Free Tomorrow Will Be Too Late by Ellen Wolf Page B

strong emotional response she managed to raise from him with just one glance of her soft hazel eyes still a mystery that needed solving.
    ‘I’ll say,’ Thomas smiled, his stressed face momentarily happy. ‘ At least someone looks happy here. And to think that Alice was worried about you two not hitting it off. She worries about her sister a lot, you know.’
    ‘Why?’ I t was innocent enough a question to ask, he hoped. But he was curious as to why Alice would worry about the woman who had proved to be more than a match for him.
    ‘Well, you know, she isn’t that much into dating and all . ’ Clearly uncomfortable to talk about Kate behind her back, Thomas sighed, his eyes darting to Alice. ‘ Like in the last two years, she didn’t even look at any man at all. Alice was terrified to tell her about you guys meeting, thinking she would bolt away as she supposedly did a few times before. She invited some friends over for Christmas the first year when Kate came home for a visit from Australia, but it was a disaster.’
    ‘T ommy, come here for a second , ’ an impatient voice called out, and Justin watched Thomas trot obediently away to his mother, her slim, still - pretty face visibly agitated even from afar. ‘ Maybe you can talk your fiancée out of this idea . ’ Her voice trailed off dramatically, the closest - standing people pretending to be busy, their faces uncomfortable.
    His eyes went to Kate almost instinctively, the semi - darkness of the church’s interior making it easier for him to watch her unnoticed. He didn’t particularly care for his friend or anyone else to make jokes about them as an item. She didn’t notice it, luckily. She was too absorbed watching her sister and the little drama that was unfolding, a worried expression on her lovely face. She’d better get used to it, he thought with morbid amusement . Thomas’ s family was not one to let go easily of the thirty or so years of full control. What was happening right now was nothing more than a show of power, the term of cold war taking on a completely new meaning. Thomas’ s mother was making a point by rejecting some previously planned part of the ceremony, if only to show who ran the show to all the gathered guests.
    Alice seemed to handle it pretty well, most probably because she expected something along these lines to happen, he decided, reluctantly admiring the feisty girl. Whatever he might hold against Kate and the role she played in his dirty divorce two years ago, her sister was the best thing that had ever happened to Thomas, as far as he was concerned. A voice inside his head whispered that he was a hypocrite, since it was exactly this perfect union that he had threatened to destroy if Kate didn’t help him with his plans . He didn’t have to think about it , he hurried to remind himself, thanks to her playing along. She told him her decision almost instantly, even before he had a chance to ask her. He recalled coming to pick her up, her neighbor peeking from behind her windows as he pressed the doorbell. He felt like smiling at the old woman and waving, a lighthe art edness he hadn’t e xperienced in years taking over.
    ‘She isn’t going to vanish into thin air, you know. You can stop looking at her non - stop, Justin.’ A sulky female voice interrupted his reminiscing, and he looked into a pair of green eyes that watched him with displeasure. Sophie, Thomas’ s sister , was visibly bored with the whole hoopla.
    ‘I have to say that it seems that the Fletcher sisters know how to impress men, no doubt,’ she continued sourly, her cherry - red mouth set into a pout. ‘ Just look at my brother trotting obediently on his leash.’
    He could have told her that it must have been an easy thing for him to do after all those years of practice with his family, but decided against it. It was no good to step down to her level of spitefulness, especially since behind that arrogant façade he could sense vulnerability that