Part Three

Robert paced impatiently in front of the doors to the security part of the airport. Where the hell were Joe and his wife? Damn it, he had a business to run back home, and here he was, wasting his time in New York City! Joe had SAID they were going to land at three o'clock, and it was almost four o'clock! Already at least ten planeloads of people had streamed past him, he was sure! In the confusion and melée, he had once almost thought he had seen ... Catherine! Angry at himself, Robert stamped down that thought as he stomped past the doors yet again.

They opened, and FINALLY Joe was there! But Robert was frozen, staring at the slim, elegant woman standing beside his friend and pushing the hood of her jacket back a bit to meet him. Was he seeing things? My God, it was ... no, it wasn't ... but Joe's wife sure LOOKED like his Catherine! Again he shook his head vehemently. No! Not HIS Catherine! He had just buried his wife, for God's sake! It was much too soon to think of anyone else in that way! Then Robert realized Joe was grabbing him and shaking his hand.

Refocusing on his friend, Robert did his best to forget Catherine by ignoring Joe's wife for now. "Joe, it's about time you got here! I wondered if they had some security problems with you and detained you!"

Joe chuckled, then his face grew serious. "Robert ... I'm sorry we couldn't be here for you ... before ..."

Robert's hands gripped his. "Thanks, Joe," he said gratefully. Then he shook himself before getting too maudlin. "I can't believe it has been over forty years since we worked together on that construction crew here! And look at you! You've lost your hair!"

"All the hard work I've been doing," Joe grinned. His hand went to the back of the woman beside him, and he drew her up. "Robert, this is my wife, Clarisse." Joe's voice was bursting with pride.

Reluctantly, Robert met Clarisse's eyes and held out his hand. "Clarisse ..."

"It's nice to meet you at last, Robert," Clarisse said softly.

Robert's jaw flexed. My God, she even SOUNDED like Catherine! And her eyes were the same beautiful shade of blue. Still holding her hand, he looked over her face, seeking out the many similarities between this woman and the woman he had met and been so strongly attracted to that one special night just a month ago. Her hair was almost the same ... a slightly lighter shade of brown, perhaps, and done in a softer style. This woman made no effort to hide her femininity! THIS woman he could visualize in a flowing ball gown, sweeping around the room, with diamonds glittering around her neck, on her ears and ... in her hair? Robert shook his head again. What was his mind doing? He was going crazy! Realizing he was still holding Clarisse's hand, he dropped it quickly and turned back to Joe.

"We should be going," he said abruptly, "before the traffic gets a whole lot worse!"

Noticing peripherally as he turned away that Joseph carried whatever hand luggage they had yet still kept a proprietary hand on the small of Clarisse's back while a porter managed the cart with the three large suitcases piled on it, Robert tried not to curl his lip. Clarisse had pulled the hood back up to hide her face again, but still wasn't carrying even her PURSE. Obviously she was the classic beauty who wouldn't lift a finger to do anything herself. Probably she was afraid she'd break a nail or something. Oh, he could understand why Joe had fallen for her, she WAS attractive, no question ... but she must have something ELSE about her to keep Joe interested! Of course, they had only been married about six months, hadn't they? Judging by the amount of touching Joe was doing, maybe all Clarisse needed to do was BE there for his friend! He had thought Joe was a little more discerning than that. Frowning as he forged ahead to the parking lot, Robert decided he had to stop being so judgmental. MaryBeth used to tell him all the time that he was bad for jumping to conclusions and not taking time to find out the facts. So perhaps there was something more to Clarisse than glamour. He certainly hoped so, for Joe's sake.

As he opened the back door of his vehicle for Clarisse, thinking he definitely did not want HER in the front distracting him, Robert looked at Joe. "I was hoping you could sit up front with me so we could do some catching up. That is, if you don't mind, Clarisse," he added hastily.

Clarisse inclined her head regally. "That is fine," she said softly, and sat in.

Opening the back, Robert helped the porter and Joe throw the suitcases in, then Joe tipped the porter and the two men climbed in.

"Do you want to come to my place for tonight's meal and to rest up before heading out to the cabin tomorrow in the daylight?" Robert asked as he started the engine. "My daughters Lori and Jaclyn are sort of expecting us, but I said I'd phone first if we were coming."

