16 Lighthouse Road (21 page)

“I like my freedom,” she reminded him sweetly, not wanting to offend.

“You can have your freedom, baby.”

“It wouldn't be the same.”

“Sure it would,” he argued. “In fact, you can have your own room if you insist.”

He'd suggested that the last time he'd brought up the subject. She hadn't been interested then, and she wasn't now.

“It's because of your mother, isn't it?” Warren asked.

“That's not it.” She knew it would be easy to lay the blame at her mother's feet. She was a judge, an important member of the community, but Justine was her own woman. What she did with her life shouldn't be any reflection on her mother's career.

“You're turning me down?” He wore the little-boy expression that might have been cute twenty years ago, but at his age left him looking merely pathetic.

“I'm sorry. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you.”

“Good.” He gave her a wide grin and flipped open the lid of the velvet case.

Justine gasped. It was the largest solitaire diamond she'd ever seen in her life, a good three or four carats. She brought her hand to her mouth, speechless.

“It's a beauty, isn't it?”

She could only nod.

“I want us to get married, Justine. This is your engagement ring.”

“Married?” The room started to buzz and she felt a little dizzy.

“You're beautiful and a classy woman. When men see you with me, I feel like a million bucks. We make a good couple, baby.”

She stared at him. His insensitivity was almost laughable. He was trying to persuade her to become his wife by telling her she enhanced his image.
That
was supposed to induce her to marry him?

“You told me once you don't want a family,” he said.

“I don't.”

“Well, that works for both of us, then.”

Justine swallowed hard.

He glanced around him, then lowered his voice. “If you want to maintain separate bedrooms after we're married, that's fine with me.”

“Oh, Warren.”

“Think about it,” he said. “Take the ring. Try it on.”

She did as he asked, simply because she wanted to see what a four-carat diamond looked like on her finger. A man with romantic inclinations would have taken the opportunity to slip
the ring on her finger himself. Seth would've—she was sure of it—but there was no way he could afford a diamond of this size…now or in any other lifetime.

The ring glided onto her finger as if it'd been designed for her. It was the most fabulous piece of jewelry she'd ever seen.

“Wear it for a while,” Warren urged. “It's insured.”

Justine gazed at the diamond, then reluctantly removed it from her finger. “I'm going to think very seriously about your proposal,” she told him, and she meant it.

“Listen, if it's your parents that worry you, I'll talk to them.”

“I make my own decisions, Warren.” She shuddered at the thought of Warren confronting either of her parents. It wouldn't be a meeting of minds, that much she could guarantee.

“When will you have an answer?” he asked, ever the businessman. He wouldn't allow her to keep him dangling long.

“Next week,” she told him. Even if she did reject his proposal, nothing about their relationship would change. Warren knew it and so did she.

 

Seth phoned Justine from Alaska the following night. She shouldn't have been surprised. He always seemed to know when she least wanted him to call.

“Hi,” he said. His clear voice sounded as if he were across the street rather than a thousand miles north.

“Hello, Seth.”

A short pause followed her greeting. “You don't seem happy to hear from me.”

“I'm not.”

“Any reason for that?”

She closed her eyes and sighed. She might as well tell him.
The sooner Seth knew, the better—for both of them. “Warren asked me to marry him last night.”

Another brief hesitation, then, “Have you accepted his proposal?”

“Not yet.”

“Are you tempted?”

She wasn't, but letting Seth think otherwise was a sure way to get him out of the picture. “I don't know.”

“When
will
you know?”

“Soon.”

He didn't argue with her or try to persuade her to reject the other man. Nor did he say she'd be a fool if she agreed to marry Warren. Instead he asked, “Do you love him?” He kept his tone conversational, as though her answer was a matter of indifference to him.

“I haven't decided that yet, either.” She was fond of Warren, but compared to the fire that surfaced whenever she was with Seth,
fond
was a bland emotion.

