Worlds Apart

‘I’ll see you again soon,’ said Mrs Bannister. She looked tired, her face pale. ‘Very soon.’

They were in the Mercedes and heading down the drive before Caryn found her tongue. ‘I think I’m going to wake up and find this is all a dream,’ she said, unsurprised to hear the quiver in her voice.

Logan looked amused. ‘Would you like me to pinch you to prove you’re awake? It’s real enough, I can assure you.’

She glanced at him sideways as he brought the car to a halt before turning out on to the road, viewing the clean-cut profile with an undeniable thrill of excitement. He moved the car out from the drive, and accelerated away, hands firm on the wheel. Good hands, thought Caryn, watching their movement; long and lean and knowledgeable, the nails neatly trimmed and cleanrimmed. If he was nervous, he certainly wasn’t revealing it. He looked totally at ease.

Sensing her scrutiny, he glanced her way with a brief smile. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll do the talking.’

It wasn’t a long journey. Caryn knew a wave of sheer panic when Logan brought the car to a halt at the front gate. She fought it down, but could feel herself trembling inside when she got out of the vehicle.

‘Bear up,’ said Logan softly, closing the door. He slid an arm about her shoulders and drew her close for a moment, his lips warm against her temple. ‘It will be all right, you’ll see.’

Eventually, perhaps, she thought, but it was the here and now that had to be got through first.

The front door was unlocked, the way it usually was during the day despite all the warnings. Susan Gregory came out from the living-room as Caryn closed the door again.

‘You’ve been a long…’ she began, breaking off abruptly on taking in Logan’s presence. Surprise gave way to confusion as her gaze moved from his face back to her daughter’s, then her natural good manners took over. ‘Mr Bannister, isn’t it? From Whitegates?’

‘That’s right,’ he returned easily. ‘And the name is Logan. I’m sorry to spring things on you this way, but better sooner than later.’

The confusion grew. ‘I don’t understand. What things?’

He indicated the room from which she had just emerged. ‘I think you and your husband should hear it together.’

Throat dry as a bone, Caryn felt his hand at her centre back ushering her ahead of him into the room in her mother’s wake. Her father looked at the newcomer in surprise, then questioningly at Caryn.

‘Is there something wrong?’ he asked.

Face registering little, Logan reached out an arm and drew Caryn to his side in a gesture unmistakably possessive. ‘Before anything else, we should tell you that we’re going to be married.’

The silence following that forthright announcement seemed to Caryn to stretch interminably. The two stunned faces gazing back at them looked to be carved from stone. John Gregory was the first to recover his power of speech.

‘Isn’t this a bit sudden?’ he asked on an amazingly mild note. ‘I know who you are, but I wasn’t aware that you and Caryn knew each other. Didn’t you just get back from Australia or somewhere?’

‘That’s right,’ Logan said again. ‘Only yesterday. I’ve waited two years. I wasn’t prepared to wait any longer. It would be nice to have your blessing.’

Nice, but by no means essential, his tone suggested— to Caryn at least. She kept her eyes fixed on her father’s face, neither caring nor daring to glance in her mother’s direction.

‘I know it has to be a shock for you both,’ she said huskily, thinking that that had to be the understatement of the year. ‘It was for me too. But it’s what I want. More than anything in the world!’

‘I don’t understand,’ said her mother blankly. ‘It doesn’t make any sense! You were just a schoolgirl two years ago!’

‘Which is why I went away when I did,’ put in Logan smoothly. ‘To give her time to grow up. Even if you’d been willing to grant approval then, which I very much doubt, I couldn’t have traded on a sixteen-year-old’s feelings. Fortunately, Caryn still feels the same way. We want to be together.’

‘Are you saying you were seeing each other while she was still in school?’ demanded Susan on a shocked note. ‘You must be nearly old enough to be her father!’

The dark head inclined, mouth wryly slanted. ‘Possible, if unlikely. Caryn was a very mature schoolgirl in a lot of ways. We shared a lot of interests.’

‘Michael Sinclair introduced us at a family party,’ said Caryn swiftly. ‘You remember Michael?’

