Simultaneously Muffy screamed at the top of her lungs and the baby came into the world with a healthy cry. Its a girl! Cecily said, swiftly clamping and cutting the umbilical cord, hoping the navel would equal the bridesmaids in beauty and symmetry. And as the sound of sirens drowned out Muffys shuddering sobs of relief, Cecily added, A beautiful little girl and a fire truck, a police carno, three police cars andoh, wonderfulhere at last are the EMTs, just when we need them least.
Cecily examined the baby while the paramedics gently lifted Muffy onto a stretcher and carried her toward the ambulance, ignoring the blistering she was giving them for taking so long to get there. Then Cecily handed over the child, explaining the conditions of the delivery as well as giving them a verbal checklist of what she had and hadnt done. At long last, the ambulance doors closed and blessed silence prevailed.
Alone in the parking lot, Cecily pulled off her gloves and apron, then wiped her forehead. She hadnt seen Will leave with Muffy, but he must have. A tear of regret dripped down her face and landed on the toe of one satin shoe, matching the splash of antiseptic on the other. Then she caught sight of another pair of shoes.
LoafersGucci. No socks. Her gaze traveled upwardon Will, who lay slumped against a tire.
Shed always heard this happenednew mother did fine and new father faintedbut shed thought it was an amusing contemporary myth. Apparently not. She crouched down beside him. Will. Will! She grabbed his hands and began to massage his wrists with her thumbs, then took his pulse.
What happened? He sounded groggy, but he was apparently alive.
The baby came.
Oh. Good.
Cecily stifled an exasperated sound. Its a girl.
Mmm.
She raised her voice. Mother and child are doing fine.
I wish I were.
Shed had it. Look, she said, thinking how wonderful it was not to need a verbal bedside manner in veterinary medicine, your relationship with Muffy is none of my business, but this is one of those times you have to rise above your differences and support her. A woman whos just given birth feels very vulnerable. She needs you now. Cecily stood up. So get your ass in gear. Were going to the hospital to see her, and I mean right this second.
She glared at him.
He stared at her.
Ill drive, she said with a confidence she didnt feel. Last thing in the world I would have expected you to be, but it seems youre a fainter.
He didnt look the least bit guilty about his disinterest, just puzzled. Still staring at her, he went around the carCecily noticed the distinctive Audi emblemgot in on the passenger side and maneuvered the seat so far back she couldnt see his face out of the corner of her eye.
But she could feel his eyes on her and allowed herself one sidelong glance at him as she adjusted the rearview mirror. God, he was sexy. Everything about him said male, male, male. His mouth was full and enticing. His eyes were hot. Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, she pushed the key into the ignition.
He settled his sunglasses into place, hiding whatever message his eyes might have been sending, so she could let herself imagine that his gaze was an approving one, could feel it wash over her like warm honey.
Honey, but no crumpet. One look at Will and shed fallen for him again. This time she was drippily, stickily in lust with a married man.
2
WILL SETTLED INTO THE LEATHER upholstery of his new car, wondering what the hell was going on. Cecily had miraculously dropped into his life again after many, many years, and all she seemed able to think about was his and Muffys relationship.
Maybe Sally had told her about Muffy. Hed never mentioned her at the stables, and for good reason. When they were growing up, he and Muffy had gotten along about as well as a Maine coon cat and a Yorkshire terrier, he being the terrier. It was one of the reasons their parents had sent him to Exeter. Theyd thought it was time to get Will out from under her thumb.
It had worked, too. They were doing much better as adults. They hadnt sunk to physical violence since they were twenty-seven or so, although Muffy had been telling the truth when shed said hed tried to smother her once. When they were kindergarten age, hed put a plastic bag over her head and attempted to tie it around her throat while she was sleeping. Hed done it because shed sneered at him and said hed never be popular in the neighborhood because he was about as exciting as phonics. Hed felt like killing her.
Not really. A thinking man, even at that early age, hed poked holes in the bag before he shoved it over her head. Hed just wanted to send the message, Make fun of me again and youre toast.
Muffy hadnt seen it that way.
When they were seven, their parents had taken them on a short car trip to the mountains of the Big Benda trial run, their mother had called it, to test whether or not the family could survive a major trip west the following year to see the Grand Canyon and Yosemite Park. Will still hadnt seen the Grand Canyon or Yosemite.
