Three Brides, No Groom

  Almost as soon as she replaced the receiver, the phone rang again. This time she let the answering machine take it.

  “You didn’t give me a chance to mention something important,” John said. “Something you should know.” A pause. “I talked with Mrs. Johnson this morning. You remember Mrs. Johnson, don’t you? She lives next door.” He paused again, as if to give his words time to sink in.

  “It seems that Mrs. Johnson saw something rather unusual the other night. It’s actually rather humorous.” He chuckled. “Apparently I was just pulling into the driveway when a young man—a former student of mine, she guessed—launched himself over her fence and all but broke the land-speed record in an effort to get into my home. When the back door turned out to be locked, he hauled himself through my bathroom window. No easy task, I would guess.

  “Being the concerned neighbor she is, Mrs. Johnson went out to the street and wrote down his license-plate number.”

  Maddie’s blood went cold.

  “I had a friend run the number, and it seems the car belongs to Brent Holliday. He’s a good friend of yours, I’ve noticed. A very good friend. I imagine the police academy would be interested in knowing about young Holliday’s nighttime activities, don’t you?”

  “No!” Maddie cried, although there was no one to hear her.

  “Pick up the receiver, Maddie,” John ordered. “We have something important to discuss.”

  She hesitated.

  “Now!” he shouted, then, more calmly, “Before you force me to do something you and your boyfriend would find very…uncomfortable.”

  She flinched and with a trembling hand did as he requested.

  Chapter 5

  “I don’t understand,” Brent said, studying her. “I thought we’d already talked this out.” They were sitting at the kitchen table in his apartment drinking tall glasses of iced tea. All Maddie had wanted to do was explain that she’d changed her mind about reporting John to Dean Williams and then be on her way, but he had refused to let her leave.

  She felt his disappointment as keenly as her own. This wasn’t what she wanted, but she had no choice. John hadn’t given her any alternative. But Brent didn’t know that and never would.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” she said in what she hoped was a convincing tone. She downed the last of her tea and set the empty glass on the tabletop, signaling that now she really had to go. “I’ve already canceled my appointment with Dean Williams.”

  “Why?” His eyes narrowed.

  She had known it wouldn’t be easy to fool him with this apparent change of heart, but she’d hoped she could pull it off and leave him thinking she’d come to a decision that was best for everyone involved. A nearly impossible task when she had trouble believing it herself.

  “Why’d you cancel the appointment?” he pressed a second time.

  “Dean Williams won’t believe me.” She tried to make it sound as simple as that. “The date on the top of the test is May sixth. Unfortunately I write dates in the European style—the day first—so it could just as easily be read as June fifth.”

  “But it was a midterm test, and it says so. Dean Williams knows when midterms were given. You shouldn’t have to prove a thing. It’s all there in black and white for him to read. That sounds like a convenient excuse to me. Come on, Maddie, what’s up?”

  She’d been afraid of this. Afraid that Brent would use logic against her. In reality she had no reason for canceling the appointment other than to keep John from reporting the burglary. He had more than enough evidence to have Brent and her arrested. If she’d acted alone, she would have willingly called his bluff, but she refused to drag Brent’s name through the mud. Nor would she allow John to destroy Brent’s future. Not when it was within her power to prevent it.

  “Nothing’s up,” she insisted. “I thought everything over and decided it didn’t matter what John claimed. I know who solved the quadratic quandary, and that’s all that really matters. Setting the record straight, embarrassing him…well, it isn’t worth the hassle.”

  Brent’s eyes told her that he didn’t believe her. He went very still. “What happened?”

  “What makes you think something happened?”

  “You.” His face tightened until his mouth formed a pinched line. “You’re different.”

  “How could I be different?” she said, attempting to make a joke of it. “I’m the same person I was a couple of days ago. Just remember, what you see is what you get.”

  “That wasn’t the way it always was.”

  His words suggested something she didn’t like. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Just what I said. You wore a facade for years. It’s back, Maddie, and something’s happened that you’re not telling me about. I know you, and I want to know you better, but I can’t do that when you put up a steel gate locking me out.”

  “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “Am I?”

  She needed something, anything, to distract him. “Is this what you’re going to say every time we have a disagreement?” she demanded. “Accuse me of blocking you out? Dredge up the past and throw it in my face?”

  “I want the truth.”

  “You got it.” She stood and walked over to the kitchen sink with her glass. She’d downed the cold drink so fast she’d developed a headache. Dear heaven, how she hated deception. But she had no choice.

  “I have to go,” she whispered.

  “Where are you headed?” he asked with more than a hint of accusation.

  “You think a few kisses give you the right to demand my whereabouts twenty-four hours a day?”

  Looking ashamed, Brent buried his hands in his pockets. “I apologize. I had no right to ask you that.”

  “True, but I’ll tell you anyway. I’m meeting a friend.”

  The question all but burned from his eyes, but he wouldn’t ask, and because she wanted them to part on good terms, Maddie sighed and hugged him. “OK, if you must know, I’m having lunch with Susan Cabot. We grew up together. Now stop, please. What I do or don’t do about that test paper is my decision.”

