Almost Married Read online

  ALMOST MARRIED

  Written by

  Kate William

  Created by

  FRANCINE PASCAL

  Copyright © 2016, Francine Pascal

  To Telova Carmen

  "Todd, I just found out that my mom's going to be in Chicago all this week with Mr. Patman, and I'm afraid that—"

  Before she could get out the rest of her sentence, Todd broke in. "Hey! That means that all four of our parents are out of the way!" he said jubilantly, his eyes twinkling. "That's great news, Liz!"

  "Great news?" she repeated, her own face blank.

  Todd leaned over to give her a big hug. "You know," he murmured into her hair. "What we were talking about last night. You and me, moving in together."

  Elizabeth had completely forgotten about their conversation at Miller's Point. "Oh, right. That."

  "So, what do you say?" Todd gave her a warm squeeze. "The timing's perfect—I could bring my stuff over this afternoon. Just think, Liz," Todd said, nuzzling her neck. "We can cook dinner and do our homework together and stay up all night talking and watching TV—we can be together twenty-four hours a day!"

  "Twenty-four hours a day?" Elizabeth said, feeling somewhat dazed.

  "OK, not twenty-four hours," Todd amended with a grin. "I'll sleep on the couch or in Stevens room, of course."

  "Of course . . ."

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 1

  "I'm sorry, Todd, but it's really too hot for this," sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Wakefield told her boyfriend as she drew back from a kiss. "Don't get me wrong. I'm really glad to see you, but this car is hot as an oven. I can't breathe"

  Todd Wilkins ran a hand over his damp forehead. "Was it like this all last week?"

  Elizabeth nodded. "Aren't you glad you spent spring break camping in the mountains? Enid, Olivia, and I went to a matinee at the Plaza Theatre every afternoon just to get into the air-conditioning!"

  "Whew. I was hoping that once the sun set, it would cool off a little," Todd remarked. "But I bet we could still fry an egg on the roof of the car."

  It was Saturday night, and they'd driven up to Miller's Point, a parking spot overlooking the idyllic southern California town of Sweet Valley. Usually the grassy hilltop was breezy and cool—the perfect place for a romantic interlude. But tonight it was like a hot, sticky sauna, even with the car windows rolled down all the way.

  Elizabeth removed the owner's manual from the glove compartment of Todd's BMW and fanned herself. "Maybe we should just head home," she suggested reluctantly. "We could always take a dip in the pool at my house."

  "But I wanted to be alone with you." Todd reached for her again, folding her tightly in his arms. "I missed you so much, Liz. I know it was only a week, but it felt like a year."

  "I know," Elizabeth murmured, raising her face to his. "It felt like a year to me, too."

  Their lips met in a warm, leisurely kiss, the kind of kiss that ordinarily erased all other thoughts from Elizabeth's brain and caused her to melt like butter in Todd's arms. Tonight, though, she simply couldn't give him her full attention. She felt restless and distracted, and not just because of the heat. Ever since I found that trunk in the attic, Elizabeth mused even as she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on Todd. Ever since I saw that photograph. . . .

  While Todd had been off camping with his parents, and Elizabeth's twin sister, Jessica, was on a Club Paradise vacation with her best friend, Lila Fowler, Elizabeth had opted to stick around Sweet Valley for spring break so she could work on her special biography assignment for her English class. I picked Mom for my subject because I thought I already knew her so well, Elizabeth reflected grimly.

  How could she have guessed what she'd uncover?

  It had all started when Bruce Patman stormed up to her table at the Dairi Burger and announced, out of the blue, and at the top of his lungs, "Your mother's having an affair with my dad!" Elizabeth had jumped to her mother's defense. Happily married Alice Wakefield, mother of three, having an affair with Henry Wilson Patman, the unbelievably rich and stuffy canning-industry mogul? It was unthinkable! Bruce was just in hysterics, Elizabeth decided, because his parents were splitting up. He was looking for someone to blame, and she told him so. "Just because my mom's working closely with your father on a design project doesn't mean they're having an affair," she'd declared. "And I can prove it to you."

