Three Blind-Date Brides

‘My reaction was silly because that piece of past history is exactly that. I’ve moved on. I’m dating, at least casually, again—looking for a nice, ordinary guy. Let’s just forget all of it. That’s what I’d like the most at this point.’

If her request rang hollow, she hoped he didn’t note it. And if his gaze remained as dark and uncertain as before, she couldn’t let herself think about that. Professionalism at all times. She couldn’t let there be anything else.

Rick’s gaze searched hers before he nodded and murmured, ‘I’m pleased you’re prepared to forget it.’ He didn’t look pleased, but really, what would she know?

The next couple of hours passed in a flurry of the usual busyness. Rick worked on, but he had a hard time concentrating. He wanted to go out to Marissa, tell her again that he was truly sorry, somehow make up for the way he’d invaded her privacy. He didn’t want to think of her ‘dating casually’ and how possessive and inappropriate was that?

‘I was wondering, after everything, if Darla got the promotion? I meant to ask earlier but I … got distracted.’ Marissa asked the question from his office doorway, and he looked up into brown eyes that had melted for him last night, had filled with warmth and delightful response before he’d ruined it all with his thoughtless words.

Ruined what couldn’t be allowed to happen anyway. Maybe he should just be grateful that something had put a stop to where that kiss had been headed. And forget about her ‘dating’ plans. ‘Darla got the promotion. I’m taking her and Kirri out during Kirri’s school lunch break today to celebrate.’

‘I’m really happy for her. Please pass on my congratulations to your sister when you see her.’ Marissa turned away and went back to her desk and her work.

That was as it should be, right?

So why did Rick feel so empty inside, as though he’d almost grasped something special in his hands, only to have it slip away after all?

What was the matter with him? He pushed himself back into his work and tried not to think beyond it.

Marissa observed her boss’s concentration on his work and tried her best to emulate it. She didn’t want to think. About his complex family. About him at all.

The hours came and went and, late in the afternoon, after a quiet lull of concentrating solely on her work uninterrupted, the phone rang. She took the call, put it through to Rick. ‘You have a call on line one. It’s Tom.’

Rick murmured his thanks and she went on with her work.

‘Tom.’ His voice softened. ‘How are you?’

Another phone line rang. As she reached for it, Rick said, ‘Just rest and do whatever the doctor tells you, Tom. If it’s another two weeks, so be it. Marissa—Marissa’s holding the fort well enough in your absence.’

Marissa tuned out Rick’s voice and answered the second call. ‘Marissa Warren.’

‘Marissa, it’s Dad.’ His voice was strained as he went on. ‘Mum’s in the hospital, love, with quite bad abdominal pain. They’re doing tests right now and they’re going to send her for an ultrasound before they—’ He cleared his throat. ‘To see what’s wrong.’

‘I’ll come straight away, Dad. Is Aunty Jean—?’ Panic flooded through her and she couldn’t remember what she’d been going to ask.

‘Yes, Jean’s on her way.’ Her father drew a breath. ‘She should be here in another hour.’

‘Good. That’s good.’ Marissa had to get to Milberry. It was her only thought as she clutched the phone tighter in her hand. ‘You can’t use your cellphone inside the hospital, I know, but you’ll phone my cell once Mum’s back from the tests, let me know if there’s anything—?’

Marissa was in trouble. Rick ended his call with Tom and reached her desk before he realised he’d moved. As she raised her eyes and locked onto his, something deep inside him clenched.

‘If there needs to be an operation they might move her to a larger hospital in another town.’ Marissa paused and listened again. ‘Yes, I understand we don’t know enough at this stage. I’ll just set off, Dad. You’re right. That’s all I can do for now. I love you. When you see Mum again, tell her I love her and I’m on my way.’

The moment she replaced the phone, Rick spoke.

‘What do you need?’ Whatever it was, he would get it for her, do it for her. The decision was instinctive. He didn’t want to examine the significance of it, could only worry for the woman in front of him. ‘Where’s your mother? Let me know the fastest way you can be at her side and I’ll make it happen.’

Marissa was already on her feet, her hand in the drawer to retrieve her bag when she stopped, looked up at him. She blinked hard and her mouth worked. ‘Mum was rushed to hospital in all this pain.’