  He said nothing, but she felt his disapproval as keenly as if he’d spoken. He followed her outside to where she’d parked her bicycle in the driveway. “The person you’re cheating is yourself, Maddie. That’s what bothers me most.”

  “It’s my decision, Brent,” she reminded him again.

  “You’re giving Theda a license to hurt someone else. By not reporting him, you’re giving him the impression he can get away with fraud.”

  “He won’t need me to prove anything. John will do it to himself. His type always does. Haven’t you ever heard the expression ‘Time wounds all heels’? John’s a first-class heel, and in time it will catch up with him.” When it did, she would love to be around to witness it. The man was a major jerk and deserved everything he had coming to him.

  “Fine,” Brent said resignedly. “If that’s what you want.”

  “It is.” The words nearly stuck in her throat. As hard as she’d argued, as hard as she’d worked to convince him this was the best way, she didn’t believe it for a minute. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t, hurt Brent, not when all she really wanted was revenge. The trade-off was fair. In exchange for serenity, she would give the file back to John and nothing would be said either way.

  Brent kissed her lightly and stepped back while she climbed on her bike.

  “You’ll call me?” she asked, needing to know he wouldn’t allow this to stand between them.

  He hesitated, smiled briefly and then nodded. “Sure. You want to catch a movie later?”

  Her relief was palpable and she smiled back, loving him so much it was all she could do not to throw her arms around him and explain everything. Instead, she said calmly, “That’d be great.” Her heart swelled with emotion. He was disappointed in her, but he would work his way through it. By inviting her to a movie, he was telling her that, despite this, the two of them would continue as a couple. He hadn’t li
ked what she’d had to say, but he’d accepted it.

  Early in her dating career Maddie had discovered that a man’s pride was often wrapped around his advice, and if she refused to do as he suggested, it deflated his fragile ego. Brent’s sense of self was strong.

  “I’ve got to return a book to the library this afternoon,” he said, “and I’ll give you a call when I’m back. How does that sound?”

  “Come here,” she instructed, holding on to the bike’s handlebars.

  “Come here?” he questioned as he advanced.

  She looped her arms around his neck and, standing on tiptoe, the bike balanced between her legs, kissed him. When she pulled away, his breathing was ragged and so was hers.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “For what?” He seemed to have a problem finding his tongue.

  “Just because.”

  He grinned, his look almost boyish. “You can thank me again later, all right?”

  “Anytime you want.”

  He chuckled, then watched her ride down the driveway, waving when she entered the street. She smiled and waved back. But her smile faded as she rounded the corner. She had never really hated John Theda. He’d hurt and disappointed her, broken her heart and used her, but she’d never hated him. She was close to doing so now, however. How she could have been so blind before, she didn’t know.

  * * *

  Maddie hadn’t lied to Brent about her appointment. She was having lunch with Susan Cabot, all right, but afterward she was meeting John. It wasn’t a confrontation she looked forward to, but it was necessary. One last meeting, and then it would be over once and for all.

  Her lunch with her childhood friend went well. “You’ve changed,” Susan said almost immediately. “What happened to my friend the rebel?”

  “I fell in love with a man who turned out to be a rat,” Maddie explained sheepishly. “And the rebel in me died. I discovered I didn’t like the woman I’d become and decided it was in my power to change that.”

  “You look terrific.” Susan’s enthusiastic smile revealed her approval. “Now tell me about Uncle Alfie. Is he still a darling?”

  They spent the better part of two hours reminiscing, and the dark cloud that had hung over Maddie’s head seemed less threatening by the time they finished lunch.

  After she left the restaurant, Maddie checked her watch. Her meeting with John was scheduled for three-thirty at the fountain in the center of the Queen Anne campus. In exchange for the file—including her test paper, of course—John had promised to forget the entire incident and not report the break-in to the police.

  She thought of how long and often Brent had spoken of working in law enforcement. He loved his work, loved the challenge, and the mental and physical demands. He would be a good police officer and touch many lives for the better. It helped to remember that as she biked toward campus.

  Her sacrifice was small compared to what she had to gain, she decided. John could accept all the credit he wanted; she didn’t care, as long as he stayed out of Brent’s life and, for that matter, hers.

  She arrived on time and was left twiddling her thumbs and worrying. It was just like John to let her stew before he bothered to show. Fifteen minutes after their agreed time, she saw him walking toward her.

  Perspective being what it was, she took one look at him and wondered how she could have been attracted to such a man. At the time she’d thought of him as a modern-day Adonis. Now she could see he wasn’t anywhere near as handsome.

  “Hello, Maddie,” he said when he joined her. He eyed her with undisguised approval. “You’re looking good, real good.”

  “Sorry I can’t say the same for you.”

  He laughed. “That’s what I always liked about you. A smart comeback for everything.”

  “Let’s get this over with,” she suggested, eager to be on her way.

  “Fine.” He held out his hand, expecting her to surrender the file.

  “Not so fast,” she said, and snickered softly. Could he really believe that she would be so naive? He’d taught her well about mistrust, and she wasn’t about to give him anything without a signed assurance. “I’ll need your signature to our agreement.”

