Mrs. Miracle 01 - Mrs. Miracle(39)

“Reba?”

The gentle concern in his voice nearly undid her, and she struggled to hold back the emotion. “Vicki was jealous…I knew it, saw it. We’d always been competitive, but for the first time in our lives I had something she wanted. You see, she was always the one who blazed new territory. Grades, sports, and just about everything else. It was important to her to outdo me, to be first. Yet I was the one who was engaged, I was to be the first one married.

“She didn’t love John, but she flirted with him, teased him, and asked him if he was sure he was marrying the right sister. I laughed it off. What else could I do but laugh?”

“What happened?” Seth asked with tender concern.

She braced herself and between gritted teeth said the words. Each one fell from her lips as hard as concrete. As hard and as unbending. “A week before the wedding I found my sister in bed with my fiancé. I’m convinced she planned it that way, that she wanted me to find them. She wanted to show me that she could have anything that was mine. Anything, including my soon-to-be husband.” There couldn’t be any other explanation. But Vicki’s victory had turned out to be a shallow one. Reba recognized that the moment she saw her sister and the sick regret in her eyes. The remorse and honest grief.

“You broke off the engagement?” Seth asked, again with cautious tenderness, recognizing what it had cost her to peel back the wounds of the past.

“I canceled the wedding that very day, and I haven’t spoken to my sister since.” She tensed, waiting for him to tell her how foolish she was being, that by refusing to forgive her sister, she was only hurting herself. Well-meaning friends had said it before, and it was a theme her mother sang at every opportunity. No one understood that what Vicki had done was unforgivable.

“The ironic part of it is that my sister’s married now to another man and has a child. The adored, lone grandchild.” Hiding her bitterness was an impossible task. That her sister should find happiness while she lived alone rankled every time she allowed her mind to dwell on it.

“In other words, your sister came away from all this smelling like a rose.”

Her eyes flew open. Seth knew. Seth understood. “Yes,” she whispered, grateful that he appreciated the irony of her situation.

“Meanwhile you broke off the wedding at the last minute and everyone was left to speculate what had happened. That speculation made it seem that the fault was with you. You were fickle, didn’t know what you wanted, were afraid of commitment, that sort of thing. You were the one who bore the shame.”

“Yes.” She had to restrain herself to keep from shouting. The days and weeks following the canceled wedding were a nightmarish blur in her mind. In order to save himself from embarrassment, John had told their friends a story that didn’t vaguely resemble the truth.

In an effort to escape the probing questions and the curious stares, Reba had escaped to the beach, telling no one where she was. When she’d returned she’d invested her time and energy in establishing her travel agency. Some claimed that her success in the highly competitive travel industry was phenomenal. She wouldn’t discount her efforts or the long hours she’d invested, but the drive, the urge to succeed, could be credited to John and Vicki’s treachery and her need to escape the memory of their betrayal.

“Aren’t you going to tell me how foolish I am to leave this matter between my sister and me unresolved?” Reba challenged. Eventually Seth would comment on it, and she’d rather have it out in the open. “People say leaving the matter this way is like not treating an open, festering wound.”

“Have you ever had a boil?” he asked, baffling her by changing the subject.

“No.”

“I did as a kid, twice. They’re ugly things, painful and full of pus. Eventually they come to a head. My mother put hot compresses on the one on my arm, but the other…well, it was in an area I didn’t want my mother looking at.” He chuckled softly. “I imagine this matter with your sister is something like an emotional boil. Eventually it’ll come to a head, and it’ll hurt like hell, but once the poison’s out of your system, you’ll heal, but not until you’re ready.”

“I don’t ever plan on speaking to her again.”

“I didn’t want to deal with the boil, either. You can delay it, ignore it as long as you want, but it isn’t going to go away. If you want to live with it, well, that’s your decision. When the time’s right to set matters straight with your sister, you’ll know it.”

How wise Seth was, and understanding.

“I wish I was with you right now,” he murmured.

She did, too, although she’d opted to explain the situation over the phone. She needed him, and for a woman who’d insulated her life against needing anyone, this was a moment of truth. She did need Seth. Needed him in ways she was only beginning to understand.

“You’ve been badly hurt. Betrayed by your own flesh and blood, and by the man you were ready to commit your life to. You have a right to your anger, a right to your pain.”

“No one understood that.” She had to whisper the words because she feared if she spoke normally, her voice wouldn’t hold. “My family seemed to think I was better off without John.”

“But you loved him.”

“Yes. I knew what they said was true, but that didn’t make me hurt any less.” Her voice shook, but she managed to keep the tears at bay.