More Than Memories (18 page)

Yet, it didn’t. It didn’t bring her memory back.
She wished she would have brought the ring upstairs with her so she could try
it on. Seeing that it fit might make it feel more real – prove to her that
she’d worn it before.

She tried to picture it, hoping for a memory, and
saw a movie of Trent looking for her, calling around. Just married, and missing
his bride. What had he thought? And no one knew they were married. She saw why
he chose not to tell people about their marriage after she disappeared.

Molly didn’t like the feelings that came with that
thought. It muddled things up.

Bev’s call muddled things up. Molly caught a sob
in her throat. She was losing everyone as quickly as she found them all again.

Trent knocked on her door and, sighing, she got up
and stood next to it. “I don’t think I want to talk right now, I just want to
be by myself.”

“I don’t want to be by myself.”

“You don’t get to decide.” She folded her arms,
shifting from foot to foot. The bubbling feelings inside her made her feel
antsy.

“I already lost you. I didn’t get to decide then.
So I’m deciding now. I can’t lose you again.”

Why was he doing this to her?

“Mol, I need you. Just imagine if I told you when
you came back. A complete stranger telling you we were married.”

That day felt like a long time ago. He was right.
The information would have made her suspicious. She cracked the door and walked
back to her bed.

He followed her and sat next to her. “I think
about things too much and, for some reason, I always think the worst outcome is
the only one.”

“That’s why you didn’t tell me?”

“I finally found you. No, you found me. You just
walked back into my life.”

Molly nodded, stared down at her folded hands
while Trent sat nearby but didn’t dare touch her. When she felt calmer, she
asked him, “Promise me something. Promise me you’re not holding anything else
back. Is there anything else I don’t know?”

“Mol.” He pulled her face up. “I was scared to
tell you about getting married, but I promise I didn’t mean to lie to you.”

She searched his eyes, felt herself believe him,
but she didn’t know if she could be a good judge of character when she didn’t
remember all the time she spent with him before. She’d trusted her parents and
tried to rebuild her life and identity on the things they told her. Now she
knew they were holding something back. Her parents had known about her
marriage, though they never even chose to tell her about her engagement. They’d
put the ring and the license away, along with her mother’s divorce papers. She
covered her face, wishing she could push her thoughts away.

Pulling her face up, she looked at his hand and
asked, “What happened to your ring?”

He closed his eyes a minute, then reached into his
left pocket and pulled out a plain gold band. Slowly he slid it on his finger.
“I was so scared that first day. We were so happy, then you left and
disappeared. It looked like something really bad happened at the house. When I
saw the police cars and everyone there, I put this in my pocket. Every night it
goes on my nightstand, and every morning it goes back in my pocket.”

She touched the ring and thought of hers
downstairs.

He held her until she asked to be alone again. She
wanted to be with him, but she couldn’t think clearly with his arms around her.

Later, when Trent came to her door and asked if she
wanted dinner, she declined. She wasn’t sure if he cooked or ordered in, or
even left. An hour or several passed, she wasn’t sure, when the phone rang. She
rolled on the bed and picked it up, her heart jumping when she heard Karen’s
voice.

“That hello didn’t sound good, how’s it going?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve found out a lot, but now I’m
more confused than ever. Will you come over?”

Without pushing for an explanation, Karen agreed
and arrived within twenty minutes, coming up to Molly’s room. Molly was still
sprawled across the bed, so Karen flopped on her stomach
next to her.

“Where’s Trent? I didn’t
see him downstairs.”

“I’m not sure. I asked
to be alone to think about things.”

“Okay, so spill. Did you
guys have a fight?”

Molly rubbed her eyes,
feeling tired now. “No, not really. I’ll get to that. First, let me tell you
the other outrageous events that have happened today. I found out my mother was
married and divorced before she met Arnold. Or I assume she was divorced when
they met. Anyway, her first husband was named Kenneth Webb, and it looks like
he was my actual father.”

Karen gasped. “But how?”

Molly raised an eyebrow and asked, “You don’t know
about the birds and the bees?”

