To Make a Marriage(22)

Adam had telephoned her yesterday evening, as he had promised he would,  but their conversation had been stilted and brief, Adam finally giving  her the name and telephone number of his hotel in Berlin, in case she  should need to contact him over the weekend. Andie knew it was a  telephone number she would never use.

She blandly met Harrie's affectionate gaze. 'I don't think I've ever  given marriage too much thought, either,' she said truthfully. Mainly,  because she had never been able to envisage marrying the man she loved!

'You're being deliberately obtuse, Andie,' her sister commented.

Andie sighed, giving up all pretence of studying this latest silk and  satin wedding dress in the full-length mirror provided. 'Harrie, I'm  sure you must have realised at the engagement luncheon that this isn't  exactly a love-'

'I think I preferred the cream satin,' Harrie cut in, turning to the  assistant who had just entered the large private fitting-room. 'My  sister would like to fit the cream satin again,' she told the other  woman lightly.

'Of course, Mrs McBride.' The middle-aged woman smiled politely before leaving in search of the cream dress.

Harrie grinned. 'I still get a delicious thrill down my spine every time someone calls me that!'

Mrs Munroe. Mrs Adam Munroe. Yes, Andie felt a similar thrill at the thought of being Adam's wife.

'It will all work out, you know,' Harrie continued, watching her intensely.

Andie gave her a sharp look. 'Will it?'

Harrie stood up, moving to put her arms about Andie and give her a hug.  'Adam is a kind and considerate man.' She held Andie at arm's length.

She swallowed hard. 'I know that. It's just-'

'I don't think this is the place to talk about this,' Harrie warned as  the assistant returned with the requested wedding dress. 'We'll go and  have some tea somewhere once we've finished here, hmm?' She gave Andie's  arms an understanding squeeze before moving away.

The cream satin dress, with its Empire line that did much to hide her  pregnancy, was beautiful, Andie agreed a few minutes later, the choice  of matching veil and satin shoes much easier to make.

'We'll go back to my house for tea,' Harrie decided as they stepped into a waiting taxi. 'It will be much more private there.'

Andie wasn't sure she wanted to have a private chat with Harrie. Her  sister knew her far too well, was sure to get the truth of this sudden  engagement out of her without too much trouble.

Harrie observed Andie as they waited for the tea things to be brought  through to her luxuriously comfortable sitting-room. 'You look as if  you're sitting in the waiting room of the dentist-or, in your case,  doctor!' she commented affectionately.

Andie knew she looked far from relaxed as she perched on the edge of one  of Harrie's armchairs. But she and Adam had an agreement, and confiding  the truth to her sister was not part of that agreement.

'Are you missing him very much?' Harrie prompted softly.

Strangely, yes, she was. Her life so far had been one of independence,  making her own decisions, answerable to no one. Yet, in a very short  time, Adam's absence, even for a few days, had left a huge gulf in her  life …

'Don't answer that; I can see that you are,' Harrie told her as the tea  things were brought in and placed on the table between them. 'Andie, I'm  not going to pry,' she assured once they were alone again. 'Your  relationship with Adam is your own affair, and no one else's. Not even a  big sister's! I do have one thing I want to say to you, though … '                       
       
           



       

'I thought you might have.' Andie sighed, accepting her cup of tea.

Her sister shook her head, dark hair loose around her shoulders. 'I  doubt it's anything like you think it is,' she said gently. 'It's  something Quinn said to me a week after we were married.'

Andie smiled. She liked and approved of her brother-in-law.

Harrie nodded. 'He was almost Adam's age when we got married, and I  wondered-stupidly, as it turned out-whether he would regret it, whether  he would long for his freedom, resent the ties of marriage-'

'But Quinn loves you!' Andie protested.

Her sister shrugged. 'He had still been a bachelor for almost forty  years. But when I said those things to him, do you know what his reply  was … ?'

Andie couldn't even begin to guess. Just as she didn't see what bearing this had on her impending marriage to Adam.

Harrie sipped her tea before answering. 'Quinn told me that men of his  age do not marry unless they are absolutely sure they're doing the right  thing-that they are marrying the right person,' she qualified.

