Unforgettable (18 page)

Stop it! Friendship! This is ONLY a friendship and nothing more. You do not need a woman or a relationship in your life!
Patrick shouted at himself.
OK, that did it…this song needed to end quickly! He wanted to put some reasonable distance between himself and Brittany.

Brittany felt that tug, that undeniable pull where Patrick was concerned. This feeling was becoming all too familiar, stronger and more difficult to resist. He wasn’t helping anything by dancing the way he was and the song wasn’t helping any either, but it was more than that. She tried to ignore it as best as she could but it was nearly impossible when Patrick was touching her, holding her in his arms and moving so seductively. She wondered what it would be like to feel his warm embrace and soft kisses in a more intimate relationship. She quickly pushed those thoughts and images away as the pictures became more vivid and that feeling coursing through her veins grew more intense. Damn, did he
have
to be so sexy?

“Why do they call this place ‘Fontain’s Fountains’,” Patrick asked, quickly letting go of Brittany and taking a small step back from her. He was trying desperately to distract his mind from the stirrings he felt in his body. He’d noticed the small, intricately detailed water fountains tucked in here and there, but he couldn’t imagine they were the restaurant’s namesake.

Brittany led him through a pair of French doors opening onto the balcony overlooking a lovely flower garden graced with four extraordinary water fountains. These were illuminated by colored lights to show them off in the darkness of the night. The first one held three large angels dressed as Grecian goddesses, their richly detailed feathered wings spread out behind them tip-to-tip, creating a circle. Each angel blew a trumpet while small cherubs and flowers gathered about their feet. The water spouted in a wide spray from the center of the three angels and from their trumpets. The second fountain was a combination of mermaids and dolphins. The third depicted a flying unicorn reared back onto its hind legs, water pouring from the single horn upon its head. The fourth and last fountain was a weeping willow tree, the water streaming down the drooping branches like tears. All the fountains were carved from solid marble and stood in a long, shallow, rectangular pool, also carved from marble, which collected the spray.

“Aren’t they beautiful? My favorites are the angels and the weeping willow,” Brittany said, admiring the fountains, the garden and the beautiful late summer night.

“Absolutely stunning,” Patrick said, looking at this beautiful, moonlit woman who had so randomly and unknowingly taken over his life. She was like something out of a dream, too rare and beautiful to be real, yet too real and alive to be a dream. She seemed to fit in almost perfectly with the scenery surrounding them, a beautiful woman in a romantic, feminine dress standing on a balcony overlooking a flower garden and water fountains on a clear, star-filled night. Her eyes sparkled in wonder, their rich brown depths drinking in the beauty that seemed to have been put there for her eyes alone. The soft lighting streaming through the French doors brought out the auburn highlights in her soft, silky dark hair. How he would love to be that soft light as it spilled gently across her face and bathed her neck and collarbone in a soft glow. It gently caressed the rest of her body from shoulder to calf as Patrick had dreamed of doing the night before. What a fool he’d been to think his physical attraction to this woman would end if he were no longer touching her. It only delayed the inevitable.

“What about your family, Breezy? You never mentioned them,” he asked, desperate to distract his mind from his wayward and provocative thoughts.

Brittany dropped her gaze from the beautiful garden and either refused, or was unable, to look at him. He couldn’t see the expression on her face and her silence puzzled him.

“Breezy?” he said softly.

“I, um…I’m all that’s left of my family,” she replied. She knew that was hard for anyone to believe because there were always aunts and uncles and cousins for most people, but not for her. Other than her friends, whom she loved and cherished dearly, she was completely alone in the world.

“You see, my mother and father were both only children. Both sets of my grandparents died before I was five years old and, of my four grandparents, only one had a sister and she never married or had any children. She’s gone now, too. I had a little brother, Andy, who was seven, and my parents, and that was all…my entire family.”

She hadn’t intended to tell him the whole story. Nearly everyone she knew had been there at the time so no one ever brought the subject up. She’d only talked about it with Susan when it happened and they hadn’t spoken of it since. She hadn’t realized how difficult it would be, or how much she’d needed to talk about them, to tell their story.

