Crossroad To Love (Fab Five Series) (16 page)

“Ditto,” Marianne offered as she poured herself a cup of
coffee and sat back down to relax. “What’s on the agenda for today? Katy is
going to see Chloe. So what are the rest of us going to do?”

“If you don’t mind, I really don’t feel like going out. You
two can do whatever you want to. I’ll be fine. I just need to get my head
together,” Angie answered.     

“Let’s hit the mall again, Marianne. I need to pick up some
things for the twins.”

“That’s fine by me. You know I love to shop. I’ll jump in
the shower as soon as Katy is finished in the bedroom.” Marianne welcomed a
chance to get her mind off her own troubles for a few more hours. The time was
soon coming when she would have to face them head on.

It was not long before Katy returned, and she looked
relieved.

“You look like that went well,” Lizzie ventured.

“He’s a great kid. The best son any mother could ask for. He
was fine with the whole thing. He agrees that Ryan is not to blame for anything
that happened. It’s just a freaky coincidence that he happens to be the husband
of the woman in the other car. He can’t understand why Ryan would even feel
guilty about the accident. He said that he was happy I had finally found
someone that I thought I could be interested in. He advised me to tell Ryan the
truth soon though. I called Chloe and she agreed to meet me. She mentioned that
Ryan was in an exceptionally good mood this morning. I hope I don’t ruin that
mood when I tell him what I have to tell him. But we all know that, in all
likelihood, I will,” Katy replied with a touch of sadness in her tone.

Lizzie wished her friend luck, as did the other two.

I am certainly going to need it,
she told herself
sadly. 

A short time later, Katy was out the door to meet Chloe,
with Lizzie and Marianne right behind her, leaving Angie alone in the suite for
the day. She soaked in a long, hot, lavender-scented bubble bath, her favorite,
allowing herself to relax. After drying herself with an oversized, fluffy,
white towel, she slipped into her robe, combed out her long, brown hair and
fell onto the bed, exhausted. She was asleep within minutes, oblivious to the
problems in her world for a few short hours.

As they got onto the elevator, Lizzie turned to Marianne and
said, “We’re going to make a stop on the fourth floor. Are you with me on
this?”

“You read my mind.”

The two friends got off on the appointed floor, found
Michael’s room and nervously knocked on his door.

“Who is it?” a male voice asked wearily from within.

“Michael, it’s Lizzie and Marianne. May we come in?” They
looked at each other and waited for his reply.

He opened the door and ushered them into the room. He looked
about as bad as Angie did. With dark circles under his eyes, he looked like he
had been up most of the night.

“Michael, we know what happened. She told us the whole story
after she got back to the room last night,” Lizzie began. 

“So, you all were in the dark as well. It should make me
feel better that at least she kept it from you also,” he said.           

Lizzie gave it to him straight, “Michael, I know you’re hurt
and angry. You have every right to be. But please, do yourself a favor. Don’t
let that anger destroy your chance for happiness. You and Angie belong
together. It may not seem like it right now, but you have always belonged
together. Angie is suffering too. She has suffered for fifteen years with this
secret. You have to find a way to work through this and forgive her, for both
your sakes.”

“Do you still love Angie?” Marianne asked.

“I do,” Michael answered.

“Then please don’t make any rash decisions,” Lizzie added.

“I know you two think you’re helping. But I am so confused
right now, I don’t know which way is up. I just cannot face Angie right now.
I’m too angry. I’m devastated, still in shock, grieving for a loss that I
should have shared with her fifteen years ago. Instead, she shut me out of her
life at a time when she needed me the most. I’m going to call Jackie in a
little while and talk to her about it. Angie said that Jackie begged her to
tell me before.”

“That’s probably a good idea. Jackie may be able to give you
some insight as to how Angie was feeling at the time. Maybe it will give you a
different perspective on the matter,” Lizzie agreed with Michael. “The one
person in the world who would know how Angie felt at the time would be Jackie.
Angie and her mother have always been close.”

