1. That's What Friends Are For (10 page)

"What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?" she demanded. Then hearing her own words, things began to make a twisted sort of sense.

"Of course," she said, pacing, her long train trailing behind her, "That's it! You had that terrible blow to the head and now you've—"

She stopped suddenly and spun around, almost losing her balance in all the satin and lace material that wrapped around her when she turned. She gazed at him, her eyes widening with growing horror. "Gregory! You've done something to him. What did you do, Brad?" She fought the entangling folds of her dress and rushed over to him. Grabbing his arms and trying to shake him she yelled, "What have you done with Gregory, Brad? Answer me!"

"Penny, calm down! I haven't done anything to Gregory Duncan. Don't be so damned dramatic."

"Dramatic! Me? Why, I couldn't begin to compare with you, you no-good, rotten, egotistical louse. Just how much more dramatic did you intend to get? You managed to spirit away my fiance in some way so you could take his place!"

Once again she began to pace, gathering her dress in both hands and bundling the folds in front of her, as though acting out a scene of a primitive washerwoman striding around the room with her load of clothes.

"Well, I won't stand for it, do you hear me?" Her voice continued to grow in volume. "I have had it with you, do you understand? I have taken all I intend to take from you and your stupid, idiotic pranks! You did your best to ruin my childhood by scaring me with snakes, putting frogs in my bed, hiding my glasses—"

"Damn it! I've told you and told you—I never did a thing to your stupid glasses. Even your mother believed me when I told her I had nothing to do with your losing them!"

She ignored the interruption. "You'd invite me to play with you, then run off and hide so nobody knew where you were, and then you would laugh because I cried when I couldn't find you!"

"Come on, Penny," he said, "be reasonable! That was twenty years ago, for God's sake!"

By now she was caught up in remembering all the many grievances she had against him. Ignoring his comment Penny continued going down her list. "And what about that time when we were in high school, how mortified I was by your absolutely awful teasing in front of Frank Tyler when you knew I had a crush on him!"

"Hey, Runt, you held your own in that department and you know it! How many girls did you tell your ridiculous stories about me so they'd never take me seriously!"

"Take you seriously? You? The original good-time man-about-town? You've never taken anything seriously in your whole life! It's all been fun and games for you, all the times we were growing up, and even when we went away to college."

She stopped pacing and stared at him from across the room, her face flushed and angry. "I was never so glad when you moved to New York and out of my life, do you hear me? Every time you're around crazy things happen. Nothing ever works out the way I plan. It was only after you were gone that I finally managed to get some order in my life and find the man I loved and intended to marry and then you—" The enormity of what had just taken place swept over her like a tidal wave and she began to cry, harsh sobs that shook her body."No-w-w... yo-you've... com-com-pletely... ruined... m-my life!''

Brad could only stand there and watch her. He had honestly thought he was helping her out. He certainly had no intention of ruining her life. He loved her. He had only wanted to help her... or so he had managed to convince himself when he decided to substitute himself for Gregory at the altar.

Who are you kidding, Crawford? he asked himself. You've been eating your heart out every day since you learned she was marrying someone else. When he'd seen his opportunity, he'd grabbed it, using Gregory's desertion to finally get what he wanted.

And Penny hated him for it.

Brad could feel the guilt chum in his stomach. He'd managed to make her his wife, but at what price? What could he possibly do or say that would ever help her forgive him?

Slowly he walked over to her and reached out his hand. She jerked away as if she found the mere thought of his touching her repulsive. He dropped his hand and just looked at her.

Penny fought for control, trying to get her breath. Through sobbing breaths she managed to grate out, "Where... is... Gregory?"

Brad sighed. He slid his hands into his pants pockets and turned away, gazing out the window.

''California."

''California? What's he doing out there?"

"Taking depositions."

She Stared at him in disbelief. "You're making this up, aren't you? All of it? Gregory wouldn't have gone off like that, leaving me without some word."

Scrubbing at her face, Penny took a couple of breaths and forced herself into a semblance of calmness. "You warned me last Sunday," she said in a low voice that shook with the intensity of her hurt and rage. "You told me you had come back to break up the engagement! Too bad I didn't realize you were lying when you said you had changed your mind!"

"I wasn't lying, damn it!" he said, spinning on his heel to face her. "I've been telling you the truth!" Brad had finally been goaded beyond control.

"Well, if it wasn't a lie, what was it? You said you'd break us up. I'd say that substituting yourself for the groom certainly managed to do that! You don't care that Gregory and I already had our future planned together. You couldn't stand seeing me happy, could you? Well, Mr. Crawford, this time you managed to get caught in your own trap. Because you are just as married to me as I'm married to you. And I don't want to be married to you. I want Gregory!"

"You've made that good and clear. Believe me, there's nothing I'd rather see than you married to Gregory, damn it. Can't you understand that?"

She crossed her arms, her mutinous expression making it clear that she did not find his remarks appeasing.

"No, I can't understand it. Because you are here and he isn't."

"That isn't my fault."

"Isn't it?" she asked sarcastically.

"Listen to me, you hardheaded, obstinate shrew. If I hadn't married you, you would have been left here this morning having to explain to everybody who showed up why your groom begged off!"

His words were a verbal slap in the face and Penny flinched. "You mean that Gregory changed his mind?"

"That's exactly what I mean!"

