An Irresistible Temptation (29 page)

Despite the strain felt by its primary
pianist, the symphony’s audiences had grown and the papers were
filled with praise every time they performed. However, after the
curtain closed, when Sophie lay alone at night, she thought of
Riley and what might have been. Then, she was distraught . . . and
puzzled. She had been so sure of his feelings for her, as strong as
her own for him. If he had truly been using her, he could have had
her a second time in her apartment, but he hadn’t.

His words demanding freedom made sense. A man
in a long, loveless relationship could only take so much, but he
was the one who had come to find her backstage on opening night.
Why?
She asked herself that a hundred times. She felt as
though she’d been carefully playing an intricate movement when
someone removed a measure, maybe two, from the middle. She was
lost, failing to grasp at something elemental and obvious,
something she was overlooking.

She grasped her sheet and tossed it up over
her head, tired of the ache in her heart. But she no longer looked
for him or even hoped to bump into him. That would be too
painful.

*****

“It’s freezing. You’re crazy,” Sophie yelled
at her sister Rose above the sound of the surf. The beach was
covered in the previous night’s snow. She had allowed Rose to talk
her into a midday train trip to the frigid beach, supposedly to
look at the gulls and the breakers.

“I don’t care. It’s sunny and beautiful and
it all looks like something out of a painting,” Rose shouted
back.

“I can hardly hear you.”

“Sophie, when you play piano, is it magic for
you, like making love to a man?”

That, she heard!

“Is there something you want to tell me?”

Her younger sister pointed along the isolated
beach.

Standing on the boardwalk at the far end was
a man, in naval garb, evidently waiting for them. Rose gave her
older sister a quick smile and started running toward him. Sophie
sighed, hugging her thick wool cloak around her while the December
wind tried to whip it away. Rose was in love. Again. It was going
to be an interesting Christmas.

Luckily, Rose’s latest tremendous passion
became everyone’s focus over the holidays, leaving Sophie out of
the spotlight. After congratulations from her family and friends on
her success, Sophie didn’t want to answer questions about why she’d
given Philip the mitten months earlier, or whether another prospect
waited in the wings.

None of them knew Riley Dalcourt or how her
heart was in a deep-freeze as chilled as the Atlantic Ocean. Still,
she was grateful for her new life.

When she had a quiet moment alone with
Charlotte, she thanked her.

“My life would be so empty if you hadn’t
brought Henry Hadley to listen to me.”

Charlotte arched a delicate eyebrow.

Sophie laughed. “No, nothing like that. Henry
is quite smitten with our visiting soprano, and I couldn’t be
happier for him. But the symphony has become my family away from
home.”

“Speaking of home,” her sister-in-law said,
“I forgot to tell you I had a lovely Christmas card with a letter
from Sarah Cuthins.”

Just the name, so unexpected, was like a
sharp pinch. Sarah and Doc and Riley were irrevocably entangled in
her mind, and Sophie’s thoughts flew from one to the other to the
next, until she was picturing Riley’s last terrible kiss and his
harsh words.

“Sophie, are you listening to me?”

“Sorry, Charlotte, I was miles away.”

“Thinking of Spring City? I know I was. Sarah
said they’re getting ready to travel as soon as the snows let up
and the seasons change again. Most likely, by April or May, they’ll
be able to leave.”

“So Doctor Cuthins is retiring?”

“Well, he can now. I don’t know if you ever
met Riley Dalcourt?” Charlotte asked.

Another sharp pinch from the past. Sophie
blushed but lowered her head to hide it, feigning interest in her
own hands. She started absentmindedly doing finger exercises while
Charlotte spoke.

“He was probably away when you were in
Spring, though I’m sure you met his fiancée, or rather ex-fiancée,
Eliza. Bane of my existence, that girl, and for the life of me, I
never knew what I did to annoy her, but she loved to tease me.”

Sophie wrinkled up her nose. She couldn’t lie
to Charlotte. “Yes, I met her. And Mr. Dalcourt, actually. Why do
you ask?”