“Thank you both for stopping by. I appreciate your concern
and I love you both for caring. But if you’ll excuse me, I just need to sort
this out, before I have to face Angie at dinner tomorrow night. I am still
going to go, because it’s business as well as pleasure, but I don’t think it
will be a very festive occasion for Angie and me.”

Marianne said, as she glanced at Lizzie, “We’ll leave you
alone, now, Michael,” 

 “I will give it some thought, believe me.” With that, he
ushered them out the door, closing it behind them, and sat down on the couch.
He picked up the phone and dialed Angie’s mother’s number in Indiana. It rang
four times before Jackie finally answered.

“Hello.” The familiar voice of his ex-mother–in-law came on
the line.

Michael hesitated for a moment before he began, “Jackie,
hello, this is Michael Gray.”

There was silence until, finally, she spoke, “Michael, dear,
it’s so good to hear from you. What can I do for you, son?”

“I don’t really know where to begin. Jackie, I need your
help. I recently ran into Angie. We’re going to be working together on a
project at her hotel.” The words jumbled together as he spoke shakily.

“I see. And how is that going?” Jackie asked, thinking it
must not be going well, from the state the boy seemed to be in.  

“It was going great until last night. Oh, Jackie, this is so
hard for me.” He broke down. After regaining his composure, he told Jackie the
story from beginning to end, from last week when he had walked into Angie’s
office to the gruesome way last night’s date had ended. He felt a great relief
afterward, as if a giant burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

“My dear boy, I am so relieved that you finally know the
truth. I tried so hard to reason with her back then. She was so devastated;
nothing I could say eased her pain. She didn’t eat, didn’t sleep. She cried for
days. She sat in the rocking chair she’d bought, for hours on end, just staring
into space. I honestly thought I was going to have to take her back to the
hospital. She wouldn’t let me call you, even though I knew she needed you with
her. I worried myself sick about her. I couldn’t leave her side because I was
afraid of what she might do. I practically had to force her to eat and when she
did, it was very little. Her emotions were all over the place. I’m not sure
she’s ever completely recovered from it. I think that’s why she’s thrown
herself into her work for all these years. It’s all she has left. But she never
discusses it, so I don’t bring it up for fear of opening up the old wounds. She
moved away shortly after the divorce and then so did you. I always hoped the
two of you would find your way back to each other, but when you both left town,
I eventually gave up on that. She really thought she was doing the best thing
for you by not telling you. She thought you would move on, marry again, and
have the family that she couldn’t give you. She was in a very dark place for a
good many years. She never got over it, or you, for that matter. I hope you can
find it in your heart to forgive her. Obviously, you never remarried, never had
a family?” Angie’s mother asked hopefully.

“No, Jackie, I could never marry anyone else. My heart has
always belonged to Angie. You know that. You have known all along. I just don’t
know how to forgive her.  I don’t know how to make it right between us. I am
grieving for her and for our little baby.”

“And she has grieved for fifteen years, for you, for that
little baby, and for all the other babies that she will never have. I hope you
can get past this, for both your sakes. But you will have to do it in your own
time and in your own way.”

“Thank you, Jackie. I need to hang up now. I have a lot to
think about. This is not going to be easy, but I have to make some decisions
about my future, with or without Angie.”

“Well, I hope it is with Angie, but I understand your
reluctance. Best of luck.”

“Goodbye, Jackie.”

“Goodbye, Michael. I hope to see you sitting around my
dinner table with the family very soon.  That’s where you belong.”

 He hung up the phone and sat on the couch thinking for a
very long time. He had all day today, tonight, and all day tomorrow before he
had to face Angie at the dinner with all their friends and the O’Gradys. Maybe
by then, he could bring himself to tolerate being in the same room with her.
It
will be torture for both of us
. If they did have a chance to work this out,
they would have to eventually have another very long and serious talk. And
right at this moment, he knew neither one of them was up to it. Last night had
taken its toll. He lay back on the couch, deep in thought.