‘What happened to her, sweetheart?’ The endearment slipped out, perhaps as unnoticed by its recipient as it was unplanned by him.

Her brown eyes darkened. ‘I only know it was abdominal pain. The ambulance had to get her from the newsagent’s while Dad came back in from his work on one of the road-works crews outside of town. Dad only got to see her for a second before they took her away, and they wouldn’t tell him much. I have to get to Milberry. I need the Mini.’

‘The car you hire from your neighbour.’ He remembered her muttering something about that, the day she’d felt faint after their crisis meeting.

It felt so long ago, and a Mini wasn’t the vehicle to get her out of the city and to her family with any kind of speed or comfort.

Rick caught her wrist between his fingers, rubbed his thumb across the soft skin. Hoped the touch offered some comfort, and silently acknowledged that a part of him wanted the right to more, whether that meant his emotions were involved in her, or not.

He couldn’t worry about any of that now. ‘Do any flights go to the township? I only know of it vaguely. It’s rather off the beaten path, isn’t it? How far is it by road? I can charter a plane for you if there’s an airstrip …’

‘There are no flights, no airstrip. Milberry doesn’t have an airport. It’s a reasonable sized town but there’s nothing much around it.’ Marissa stared at the mess on her desk as though she didn’t know what to do with it, and then she stared at him as though she wasn’t quite sure what to do with his offer either. ‘It’ll take me almost three hours in the Mini. Mum’s been at the hospital about an hour already, I think.’

‘I’ll take you myself—’

‘I forgot. My neighbour left Sydney this morning with the Mini.’ She broke off and said in confusion, ‘You’ll take me?’

‘My car will be faster than a Mini, faster than you having to hire something.’ He wanted to beg her to let him do this for her. Instead, he made it a statement and silently urged her to simply agree with it. ‘We can leave straight away.’

Confusion clouded her worried brown eyes. ‘You can’t … I can’t ask …’

‘I can, and I’m not asking you to ask.’ He needed permission. Needed to be allowed, wanted to draw her into his arms and promise her everything would be all right, that he would fix everything for her. ‘Give me one minute and we’re out of here.’

He used that minute to get on the phone and instruct one of the senior staff to come in and pack the office up for them and secure everything.

His borrowed secretary was in trouble. He could help her and he’d chosen to do so. That didn’t have to be any big thing, and his relief as Marissa put herself in his hands and allowed him to usher her from the building was simply that of a man who had got his way.

He told himself all this, but the intensity he felt inside didn’t lessen.

In moments he had Marissa out of the office building, into his ground-eating vehicle and away. A glance showed that her face hadn’t regained any colour. She was also utterly silent. ‘Tell me the route.’

She gave him the directions and fell silent again.

Rick clenched his hands around the wheel and got them clear of the city. Once he had, he murmured her name and reached for her hand. He curled his fingers around hers and she cast a glance his way.

‘Move into the middle seat so we can talk while I drive.’ He tugged on her hand. ‘You’re going to tell me everything your father said, the name of the hospital your mother is in and all you know about her situation.’

She obeyed him without question, and that told him, more clearly than anything else, the extent of her concern for her mother.

Once he had her shoulder pressed against his arm, her body close enough to feel her warmth and know she could feel his warmth, Rick relaxed marginally.

‘Talk, Marissa.’ He stroked his fingers over hers, registered the tremble that spoke of her tension.

‘Dad said they were sending her for an ultrasound of the abdominal area.’ She drew a deep breath. ‘There’s a small imaging facility in Milberry that does that sort of thing and they were opening it up for her. I guess the place must close at five. That would have meant another ambulance trip, though a short one.

‘Dad wanted to go with them but the nursing staff said no. I suppose they needed to focus on finding out what … what needed to be done after the tests.’ Her breath hitched as she ended this speech.

Rick squeezed her hand, drew it onto his thigh and curled his fingers over hers. ‘There are lots of things that can cause pain that are not life-threatening. If it was her appendix, for example, an operation should set it to rights.’

She nodded. ‘Maybe that’s what it is.’

‘How old is your mother? Has she enjoyed good health until now?’

‘She’s fifty. She never gets sick. Not like this. Neither of them do.’ Suddenly the fingers beneath his curled with tension. ‘What if …’

‘What if we ring the hospital and ask if there’s any news?’ He inserted the question gently.