Karen rolled her eyes and waited, her face looking
serious and business-like with her shoulder length brown hair framing it.

Molly sat up and explained about the divorce date
and her birth date and ended by spilling all her doubts about her parents. “I
just wish they were here to explain.”

“I can imagine.” Karen gave an exasperated sigh.
“But Trent can verify all this for you.” She didn’t miss the way Molly’s eyes
averted the other way at the mention of Trent’s name. She noticed it wasn’t a
shy
I-like-him
look, either. Karen pulled herself to a sitting position.
Four years of being friends had woven a strong bond between them, and Karen had
felt protective of Molly since the beginning. “What happened?”

“It’s not anything you’d think of.” Molly toyed
with the blanket. “We found something else with my mother’s divorce papers. She
had a marriage license. Mine. Eve
n the ring
taped to it, for crying out loud.”

Molly’s shoulders shook as she spoke and her head
collapsed down into her hands. Karen grabbed her in a fierce hug.

“Trent?”

Molly nodded through her crying.

“And he didn’t tell you? Did he
intend to?
”

Molly grabbed a tissue from the nightstand and
tried to breathe normally enough to quote Trent’s explanation. She continued.
“I found Trent, Alicia, their friends, and fell right in with them, felt at
home. I trusted them right away. Now I don’t know what to think. Trent promised
no one else knew about us eloping.”

Karen stopped Molly. “Don’t you think that’s
weird?”

“The timing explains it, if you believe his story.
I disappeared before we could tell anyone.”
Except her parents.

“Well, he has had four years to work on it.” Karen
looked skeptical, and Molly wished she weren’t. She wanted someone else to be
supportive of Trent so Molly wouldn’t question him so much. Karen added, “But
that doesn’t mean he’s not telling the truth. You know I’ll play the devil’s
advocate, for your sake, but I think he’s the good guy.”

Molly’s head dropped again.

“Do you feel some of the old feelings for him?”

“I do. I’ve remembered events growing up, and he
was there. There’s an old, long connection between us. I don’t have to remember
everything to feel it, but I can’t act on it anymore without knowing everything
that happened.”

Karen smoothed a hand over Molly’s back,
comforting her. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, talks about you. I think
it’ll work out.”

“But what could have happened?” Molly asked,
knowing Karen couldn’t answer that. And Trent promised he didn’t know anything
else that he wasn’t telling her.

“Is Trent finding out who and where Kenneth Webb
is?”

Molly shivered, wondering if she really wanted to
know, to meet him. “He called Mark Stone, his partner, back in Ridge City to
look into it.”

Karen lay back on the pillows, eyes up to the
ceiling, and wondered how all of it tied together. “You found a lost husband, a
lost father, but you don’t know why you lost your memory. Do you think you knew
Kenneth before?”

“Wouldn’t that be even weirder since they never
mentioned him?”

“So you rate the different degrees of weirdness in
all this?” Karen laughed, but stopped so quickly that Molly half sat up on her
elbows to look at her and see why. “What if finding out about Kenneth caused
your amnesia?”

They looked at each other, both thinking, before
Molly said, “That doesn’t seem drastic enough.”

“But he has to have something to do with it.”

That’s exactly what Molly had been thinking.
“Maybe he came and harassed my parents in Ridge City and that’s why we moved
without telling anyone.”

“Hmm.” They both knew they were looking at a
picture with holes in it and gave up the conversation.

Just then Trent knocked and opened the bedroom
door. “Mark called back. Mind if I take your car to the nearest police
station?”

The women shot each other a glance and Molly
asked, “Do you know something?”

“He’s faxing a picture, background information.”
They couldn’t ignore the weight of this news, couldn’t pretend it wasn’t a big
deal. “Do you want to come?”

Thoughts crashed into her mind at the same time.
What would she say to Trent while alone in the car? How would she feel about
seeing her birth father? What if it didn’t do anything, or what if she
remembered him? “Ahh, I think I’ll wait here.”

“I’ll bring the information back, okay?” He gave
Karen a nod and left.

