Chapter Ten
Ross woke in the middle of an erotic dream about his sister-in-law, as he was untying the halter on Meredith’s slinky, satin dress prior to taking her on the starched tablecloth he’d swept clear of crystal and cutlery.
Feeling like one sad, sick bastard, he lay in his stepmother’s spare room and waited for his hard-on to subside. Then with a groan he covered his head with a pillow and considered making an appointment with the shrink who’d told him he was in denial about how much the ambush and his buddies’ deaths had affected him.
Maybe the dream about Meredith was some kind of twisted release of repressed grief? It spoke to how shaken he was that Ross hoped so.
Remembering the dream’s setting, he shuddered. A wedding. Not theirs, thank God, because Meredith’s dress had been a shimmering pink, more of a bridesmaid’s—
Ross jerked upright “Son of a bitch.” He’d never desired his sister-in-law but he’d wanted her twin. Except he’d recognized a live shell when he saw one. No, the very idea was crazy. He shook his head to clear it. Viv Jansen was a spiky-haired blonde half a world away.
But his brain was already respooling the past couple of days—the sexy outfit Meredith was wearing the first time he saw her. Meredith, a nurse, fainting at the sight of blood. The thousand hesitations over details she knew like the back of her hand. Not grief—ignorance. He cursed again recalling the suitcase shoved under the bed. Not leaving. Arriving.
Mind racing, he switched on the light. “Damn it, it’s her. It has to be.” Grabbing his cell, he rang Dan. The twins’ brother, his former troop mate, answered on the fourth ring.
“Ross?” he said sleepily, obviously recognizing his number. “You okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” Now wasn’t the time to grill Dan about the CO’s sudden desire to push Ross into a training role. “I need your little sister’s cell number.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed it’s two in the morning,” Dan complained. “Merry will be asleep.”
“But in New York, Vivienne won’t be.”
There was a long pause. “Now, after all these years, you decide to hit on my sister?” Dan didn’t sound happy about the prospect. Ross’s report card with women generally read, “Would get better grades if he applied himself.”
“Relax, it’s strictly business. Have you heard from her lately?”
“Phoned her last week.” Ross heard a drawer being opened. “She was about to start work on a new show and dodging some lovesick Frenchman she’d given marching orders.” Dan gave him the number. “So exactly what business was that again?”
“When did you last talk to Meredith?” Dan had always been able to instantly tell his siblings apart.
“Yesterday. She said she was helping Charlie out with the funeral and I warned her not to get too involved because things have only just settled down between them.”
Ross’s certainty faded. “And she sounded exactly the same?”
“How else would she sound? Ross, what’s going on?”
“Following a misplaced hunch, apparently. Listen, I’ll call you at a civilized hour.” He needed Dan’s advice on how to deal with the CO. “Tell Bridezilla the alpha hole apologizes for interrupting her beauty sleep.”
“Jo says you need beauty sleep more than she does and agrees there’s something going on we should know about.”
“You’re newlyweds. Haven’t you got better things to do than pry into my dull life?”
“Come to think of it,” said Dan. “Yeah.” He hung up.
Ross crumpled Viv’s number and went back to bed, making a mental note to call the psych. But he couldn’t fall asleep. To hell with it. He got up, smoothed the crumpled note and dialed Viv’s cell.
“Hello?” said a feminine voice, and Ross breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to be wrong. Before he could speak, she added sharply. “Is that you, Viv? Is everything okay with the kids?”
He let her hang, one second, then two, while he made up his mind what to do. “I’m real sorry, ma’am.” Ross feigned an American accent. “I got the wrong number.”
Cutting the connection, he dressed quickly, then rang his sister-in-law’s cell. “I have to talk to you,” he told Meredith’s semiconscious impersonator coldly. “No, it can’t wait until morning, it’s about Charlie. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
* * *
Viv filled the kettle with water and flicked the switch, ready to cry with tiredness. A yawn caught her, so wide she nearly dislocated her jaw. Enviously, she glanced at Salsa, curled up in his basket in the corner. He’d barely raised his head for a token growl before returning to sleep. Lucky schnoodle.
