Beautifully Forgotten (21 page)

The restaurant Ember picked was in the Village, a café that served organic sandwiches and smoothies. It looked a little grassroots, beatnik, and just up Darcy’s alley. They checked the blackboard of offerings for the day before grabbing a little bistro table with an umbrella to keep them cool in the bright afternoon sun. Once they were settled, a waitress came over and took their drink orders.

“Those planter boxes are beautiful. What an arrangement. I’m going to try to copy that for my fire escape,” Darcy said almost absently.

Ember followed her gaze to the large terra-cotta planters spilling over with color. “You’re a gardener.”

“I work with what I have.”

Ember smiled in reply before she changed the subject. “I didn’t realize that Lucien was hiring, though I completely see his need for help. The man is constantly trying to do everything and somehow manages to do so successfully. Me, if I had that many balls in the air, it would be a disaster.”

“Can I ask how you know him?” Darcy asked.

“He’s good friends with my husband, Trace.”

“Trace Montgomery?”

The other woman gave Darcy a questioning look. “Yes. Do you know him?”

“Not really.”

Darcy wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the sunlight, but it looked as if some of the easy kindness faded from Ember’s gaze as she studied her, so Darcy changed the subject.

“Have you lived in Manhattan long?”

“Close to four years. It’s expensive, crowded, noisy, dirty, and I love it.”

“I agree; there’s something about it here that just feels a bit magical.”

The waitress stepped up to them to take their order, but something across the street caught Darcy’s attention. She barely heard Ember telling the waitress they needed a few more minutes, or ask, “Darcy, what’s wrong?”

She was seeing a ghost.

As Ember turned her attention to see what Darcy was staring at, Darcy didn’t expect to hear her gasp. She turned to see that Ember had turned pale.

“Do you know her?” Darcy asked.

“That’s Heidi Moore, and the man with her is my husband.”

Darcy looked back at the couple across the street who were obviously in the middle of an argument. Ember asked after a minute, “How do you know her?”

“Don’t you want to walk over there and find out what the hell is going on?”

“I do, but I trust him. His past is riddled with shit and she’s a part of that. I’ll find out, but not in the middle of day with all these eyes watching.”

“That’s very . . . wow, I don’t think I could do that.”

Ember turned her attention to Darcy. “Maybe you just haven’t found the right man. So, tell me, how do you know Heidi?”

It wasn’t a story she ever told, but there was something about Ember that made Darcy want to unload the burden she’d carried for so long. “This is a conversation best had with wine and lots of it.”

Darcy signaled for the waitress, and after their wine was set before them, she took a long sip before she started.

“When I was fourteen, my mom dropped me off at an orphanage.”

Ember caught on immediately. “St. Agnes.”

“Yeah, that’s how I know of Trace. We were there together for a short time. Anyway, Lucien and I hit it off immediately. For two years we were inseparable and we planned on running away together.”

There was sympathy in Ember’s eyes when Darcy looked at her; clearly their plans had never come to fruition. “But as you can guess, it didn’t work out and part of the reason was that woman.”

“I don’t understand.”

Darcy had given it a lot of thought over the years and concluded that someone had to have been watching Lucien and her at St. Agnes and passing on what they were seeing. That would explain the visit from the stranger and how he’d known so much. There had been one person who’d made it her job to know everyone’s business and that was the woman currently standing across the street.

Darcy said, “She was instrumental in breaking Lucien and me up.”

“How?”

“The day I was supposed to leave with Lucien, a man came to see me. He knew things he couldn’t possibly have known. He played on all of my sixteen-year-old insecurities and convinced me that it was in Lucien’s best interest to not have me in his life. I listened.”

“Oh my God. Who was he?”

“I don’t know. I never saw him again, but all the promises he made were lies. I broke Lucien’s heart and my own for nothing.”

“Have you told Lucien? I mean, now that you’re older.”

Darcy fiddled with her glass. “I don’t know how to have that conversation. How to tell him that I turned my back on everything we’d planned based on the words of a complete stranger.” She looked up at Ember. “I hurt him, Ember, really hurt him, and he repaid me by giving me a job. He is better off without me, but while I can say that a thousand times, I just can’t seem to let him go.”

Ember was silent for a moment, as if in hesitation, so Darcy asked, “What?”

“It seems to me that whether you are good for him or not should be Lucien’s call to make. Enough time has passed that maybe you should just talk to him. At the very least you’ll be able to put it to rest, but maybe he’ll surprise you.”

“To what end?”

“Being a woman madly in love with her husband, I recognize the signs in others. You’re crazy about him. You owe it to yourself and to him to put the past in the past.”

Darcy chuckled and reached for her wine. “Are you always so free with advice?”

“Sorry, it’s a problem; I get it from my dad.”

“I think I’d like your dad.”

After lunch Darcy walked back to the office, but her mind flitted back to the day that had changed everything.

