STARTING OVER (29 page)

She had married him because she truly loved him. It had been fun to work together, building the business, struggling to make ends meet. They had shared a common goal.

But with the company's success came a desire to set new goals. Kate wanted children. Doug had been less enthusiastic than she, but he hadn't totally vetoed the idea. However, Doug's interests never turned toward their family life. His goals were still business oriented. He not only wanted to be successful, he wanted to look successful. He wasn't happy until he began circulating with the country club set.

Appearances were important to him. He was the one who picked out their neighborhood, had the pool installed and insisted on driving a Cadillac.

Instead of all the outward signs of success helping the business, Doug had had to go on out-of-town trips that took him away from home for several nights at a time.

Kate had never been invited along on those trips. In fact, the one time she tried to talk him into turning a business weekend to New Orleans into a second honeymoon had been met with such staunch resistance that they had a huge fight. Doug left in a rage, and Kate spent the weekend at her parents.

He was sullen for weeks after he returned. At the time, Kate had thought something was bothering him. But no amount of prompting would get him to share it with her. He barely talked to her until one afternoon when he came home from work early. Doug had been despondent, and Kate could tell he had stopped on the way home for a couple of drinks.

He had apologized, belatedly, for the argument, and they spent the rest of the evening in bed, making up.

And making a baby. That was the night Shanna had been conceived.

And that had been the day that Vicki Young had resigned, leaving C-Breeze without a secretary.

Coincidence? Or the motivation for coming up with a plan to win Vicki back? Had Vicki gone with Doug on his business trips? Had she been the reason he had been so upset when Kate told him of her pregnancy? It would have made him look like a cad to leave a pregnant wife for a pretty college girl.

Shanna was sleeping in Kate's arms, and she gently transferred her back to her bed. With a new resolve to get the truth out of Doug, Kate marched down the hall into the master bedroom and flipped on the light.

"What? What are you doing?" he groaned, throwing his arm across his face to shield his eyes.

"Doug, we've got to talk."

"Good Lord, woman." He squinted at the bedside clock. "It's two-thirty in the morning. Can't it wait?"

"No, it can't. I've waited for almost six months, and I can't wait another minute."

He rolled onto his stomach and patted the pillow beside him. "I'm tired. Come to bed, and we'll talk tomorrow."

"Tell me the truth about Vicki. It was more than coincidence, wasn't it? You two have been having an affair for a long time, haven't you?" She knew it was a shot in the dark, but she had to try to jar the truth out of him.

He grew very still, so still that Kate thought he might have fallen back to sleep. She walked to the side of the bed and was about to shake him awake when he heaved a resigned sigh and sat up.

"Oh, what the hell.
You might as well know the truth. I suppose I owe it to you after all you've been through." He rubbed his hand across his gaunt face. "Look, I made a mistake. I'll admit it. The closer I got to forty, the older and less attractive I felt. Then Vicki came along. She was young, gorgeous, and she made me feel like a college kid again."

"And she was so bright, she couldn't file alphabetically," Kate muttered sarcastically.

"I wasn't attracted to her mind," Doug commented. "She thought I had a lot of money. She liked to travel and wear pretty clothes . . ."

"So do
I...."

"I know, and I'm sorry. But I was so caught up in the whole mid-life crisis thing that I forgot what I had at home. But when you told me you were pregnant and you started getting bigger and bigger, I was faced with the reality of becoming a father."

Doug lifted his gaze and looked her straight in the eyes for the first time since his return. "I don't like kids. I don't want to be a father. It would tie me down and add another responsibility to my life. I'm sick of responsibilities. I've been working since I was sixteen years old. I was a sergeant in Bosnia in charge of recruits who were even more scared and stupid than I was. I put myself through college, then jumped right in to struggle with the business. When the oil crisis hit, no matter how hard I worked, it wasn't good enough."

He shrugged. "I suppose I burned out. I no longer cared about C-Breeze or the country club or even coming home at night. All I wanted was Vicki."

The hurt Kate felt at his admission was more of a disappointment than a sorrow. "So was Vicki with you when you ran away?"

"She was driving the boat that was waiting for me when I jumped out of the helicopter. It was really simple. All I had to do was call in a Mayday, drop low over the Gulf, then climb out. The helicopter continued on for a few hundred yards before crashing. By then I was safely in the boat and heading away. I picked that spot because it was so far from shore. Since it was February, there wouldn't be any fishermen around, and it was miles from the nearest oil platform. I thought I had it all figured out. You'd get your money, and I'd get mine. And we'd both live happily ever after."

"What money were you getting'?"

"I'd bought a million-dollar insurance policy with Vicki as the beneficiary."

"Now that's what I'd call a smart thing to do. Buying a million-dollar policy with your girlfriend as the beneficiary," Kate remarked dryly.

"I thought we'd be safe if we were out of the country. But the insurance money never arrived. I got sick, and she stuck by me, nursing me, until the hurricane took everything we had. We moved into a crummy little motel. I figured it would speed things up if we had a copy of the insurance policy, so I had to come back here and get it. I had a phony passport and traveled under an assumed name, so they shouldn't be able to trace it." His look was apologetic. "I'm really sorry I scared you. It never occurred to me that you'd be home."

Again he sighed. "Then one day a detective showed up on our doorstep with a warrant for our arrest and extradition papers. The dream was over. Now I don't know what I'm going to do. I was hoping you'd help me."

