o-lyn! Car-o-lyn!
“This place is great,” Dana said to Guy, who nodded his thanks, even if he now thought the funds could be better served across the street.
“Except it’s missing one thing,” Billy said.
“And what would that be?” Guy asked.
“It needs one of those Kiss-Cams. Where they scan the crowd for couples during timeouts, and when they kiss the crowd cheers. Every game I’ve ever been to has one of those.”
Guy smiled. “I don’t think that was in the budget. And besides, who needs it. We make our own.” He leaned over and kissed Heidi, who giggled. She had momentarily let down her wall.
Chuck followed suit, kissing Lindsey. But not before they both made sure that Carolyn wasn’t looking their way.
“You know what else I liked at hockey games,” Billy continued, “When they do the marriage proposals on the scoreboard.”
Guy laughed. “I saw a few of those go wrong—poor sap. You better be sure of the answer if you take that route.”
Billy shrugged. “I don’t know—sometimes you just have to take a chance in life.”
He got on his knee in front of Dana and asked her to marry him … again. The others just stared at them, at first thinking they were joking around.
Chuck lightly smacked Billy on the head. “You’re missing a good game here.”
“I’m dead serious,” Billy responded, holding his stare on Dana.
All eyes went to her, and she shook her head. Now they weren’t so sure. “I’m sorry, Billy, but I can’t.”
Awkward silence fell over them, before Dana held up her ring finger. “I can’t accept your proposal because I’m already engaged.”
Now everyone understood. Hugs abounded, even with the Borchers, whom they’d met only hours before, under the toughest of circumstances.
Eventually attention returned to the “game” between Ryan and Carolyn.
“So who’s winning?” Dana whispered to Billy.
“Love is,” he whispered back.
Memorial Day Weekend
Chapter 18
The holiday traffic sputtered to a stop along I-87, then started again. Rinse and repeat.
As Billy continued alternating between brake and accelerator, he turned to Dana in the passenger seat, and asked, “Do you remember the last time we came up here?”
Dana looked up from her bridal magazine, as if he’d interrupted her in the middle of a national security meeting. “Fire … shooting … destruction. Vaguely.”
“On the way up we followed right behind Chuck’s vehicle, just like today.”
“So?”
“What’s different about this trip?”
“For starters, we’re not running from a bunch of lunatics trying to kidnap Carolyn,” she said. “It was fall, not spring, and it was a year-and-a-half ago. We weren’t engaged then. There’s more traffic this time. It’s sort of an open-ended question—I could literally go on forever … which at this rate, just might be our ETA to the cabin.”
“It’s Carolyn.”
“Carolyn? As I recall, she was sitting in the same backseat, just as she is now. I don’t see what’s different.”
Neither of them brought up the obvious—that her mother wasn’t with them this trip—but that’s not what Billy was getting at.
&n
bsp; “True, but she’s acting completely different. Last time, despite all the chaos that surrounded us, she was free as a bird—turning around every five seconds to wave at us, smiling, being her usual self. This time she hasn’t moved in an hour.”
“Either has this traffic,” Dana said with a sigh. “We’re always on her to behave, and then when she does, it’s some sort of red flag?”
“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong—it’s just that she doesn’t seem herself.”
“Newsflash, kids her age change personality by the hour. Just wait, in a couple years she’ll be on her phone the entire time and will act like we’re not even there.”
“It just seems like she’s putting on a show for us.”
Dana set her magazine down, and didn’t appear happy about it. “I was unaware that Sigmund Harper, the famed children’s author psychologist, would be joining us on the trip. Let me guess, you think her being quiet is a sign that she’s holding things inside, likely because Lake George represents the last trip we took with her mother, before her world got shaken-up like a snow globe. And what we’re looking at is not a well-behaved girl, but a dormant volcano on the verge of eruption.”
“So you agree with me?”
“I agree that this trip might be causing her some uneasiness, but you’re over-thinking it.”