Had Ross somehow found out? Frowning, she opened a box of tea bags. Except she’d talked to him at ten about the catering choices and he’d been fine. Charlie had already gone to bed, exhausted.
No, he probably wanted to lecture her again about staying away from his brother. She turned away from her reflection, trying not to care that Merry’s dressing gown and old-lady slippers were completely unsexy. Thinking along those lines around Ross Coltrane would only get her into more trouble, and Lord knows, she had plenty enough as it was.
She’d gone to bed at midnight after a frustrating ninety-minute conducting session on Skype with Merry.
“We only have time for a monkey see, monkey do approach,” Merry had said. “I’ve chosen two hymns with simple patterns that the choir knows by heart. All you’ll have to do is stay with them.”
“Oh, is that all I have to do.”
“We’re identical twins.” Merry’s tone had been brisk. She’d cheered up with something to do. “If I have a musical ear, you have a musical ear.”
“I saw a documentary where one identical twin was gay and one wasn’t. How do you explain that?”
That hadn’t got her out of choir practice.
Smothering another jaw-breaking yawn, Viv dug two cups out of the mound of dirty dishes piled up in the sink and rinsed them clean. Cleaning the house was tomorrow’s job.
Headlights flashed into the driveway and she hastened to open the front door so Ross didn’t wake the kids by pressing the doorbell, not that he would because Ross seemed to consider the ramifications of his every action, which was a skill Viv wished she could emulate.
He strode up the path without the slight limp that characterized his end-of-day gait. Viv caught herself smoothing her hair and stopped.
“What’s so important we have to talk about it in the middle of the night,” she complained, closing the door behind him.
“Confessions,” he said so close behind her that she jumped.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“I haven’t been entirely honest with you, Meredith, about why I was so mad when I discovered you were dating Dr. Dick.”
She sighed. “Not this again. I told you, I’m not seeing Luke.”
“I believe you. Now.”
“Well, that’s good.” He was still standing very close and she felt a frisson of unease at the way he was looking at her. Hawklike. Intense. As if he was seeing her for the first time. “Anyway, I made tea…” As she turned toward the kitchen, she found herself spun around.
“You see, Meredith.” His grip tightened on her shoulders. “I was jealous.”
“Wh-what?”
“God knows, I’ve struggled against falling for my brother’s wife but I can’t hide the truth any longer. I’m in love with you.” The glint in his eyes wasn’t very loverlike but she was too shocked to notice that more than fleetingly.
“You can’t be,” Viv whispered, then gasped as he released her shoulders and hauled her into his iron-hard arms.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t rip off that old-lady dressing gown and make mad love to you.”
Horrified, Viv planted her hands against his chest as he bent to kiss her. “Ross, this is insane, I’m your brother’s wife!”
“Practically ex-wife.”
“Yes, but I’m still in love with him.”
He paused, his mouth inches from hers. “So you say,” he murmured, “but somehow, you don’t sound convincing.” She averted her face as he swooped and his lips brushed her ear.
“But remember Viv liked you.”
“Who?”
“My twin!” She couldn’t keep the tartness out of her voice. “The feisty, fun one.”
Ross raised his head. “Oh, you mean Flea.”
“Flea?” Viv said faintly.
“Yeah, you know…always bouncing around. She’s the annoying itch a guy wants to scratch just to get rid of it so he can get back to more down-to-earth women such as yourself. Don’t play games, Meredith.” His hold tightening until she was plastered against his body. His gray eyes challenged her. “I’ve noticed the way you’ve been looking at me the past few days.”
This was a nightmare. Her worst nightmare. Viv struggled to free herself but she might as well have been in a straitjacket “I wasn’t…I was…I was…” her brain scrambled for an escape route “…looking at your leg and feeling sorry for you.”
