Sister Of The Bride Page 13

  His eyes blazed. ‘And you didn’t think it worth mentioning to me?’

  The teacher stopped wringing her hands long enough to contribute. ‘She had plenty of identification, and she knew the children well. They were so pleased to see her, otherwise I’d never have allowed them to go with her.’

  He refused to be mollified. ‘Your security will need urgent review before I allow my children to return.’

  ‘Of course, Mr Westmore.’

  Terise retrieved his attention. ‘Please don’t blame the school, Ryan. It’s all my fault.’

  He jerked her towards the car. ‘Then start making amends. Get into the car.’

  She offered no resistance as he dragged her to the vehicle and thrust his mobile phone into her hands. ‘Call this woman. I want to speak to her now.’

  With shaking hands Terise dialled Elaine’s number, and almost wept when she answered right away. Ryan took the phone from her and subjected Elaine to a cold, merciless quiz until he was satisfied that the girls were in no danger. Then he slammed the phone down, an explosive outpouring of breath whistling between his clenched teeth.

  Frightened, Terise took in the rigid lines in his face and the set of his back. His hands gripped the steering-wheel so tightly that she expected it to snap. ‘Trudy and Lisa are fine,’ she said gently, in case the fact hadn’t yet registered. ‘Elaine loves them. She wouldn’t hurt them.’

  The look he shot her was furiously accusing. ‘You still don’t get it, do you? The last member of my family to be snatched from my life I didn’t see again for five years.’

  The car reeled around her as she saw the connection. ‘Oh, God, Ryan. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realise.’ In the last few minutes he had relived the horror of his father’s kidnapping. She also now understood why he had been so angry when she was late bringing the twins home. ‘Elaine didn’t know how you’d see her actions,’ she whispered, holding her hands out to him in mute appeal.

  ‘She will when I’m finished with her,’ he vowed.

  She let her hands drop, his rejection palpable. ‘Please don’t be too hard on her,’ she begged. ‘You lost a wife, but Elaine also lost a daughter. Trudy and Lisa are the only blood relatives she has left.’

  ‘I might have known you’d side with her. Selfishness obviously runs in your family.’

  He drove fast but with icy precision, following her stilted directions to Elaine’s flat in Queenscliff. She could think of nothing to say to alleviate his pain—or her own distress.

  Loving is giving, she reminded herself. He needed her strength right now, no matter what it cost her. He was very near the edge of his endurance. The thought strengthened her. If all she could do was be there for him, as a safety valve if necessary, then that was what she would do.

  Elaine was white to the eyes when she opened the door to them. Ryan said nothing to her until he’d checked on the children, who were playing happily with the Lego set in the living-room. Then he dragged the older woman into a bedroom, out of earshot. ‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at—kidnapping my children?’

  Elaine shuddered. ‘I meant to bring them home soon. I only wanted to spend a little time with them.’

  Her plea was lost on Ryan. ‘The only reason I didn’t arrive with the police was to avoid upsetting Trudy and Lisa. But if this ever happens again, I swear I’ll bring formal charges.’

  Elaine looked faint, and Terise automatically interposed herself between her stepmother and Ryan. ‘That’s enough. Can’t you see she’s on the point of collapse?’

  Elaine mewed a protest. ‘He’s right, Terise. It was the wrong thing to do, but I was desperate.’ She glanced through the doorway to the children. ‘They mean so much to me. I meant to bring them home before you returned from your trip.’

  ‘Which your stepdaughter helpfully told you about,’ he assumed, his baritone voice vibrant with anger.

  Horror filled Terise’s gaze. ‘You can’t think I was a party to this?’

  Ryan gripped her arms, his fingers biting cruelly. ‘You’d better not have been.’ He dropped her arms abruptly, apparently aware of how tenuous his control was. ‘I’ll take my children now.’

  Her head spun as she rounded up Trudy and Lisa, doing her best to reassure them. Elaine’s white face and her silence frightened them, as did the aura of tension Ryan projected, but his voice was gentle as he ushered them out of the flat.