Chloe drove to the Prava to pick Katy up. Katy had called
and asked her to meet her for coffee. She had readily agreed. She liked Katy
and was looking forward to the chance to get to know her better. Chloe had
begun to give up hope that Ryan would ever be able to find happiness in his
life. Now he had met a lovely woman and they would also be working together.

Katy was waiting when Chloe drove up. She walked toward the
car and waved. 
She is a lovely creature
, Chloe thought as she watched
her. No wonder Ryan was so taken with her.

“Good morning,” Chloe said as Katy got into the car. “I
trust y’all had a nice time last night.” 

“I had a wonderful evening, for the most part. That’s what I
wanted to talk to you about,” Katy began.

Chloe sighed, hoping there was not going to be a problem.
She did not know if Ryan could handle a rejection from Katy at this point. That
would surely send him right back to the dark place where he had been for the
last ten years. Chloe began to worry as she cast a sideways glance at her new
friend.

“Anything wrong, Katy?” she finally asked her.

“Something happened last night that really threw me for a
loop. I have to tell you I was not expecting it and I really need to get your
opinion. I know you are the one person who knows Ryan really well. Don’t get me
wrong, Ryan is wonderful. I really would love for our relationship to
eventually develop into something more, but I really need your advice about
something he said last night.”

They pulled into the parking lot of Chloe’s favorite little
coffee shop and got out of the car. Her curiosity was certainly piqued.
What
on earth could Ryan have said that had
Katy so worried?

“I thought you would like this place. It’s where I come for
a quick getaway when I can take time from work. Let’s get a table in the back
and then we can talk.”

“That would be great,” Katy answered gratefully.

They walked into the cutest little coffee shop that Katy had
ever seen. She admired the design. Someone had really been thinking when he or
she opened this place. It had such a calming effect. Chloe was right. It seemed
like the perfect place for them to talk.

After they were seated and had ordered their coffee, Katy
began, “Chloe, what I’m about to tell you is probably going to be a shock. I
know it was for me. Last night was perfect from the moment Ryan picked me up at
the hotel. He did all the right things, said all the right things. We really
clicked. I had decided that if the conversation headed into the right
direction, I was going to try and draw Ryan out, get him to talk about his wife
and the accident. Get him to talk about all of the events of that awful time. I
felt that if we stood any kind of a chance at moving on together, the past
needed to be laid to rest.  You know that I also suffered a loss. My
circumstances were different than Ryan’s. My marriage was good, and I lost a
daughter also. I was prepared to discuss that with him too.”

Chloe asked, “And I take it, the conversation did go down
that path?”

“Yes, it did. And everything was going fine. Ryan really
opened up to me. He told me everything. He told me about his bitterness and his
grief. He told me about how he had never been able to move on, how he had sworn
off women, because he thought they were all basically like Marnie. He told me
how meeting me had changed his mind. He feels he could move forward with me. He
feels we have a special connection. I felt it too, from the first moment I laid
eyes on him. It should have been a dream come true to hear those words from
him. It was exactly what I had been hoping to hear. But now I think I know why
I felt that connection.”

Confused, Chloe looked at Katy’s distraught face. “Katy, I’m
afraid I don’t see the problem here. It sounds to me as if the evening turned
out exactly the way we had all hoped it would. Shane and I were rooting for
you, you know. And judging from the way Ryan was acting this morning at the
restaurant, he is on cloud nine and not going to come down off it anytime
soon.”

Katy smiled at Chloe. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.
It was something that Ryan said at the end of the conversation that really
threw me. I tried not to let on to him when I realized the implications of the
details he was telling me. Chloe, the car that Marnie and her lover hit head on
that night was the car that my husband and daughter were in. Ryan has no idea
that I am the widow named Kathryn that he tried to contact ten years ago to
offer his condolences to. He talked about how guilty he felt for their deaths
and how he had never gotten over the fact that Marnie and her lover had not
only taken their own lives that night, but also the lives of two innocent
people, a husband and father, and most of all, a little girl in a Girl Scout
uniform.” Katy wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at her new friend
with sadness in her eyes. “The man was my Bill and the little girl in the Girl
Scout uniform was my Bree.”