Marissa tugged her bag from the floor by its strap. Her fingers were curled beneath Rick’s, against his strong thigh. She couldn’t seem to make herself let go or shift away. She didn’t want to leave the comfort of that press of warmth against her shoulder and arm.

Rick wasn’t Michael Unsworth. He wasn’t anything like her ex-fiancé. That knowledge was probably even more cause for worry, but right now she only had room to worry about Mum.

She lifted her phone. A moment later she had the hospital on the line.

‘It’s Marissa Warren. My mother …’ she cleared her throat ‘… my mother, Matilda Warren, arrived by ambulance with abdominal pain. I’d like to know how she is.’

‘Your mother is still under examination,’ the woman on the end of the line said briskly. ‘She’s had several tests done and Doctor is with her now. We’ll know more in a little while. Are you on your way to see her, dear? There might be more news if you leave it another half hour or so …’

‘We’re only about another hour away now.’ Rick murmured the words.

She glanced at him, realised she’d ended the call and simply sat there with the phone in her hand.

‘I’ve taken it for granted that they’re there, in good health …’ She trailed off.

‘Then keep believing in that good health. And if she needs anything that I can arrange or help with, to be airlifted to a different hospital in a private helicopter or anything …’

‘I hope she won’t need that, but I appreciate your words.’ She swallowed hard and her fingers flexed beneath his as she registered just how much his concern meant to her.

She couldn’t think about that now, couldn’t see his actions as a sign of his ability to care, or commit. ‘We’ll lose phone reception for a while about half an hour out of Milberry. I may not get to hear the test results until we’re close to town.’ Her gaze tracked over him despite herself. ‘There’s an area that doesn’t pick up very well.’

‘You should make any other calls now before we lose reception.’

‘Yes, I’d better do that.’ How did Rick feel about holding her hand? Had he simply wanted to offer comfort? It felt somehow deeper than that, and he was so determined to help her, anything she might need …

He glanced her way. ‘Did you want to try your father again?’

‘No. Dad won’t have his phone on inside the hospital, but I’d like to send a message to one of my friends.’ She toyed with her phone. ‘Yes, I think Grace would be out of bed by now, or at least close to it.’

She’d also arranged a drink after work with a man from the dating site. Marissa looked up his number in her phone listings—just as well she’d put it in there—and sent a quick message explaining her situation. Doing that made her aware, finally, of how close she was pressed to Rick’s side, how much she’d been leaning on him, physically and emotionally.

‘I’m sorry. I’m not usually so … needy.’ She moved away to the passenger seat.

‘You weren’t.’ He cast a glance at her that revealed warmth and caring in the depths of his eyes. ‘There’s nothing wrong with leaning on someone else sometimes.’

Marissa’s phone gave a number of beeps and she quickly glanced at it. ‘Two messages.’

She checked the first message. ‘This one’s from my friend Grace in London, well, an Internet friend, actually. She says, “Be strong, sweetie, and hugs and prayers for your mum. Grace xx.” Grace has a nineteen-year-old daughter and has lived a complete different life to me in so many ways, yet I feel a connection with her. Knowing her is kind of like having a fun older sister.’

‘What about the other message?’

She didn’t really want to tell him about the man she’d planned to meet for a drink. Why had she bothered anyway? The thought rolled over her, and she did her best to push it away. Right now wasn’t the time to try to figure out whether she was wasting her time on the dating site, whether her reasons for joining were even right …

Marissa opened the message reluctantly, and then relaxed. ‘This is from another of my Internet friends, Dani. Grace must have forwarded my message to her. I didn’t want to wake Dani.’ She read the second message out. ‘“Sending prayers. Call me if you need 2. Any time!!!’”

‘Where does Dani live? Is she an older woman like Grace?’

‘San Francisco, and no. She’s younger than I am and more ambitious in certain ways. Well, perhaps not more ambitious, but highly focused in her working life particularly, I think. Dani is at the start of her career and she’s studied hard and really wants to have a great job. At the moment she’s working in some dead end position she doesn’t like to talk about and hoping something better will come along.’

‘Do you have sisters or brothers, Marissa?’

