Attraction (13 page)

“Look, here, how dare you…”
Riley’s words were cut off when Heron grabbed her under her arms and pulled her up so
that they were face to face, her feet dangling from the floor. He gave her a shake.
“Damn you, tell me, where she is. So, help me, God, Riley, if you don’t tell me, I’m
going to force it out of you.”
“Heron, don’t,” Caroline pleaded. Behind her was Lawrence. Both their faces were very
pale.
Heron looked at Riley’s parents, his frustration and rage clear in every feature of his face,
and looked as if he was about to give the small woman he was holding in the air another shake.
Then he dropped his hands away from Riley, not bothering to set her down, so that she fell to the
floor, and turned away.
Slowly, Riley got to her feet. “Mom, Dad, what is this all about?”
Heron spun around and pointed an accusatory finger at her. “You know damn well what
this is about.”
“Look, mister, I’m one second away from calling the police on you…”
“Riley, it’s about Robbie,” Caroline said quickly.
Riley stared at her parents and saw their desperation and how white their faces were. Fear
clutched at her heart for a moment. “Oh, my God! Is she okay?”
“Yes, yes, it’s nothing like that. It’s just she’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean she’s gone?”
Heron took a step towards her. “Don’t play this game, Riley. You know exactly where
she went to, and we want you to you tell us now where that is.”
Lawrence put a restraining hand on Heron’s shoulder and said gently, “Heron, please.
This isn’t improving the situation.” He turned to his daughter. “Riley, if you don’t know already,
your sister has run away.”
“She’s eloped,” Caroline corrected, then turned away, almost in tears.
Riley shook her head, trying to clear away the cobwebs that had developed inside her
head by the onset of one confusion after another. “Eloped? What do you mean she eloped? How
could she elope when Heron’s right here? Who could she have eloped with?”
Lawrence looked at Heron, whose back was faced to them. “Roberta has run away with
Tanner.”
Riley gaped at her parents. “Tanner? You mean his brother?” She pointed at Heron.
Heron came back to her. “Yes, yes, yes. My brother, Tanner, has eloped with my
fiancée.”
“But…how…I didn’t even know…”
“You want to know how? Here, you may as well read what she wrote me. She had this
delivered to my home early this morning.” Heron tossed a ball of crumpled paper at Riley, which
fell to the floor when she failed to catch it.
Riley bent and picked up the paper and slowly opened it. She instantly recognized the
graceful writing of her sister’s hand.
“Dear, Heron, I’m not quite sure how to put this,” she wrote. “I’m afraid I’ve made a
dreadful mistake when I first agreed to this engagement, and have continually made one mistake
after another by letting it continue. And the worst of this mistake is that it is you who will bear
much of the cost.
“I didn’t realize how mistaken I was about our engagement until I realized how I felt
about your brother, Tanner, and that it is he who I love, and he with whom I want to spend the
rest of my life. I didn’t know how he felt about me until he revealed them to me two days ago.
We tried to deny what we felt for each other. Neither of us wanted to hurt you, and so, at first,
both of us agreed that we would let things continue as they have been. But, yesterday, we
realized we just couldn’t. And we began to feel desperate. We both knew that if I did go through
with the marriage to you, while Tanner and I denied what we felt for each other, we would be
hurting all three of us immeasurably in the end.
“So, yesterday morning, we decided to go Las Vegas. By the time you get this letter, we
will have been married. Please forgive us, Heron. But, please believe me, when I say, in the end,
this is the best for all of us.”
“Oh, my God,” Riley whispered.
“You knew about this,” Heron accused, his face dark and hard, once again, with anger.
“You knew what those two traitors were up to.”
“I had no idea.”
“Are you sure, Riley,” Caroline asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. Why don’t you believe me?”
Heron said harshly,“Because you’re closest to Roberta. She tells you everything. So, it’s
hard for me to believe that she wouldn’t have told her sister about my brother.”
“No, she didn’t tell me anything. She never gave me an inkling about it.”
Heron stepped closer to Riley and pushed his face closer to hers again. “I don’t believe
you,” he spat out. “I don’t believe that you didn’t have a hand in this elopement.”