She was staring at the weeping willow fountain again, but Patrick could tell she wasn’t seeing it. Her eyes welled with sadness and seemed to look far beyond the fountains into another world…her past. Brittany’s soft voice was steady at first, until she mentioned her baby brother. It began to quiver and held a haunting quality that made Patrick’s heart ache for her.

“Andy loved baseball so much; he rarely talked about anything else. His baseball card collection was his pride and joy and he carried it with him wherever he went. He loved nothing more than talking about each one and it didn’t matter if he’d shown them to the same person a dozen times, he’d just show them again. Nothing made him happier than sharing his love for those cards with everyone. He had a Dodger’s baseball cap he absolutely never took off. Most of the time, he even slept in it. Mom…Mom was the kindest, gentlest, most loving person I’ve ever known. I always wanted to be just like her. She was so beautiful, inside and out. My father was strong and smart and so handsome. To me, he was superman and, as far as I was concerned, he was invincible.

“I was nineteen and away at college for my first year. I held a job but still managed to keep up with my studies. Between my job and the money I earned tutoring, it wasn’t long until I’d saved enough to buy a car. I’d always loved the look of the Mustang and, when I saw one for sale dirt-cheap just off campus, I snatched it up. I was so proud of that car…I couldn’t wait to show it to my family.

“Dad knew how much I loved Mustangs and told me, if he ever found one in fair shape, he’d get it for me and fix it up like new. He enjoyed restoring classic cars and, while I was growing up, I helped him for a while. I didn’t tell my parents about the car, wanting it to be a surprise. I wanted Dad to see what a great bargain it was and what great shape it was in, so I decided to drive home a day early and surprise them on Christmas break. Susan made the trip with me so I dropped her off at her house and went home. At first, I wasn’t worried the house was empty.

“Susan called an hour later to tell me she’d found out my parents and Andy were driving up to the college to surprise me. My dad…” her voice cracked as she recalled the night that had changed her life forever. “…My dad had bought a mint condition ‘65 Mustang convertible as a Christmas present for me. He saw the ad in the paper and bought it over the phone. It was just a few miles from the campus and I’d actually looked at the same car, but it was way over my budget. He bought it the same day I bought mine.

“They were driving up to give me my present early and he was going to let me drive it home. Mom was supposed to ride back with me and Susan while Dad and Andy followed us. Susan’s mom and mine were close and Mom had told her what they had planned just before they left. Susan’s mom had tried to call us to make sure we’d be at the dorm when they arrived but she was too late…we’d already left.

“At midnight, the phone was ringing off the hook and someone was pounding on the front door at the same time. It was Susan on the phone again. I…I put her on hold while I went to answer the door. It was the police. My family had been in an accident. They were gone. All of them…just gone. Even…even Andy. They…they found his…b-baseball cards…strewn all over the…r-road…” A single tear trickled down her cheek and she and swiped it away. Another followed, and another, until there was no stopping them. She was crying openly now, her tears falling unchecked as she tried to tell Patrick about the baseball cards. Her voice was choked and cut completely off by her sobs.

Nothing had ever hurt Patrick so deeply or so much as seeing her cry. He took her in his arms and held her tightly to him. He spoke soft words of comfort as he stroked her hair and back. Her long slender fingers squeezed into fists and clung to the lapels of his dinner jacket as she curled into his chest.

Instinctively, he knew he was the first person she’d ever told about her family. He wanted to help her, to ease her sorrow and heartache, but the only thing he could do was hold her, allowing her to tell her story and cry. He hoped it would help for her to just let go and get it out of her system.

“I lost everything! Everything…in just…one s-split second…in time. If only I’d…t-told them about…my c-car. If I’d only…”

Patrick couldn’t take it. He thought his heart would break for her. “I know, darling…I know. It’s not your fault, angel. It’s not your fault.”

