Secret Garden (33 page)

Also inside were Malcolm, Kristin and Isabel. A driver was behind the front partition. The back of the limo was roomy and dark. Quiet and plush.

Rhiannon took a seat, her knees shaking a bit, but nothing she hadn’t overcome before in Ceci’s car during her therapy care.

Rhiannon closed her eyes and thought of the cozy inside of the limo as a safe cocoon. Inside that, surrounding her, the serenity of her secret garden.

Seated next to her, Isabel took her hand. Rhiannon was vaguely aware of the engine running. Of the wheels slowly starting to move beneath her.

I’m going to see Colin. I’m going to show him what he means to me.
Everything I’ve ever wanted is unfolding now.

Rhiannon said it over and over to herself, as lyrics to a song.

She kept her eyes closed and concentrated on breathing calmly and evenly. By the time they arrived in Edinburgh at the airport that evening, she was quite tired. The antianxiety medication did make her a bit drowsier than usual, too.

Instead of having to worry about being inside an airplane, she mostly dozed through the flight, as well. The interior of the cabin was silent. Rhiannon tucked a blanket about her and kept her window shade down.

By the time they landed in Virginia, it was dark, earlier than in Scotland because of the time difference. Again, Malcolm had a stretch limo reserved to whisk them to a hotel. Drowsy, Rhiannon again mostly slept.

She looked forward to more sleep, in the cool sheets of a luxury hotel beside the golf course.

They checked into a room with two beds, and her cousin Isabel shared this room with her.

“Thank you for being here,” Rhiannon said to Isabel as she fluffed up her pillow.

“Thank you for inviting me.” Before they went to sleep, Isabel sleepily remarked to her, “You can be my bridesmaid now, if you still want.”

“Yes, I can do it, can’t I?” Rhiannon murmured. Then, “Thank you for not telling anyone about the pregnancy test.”

“You’re welcome.” Isabel turned beneath her covers. “Are you feeling all right, honestly?”

Rhiannon’s nerves were jangled and she’d occasionally broken out in a mild sweat, but as long as she kept focused on her breathing and visualization exercises, then she was doing far better than she’d anticipated.

“I’m just relieved we’re here,” Rhiannon said. “I wasn’t queasy during the flight, but I might be in the morning.”

“I’ll bet you’re excited to see Colin.”

“Yes,” Rhiannon murmured.

But she wasn’t there yet. Tomorrow would be the hardest test of all. A crowded event. Colin, focused on his golf play.

She hoped she’d done the right thing by coming. She’d hoped she hadn’t flown all the way here just to fail at the final test.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

C
OLIN HELD HIS
phone to his ear and frowned. Rhiannon wasn’t picking up—his call went directly to voice mail.

He checked for any messages from her. Nothing.

It worried him that she hadn’t answered her phone this morning. This wasn’t like her. For the millionth time, he wished they didn’t have this gulf of physical and emotional distance between them. He felt powerless to do anything about it, other than to return home early, right after the tournament.

Home?
He meant
Scotland
.

Strange how he had little desire to return to his digs in Texas, at least not without Rhiannon.

Maybe he should call Jamie to check on her.

“Are you ready?” Mack asked beside him. It was ten minutes till the start of his official practice time. They were at Day Two of the Mid-Atlantic Open. Friday, cut day.

By the end of the afternoon, Colin would know if he’d made the next round of play in pursuit of one of the tournament purses to be awarded on Sunday.

“Give me a minute.” With a lump in his throat, Colin stowed the powered-off phone at the bottom of his golf bag. Put on his glove and prepared to warm up on the driving range.

Mack hoisted Colin’s bag over his shoulder and aimed for an open tee.

This was the new Colin-Mack partnership. A week before Colin had left boot camp in Arizona, he called for Mack to join him, wanting to get their golfer-caddie relationship off to a fresh start. A new professional seriousness.

Mack handed him his driver without asking. He knew Colin planned to start with his woods and work his way to a few hits with the smaller irons. Just an easy warm-up for the action to come later in the afternoon. Colin had a noontime tee-off, in the middle of the pack.

Colin made three easy long drives. Then he switched it up, moved on to his seven iron. From his peripheral vision, he saw Doc Masters approach him, waiting off to the side per golfing etiquette. But Colin didn’t even acknowledge him there, though the man was currently the top golfer in the world. Colin aimed to knock him off his pedestal. He was all business today.

