Ryan's Return (11 page)

More water under the bridge, she thought with a sigh, wondering if it was the centennial that was bringing all the old stuff back to the surface, when it would probably be better off staying buried.

"I'm worried about the dinner tonight," Dirk said.

"So am I."

"Maybe Ryan shouldn't go."

"Oh, Dirk, it's too late to change things now."

"I could make it easy for you. I could say you couldn't find his wallet, couldn't bail him out."

"There are so many people coming to see him."

"Then maybe we should keep Andrew locked up."

"Maybe you should put me in there so Mrs. Appleborne and her cronies can't tar and feather me and send me out of town."

"You sure did open up a can of worms."

"I sure did. But it's done now."

"I suppose you're right." Dirk stood up and jangled the keys. "Guess we better let 'em out, then."

Kara followed him down the hallway. "You didn't put them together, did you?" she asked in amazement.

"I sure did. Figured they'd either start talking or kill each other. Either way works for me."

He opened the door. "The cavalry has arrived, boys."

Kara looked first at Andrew. He gave her a pleading, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Kara."

She turned to Ryan. He simply shrugged and put a hand to his blackened eye. For a moment she felt sorry for him, then her pity turned to annoyance. Ryan was in jail. He had a black eye. That was going to look great on the front page of tomorrow's paper.

"You hit him?" she asked Andrew, still not sure how it could have happened. Andrew was the least violent man she knew. When he got angry he got silent, not physical.

"He did," Ryan declared.

Andrew shot him an angry look. "You deserved it."

"I didn't do anything."

"You two sound like a pair of five-year-olds," Kara declared.

"Sometimes families bring out the worst in one another," Dirk said. "Don't know why that is, but it is."

"It should be just the opposite," Kara said.

Ryan simply smiled. It was the last straw.

"You think this is funny?" she demanded.

"You have to admit -- "

"You think I don't have better things to do than come running down here to bail you out of jail? Stop laughing," she said in complete frustration as Ryan's grin grew.

He pointed to her shoe. There was a red streamer stuck to the heel. Good Lord, she had walked down Main Street and driven across town trailing a stupid piece of red crepe paper.

In anger and embarrassment, Kara threw Ryan's wallet at his face. He tried to grab it but missed. A pile of credit cards flew onto the floor. Ryan knelt down, but instead of picking up the cards, he reached for Kara's foot. "Here, let me help you."

"I'll help her," Andrew said immediately.

Andrew tried to push Ryan away, but in his haste he missed Ryan and knocked Kara in the face with his elbow. The force sent her backward, and she landed hard on her buttocks.

The three men turned to stone.

Kara grabbed her stinging right eye and bit back a cry of pain. Her bottom hurt. Her eye hurt. And her pride hurt most of all.

Dirk held out a hand, and with as much dignity as she could muster, she got to her feet.

"I'm sorry," Andrew said, looking suitably horrified

"Me, too," Ryan added. "How can I make this up to you?"

"You can both go to hell. That's what you can do."

Ryan looked at Andrew as Kara stormed out of the jail. "I think we're already there," he muttered, and for once Andrew appeared to agree with him.

"Lighten up, this is a party," Loretta said to Andrew as they stood against one wall of the recreation center, watching Kara greet the arriving guests.

Andrew stared down at his beer. "More like a wake," he replied gloomily.

"Who died?"

"Me."

Loretta punched him in the arm. "Oh, come on, it can't be that bad. At least you don't have to pee every thirty seconds like I do."

"Loretta!"

She smiled unrepentantly. "Well, it's true. Things could be worse, you know."

"I don't think so. I spent most of the day in jail."

"I heard. And now you're in the doghouse, huh?"

"Kara has a right to be angry. I let her down. Not only that, I gave her a black eye."

"You hit her?"

"Accidentally. I was aiming for Ryan."

Loretta tried not to laugh, but she couldn't hold back a big grin.

"It's not funny. Why do I act like a fool every time I see Ryan? In one second I go from being a responsible adult to a stupid kid."

Her smile turned to one of understanding. "He just gets to you, that's all."

Andrew took a sip of his beer. "It was like I'd seen him yesterday, instead of twelve years ago. Like we were still fighting over comic books, still swiping each other's clothes."

"He's your brother, Andrew. Disliking him doesn't make all that go away. You shared a lot of years together. You have a past, a history."

"But that's the point. It is the past. And I don't want him in my present or my future."

"Why? What are you so scared of?"

"I'm scared of being found out," Andrew said. He bit down on his lip, holding back any further confession. Why did the words flow so easily with Loretta?

"Found out that you're human and you made a mistake, and that you loved someone who didn't love you back?" Loretta asked.

"I don't know what I'm saying. Forget I said anything."

"Just because Becky Lee didn't love you doesn't mean you aren't worth loving."

Her words brought his eyes up to meet hers. The warmth of her gaze crept under his skin. The glow of her smile made him stand a little straighter.

"Loretta," he said impulsively, then stopped, not sure what he wanted to say next.

"What, Andrew?" she asked softly.