Andie gave another humourless smile. 'That doesn't exactly apply in this case, does it?' she said in reply.

Her sister looked sympathetic. 'Well, of course, I realise that story  about the two of you dating in secret isn't true-we've always been  close, Andie; you would have told me if you were seeing Adam. But that  doesn't change the fact that it's Adam's baby you're expecting. Or that  you are marrying the person you love.' She looked challengingly across  at Andie.

She sighed. 'And Adam?'

'He wouldn't marry you either if he didn't feel you could both make a success of it,' Harrie said with certainty.

'But he doesn't love me!' Andie heard herself groan, the relief of at  last being able to talk to someone about this surprise engagement and  hasty marriage proving too much for her. 'He's only marrying me because  of the baby.'

Harrie looked startled momentarily. 'Has he said that … ?'

Andie avoided her sister's compassionate gaze. She-did-not-want-to-cry. If she started, she might not be able to stop!

'He doesn't need to.' She shook her head. 'I-he-he's in love with  someone else!' The words came out in a flood, as quickly shocking her  into silence as she heard their stark reality.

She had told herself that she wouldn't think of Adam's feelings for her  mother, that it could only lead to unhappiness. But, without Adam's  confident support, those doubts had set in once again.

Harrie looked at her with assessing eyes. 'Are you sure?'

Andie easily remembered Adam's devastation when her mother had died, his  continued bachelor state as the years had passed. 'Oh, yes, I'm sure.'

Close as she was to both her sisters, Adam's feelings for her mother  were something she had never discussed with either of them. It had  somehow seemed disloyal. To her mother-because she knew, fond as her  mother had been of Adam, that she had not returned his feelings, that  she had been totally in love with Rome. And to Adam-because it had been a  futile love that must have caused him deep pain over the years.

Her sister stood up. 'I don't believe it, Andie. I've seen the way Adam looks at you-'

'Well, he doesn't find me unattractive, if that's what you mean!' She  put her arms protectively about the slight swelling that was their  child.

'It isn't,' Harrie said reprovingly. 'You were always his favourite. When we were all little-'

'Harrie, you're talking about twenty years ago,' she interrupted wearily. 'We're big girls now-remember?'

Her sister paused. 'He has to have remained a bachelor all these years for a reason.'

'And you think I'm it?' Andie asked incredulously.

'I think it's a possibility,' Harrie said slowly.

She shouldn't have spoken, should never have confided her doubts to her  sister, could see that Harrie was really worried now. If Harrie became  worried enough, then she would discuss this with their father. If Rome  got in on the act … !

Andie made a concerted effort to erase the frown from between her eyes,  her expression altogether brighter as she gave a slightly self-conscious  laugh. 'I think I'm having a touch of wedding nerves,' she excused  lightly.

Harrie gave her a searching look, but Andie managed to meet that gaze  unwaveringly. She shouldn't have said anything, should never have voiced  her fears to Harrie. Because Harrie had always been the big protective  sister, and her own marriage to Quinn hadn't changed that.                       
       
           



       

'A husband and a baby!' Andie reflected. 'Is it any wonder I'm panicking?'

'No … '

But Harrie still wasn't convinced!

She laughed softly. 'Didn't you have any nerves before you and Quinn were married?'

'I've just told you that I did … ' Harrie still looked serious.

'I'll be fine once Adam is back home again,' Andie told her decisively. 'I miss him, that's all.'

And, surprisingly, she did. How quickly he had become a part of her  life, and how easily those doubts set in when his physical presence  wasn't here to reassure her!

'I had better go now.' She picked up her shoulder-bag.

'He said he would ring me this evening.'

'It's only five o'clock,' Harrie teased.

'He may try and ring me before he goes out this evening,' Andie insisted determinedly.

In fact, she knew it was doubts about what Adam was actually doing in  Germany that had fuelled her uncertainties. They had agreed they would  be faithful in their marriage to each other-but they weren't married  yet! With the sudden way Adam's circumstances had changed, he could have  a few loose ends in his life to tie up. A few women he had to break the  sad news to!