Wisconsin Wedding by Carla Neggers

Author:Carla Neggers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1992-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

WITH ITS SAGGING shutters and peeling paint, Timberlake Lodge looked downright spooky under the gathering clouds. The wind had picked up. Gusts kicked up dust and fallen leaves. Even for October it was cold. Cliff’s truck was parked outside, but not Liza’s T-bird. Byron could smell the lake in the fresh country air. He knocked on the front door and waited, the cold penetrating his jacket and navy sweater. Lunch on the veranda today would be out of the question.

There was no answer. Given the size of the place, Byron wondered whether anyone inside would hear his knock. He tried the door, which was unlocked, and pushed it open. Such liberties were getting to be a bad habit.

No cookbooks or Beethoven sonatas came flying out at him, but that wouldn’t be Cliff’s style.

“You don’t understand, Byron. I could hurt someone.”

“Who?”

“You. Mother. I just don’t know. I don’t... I can’t trust myself anymore.”

Byron had tried to reassure him. “I know you, Cliff. You’d never lay a hand on Mother. As for me—I can hold my own with you, big brother. You don’t have to worry.”

His brother’s eyes had never seemed so impenetrable. “How can you know me? I don’t know myself. That’s the whole point, Byron. I just don’t know anymore what I would or wouldn’t do. That’s why you can’t trust me. It’s why I have to leave.”

“Let me visit.”

“No.”

“Cliff, don’t shut us out.”

“I have no choice.”

For two years, Byron had kept out of his brother’s life. Then, three years ago, he’d come to Tyler, just to see him, and he’d known Cliff had made the right decision, at least for himself. His only hope was time. Yet, even now, with him on the verge of marrying, Byron wasn’t sure his brother wanted him back in his life.

When no one answered his call, he shut the door and walked back down the porch, ignoring the blustery wind, the sprinkle of rain, the wrenching in his gut. Being back in Tyler reminded him all too vividly of how close he’d come three years ago, of how much he’d lost. He’d had so much in his grasp—his brother, a woman he’d loved, stability. And he’d let them go. Cliff, Nora, Tyler itself. He’d left thinking they were gone forever. He’d missed his chance, even if he’d had no choice but to leave.

“Hey, Brother.”

He spun around, and there was Cliff, leaning on an ax handle. Sweat poured off him despite the cold, and there were wood chips in his hair. Byron noticed the holes in his jeans, the bald spots in his chamois shirt. His brother the recluse. But even as kids, Cliff had worn whatever was handy.

“I was just giving up on you,” Byron said.

His brother’s dark eyes flickered. “Not you, Byron. You’d never give up on me.” He pulled out a folded black bandanna and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Liza’s off to town. She’s got some woman sewing a wedding dress for her. You know, she makes a show of hating all these wedding traditions, but I think deep down she’s having a ball.

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