He held her tighter in his arms, his cheek pressed to the top of her head, shushing into the soft hair above her ear. She blamed herself when there was no one to blame. She felt responsible for what had happened and had kept those feelings buried in her heart all these years. She cried until no more tears would fall, her breath coming in short, quivering gasps, her entire body trembling. He rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head as they leaned against the alabaster balcony. Her pain and sorrow felt like his own and he wanted to cry himself.

With sudden clarity, he realized just how foolish and selfish his own actions had been over the past ten years. He’d suffered injured pride and turned his back on the whole human race. He’d turned a cold heart and cold eyes on anyone who’d cared for him, and on anyone who had even tried to care. She’d lost everything…every aspect of her life had been destroyed, yet she’d managed to come back stronger than before, her warm heart still intact and unscathed.

This revelation made him feel so ashamed of his past actions that finally, after ten long years, the ice encasing his battered heart melted completely away. Now, it beat with the warmth of a kinder, gentler man…a man who’d learned to trust again.

This enchanting little lamb had tamed “The Heartless Lion.”

Chapter 11 “How the Lion Lost His Heart”

Brittany’s tears had finally ceased, her hands no longer balled into fists but splayed gently across the wide expanse of Patrick’s chest. She drew strength and courage from his embrace while the steady, rhythmic beating of his heart calmed her.

“I’m sorry, Patrick. I didn’t mean to ruin such a lovely evening,” she said, looking up at him.

“Don’t be. You haven’t ruined anything,” Patrick replied, losing himself in her poignant blue eyes.

“It’s just that everyone I know already knew about my family and how they…died. No one has spoken of it since for fear of hurting me and I love them all for wanting to protect me like that. Except for those first few days before the funerals, I never talked about them either. But, when you asked…it all just came pouring out. I’m sorry,” Brittany said again.

“Please, Brittany. Don’t be sorry. I’m not,” he insisted. “Sometimes you have to talk about the bad things that happen in life before you can enjoy the good things.” He was silently shocked as to where the hell that comment had come from. Damned if he’d ever talked to anyone about anything. Maybe that was why he never really enjoyed the good things, or even acknowledged them.

Patrick towered over her tiny frame as she looked up at him with the sweetest expression on her face. She was still lovely, even though her eyes were puffy and red from crying. He kissed her gently on the forehead and then brushed a feather-light kiss across her lips. He would have liked the kiss to last longer but now was not the time, nor the place. There would be plenty of other days, other nights, to let his lips linger on hers. There would be other times to hold her and kiss her to his heart’s content.

Brittany lowered her head and relaxed against his chest. Patrick leaned back against the balcony railing, still holding her in his arms as he rested his cheek on top of her head. For now, they were content with what they had…closeness, friendship and the warmth and comfort of each other’s company.

“Brittany, meeting you and gaining your friendship has given me a gift you couldn’t possibly fathom. You may never fully understand just exactly what you’ve done for me but I want to thank you all the same,” Patrick said. He was thinking back to the waste his life had been the past 10 years and how Brittany had finally made him realize what a fool he’d been.

“You keep doing that…thanking me for things while I have no idea what you are talking about. You said nearly the same thing in your dedication and I still don’t know what you mean. Would you please explain it to me?” she implored, gazing up into his green eyes.

“Well, it goes back to when Tom and I were in college together. I was a lot like Tom then…happy-go-lucky, and fun-loving.

“I was engaged to be married just out of college. My fiance’ was wealthy and aspired to be even wealthier. Even though I was going to inherit a fortune after college and, eventually, the entire family estate, it wasn’t enough to suit her. Soon enough, the cracks in her facade started showing. She began criticizing me, very subtly, of course, telling me I was too kind, too tenderhearted, and too trusting. But she said these things in such a way that I took them as a compliment. Laughing right in my face, Caroline told me I was a damn fool if I thought any of these qualities would get me through life without money.

“I was a fool all right…a fool to believe she wanted me for myself.

“Just before our final semester, she took a trip to Paris with her parents. While she was there, she met an incredibly wealthy, older man and married him a short time later. He had ‘family money’ which amounted to a whole lot more than Da had at the time. When they finally came back, she took great pleasure in throwing him and his money in my face.