  “You mean you don’t trust me?” His hurt-little-boy look was almost laughable.

  “Exactly.”

  He scowled. “All right, all right. What exactly do you want?”

  “Other than your signature, I’d settle for a quart of your blood.”

  He laughed. “I do miss that wit of yours. You’ll always be the same ol’ Maddie, won’t you?”

  She didn’t bother to answer. Knowing John had changed her. A part of her innocence had been forever destroyed. His treachery had tarnished a piece of her soul. It had taken her a long time to fight back, but she’d won that battle, thanks in part to Brent. For that she owed him far more than she could ever repay.

  From her backpack she removed the agreement she’d written up. It was in an envelope, and she handed it to him to open and read. Since he refused to admit in writing that she’d been the one to solve the quadratic quandary, she’d listed some rather unsavory details about his personal life, and his signature gave her permission to use these facts against him if he made trouble for either Brent or her.

  John set his briefcase on the cement rim of the fountain. He read and signed the agreement grudgingly, then placed it back in the envelope and gave it to Maddie. In exchange she handed him the test file.

  “I won’t say it’s been a pleasure,” she said, reaching for her bike. “I hope I never see you again, John.”

  “Let me assure you, the feeling is mutual,” he said, and turned away.

  She climbed on her bike and rode off, eager to make her escape. She biked down the narrow cement pathway toward the parking lot. Only a few cars were there; when classes started up in a couple of weeks, it would be full again.

  Not until she was close to the street did she spy Brent’s car, or at least she thought it was his. Her feet went slack on the pedals, and she coasted several feet as she took a closer look.

  It was Brent’s car, and he was sitting inside. When he glanced up and saw her, he climbed out.

  “Brent,” she said, shocked to see him, “what are you doing here?”

  “The library book, remember?” His words were charged with anger.

  He hadn’t told her he was returning the book to the college library, and now she wondered how much he’d seen and how she could explain.

  “You sold out, didn’t you?” he demanded.

  “Sold out?”

  “You sold Theda that test file. Blackmailed him. How much did you get, Maddie? Forget justice, forget what’s right. Forget anyone else he’ll cheat and hurt in the future, right? I hope he made it worth your while.”

  The words to explain and defend herself stuck in her throat. “Matters aren’t always what they seem.”

  “Yeah, right. I saw the exchange. He handed you an envelope and you gave him the file. I saw everything I needed to.”

  She considered showing Brent the contents of the envelope, but didn’t, because then he would know she’d surrendered the test file to protect him.

  “I’m asking you to trust me, Brent,” she said.

  He stared at her for a long moment. “Show me the envelope.”

  Briefly she closed her eyes. “I…I can’t.”

  His look hardened, and she knew he was steeling himself against her. “That says it all, doesn’t it?” He climbed back into the car. “I don’t think it would be a good idea if we saw each other again, Maddie.”

  “Brent—” She broke off before she could add “please.”

  “I knew something had happened when I saw you earlier at my place. Now it all makes sense. Goodbye, Maddie. I wish you well.”

  Chapter 6

  “You told Brent, didn’t you?” Gretchen asked. “You didn’t let it end there. That would have been so unfair to you.”

  “I didn’t have a choice,” Maddie
whispered. Even after fifteen years, it still hurt to remember their confrontation that day. “I could never let Brent know what I’d done.”

  Gretchen, Carol and Maddie sat on the rim of the fountain, and Maddie realized they’d drawn close to one another in the past couple of hours. Fifteen years. Who would have believed time could evaporate that easily? Like an eraser wiping a blackboard clean, the years had faded away. Some things had changed and others had remained the same. Maddie wasn’t the girl she’d been back then—the one desperately seeking to be noticed, no matter what the price. She’d paid dearly for those mistakes. The steepest price of all was the afternoon she’d lost Brent Holliday.

  “You must have loved him very much to have sacrificed so much,” Carol Furness said softly.

  Yes, Maddie had loved him, heart and soul. “John taught me some valuable lessons, but Brent taught me even more.”

  “Can you tell us what happened after that day?” Carol asked, and placed her hand over Maddie’s.

  “I lost him,” Maddie said. “I had a hard time accepting it in the beginning, but eventually I realized it was probably for the best. He’d come into my life like a knight in shining armor and then he was gone. I had no regrets.”

  “But you weren’t any better off than before you met him,” Gretchen said.

  “Oh, but I was,” Maddie hurried to explain. “Brent gave me a tremendous gift. He helped me find myself, taught me to take control. My level of self-esteem rose the moment I discovered that I could do something about the situation with John. In the end, allowing John to accept the credit was a small price to pay for what Brent had given me in return. He gave me back my soul.”

  “Were you ever able to let him know that?”

  Maddie shook her head sadly. “In the beginning I tried to fix things between us, but I soon realized Brent meant what he said.”

  “That was pretty narrow-minded of him, wasn’t it?” Gretchen asked.

  “I know now that he was as idealistic as I was. It’s easy to look back and judge him from the perspective of time, but that would be wrong. Gradually the pain of losing him lessened. I refused to mourn, when what he’d given me had been a tremendous gift. It was because of him that I made the smartest decision of my life.”