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Kate’s childhood had molded her into the striking mix of sweet and tough, gentle and outrageous, smart and self-doubting.
Jack had fallen in love with all of her.
But she didn’t believe that.
“I’ve got to go,” he said. Dropping cash on the table for his uneaten breakfast, he barely spared a glance at his sister.
“I’m sorry, Jack,” she called as he walked away. “I’m sorry I hurt her.”
Not as sorry as he was.
RIGHT AFTER Kate’s long telephone call with Edie, she hung up, hearing her mother’s words again and again in her mind.
“Oh, honey, don’t you think for a minute I regret loving the man I loved. And don’t think I didn’t know how much he loved me. Heavens, John asked me to marry him more than a dozen times over the years, starting all the way back in tenth grade.” She’d laughed softly, as if remembering something warm and tender. “After Angela grew up and got married, I started to think we could really be together. Then her marriage failed. As did her second. And her third. Pat blamed John for his bad example and guilt made him stay. But we still loved each other. Why do you think I had to leave Ohio when he died? Do you think some narrow-minded people could have forced a Tremaine out?” Her voice had broken and Kate had somehow heard the silent tears she knew were rolling down her cheeks. “It was too painful to stay, Katey. Knowing he was gone.”
After she hung up, Kate shed more tears. This time not for herself. But for Edie.
A short time later she grabbed her purse and keys and went to find Jack. One thing her mother had said rang true…if she loved the man, pride had no place in the equation. Any chance for happiness was one worth grabbing.
She took a deep breath as she slowly drove by the Winfield house on Lilac Hill. No truck in the driveway. Thank God. She needed to see him, but she wasn’t ready to face his family.
She tried the downtown area next, cruising along Magnolia, looking for his golden hair shining in the bright morning sun. She still didn’t see him. Finally, thinking hard about where he might have gone in this town, she turned down a side street toward the Rialto.
Bingo.
Parking her SUV behind his truck, she walked to the front doors and entered the lobby. The overhead fixtures were off out here, but she saw a sliver of light from the main auditorium area. Pushing through the swinging doors, she paused in the back of the theater, looking around in the murky shadows of the cavernous, dimly lit room.
Jack sat in one of the old plushly covered seats in the back row. She saw him there at the same instant he saw her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I was looking for you. I went to the house, and the store. I finally figured you’d show up here. So I sat down to wait.”
He was right. Eventually, even if she hadn’t gone looking for him, she would have shown up here.
He remained seated, while Kate stood. She didn’t know what to say, now that she had finally found him. There didn’t seem to be an easy way to apologize for admitting what had once been the truth. She really had thought she could set out to hurt this man. This amazing man who’d captured her heart and soul.
It now seemed almost inconceivable.
Finally, as if realizing she couldn’t find the words to begin, Jack stood and extended his hand. She stepped closer, taking it, letting him pull her into the seat next to his own.
Finally she heard him say, “I’m not J. J. Winfield, Kate.”
She bit her lip.
“Maybe J. J. Winfield was someone you once wanted to get even with. But that’s not me.”
“I know,” she admitted. “Jack, as soon as I saw you, as soon as I realized who you were, I dropped any idea of revenge. I knew I was too vulnerable to you.” She lowered her voice. “I already liked you too much. I knew from the beginning I could care for you.”
“I knew it, too,” he said. “I never would have believed it if it hadn’t happened to me, but I knew from the first time I saw you something amazing was going to happen between us. I started to fall in love with you before I even heard your voice or knew your name.”
Her name. Yes, back to the issue at hand. Kate thrust away the thrill of pleasure that had raced through her body at hearing the word love on Jack’s lips. “My name. Who I am. That’s the issue, right? The reason you didn’t call.”