Doc moved on. That was fine with Colin.

He finished his warm-up at the driving range and stretched his shoulders once more in the August heat. He felt good today. Confident of the work he’d put in.

“Ten minutes till twelve.” Mack looked up from his watch. “You ready to head over?”

Now was Colin’s time to cowboy up.

“Let’s do it,” he said to Mack.

* * *

R
HIANNON SAT IN
her hotel room. One o’clock in the afternoon. She’d missed Colin’s morning practice at the driving range. Then she’d missed his noontime start.

She’d woken up feeling shaken, as if she were outside her body looking in. She’d taken her medication and waited, working on her deep-breathing exercises. After an hour or two, she’d rung Ceci. “I think I need help,” she’d confessed.

Ceci had instructed her to increase her medication dosage a bit. “It’s natural, Rhiannon. You’ve doing beautifully, and now we’ll take it step by step again. Please put your support partner on the phone.”

Isabel had gladly taken Rhiannon’s phone to talk with Ceci. Then, at Ceci’s recommendation, they’d both taken a short walk around the parking area outside.

While Rhiannon focused on her breathing exercises, Isabel chattered about a tiny brown Chihuahua dog she and Jacob had adopted from a rescue center. “Barry” had been found wandering the streets in Edinburgh, hungry, sick and frightened. Isabel’s mum was currently taking care of him while Isabel and Jacob were away for the weekend.

When Rhiannon and Isabel returned to the hotel room, Jacob poked his head in. He’d opened the adjoining door to his and Isabel’s hotel room, and from inside, Isabel heard the low drone of the television announcer on the Golf Channel. The tournament was being broadcast live.

“How is Colin doing?” Rhiannon asked.

“Just finished putting on the third hole. A par five hole, and he hit an eagle. If he stays on course, he’s headed for the leader board.”

Rhiannon wasn’t sure what all that jargon meant. She would have to learn. Once she had a better handle on her agoraphobia, familiarizing herself with golf terms was her next step.

“Is that good?” she asked Jacob.

“Damn good. The announcer said he’s looking
in top form.
They don’t usually show guys as far back in the ratings as Colin, but they kept the camera on him throughout his last hole.” Jacob paused. “I got hold of one of my guys. I was able to arrange special parking for us up front in the VIP area of the club. When you’re ready to go, Rhiannon, we’ll be close to the course. Nowhere near the general crowd.”

“How’d you manage that?” Malcolm asked, standing in the doorway from the other adjoining room.

Jacob shrugged. “We’re fairly close to Washington, DC, and Doc Masters is here. That’s brought in some diplomatic VIPs from the capital who want to see him play up close. I still have friends on the protective details.”

“Isn’t he fabulous?” Isabel said to Rhiannon, grabbing a water bottle from their hotel refrigerator.

“Yes, he is. Thank you, Jacob.” Rhiannon walked over to her unmade bed, kicked off her shoes and lay back on the pillows, closing her eyes.

The extra dosage hadn’t affected her yet. She was too shaky. Too unsure. She wasn’t ready to go to a crowded public event just yet.

VIPs? General crowd? Protective details?
This was all rather more excitement than she’d expected. She just needed a bit more time to adjust.

She lay on the bed for another hour—or maybe it was two—breathing rhythmically and visualizing her peaceful nature scene. Her protective walled garden.

Maybe the medication was starting to kick in, because all of a sudden she felt better, happy, as if she was rolled back in time, playing on the estate with Colin. A lot of other friends, too. There was noise and laughter and...

Cheering sounded. Loud clapping. The musical trill of Isabel’s laughter. Kristin’s excited, feminine voice.

Rhiannon sat up. In the hotel room next to her, Malcolm, Kristin, Jacob and Isabel were engrossed in the televised golf event. Rhiannon stood in the doorway, smoothing her hair and blinking, waking up slowly, into reality. She felt utterly calm.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Colin is on
fire
,” Malcolm said. “You should see him—”

“Yes, come see him,” Kristin said. “Look! The crowd is totally on his side. All those people are following him, wearing red Colin’s Crew T-shirts, but he’s just powering through his game, and—”

“Look at Doc Masters.” Jacob shook his head and laughed. “He is seriously ticked off.”