He released her so abruptly she stumbled backward. Then he smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant smile. “Hey, I’ll take a pity—”
“Ross!”
“Fling,” he finished. “You make me so crazy, Meredith. There are so many things I’d like to do to you right now.” He moved toward her and she darted behind the couch.
“Ross, let’s sit down and talk about this!”
“Why talk when we can act?” He circled right, she scurried left. In one smooth movement, he stepped on and over the couch. His arm shot out and he caught the tie on her dressing gown and started reeling her in. “I’ve got these bondage fantasies.”
“Wait,” she said desperately. “Ross, please wait.”
“Mais, je t’adore,” he protested, catching her around the waist.
Through her panic, the language registered. Viv froze in his hold. Her eyes met his. “Why are you talking French?”
“I heard you like it How do I say, ‘I’d like to wring your neck en Franglais?’”
* * *
“So, Ross, long time no see,” Viv quipped nervously.
He released her in disgust. “Where is Meredith?”
“Not buried at the bottom of the garden if that’s what you’re worried about.” His gaze didn’t waver. Okay, nervous humor wasn’t helping. “She’s in Waikato Hospital recovering from a broken tibia.”
“Is she okay?”
His concern steadied her. Ross might slam Meredith but deep down he still cared about her.
“She’ll recover, physically.” Perching on the arm of the couch, she gestured to the armchair opposite. “Her emotional health now depends on you.”
Ross remained standing. “So I guess that brings us to the ‘why the hell are you impersonating her?’ question.”
Viv dug her trembling hands in the pockets of the velour dressing gown. “First of all,” she managed to say calmly, “she was perfectly entitled to consider all her options and we never expected the…” She paused.
“Hoax?” he suggested. “Fraud? Deception? Scam?”
“Swap. Never expected the swap to last this long.” Viv recalled the Lemony Snicket book she’d read Tilly at bedtime. “What happened was a series of unfortunate events.”
His eyes seemed to bore into her skull. “The first being?”
Her fingers found some lint in the dressing gown’s left pocket and she worried it into a ball. “Merry breaking her leg while she was in Hamilton for a job interview.”
There was a pregnant silence. His expression darkened. “Did Charlie know she was planning to move away with the kids?”
“It’s only an hour and a quarter away…he’d still see plenty of the children. As I said, she was exploring her options, and, anyway, she’s decided against it.”
“So that’s a no, then.” He swung on his heel.
Viv straightened. “Where are you going?”
“Where do you think?” He strode toward the door.
Alarmed, she sprang to her feet “Ross, you have to hear me out.”
“Actually I don’t. Only Charlie does. Unlike you, I stay out of other people’s business.”
She blocked his path. “Says the guy who browbeat me the other day, thinking I was Merry. Come to think of it,” she added on an inspired thought, “if you hadn’t been such a bully I wouldn’t have impersonated her to show you she couldn’t be pushed around, and none of this would have happened.”
Incredulous, he stared down at her. “Are you saying this is my fault?”
“Partly.” Viv warmed to her theme. “Actually, more than partly. I told Linda who I was but then she died and I fainted and the next thing I’m waking up to hear you telling the cops I was Meredith Coltrane. What was I supposed to do?”
“Gee, I don’t know,” he said sarcastically. “Tell the truth, maybe?”
Viv snorted. “When Meredith was terrified of Charlie hearing about her interview and you threatening custody battles?”
“You’re right.” He slapped his forehead. “What am I thinking? My fault, again.”
“Don’t beat yourself up.” She matched his tone. “If I’d known at the time that Charlie hadn’t cheated on Merry I might have been more tolerant of your childish outburst.”
They glared at each other. Inwardly Viv groaned. What the hell was she doing? She should be placating him, but she hated being treated like an idiot. Especially when it was deserved.
