Dear Love Doctor (26 page)

What a pushover you are! You want to get a woman’s attention? Try ignoring her!

He had to hand it to Aloysius. He read on:

If you want something badly enough, you have to be prepared to walk away from the table.

Hunter sighed, but took heart at the ending:

Try that. Write back and let me know your wedding date.

“That’s the secret?” Given that Daffy had penned those words, it made sense for Hunter to follow her advice. Even the housekeeper wouldn’t let him in the house, having informed him sorrowfully that Daffy had strictly forbidden her to give him access. Daffy, Sarah had told him that morning, was still thinking.

“Yep.” Aloysius rose. “Come on, old boy, let’s get some dinner.”

“I’m not hungry,” Hunter said. “But thank you for trying to help me out with Daffy.”

“You’re quite welcome. Now come keep me company and practice ignoring Daffodil Landry.” He put an arm around Hunter, and before Hunter knew what had happened to him, his partner had hustled him past the suite of offices and into the elevator.

25

I
t was a beautiful day for a drive across the endless expanse of the Causeway, but Daffy wasn’t in much of a mood to appreciate the blue sky, fluffy white clouds, and sailboats dotting Lake Pontchartrain. She was on her way to her parents’ summer house.

Evidently, Hunter had given up on her. After they’d returned from Ponchatoula, he’d spent a week besieging her, but then all had gone quiet on his end. The flowers had stopped. The phone calls had died completely. His appearances on her doorstep had ceased.

So she’d mucked it up royally. Well, she might have driven Hunter away—without intending to, unlike her other relationship disasters—but this was the last time it was going to happen to her.

She was going to drive up to her parents’ house, march inside, and confront her mother—and face her fear that she’d hurt Hunter the same way her mother had wounded her father.

Not Hunter, she corrected herself. She couldn’t blame him for giving up on her. He’d been ready to work things out together and she’d insisted on time alone. So she had lost the best man she’d ever met. But someday surely she would meet someone else and want to make a go of things.

Not likely.

Daffy sighed, exhausted from her own internal arguments. She was tired of her own company and heartsick for Hunter.

Her mother was out on the patio, a beautiful deck area surrounded by trees and flowers and overlooking a sparkling swimming pool and spa.

“What a surprise,” Marianne said, glancing up from a book.

Daffy nodded, realizing she had no idea how to start this conversation.

“I gather you were in the neighborhood?”

Daffy nodded, again, feeling like a marionette. Her mother had a way of doing that to her, pulling strings so that Daffy ended up reacting rather than initiating.

Well, today was going to be different.

“I’ve come to speak with you about something that’s important to me,” Daffy said, taking a chair opposite the chaise on which her mother sat.

“Wedding bells, dear?”

Daffy shook her head. Had Jonni told their mother?

“Don’t tell me you drove that nice, rich Hunter James away, too?”

“I did not drive him away.” She spoke from behind clenched teeth, because that was exactly what she had done.

“Well, if he’s not offering marriage, that’s just as well.”

“He did propose,” Daffy said, “and I said no.”

“Most girls your age are married.”

Daffy stared at her mother. “Do you have any idea why I said no?”

“I only met the young man once,” Marianne said. “Were you two not compatible?”

“If you mean in bed, we were quite compatible.” Daffy couldn’t believe she had actually said that sentence to her mother. Her mother, who pretended sex didn’t exist; her mother, who’d let the doctor explain why she and Jonni should take their little pack of pills; her mother, who’d screwed Aloysius’s father right in their own house, in the bedroom she shared with Daffy’s dad.

“There’s no need to get personal,” Marianne said.

“Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Screw Mr. Carriere.”

“Daffodil Landry!” Her mother sounded sincerely shocked. “That’s no way for a lady to talk.”

“It’s okay to do it but not to say it?” Daffy jumped up, unable to contain her agitation. She was positive the key to her fear of commitment lay in her fear that she would turn out to be a mirror image of her mother. If she didn’t straighten out this question, she knew she didn’t have a chance of figuring out the rest of her life. Hunter had been so wise to encourage her to confront Marianne.

“Daffy, there are some things a mother shouldn’t have to explain to her children, but since you ask, I’ll say this, and only once will I address your question.” She lay her book down. “I married when I was twenty. I’d never had relations with any man other than your father. When Pierre came over to the house that day, I was swept away by the circumstances. I love your father and he has forgiven me. That’s all there is to it.” She picked up her book, and then added, “Oh, and you might try to learn to forgive also.”

