Embrace Me (24 page)

“
Mac, what does it matter? You can’t just blurt it out to Charlie. Think about what that would do to him.”

“
If anyone is telling him it will be me!” Rachel shouted irately.

“
You just want your son all to yourself. He is my brother, Rachel. Charlie has a right to know!” Mac yelled so loud I had to take a step back.

“
Mac,” I replied, touching his chest, “relax. We will sort this.” I could see it in his eyes—Mac cared about Charlie.

“
You are taking
his
side?” Rachel spat.

“
I am not taking sides. The only thing I care about is Charlie and how he finds out about all of this. Have either of you even
thought
about him?” I yelled. I totally lost it. I had been pulled into this mess by mistake, and because of
these
two people, I was lying to the love of my life. “You two are so selfish. Neither of you have even
thought
about his feelings.”

“
She has made him hate me, constantly feeding him with all these lies about my family.”

“
They were not lies!” Rachel almost threw herself at Mac. “I never needed your father, and neither did Charlie.”

“
Rachel, please!” Mac was begging. “I just want the chance to get to know my brother.”

“
Over my dead body!” she screeched.

“
Stop it
!” I yelled, forcing them apart.

“
Shannon?” A voice cracked from behind me and I froze. No…this wasn’t happening. “What are you all shouting about?” Charlie’s voice was a soft whisper. How I wished it could be a dream.

I turned to face him, my heart weeping as I took in the sight of him in his tux. As my eyes met his, the pain sliced me in half. Charlie had heard everything, I was sure of it.

“
Charlie,” Rachel said calmly as she walked towards him, “we are just having a meeting about work. Why don’t you go back into the party? We’ll all join you in a few moments.”

“
I want to hear that from Shannon.” Charlie frowned at me.

I cleared my throat and spoke. “Your mother is right, Charlie.” I forced a smile. “I’ll join you in a moment. We just have some business to go over.” He knew I was lying. I could read his face as if it were my own. Slowly, he turned away from me and left.

“
Oh, God! Do you think he heard us?” Rachel screeched.

“
He knows,” I whispered, looking up into the night sky.

“
Are you sure?” Mac asked.

“
Of course she’s not. Charlie couldn’t have…”

“
I’m telling you, Rachel…Charlie knows,” I interrupted, walking back into the party without another word.

Mac grabbed my arm before I reached the entrance. “What are you going to do?” he asked, worry evident in his voice.

“
I’m going to make sure Charlie is alright and try to clean up your mess,” I hissed, pulling away from his hold.

Charlie was easy to find in the crowd, leaning against the bar with Bradley and Lorna. I had never seen him look so defeated. It was as if all the life had been drained from him.

The people on the dance floor seemed to separate, allowing me to glide over towards him. When I reached him, he looked up at me with sad eyes. I stood there in front of him, waiting for him to say something.

When he finally spoke, his words surprised me. “Dance with me, Shan,” he whispered, taking my hand and pulling me into the center of the dance floor. All eyes were on us, including Rachel and Mac.

The music was soft as Charlie pulled me into his strong arms. I had to fight back tears as I noticed the song that was playing: Ray Charles’
You Don’t Know Me.
The lyrics were almost breaking my heart…word-by-word.

“
Is it true?” Charlie whispered in my ear after a few moments. “I need to hear it from you.”

I looked into his eyes. They were cold—so different from the eyes I knew and loved. “Shannon, is Mac my brother?!” Charlie yelled, pulling away from our embrace.

I stood in the middle of the dance floor as tears fell down my face. Everyone in the room was watching us. I could see my mother making her way through the crowd.

“
Yes, it’s true,” I whispered as I began to sob, stretching my arms out towards him. Charlie backed farther away, though, out of my reach.

“
I don’t know who you are, Shannon,” he stated emotionlessly as he began to exit the dance floor.

“
Charlie, please!” I begged, screeching through my tears. “I love you.”

He turned to me, hatred glistening from his face. “If you loved me, you would have told me the truth,” he spat before he pushed his way through the crowd, disappearing from my sight.

I wanted to chase after him but I couldn’t. What could I say to him? Charlie was right; I had let him down.

Before I could look around at all of the faces watching me, I ran as fast as my feet could carry me in the opposite direction of Charlie and into the nearest room. Closing the door behind me, I collapsed as my heart began to shatter.

So much for my fairy tale, but then what did I expect? I should have known it would end badly. When was my life ever straightforward?

“
Shannon, please! You’re scaring me,” my mother called from the other side of the door. “Whatever happened, we can sort it. Charlie will be back.”

“
You don’t understand,” I cried.

“
Then let me in so you can tell me,” she begged.

“
I lied to him,” I replied, opening the door. My mother wiped the tears trickling down my face as she came into view.

“
It can’t be worth all these tears, my Lizzie,” she soothed, pulling me into her arms as more sobs erupted from my chest.

“
Harry Mac is Charlie’s brother,” I muttered in her arms. “I’ve known for months and never told him.”

“
Are…you…serious?” She almost lost her words from the shock.