“That’s real big of you to be so forgiving.” Two hands clamped on her shoulders, firmly Ross moved her aside. “Let’s hope Charlie is as magnanimous.”
Viv panicked. “Okay, we’ve got off on the wrong foot…let me explain—”
“Save your excuses for him.” With one hand he jerked open the door, with the other he pulled out his keys.
“Ross.” She touched his hand and he suddenly gripped hers, lifting it to the light. Merry’s engagement and wedding rings sparkled on her finger. His eyes were so full of contempt that Viv squirmed. She felt exposed and vulnerable, a kid caught in a prank instead of a woman trying—however badly—to save a family from further disintegration.
Humiliated, she nearly let him leave. But Charlie would go ballistic if he found out now and, no matter how much Viv privately wished she’d done things differently, there was no going back. She’d leaped over the cliff—convinced Merry to leap with her—and they were wholly reliant on Viv’s wits to parachute them to a safe landing. She’d pulled off the swap for three days, she could do it for three more. But first she had to convince Ross to let her.
And his expression said he wasn’t going to do it. Taking a deep breath, she snatched the keys out of his hand and ran toward the downstairs bathroom. Merry’s carpet slippers slapped the wooden floorboards as she fled down the hall.
“And you called me childish,” he called after her in exasperation.
Salsa woke up as Viv dashed past, and gave chase with a yip of excitement. Viv slammed the bathroom door behind her and turned the lock seconds before Ross turned the handle. The rattle made her jump. How did he get there so fast?
“I don’t believe this. Open it now.”
Salsa followed Ross’s bark with one of his own. She listened to the scratch of paws against the paintwork. “Quiet, both of you,” she whispered fiercely. “You’ll wake the kids.”
The handle rattled again. “I’m giving you thirty seconds.”
“Acting in anger was what got me into this situation and I’m not letting you repeat my mistake. You have to listen first.”
“I’ve already filled in the gaps,” he said impatiently. “You’re pretending to be Meredith until she can be transferred to Auckland at which point she’ll make up some cockamamie story about how she broke her leg and you’ll swap again, leaving Charlie none the wiser about her job interview in Hamilton.”
It still sounded doable. Viv caught sight of herself nodding in the mirror. “And no harm done,” she added. “Because she decided not to take a job there anyway.”
“And you’re expecting me to fall in with this litany of lies.”
She frowned. “White lies,” she corrected, and dropped to peer through the keyhole. She was eye level with the logo on his navy T-shirt. Obey Gravity, It’s the Law. “Believe me, if we thought Charlie would respond rationally to the truth we wouldn’t have gone this route.”
A snort from the other side. “Sorry, I thought you mentioned the word rational. Charlie’s not the crazy one here.” At least he’d stopped rattling the handle.
“No?” It was difficult to sound persuasive through a keyhole but Viv did her best. “You think it’s normal to abandon your family over a kiss your wife hadn’t expected, immediately confessed and apologized for?”
“You know it was more than that. She’d been seeing the guy for weeks.”
“Seeing, not sleeping with,” she said fiercely, then jumped back as a doggy snout materialized, and hot, meaty breath blasted through the keyhole. Salsa whined excitedly and was pulled away.
“Quiet, boy. You can savage her later, I promise.”
She returned to the keyhole. “Look, whatever one-off mistake Merry made, she’s a decent person and a great mother who deserves a second chance and, frankly, your brother needs a lesson in how to forgive. It’s not as if he’s blameless in all this.”
“Oh, yeah, Charlie really had it coming.” Ross’s hands appeared holding a wallet. He pulled out a credit card and Viv’s eyes narrowed.
The sneaky son of a…
“In some ways he did.” Keeping her tone conversational, Viv unfolded from her crouch and scanned the bathroom for some kind of brace. “Merry was starved for attention…starved, Ross.”