“Oh,” Daffy said, sitting back down and trying to digest her mother’s words. Gone unspoken were the words “And if you hadn’t told your father, things would have been so much smoother.”

“So do you think I’m like you?”

Her mother sniffed. “No, Daffodil, I think you were left under the pumpkin patch. You’re entirely too intense to be my daughter.”

“Why do you always act like you dislike me?”

Her mother peered over her sunglasses. “What an odd notion. I don’t dislike you. I don’t understand you, but that’s an entirely different matter. Now, why don’t you run along and go make up with that rich Hunter James so all my friends will quit asking me when you are ever going to settle down and get married?”

“Right,” Daffy muttered, backing off the patio and crossing through the elegant and spacious home. So much for a heart-to-heart, but at least her mother hadn’t clammed up. And hearing from her lips that there’d been only one man and only one time somehow made Daffy feel better.

She sighed and got back into her car. She didn’t think she’d ever understand her mother, but she did feel as if a hex had been lifted off her.

She’d made it to Mile 23 of the twenty-four-mile-long Causeway bridge when her phone rang.

It was Jonni, crying so hard Daffy couldn’t understand a word she was saying.

“Slow down,” Daffy ordered. “What happened?”

“David . . . shot!” A racking sob followed.

Daffy gripped her phone. “Where are you?”

Jonni managed to convey she was on her way to the hospital. Daffy had the sense to ask which one before her sister hung up.

Jonni hadn’t said how badly her husband was hurt, but as Daffy sped toward the hospital, she feared the worst. It wasn’t like Jonni to be hysterical.

No point in speculating.

Even more than concern for her sister and brother-in-law, though, one thought filled her mind as she drove too fast and too recklessly across town.

What if it were Hunter?

Visions of a world without the man she’d come to love and admire and yet had walked away from crowded her mind. Hunter, as she’d first seen him across the room at the Orphan’s Club fund-raiser; and then at PJ’s, when he’d been far too cocky for his own good, yet somehow disarmingly charming. And then in Las Vegas, as the two of them had discovered so much about each other . . .

Daffy braked as all the traffic on the I-10 came to a crawl. But her images of Hunter paraded on and she knew, with a finality that created in her not only immense satisfaction but a wave of anxiety, that she had to go to Hunter.

If it wasn’t too late.

But first she had to answer her sister’s call for support.

Finally free of the traffic, Daffy left her car at a meter, threw in the one quarter she could find, and hoped that the parking demons didn’t tow her car away.

When she didn’t see Jonni in the waiting room, Daffy without hesitation claimed to be the injured man’s sister and was shown back to his room.

She had no idea what scene she’d find. David unconscious, battling for his life, Jonni crying at his side?

The last sight she expected to see was David propped up in bed holding court, the only sight of a wound a bandage around his upper arm.

Jonni clung to him, and to Daffy’s surprise, the paralegal intern she’d suspected of being David’s paramour stood on the other side of the bed. A young man with red hair had his arm possessively around the intern.

Daffy hesitated and Jonni, spying her, called her into the room. “Thanks for coming. I must have scared you silly, but look, he’s going to be okay!”

“So I see,” Daffy said. “What happened?”

The intern answered. “Mr. DeVries saved my life.”

“Her ex-husband thought he could defy not only the restraining order,” David said, “but my stubborn streak and my military training as well.”

Jonni, eyes shining, said, “He took the gun away from the man and saved the day. My hero!”

The man with the intern said, “I can’t thank you enough for looking after Nina. As soon as this mess is behind us and we’re able to get married, I want you and your wife to dance at our wedding.”

Daffy blinked. So much for her sleuthing. So David truly was innocent of all charges. Impulsively, she leaned over the bed and kissed him on the cheek.

“Daffodil, am I dreaming? What was that for?”

“For being my alive-and-well brother-in-law,” Daffy said. She hugged Jonni and whispered to her, “I’ve got to run. There’s something important I have to do.”

“Are you finally going to answer Hunter?” Jonni asked, excited.

Daffy tried not to look quite so expectant. “Sometimes, sis, you know too much,” she said, and made as dignified an exit as she could under the circumstances.