  When Terise moved to follow he shook his head. ‘Stay with your stepmother. We’ll be fine without you.’

  ‘We’ll be fine without you’. The words reverberated through her mind, cruelly final. He didn’t want to have any more to do with her. She could hardly blame him after what had happened, but it felt as if a part of her had been torn out by the roots.

  Her last sight was of his cold, set face, his features etched with a weariness which tore at her heart. Oblivious to his state of mind, the twins clung to his hands, chattering excitedly about their adventures with Elaine.

  Closing the door between them, Terise gave a sigh of despair. She turned to her stepmother, who was wringing her hands in the background. ‘Oh, Elaine, what have you done?’

  CHAPTER TEN

  ELAINE pulled herself together with an effort. ‘What can I say? After all my years as a teacher I did the unpardonable—taking children away from school without their father’s permission.’

  ‘You meant well.’ The excuse was as lame as it sounded.

  ‘And we both know what road is paved with good intentions.’ She shuddered visibly. ‘I’ll probably never see them again, and it’s all my own fault.’

  Terise put her arms around her stepmother. When had she become so slight, so fragile, as if her bones would crack under pressure? ‘Don’t upset yourself any more, please. It isn’t going to help.’

  Elaine’s wide eyes searched her face. ‘How can you be so forgiving, when I’ve ruined things between you and the man you love?’

  Shock jolted through Terise at hearing the terrible reality put into words. ‘You didn’t,’ she denied, without much conviction. ‘He doesn’t love me, so there was nothing to ruin. After he found out I was Clair’s stepsister, it was all over anyway.’

  ‘He tarred you with the same brush?’

  When Terise would have denied it, Elaine took her hand and led her back to the living-room, urging her to sit down. ‘Don’t look so shocked. I know how he felt about my daughter. No wonder, if things were as bad as I think they were.’

  She held up a hand as Terise tried to demur. ‘It’s all right. I loved my daughter, but I’m not blind. I know she pulled the wool over your eyes when you were younger. I didn’t say anything because I wanted so much for us all to get along—to be a family. Perhaps it wasn’t entirely fair to you, but I took her side because you were so much stronger. I felt you could cope better.’

  The unfairness of it stung Terise, but it was all in the past now. Nothing would be served by saying what was in her mind—that she hadn’t been strong at all, and had bitterly resented the way Elaine had sided with her own daughter. It had made Terise feel less valued. ‘We can’t change what’s past,’ she observed.

  Elaine sighed. ‘You’re right. All the same, I made a complete mess of things today, didn’t I? But I wanted to see my grandchildren again. With you about to leave Ryan’s employ, I couldn’t think of anything else.’

  Terise hugged her arms around herself, feeling suddenly cold although the afternoon was warm. ‘Oh, Elaine, this whole situation is a complete mess. Sometimes I wish...’

  ‘That Clair had never involved you in her affairs? ’ Elaine completed the thought.

  Terise regarded her stepmother in surprise. ‘You knew her marriage was in difficulties?’

  ‘I knew she was causing difficulties. She called me just once, trying to convince me that Ryan was a bad husband to her. She wanted to run away and bring the children to me, to get even with him. Much as I wanted to meet them, I couldn’t encourage her. I advised her to seek professi
onal counselling. She owed her children that much at least.’

  Terise inclined her head, wishing she’d thought to offer similar advice. ‘It was sound advice, but she didn’t take it. She wrote to me instead.’ The admission was like ashes in her mouth. ‘I received two letters all about how cruel Ryan was.’

  Compassion softened the lines of Elaine’s face. ‘So you came to the city to see for yourself. It was a pity you were caught up in Clair’s problems. She was always dragging you into some scheme or other, wasn’t she?’

  ‘I didn’t mind. She was my sister, and I thought sisters supported each other. But this time she was playing with people’s lives.’ Terise sighed softly. ‘At first I didn’t know what to think, but I’ve come to know Ryan. He has a fierce temper but he’s always just.’

  ‘As I saw for myself today.’ Elaine twisted her wedding-ring round and round on her finger. Terise was mildly surprised that she still wore it. ‘He could easily have handed me over to the police.’