Jesus, was that desire in her eyes -- for him? A rash of goose bumps raised the hair on his arms. He suddenly wanted to bury himself in her warmth, in her honesty, in her generousness. But she was pregnant. God, what was he thinking?

Loretta wasn't the right woman for him. In some ways she was another Becky Lee, passionate and single-minded, somewhat selfish. Maybe Loretta had slowed down a bit because of the baby, but once she had the kid, who knew what she would do?

He stiffened when she laid a hand on his arm. "Is that how you did it?" he asked.

"Did what?" Her voice grew tense.

"Got all those men to want you? By telling them they were worth loving? By making them believe in things that weren't true? Is that how you seduced them all?"

Loretta stepped back as if he had physically hit her. He realized belatedly that the strength of his question had silenced the crowd around them, making them the center of attention.

"You want to know how I did it, Andrew? I stripped for them, talked dirty, and did anything they wanted, and I do mean anything."

"Loretta, hush," Andrew implored.

"Why should I hush? I'm the town whore, isn't that right? And a good man would never be caught dead with me, at least not in the light with his pants down. After dark you'd be surprised how few really good men there are in this town." She rubbed her stomach defiantly. "Isn't that right, Mrs. Appleborne?" Loretta threw Beverly a wicked smile as she walked defiantly to the bar and ordered a drink.

Andrew met Kara's shocked eyes across the crowd. Damn, he had done it again. Caused another scene. This was not his day. This was definitely not his day. And he felt guilty as hell for what he'd done to Loretta. She hadn't deserved his words. She'd only tried to help him. But he didn't want her help. He didn't want anything from her.

With Loretta gone, the crowd dispersed. Music suddenly filled the room as Hans Grubner sat down at the piano to accompany his wife, Gillian. Although he couldn't play the way he used to, Hans still commanded the piano like no one else. And Gillian's sixty-eight-year-old voice rang through the room -- clear, strong, and passionate.

She sang an old tune and a new one, "Unforgettable," first made famous by Nat King Cole, then by his daughter Natalie.

Andrew sat down in one of the chairs along the wall and leaned his head back. Unforgettable. So many people in his life were unforgettable -- Ryan, Becky Lee, Loretta. Andrew wished he could leave, escape the memories, the madness. But there was no more running away. The monster was now within him, and somehow he would have to find a way to vanquish it.

Their music spoke of love. As Hans's fingers ran across his beloved keys, Gillian smiled at him with her heart in her eyes. Kara caught her breath at the sight of their love, still so strong after forty-eight years of marriage.

Kara's tension eased as the music inspired the crowd to relax, to sip their wine, to share the moment together, to forget that Andrew and Loretta had just engaged in nasty comments, and that Mrs. Appleborne and her crowd of followers were wearing black dresses as if mourning the death of Serenity Springs, rather than celebrating its birth.

While the music played, while the two people who knew each other so well filled the room with their love and passion, everything else was forgotten.

This was what Kara had wanted most from the dinner -- a coming together, the community celebrating its history and its future. Of course, she wanted the developers, like Harrison Winslow, to throw money their way, and of course she wanted the tourists to be inspired by the town, but what she most longed for was the feeling of family that had been missing in her life.

She turned her head and saw Angel and Billy huddled together with several other children, their foreheads almost touching as they whispered to one another. Kara smiled to herself, thankful that Angel had made friends, that their move to this small town had been the right one.

At least for Angel.

As Kara's gaze moved on to Andrew, her own feelings became less clear. For a moment she thought of joining him. But tonight he seemed isolated, distant from her, a stranger almost. She supposed that was partly her fault after leaving the jail so abruptly. But he had deserved her anger. Imagine racing his brother, running his truck off the road, and landing in jail on one of the most important days of the year. Not to mention giving her a black eye.

With a tentative hand Kara touched the slightly puffy swelling around her right eye. Two layers of makeup had hidden the bruise, but it still felt tender.

Andrew's reaction at the jail had surprised her as much as it had angered her. Ever since she had told him Ryan was coming to town, Andrew had changed. Even tonight the passion he had displayed in his argument with Loretta had made her realize that she and Andrew rarely fought over anything, and certainly not with that kind of enthusiasm.

Maybe it was Ryan's fault. His presence had thrown Andrew completely off balance, as it had Jonas. Kara's gaze drifted over to the bar, where Jonas was drinking shots of whiskey. He seemed intent on getting drunk, and a drunk Jonas would be even more dangerous than a sober one.

Kara looked down at her watch. Ryan was late, and the catering manager had already begun to set out the salads. She didn't want to start the dinner with one conspicuously empty seat at the head table, but in a few minutes she would not have a choice. Maybe it would be better for everyone if Ryan didn't show up.

But even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew it was untrue. No matter what happened, she wanted Ryan to come. She wanted him to see the results of her efforts. She wanted him to feel a bit of the magic that was Serenity Springs.

The music ended on a high note. Gillian leaned over and kissed Hans on the lips. The crowd broke into applause. When the clapping ended, a man stood alone at the back of the room. Heads turned. Hearts quickened. Voices hushed.

No one seemed to know what to do now that the moment had come. Kara least of all.