  The next thing Elizabeth knew, her mother had flown off to Chicago on a business trip with Mr. Patman. And when Elizabeth started snooping around her attic, instead of coming up with proof that her mother wasn't the kind of woman to lead a double life, she'd found bone-chilling evidence to the contrary: a trunk containing an old wedding dress, a bouquet, and a wedding portrait of Alice Wakefield . . . posing with Hank Patman!

  The photograph shocked Elizabeth to her very core, and Bruce, too, when she showed it to him. In Bruce's opinion, this clinched it: his father had once been married to Alice Wakefield and obviously had resumed a clandestine romance with her. Elizabeth, however, clung desperately to her faith in her mother's character. Mom wouldn't cheat on Dad, she told herself now as she laid her cheek against Todd's shoulder so he could stroke her hair. He's the one she loves, the one she raised a family with. Whatever happened between her and Mr. Patman was over. It was a long time ago, and it has nothing to do with now. Mom would never cheat on Dad . . . would she? They'll he together forever . . . wont they?

  As much as she wanted to believe it, Elizabeth had to admit there was room for doubt. Bruce's parents' marriage was on the rocks, and an affair could very well be the reason. Elizabeth's own parents had had their difficulties in the past, experimenting with a trial separation at one point, although they ultimately reconciled. But neither one was having an affair, Elizabeth reminded herself.

  Elizabeth heaved a troubled sigh and lifted her blue-green eyes to Todd's face, eager to tell him the whole tangled story. It had been so hard not having him around to confide in.

  Todd heard the sigh, but misinterpreted the emotion behind it. "When we're apart I always forget how unbelievably beautiful you are," he said, his voice husky and low. He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her nose, her throat. "It feels so good to hold you again, Liz. To really hold you—not just to dream about it."

  Elizabeth stifled another sigh as Todd nibbled gently on her earlobe. Maybe this wasn't the time to bring up such a heavy subject. Why spoil the mood? She made a sincere effort to relax in Todd's embrace and return his kisses with a little more enthusiasm. It was nice for a change not to be dwelling on her mother's mysterious, long-ago marriage to Mr. Patman . . . and the possibility of a present-day affair. If only last week were a bad dream, a heat-induced hallucination.

  The radio was playing softly in the background. Sunday was Golden Oldies night on the local rock station, and someone had requested the Beach Boys' classic "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" Todd started humming along.

  Elizabeth smiled up at him. "This is such a romantic song."

  "Mmm-hmm," Todd agreed. "I know you and I are way too young even to think about getting married—"

  "Way too young!" Elizabeth confirmed with a laugh.

  "But it would be nice to live together, wouldn't it?" said Todd. "Just think, we wouldn't always have to be driving back and forth to each other's houses."

/>   "Or calling each other on the phone," contributed Elizabeth.

  "We wouldn't have to make dates to see each other," Todd went on. "Every night would be a date."

  "Someday," Elizabeth said lightly, kissing Todd on the nose. "When we're in college, maybe, or after we graduate."

  "It's like the song says, though. I don't want to wait." Todd squeezed her close, his dark-brown eyes twinkling mischievously. "I know the real thing's a long way off, but maybe we could start practicing."

  Elizabeth burst out laughing. "Practicing?"

  He grinned. "Yeah. Let's practice living together next time all four of our parents are out of town!"

  "Which will never happen," she predicted.

  "It could," Todd persisted. "My parents are on vacation for another week, and your dad's leaving for the American Bar Association seminar tomorrow, right? That's three out of four right there."

  "Three out of four," Elizabeth emphasized. "And I can just imagine the look on my mother's face if I packed up my bag and announced I was moving in with you!"

  They both laughed, but Elizabeth's smile faded quickly. Mom's the one who may be packing her bags soon, she remembered. To leave Dad for Mr. Patman! The thought was too horrible to express or even contemplate. Elizabeth buried her face against Todd's neck. "You're right. It would be nice," she whispered.

  "People say it's a man's world," Mr. Wakefield commented at the breakfast table Monday morning, "but let me tell you, girls, sometimes it's not so easy being male." Holding the newspaper in one hand, he tugged unhappily at his necktie with the other. "For example, having to wear a suit and tie on a scorcher like this. Talk about oppression!"