“
Yes,” I replied, looking up at her. “Charlie knows I kept it from him, but I was waiting for Rachel to explain. I wanted to tell him, but she…”

“
Rachel!” My mother said her name like a disease as she dropped her arms from around me.

“
It’s been hard for her, but she promised me she would tell him once he came back to New York.”

“
How did Charlie find out?”

“
He heard us arguing outside earlier.”

“
Right, that’s it,” she snapped, walking towards the door.

“
Where are you going?” I asked, tears still streaming down my face.

“
To get some answers from Rachel. She has just ruined the most important night of her son’s life.”

“
What?” I asked in confusion.

“
Shannon, Charlie was going to ask you to marry him tonight,” my mother whispered as she touched my face. “He has been planning it for weeks. All this was part of the plan. It was the fairy tale proposal he knew you wanted.”

All I remembered was blackness as my heart gave out, pulling me to the cold, hard ground.

“
Shannon, Sweetheart, wake up.” I was sure it was Charlie calling me, but as I opened my eyes, he was nowhere to be seen.

“
Shannon, how are you feeling?” Mac was cradling me against his chest. As soon as my eyes met his, I flinched and pulled away from him. “She’s okay,” he chuckled.

“
I still want the doctor to check her over,” my mother responded.

“
Stop fussing, Jennet,” Rachel replied. “Shannon will be fine. We need to find Charlie.”

“
Rachel, seriously, you have done enough. I would keep your mouth shut,” Mac called over towards her, then turned to look at me. “Shannon, we need to find Charlie. Do you have any idea where he may have gone?”

I knew exactly where he would go, but I wasn’t about to let
them
know that. I needed to speak to him first…to make him understand.

“
I have no idea where he could be,” I whispered. “Where is Frank? I want to go home.”

Luckily, my mother didn’t argue and let me leave with Frank fairly quickly. I was in the car heading towards the mansion within minutes.

“
Frank,” I turned to look at him as I spoke, “I need you to take me to Charlie’s apartment in Brooklyn.”

“
Shannon, I…”

“
Please, Frank. I might not get another chance to set things right,” I pleaded.

His eyes grew soft as he called to the driver. “Tony, we are going to take a little detour.”

Chapter Eighteen

I stood looking at his front door. Why was I suddenly referring to the door as
his
and not
ours
? Had I lost hope already?

I wasn’t even sure Charlie would be in there, but I needed a chance to explain if he was. I pushed the key into the door and opened it. My eyes fell on him, clutching a bottle of whiskey. His shirt was ripped open as he sat on our kitchen stool.

I walked woodenly towards him, wondering if he would throw me out.

“
Charlie,” I whimpered.

“
What are you doing here, Shannon?” He turned an ice cold stare at me as he swigged from his bottle. It dented my heart.

“
I had to see if you were okay.”

Charlie laughed. “You should have considered that while you and my mother were keeping secrets from me.”

“
I’m sorry. I…”

“
Sorry?” He was up on his feet and stood inches away from my face. I could smell the whiskey on his breath. “You’re not sorry.”

“
Believe me, I am,” I cried.

“
How could you keep that from me, Shan?” Charlie was pulling on his thick, matted hair as he spoke. “I love you so much, but right now I…” He couldn’t finish his words.

“
What is it?” I pleaded. I needed to hear what he had to say, whatever it was.

“
I can’t even stand to look at you,” he whispered as tears filled his beautiful eyes.

I could feel the sobs low in my chest as I took his words in. “Charlie, please…”

“
I need time, Shannon. I can’t do this right now,” he answered, backing away from me and walking towards the balcony.

“
How much time do you need?” I asked as tears fell down my face.

“
I don’t know.” He put his whiskey bottle on the table. “How does anyone begin to get their head around the fact that they have an older brother, and the one person they cared for more than their own life kept the secret from them?”

“
I’m sorry.” It was all I could say. Why couldn’t I make him believe it?

“
You keep saying that, Shan, but right now I am finding it difficult to believe.” He turned away from me to watch the New York skyline.

I wasn’t going to let it end this way, not when I knew Charlie was going to ask me to marry him tonight. I was going to fight for
us
until he threw me out the door.

“
So this is it then?” I yelled, grabbing his arm and making him face me. “I make one mistake and that’s it? Charlie, after everything we have done, are you really turning your back on us?”

“
Shannon, please—not tonight,” he winced, looking away from me.

“
I know what you had planned for this evening,” I replied, taking his hand in mine, “and I would have said yes.”

Charlie looked at our hands, almost studying them for a time until he slowly moved his away from mine. “Shan, I love you, but I need to get my head around all of this.”

“
But I want to help you. Mac is not…”

“
Shannon, please. I can’t cope with this right now,” he pleaded. “The fact that you lied—it’s all too much.”

“
But can you understand why I did it, Charlie? I was protecting you.”

“
I think you need to go. I don’t want to say anything that will hurt you.”

“
Please don’t send me away,” I begged.

“
We need a bit of distance. I’ll come and see you in a few days.”

“
Please, Charlie!” I pleaded, but I knew it was no use. His eyes were cold and his mind was made up. I needed to give him space. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”