Joe glanced back at Clarisse before saying, "Thank you so much for the invitation, but ... well, I'm not sure we're up to meeting too many new people tonight. Would it be at all possible to take a rain check?"

"I thought your one daughter was due to have a baby any day," Clarisse added, pushing back her hood again and undoing her jacket a bit now that they were in the vehicle.

"Oh, the baby's not due until next month!" Robert said. "No, Lori's fine. Fine! And she loves to cook. But that's all right. She didn't really think you'd come tonight. But she said we all have to be there Christmas Day without fail. She's going to cook a big turkey."

"Sounds good to me!" Joseph said.

"Speaking of eating, are you hungry yet? We could stop either someplace here in the city, or somewhere further on. Your choice." Robert merged onto the freeway, taking his place in the long line of fast-moving vehicles. He glanced back at Clarisse again, frowned slightly and added, "Of course, if you're trying to not be noticed for some reason ... well, Joe DID say the police weren't after you, and if you can't believe an old friend, who CAN you believe, right?"

Joe sighed heavily. "The police aren't after us, Robert. I'm assuming you now know who Clarisse is. My job for the last umpteen years has been as Head of Security for the Royal family of Genovia. In a very really sense, I WAS the police in Genovia, and the Genovian police, represented by Shades who is the NEW Head of Security, are definitely not looking for Clarisse! After all, they have been assured that the former Head of Security will keep the former queen of Genovia quite safe."

Robert's eyes almost bugged out. FORMER QUEEN? A QUEEN? He had a QUEEN in the back seat of his Suburban? For some reason, he did not doubt Joe at all. Damn it, Clarisse ... QUEEN Clarisse ... her MAJESTY ... LOOKED and even ACTED like royalty! Jamming on the brakes, he steered over to the side of the road, ignoring the cars honking around him.

"What is it?" Joe asked quietly, looking suddenly alert and almost dangerous.

"Don't you think you should be sitting in the front seat, Cl ... er, your Majesty?" Robert stammered, looking in the rear-view mirror at Clarisse. Then he glanced at his friend. "Hell, Joe!" he hissed. "Why didn't you TELL me? I'd have rented a limo!"

"That's precisely why we didn't tell you," Joe said, and Clarisse leaned forward.

"Thank you, Robert, but I'm quite comfortable here," she offered. "I haven't sat in the front seat for years. You just carry on visiting with Joseph."

"Joseph. Hell, Joe, she even changed your damn NAME!" Robert almost growled, and took off with a squeal of tires back onto the freeway, muttering in a singsong voice, "you just carry on visiting with Joseph!"

Clarisse allowed herself to lean back on the seat and drew a deep breath, convinced that Robert was very annoyed with her on top of still eying her with a peculiar expression now and then in the rear-view mirror. Oh dear, and she HAD hoped to be able to get along with him! Well, she would find a way, for Joseph's sake. She was used to dealing diplomatically with any number of people from all walks of life! Clarisse tightened her lips. Glancing back, Joseph saw the obvious battle signs in the flags of colour on her cheeks, the compressed lips and the glint in her eye. This was going to some vacation with a good friend who couldn't stand his beloved wife and vice versa!

O o O o O o

After they had stopped at a roadside restaurant which Joe had checked out before agreeing to enter with Clarisse, Robert took the cut-off from the freeway which would take them past Shelby Manor and onto the road Catherine had taken that night. There was still quite a bit of snow piled in the bush and the ditches from that Thanksgiving Day storm, and the threatening clouds in the sky promised the first snow since Thanksgiving in the forecast.

"How did you find out about this cabin, Robert?" Joe asked. "I remember you said that when you first saw it, you didn't know who owned it, yet you had time to check out the structure."

Robert clenched his hands around the wheel and shot a glance at a dozing Clarisse in the back seat, a woman who reminded him so much of Catherine that he ached with his longing for what he should not even be contemplating. He just couldn't keep it all bottled up inside any longer. Joe was a good friend ... hell, he had been Robert's BEST friend in the past, and it seemed they still shared a deep connection. "Well, it all started in a place that's coming up here, just around the corner. See that? Shelby Manor."