He’d probably asked to keep her mind occupied. Marissa wanted to open up to him anyway. As she recognised that, she stared out of the window at the scenery flashing by.

Grassy paddocks on either side of the road interspersed with native gum and paper-bark trees. Hills undulated as far as the eye could see and gave a sense of quiet and open space very different from the teeming life of the city.

They weren’t too far from Milberry now. What would he think of her home town?

‘No sisters or brothers. I’m an only child. Maybe that’s why I want …’ She broke off, cleared her throat. ‘Mum and Dad only ever had me, but Mum made sure I had lots of chances to play with other children, to get the social interaction I needed. What about you? Just the two sisters?’

‘Yes. I’m the eldest. Darla’s in the middle, and Faith is the youngest.’

And his sisters had married, made families, but Rick hadn’t.

Minutes passed. Marissa clutched her phone and willed it to ring.

‘There’s the ten kilometre sign.’ She stiffened in her seat and, as though their nearness had brought it about, her phone finally complied with a ring tone. With a gasp, she fumbled for it and quickly answered.

‘Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. I can’t wait to see her.’

While Marissa paused to listen to her caller, Rick slowed at the outskirts of the township.

‘We’ll see you soon, Dad.’ She ended the call and sat forward to give Rick directions.

CHAPTER TEN

‘WE’RE to go straight to Mum and Dad’s unit. I don’t know what to think!’ Marissa’s words tumbled out in a rush, concern warring with threads of relief she couldn’t truly believe. Not yet. ‘They’ve let Mum go home with my Aunty Jean to watch over her. Aunty’s a registered nurse.’

‘How could they release her so quickly after such pain?’ Rick put the question that was filling her thoughts into words. ‘What was the diagnosis? Is this a decent hospital we’re talking about? If not, we’ll get her admitted somewhere else.’

‘Apparently a cyst ruptured on one of Mum’s ovaries. She is still in some discomfort but it’s not severe now. They say she just needs to rest with the appropriate medication. Once they were certain of the diagnosis they let her go.’

Marissa drew a quick breath. ‘It is a good hospital, the staff are reliable and Aunty Jean wouldn’t let them release her unless she was confident Mum was up to that. Even so, I need to see her. If I look at her, I’ll know—’

‘How do we get to your parents’ home?’ He gestured ahead of them. ‘Let’s get you there so you can see for yourself.’

‘If you follow this road it will take you straight through the main street of the town.’ He understood what she needed and that … warmed her. ‘After the Region’s Own Bank building you turn left and Mum and Dad’s unit is in the second street on the right.’

His gaze glanced left and right as he followed the directions she’d given him.

Many of the homes were red brick or weatherboard with corrugated iron roofs. Just about every front garden had rose bushes or camellias, a front fence with a wrought iron gate with an old-fashioned curlicue scroll design on top, and a mailbox on the right-hand gatepost.

There were vintage cars interspersed with sedans and utility trucks in the main street.

A rally weekend, Marissa realised vaguely, and sat forward in her seat again as they neared the turn to her parents’ home.

‘That’s their place.’ She pointed. ‘The small pale brick one with the red sedan and green station wagon parked out front.’

Rick followed Marissa’s directions and parked on the street behind the other two cars. He studied the workmanship of the square building design, with its regulation small porch, front window awnings and slightly curved pathway from the front fence to that porch, but his thoughts were focused on the woman at his side.

He’d expected Marissa to leap from the vehicle before he’d even parked it properly. Instead, at the last minute, she turned to face him.

Her eyes were wide, her expression a combination of concern and chagrin. ‘I haven’t thanked you for dropping everything to get me here the way you did and for your kindness during the trip. It … well … I hope Mum truly is a lot better, though I’m still concerned for her, and I appreciate—’

‘I know you do, and there’s no need to say anything.’ Maybe she was hesitating at the last moment out of fear of what she would find. If so, the sooner she saw her Mum the better. He opened his door and came to her side to help her out.

With her hand clasped in his as he helped her down, he admitted, ‘I wanted to bring you.’ He’d needed to, in the same way he’d needed to fix things for Darla over the years, for Faith.

No. Not the same. This was different.

Yes. It’s more than those urges have ever been.

He didn’t want to think that. Their gazes met and held for a brief moment and something flared between them. She did fly up the path then, and rapped on the door even as it opened from inside.