"Why?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"He must have told you. Otherwise you wouldn't have known."

He nodded his head curtly. "He told me he had changed his mind. That he wasn't going to marry you. He said something about not really knowing you as well as he thought."

The look she gave him was filled with contempt. "And you really expect me to believe that? There's absolutely no way of knowing what horrible lies you must have told him to cause him to change his mind about marrying me!"

"Stop calling me a liar!"

"Stop behaving like one!"

They had made no attempt to keep their voices down. In truth, the volume of the argument was the last thing they had considered. The sudden silence as they stood glaring at each other seemed to bounce off the walls of the room.

A soft tapping on the door made them look in that direction. "Come in," Brad commanded.

Helen stuck her head around the door and looked from one to the other in shocked dismay. She stepped inside and firmly closed the door behind her, leaning on it.

"I absolutely can't believe the two of you! You haven't been married five minutes and you already sound the way you used to as small children when your mother and I had to drag you apart and make you spend the day at home by yourselves until you could play together without fighting! Do you realize that you can be heard for a city block? Are you aware that the recreation hall is full of people waiting to greet the loving bride and groom and watch them open presents and cut their wedding cake?"

They immediately burst into simultaneous explanations.

"Mother, you don't understand. Brad—"

"Helen, she's being totally unreasonable and won't even listen to me!"

She put up her hand like a policeman stopping traffic. ''I don't want to hear it! Thank goodness I no longer have to play referee for the two of you. If you choose to kill each other, you no longer have to explain it to me. Now I want you both to go over to that hall with smiles on your faces and show all those people how happy you are. They expect to see some sort of love and joy in the occasion."

"Love!" Penny repeated contemptuously.

"Joy!" Brad said with a harsh laugh.

Helen opened the door with a decisive turn of her wrist. "Both of you studied acting for years. Surely you have something to show for all the money we invested in your education." She looked at her watch. "I'm going over there and explain that you've been delayed. I'll expect to see your happy, smiling faces in no more than fifteen minutes."

Brad and Penny stared at the closed door for an unnoticed elapse of time after Helen left. Neither of them had any desire to look at the other.

Penny was the first one to break the silence. "What are we going to do?"

He glanced at her, then away, once again walking over to the window. "That's up to you, isn't it?"

"Why up to me?"

"You can go out there and tell everyone that you never intended to marry me."

"I don't understand why somebody didn't say something. I mean, everyone in the wedding party knew I was expecting Gregory to be here today."

"I told them that we talked it over late last night. You discovered that you couldn't marry Gregory after all... because you loved me."

"And they believed you?" she asked incredulously.

"Thanks a lot."

"You know what I mean. As Mother just pointed out, you and I fight as much as we're friends."

"Your parents didn't seem to be as surprised as they were pleased."

Remembering their rather strange behavior she asked, "When did you tell them?"

"Early this morning, just as I told my parents. You probably didn't notice, but Dad was my best man."

She shook her head and looked down at the small container she held in her hands. "As you well know, I couldn't see anyone."

"I'm sorry. I had no right to hide your contacts from you."

''At least you admit it!"

"I was only trying to help."

"Fine, Brad. How do you propose to help now, go out there and announce the whole thing was a joke?"

"Hardly. Our marriage was very legal. We have the license to prove it."

"And that's another thing. How did you manage to get a license?"

"Well, one of the benefits of having been raised in a small town is knowing everybody, including the county clerk. It's amazing what people will do when they think they're assisting true love. I explained everything to Reverend Wilder and he made the announcement before the ceremony began, with a few comments about love conquering all."

So that was what she had heard just before her father escorted her down the aisle.

Penny sat down, feeling as though she were a balloon and someone had suddenly let out all of her air. "So Gregory didn't love me, after all," she said slowly. "He certainly had me fooled."

Brad heard the pain in her voice and could think of nothing to say.

"I should have known," she said, not even aware she had spoken aloud.

"What do you mean?"

"I hadn't talked to him all week. That isn't like him. Not at all. I kept telling myself he was just busy, but something kept nagging at me, a little voice that refused to shut up." She glanced up, then quickly away.

"It's funny, really. I was just thinking last night that I wanted to discuss what I was feeling with you, knowing you'd understand." Looking down at her hands, she added, "Oh, you understood all right. I just wished you'd explained last night."

One corner of his mouth lifted in a half grin. "I tried, believe me. But you wouldn't accept what I said. I didn't want to go into all the details, about Gregory calling me and what he said. When I realized that you weren't going to accept what I was saying, I guess I used the situation to my own advantage."

Penny didn't seem to hear his explanation or apologetic tone of voice. She had dropped her face in her hands. When he stopped speaking she cried, "I can't face all those people out there. I just can't."

"I could take you home and tell them you aren't feeling well."

The thought of returning home and trying to explain to her parents what had taken place was just as bad an idea as pretending to be happily married.

She looked over at Brad. "I don't think I'll ever forgive you for this ridiculous situation, but since you got us into this mess, I don't see anything else to do but go out there and pretend we're happy newlyweds."

"Happy?" he repeated sarcastically. "I don't think I'm that good an actor."

"What about me? At least you had a choice."

"So sue me!"

"Don't worry. I intend to just as soon as I know how to go about it."

He looked at her incredulously. "You mean you'd actually take me to court? On what grounds?"