“Sarah said that Eliza ended her engagement.
It was the talk of Spring, more so when she up and left town. So
strange! Well, you saw for yourself how handsome Riley is.” She
tapped her foot. “And of course, you must have met Mr. Webster? His
granddaughter is getting married. And someone played a prank and
put piglets in the general store overnight.”

Charlotte had a faraway look, and Sophie
waited, feeling anything but patient.
What was the news about
Riley?

“Anyway, Riley became a doctor, at last, and
is, indeed, working with Doc.” Charlotte laughed. “I guess they’ll
be calling them both ‘Doc’ now.”

Sophie couldn’t say she was surprised
exactly. She remembered Riley’s words about owing Doc Cuthins, for
helping him and setting him on the right path. But somehow, after
seeing him in San Francisco and having been in the modern hospital,
she found it difficult to picture Riley back in Doc’s small, rustic
practice in Spring City.

“With Riley able to take over, Sarah can
finally come visit me,” Charlotte prattled on. “She and Doc can go
on to Europe, too, if they want.”

“How lovely for them.” Sophie murmured, but
her mind was on Riley being back in Spring City. How long had he
known he was going back? He’d never said anything about it, never
discussed his plans with her.

She remembered thinking she would go anywhere
if he asked her, wondering why Eliza had even hesitated. But now,
she reconsidered. Riley was going to stay in Colorado, taking over
as the town doctor. He would no doubt find a local lady to marry,
hopefully someone as good and patient as Sarah, if that was
possible. In twenty years, would he have a wife who was dying to
get out of Spring City and travel? Would his wife wait that
long?

Sophie swallowed, admitting to herself that,
at this moment in time, she couldn’t imagine giving up the
symphony, though, in all likelihood, she would have done so for
Riley. Yes, feeling the way she felt about him after he’d declared
his love so softly on the bridge, if he’d asked her, she would have
gone with him. And she would have hated it!
And Riley knew
that.

At last, there was the missing measure of the
music she’d been going over in her head: Riley knew she loved him,
knew she’d go with him to the ends of the earth, and knew she’d be
utterly miserable. Could it be that simple? Was that why he asked
her in that awful last meeting,
Are you supremely happy?
She
remembered that she told him she was. And he’d made sure to severe
their relationship with his absolutely cruel behavior.
But what
about Riley’s happiness?

“And Dan Freeman says hello,” Charlotte
concluded and looked at Sophie. “You seem distracted.”

“I think I need to play piano. I’ve been
slacking lately.”

“Yes,” Charlotte agreed, her face deadpan,
“Rose said you’d only played for four hours yesterday.”

“I should have played for five,” Sophie said
with a wry smile.

*****

“I am so very glad you put this off until
now,” Sophie said, as Egbert tucked a blanket around her and
Carling. “I would have hated to miss this monumental trip.” Which
would be all the better if Riley were beside her.
Stop, stop,
stop,
she admonished herself for the millionth time in a week.
Put Riley in the past where he belonged.

“Go on with you,” Carling said, squeezing her
arm. “It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

They started out in a brougham for wine
country with Sophie trying to take pleasure in the normal things in
life. This
was
her life, after all. Riley had made his
decision, and if, as she surmised, he’d made it without giving her
a choice in the matter, then she could do nothing about it.

“So what’s the plan, soon-to-be-Mrs. Egbert
Hull?” Sophie asked, inwardly begging to be distracted from her
wayward thoughts. Even discussing her friend’s engagement—with its
double edge of happiness and loss—was better than brooding. The
ring that Carling had waggled in front of Sophie when she’d
returned from her Christmas in Boston contained one sweetly
sparkling diamond, with a promise of a summer wedding. They planned
to move north immediately after.

Carling squealed with excitement and Egbert
leaned back from the driver’s seat and kissed her full on the
mouth. Sophie smiled, never expecting to see that out in the open,
but Carling was good for him and vice versa. Apparently, they were
the opposite to her and Riley, whose paths had never been going in
the same direction from the moment they’d met.

“We’re going to visit Charles Krug,” Egbert
answered for her, “a super fellow. He apprenticed for Haraszthy at
Buena Vista winery and then for Patchett, so he’s full of
information and tips. Says drinking wine keeps him young, but he’s
very long in the tooth, and I want to pick his brain a little
before he . . . ,” he trailed off and then coughed delicately.

