Identical Stranger. Alice Sharpe
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Sophie Sparrow sat very still, the sound of rain hitting the window the only noise in the room. As a young girl, she’d imagined what this moment would feel like. Boy, had she been wrong.
“What do you say?” Danny Privet asked as he knelt on bended knee by her side. A glittering diamond ring sparkled in his hand.
She gulped. When he’d asked to come by this Saturday morning, she’d assumed they would go out to brunch. She had not even imagined this. “Danny, I—”
“Go on, say yes,” Sophie’s mother prompted from her self-imposed semipermanent residence in a recliner located four feet to Sophie’s left.
Danny’s head swiveled to her mother and then back to Sophie. “If you’re worried about having to move to Seattle, don’t. I’ve secured a position here in Portland. My new job starts in two weeks.”
“You quit your job! But what’s the rush?” Sophie whispered as she tried to make an intimate moment out of a public one. Her long straight hair fell forward if she leaned her head just so, creating an impromptu curtain between her mother and herself where she could study Danny in privacy. Why had he chosen to propose now? What was going on?
For a second, his soft gray eyes held an unfamiliar edge. She’d always wondered how anyone as agreeable as he was could make it as an attorney, how he could defend a client in a court of law, but this new glimpse into his character suggested he possessed the passion a courtroom would require. “Why should we wait?” he responded. “I’ve known you were the right woman for me since the minute I saw you in that grocery store. Why not get married now?”
“Now?”
“Well, I know how important a wedding is to you ladies. Plan whatever you want, I’ll pay for it, just make sure we tie the knot by Wednesday because Thursday morning, we leave for Hawaii! I remember you mentioned wanting to go there. I’ve already bought the tickets and made all the arrangements. It’ll be a honeymoon you’ll never forget!”
Sophie would have gulped again if her throat wasn’t so dry. She felt like a contestant on a game show, different curtains lifting to reveal unexpected—and in this case, unwanted—surprises. “Oh, Danny, you shouldn’t have—”
“For once in your life,” her mother interrupted, “use your head. This boy wants to marry you.”
“I certainly do,” Danny said. “And, frankly, Sophie, I thought you’d jump at the chance.”
Sophie, just about speechless, finally mumbled, “We’ve only known each other a few weeks. I need more time.”
“To wait for a better offer?” her mother scoffed. “Show some spunk! This boy is a wonderful catch, especially for someone of your—well, think about how kind he’s been to me. What else do you need?”
I need to love him, Sophie whispered internally, and I don’t. I’ve been waiting twenty-six years to find someone to complete me, a second half that I’ve always known existed out there somewhere. Silly? Romantic? Probably, but there you go.
As usual, when faced with her mother’s iron will, Sophie voiced these arguments solely to herself, where they went to work burning a hole in her gut.
“Thank you for your compliments, Margaret,” Danny said softly, “but I can’t agree with your assessment of Sophie. To me she’s a star, the brightest in the heavens, an angel surrounded by a halo of gossamer fawn silk.”
Gossamer fawn silk... Did he mean her hair? The flattery sounded like lines lifted from a greeting card, but on the other hand, it was kind of nice to hear positive—if overly flowery—things about herself instead of negative. She smiled appreciation.
Danny apparently mistook her smile for acquiescence. Taking her hand, he slipped the ring on her finger. He got up off his knees and sat down on the sofa beside her, placing himself between Sophie and her mother. He squeezed her hand. The ring was too big and had slipped to the side; the pressure of his grip pinched the stone between her fingers.
“I knew you’d say yes,” he said with a smile bordering on a smirk. “I was so confident you’d see how perfect this is that I already bought you a wedding present. You know that house a block over that’s for sale? I bought it yesterday. You’ll be close enough to keep an eye on your mom.”
He’d purchased a ring, a honeymoon and a house before even popping the question and without asking for any input from her. She’d known him about a month. How had he been so sure she’d say yes?
“I’ve also taken the liberty of looking into hiring full-time live-in help,” he added, addressing Margaret. “I hope you don’t think it presumptuous of me but I see how you struggle. Would you mind having someone else living here with you?”
Sophie’s mother fanned her face with her hand. “I’m just a disabled old widow, Danny. I know you have your own mother to consider. You shouldn’t worry about me. But yes, it would be so nice to have someone to talk to who doesn’t prattle on about teaching babies how to read. I’ll tell you, a little of that goes a long way.”
“I think her enthusiasm is cute.” Danny chuckled as he squeezed Sophie’s hand again.
His condescending words struck her like poison darts. She pulled her hand free as retorts ransacked her stomach looking for real estate in which to sink new geysers.
And how could her mother not understand that the money Sophie made teaching her adorable first-graders was all that stood between this admittedly small house and a tent on the sidewalk?
“What would you like to talk about instead, Mom? Your sciatica? What a big disappointment I am?”
Was that her voice she just heard? Had her thoughts actually forced their way up her throat and out of her mouth? Her gaze darted from Danny’s face to her mother’s. Their stunned expressions made it crystal clear she had indeed given voice. Dumbfounded, she stared down at the gaudy ring on her finger.
Margaret didn’t miss a beat. “Danny, dear, if you haven’t changed your mind about marrying bridezilla over there, perhaps you and I should discuss the details.”
He leaned forward. “Don’t take her words personally, Margaret. She’s just excited. A wedding is the most important day of a woman’s life, right?”
Their voices faded to white noise. Sophie couldn’t feel her feet. In fact, numbness seemed to be spreading up her legs toward her heart.
She stood abruptly, catching both of their attention. Looking from one pair of startled eyes to the next, she mumbled, “I have to go.”
“Where?” her mother demanded.
“The school,” she said. Where else would she go?
“Since when is the school open on a Saturday? What’s gotten into you?”
“It’s a...PTA bake sale,” she muttered.
“I’ll drive you,” Danny said, starting to stand.
“No, thanks,” she called over her shoulder as she forced her legs to carry her into the kitchen, where she grabbed her coat and purse from the hook by the door and moved quickly outside. Oscar the cat scooted past her into the warmth of the house before she closed the door and ran through the pouring rain to the curb where she’d parked. For once the aging compact started without trouble and she drove down the street with no plan except escape.
After a couple of miles and ever-increasing traffic, she pulled to the curb, turned off the car but kept an iron-fisted grip on the wheel to still her shaking hands.
Her cell rang and Danny’s name flashed onto the screen. Damn if she wasn’t tempted to answer the call. As soon as it stopped ringing, she picked up the phone and turned off the power.
The panic