“Are you waiting for me to make your decision for you?” Seth asked.

“Don't be ridiculous.”

“That's what it sounds like to me.”

She sighed loudly. “I only mentioned it because I thought you should know.”

He snickered, irritating her even more.

“What was that about?” she demanded.

“Did you tell your boyfriend how you practically dragged me into your bed?”

That was a low blow, and Justine had no intention of responding.

“Warren knows about you.” She wasn't absolutely sure if that was true, but she had her suspicions. Most likely, her being seen with Seth was what had prompted the marriage proposal.

“I'll bet he does.” Seth's anger had vanished as soon as it appeared. “Well,” he said, apparently bored with the subject, “I guess you have an important decision to make.”

“You're right, I do.”

“Call me when you've made it.”

Justine sensed that he was about to hang up, and perversely, she didn't want their conversation to end, not like this. And yet, she was helpless to do anything but agree. “I will,” she whispered, miserable and furious at the same time.

“On second thought,” he said, and she could practically hear his scorn, “don't bother. We both know what you're going to do.” Having said that, he broke the connection. Justine was left holding the telephone receiver, which buzzed insistently in her ear.

 

The sun reflected off the bright green water of Puget Sound as the ferry pulled away from the Bremerton dock and moved smoothly through Rich Passage on the hour-long journey to Seattle. Standing at the railing, with the wind ruffling her dark hair, and breathing in the salty tang of the sea, Olivia turned to smile at Jack.

“It's just so beautiful this afternoon.”

“Hey,” he joked, “I ordered it just for today.”

She rolled her eyes.

“This is no joke,” he insisted, with a look so serious she was tempted to laugh outright. “I said, ‘God, I've got this im
portant date Sunday afternoon and I'd appreciate a little cooperation from you in the weather department.'”

“You said that, did you?”

“I did.”

Olivia turned back to the railing, leaning her elbows on it, and waited impatiently for a glimpse of the Seattle skyline. Jack's son, Eric, was picking them up at the ferry terminal and the three of them would have dinner on the waterfront. This would be the first time Olivia had met Eric, and Jack seemed more nervous about it than she did.

“I've taken several vacations in the past few years,” Olivia told him, “and traveled in a number of different countries, but I've never found any place more beautiful than Seattle when the sun is shining.”

“It's lush and green, all right,” Jack said, grumbling, “as it should be after three months of drizzle and rain.”

“Is it time for you to sit under a happy light?” she asked, posing the question to him that she'd once asked her children. Whenever the day was especially gloomy and they'd argued and complained about being unable to play outside, Olivia had made them sit under a lamp and read. James had dubbed it the happy light because he'd figured out that until he smiled, she wouldn't let him leave the chair.

“Happy light?”

Olivia explained, and they joked for several minutes. When they fell silent, she noticed how tense he seemed. He left her at the rail and paced the length of the ferry, drank three cups of coffee to her one and fidgeted during the entire ride from the Kitsap Peninsula into Elliot Bay.

Olivia recognized Eric as Jack's son the instant she saw him.
He was as tall as his father, with an athletic build, and other than his choice of clothing, they looked very much alike.

“Hello, Eric,” Olivia said, extending her hand.

“This is Olivia Lockhart.” Jack introduced her, sweeping his arm in her general direction.

Father and son didn't hug or exchange handshakes. Since Stan was quite demonstrative, it struck her as odd.

“How was the ferry ride?” Eric asked as they started walking along the waterfront.

“Great,” Jack said enthusiastically, as though they'd just stepped off a cruise ship instead of a one-hour Puget Sound crossing.

“Are you hungry?” Eric asked next.

“Famished.”

Olivia glanced at father and son, surprised by the awkwardness she continued to sense.

Eric told them he'd chosen a restaurant before their arrival and made reservations. “I hope you like crab,” he said, leading the way.

“Love it,” Olivia assured him.