Ryan looked straight at her, and despite his confident stance, the quiet sophistication of his sleek black suit, she could tell he was nervous. She didn't know how she knew, but she did. There seemed to be a connection between them that went deeper than words.

It was up to her. She had invited him here. And he had come.

With deliberate, purposeful steps Kara walked up to him and extended her hand. "Thanks for coming," she said with a smile.

Ryan took her hand and squeezed it. "You look terrific."

Kara couldn't help feeling pleased. It was a throw-away comment, the kind any man would make at a function like this. Nothing to get worked up about. But when his gaze traveled down her midnight blue cocktail dress with glowing approval, she felt every nerve in her body tingle as if he had stroked her with his fingers instead of his gaze. "You look good, too," she whispered. "Come on in. Stay a while."

He smiled, but it didn't erase the tension in his eyes as he looked around the room.

Most people were hanging back, not sure what to do. Finally Josephine stepped forward. "Ryan, it's nice to see you again. You remember Ike Kelly, don't you?"

Ryan nodded as Ike shook his hand. "Congratulations. I heard you two are newlyweds."

Ike muttered something about being newly hog-tied, but a sharp look from Josephine made him simply raise his glass to his lips.

As Josephine stepped aside, Kara took Ryan over to meet the press people and the developers. The crowd came to life again as people began to chatter among themselves. She didn't consciously avoid Andrew or Jonas, but it seemed easier to move away from them than toward them. Eventually they ended up at the bar, face-to-face with Jonas.

He was drunk, Kara realized with dismay. Jonas's eyes glittered with anger, despair, and a myriad of other emotions. His face seemed to get redder with each breath that he took, each loud, angry, frustrated breath. Jonas was itching for a fight. She could see it in his hands clenched at his sides, in the upward thrust of his chin, in the beads of sweat clinging to his brow.

Ryan squeezed her hand so tightly it hurt. She squeezed back, trying to lend him whatever support she could. Whatever was between these two men, this father and son, it was obviously strong enough to scare both of them.

Neither man spoke for long, tense minutes. There seemed to be a silent battle going on as to who would say the first word. The rest of the room disappeared into shadowy silence, the crowd hushed as if the curtain had opened on the first act of a play.

Finally Jonas opened his mouth. "Get out," he said. "Get out of my town."

Kara caught her breath, casting a quick glance into Ryan's stony face. The challenging words had made his hand flinch within hers, but otherwise he gave no visible reaction. In a way it was the worst thing he could have done, because it made Jonas even angrier.

"I said, get out," Jonas repeated.

Kara silently prayed that Ryan would respond, that he would somehow smooth things over so the entire party would not be ruined.

Finally Ryan spoke. "No."

Simple, direct, completely unacceptable.

"How dare you? How dare you come back here? This is my town. My town." Jonas pointed to his chest. "I will not honor you, not tonight, not ever."

"And I won't honor you," Ryan said. "Because you have no honor."

"You son of a bitch!"

Kara gasped as Jonas threw his whiskey in Ryan's face.

Ryan didn't move a muscle. He didn't wipe the liquid off his cheeks or his mouth. He just stared at his father, his fingers still tightly entwined with Kara's. She wondered how he could stay so calm, how he could act so indifferent in the face of such bitter rage.

Kara would have thrown her own drink back at Jonas. Unfortunately she didn't happen to be holding one. Fortunately Josephine did, and before Kara could think of stopping her, Josephine tossed the contents of her wineglass into Jonas's face.

"You need to cool off," Josephine said.

Jonas sputtered with indignation. "Good Lord, woman," he roared.

"Oh, stop your barking," Josephine snapped back. "I've known you since we shared a playpen together, and I've had it up to here with your ranting and raving. If you can't be nice, then go home."

Jonas looked as if he was about to have a heart attack, Kara thought worriedly. He was flushed and jittery, nervous. Maybe even more nervous than Ryan.

Andrew suddenly appeared at her side, a little late but she was still glad to see him. "I'll drive you home, Dad," he said quietly.

"Get the hell out of my way. I'll drive myself home. I don't need you. I don't need any of you," Jonas shouted. "This is my town. My town."

Andrew tried to take his arm. Jonas shook him off, but he did walk out of the rec center. For that Kara was grateful. She thought the fireworks were over until Beverly Appleborne stood up and made a sweeping motion with her hand. "We want everyone here to know that along with Jonas, we will not honor this man. Serenity Springs will never welcome Ryan Hunter into its midst, or accept what he represents -- big-city ways, lying, and cheating." She walked over to Kara. "And we will not let you change this town. You will fail. Just as this dinner has failed."

With that she left. Kara held her breath as one person after another stood up to leave. When the door finally closed on the last individual, the room was half full.

"I'm sorry," Ryan said.

"It's not your fault. It's mine." Kara handed Ryan a napkin from the bar so he could dry off his face. "Believe it or not, I didn't invite you here for public humiliation. I owe you a big apology."

"Actually Kara, you're one of the few people here who doesn't owe me an apology," Ryan said as he glanced over at Andrew.

Andrew stiffened, but instead of acknowledging Ryan's comment, he turned to Kara. "Do you want me to take you home, Kara?"