you about him if you ask her in your present condition.”
Cate grinned at Caroline’s prim tone. “I wondered why she wasn’t married, but it seemed rude to ask. And Uncle Ford?”
“He’s never made conventional choices. None of us was conventional except you.” Caroline swallowed. “Actually, no one was ever sure if Grandma and Grandpa actually married each other. I mean we have a marriage certificate, but the story is, they bought it on the boardwalk in New Jersey.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry. You and Alan are legal, and you’ve never taken a wrong step. You’ve walked a tight, straight line to give Dan a sense of family you and I didn’t get. You’ve made him strong.”
Tight, straight line? The walls started to close in again.
“In fact, you and Alan have given Shelly a good example. I want her to know someone in our family can make a marriage stick.”
A lasting marriage hardly equated with a wife who’d hidden her pregnancy. How had Alan responded to setting examples? What had she thought about such a responsibility?
“I need to ask you about Alan’s father, too. Uncle Ford mentioned that I wouldn’t be seeing him inside these four walls.” She glanced quickly around the room. “What did he mean? I don’t feel comfortable asking Alan.”
“Why?”
Because she didn’t trust their relationship. “Alan’s already stressed. I don’t want to add to his trouble, but he’s—Richard’s his name?”
“Yeah, Richard.”
“He’s family, too. I’d better know about him.”
“Richard has his quirks.” Caroline grabbed the water again. “I don’t want to talk about him, either. He raised Alan alone after Alan’s mom left when Alan was about ten. I’m not sure what went wrong.”
“I thought you and I were close.”
“We were.”
“I sure hid a lot from you.”
“Just the important stuff,” Caroline said with a trace of impatience. “I’ve never understood what went on between Alan and Richard, and you never told me anything. Of course there was gossip. I’ve heard Alan did a lot of the stuff fathers are supposed to do for their children, like laundry and cooking. I know Richard had a drinking problem. You and Alan both tried to pretend Richard was a better father than I think he was.”
Appalled and heartbroken for her husband, Cate tried to take this information in. “Why would we cover for him?”
“Maybe for Dan, or maybe you thought he’d remind me of Ryan, my own runaway spouse. You’ll have to ask Alan—or maybe Richard. He’s getting married this summer. He must have finally put his first wife behind him.” Caroline reached for her hand. “I haven’t helped you. You know my worst fears, but I only know hints of yours.”
Cate made herself accept her sister’s touch. Dr. Davis and Dr. Barton had both touched her in comfort, and she hadn’t minded. Family mattered more. Accepting affection she couldn’t return felt false, but she wanted to love her sister so she let her hand rest in Caroline’s.
“I have to ask you another question you won’t want to answer.” She felt disloyal to Alan after what Caroline had said about Richard. Imagining her husband as a lost little boy, forced to grow up, hurt her. She had to ask her sister about the state of their marriage, because she wasn’t sure he’d tell her the truth. If he’d persuaded her to go along with shielding his father, he must be used to pretending things were “normal.” “Were Alan and I happy?”
Caroline jerked her fingers back. “How would I know?”
Cate held her twin’s so familiar gaze with sheer will. “You’re my sister. I took you at your word when you promised I could depend on you.”
Caroline looked as if she’d like to run for her life. “You would no more have told me about problems between you and Alan than you would have hired a plane to list them in the sky.”
“I have to know.”
“You aren’t yourself.”
“I’m afraid not. I don’t trust the way people describe me so far. I was stuffy.”
“Not stuffy. Kind.”
“So much circumspection sounds unnatural.” Cate tucked her sheet around her waist. A walk down the hospital hall might clear her muzzy head, but weakness in her legs, combined with the deep cut on her thigh held her prisoner, and Caroline had backed away when she’d needed her most. “Thanks for talking. I appreciate your effort.”
“Wait.” Her expression dogged, Caroline propped one elbow on the edge of Cate’s bed. “Let me try again. Alan came to my house this morning, and he insisted I see you.”
Cate crossed her arms. She still possessed enough of her infamous self-sufficiency to resent Alan’s intervention.
“Hold on, Cate. He wanted to make sure I took care of you.”
If he knew she needed help, why had he stayed away last night? The obvious answer. She’d dropped a bomb on his head. He needed time to reconcile himself. Not the most romantic tactic, but if he showed up again soon, she’d try to understand. “Alan and I aren’t your responsibility.”
“Listen to me. You have to listen if you ask for advice. I don’t think he’d have come to me if he didn’t care.” Caroline fluffed her hair. “Why are we talking about this? He loves you. He’s been crazy since that car hit you.”
“He doesn’t act like a man in love. He acts like something’s wrong.”
“I noticed, but I don’t believe your marriage went bad.”
Cate plucked at a loose thread on her sheet’s hem. “I’m glad my marriage comforts you, but I’d love to know how I felt about it.”
“Yeah.” Caroline sounded unsure.
And she didn’t even know about the twins.
AGAIN, Alan stared at Cate’s door. Someone had printed her name on a small, square whiteboard beside the metal doorframe. He brushed away a smear at the end of the r in Palmer. Then he went inside.
Favoring her injured leg, his wife turned from the window.
“Cate.” He’d expected her to be in bed.
“I almost stopped hoping you’d come, but I didn’t want to be flat on my back when we talked.” A smile hovered at the corner of her mouth.
He knew that sweet shape as well as he knew his own face. He’d kissed that mouth, frowned at that mouth, dreaded seeing it thin in anger, and waited with held breath for it to smile. A real smile—not like her smile now.
“You knew you could expect me?” Somewhere inside her remained the wife who’d trusted him to take care of her.
“If