Eric turned to his father. “I'm game,” Jack muttered.

Apparently Eric wasn't acquainted with his father's tastes. That, too, seemed odd. The restaurant Eric had chosen specialized in freshly cooked crab, served on newspaper-lined table-tops. Each patron was supplied with a wooden mallet and a bib. By the time they finished cracking the steaming Dungeness crab and dipping the pieces in melted butter, they were talking with ease, bursts of conversation punctuated by laughter.

Everything about the meal was wonderful. When they'd washed up, Eric walked them back to the ferry. Once more he appeared rather formal, and the conversation, which had
flowed so comfortably throughout the meal, suddenly seemed stilted. Jack's hands were buried inside his raincoat pockets.

“I had a good time,” Eric announced. Was it Olivia's imagination or did he sound a little shocked by that revelation?

“I did, too,” Jack said.

Eric didn't say anything for a moment. “Would you like to meet again sometime?”

“I'd like that very much,” Jack said solemnly.

“Me, too.”

Eric smiled charmingly at Olivia. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You, too, Eric.”

The cars started to leave the Bremerton ferry and it was time to walk onboard.

“I'll be in touch,” Jack said, steering Olivia toward the terminal and the ticket booth for walk-on customers.

Eric raised his hand in farewell and eased away, taking small steps backward.

Jack purchased their tickets, and as they boarded the ferry, he said, “That went well, didn't it?”

“Very well.”

She could feel his relief and found his reaction—his entire attitude toward his son—a bit puzzling. Still thinking about it, she followed him up the steps to the main deck. Jack hurried ahead of her toward the back railing and stood there, the wind in his face as he looked out over the Seattle waterfront.

“There he is,” Jack called. He placed his finger between his lips and let out a piercing whistle.

Eric jerked around, saw them and waved once more.

“He's a well-adjusted young man,” Olivia murmured.

“The credit for that goes to his mother.”

“You weren't part of his life while he was young?” That would explain the awkwardness between them.

“I was around but…I wasn't much of a father.”

Olivia understood what he was saying. Between law school and everything else that'd been crammed into the early years of her own children's lives, Olivia suffered her share of regrets. She'd longed to be a good mother, still did, but there were only so many hours in a day.

“I'm proud to be his father.”

It was probably the best compliment a father could give his son, but unfortunately Eric hadn't been there to hear it.

“Do you see him often?” she asked, attempting to gauge the relationship.

“We try,” was all Jack would admit. “However, we have a lot of issues—” he grimaced at the word “—that we need to work through.”

She smiled at his distaste for what he called psychobabble. He'd told her more than once that he preferred plain speaking.

“But you and Eric are both making the effort,” she said quietly.

Jack nodded. “Yes, we are.” Then, as though searching for a way to turn the subject from himself, he asked, “Any word from Justine?”

Olivia wanted to groan aloud. Her daughter was her main source of concern just now. Although Justine hadn't said anything to Olivia, word had filtered through town about her and Seth Gunderson. Olivia felt like cheering. Seth was exactly the kind of man she pictured for her headstrong daughter.

Then Seth had left for Alaska, and all of a sudden the gossip was about Warren Saget ordering a huge diamond ring
from Berghoff Jewelers. Warren had purposely chosen a local jeweler, and the whys of it didn't escape Olivia. He wanted her to know. Coward that he was, Warren Saget didn't have the courage to confront Olivia face-to-face. He left the broadcasting of his intentions to the gossipmongers of Cedar Cove.

“You heard?” Olivia asked.

Jack gave a nonchalant shrug. “Did she say yes?”

“I have no idea.” It hurt to admit that her only daughter hadn't even discussed a marriage proposal with her mother.

“If she says yes, what will you do?” Jack asked, watching her closely.

“Do?” As if Olivia had a choice. “What
can
I do? I'll grin and bear it, but I'll have a hell of a time calling Warren my son-in-law, especially since we're almost the same age.”