He went on to describe the storm that Thanksgiving night, how a woman had offered him a ride home 'in the most ridiculous car you can imagine for a New England winter! A Jag! She's daft! But she claims the car is a classic, and is special because her father gave it to her when she graduated.' He concentrated as he slowed the car down on the icy road. "And just along the way here, she hit an ice patch ... hey, look, you can still see the place where we hit the ditch! Well, we got out of the car and started to walk down this road, and she actually hit the SAME patch of ice with her feet and fell flat on her face ... right about here!" He slowed the Suburban to a crawl, then suddenly jammed on the brakes. "Wait a minute! I just had an idea. Hang on ..." He put the vehicle in park and jumped out.

"Robert? What are you doing?" Joe yelled after him, but Robert was searching the ground in the light from the headlights.

Yes! With a glad cry, Robert scooped up Catherine's necklace from where it lay on the shoulder of road, half buried in snow, but with the gold still gleaming in the light. He climbed back behind the wheel. "Sorry about that," he said, shoving the necklace in his pocket. "I just remembered she lost something here, and I wanted to look ... and I FOUND it! So anyway, we walked a bit more, then see down that hill where that white scarf is tied around the branch of the tree? We spotted a tractor and got on it after I hotwired it ..." Then he groaned. Catherine's scarf was still there! Well, he may as well take it with him. Some day he hoped to see her again. Not yet, of course ... it was still too soon, but if he had her scarf and necklace to return, he had a reason to contact her sometime in the future! "Just a sec. I've got to get that scarf."

"Go ahead," Joe settled back in his seat, grinning. "I'm really enjoying the story, and I like watching a man run up and down a snowy hillside."

"Yeah, yeah. Great!" Robert muttered, but he hurried as fast as he could and retrieved Catherine's scarf. As he stuffed it into his jacket, he caught a faint whiff of the perfume he remembered Catherine wore, and more than ever her image was in his mind and his blood was fired at his thoughts. He climbed back into the car, then tossed the scarf back to Clarisse and held up a crumpled one hundred dollar bill. "Bet you a hundred dollars you can't tell what the perfume is on that scarf, your Majesty!"

Clarisse folded the scarf up neatly and handed it back to him. "Chanel No. 5," she said crisply. "That is only a one dollar bill, so your bet is null and void, and please, call me Clarisse."

Robert's jaw sagged. Joe laughed and with an effort Robert pulled himself together. "Sorry, y–, er, Clarisse. I shouldn't have said that. Occasionally I say the wrong thing. But, thank you."

"So, you were now driving along on a tractor ..." Joe prompted his friend.

Pulling himself back from his memories, Robert tucked the scarf safely away inside his jacket again, then resumed driving as well as his story. In no time at all, they were pulling up at an isolated cabin. "And THIS is the place I broke into ... and now have bought," he said. "Home, sweet home!"

He noticed Clarisse looking somewhat askance at the place, and felt a pang. She looked so damn much like Catherine! How was he going to bear staying here with them? He was just going to HAVE to come up with some excuses to leave them alone fairly often during the day. Maybe a crisis at the site, or something. Anything! "It's just a metaphor, Clarisse!" he almost growled.

"What a beautiful view you have from here!" Clarisse said tactfully as she gazed out over the expanse of ice just down the hill from the cabin.

"Thanks." Robert opened the back of the Suburban and yanked out the suitcases. "That's Bantam Lake out there. Freshwater, of course. Connecticut's Atlantic ocean."

"Another metaphor?" Clarisse murmured, stepping back so Joe could pass her and grab a couple of the suitcases from the back of the Suburban.

Robert couldn't help himself. He grinned at her. Damn, she was like Catherine! "Now you're learning! Here, make yourself useful!" and he thrust one of the carry-on bags at her, turning back to the vehicle before he could see her reaction. If he wasn't careful, Joe would be forced to kill him, because Robert was becoming very, very tempted to see if Clarisse would fight back as Catherine had after almost constant goading.

