The Happiest Day (2 page)

Frederick
suddenly looked uncomfortable.  “He doesn’t need to know about this.”

“So you’re
lying to me!”  She stood up, angrily shoving him away from her.  “He would be
furious if he knew that you and Helen were having an affair.  He loves her.”

Frederick
grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.  “God, you little fool, he wouldn’t
care because of her.  He would be angry because of you.”

“What do you
mean?” Her teeth rattled from the shaking.

“He would be
upset to find out I had been unfaithful to you.” He pursed his lips.  “Do you
plan on telling him?”

“Yes!  No…I
don’t know.  But this…this farce of an engagement is over.”

Shockingly,
Frederick had smiled.  “Au contraire, my darling.  It’s too late to back out
now.  You and I are getting married as planned.”

“I won’t marry
you.”

“You will or
I’ll ruin this family.”

“Rachel?”

Rachel started and
looked at Peter.  “I’m sorry, what?”

“Have you changed
your mind?  If so, break it off.  No one will think less of you.  Frankly, I’d
be thrilled.”  His eyes suddenly narrowed.  “Is this where this thing with Toby
came from?  Are you using him to force Stern’s hand?  So he’ll break up with
you?”

Rachel shrugged
one shoulder.  “It’s not that exactly.”

“Then what
exactly?” he asked exasperatedly.  “I can’t help you if you won’t confide in
me.  As far as Toby, whatever the reason, you are made of better stuff than
this.  Cut the poor boy loose.  It’s simple.  While you’re at it, break it off
with Stern.”

“I can’t.  It’s
not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“You don’t know
everything.”

“Then tell me.”

She shook her
head.  “Norris gets back from Boston with the boys tonight.  I need to talk to
him about this.”

“You’re sure?” he
asked, pushing a tear-soaked lock of hair off of her cheek.  “You know I’d do
anything for you.”

She smiled.  “I
know.  You’ve been there for me since the very first night, but I need to
handle this by myself.  Trust me.”

He checked his
watch.  “You and I are unfashionably late for lunch with Maryanne and Bert. 
I’m going to blame it on you, you know.”

“I know.” She wiped
the last of the tears off of her face.  “I’ll race you back to the stables. 
This time, try not to cheat.”

Not a day went by
that Rachel didn’t think of her parents, Thomas and Julia, and felt an ache in
her heart.  She never gave up hope that the horrible night from her childhood
had been a nightmare in which she was trapped.  One day, like a princess from a
fairy tale, she would awaken and find her parents, sitting in the kitchen,
smiling at her in welcome.

She knew she and
her brother Laurie were blessed to have Norris Thornton.  She had known Norris
her entire life.  He had been her father’s boyhood friend who had moved from
the country into the city when his own father had inherited the family
newspaper.  Although forty miles apart, Norris and Thomas had never given up on
their friendship.  Rachel had fond memories of Norris visiting them several
times a month, eating supper with them, his refined laughter mixing with her
father’s booming whoops of hilarity.  Rachel remembered her mother’s sparkling
blue eyes as the evening would grow late.  Julia would sit at the piano and
play tunes while Norris danced with Rachel, allowing her to stand on his fine
Italian shoes while he twirled her around the parlor.  He would pick both Rachel
and Laurie up in his arms, spin them around and hug them tightly to his chest.

Not long before
her parents’ murders, Rachel asked her mother about Norris’ family.  Julia had
been hesitant to answer but Rachel had pushed.  “Is he married?  Does he have
children?”  At eight, she was half in love with the handsome, dashing man who
showered so much attention on her.

“He is married,”
her mother had answered carefully.  “Her name is Helen.”

“Do they have
children?”

“Yes.  Helen has a
son from her first marriage, Peter.  He’s almost a grown man now—sixteen, I
think.  Norris and Helen have two children together, Maryanne is just a little
older than you and Geoffrey is about a year older than Laurie.”

“Why doesn’t he
ever bring them here?  Maryanne could be my friend.”

Julia’s eyes had
taken on a sad look as she continued chopping vegetables.  “I’m sure she
would.  I think Norris likes coming here alone.  He’s a very important man in Cincinnati. 
I think when he comes here, he is able to get away from all of the pressure.”

Rachel hadn’t
understood, but her mother was uncharacteristically quiet on the topic.

The night Norris
had rescued her and Laurie, she had seen his house and met his family for the
first time.  A decade later, she still didn’t understand why Norris had kept
his friends and his family separate but had loved and respected him too much to
probe into his privacy.  Helen, his wife, was a cold woman who openly resented
the two children now living in her house.  Luckily, she was a socialite and
rarely at home.  Her life revolved around parties and damaging gossip.  Rachel
couldn’t count the number of times she had walked into the parlor to find Helen
with a group of friends, laughing and chattering, only to fall silent when
Rachel entered.  It didn’t take her very long to realize that the women had been
gossiping about her.  Eventually, she learned to stay in her room or at the
stables when Helen had friends over for tea.  She was the very opposite of
Rachel’s own mother and Rachel never had to worry about the woman trying to
replace Julia.