“How so?”
“It’s a simple territory issue. There’s a new person with us who doesn’t belong … at least in Carolyn’s eyes. So she’s out of sorts, maybe feeling a little threatened. They’ll eventually find their own space, but it takes time. Just look at you, for example.”
“What do I have to do with this?”
“We’ve been together over a year now, and every time you’re over at my apartment in the city, Lassie still freaks out. It’s all about you stepping on her territory … no different with Carolyn and Lindsey.”
Billy shook his head, as traffic came to another halt. “I still can’t believe you named your cat Lassie—I think that’s what’s screwing her up, not me.”
Dana shrugged. “You knew all about my eccentric side when you signed up for me. And why should dogs have a monopoly on such a fabulous name?”
“I thought you had a talk with Carolyn about Lindsey?”
“I did—I explained that her mother came to live with my family when she was a little girl, and how great it was for me to have a new sister. And that’s how she should think of Lindsey—as a new sister. But she inherited her mother’s stubborn streak, so she’ll fight it for a while more. We just need to ride it out.”
Dana returned her attention to her bridal magazine, while Billy refocused on Carolyn—still staring straight ahead, no sign of life. After starting and stopping for another ten minutes, Dana looked up and said, “The only time is Christmas, but I worry about the guests trying to get there—can you imagine four-hundred people converging on New Canaan all at once, much less during the holidays?”
Billy looked at her like she was kidding, but clearly she wasn’t. “What are you talking about?”
“Think about it—it’s the only time we can do it. You have Anna and Maddie for the summer, and your next book is due by Thanksgiving, so you’ll be busy all fall. Then your next tour begins in January. That leaves only a small window at Christmas time.”
“I’m talking about the four-hundred guests. I thought we decided on a small wedding?”
She smiled. “Obviously, you’ve never been to a Boulanger wedding. Four-hundred is on the small side.”
That was true, he hadn’t. But he had been to numerous Klein family weddings, including one where he was the groom. And from the moment they got engaged, there had been times when he swore Dana had transformed into his ex-wife, Kelly Klein, right before his eyes. And since he already knew how that movie had turned out, he wasn’t interested in watching the sequel.
The idea that he’d ever compare Dana and Kelly seemed ridiculous. But he didn’t always view Kelly the way he did today. He was madly in love with her at one point. Is that why he overlooked the obvious warning signs? Was he doing it again?
What wasn’t in dispute was that the Boulangers and the Kleins were creatures of the same world. And no matter how much Kelly at one time had rebelled against her family, she eventually reverted to her DNA, and it came in the form of Senator Oliver LaRoche. Dana had also rebelled against her family, but Billy couldn’t help but to wonder if one day she’d prefer someone like Dr. Donovan Soos.
He felt another haunting vision coming on like a migraine. It brought him back to his wedding day. A glorious summer afternoon with four hundred guests in attendance at the swanky Klein residence outside of Pittsburgh. Except in the vision, when he turned to “kiss the bride” it wasn’t Kelly puckering up, but Dana. He quickly scanned the audience, and saw Oliver LaRoche sitting beside Ross Boulanger and Gordon Klein; Dr. Soos was seated across the aisle next to Aldrich. All he could hear was their devious laughter, stinging his ears until they felt like they would puncture.
Billy shook the cruel daydream from his head, just in time to slam on the brakes. They screeched to a stop just before slamming into Chuck’s rear-bumper.
Carolyn finally looked back at them, but appeared ambivalent, and returned to her stoic, forward-facing position.
Without taking her eyes off her magazine, Dana said, “Watch where you’re going.”
“Sorry,” he said. This holiday weekend trip was already fraught with testy emotions, and Billy chose not to toss any gasoline on the fire with a retort. This was the first time they’d returned to the Lake George cabin since the night of the fire. The whole thing was still surreal.
