Glow (Glimmer and Glow 2) - Page 32

. . . About playing the stranger in a house where supposedly she’d once lived and been loved.

EIGHT

“You look beautiful tonight, Alice.”

Alice blinked in surprise and turned.

“Sidney. I hadn’t realized you’d be here tonight,” she said, sounding both flustered and pleased when the psychiatrist leaned down to kiss her briefly on the cheek.

“I’m way too old to be a Camp Durand alumnus myself, but I’ve been advising alumni for years, given my place on the board.”

Alice smiled. “Well the man who advises the top men and women definitely deserves a place of honor.”

She hadn’t seen Sidney since the day Dylan had broken the news to her about Addie Durand. It seemed a little surreal—and embarrassing—staring into Sidney’s handsome lined face and kind gray eyes now. She’d fainted in front of him. Plus, seeing Sidney standing there in the glamorous setting of the Durand grand dining room emphasized the reality of the day Dylan had broken the news to her about Addie’s kidnapping. The vision of the psychiatrist seemed to collapse her two separate worlds, creating an internal jarring sensation for Alice.

Sidney smiled at her and nodded cordially to another gray-haired man who was passing with a bejeweled woman on his arm. He put his hand on her elbow and smoothly maneuvered her to an unoccupied part of the room.

“I’ve told a few people in passing that I knew your father from my Navy days in order to explain my familiarity with you,” Sidney said very quietly, the volume of his voice kept lower than the general buzz of the chat of the cocktail party. “It was Dylan’s idea. I hope you don’t mind. It’s not a lie, after all.”

Again, that strange crashing sensation in her spirit. Alice cleared her throat and fingered the rope of pearls Dylan had given her. She found the sensation of the smooth cool globes running across her skin reassuring somehow.

“I’m sorry. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that,” Sidney said, his gaze sharp on her face.

“No, of course not,” she assured. “So . . . you really served in the military with Alan Durand?”

“Yes. We met while we were both stationed at a naval base in Guam. I was his commanding officer there for a year and a half. Such a good man. Full of energy and purpose. Incredibly innovative, a born risk taker. You would have liked him.”

“I understand he liked to travel quite a bit.”

“Alan was a gypsy at heart,” Sidney said with a fond smile. “Only Lynn could have ever hoped to settle him down.”

“And Addie,” Alice said very quietly.

Sidney nodded. His stare on her was intent, but not cautious like Dylan’s often was. It was a little comforting, to know that the psychiatrist didn’t believe she was going to go over the edge at any moment.

“Although, Addie only came to Alan and Lynn thirteen years after they found each other. They wanted to start a family right away, but they couldn’t conceive. All the years of trying with no result nearly crushed Lynn . . . and Alan, in turn. He felt so helpless watching her suffer. She longed to be a mother. For a period of time, she became a shadow of herself. I worried their mutual grief would pry them apart.”

“Oh. That’s terrible.”

“It all came out all right, in the end,” Sidney assured with a smile. “After years of being undecided, they eventually resolved to adopt. They’d begun the process when Lynn discovered she was pregnant. That’s the way of these things sometimes. Once an alternative decision is made, some of the stress goes, and voilà. The couple finds themselves pregnant.”

“They must have been so happy,” she said numbly. She was determinedly trying to ignore a rising rush of air in her ears. But she was curious, too—

“They were ecstatic. I’ve never seen two people so transported. They truly believed they’d been granted a miracle. That sense of being blessed never lessened. It only grew, every day Addie was with them.”

And then it all came crashing down on them one horrible day.

A tremor of emotion went through her. What those poor people must have experienced on the day their daughter was kidnapped. How their panic and fear must have mounted in the ensuing days and weeks. Years. The grief must have been crushing.

“Excuse me,” she said to a passing waiter, who paused. She placed the half-full wineglass she’d been clutching on his tray. “Thank you,” she murmured before he continued on his way.

Her gaze strayed past Sidney’s shoulder, her eyes unerringly finding the tall formidable figure in a black suit across the room holding court among a small circle of three women and two men. She hadn’t spoken to Dylan all evening, and wasn’t sure she wanted to even attempt it with so many curious people at the dinner. Alice swore eyes had been tracking her movements all night. In the next second, she’d accuse herself of being paranoid. She wasn’t being observed, at least not any more so than any of the other counselors who were vying for permanent positions at Durand Enterprises.

Even though Alice knew she shouldn’t be obvious in her glances at Dylan, her eyes just seemed to move in his direction of their own accord. He pulled at her attention like a magnet.

Maybe it was unfair to say that he was holding court at that moment, because that would have implied an attempt or eagerness on his part to be the center of attention to a circle of avid listeners. Alice couldn’t hear what he said, but she recognized his manner; that absolute yet muted sense of confidence. Dylan’s power was such that he never needed to bluster or grandstand.

Even given his focus on his listeners, his gaze sudden

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