"God, you lie so much, I don't know when you're telling the truth or when you're making up another story."

He shook his head. "That was the truth. I swear it."

Kate sighed, not sure whether to believe him but knowing it was the best answer she would be able to get from him. "So what do we do now? What are you planning once this is over?"

"I don't know," he answered.

"But you're still in love with Vicki?"

She could see he was reluctant to tell her, but be finally forced it out.

"Yes," he
admitted, his voice flat. "I'm sorry. Really sorry."

His surprise was obvious when she threw her arms around him and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Doug."

"For what?"

"Thanks for telling me this now and for not waiting until it was too late."

He gave her a sleepy, bewildered look.

"I'll make you a deal," she said. "I'll do whatever I can to help you get out of this mess. I invested some money, and it might be enough to pay back the life insurance. That should keep them from taking this any further. And the FAA investigation shouldn't turn up any evidence unless they find out about your trip here."

"It sounds good so far. But what can I do for you?"

"You can give me a quick divorce. I want the house, all the money left in the bank accounts, the business and sole custody of Shanna."

"I don't know...." He sounded doubtful as he weighed the assets she would be receiving.

"Keep in mind that the business was almost bankrupt and there was no money in the bank when you left. And I can prove all that if I have to. Rusty and I have worked hard to bring C-Breeze back to life. We had to start over from scratch, so I don't feel the least bit bad about asking for it."

"I see your point," he agreed a little grudgingly.

"In exchange, you'll get your freedom and Vicki, if she'll still have you."

He considered his options for a few minutes,
then gave her a wistful smile. "I really did love you. But people grow apart."

"And I really did love you. I grieved for you, and I'm glad you're alive. But I agree that perhaps you and I can be happier leading separate lives.

"Oh, by the way. There's one more condition . . . that you'll agree to release Shanna for adoption should I remarry."

He nodded. "Sure. It would be better for her," he said, then settled back onto his pillow. "Good luck, Kate."

"You, too, Doug."

RUSTY CLOSED THE DOOR OF THE PICKUP'S CAMPER shell and locked it. It was packed from floor to ceiling with all his worldly goods. All he had to do was catch a few hours' sleep, go to the bank and close out his account, and then, the most difficult thing of all . . . he had to say goodbye to Kate and Shanna.

He had just stepped out of his jeans and lay down on the bed when there was a knock on his front door. For a moment, he considered ignoring it. He couldn't imagine who would be visiting him at 4:00 a.m.

When the knock sounded again, louder and more urgently, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and yanked on his jeans. Grumbling every step to the door, he called, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Kate."

"Kate?" He jerked the door open and looked down at her. "Did he hurt you? What are you doing here?"

"Would you invite me in? I'm about to drop everything out here."

He held the door open and took the diaper bag from her as she stepped inside. Shanna was wrapped in a blanket, sleeping peacefully in her arms.

''Going somewhere?" she asked, looking around the room, which was completely stripped of his personal belongings.

"I was thinking about it."

Her expression was anxious, vulnerable. "Could you spare a few minutes before you leave?"

"Katie, you know I would give you the rest of my life if you wanted it." He had planned on remaining neutral, but the words just rushed out.

Her soft, delicious lips curved into a relieved smile. "That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

"What happened?" he asked, barely able to keep his hands off her.

"It's an old story with a new twist. Doug fell in love with his secretary. I suppose she threatened to leave him if he didn't do something soon, so he came up with a plan to fake his death. However, I've promised not to tell the authorities if he gives me a few things."

"Such as?"

"C-Breeze, the house, my daughter and a divorce," she answered, watching him carefully for his reaction.

Rusty's
heart skipped a beat as he realized the significance of her announcement. "Did he agree?"

"Are you kidding? He jumped at the chance. He realizes the FAA would probably take away his license if it can be proved he set up the crash. The only people who could tell them the truth are Doug and Vicki, who are not likely to admit their part in it, and you and I, who, for reasons of our own, want this case to be dismissed as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it will probably be pretty difficult to prove."

"But the insurance...?"

"We'll have to pay it back. I bought certificates of deposit with some of it, and I wanted to see if you'd mind contributing your portion of the hurricane evacuation runs."

"To get Doug out of your life forever, I'll give him my whole bank account!" Rusty exclaimed, feeling, for the first time since Al Nicholson gave him the bad news about Doug's rebirth, that there was hope for a future with Kate. "He looked like he was planning on settling in permanently when I left."

"He was planning on using me to help him get out of the charges,
then he would probably have asked me for a divorce so he could marry Vicki."

"So what made him decide to change his plans?"

"When I finally got him to admit that he loved her and didn't want to be my husband or Shanna's father, I made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

Rusty was still skeptical. This was all happening too quickly, too easily. He wanted Kate to be sure she wasn't coming to him because she was hurt by Doug's betrayal.

"What made you want to leave him? I thought you would try to work it out."

She settled Shanna in the middle of his bed, protected on each side by his pillows. Then she returned to the living room.

"I thought it was my duty as his wife to at least see if there was any hope for salvaging our marriage. But I realized my heart just wasn't in it. All I could think about was you and how I'd rather be spending the night with you than with Doug."

The expression in her eyes grew more serious. "I'll admit that caused me to feel pretty guilty. You see, I've never cheated on my husband, and his reappearance put me in an awkward position. But I didn't regret last night, and I couldn't dismiss it as if it had never happened. I've never felt so loved and secure as when I'm with you."