Fourteen years earlier . . .

Darcy was packing, but her hands were shaking from excitement, which was making the job take that much longer. She had a surprise for Lucien and she couldn’t think of a better time to tell him than today, the day they were going to start their lives together. She looked over at her clock—she was running late.

Hearing a knock, she called for the person to enter as she checked under her bed to make sure she hadn’t left anything.

A man she had never seen before walked in, and with her only experience of men being her mom’s friends, fear shot down her spine. He wasn’t dressed like her mom’s friends, though. He looked fancy—the kind of fancy reserved for holidays and church.

“Darcy?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Are you going somewhere?”

Running off with Lucien was still a secret, so Darcy lied. “No.”

“No point in lying. I can see for myself that you are packing. You’re running away with Lucien, aren’t you?”

Even through her fear, Darcy was suspicious of how he knew of them and their plans. Who had told him? And who was he? How did he get in to the building? Who helped him?

The man walked into her room as if he owned it and sat down on her roommate’s bed.

“Have you told him about the baby?”

Her body went numb, even as anger burned through her. “How do you know about that?” And then she remembered the day she’d found out she was pregnant. Someone had come into the bathroom when she was waiting for the pregnancy test to show. She’d left the box on the counter while she was in the stall, and when she exited, Heidi had been lurking in the hallway.

“Not important. Do you really think he’s going to be happy? He wants to get away from here so he can make something of himself. How easy do you think that will be when he has to care for you and a baby? I know you know him well enough to know that he’ll work whatever job he can to do just that, but is that what you want for him? Dead-end jobs, all because you wanted a family at your age?”

Darcy felt the tears start—as much as she didn’t want to listen, the man was voicing her own thoughts.

“I’m asking you to think of Lucien. If you love him as much as I believe you do, let him go. I will take care of him, look out for him, and make sure he achieves all that he wishes, but I’ll only do it if you step out of his life.”

“No! Don’t ask me to do that. I love him; he’s my family. Who are you to him?”

“Someone with his best interests at heart, and I seem to be the only one. You are more concerned about yourself than what’s best for Lucien. Will you consider not being so selfish by stepping away and giving him a real chance at happiness?”

“He’s happy with me.”

“Young love is very fickle. Once he learns about the baby and how his freedom is about to be snatched away, his love will fade—and quickly. Trust me.”

Darcy’s heart broke as he spoke aloud her greatest fear. She loved Lucien so much, loved him enough to let him go. Yet just thinking of not seeing him again nearly brought her to her knees.

“He’s waiting for me. I need to tell him. I have to say good-bye.”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

She was incredulous and outraged when she accused correctly, “You want him to think I forgot him.”

“Yes, his anger will let him break from his past and move on to his future. Do we have a deal?”

Her answer was barely audible, but it was all the man needed before he turned and walked out. Darcy dropped onto her bed. She felt dead inside, but each painful beat of her heart only served to remind her that she wasn’t that lucky.

That night Lucien walked around Allegro doing his normal routine check, but there was a part of him that was hoping to find Darcy. He found her sitting in a corner, drinking a glass of wine, completely absorbed in the music. He liked that she appeared to like music as much as he did. Her eyes moved to him as if she knew he was there and a small smile touched her lips.

“Hi.”

“Do you mind if I join you?”

She gestured to the free chair across from her. “Please.”

“They’re great, aren’t they?”

Her attention had already turned back to the band when she replied, “Yes.” She looked over at him. “Where did you learn to play?”

“There was this guy who played at a club where I was a bouncer. He was brilliant and so content. I think that was what first caught my notice, the peace about him when he played. He told me that music could give me the escape I was looking for. He taught me, and every free moment I had, I practiced.”

“You’re wonderful—that night at Peacock. I could listen to you all night.”

He knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. She was older and more confident, but even so he could still see the caterpillar she had been. He saw the corner of her mouth lift before she said, “I’ll send you a picture.”

“You turned into a butterfly.”

The sight of the pain that swept her face made his heart twist in his chest. She lowered her eyes. “No, I just traded one cage for another.”

“What does that mean?”

She lifted her sad eyes to his. “I made a choice that I have regretted from the very moment I made it. I hurt the only person I ever loved. I’ll regret not meeting you that day for the rest of my life.”

Pain and anger turned his voice hard. “Why didn’t you?”

“Believe it or not, I did it for you. I thought you would be better off without me.”

He hadn’t meant to grab her arm so hard, but to think she could use such a lame excuse as the reason for breaking his heart just fucking pissed him off. “Why the hell would you think that?”

“He told me he would look out for you, that he would make sure all your dreams came true, but only if I stepped out of your life. I shouldn’t have believed him; I shouldn’t have been such a fool.”

“Who are you talking about?”

Tears filled her eyes. “That’s just it, I don’t know.”

He was so confused at her words that he made no move to stop her when she stood and walked away.