On that one special night, as he was reluctantly coming to think of it using Catherine's own term, Robert had been taking his frustration with MaryBeth out on Catherine, who had been an innocent bystander, a complete stranger, and a real help to him when he was stuck at Shelby Manor with no way home. By the time they had almost finished eating, he recalled with a grin at the thought of clinking together their spoons of 'trou Normand', he and Catherine had declared an unofficial truce and were well on the way to becoming good companions. And THAT had come about because Catherine had refused to allow him to continue sniping and grumping. She had gotten in a few good shots herself. The woman had a wicked tongue when she was fired up. Robert grimaced. He wished he hadn't thought of that ... now images of what he WANTED her to do with her tongue were plaguing him! The skin of Catherine's hand had been so soft, despite the fact that she was obviously so very capable. He found himself wondering what the lightly-freckled, smooth-looking skin on her face and neck would feel like to his roughened fingers ... taste like to HIS tongue. DAMN, he couldn't do this, with Catherine's double standing in front of him, married to his friend!

He brushed past Clarisse with a muttered apology, stomped to the door of the cabin's porch and flung it open. After a moment of struggling with the key, he opened it and turned on the outside light as well as the inside one. "At least we have power tonight, so the furnace will have the place warm! Come on in!" he yelled back to the other two.

Before Joe and Clarisse entered, Robert stared around the cabin. He had been in it often lately, but never had Catherine been so ... so ABSENT! After all, she had only been there with him that one night! In the weeks since, he had been in and out working on the renovations and had not allowed himself to think of her. But Clarisse's arrival, and the unfortunate fact that she and Catherine were almost identical, had brought Catherine back to the forefront of Robert's mind – a place he did NOT want her to occupy just yet. It was too soon! MaryBeth had only been gone a month ...

"Uh, Robert? Our coats?" Joe's question brought Robert out of his introspection.

"Sorry!" Robert showed them the pegs to hang their coats in the porch. Then he gave them the grand tour, which meant standing in place and waving his hand around. "Bathroom with an antiquated shower, kitchen ... bedroom ..." and he indicated the ladder going up to the loft.

Clarisse's mouth fell open in her surprise. "Up THERE?" she almost squeaked. Then she swallowed, and her dignity fell over her like a blanket again. "That's ... very interesting. Have you climbed up there often?"

Robert walked over and looked up the ladder. He took hold of a rung and shook it a bit, then grinned back at her. "Nope. I'm not about to climb this ladder. I don't think the rungs are too sound. Which is why, once I bought the place, I decided I had to build on. So I've starting building a couple of bedrooms out back here complete with ensuite bathrooms," he said, leading the way through the back entryway to the new section. "As you can see, there's still a lot of finishing to do, but we should be fine in these rooms. Take your pick ... they're identical, down to the fireplace on the dividing wall! They each only have the bed, the built-in dresser in the walk-in closet and one chair by the bay window. I figured it would be nice to sit and look out at the lake on sunny mornings. You can have the chair out of my room if you think you need two."

"We'll be fine," Joe said quickly.

"One is fine, Robert," Clarisse spoke softly, her eyes going over the unfinished walls of the room. "It's actually quite ... cozy. I think it'll be beautiful when you're done. You're doing the work yourself?"

"Yes. Well, I have help, of course. And we really put on a rush to get this ready for you after Joe phoned." Robert was pleased with their response. He cleared his throat. "It's not a palace, of course, but ..." He stopped. "I'm sorry. I ... I shouldn't have said that. I'm not sure why I am behaving this way ..."

Joe stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right. We understand. Really. It's good of you to have us stay here."

Horrified, Robert felt as if tears were coming into his eyes. He turned away, saying gruffly, "Come on through this way, I want you to see my pièce de résistance. We just finished it last night and filled it up, and I'm dying to try it. I hope you brought your bathing suits!" He led them outside the back entry to a deck where a steaming hot tub was sunk into the wood flooring. "I bet you haven't been in a hot tub before! Not in Genovia."

"Well, no," Clarisse admitted, with a faint smile. "But I believe the Plaza Hotel in New York City installed one this past summer."

Joe grinned at her suggestively, his hand smoothing down her back. "I believe you are right, my dear. In fact, I believe we were the first ones to try it out!"

Robert put his hands over his ears. "Damn, that was more than I wanted to hear!"

Joe laughed and clapped Robert on the back. "Terrific idea for your vacation home, though, Robert! Speaking of which ... Clarisse, would you mind? I'd like to speak to Robert privately for a moment or two."

Clarisse nodded, her eyes soft as she looked at her husband and his friend. "Don't freeze out here, you two," she warned, and went back into the cabin.

