Unexpected Babies

“I’m surprised you want to. Come in and let me apologize for the way I acted. I didn’t expect to see you in my mirror.”

“I shouldn’t have run out of here, but I love you Cate. No, don’t worry—you know, you used to be better at hiding your feelings—I don’t expect you to pretend you feel the way I do, but I want you to depend on me. It’s my turn to be the big sister.”

“Am I older than you?” Cate asked as Caroline paused to replace a lungful of air.

“By a little more than thirteen minutes, but I’ve needed you more than you ever needed me.” She stopped again, and her face flushed a deep red. “I used to wonder if you wished you didn’t have a twin, and now you don’t.”

“Well, don’t sound sad. You’re about to settle all your debts. I need a crash course in my own history.”

Caroline’s instant regret almost made Cate smile. “What can I tell you?” Caroline asked in a wavering tone.

With her new deadline, she had no time for subtlety. First things first. “Why are you so reluctant to talk to me?”

“I’m embarrassed. You rescued me from every jam I ever got myself into. I can’t repay you for—”

Cate interrupted. “I know you all loved me, because my close call seems to have turned me into a saint.” Saints held no charm for her. She didn’t trust the tale, and she needed facts. “Tell me the bad stuff, too.”

“What bad stuff?”

“We’re sisters. You must have helped me as much as I helped you.”

A deeper blush darkened Caroline’s high cheekbones. Cate lifted her fingertips to her own face as her twin went on. “You never needed help.”

Not true. She probably just hadn’t asked for it. “I need help now. Dr. Barton implied our family—the Talbots—are…”

Caroline’s discomfort eased as Cate trailed off. “Notorious?” she suggested.

Cate nodded. “I know our parents are deceased, but what happened to them?”

“Dad met Mom in the Navy. They were both intelligence officers, and apparently, the only thing they loved more than imminent danger was each other. They sent us here to live with Aunt Imogen when we were five. The Navy stationed them in Turkey, I think. Some remote place, but it was only their first isolated duty station. They liked the life so much they never came back.”

“Never?” Such parenting alarmed her. She felt for the two small girls they’d been. “We never saw them?”

“They came for visits. Brief ones.” Caroline shook her head. “But we missed them so much it was easier when they stayed away. When they tried to leave we cried—well, I cried. You pretended you didn’t care.”

“I did?” She couldn’t picture herself as such a tough kid.

Caroline pulled up a chair and made herself comfortable. “Always. You didn’t want anyone getting close enough to see how much you hurt.” She stopped, seemingly amazed, and reached for Cate’s water. “Do you mind if I drink some? It’s hot outside.”

“Go ahead.”

“I never realized you were pretending until I said that just now. I always envied you because you didn’t seem to need anyone, but you—”

Cate found she didn’t want to know what Caroline thought of her inner workings. Plain facts mattered more. Maybe later she’d be willing to discuss her private thoughts with her sister. “How did they die?”

Caroline’s expression clouded. She drank more water and set it back on the table. “In a car accident. They were driving to Nice to fly home for our high school graduation, and they took a curve too quickly. We think they had an argument before they left their hotel because the management billed us for damages.”

Cate stared at her for a second and tried not to laugh at the morbid picture.

“I know.” Caroline shook her head. “Aunt Imogen’s attorney pointed out the tactless nature of their claims, but they still wanted to be paid. My God, how we missed them.”

“I missed them, too?”

“You wouldn’t talk about it, but someone plants flowers on their graves and keeps them tended. Usually, when I go out to the cemetery, something new is blooming. You must be the gardener, but you always said you didn’t know anything about the plants. Aunt Imogen has a killer thumb, and Uncle Ford’s still too mad at Dad for dying to do something so kind.”

Sadness surprised Cate, knotting uncomfortable tears in the back of her throat. She’d like to see that cemetery, but she had to go by herself the first time. After that, she’d ask Caroline to help her with the flowers. She moved on to their aunt and uncle. “How about Aunt Imogen and Uncle Ford? Dan told me a story about Aunt Imogen’s Navy man.”

“I don’t believe she ever had an affair, if that’s what you mean, but like you, she keeps her feelings private. Maybe she’ll tell you about him if you ask her in your present condition.”

Cate grinned at Caroline’s prim tone. “I wondered why she wasn’t married, but it seemed rude to ask. And Uncle Ford?”

“He’s never made conventional choices. None of us was conventional except you.” Caroline swallowed. “Actually, no one was ever sure if Grandma and Grandpa actually married each other. I mean we have a marriage certificate, but the story is, they bought it on the boardwalk in New Jersey.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry. You and Alan are legal, and you’ve never taken a wrong step. You’ve walked a tight, straight line to give Dan a sense of family you and I didn’t get. You’ve made him strong.”

Tight, straight line? The walls started to close in again.

“In fact, you and Alan have given Shelly a good example. I want her to know someone in our family can make a marriage stick.”

A lasting marriage hardly equated with a wife who’d hidden her pregnancy. How had Alan responded to setting examples? What had she thought about such a responsibility?

“I need to ask you about Alan’s father, too. Uncle Ford mentioned that I wouldn’t be seeing him inside these four walls.” She glanced quickly around the room. “What did he mean? I don’t feel comfortable asking Alan.”

“Why?”

Because she didn’t trust their relationship. “Alan’s already stressed. I don’t want to add to his trouble, but he’s—Richard’s his name?”

“Yeah, Richard.”

“He’s family, too. I’d better know about him.”

“Richard has his quirks.” Caroline grabbed the water again. “I don’t want to talk about him, either. He raised Alan alone after Alan’s mom left when Alan was about ten. I’m not sure what went wrong.”

“I thought you and I were close.”

“We were.”

“I sure hid a lot from you.”

“Just the important stuff,” Caroline said with a trace of impatience. “I’ve never understood what went on between Alan and Richard, and you never told me anything. Of course there was gossip. I’ve heard Alan did a lot of the stuff fathers are supposed to do for their children, like laundry and cooking. I know Richard had a drinking problem. You and Alan both tried to pretend Richard was a better father than I think he was.”

Appalled and heartbroken for her husband, Cate tried to take this information in. “Why would we cover for him?”

“Maybe for Dan, or maybe you thought he’d remind me of Ryan, my own runaway spouse. You’ll have to ask Alan—or maybe Richard. He’s getting married this summer. He must have finally put his first wife behind him.” Caroline reached for her hand. “I haven’t helped you. You know my worst fears, but I only know hints of yours.”

Cate made herself accept her sister’s touch. Dr. Davis and Dr. Barton had both touched her in comfort, and she hadn’t minded. Family mattered more. Accepting affection she couldn’t return felt false, but she wanted to love her sister so she let her hand rest in Caroline’s.