Consequences

Part 38

Ryan and Charlie were desperate to meet Isabelle Sojour-D'Sa, for different reasons! Ryan was intrigued by the fact his laconic brother appeared to spend a fair amount of time just recently grinning to himself. Charlie, had her journalistic nose twitching. She was tempted to see if she could persuade Doug's 'girl friend' to maybe do an interview.

But despite their best intentions, Ryan and Charlie arrived at Doug's place a few seconds after Isabelle. She had dressed casually, but smartly for this dinner. Doug thought she looked beautiful. Chic and classy. Everything his previous girl friends have not been. But then, he tended not to go for those from the upper echelons of society. Never thought he'd have anything in common with them. How wrong was he? Doug grinned. It was something he had found himself doing a lot in recent days. He couldn't wait for Ryan and Charlie to meet Isabelle.

Doug had only just taken Isabelle's coat and explained she was the first to arrive when the doorbell rang again.

"Good to see you are all prompt." Doug told his brother dryly, knowing how rare that was and knowing how keen Charlie and Ryan were to meet Isabelle.

Ryan didn't want to tell his brother why Charlie was desperate to get to this dinner to meet Isabelle. His pregnant wife had not lost her journalistic tendency, and as far as Charlie was concerned, meeting a Sojour-D'Sa was akin to interviewing a celebrity!

They were half way through the meal when Charlie dropped her innocent question into the conversation.

"You were at the Rayner's party last night, weren't you?" She looked at Isabelle and then Doug. They nodded in unison. Charlie picked up her glass of water and before she took a sip she said, "Cause that idiot Brad Taylor said he saw Isabelle at the docks around midnight. He kept going on about it." Taylor was covering her slot while she was on maternity leave.

"We went to the party but left around ten." Doug told Charlie.

"That was early."

"I'm not a party person." Isabelle said quickly as her pulse raced with anxiety. "I rarely stay long." Isabelle hoped they would move on. She had been to the docks last night. It was where the Shelter was and where she did a couple of late nights each week. Something she had kept private for three years, something she was determined to keep private for various reasons.

"Oh." Charlie couldn't understand that. "I'll tell Taylor he was wrong." She kept her eyes on Isabelle. Isabelle maintained eye contact.

"Doug, did you enjoy the party?" Ryan prodded. He'd been trying to get information from Doug for most of the day and had come up short changed. So Ryan figured that now was a good time to revisit what had happened last night.

Doug shrugged.

"Bet they were all curious." Charlie said.

"A bit."

"Was your sister there?" Charlie asked.

"Which one?" Isabelle asked quietly. She'd have to be careful around Charlie. Given Charlie's colleague had already noticed Isabelle at the docks and given Charlie's journalistic antennae was still in operation.

"Marina?"

"No, Rina is on her honeymoon."

"Oh, yes I forgot. That was quite a wedding bash you guys had." Charlie patted her stomach absently "I wanted to cover it, but my editor said no. I heard the bride looked radiant."

"She did."

"Is she going to carry on working when she returns?"

"Yes."

Doug patted Isabelle's hand, "I did warn you. You can take the girl out of journalism but you can't take the reporter out of the girl!"

Charlie threw Doug a pout, and continued, "I guess Rafe was an old family friend." Charlie prodded and continued with her minor interogation.

Doug laughed. He wondered whether Isabelle would take umbrage at the barrage of questions thrown at her. When Charlie got stuck into something, she was like a Rottweiler.

"Not exactly."

"Oh. I read that Marina had known him for years."

Isabelle laughed. "Yes, but he didn't know her!" When the three others looked at her waiting for more information she explained. "Rina has been in love with Rafe since the first time our parents took her to the spring ball. She was going on sixteen, he was twenty-two. She practically spent all night drooling at a distance. He spent all night dancing with a bevy of beautiful women. He was at medical school, she was still at school"

"Oh."

"Yes. Oh. I think she decided on medicine because of him."

"And it worked."

"In the long run. I know she tried to attract his attention. With disastrous results on many occasions."

"Really?" Charlie's eyes showed avid interest.

"Then our parents died when she was sixteen. And that changed everything. She went from being a child to being a socialite. But in reality, she got her grades and went to med school. She held down two jobs, studied and kept up on the social scene." The pride in Isabelle's voice was clearly heard.

"I'm tired just thinking about it."

Isabelle hesitated then said, "I assume everyone around this table knows we were practically broke for most of the last ten years." She received reticent nods.