Although she was shaking, she stood her ground, tilting her head so that her pale grayhazel eyes looked at him fully. “Well, you can believe what you want. You do, anyway. You’re
too arrogant to think that any woman could do this on her own to you.”
He bent his head so that he could shove his face closer to her hers, making Riley tilt her
head back even more. Dark angry eyes locked with pale hazel defiant ones.
Heron accused in a low voice, “And you’re nothing more than a deceitful, immoral tart
who wantonly disregards the rules of society to seek her own depraved pleasure.”
“And you’re an uptight prick who likes to throw his weight around, especially your
fiancée,” Riley returned.
“I wouldn’t have had to have been so heavy handed with Roberta if you’d kept out of our
affair.”
“I did nothing of the kind, and you know it…”
“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it,” Caroline shouted in near hysterics. “Stop it, both of you. Please
don’t let us fight like this. It only makes things worse.”
Lawrence said, his voice shaky as well, “Your mother’s right. Please, Heron, you must
calm down. You, too, Riley.”
Riley gave Heron as scathing look. “Well, then, tell this pit bull to back off.”
Lawrence took Heron by the arm and gently pulled him away. “Heron, if you’ll please.”
Heron gave Riley a look of cold warning then jerked his arm from Lawrence’s hand and
turned his back to them.
Lawrence said to his daughter, “Now, Riley, are you sure you knew nothing about your
sister and Tanner?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Caroline said, “But Roberta tells you everything, Riley.”
“She didn’t tell me about this.”
“Or that she and Tanner were planning to run away to Las Vegas?”
“No, not at all. I never even knew that she was considering backing out of the
engagement…” Riley broke off, then said softly. “Oh, my God!”
All the others watched her as her face slowly cleared as understanding dawned on her.
“What is it,” Caroline said urgently. “She did tell you something, then.”
“No, she didn’t really tell me anything. But she called me on Sunday. She was asking me
all these questions that didn’t really make sense then. Something about being so sure of what she
was going for in life, and then when looking back, not being really sure that it was what she
wanted. And then she was telling me that she had no idea what her wedding was going to be like
because Hildegaard had taken over everything. And then she hung up. I didn’t really think
anything of it, because I thought it was just pre-wedding jitters.”
“So, you had no idea what she was planning to do?” Lawrence concluded wearily.
“No. But I think she was trying to tell me. But I didn’t hear it, because I just couldn’t
believe that she would want to back out of this marriage. And I don’t really think she knew what
she was going to do either when she called me.”
A silence fell amongst them, each caught up in their own questions and anguish.
Then Heron lifted his head, and his eyes were filled with accusing anger as he directed
them at Riley. “I blame you for this.”
“Me! How am I at fault? I had no idea that this was going to happen.”
He stepped towards her again. This time, because his fury was so palpable, Riley stepped
back.
Heron said, “No, but you put the idea into her head. You told Roberta that you didn’t
think I was good enough for her.”
“Riley, how could you,” Caroline exclaimed, shocked.
“I said no such thing to Robbie.”
“You said it to me,” Heron reminded.
Lawrence looked from him to Riley uneasily, the two facing off at one another again. “Is
that true, Riley? You told him that?”
Riley lifted her chin at Heron. “Yes, I did, but only because he was being such a pompous
ass.”
Caroline put a hand to her head, as if it were aching. “Oh, Riley, when are you going to
learn to control that wicked tongue of yours.”
“You can’t lay this at my door. I never revealed to Robbie my opinion of her engagement
to him..” Riley shook her head. “Oh, no, Heron, you can’t put this one on me. If Robbie ran away
from you, you have only yourself to blame.”
Heron’s eyes narrowed and he took step towards her. “How do you figure that?”
“You pushed her into your brother’s arms with this stupid wedding and sicking that
rotteweiler on her. That time she almost had a nervous breakdown should have given you an
indication that you were going about this all wrong. But, no, not you. Not the high and mighty
Heron Wait. Because what Heron Wait wants is what Heron Wait gets. Never mind the wishes
and needs of the other. You’ll just continue to steamroll over everyone and force them to your
way of thinking, won’t you?”
Caroline begged weakly, “Please, Riley. This is really unnecessary…”
“Oh, no, Mom, he needs to hear this. He needs to know why his fiancée ran out on him,
because I don’t think he’ll ever be able figure it out on his own.”