They listened to the muffled, somehow sad, sound
of the car pulling out of the driveway, then Karen suggested lunch. “I’ll fix
something, or we can order in.”

“The cupboards are pretty bare.”

“Alright, I’ll call someplace.” Karen rose while
adding, “I thought you might like to call your friend in Oregon and tell her
what happened.”

“Call Alicia? I should,” Molly agreed. Karen
smiled and left, adding she’d use her cell to order lunch.

Molly called and got a cheery hello from Alicia.
“Did the drive down go okay?”

“The drive, yes.” Molly searched for words now.
“The call from Bev, no.”

The phone line seemed to freeze.

“Molly, why did she call you?”

Once again, Molly spilled, sharing about the
conversation with Bev, not pausing to hear what Alicia had to say about it
until she reached the end. “Is it true about David?”

“Yes.” Molly’s heart sank before Alicia went on,
“And he told me about his fiancé for the first time, while drunk, actually.”

“Is it true he doesn’t want us to be friends? Bev
said I’m ruining your marriage.”

“You should know better than that! She makes
everything sound worse than it is.”

“Well, forget about what Bev said, I want to hear
from you. Do you think I’m causing you problems?”

“We’ve talked quite a bit, and he told me
everything about why he’s been so cautious of you. But he doesn’t feel like
that anymore. I promise. We’ve worked it out.”

Molly started breathing again. “And Trent? He’s
your brother. Am I messing his life up?”

“Don’t you know you’re all he’s ever wanted?”

She’d heard it from him and seen it in his eyes,
in his actions, but she was still human and had doubts.

Alicia said, “I think my dislike of Bev reached a
new level just now. She gets into everything. I don’t know why she wants to
hurt everyone around her.”

Molly didn’t get it either. Maybe she shouldn’t
worry about it anymore. “Could she still be mad about Trent?”

“Seems petty.”

“It is. So let’s not waste another breath on her.”

“Okay, how’s the investigation going?”

“I’ve got another can of worms for you.” More like
a six pack of worm cans. “It starts with my neighbor watching my house. Then
someone shot at Trent outside a restaurant when we went out for lunch.”

“What?”

Molly tried relating everything from Justin Atwood
getting Trent riled up to the shooting.

“Okay, I think I’m following all that. That’s
scary.”

“That’s not all,” Molly actually felt nervous and
happy about this news. “Right before I disappeared, Trent and I eloped. I found
the ring and license in the basement here.”

“Did not!”

“Yes, we’re married. But it sounds like we spent
just a couple of days together before ...I vanished.”

“Wow. Married. I’ve been pushing Trent to tell you
that you two were engaged.”

“So I never confided anything like that to you?”

“No, never. We just knew about your engagement. I
was helping you with the wedding plans and going over bridal magazines.” She
almost asked if Trent explained why he had never told anyone, but her words
caught in her throat as she realized she shouldn’t put doubts in Molly’s mind.
She said instead, “You’ve got a lot to adjust to.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about my engagement?”
Molly asked.

“Trent asked me not to. He wanted you to hear it
from him. I really had no idea you were married, though.”

“Alicia, this will sound silly, but I feel left
out of my own life.”

She heard Alicia whisper her name. “We used to
tell each other everything. You wouldn’t believe how much I miss that.”

Molly couldn’t answer.

“And there is something I want to tell you.”
Alicia paused, and Molly thought she heard her smile. “I’m pregnant.”

Molly sucked in her breath. “Pregnant? I’m so
happy for you. When are you due?”

“The middle of December, but I’m hoping for a
Christmas baby.”

“I hope so too.” Wow, a baby. She could have
missed that and never even known about Alicia and her life.

“I found out right before David came home and told
me about losing his fiancé. So I didn’t tell him that day. I wrapped the
pregnancy test in Saran Wrap and put it in his lunch the next day.” She stopped
abruptly. “I’m so sorry, I’m going on about myself, after you found out – found
out so much.”

“I don’t mind a bit, I’m glad you’re telling me.”
Molly had listened with a big smile on her face. “And I’m so happy I get to be
a part of it!”