‘Of course I remember Michael. You brought him to meet us.’ Susan’s voice had sharpened. ‘This is quite ridiculous!’

‘I think the two of you had better sit down,’ said John Gregory. ‘You too, Susan,’ he added to his wife. ‘We have to discuss this.’

‘There’s nothing very much to discuss,’ Logan returned. ‘Apart from wedding arrangements perhaps. It would probably be easier all round if we made it the register office rather than a church ceremony. Easier and quicker. Before the end of the month for preference.’

‘Now just wait a minute!’ Relatively calm up to now, the older man was beginning to sound agitated. ‘Everything else aside, what’s the rush? You haven’t been back five minutes!’

‘There’s a good reason,’ said Caryn, deciding it was time she put in a word. She glanced at Logan, taking his nod as recognition and approval of what she was about to impart. ‘Mrs Bannister doesn’t have long to live,’ she went on, trying to sound as matter-of-fact about it as the woman herself had been earlier. ‘She naturally wants to see Logan settled before she goes. The longer we wait, the weaker she’s going to become.’ She paused, looking from one parent to the other in an appeal for understanding. ‘I don’t want to wait either.’

‘I’m sorry about your mother,’ said Susan Gregory to Logan on a subdued note. ‘I heard she’d been ill, but I had no idea it was so bad.’

‘She’s accepted it,’ he returned levelly. ‘But you can appreciate that I’d want her to be as happy as possible while she’s still with us, and this will help.’

‘Does she already know about it?’

Caryn took it on herself to answer that question too. ‘Logan took me to see her before we came on here.’

‘It’s a wonder the shock didn’t kill her!’

‘She’s always known how I felt about Caryn,’ answered Logan without particular inflection. ‘I realise how you must both of you be feeling, and I’m sorry it has to be this way, but that’s the way it is. Caryn is happy about it. I’d like you to be too.’

The arm about Caryn’s shoulders increased pressure for a fleeting moment, then was removed. ‘I think the best thing is for me to leave now and give you all chance to talk in private. Tomorrow will be time enough to start discussing arrangements.’ To Caryn herself, he added on a softer note, ‘Come and see me off.’

She accompanied him wordlessly, reluctant to have him go so soon, even while she recognised the motive behind his departure. She had to face her family alone some time, so why prolong the agony?

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he said at the door. ‘You have to get to know your future home.’

‘I’m at work tomorrow,’ she reminded him, and saw his expression alter.

‘I’d forgotten about your job. Are you monthly or weekly salaried?’

‘Weekly,’ she acknowledged. ‘But—’

‘Then you only need give a week’s notice. I’d propose that we arrange the wedding for the twenty-ninth. That’s a week from Wednesday. I can only spare a few days for a honeymoon, but we can take a longer break later.’

Caryn’s head was reeling. He had it all planned. Every last detail! And why not? came the thought. Wasn’t it better to have a man who knew exactly what he wanted and did something about it than one who left everything to others? She had always known him for a forceful character; she wouldn’t want him any different. And hadn’t she been saying only yesterday that she found her job boring? Life as Logan’s wife would be infinitely more exciting!

‘I’ll hand my notice in first thing,’ she promised. She gave a sudden laugh. ‘It’s going to cause quite a furore when I tell them the reason!’

Logan smiled and shrugged. ‘A nine-day wonder. They’ll get over it.’ Bending his head, he placed a brief and unsatisfying kiss on her mouth, leaving her aching for more. ‘You’d better go on back and face the music,’ he said. ‘I’ll be here tomorrow evening.’

He was gone before she could protest, pulling the door closed behind him. Caryn stood for a moment or two gathering herself before returning to the living room. Nothing anyone could say or do was going to change her mind, she vowed. She would marry Logan come what may! As he had said, it was her life, her choice.

All the same, facing the two of them was one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life. Looking from one accusing face to another, she sought defence in a direct frontal attack.

‘I do know what I’m doing, and I’m of age to do it,’ she declared, ‘so please don’t try telling me any different. I was in love with Logan two years ago, and I am still.’