  The idea shook Terise anew. ‘It’s a miracle that he didn’t, given his own history.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  Haltingly Terise told Elaine about Ryan’s father being kidnapped and held hostage. ‘It was five years before he saw his father again,’ she concluded.

  An agony of shame gripped Elaine, her distress mirrored in the troubled eyes she turned to Terise. ‘And I brought back the memories. No wonder he reacted so badly.’

  ‘But you weren’t to know.’

  A glimpse of the skilled teacher Elaine had been surfaced briefly. ‘Ignorance is no excuse. I’ll make sure he understands that it will never happen again—even if it means I never see Trudy and Lisa. He’s a good man and a good father. He deserves better than to wonder if I’m waiting for the chance to snatch them again.’

  Pride in her stepmother swelled within Terise, although she could see what the decision had cost her. ‘He can’t ask more of you than that.’

  ‘As you say, he’s a fair man.’ Elaine took a deep breath and stood up. ‘You’d better stay the night here. The spare bedroom is made up, so you’ll be comfortable there.’

  She wouldn’t be comfortable anywhere away from Ryan, Terise knew. But he had made it clear that he didn’t want her around. After today she could hardly blame him. She knew precisely how her stepmother felt. Her grandchildren were now off-limits to her—just as Ryan was to Terise. But knowing that she could never see him again and living with the fact were two different things.

  ‘Shall I get you something else?’ Elaine asked her gently, when Terise barely picked at the meal she prepared.

  Elaine’s plate was also untouched. Terise shook her head. ‘No, I’m not hungry.’

  ‘Then I’ll put the kettle on. I don’t know what it is about a cup of tea, but it’s the universal panacea.’

  It was worth a try, so Terise nodded. Elaine removed the plates of food and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Terise alone with her tangled thoughts.

  But she was denied even that respite, when the telephone shrieked a summons. She jumped, her nerves badly on edge. Could it be Ryan? She immediately chided herself for her foolishness. It was more likely to be one of Elaine’s friends on a social call.

  ‘Could you answer it?’ Elaine called from the kitchen.

  With an unaccustomed feeling of foreboding, Terise picked up the phone. ‘Is a Ms Terise O‘Neill there?’ came the surprising query.

  ‘Yes, I’m Terise O’Neil.’ Who besides Ryan knew where she was or had this number?

  ‘I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m calling from the Royal North Shore Hospital. A relative of yours has been admitted, and you were the only person we’ve been able to contact.’

  The only relative she had was in the kitchen making tea. Terise cleared her throat. ‘There must be a mistake.’

  ‘I don’t think so. You are Mr Ryan Westmore’s sister-in-law?’

  She went cold from head to foot. ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘There’s no easy way to tell you this, but he was in a car accident on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There was no answer at his home number, and then someone had the presence of mind to press the redial button on his mobile phone, and we got this number. Mr Westmore was conscious for a few minutes, long enough to tell us your name and your relationship to him.’

  Conscious for a few minutes... Terise felt the room spin around her and clutched the back of a chair. ‘Please, he isn’t...?’

  ‘He’s alive, and not badly injured. He’s being treated for concussion and severe bruising.’

  She could hardly bring herself to ask, ‘The two little girls who were with him?’

  ‘They were luckier. Thank goodness Mr Westmore had the sense to put his children in the back seat, securely fastened into child restraints. I wish more parents——’

  ‘Please, are they all right?’ Terise couldn’t wait for the woman to finish her homily.

  ‘I’m sorry. Yes, they are. We’re keeping them in the children’s ward overnight for observation, but they suffered no injuries.’

  Terise released a strangled breath. ‘Thank God. Can I see Ryan and the girls?’

  ‘It would help if you came, although he isn’t conscious as yet. We need someone to reassure the children and take care of the paperwork.’

  ‘I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.’ Hanging up, Terise shook from head to foot. She should never have allowed Ryan to drive in his exhausted condition. Never mind that no power on earth could have stopped him. It made her feel less guilty to punish herself with such thoughts.