Egbert patted the pad of paper beside him.
“Anyway, I’m going to take all sorts of notes. We’ll stay with the
Burris family—they’ve got grape vines, too—and then visit the land
for sale in the morning before heading home.”

Sophie felt a pang of melancholy. Riley had
been the one to suggest they all stay with a friend of his
father’s, David Burris and his wife, Julia, on their 300 acres when
the trip was first discussed. Riley was so very far away and it was
likely she would never lay eyes on him again.

“What is it, love?” Carling asked.

Sophie shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Why don’t you tell us all about your new
gentleman friend?” Carling suggested, going exactly in the
direction that Sophie wished to avoid—for though she was letting
one of the violinists take her to dinner now and again, it was a
pale, watery version of spending time with Riley.

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“I could tell you about Haraszthy’s
Report
on Grapes and Wine of California
. It’s a bit outdated, from
1858, but still very good information.”

They settled back and let Egbert talk.

*****

As Valentine’s Day came and went, Sophie
found herself with more suitors than she could ever imagine. A
talented, educated, single Eastern lady was rather an oddity in the
sometimes rough-and-ready city of San Francisco. She was asked out
by nearly every unattached man in the symphony, as well as some who
were attached. She was asked out by audience members who lingered
after the curtain went up. She was asked out by men she met on the
cable car.

To one and all, she said “No, thank you.”

She’d felt the kind of love that grew
steadily over time with Philip and she’d felt the type of love that
hit you at first sight with Riley, even if that turned out to be
fleeting, perhaps more lust than love on his part. In any case, she
didn’t want to feel either for a while.

Instead, she had music and more music to
occupy her. Henry talked of their young symphony going on tour, not
internationally, just a few states that had halls large enough. It
would raise money and let them stretch their talents.

Sophie tried to gain enthusiasm for the idea
of a late-summer trip, but, in truth, she’d had enough moving about
in trains for a while. She loved the hilly city and her new
apartment, and had no desire to leave either.

“You’re getting all sedentary,” Carling
teased over drinks.

“Oh my goodness,” Sophie exclaimed. “What
will I do without you? Only a few more months and you’ll be gone.”
She thought she might cry as the realization hit her that she’d be
alone in the city; it was almost like having to start over.
Again.

“We’ll be so close, nothing compared to how
far away your family is.”

Sophie felt more tears prick. Could her music
be everything for her? Was it worth missing out on her family? And
the unbearable question that always cropped up in her mind,
Had
her musical gift cost her Riley?

“Oh, dear,” Carling got up and came around
the table to hug her. “Sorry, that was stupid.”

Sophie dabbed at her eyes. “No, it’s fine.
I’m all weepy today. Let’s discuss the music for your wedding and
that’ll cheer me up.

“Did someone say a wedding?” Egbert asked,
sitting down. “I have the license right here.” He patted his
pocket. “And I have great news. I now have the title to the land in
Sonoma, and it has a farmhouse on it, maybe nice enough to be a
little inn someday.”

Carling squealed and threw her arms around
Egbert.

“And to think, a year ago, I thought you were
Mr. Hoity-Toity Stuffy.”

“What?” Egbert looked shocked.

“I thought that, too, when I first met you,”
Sophie confessed. “Starch in your unmentionables, and all
that.”

Egbert turned red at the mention of his
unmentionables. “Well, I’ll have to work on the impression I give
to people when I’m a winemaker and an innkeeper.”

“Go on with you,” Carling said. “You just be
you, and I’ll handle the social niceties.”

They dovetailed into the perfect pair. Like
Charlotte and Reed and . . . Sarah and Doc. That was how it should
be. She and Riley would never have had that, if he was going to be
a country doctor. It was clearly for the best that he had not
fallen in love with her after all.

She stood up. “I’m heading home. I’ve a long
day of rehearsing tomorrow.”

Carling grabbed her hand. “I don’t understand
this rehearsing business. You spend hours practicing something you
already know how to do. You already play piano better than anyone
in the world, don’t you?”