Chapter 3 #2
"It didn't sound as if I had much of a choice," Craig said coolly as he sat a few inches away from the man he had come to meet, thrown off by how much he looked like her. They shared the same facial features, the excellent bone structure, shape of the eyes and thick lashes.
Dylan blew out smoke from the cigarette he had allowed himself, eyes squinted against the sun. He had wanted to meet in a public place, and the park was as good as any.
Children and nannies strolled by. The water fountain played a pretty song and there were ducks wading in the pond.
They were seated beneath the shade of a towering oak tree, the breeze wafting through the leaves and cooling the skin.
"I wanted to look you in the eyes and tell you that I will not allow my sister to be used."
Craig smiled grimly. Stretching out his legs, he crossed them at the ankles.
"Have you met your sister? You don't give her much credit if you think she would allow anyone to use her. We're doing each other a mutual solid. I want something desperately and so does she."
"And nothing more?"
Craig eyed the man coolly, sensing the need to protect his sister. He could respect that.
He was an only child, but he could admire a man who loved his sibling.
"Nothing more. She doesn't want more than that."
Dylan's eyes sharpened. He thought he heard something else in the man's voice, something akin to regret or resentment.
He always thought that his sister had no idea how much she affected the opposite sex.
"And you? What do you want?"
Craig shrugged, his eyes on the ducks. A mother and her young ones sailed along with no cares in the world.
He envied them.
"I want to do whatever the bloody hell I want to do. I want control of the company so that I can change things. I have plans."
"Who doesn't?"
He glanced at the older man. "Yeah, who doesn't?"
"We share the same father."
Craig turned around slowly. "She mentioned that."
"Did she?" Crushing out the cigarette, he tossed it aside.
"He ignored her. Did she tell you that? I was a son, so I got more attention, not much, but he noticed me. He never paid her any mind. She was desperate for his love.
"He divorced my mother and brought me to live with hers. I resented her at first, my stepmother, but she was great, and when Regina was born, I felt this fierce love inside me that only grew. She means everything to me."
There was a warning note in his voice.
"She tried to get our father to love her, to see her. So she would be the best in school. She majored in athletics and was into every sport there was. She was on the cheerleading team. Gina can swim like a fish. She can do anything. Nothing worked.
"Then he left when she turned fifteen. Just left in the middle of the night. It destroyed her and her mother."
He shrugged and wondered why he was telling the man all this. His sister would skin him alive if she knew.
But he sensed something in the guy and was hoping fervently that there would be a change. She needed someone.
She pretended not to, but he knew better.
"He left me with them, of course. My own mother wasn't really a mother.
Flighty and foolish. Rachel, my sister's mom, was the ultimate mother.
Even when she was hurting, she took care of us.
He would swing by every once in a while to hand out money and gifts and would take me out for ice cream or whatever.
But never Gina. I watched as she slowly turned jaded and cynical. "
He searched his pocket for another cigarette and decided against it.
"She's been hurt by the one man who was supposed to love her and guide her." He turned his head to look at Craig, sizing him up.
The guy needed a haircut, and he wasn't wearing designer threads. In fact, his jeans were worn, the shirt a little crushed.
He was approachable, not like some of those rich assholes he had to deal with.
"You're going to have a fight on your hands if you want anything more."
"Who says I do?" Craig was wishing for a cigarette himself.
The story he just heard had splintered his heart and allowed him to reverse his opinions of her. Christ!
No wonder she was the way she was.
Dylan laughed softly. "Man, I hope you don't play poker, you'd be lousy at it."
"I do play poker and have won a couple thousand at that." Craig shrugged.
"It's just business. She will not want anything more. Your sister is a pretty aggressive woman and an opinionated one. If she ever dreams that it's anything more, she will turn me down flat."
"True." Dylan nodded.
"But I believe you have the ability to change her mind."
* * * * *
Craig wasn't so sure about that. On the drive up the hill, one of his favorite haunts, he lowered the windows and just allowed the breeze to whip through his hair and slide over his skin.
He had drifted from the main road and into the rural part of town where the houses were few and far between. He could see cows and horses grazing.
He slowed down enough to watch a woman wearing a large straw hat tending to her vegetable garden.
He loved the country, the quiet, the solitude and the rutted roads. The scent of apples and oranges came at him swiftly.
Somewhere a dog barked and a horse neighed. He wanted peace, a home with children.
Shaking his head, he pressed on until he came to the abandoned building.
It belonged to his father, a faded cabin where they had gone fishing. He had turned his back on the place in his grief but was thinking of fixing it up.
It could be somewhere he escaped to, like now, when he had so much to think on.
First chance he got, he would hire someone to come and make an estimate. He could always putter around on his own, and he did not mind working with his hands.
He had done it several times before, in the Philippines, where there had been a need for housing. He had pitched in and worked with the rest of them.
Parking the vehicle beneath a solid oak tree, he alighted and picked his way over the cobbled driveway. The porch was warped; the boards needed replacing.
Making a mental note, he fished the key from beneath a flower pot and unlocked the front door. At least the mahogany was solid, he noted.
The musty smell hit him as soon as he stepped inside. Batting at cobwebs, he sneezed as the dust rose up.
He had not bothered with paying anyone to keep an eye on the place. Losing his father had dampened his need to be here.
But now he was thinking he would change his mind.
He could not see Regina in a place like this. A slight smile touched his lips as he found himself wondering why he had thought of her.
It was the story her brother had told him earlier on, about their father. He had been brought up in a loving home, thank God for that.
But she... Shaking his head, he wandered into the living room.
A large fireplace took up an entire section of the wall. The cabin had two stories.
There were three bedrooms upstairs and two baths. On the lower level, there was the large and functional kitchen with the old range for a stove.
There was also a dining room, the living area, and a small powder room.
Strolling along the passageway, he pushed open the back door and stepped onto a solid deck. This was the real beauty of the place.
From where he stood, the view was spectacular. The stream flowed to meet the river where his father had built a dock that had a dinghy and another, bigger boat tied to the solid posts, bobbing on the water.
Memories of the times he had gone fishing with his father had the grief swamping him.
Here they had cut off the rest of the world. Here they had been free to do whatever they wanted, without the oppressive influence of his grandfather.
His mother had often accompanied them. He recalled long walks with his parents holding hands.
They had looked so happy together.
Lowering himself, he sat on the side of the deck, legs swinging, the breeze off the river cooling his skin and ruffling his hair. He felt the peace he always felt whenever he was here and vowed that he would make time to come here even once or twice a month.
Would Regina accompany him if he asked? Somehow he didn't see her in a rural setting.
The staggeringly beautiful woman he was going to marry in a fake ceremony was made for shining lights and five-star dining. Not fishing boats and long walks in the woods.
A pity, he thought with regret. He would have loved to share the place with her