His eyes on Riley, Heron slowly nodded his head. “Yes, Caroline. Let her go on, since
the best she can do, even at a time of a crises, is to make me look the bad guy instead of the
victim.”
Riley gave him a look of disdain. “Hah! You, the victim? I’ve never seen in my life a
person who is less likely to ever be a victim. Robbie never wanted this three ring circus that
you’re putting on, and she told you that from the beginning. And she never wanted it in a grand
theater like the Grace Cathedral with the whole wide world watching. She wanted a small
wedding, at the beach, with just hers and your relatives and friends attending. But, you had to
make it into a major state affair, and invite all these famous and important people that Robbie
had never met and would probably never meet again. And she wanted to wear her mother’s
wedding dress and the family veil. But you and that wedding nazi overruled her on that, as well,
telling her that she would look cheap and laughable and be an embarrassment to you and your
family’s standing to the public. You never once asked what Robbie wanted, or asked what she
felt. That’s because, to you, it wasn’t a wedding that you were putting on. You were putting on a
show for the whole world to see, something for the national newspapers and magazines to write
about and to critique. And all because you have money and power. You cared more about those
things than you did about your fiancée. That’s why I thought you weren’t good enough for
Robbie, because you could never really love her…”
“Riley, that’s enough,” Caroline interjected sharply.
Riley closed her mouth, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist. For several seconds,
no one spoke, the tension heavy in the room. Heron looked at Caroline and Lawrence, then
directed his eyes at Riley. Then he stalked out of the house without another word. A few seconds
later, they heard his car screech away.
After another moment of silence, Riley offered, “Does anyone want some coffee?”
“No, no,” Caroline said. “I think we better go home. I would rest easier there, if there is
every a chance that I will be able to rest after this.”
Riley put her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Oh, Mom, it will be alright.”
“How can anything be alright ever again? My God, Riley, your sister jilted Heron Wait
and ran off with another man, only days before their wedding. And he, such a rich man with
important standing in the community.”
Riley wanted to point out to her mother that Roberta, while jilting one rich man, had
married another man who was just as wealthy. But she didn’t think her parents would appreciate
that just now.
“And Heron’s parents had been so kind and warm to us, and so welcoming at that dinner.
What they must think of us now,” Caroline wailed.
Riley carefully said, “I think, in the long run, that they will come to realize, as I think all
of us will, that this might be far better for Roberta than having her marry Heron”
Lawrence said, “I’m not quite sure I am ready to settle so positively this unexpected turn
of events in my mind so quickly, Riley. But I’m willing that I hope you’re right.”
An hour after her parents left, Riley received a phone call from Beth Anne, Tanner and
Heron’s sister.
“Oh, God, what a mess,” Beth Anne said. “We don’t all quite know what to say to each
other over here. How’s it over on your end?”
“About the same. How’s Heron?”
“We have no idea. We’ve tried to call him, left messages all over the city, but he’s not
returning our phone calls. Have you heard from our two runaways?”
“No. Have you?”
“No, the idiots. Listen, I called to let you know that all of us over here are going to be
calling the guests and letting them know that it’s off. I just called to advise you to do the same.
We’ve even involved the servants because we’ve got close to a thousand guests who were
invited.”
“Oh, God, that’s right. The guests. We’ve got to tell ours.”
For the next two days, Riley spent the time at her parents house, helping them to call one
guest after another to tell them that the wedding was off. When she felt her voice horse and her
fingers numb from dialing, Riley helped her father pack up several of the gifts that had arrived
and send them back.
Two days later, Caroline finally managed to get up the nerve to make a phone call to
Alana. To her relief, Alana was warm and conveyed the same shame, apprehension, and
indignity towards the runaway marriage that Caroline was feeling.
“And I’m so sorry about all the money that your family and Heron spent on the
preparations,” Caroline said. She took a big breath. “I feel that in light of my daughter’s most
imprudent behavior, I must extend our assistance to smooth over the costs that has already been
incurred.”
“Mrs. Calderon, there is certainly no need for you to do that, especially now.”
“But the costs…I just wouldn’t feel right if we laid all the cost at Heron’s door. What he
must have put out from his own pocket, and you and your husband’s as well. Please, I must