Norris would never
be her father, but he was a special link to the memory of her parents.  There
were times she found him gazing at her, his eyes misty, his jaw trembling and
she knew he must be thinking of her parents.  Once, when she was barely ten
years old, she found the courage to approach him and he drew her onto his lap,
laying his head against hers, stroking her long hair.

“You look so much
like her,” he had whispered gruffly.

“I know.”  She did
know that she looked like her mother.  Her father had always referred to them
as twins, separated by twenty years.  “Does it make you sad?”

“No.  It just
makes me love you all the more.”

Almost ten years
had passed in the care of the Thorntons.  Laurie had blossomed, having been
only four when orphaned.  He viewed Norris as his father and Geoff, Maryanne,
and Peter as his own siblings.  Rachel, on the other hand, had remained
emotionally aloof for months, if not years, not wanting to betray the memory of
her parents.  It had been Peter who had taken her under his wing, allowing her
to ride horses with him in silence, until one day she had said in a little
voice, “I don’t want to forget them.”

Peter hadn’t even
looked at her, only answered, “You won’t.  You’ll never forget them.”  He had
been ripped from his grandparents at the age of nine when Helen had come to
reclaim him, years after abandoning him as a newborn.  Her husband, a stable
master, had been killed by the hooves of a stallion, and the owners of the
estate had no use for a widow and infant.  Helen had taken Peter to his
paternal grandparents and left without a backward glance.  Peter had confided
in Rachel that he believed Helen would have never come for him if Norris hadn’t
discovered his existence by accident and insisted that Helen’s son come to live
with them.

Rachel had found
her place in the family as time went by.  Maryanne, just a few months older
than her, became her dearest friend and Geoff was like a bothersome but
adorable little brother.  Peter was quite simply her protector.  He insulated
her from Helen’s barbed comments and scathing looks.  He didn’t poke or prod
when she seemed withdrawn and sad, but seemed to sense it, even after he moved
away from the estate.  He would appear at her bedroom doorway, his dark eyes
taking in her body language, and flick his hand.  It didn’t matter if they left
via horse or his car—he was her means to escape from the sometimes oppressive
atmosphere of the Thornton estate.

She asked him once
how he knew when she needed him and he had teased her, “Maybe we’re soul mates,
Spider.”

That could have
been a romantic statement causing her teenage heart to stutter, but the
existence of Blanche MacGregor, his wife, put to rest any such notions.  Peter
had married her after he finished law school and she was generally despised by
Rachel, Laurie, and Peter’s siblings.  It was beyond Rachel why Peter had
married somebody so much like his own mother.  Blanche even looked like Helen
in a way.  She was short, but curvy, and wore her jet black hair in a severe
slicked back hairstyle that suited her face.  She had feline eyes, green and
slanted.  She and Peter were a beautiful couple and it was easy to see that
they were physically attracted to each other.  Blanche always dressed in the
latest fashion and, along with Helen, was on the top rung of the social
ladder.  People lived and died by Blanche’s opinion.  For her to appear at a
party was the highest honor.  If she so much as sneered at someone, though,
that unfortunate individual knew they were doomed.

Throughout their
engagement and for the first few months of their marriage, Peter appeared
besotted.  They were together almost constantly and Rachel marveled at how he
seemed blind to Blanche’s mean spirited glances and words.  Rachel would find
herself trembling when she would look up to discover Blanche’s eyes on her. 
She and Maryanne admitted to each other that they were afraid of the woman and
tried to stay clear of her as much as possible.

Then, just months
after his marriage, he and his best friend and law partner, Bert Corbin, had left
for France and the war.  Time seemed to come to a standstill for everyone.  Maryanne,
usually a happy soul, lay in bed for hours at a time, crying into her pillow. 
She admitted to Rachel that she was in love with Bert.  At not quite fifteen
years old, Maryanne displayed the tragic drama that only a teenage girl could. 
Rachel spent many nights comforting her friend but secretly believing that
twenty-two year old Bert could not possibly be interested in the young girl. 
She hoped that by the time he and Peter returned home, Maryanne had moved on to
someone more obtainable.

Finally, both men
came home, physically sound; Peter, however, seemed to have changed in subtle
ways.  He was more introspective, if that was possible, and within just a few
weeks, he seemed to have lost affection for his wife.  He spent most of his
time at work, at his private apartment in the city, or at the Thornton estate. 
For her part, Blanche didn’t seem to mind.  During the war, she had thrived on
the social scene, playing the despondent war bride with flair and Peter’s
return could only serve to interfere with her busy schedule.  They stayed
married but Rachel thought that she had never met a more unlikely or
unaffectionate couple.