Standing on tiptoe, she carefully removed the old-fashioned brass curtain rail from its holders above the shower and unhooked the curtain. “Merry said she felt invisible for the last two years of their marriage. Whenever she tried to talk to Charlie about it, he’d brush her off, tell her everything was fine.”
Padding one of the pointed ends of the rail with a towel to stop it from gouging the wood, she angled it between the shower cubicle base and the door. “Because it was fine—for Charlie. I mean why would he want to change the status quo? Much easier to let Mere run round after him.”
Ross snorted. “And did she once say, ‘Hey, asshole, get your own beer…I’m making some changes’? No!” Because Viv was listening for it, she heard the soft slide of plastic as he worked the lock. “Instead, she sighed and kept doing it all, and waited for Charlie to notice she wasn’t happy.”
“You noticed she wasn’t happy,” Vivienne pointed out.
“That’s different.” There was a frown in Ross’s voice. “I’m trained to be observant.”
“Who can’t spot an elephant in the room,” she scoffed. “Oh, that’s right, Charlie.”
The lock clicked, the handle turned and the door bulged slightly as Ross leaned his weight against it. The brass shower rail creaked but held. “Nice try,” Viv said. “But I grew up with Dan, remember?”
He gave a muffled curse. “My point is, everyone knows marriage is hard work. So if you’ve chosen the shackles, quit whining and get on with it. You’re not going to change my mind, so you might as well give me the keys.”
“All that cynicism,” she said softly. “It’s a wonder you can’t corrode the hinges with it.”
“At least I’m not a pathological liar!”
“White lies,” she insisted.
“So many you must be snow-blind.”
“I’m a very truthful person, but if the greater good is best served by a lie then I’ll tell it.”
“The greater good being what favors your interests.”
“Actually, it’s the opposite,” she said earnestly. “You can’t lie to further your own cause because that’s bad karma and you should never lie to yourself because that’s self-defeating. If the truth is going to hurt rather than heal, then don’t use it.”
“So you can lie prescriptively…?” He sounded as if he was thinking about it.
“Yes.” She hunkered by the keyhole again. “And, Ross, you can’t just say ‘not my business.’ It’s like the Good Samaritan. If you come across a situation you can fix, then you have an obligation to fix it.”
Silence. He was definitely thinking about it. “Damn it!” he said. Viv took that as a positive sign.
Another silence. Another curse. “Okay,” he conceded. “I take your point.”
Viv curled her fingers around the shower rail bracing the door. “You’ll keep the secret?”
“I’ll keep the secret.”
She removed the brace and let him in. “I’m so glad, I’d hate to be on bad terms with— Hey!”
He’d plucked his car keys from her hand. “I’ll be leaving now.”
Viv grabbed his forearm. “You bastard, you conned me.”
“No, I told a white lie for the right reason. To get the keys so I can go tell my brother.”
“Yes, let’s think about Charlie,” she said desperately. “Whatever the rights or wrongs of this are, he’s not in a fit state to hear it. Ross, please don’t let your need to tattle override what’s best for your brother.” His eyes narrowed. Oh, hell, she shouldn’t have said “tattle.” He removed her hand from his forearm.
“Okay, forget Charlie and think of the kids.”
“Those would be the kids you’re lying to.”
“They know who I am.”
“They’re in on this scam? Oh, this just gets better and better.”
“Haven’t they been through enough already without having their parents fall apart again?”
He looked down at her with implacable eyes. “Wasn’t it enough that your sister broke my brother’s heart without trying to make it harder for him to spend time with his kids? I’m telling Charlie the truth.”
Viv watched him walk away. “How did you know it was me, anyway?” She’d failed Merry, she’d failed the kids. “Was it because I was too happy, Ross? That’s what your niece said when I asked how to act more like her mom. ‘Look sadder.’ Please!” Her voice broke. “Don’t do this.”
For a moment she thought he hesitated but maybe that was the limp because he didn’t glance back. She was going to cry and she didn’t want him to see it. Swallowing a sob she sought refuge in the bathroom.