Moonlight Masquerade by Jude Deveraux Page B

books and made sure she found her classrooms, and he introduced her to people. She was so shy that she’d stood behind him, almost afraid to even look up. From the first, Laura had made him feel good as she looked to him for everything—to introduce her to people, to take her places, and even to do all the talking. He loved telling her of his dreams for the future—and from the beginning he included her in those plans.
    His mother had a different view of the two of them. She said that Laura just sat and waited for Reede to come and get her. But Reede had liked that. Having grown up around his dynamic mother and sister, Laura’s quiet passivity was refreshing. And most important, she made him feel as though he could see his future. He knew that they’d get married, live in Edilean, and have children. Reede even knew the house they would buy. Like Tristan’s Aldredge House, it was a bit out of town, set on two acres, and the old house needed a lot of repair. Reede and Tris would jointly run the Edilean clinic and . . . Well, Reede’s life would be set.
    As far as he could see, the only bad part in his plan were the little comments people made. Especially his mother. One time she said, “You can’t be Tristan no matter how hard you try.” When Reede said he had no idea what she was talking about, she’d glanced around his room. There were travel posters everywhere. Egypt, Petra in Jordan, the Galapagos Islands. “How are you going to see these places if you live with Laura here in Edilean?”
    â€œWe’ll go together,” Reede had said enthusiastically. “Laura wants to go places and do things as much as I do. And Tristan can take over while we’re away.”
    His mother had looked skeptical. “From what I’ve seen of that girl, she’s afraid to cross a street by herself.”
    Reede narrowed his eyes at his mother, and she threw up her hands in surrender. “I’m sure you know her better than I do, but I do wonder if she tells you what you want to hear because she’s so in awe of you.”
    â€œAwe? Are you kidding?” Reede lowered his voice. “Mom, I know you have good intentions, but you really don’t know Laura as I do. She’s sweet and considerate and—”
    â€œA dud,” Kim said from the doorway. “She stays with you because you get her included in everything. You think she was put on the yearbook committee because of her great personality?”
    â€œWhy you—” Reede began but his mother caught his arm.
    â€œKim, would you mind? This is a private conversation.”
    â€œWhatever,” Kim said, shrugging as she went down the hall.
    Reede had stood up, signaling the end of all that he was going to listen to.
    It was years after that when he’d come home from med school and Laura had dumped him. With a coolness, a detachment, that shocked him, she’d told him that she was in love with and was going to marry a little man with watery blue eyes and spend her life as a preacher’s wife. Reede’s foundation was knocked out from under him. For weeks afterward, he’d had no idea what he was going to do with his life. If he had no one to share things with, if he was to be alone, should he even become a doctor? During those weeks, all he could do was sit and stare at the TV.
    There was one incredibly low point when he’d climbed up Stirling Point and jumped off the cliff into a pool of water. As he’d gone down he’d thought that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he didn’t come up. If it hadn’t been for Kim’s cute little friend, Jecca, jumpingin to save him then nearly getting drowned, Reede wondered if he’d still be alive. After that, he’d been so embarrassed by his depression and his reckless behavior, which had almost cost Jecca her life, that he’d packed up and left before she got back to the house.
    He’d