  "You're just a slave to fashion, Dad," Jessica teased.

  "We have that in common, eh?" Mr. Wakefield answered.

  It was a family joke that if Jessica didn't have to go to school, she'd be at the mall full-time, waiting for the latest shipments of designer European clothes to be unpacked and hung on the boutique racks. "Shopping is an art," Jessica defended herself. "It's a form of self-expression, just like Elizabeth's writing!"

  This was just one difference between the two sisters. The Wakefield twins looked identical, with the same shoulder-length blond hair, sparkling blue-green eyes, and tanned, perfect size-six figures. Once you got beyond appearances, however, it was easy to tell them apart. After school Jessica could be found doing handsprings and splits with the cheerleading squad while Elizabeth put in a few hours at the school newspaper office, polishing up her latest "Eyes and Ears" column. On weekends, Jessica pursued three activities with high energy: shopping, suntanning, and partying. Elizabeth was more likely to take a long walk at the beach with her best friend, Enid Rollins, and then go to dinner and a movie with Todd.

  This morning, however, Elizabeth sat slumped over her grapefruit, barely able to muster the energy to lift the spoon to her mouth. "How can it be this hot at seven in the morning?" she asked irritably.

  "Global warming," Jessica surmised, blotting her forehead with a paper napkin. "Get used to it."

  Mrs. Wakefield stood at the kitchen counter, preparing a big pitcher of iced coffee. Glancing at Jessica's outfit, she raised her eyebrows. "Well, you're certainly dressed for the tropics."

  Elizabeth looked at her sister. The halter top and very short skirt were pretty skimpy for school, even by Jessica's standards. "Really. You're not at Club Paradise anymore, you know," Elizabeth reminded her sister.

  "Maybe not, but I have to show off my Club Paradise tan," Jessica rationalized. "Besides, in this heat, if I wore any more clothing it would be a health hazard—I'd probably faint. Or melt."

  Mrs. Wakefield shook her head and laughed. "Well, here's something to cool you guys off," she said cheerfully, placing the pitcher on the table.

  "You don't seem tommind this hideous weather, Mom," Jessica observed. She studied her mother, who was positively glowing in a crisp petal-pink linen suit. "How can you look so cool when the rest of us are wilting like day-old prom corsages?" Jessica turned to Elizabeth. "I think she's hiding something from the rest of us," she said conspiratorially.

  Jessica was just joking around, but Elizabeth practically fell off her chair. She glanced quickly at her father, but his nose remained buried in the newspaper; he didn't appear to have heard Jessica's remark. Mom is hiding something, Elizabeth thought, biting her lip, and Dad doesn't suspect a thing.

  "According to the extended forecast, this heat wave is supposed to last at least another week," Mr. Wakefield announced with a grimace. "I hope for your sake, Alice, tthat it's cooler in Chicago."

  "Chicago?" Elizabeth said, alarmed.

  "Chicago again?" Jessica asked. "You just got back!"

  "I was just about to tell you," Mrs. Wakefield explained. "Hank phoned last night, and I have to make another trip for this design project. I'll probably stay through the weekend." A shadow crossed her face. "The timing could be better—your father will be away all week too. But you girls should be fine on your own . . . this time."

  Mrs. Wakefield didn't elaborate, but Elizabeth knew her mother was referring to the last time the twins and their older brother, Steven, were left home alone, over the holidays. Stalked by a murderous psychopath, Elizabeth had had a very close brush with death.

  "You can always call Steven at college," Mrs. Wakefield said, her expression brightening again. "And of course, if you need me, call me in Chicago and I'll be on the next plane home."

  "We'll be fine, Mom," Jessica assured her, slurping her iced coffee.

  Elizabeth, meanwhile, had been struck speechless. Mom's going back to Chicago with "Hank"? She stared at her mother and then at her father. Mrs. Wakefield spread jam on an English muffin, smiling thoughtfully to herself. Mr. Wakefield read the stock market page, completely oblivious to the implications of this "business trip."

  Elizabeth's heart sank like a stone. Her mother was taking another trip to Chicago to be with Mr. Patman—for a week! Did this confirm Elizabeth and Bruce's dreaded suspicions?

