Possessions by Judith Michael Read Free Book Online

“But as long as I’m here, I’d appreciate it if you’d answer a few questions. If you don’t mind.”
    â€œI do mind.” There was something about his voice, too, that reminded her of Craig, and she was becoming uncomfortable.
    â€œMrs. Fraser,” said Ross quietly. “Do you really believe your husband told you everything about himself? Isn’t it possible that he had some secrets from you, that he kept a part of himself separate—”
    â€œNo!” Abruptly, Katherine stood up, hating him for making her lie. “It is not possible and it is none of your business; nothing here is any of your business!”
    He sat still, looking up at her. “I want a few answers. Then I’ll leave. The more you help me, the sooner that will be.”
    â€œI can’t help you! Can’t you understand that? Can’t you understand that I have no interest in you or your cousin? You said yourself there was probably nothing in it; what more do you want? You walk in here and accuse my husband of being someone else, which is ridiculous; you show me a picture thatdoesn’t look at all like him; and you expect me to let you talk all day about it? I have other things to think about and I want you to go. I don’t even know why you came here, trying to upset us—”
    â€œI’m not here to upset you. I’m here because my grandmother sent me.”
    The unexpectedness of it caught Katherine in mid-flight. She tried to picture Ross’s grandmother—how old she must be!—sending him to Vancouver on a wild goose chase. Ross leaned forward. “You see, Victoria is absolutely certain this is her Craig, her grandson, and she asked me—instructed me,” he added with a private smile of such tenderness that for a moment Katherine liked him. “Instructed me to drop everything and come to Vancouver to confirm it.”
    â€œAnd if you found it wasn’t true?”
    â€œI would tell her that and she would accept it. After all, she’d already lost him once.”
    â€œLost him.” For the first time, Katherine picked up the picture and really looked at it. A thin young man, clean-shaven, wearing a sports shirt open at the neck, tilting his head and smiling, but with an air of sadness, as if a thought or a memory haunted him. Shakily, she sat down. The eyes were like Craig’s. The face was Todd’s.
    Ross was watching her. “You see why I wanted answers.”
    Stalling while she tried to think, Katherine asked, “What does that mean—lost him?”
    â€œHe disappeared. There was a sailing accident in San Francisco Bay and we never saw him again. We assumed he drowned and was swept away. The current is especially strong near the Golden Gate Bridge, where it happened. But he was very strong—a champion long-distance runner in high school and college. It’s possible that he was able to swim to shore. And then walk away.”
    â€œBut why would anyone do that?”
    â€œI don’t know. Shock, perhaps. He’d jumped in the water to save his sister when she fell overboard.”
    â€œAnd—did he?”
    Ross shook his head. “She died.”
    â€œThat’s . . . terrible. But still—”
    â€œHer name was Jennifer.”
    â€œOh.” It was like a long sigh.
    â€œAnd Craig never could face his own failures. He always ran away from them.”
    The way your husband did. The unspoken words hovered in the quiet room. But we don’t know that, Katherine argued silently; we don’t even know if he’s alive. She thrust the picture at Ross. “Your grandmother is wrong. It’s nothing more than a resemblance. My husband didn’t even have a grandmother, at least none that he knew. He had no family at all; he was an orphan, just as I was. It was one of the things we talked about: how much we wanted a family.”
    â€œNo family. Who brought him