Dana held up a photo from her magazine for him to see. It looked like a castle, surrounded by fountains and a pristine, emerald lawn that expanded to the ocean. “It’s Chateau d’Aundrade in Greenwich. It would be perfect, but I doubt we could get it for Christmas time, they’re usually booked two years in advance.”
“Whatever you think is best. That’s what you’re going to do anyway.”
Not very subtle. “Well, I am the one doing all the work, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Weddings are just so overrated. All this planning and money for one day. If people put as much effort into the marriage as they do the wedding, the divorce-rate might be cut in half.”
“Friends and family gathering together to celebrate a couple’s love and commitment … how terrible.”
“I’m speaking from experience, but you have no interest in hearing it. You’re too involved in your fantasy … or what you think society dictates you should do.” There went the gasoline.
“For your information, I have dreamed of my wedding day. And I’m not going to apologize for it. If you think that makes me vain or narcissistic or superfluous, then that’s your problem.”
“I never said it did.”
“And just because your ex-wife is a total bitch doesn’t mean I should be punished. It’s not my fault your marriage didn’t work.”
That part they could agree on.
“And deep down, I think you’re as hopelessly idealistic as I am,” Dana continued. “You gave me the same sad, cynical act on Valentine’s Day, and next thing I know you’re proposing to me.”
He offered a smile as a peace offering. “That’s only because you shelled out ten-grand for my services—it would have been rude not to ask.”
She smiled back at him—a cease-fire. “Does that make you like, a mail-order husband?”
“I just think our peace-of-mind would be served better without a big, lavish wedding, and the money could be better used on our dream home, or given to your buddy Dr. Soos for his hospital.”
“I’m planning to pay for it myself, if that’s your concern.”
Billy recalled having this exact conversation with Kelly, with a similar outcome. He knew there were strings attached to that money, even if Dana’s intent was pure. He was bought and paid for once, and was determined not to have it happen again.
Traf
fic freed up, and Billy hit the gas. But his 2001 Jeep Cherokee responded with clunk, clunk, clunk.
“Speaking of money, you do have some of it now from your books, so you might want to think about investing in a new car.”
Billy shook his head. “Not a chance. Betsy and I have been through a lot together.”
“Just remember that when you trade me in on a younger model.”
He started to make a crack about how she was actually the one robbing the cradle, being that she was four years older than him, but her focus had returned to her wedding fantasy.
A few minutes later, she showed him a different French-looking castle—the compromise plan. “This place is a little smaller, and easier to book. Maybe four hundred is a little too big. I could get it down to two-seventy-five, but that would be cutting it close.”
“I had a different number in mind,” Billy said.
“Which is?”
“Five—you, me, Chuck, Lindsey, and Carolyn. Maybe go to the Caribbean, or Vegas.”
Her smile dimmed, and Billy could sense the disappointment. They hadn’t just hit an impasse about the wedding plans, but also for their visions of the future … if they had ever been aligned in the first place.
Chapter 19
Billy wasn’t sure how he’d react upon returning to the wretched scene, but based on the chills that swept through his body and wrapped around his spine, he had yet to move past those memories. Crawling along the ground as the gunshots whizzed past their heads. The image of Calvin, shockingly peaceful, as fire engulfed his body.
If it were up to Billy he would have never come back. He was surprised that anyone who was present that night would, especially Chuck, but he turned out to be the driving force in their return. It took a while, months in the making, but Chuck was determined to rebuild the cabin. And even if he wouldn’t express it in these terms, Billy believed Chuck thought it was symbolic of the rebuilding of their lives.
The original cabin was one-level, hidden from civilization on a couple of acres. There was a grassy meadow area in front of it—an oasis in the middle of the thick forest—that extended about thirty feet of flat land before declining sharply to the water’s edge. In the other direction, the Adirondack Mountains hovered over the rear of the cabin, providing a picturesque view.
The Carolyn Chronicles, Volume 1 Page 8