Years later, theyd made a pact to get through the holidays at their parents house by not speaking to each other at all. Marrying Gator had softened Muffy someat least toward Will, now that she had Gator to pick onbut they still didnt get together socially or as a family except under duress.
It was a miracle he didnt hate women.
Hed been a prince, a virtual prince, to pick her up in Waco and drive her to Dallas when Gator had to fly up to Fort Worth earlier in the week for a sports-equipment trade show. A less princely man would have chosen slow death by torture over being in a confined space with Muffy for a couple of hours.
He was doing it for Sally. Sally was their cousin and theyd lived through every second of her disastrous first marriage. Sure, shed been a wild thing, a seriously dedicated playgirl, until shed met Gus, fallen madly in love and sworn to change her ways. But she had a good heart. Which reminded Will that he had a family responsibility to make sure Gus was a man who would give Sally the happiness she deserved. And Will had reasons to feel concerned.
About the time Sally met Gus, hed been looking for a new tax man and Sally had recommended Will. As was customary at his accounting firm, Helpern and Ridley in Houston, since Will did the taxes for Guss security business, he also filed Guss personal returns. In March, looking at the numbers Gus had sent him, Will saw some discrepancies in Guss reported income and his lifestyle. Will had put many hours of his own time into tracking down what Gus might have left out of his documentation and hadnt come up with a thing. Since Gus had done him the honor of asking him to be a groomsman, Will felt guilty as all hell accepting, knowing hed be doing his best to pump Gus and his friends for information. But tax was his profession, damn it, and he had a professional obligation to make sure a tax return was honest and accurate before he signed his name to it.
He couldnt let Sally marry somebody engaged in something shady. He had twenty-four hours to satisfy himself about those discrepancies or hed have to stop the wedding.
With no time to waste, Cecily was a distraction he didnt need. She was the girl from his past hed never forgotten, the girl who wouldnt let him kiss her, a girl who still, after all these years had passed, didnt seem the slightest bit interested in him. Seeing her wouldnt have come as such a shock if hed bothered to read the itinerary of events Sally and Gus had sent him. He might have prepared for it, thought up a few cool moves, a sophisticated line.
With no time to waste, Cecily was a distraction he didnt need. She was the girl from his past hed never forgotten, the girl who wouldnt let him kiss her, a girl who still, after all these years had passed, didnt seem the slightest bit interested in him. Seeing her wouldnt have come as such a shock if hed bothered to read the itinerary of events Sally and Gus had sent him. He might have prepared for it, thought up a few cool moves, a sophisticated line.
Sheltered behind his sunglasses, he gazed at her, at her straight little nose, her perfect skin, but pale now, no tan. No makeup, either. With the sun shining through her lashes, he could see they were long and light and slanted down instead of curling up. Her mouth was wide, a mouth made to smile, although she hadnt smiled much in the few minutes since shed sprung so unexpectedly back into his life.
She still had the thick blond hair he remembered, a little darker now, more the color of honey. When she used to come down from Boston to work at the stables, it had been in a neat bob. Now it was long and sloppily tied at the nape of her neck, as if all she wanted was to get it out of the way. At the stables, her jodhpurs had been perfect, her shirts impeccable. Shed looked like the girls who attended the private schools near Exeter. But today she was wearing a shapeless flowered sundress. He liked the look. It was natural, unlike the look of most women who wandered in and out of his life these days. Cecilys dress left him wondering about the curves beneath it, let his imagination loose, and his imagination didnt fit the profile of an accountants.
One thing hadnt changed. Her eyes were as wide and blue as theyd always been, that monitor-screen blue of a midday sky. From the first moment shed handed him the reins of a horse, pinning him with those eyes, shed appealed to him in some way he couldnt quite get a handle on. And she still did. So why the hell couldnt he get her to feel the same way about him?
Muffy, Muffy, Muffy. All she seemed to be able to think about. He had nothing to feel guilty about where Muffy was concerned. Hed been wallowing in his own self-righteousness until Cecily, whod apparently become a doctor, had decided that delivering his niece, a simple act of professional mercy, gave her the right to tell him he still hadnt done enough for Muffy.
In fact, he hadnt. Not quite. Which hospital are they taking her to? he asked.
