Page 83 of Forbidden Dark Vows

“Thank you.” This time, Mom stands on tiptoes and kisses Karl’s cheek. “Because she’ll never forgive me if she finds out that Graham had his first stroke because of me.”

28

HARRY

Celia isn’tdifficult to follow. Her overwhelming desire to keep me away from her daughter keeps her hanging around the hospital to be sure that I’ve left. She thinks that I don’t spot her with her back to me, talking to a janitor outside the elevator as I pass by.

She could’ve called me when Ruby was admitted to the hospital. She found us in Scotland for fuck’s sake. She turned up at my office in New York. So, I’m pretty damned certain that she could’ve found a telephone number and let me know, even if she just left a message with Lizzie.

She knew that I’d catch the first available flight out of New York. Hell, she knew that I’d drive if it got me here quicker. Which means that she didn’t want me here in Chicago.

But why?

Does she want Ruby to be dependent on her again, to make her realize that all she needs is her mom? If she really loves her daughter, wouldn’t she want her to be happy, even if it means swallowing her own pride and sucking up to my father?

I’ll deal with my father later but, for now, I follow Celia, hugging the shadows of the buildings and keeping my distance. She doesn’t go far. She doesn’t even glance over her shoulder as she steps inside the telephone booth and lifts the receiver, head down, punching in the number from a slip of paper she pulls from her pocket.

I stand just inside an alleyway. It has started to drizzle, the kind of icy rain that hardly splashes the puddles on the sidewalk but drenches you without you even realizing. I pull my collar up around my neck, and peer out from behind the wall.

She glances my way, and I duck my head back inside the alley. Count to ten. Look again as she replaces the handset.

Stepping out of the booth, she pulls an umbrella from her purse, unfolds it above her head, and dashes across the road, dodging the sparse evening traffic easily. I wait for a bus to pass by and follow.

Heading back towards the hospital, Celia dashes inside a late-night diner, shaking water from the umbrella and folding it back up in the doorway. I wait on the opposite side of the road, following her through the steamy windows with my eyes to a seat in the corner where I can see the bright green of her coat.

I watch the waitress pouring coffee for Celia. Through the rain-streaked window, I see her watching the street like she’s waiting for someone. She could just be taking a break from hospital visits, a moment to herself to unwind before catching a taxi home. Before listening to Ms. Pagan’s message, this would’ve been my first conclusion, but now… Now I’m almost certain that she arranged to meet someone here, and I want to find out who.

Celia has already set the tone of playing dirty to keep Ruby away from me, so I’m not above playing her at her own game.The winner takes it all. Isn’t that how the song goes?

Rain trickles inside my collar and down my spine, and I shiver. The buildings on either side of the narrow alleyway offer some shelter, but my hair is already plastered to my head. Fortunately, I don’t have to wait long.

A familiar figure walks past the diner window, shoulders hunched inside his overcoat, chin jutting. Celia sits taller, her body subconsciously leaning towards the doorway as my father goes inside and joins her at her table-for-two.

It’s several beats before my brain processes what I’ve just witnessed and starts functioning again. My gut had been right when Ruby and I walked into Charlie Trotter’s and saw them together—they’re colluding to stop Ruby from marrying me.

But I can still hear the PI’s message left on my answerphone: “Seems Mrs. Jackson might be suffering from a touch of insomnia. Either that, or she was enjoying a secret rendezvous with her lover.”

What else had she said though?This one is different.

Different how?

I can’t put my finger on it, but I get the strong sense that she is right. Not lovers. But what then? This can’t just be about me and Ruby, can it?Forget what happened thirteen years ago, let’s just make sure our kids don’t get hitched.

I’ve hardly slept in the past forty-eight hours, and this coupled with the alcohol consumed at the Plaza Hotel earlier in the day is making me drowsy, but I dare not get a takeout coffee fromsomewhere nearby in case I miss them leaving. Whatever is going on here, I want to hear it from my father’s own mouth.

I tilt my face towards the rain and catch the icy drops on my tongue. It isn’t caffeine, but it helps.

Loitering in the shadows, I’m grateful that the cold January weather keeps most folks inside. Which makes it easy for me to slip out onto the sidewalk when Celia and my dad leave the diner together and follow them back to the hospital.

Who are they visiting? Ruby or Graham? Has Celia persuaded my dad to make peace with my future father-in-law?

I grab a magazine from the table and take a seat in the main hospital entrance, where the heat hits me almost instantly. Skipping an article on improved healthcare packages, I settle instead on the personal story of a young woman who spent her childhood in the care system and went on to become a heart surgeon. My eyelids grow heavy…

I’m shaken awake by a rough hand on my shoulder.

I jump, drop the magazine onto the table, and blink furiously, trying to clear the sleep from my eyes and bring the world back into focus. “Dad? What are you doing here?”

Fuck! It hits me then that I was supposed to be trailing him and not the other way around. I have no idea how long I’ve been dozing, or where he has been.

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