Rick followed more slowly and watched as a man with thinning grey-streaked dark hair pulled Marissa into his arms and held her tight. The comfort given and exchanged in their hug caught at something inside Rick and his chest hurt as he acknowledged the deep closeness playing out in front of him.

‘Dad, this is the boss of Morgan’s, Rick Morgan. I told you and Mum I’m working for him while his secretary is on sick leave and Gordon is on holiday.’ Marissa rushed the words out and then her voice softened. ‘Rick, please meet my father, Abraham Warren, but he prefers Abe.’

Did Marissa’s face soften on his name? It had seemed to and while something inside Rick took the thought in a stranglehold and refused to let it go, heat rode the back of his neck as he shook the older man’s hand and murmured a greeting.

He was concerned. He needed Marissa to see her mother and feel assured that the woman would be okay. It wasn’t anything else. Certainly not some misguided and misplaced hope that Marissa’s father would approve—like—him.

‘Thank you for bringing Marissa to us.’ Abe stepped back. If he noticed anything odd in Rick’s demeanour, he didn’t show it.

Rick wished he had some of the same self-control.

Abe went on, ‘Come inside, both of you. Marissa, Mum’s fretting that you rushed to get here, but she’s also bursting to see you. Maybe she’ll settle down and rest once she has.’

The combination of protectiveness and residual worry in the man’s tone said it all.

The small unit had a living area filled with a two-seater couch and several chairs. A kitchen backed onto the area and there were rooms packed tightly together off a hallway to the right.

Bedroom, bedroom, bathroom, Rick guessed. The laundry room would be at the back behind the kitchen. A woman emerged through an open door and smiled at Marissa. Hugged her briskly and stepped aside. ‘Go on and see your mum. A rupture is nasty and it can be very dangerous but your mum’s going to be just fine and I’m staying two nights to watch her in any case. It only took me two hours to get here from Tuckwell. I left quickly when your dad phoned.’

Marissa stepped through the door and disappeared. A moment later Rick heard a soft sob quickly stifled, followed by a rush of low words. Marissa’s voice and another one—older, soothing and being soothed. He wanted to burst into the room, do something. Hold Marissa and never let anything upset her again.

Instead, he stood in the middle of the living room, fists clenched as he forgot all about the two people waiting there, watching him. Then he turned to Marissa’s father. ‘Your wife truly is well enough to leave the hospital? Marissa was worried.’

‘Yes, and Jean will help me keep an eye on her.’ Abe examined Rick with shrewd eyes that seemed to have realised something about his guest. Maybe that Rick had eyes only for his daughter.

Rick ran a hand through his hair. ‘It’s been an uneasy few hours. Far more so for you, I’m sure.’

Abe stared hard at him for a long moment before he spoke again. ‘Very true. Now, how long have you and my daughter—’

‘Well, it must be time for a cup of tea.’ The nurse cleared her throat rather noisily. ‘How about I put the kettle on, Abe? I’m sure Tilda would enjoy a cup about now. We probably all could do with one.’

On her way past Rick, she gestured towards one of the squashy cloth-covered lounge chairs. ‘Why don’t you have a seat? And I’m Jean, Tilda’s sister, though I’m sure you’ve worked that out.

‘We can make our way through the introductions properly in a minute and you can tell us how the vintage car festival seems to be shaping up, how many of the cars you saw as you drove in.’ She glanced at Abe and her gaze seemed to warn him off launching a more personal inquisition. ‘It’s one of Milberry’s special weekends, you know.’

Rick had given away more of an interest in his borrowed secretary than he should have. At the moment he couldn’t raise much concern for the fact. Marissa had needed to get here. Rick had needed to smooth a path for her and he’d go on smoothing one for as long as he felt it was needed.

‘I’m afraid I didn’t take much notice of the traffic on the way in.’ Rick took a seat as ordered and put his hands on his spread knees. He gave himself time to look around this room owned by the people who had raised Marissa. There were photos of her everywhere.

Marissa as a baby, toddler, child and teenager and more recent ones.

‘Her hair was always curly.’ He murmured the words, took the cup that Jean offered, nodded his thanks. Cleared his throat. ‘It is rather noticeable. Her hair.’