  "Chicago, huh?" mused Jessica, squeezing the last few drops of juice from her grapefruit onto a spoon. "Lila says the stores on Michigan Avenue are absolutely—"

  Before Jessica could finish her sentence, Elizabeth shoved back her chair abruptly. "May Jessica and I please be excused?" she asked. "We have something to do upstairs before school."

  Jessica gaped at her sister, raising her eyebrows. "We do?"

  "Yes, we do," Elizabeth declared, grabbing Jessica's arm and hauling her to her feet.

  Mrs. Wakefield nodded, and Elizabeth bolted from the kitchen, dragging Jessica after her.

  "Geez, hold your horses!" Jessica protested. They reached the front hallway and Elizabeth started to herd Jessica up the stairs. "Whatiis your problem, Liz?" Jessica demanded, putting on the brakes. "What's going on?"

  Her lips tightly pursed, Elizabeth just shook her head and continued upstairs, beckoning Jessica to follow. With an exasperated sigh, Jessica stomped after her sister, muttering. She trailed Elizabeth into her bedroom.

  Elizabeth gestured toward the neatly made twin bed and Jessica sat down, watching Elizabeth open her top desk drawer and rummage around in the back. Still in silence, Elizabeth pulled something out—a photograph—and handed it to Jessica.

  Jessica took the photograph from Elizabeth. "I wish you'd just tell me what's going—" she began. "So it's Mom, in a wedding dress. What's the big. . ." Then her eyes widened. "But that's not Dad!" she exclaimed. "Wait a minute, is that . . .?"

  Elizabeth nodded. "Mr. Patman," she confirmed in a dire tone. "Or Hank, as our mother calls him."

  "Mr. Patman! No way! I don't get it." Jessica peered closely at the picture. "Wow, this looks really old, like maybe it was taken back when they were in college. I bet they were going to a costume party or something," she concluded, relieved. She put a hand over her heart and laughed. "Phew. For a minute there, you really had me—"

  "It wasn't a costume party," Elizabeth interrupted, her expression dead s
erious. "I found that picture last week when I was looking through some old stuff of Mom's for my biography. I also found the dress she's wearing there, and the shoes and her dried-out wedding bouquet. It's a real wedding picture. It was a real wedding."

  Jessica stared at her sister. "Our mother was married to Bruce's father?" she said, incredulous. "Mom and Mr. Patman were—" A horrified screech burst from Jessica as the implications hit home. "Ohmigod, does this mean Bruce is our brother? Ohmigod, I used to date him. I kissed him!" Jessica wiped frantically at her lips as if Bruce's kiss were still imprinted there.

  "Calm down. Bruce isn't our brother," Elizabeth hastened to reassure her. "Bruce and I already did the math. Mom and Mr. Patman must have been married ages ago, before she met Dad and before he met Mrs. Patman."

  "Thank goodness." Jessica sank back against Elizabeth's pillows, weak with relief. "Wow, if I were relatedtto Bruce Patman, I think I'd jump off a bridge. How revolting!"

  Now that she knew she'd escaped this fate worse than death, Jessica took another look at the photograph, her curiosity catching fire. "This is really incredible, though," she gushed. "Mom was married to someone else before she married Dad! She was in love with someone else."

  "I know. Isn't it awful?"

  "I actually think it's kind of cool!" Jessica looked at the picture again. "Ol' Hank was pretty good-looking back then," she remarked. "Maybe Mom was swept off her feet by how rich he was." On more than one occasion, Jessica had come close to convincing herself it would be worthwhile to date Bruce again just because he could shower her with expensive gifts. "But obviously he could never compete with Dad." Jessica's eyes sparkled. "Who'd lave thought it—Mom was really wild! She's kept this a secret from us all these years. It's like a soap opera!" An exciting possibility occurred to her. "Hey, Liz, I wonder if Dad even knows about this!"

  Elizabeth bit her lip. "There's something else Dad might not know about," she said grimly. "I think Mom . . . I think Mom may still be in love with Mr. Patman. I mean . . ." Elizabeth lowered her voice and Jessica had to lean close in order to hear her. "I think they're having an affair."