  Elaine swiftly dealt with such notions. ‘There was nothing you could have done,’ she said severely. ‘It’s the worst kind of arrogance to think you can solve all the world’s problems.’

  She sounded so much like the teacher Terise had first known that she managed a wan smile. ‘You’re right. Once Ryan makes up his mind, it’s like trying to turn a raging bull.’

  Elaine all but pushed her out of the door into a taxi. ‘Well, this raging bull is going to need your strength tonight. Go to him and tell him you love him.’

  Terise turned a white face to her. ‘I can’t...’

  ‘Think how close you came to losing him tonight before you tell me that.’

  Her words haunted Terise all the way to the hospital. She went through the motions of completing forms on Ryan’s behalf, barely aware of what she was signing. At last they let her see the twins, who were curled up in chairs watching a children’s video.

  ‘We had ice-cream for tea,’ they told Terise importantly.

  They accepted their confinement with the equanimity of six-year-olds, only becoming anxious when they asked about their father. Terise reassured them as best she could, desperately wishing that someone could reassure her.

  Her nerves were at screaming point when she was finally admitted to the private room where Ryan lay.

  Her heart turned over at the sight of his powerful figure lying still as death under the light covering. Tubes ran from his arm to a unit beside the bed. Above him, a screen silently monitored his vital signs. His eyes were closed.

  Her insides quivered as she approached the bed, stretching out a tentative hand to stroke the side of his dear, bruised face. A bandage masked an injury to his forehead, doubtless the cause of the concussion.

  ‘Oh, Ryan, I do love you,’ she said, on a tortured outpouring of breath.

  A groan slid from him and he stirred restively, straining against the restriction of the tubes and monitors. He couldn’t stand being restrained, even in unconsciousness, she thought with a faint smile.

  It vanished as his eyes began to open. She took his hand, her grip tightening so that he would know he wasn’t alone. ‘Ryan, can you hear me?’

  ‘God, my head. Must have been some party.’

  His words were slightly slurred, making her wonder if she had heard correctly. She leaned into his line of vision. ‘Do you know where you are?’

  His eyes opened fully, but there was a strange qualit
y in them as he looked at her, wrestling with his thoughts. ‘What’re you doing here, Clair?’

  He didn’t know who she was, she realised with a sickening jolt. He thought she was his late wife.

  ‘I had to come. I care about you,’ she tried again.

  He gave a bitter laugh. ‘That’s rich, Clair. First time you’ve come to... my room since... children born.’

  ‘Why, Ryan?’ she asked, feeling hideously uncomfortable. He obviously didn’t know what he was saying, but she had to know.

  ‘No need,’ he murmured. ‘You got...what you wanted,’ he ground out, through a thick haze of pain and confusion. ‘You’re my wife now... Got it all without... no need for... wifely obligations.’

  She couldn’t let him go on. ‘Ryan, don’t, please. I can’t bear to see you like this.’

  He rolled his head from side to side, his teeth grinding loudly enough for her to hear. She reached for the call button to summon the nurse. He was obviously in pain.

  But a strong hand snapped out and fastened around her wrist. ‘Cut out the act, Clair. You don’t care about me. You don’t even care about your own children.’ He sounded almost lucid but his eyes were fever-bright.

  ‘Your fancy new car... I paid for... is a two-seater. No family outings for you.’ A groan found its way up from deep in his chest. ‘Go to your party, then. I won’t stop you. Roads wet... take care...’

  The tears rolled down Terise’s face unchecked, splashing on to his hand clamped around her wrist. He must be reliving the night Clair had been killed, apparently going to a party he’d tried to talk her out of attending because the roads were bad.

  ‘Ryan, stop. I’m not Clair. She died in that car, driving too fast. Try to remember.’

  Relief coursed through her as she saw his eyes regain focus. His brow creased with the effort of recalling where he was and how he had got there. ‘Terise? I thought you were... Where am I?’

  ‘You were in a car accident. You’re in hospital,’ she told him.

  Alarm streaked across his face and he half rose from the bed. ‘Trudy and Lisa?’