Ally Blake - Blind Dates and Other Disasters - The Wedding Wish

‘It all seems to have turned out for the best, don’t you think? You’ve certainly done well for yourself and you and Anabella are on good terms.’

‘But Ana has been spoilt,’ he said. ‘She’s never been interested in holding down a job, and would rather burn her clothes than wash and iron them herself. And that’s my failing.’

Holly had found out what she wanted to know. Her lovely Jacob had exhausted more emotions in the last years of his childhood than most people did in a lifetime. Then in adulthood decided if he had no feelings, they could never consume him.

How could she hope to bring someone back from that sort of pain? She had hardly experienced the kind of rich, fulfilled childhood and stable family that could make it all better for him.

But she would do her best to try.

‘Jacob. Are you kidding me? You helped a child become an adult. Many people never get that chance.’

‘I was clueless.’

‘You were a kid. You can hardly have been expected to know all the answers.’

Jacob shifted in his chair, trying to throw off the strange feeling that had fast crept up on him. He found himself reaching for Holly’s reassurance. And that was exactly what he had just finished telling himself he never wanted to endure again.

He felt that familiar old need to just run and run. But this time he would not look back.

And then Holly took his palm in hers.

‘Listen to me.’

What choice did he have as she stroked the back of his hand? He listened.

‘From what Beth has told me of Ana, she is compassionate and optimistic, serious and spirited. Without her specific blend of life experiences she may not have taken on that formidable combination of traits.’

His hand tingled from the inadvertent patterns she was weaving across his skin. ‘You are probably right.’

‘No probably about it, I am right. I truly believe a person needs highs and lows, comedy and tragedy in order to mature into a valuable, well-rounded personality. I mean, without the sad times how can you really enjoy the happy times? You know how it feels so good after a great big sneeze?’

Jacob was completely caught off guard. The corners of his mouth twitched in the beginnings of a smile. ‘Sure.’

‘Well, that’s because of the intense discomfort and irritation preceding it. You know how it goes. That first slight tingle that makes your nose twitch, which then grows into that bothersome tickle that builds and builds into an exasperating itch. And then comes the sneeze and when it is released, ahhh, what a wonderful sensation. But that wonderful sensation is only the same non-sensation you had before the tingle even started. Basically the good feeling only exists because of the bad feeling prior to it.’

Jacob’s laughter came more easily. ‘I guess there is some peculiar sense in there somewhere.’

‘Peculiar or not, it’s true. Without understanding of deep sorrow there can be no appreciation of sheer joy.’

Holly patted him companionably on the hand, pushed her chair back and stood up. ‘Now, my friend, could you please point the way to the little girls’ room?’

Jacob pointed down the stairs to the doorway next to the kitchen. Holly smiled her thanks and rubbed Jacob’s shoulder as she passed him by, sending a wash of warmth from her lithe fingertips through his tense shoulder.

As she reached the door she turned back for a moment, as though she knew he was studying her, and smiled before disappearing into the room beyond.

A small smile played at Jacob’s lips as he thought of his younger sister and her love of stray animals, her abhorrence of reality television and refusal to cut her long dark hair any shorter than her shoulder blades. Without those traits and without his support through those formative years, she would not be the same Ana.

With a deep, contented sigh, Jacob rose from his seat and cleared the table, whistling softly along with the upbeat jazz music as he did, a spring in his step and a serenity he did not remember ever feeling.

As Holly washed her hands in the bathroom sink she looked into the mirror. Her lipstick was all but gone; only a light burgundy stain remained on her full lips. Her tongue ran over her teeth, once again tasting the honey soy stir-fry Jacob had cooked.

In the corner of the mirror she caught sight of a bath, which was so huge it took up all of one corner of the spacious room. It was certainly large enough to fit Jacob’s tall frame. Easily. As well as that of another person.

Her eyes swung back to the mirror so she faced herself head-on.

‘Holly, get a grip,’ she growled through clenched teeth. ‘And get your briefcase and get out of here before you do something you can’t take back.’ Something worse than just picturing him stripping off and lowering his long, muscular length into a hot bath filled with bubbles …

‘Holly!’ she said aloud, bringing her hands to her face and slapping herself lightly. She had to shake off the growing ardour that mental picture had initiated.

Jacob was a guy who needed time and space. He needed patience and kind words. She felt as though he had made some progress out there tonight and the last thing he needed was some husband-hungry woman leaping into his arms and professing her undying love.

Once free of the bathroom, Holly found herself back in what she assumed was Jacob’s bedroom.

The natural tones and unpretentious feel of the room matched the rest of the home. ‘St John’s ace lithograph’ filled an otherwise blank wall above the bed head and bookshelves ran the length of one wall.

This could be her one and only time there and she could not resist soaking up as much of Jacob’s habitat as possible. She ran her fingers along the smooth, clean horizontal planes of the bookshelves. Amongst the numerous books there sat a few photo frames; most housed pictures of Jacob with a thin brunette woman. Holly ran a finger over the girl’s face, assuming it was Anabella. She had the same dark hair and deep hazel eyes and her smile towards her brother was bursting with love.

And between a pair of stout candleholders and a bunch of unused candles sat a pair of much-used boxing gloves in a glass case.

She stopped short at this last item, staring at the rough, rounded surfaces with their numerous cracks, bruises and stains. Looking closer, she even thought she could make out splatters of dried blood on the knuckle of the right hand. A chill ran down her spine as her mind clouded with a flash of images of how those marks and scrapes would have been achieved. She knew exactly what it took for a pair of well-worn boxing gloves to look like that.

Then she remembered that Jacob was the man who had organised those dangerous boxing bouts for his employees to ‘enjoy’. She found it hard reconciling her memory of the antagonistic, commanding, condescending man of that night with the astute, intriguing, reflective man on the other side of the door.

But they were one and the same.

Jacob, whom Ben and Beth considered a close and worthy friend, who worried for his little sister, and who had unsuspectingly captured Holly’s heart was the same ruthless and unfettered Jacob Lincoln of Lincoln Holdings.

The clink of china from the dining room jolted Holly from her puzzled reverie. Having no idea how long she had been snooping, she decided it was time to leave.

On her way to the door she passed a chest of drawers. Her mind reeling to a conversation she’d had with Beth a few days before, Holly turned back and opened the top drawer. She stared at the contents for a long moment before shutting the drawer quietly.

‘Definitely time to go home,’ she whispered aloud as she walked out of the room.