Glen Oaks Care Center. Have you heard of it?
Sure, he said, already dialing Gators cell, where he left a terse message, then dialed the number for Gators plane. As he listened to the phone ring, he observed that while the doctor looked capable at the wheelstrong armed and steadythey still hadnt made it out of the church parking lot. Its a small, privateHey, he said when Gator answered, shes at GOCC. Okay. Okay. O-kay, Ill do it. Yeah, see you.
We need cigars, he told Cecily. Well stop on the way.
She did another one of those little whooshy sounds, like the one shed done when hed still been trying to get the blood running back to his head. Do you happen to know where GOCC is? she said, sounding like patience sitting on a pressure cooker.
Yes.
Would you consider sharing it with me?
Uh-oh, a little steam was starting to show. Shed found the parking lot exit at last, and sat there poised, waiting for him to answer.
He saw a way to put off visiting Muffy indefinitely. Left, he instructed her and punched the number two on his phone to direct his next call to his parents.
Now what? Cecily had reached an intersection.
Take the LBJ.
Okay. The car didnt move. Where is it?
Take a right and follow the signs. I need to make these calls. When his mother answered, he said Hi. You have a granddaughter. Interrupting the shrieks of excitement, the string of questions, he said, Details later. Shes at GOCC. Right. See you there.
Now hed done everything anyone could have expected. Gator was about to take off from Meacham Field in Fort Worth. Hed be at Love Field in Dallas in the time it took a small plane to go straight up, then straight down. The proud Murchison grandparents, who lived in Highland Park, would beat Gator to the hospital. Muffy would soon be surrounded by people who actually liked her.
What he wanted to do now was renew his acquaintance with Cecily. What she wanted to do was take him straight to the hospital to see Muffy. Why was she so determined to make him visit the twin sister who, from the second hed entered the world, had made his life a living hell?
CECILY HAD TO ADMIT THAT SHE was a little disappointed in the kind of man Will had apparently grown up to be. And she didnt mean a married man. If he had to be a married man, she wanted him to be a good married man. It was upsetting that hed seemed so reluctant to follow his wife and baby to the hospital. Maybe hed been in shock, because now, making his phone calls to family or friends, he sounded pleased and excited.
Driving Wills luxurious car made her intensely nervous. She was out of her element. Three years in the country and shed already forgotten that in a city, even a parking lot could be hard to negotiate without a map. In Vermont, even the freeway was a gentle, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing experience. The LBJ, she feared, would be a jungle.
Seeing the first sign pointing toward it, she went into panic mode. Shed never had a sense of direction, and shed lost her freeway fighting skills. Those two things combined with the inappropriate feelings she had toward the man she was driving were a foolproof recipe for disaster. Still, getting Will to the hospital was a job she had to do, and she always did her job.
Uh-oh, she had to make a choicehead north and east or south and west. Will, she said, which direction do I go on the LBJ? Tell me quick, because northeast is the left lane and southwest is the right lane, and I dont know how the hell Im going to change lanes.
Will sat back, folded his arms over his chest and said, Youre fine where you are.
What a relief. The traffic swarmed around her, cars cutting in front of her, sliding in behind her, but all she had to do was cling to her spot in this lane. It led her up the entrance ramp. Shed arrived. She was on the freeway. Standing still.
Lots of traffic, she said.
Its always like this, Will said.
But we need to hurry! She raised her hand to slam the heel onto the horn in the center of the steering wheel.
He grabbed her wrist. Honking wont help.
The touch of his fingertips sent her into total meltdown. Will had turned her on to a degree she couldnt ignore. It was her own fault that shed let it happen. If shed only read on after shed sighted Wills name, if shed only noticed that a Muffy Murchison was also in the wedding party, she would have assumed the worst and accepted it with spartan stoicism. But she hadnt read on, and one look at him had her drooling on his shoes. Now she had to redirect her raging lust.
This frivolous trip to Dallas for Sallys wedding had become a landmark in her life. Shed buried herself so completely in her work that shed forgotten the realities of life. She needed sex just as any normal woman did.
And she needed it now. Shed find somebody else to spend a hot, steamy twenty-four hours with, and Will could help her do it.
Shed delivered Wills baby. Now he, by golly, could deliver her into the arms of an unmarried man.