Robert tensed a little, wondering what Joe wanted to talk about. Then he inwardly grimaced. How could Joe not have noticed his attitude towards his friend's wife? Sure enough, Joe said quietly, "I would do anything for my wife, Robert, and it pains me to see the way you are treating her. Would you like us to simply leave?"

"No! No ... I'm sorry, Joe. I just ... it's so hard ..."

"I had wondered if it was that. I'm very sorry I never got to meet MaryBeth, Robert. She must have been a wonderful woman."

"She was," Robert said bleakly. So why was his damned body trying to replace her so quickly with Catherine? "It's ... not Clarisse. It's not even MaryBeth. Not really."

"Then?" prompted Joe.

"It's ... HER," Robert gritted out.

"Her?"

"Catherine. Catherine Howard. DOCTOR Catherine Howard. The one who found this cabin with me."

Understanding filled Joe's eyes. Robert felt like a complete heel. He felt as if he had cheated on his wife and been caught with his pants down, so to speak.

"I see," Joe said slowly.

"NOTHING HAPPENED, Joe!" Robert insisted. "I SWEAR nothing happened that night! I haven't even SEEN her again! I ... can't. It's too soon. But damn it, I just can't seem to FORGET her, either!"

"Robert, you are talking to a man who secretly loved a woman for YEARS before she was free to even be approached ... and then she was unattainable because of her position as queen whereas I was merely a commoner. Nothing happened between us, either ... yet when we came to be married, the Archbishop raised his eyes to heaven and said, 'FINALLY'. Robert, I KNOW what 'nothing' means in real terms, and I know what it means in the world of our dreams and our hopes for the future. There is no such thing as 'too soon' when it comes to this. I KNOW," Joe spoke quickly and earnestly.

Robert looked at his friend. "Really?" was all he could say hoarsely.

"Love is a great power, my friend, rejuvenating and miraculous. Even after we think we've been crushed, the power of love still calls us to take a risk. Guilt about what might have been has no part in it. Maybe things won't work out with you and Catherine, and maybe they will ... but you have to take the chance. You HAVE to, Robert! You can't just leave it eating away at you."

Robert nodded in agreement. "We were BOTH happily married, Joe. And both of us experienced profound grief and loneliness when our spouses died. It's just ... her husband died a year ago ... and MaryBeth, when I met Catherine, was still alive. Of sorts. She had not known me as her husband for over a year. So in a sense, the MaryBeth I knew died a year ago as well. She would not have known I'd met someone else. I KNOW she would be happy that I did. But ... it's just damn hard to get around in my mind. And what about the girls? I don't even want to CONSIDER what they would think about me replacing their mother so soon even in my mind let alone possibly in reality. That's another reason I haven't tried to be in touch with Catherine. It's just too bloody soon! But God, we found each other so easy to talk to, we both felt unusually comfortable together ... well, after our rather rocky start ..." he forced a laugh. "I, well, I am just so amazed that I might have discovered love again. Hell, I thought I was too old to feel like this."

Joe grinned. "I have a friend who just informed me today that simply because there is snow on the roof doesn't mean there isn't still a fire in the furnace!"

Robert stared at him blankly for a second, then shouted in laughter. At last he said, "Thanks, Joe. For everything. Now, I don't think we should leave your lovely wife alone much longer ..."

"Actually, she's probably already asleep," Joe said. "We had a long flight today, and the jet lag gets to her. After all, it's the middle of the night for us in Genovia."

"I can't believe you married into ROYALTY!" Robert said in an undertone as they walked into the cabin. "Why weren't you hung for treason for even daring to ask her?"

"We got around that by her asking me," grinned Joe.

Robert rolled his eyes. "Like I believe THAT! You know, when I was here with Catherine, I told her we'd Goldilocks it out of here in the morning and leave some money to pay for the window I broke to get in. Now I feel like I'm looking at a different fairytale, with you and Clarisse. A sort of reverse Cinderella!"

"Reverse Cinderella?"

"It's just a metaphor," Robert chuckled. "Sleep well, old friend."

"You too, old friend. And feel free to talk anytime. That's what old friends are for ... to listen. To care."

"Thanks, old man." Robert shook Joe's hand again and hurried into his own room before he totally broke down. A man had his pride, after all!

O o O o O o To Be Continued