Upon their return,
the now seventeen years old Maryanne made a play for Bert, in a ladylike but
determined fashion.  Bert couldn’t resist the dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty
that possessed the same fun-loving personality as his own and it was barely a
year later that they had become officially engaged.  The men had been back from
the war for over two years now and Bert and Maryanne were due to be married in less
than one week’s time.  Rachel suspected that the upcoming wedding had played a
part in her responding to Frederick’s attention.  She was frightened of being
alone, and lonely, once Maryanne moved out.  Laurie and Geoff attended a prep
school in Boston and only came home for the holidays and the summer.  Norris
was always working at the newspaper and Rachel could go for weeks at a time
without seeing Peter if he was involved in a case.  When Frederick proposed,
she remembered feeling an overwhelming sense of relief.  In retrospect, that
probably wasn’t the best response she could have had.

“You’re a million
miles away,” Maryanne said, touching her hand gently.

She and Rachel,
Peter, and Bert sat at a table on the back patio at the main house, going over
the last minute details of the wedding.

“Oh, I was just
thinking about Norris and the boys coming home tonight.  I can’t wait to see
Laurie and Geoff again.  It’s been since Christmas.”  She took a sip of her
iced tea.  “Just six more days now.  Are you nervous or excited?”

Maryanne smiled
coyly, twirling a lock of dark hair around her finger.  “Now just excited.” 
She looked under her lashes at the men, and convinced that they were engrossed
in their own conversation, whispered, “I took care of the nervousness last
night.”

Rachel frowned in
confusion.  “What does that mean?”

Maryanne smiled
and raised her eyebrows.  “Well, you know what I was worried about…”

Rachel stared at
her for a long moment, then gasped.  “You don’t mean…”

Maryanne nodded
rapidly, grabbing Rachel’s hand.  “Ssh…if Peter knew, he’d break Bert’s nose.” 
She leaned closer.  “It…was…amazing.”

“Oh, Maryanne,”
Rachel breathed.  “You’re so lucky to have Bert.”  They both looked over at the
husky, blond man who laughed easily while talking with Peter.  His eyes met Maryanne’s
and he winked.  A giggle escaped from Maryanne and Peter scowled as he looked
from one to the other.

“What are you two
doing?  You act like you have a secret.”

“Maybe we do,” Maryanne
teased.  “And it’s going to stay a secret, big brother.”

“Stop scowling,
Peter,” Rachel admonished.  “When was the last time you smiled?  Do your
muscles even move that way anymore?”

“Give me something
to smile about,” Peter challenged, raising his eyebrows in a challenge.

In a flash, Rachel
scooped a piece of ice from her tea and dropped it down Peter’s shirt.  He gave
out a yowl, reaching down his shirt to grab the offending chunk.

“That doesn’t
sound like laughter,” Bert observed.

“I’m laughing,” Maryanne
stated through her giggles.

Peter finally
reached the ice and pulled it out, immediately grabbing Rachel from her chair
and dropping it down her neckline.  Rachel tried to escape from his grasp, but
he wrapped his arm around her waist, hauling her up against him.  “Oh no you
don’t, Spider.  We’re going to stand here until the ice melts.  I hope it’s
slow and painful.”

Rachel broke out
into uncontrollable giggles while she struggled against him.  Peter felt his
heart warm.  He loved to hear Rachel laugh.  She had always been such a shy,
withdrawn child; damaged really, by the trauma she had suffered.  He knew she
was frightened of loving again and he could understand that fear.  He had felt the
same way when Norris and Helen had taken him away from his grandparents, the
only family he had ever known.  At the time, there was no one to protect and
shelter him.  He had found solace in the horses and eventually opened his heart
to his young sister, then later Geoff.  He had never bonded with his mother,
who requested he call her Helen, but had developed a polite relationship with
Norris.  In all, though, he had generally felt isolated until a little girl,
clad in a white nightgown, had arrived on their doorstep in the middle of the
night.  He could give to her what no one had been able to provide for him. 
Somewhere along the way, he had also started to genuinely like her and
eventually, as difficult as it was for him to admit, loved her.

“It’s melted,” she
gasped now, no longer struggling.  “You won, all right?”

“Don’t I always?”
he growled in her ear, and then released her with a small chuckle.  They both
sat down, Rachel’s face flushed with merriment.

He wished he could
take a snapshot of this moment, sitting on the patio with his sister, best
friend, and Rachel.  Fluffy white clouds chased each other across the brilliant
blue sky, the marvelous gardens were in full bloom with a variety of flowers,
and he could smell summer on the breeze.  Beyond this moment, he knew, were
problems.  Whatever it was that was bothering Rachel would have to be dealt
with and he would need to ensure that she didn’t marry Stern.  His own marriage
was in shambles and his answer so far had been to ignore it.  These were problems,
but they could be solved.  For today, he would just enjoy the moment.