Free Strangers When We Meet by Marisa Carroll Page A

Williamstown after the wedding, aren’t you?”
    Emma had been dreading this moment but she knew she couldn’t put it off. It was probably better that she tell her grandmother first, and let Martha break the news to her grandfather. He tended to treat Emma as if she were still sixteen, and if he thought Daryl had behaved badly toward her, he wasn’t above picking up the telephone and giving him a piece of his mind. Emma wanted to avoid a scene like that if at all possible.
    “There’s something I want to tell you, Nana. Two things actually. About my job. And something else.”
    “I’m all ears, dear.” Martha gave her a long, assessing glance. “I have the feeling this isn’t all good news. Am I right?”
    Emma nodded. “I’ll tell you about my work later. But first I want you to know Daryl and I aren’t announcing our engagement this week. As a matter of fact, not any time soon.”
    “What happened?” Martha’s hand rested on the sleeve of Emma’s sweater.
    “I...I saw Daryl having dinner with another woman in a restaurant in the city one night a few weeks ago.”
    “I’m assuming she was a business client,” Martha said sharply.
    “She was. At least Daryl said she was.”
    “And you didn’t believe him?”
    “He lied about being in town that night when I first questioned him about it, then he said it was because I had caught him so off balance. And he didn’t want it known that he was meeting his client’s fiancé behind his back, trying to convince her that going through with the deal was in her best interests, as well.”
    “I suppose that’s possible.” Martha said, but she couldn’t quite remove all the doubt from her voice.
    Emma stopped walking. They were just outside the white picket fence that bounded her grandparents’ property. Sunlight filtered through the branches of the trees lining the sidewalk and fell in dappled patterns on her grandmother’s white hair. “I know it’s possible it happened just that way. I want to believe it’s the truth—”
    “But there’s something else besides.”
    “Yes.” Emma opened the gate and waited until her grandmother passed through. She shut the gate and lowered the black, wrought-iron latch carefully into place while she sought to put her doubts into words that would convey the depths of her uneasiness. “Beyond the fact that he denied it ever happened, there was something about the way they were sitting there. As though they were the only two people left in the world. Her hand was on his sleeve. She was gazing into his eyes—”
    “How was he looking at her?” Martha asked. And of course that was exactly what was bothering Emma.
    “The same way. I can’t get that scene out of my mind. I can’t help doubting everything Daryl told me about that night because he was looking at her in exactly the same way.” Emma shrugged, unable to explain her feelings in any clearer terms. “Am I being an idiot, Nana? Should I give him the benefit of the doubt, just forget it ever happened and move on?”
    “It’s not like you to be fanciful, Emma. His explanation sounds reasonable, although I must say I’m very disappointed in the way he came to it. Maybe you’ve just been hearing too many sad stories from women on your radio show. Heaven knows, when your grandfather and I are in the city and listen to the program, it seems to me that’s what the majority of the calls you get are about. Love affairs gone bad for this reason or that. A lot of them for things that might not be any more serious than this.”
    “You do think I’ve overreacted.” Emma felt a little shiver of dismay. In her heart of hearts she’d been expecting her grandmother to reinforce her argument. But maybe she shouldn’t have made that assumption. After all, Martha and Felix had fallen in love at first sight and never looked back. She probably expected the same certainty from Emma.
    “I didn’t say that,” her grandmother said tartly as she opened the front door.