She had one stop to make before she could go in search of Hunter.

She drove to
The Crescent
and walked quickly toward the cubicle she used. Flipping on the computer, she began to hum and to compose the farewell column of Dear Love Doctor. No need for readers’ questions this time. She typed:

Dear Love Doctor,

A man I love asked me to marry him. I was afraid of holding up my end of a long-term commitment, so, like a fool, I said no. Now I’ve realized that loving him is worth the risk of failure, and that the risk will keep me on my toes. But he’s quit calling me and I’m afraid he’s changed his mind. So how do I tell him I’ve changed mine?

Signed,
Willing to Learn to Love Together

Without pausing, Daffy typed the response:

Dear Willing,

So you say you’re ready to face the risks and challenges of a lifetime together with the man you love? Then why are you balking now? If he’s changed his mind, that means you gave him the right answer to begin with. If he still wants you, then he’ll be one very happy guy when you show up on his doorstep. You speak of risks. You think he didn’t take a chance when he proposed? Sure he did, and he no doubt suffered when you said no. Heck, the guy’s probably still whining and licking his bruises. So go ahead, put your feet where your mouth is, and take your first risk. Go to him.

Signed,
Dear Love Doctor

P.S. To all my readers, this is the last you’ll see of Dear Love Doctor. I’ve finally learned to focus on my own challenges rather than avoiding them by solving other people’s problems.

Now I’m off to follow my own advice and take the scariest risk of my life!

Signed,
Dear Love Doctor, aka Daffodil Landry

Marguerite would have her head on a platter, but that didn’t stop Daffy from saving the column and printing out one advance copy of what she’d written.

To tidy things up, she dashed off her resignation letter and left it in the editor’s box on her way out.

She knew where he worked and she wasted no time in zooming downtown. But as she neared the office tower that housed Hunter’s company, Daffy found herself stopping at yellow lights, much to the frustration of the cars behind her.

What if he wasn’t there? What if he’d gone out of town? What if he refused to see her, told his secretary the way she’d told her housekeeper to say he wasn’t available? She glanced at her phone but knew she couldn’t call him. She had to go to him in person.

Someone laid on a horn and Daffy realized she’d just sat through a green light. Waving a hand in apology, she stared at the light and whisked forward as soon as it changed again. She couldn’t let her fears stop her now.

High above the traffic, Hunter sat at his desk, a frown on his face. The NuTech merger had been finalized and the stock market had reacted with rave reviews.

Today, he was worth a whole heck of a lot more than he’d been the day before. Aloysius had already left to celebrate with Chrissie. No doubt the two of them were off to buy a yacht or some ridiculously expensive toy.

But what was the point of celebrating alone? Shopping alone? Sleeping alone?

He pulled out the old-fashioned Rolodex his secretary kept current for him and flipped to the B’s. That was where he filed the numbers of the babes. He turned the cards, wondering if he should call one of them.

That was what the old Hunter would have done. Dial a babe and have a party.

But that was B. D.

Pushing away the Rolodex, Hunter fished in his desk drawer, drew out a small box, and then rose from his chair, grabbed his laptop, and headed out of his office. Down the hall, the employees, all of whom owned substantial stock shares, were still celebrating.

Maybe Aloysius knew something about Daffy he didn’t know, but Hunter was beginning to doubt that. He’d ignored her religiously for more than a week and she had yet to contact him. Just how long was he supposed to put his life on hold?

He punched the elevator button, feeling better than he had for days. Forget ignoring her, forget waiting for her to face her fears. Hunter was a man of action.

He was going after her.

He couldn’t stand to think of her worrying herself sick, trying to decide whether she should have agreed to marry him and then fretting over whether she should change her mind but how could she do that? Daffy had her pride. But he knew she loved him and needed him.

And he sure as hell needed her.

The express elevator slid smoothly to a stop forty-two floors below his offices and Hunter waited impatiently as the doors opened. Now that he’d decided to go after Daffy, he didn’t want to waste one more minute.

Lost in his thoughts, he stepped forward. A woman was walking into the elevator and he instinctively paused to let her enter.

“Hunter?”

He focused. “Daffy.” He’d almost barged right past her!

“I guess you’re on your way out . . .” she said, her eyes devouring him as hungrily as he had to be staring at her.

“No, I’m on my way up,” he said. “Isn’t this the Up elevator?”