“They just aired an interview with him,” Malcolm explained to Rhiannon. “Doc was in an earlier threesome and he’s finished now. He’s the current leader, but Colin is close behind.”

Rhiannon could only smile. Her family was finally seeing in Colin what she’d always known about him. Colin was special. One in a million.

She stood beside her brother and watched Colin on the television stalking down the fairway as if he owned it. His handsome face filled the screen and he looked utterly fierce. He concentrated on the course ahead as if it were a battlefield and he were the conquering general.

Without breaking stride, he dipped his head to hear a quick consultation from his caddie. Gave him a short nod.

Colin’s eyes were squinted, his golf cap low, his lips pressed together. He showed no hint of a limp when he walked. He looked thinner overall, though a bit more muscular in the arms and shoulders. Her heart swelled.

Their hotel room fell to a hush as the cameras focused in on Colin. He teed a ball and lined up his stance. In a split screen, the announcers showed a comparison to Doc Masters—a taped version of Doc’s swing, beside Colin’s swing in real time. They looked amazingly close in technique.

“Rhiannon, you didn’t tell me he’d been off working with Somer Grinks,” Malcolm remarked to her.

“Well, he
was
.” She shot a glance at Malcolm. “Where did you think he went?”

“I don’t know.” Malcolm shrugged. “Home to Texas?”

That bothered her enough to decide that she was ready to take action.

“Let’s go to the tournament now,” she said calmly to Jacob.

Jacob snapped to attention. Picked up his jacket and shrugged it on. She noticed that since breakfast, he’d changed into a dark gray business suit and blue tie, with an American flag pin on his lapel. The standard “uniform” of the US Secret Service, even if he was technically off duty.

“Let’s go,” Jacob said to them all. He seemed boyishly excited to be going to the golf game in person.

“What’s the plan?” Malcolm asked.

“I suggest we head to the seventeenth hole. That should be better than the eighteenth.”

“Why?” Rhiannon asked.

“Because the eighteenth is the last hole—the finish line, so to speak. There are stands set up and lots of press. Bigger crowds there.”

Walking beside Isabel, Rhiannon made it to the vehicle Jacob had arranged—a huge black SUV. She sat in the front seat beside him, momentarily confused because the driver’s seat was on the other side than it was in Scotland.

“That means we’ll need to walk her down the rope line,” Malcolm said to Jacob. In the backseat, he consulted a course map.

The drive to the iconic golf course at the beautiful, stately country club was a short one. As they turned into the access road and she saw the lots filled with cars, Rhiannon rolled up her tinted window and leaned her head back on her seat. She didn’t stir again until the SUV had stopped and the engine cut out.

Malcolm helped her jump down from the tall step.

“You walk on her left side. I’ll take her right,” Jacob instructed Malcolm.

They were in a quieter area, and since Jacob constantly flashed his credentials, they were let in behind a series of rope lines. They followed the rope along a wide-open, rolling green golf course.

Rhiannon felt safe between the two familiar men. Isabel and Kristin walked beside them, too, and their presence gave her comfort.

“Here it is. The seventeenth tee.”

There was a lull in the action on the course, but a small crowd was gathered a short distance from where Rhiannon and her friends stood.

In the crowd, a tall, familiar-looking blonde stood out, wearing cowboy boots and a Colin’s Crew T-shirt.

“Wait,” Rhiannon said. “That’s Colin’s mum. That’s Daisie Lee.”

Without waiting for Jacob and Malcolm, she headed over toward the woman.

“Hi,” she said to her. “I’m Rhiannon MacDowall. Do you remember me, Daisie Lee?”

Daisie Lee stared at her. “Little Rhiannon?” She pursed her lips and tilted back her head. “Are you here all the way from Scotland?”

“I am.” Rhiannon beckoned to Malcolm. “My brother is here, as well. Do you remember Malcolm?”

Daisie Lee assessed Malcolm in a glance. “He’s a CEO now, isn’t he?”

“He’s our company president, and let me tell you a secret. He was going to surprise Colin with the news, but I’ll tell
you
first—our management team voted to give Colin a sponsorship for our family brand.”

Daisie Lee’s smile widened. “They did? That’s fantastic!”

A murmur grew in the crowd. Daisie Lee craned her neck. “Look! There he is.”