The Secret Passion of Twins
A Short Story
By
Jacqueline Howett
Elivlio Publishing © Copyright Jacqueline Howett 2011
Smashwords Edition.
DEL MAR BEACH
It was passing midnight. Ryan Dawson looked at his watch when he heard Brenda and Owen from the drawing room drive up through the court yard to the front of the house. It was a hot night. The windows to the drawing room were wide open. He walked over to the windows and took in the fresh air while he watched his son Owen kiss Brenda goodnight, jump out of her metallic grey convertible and throw his jacket over his shoulder. Preoccupied he returned to his desk. He had a lot of work to still do that would keep him up again all hours of the night.
“Call me later-Bye.” said Brenda.
Owen blew her a kiss as Brenda raced away waving her hand enthusiastically in the air.
Ryan Dawson listened to Owen let himself in and rush up the stairs to his room before throwing himself into his work.
Owen threw his jacket down on the bed, kicked off his shoes and socks in a dutiful manner, loosened his tie, opened the balcony doors and stepped outside on the veranda to hear the roar of the ocean and smell the salty air. He watched his mother finish her midnight swim. She had always said a swim each night relaxed her and made her sleep better. She was patting her self dry with the beach towel and was just making for the house when Pat Leighton, her next door neighbor came out of the darkness.
Owen grew excited watching Pat, knowing the twins were back on vacation. The ocean roared as he thought of Cathy who was probably sleeping or writing her novels in the house next to him, or sitting on the porch in her wheel chair watching the ocean.
He wondered of that day their relationship had ended after her being paralyzed in the car crash five years ago. He had done what she wanted a year ago and started dating Brenda. He still had feelings for Cathy but she wouldn’t respond to his affections after the crash. Cathy’s words echoed in his mind. ‘Find some other women and make a life for yourself’. As he watched Pat, it spooked him sometimes seeing Pat in this way as Cathy. They looked and acted exactly alike. If it wasn’t for the fact Cathy was in a wheelchair, he found it hard knowing the twins apart.
“Oh Pat, you startled me.” Sylvia Dawson was breathing heavily.
“How was it, Mrs. Dawson? Pat smiled.
“Oh it’s really nice. The water is like having a bath at this time of the night. You should try it.”
Pat took out her cigarettes from the pocket of her white shirt and lit one.
“Oh you know me, I only swim at sunrise.”
“So you’re out for an evening walk?”
“Yeah, it’s such a beautiful evening.”
Sylvia Dawson noticed Pat’s radiant beauty shine in the light of the full moon.
“How are you enjoying your vacation so far?”
Pat smiled, nodding, “Good, Mrs. Dawson.”
“And Cathy how is she?”
“She’s fine. I just got her settled into bed. She’s just recovered from the last operation she had on her legs. The Physical therapist still gives her a work out, but I don’t think she’ll want to go through any more of that again.”
The look that transpired between them was understood nothing much had changed with her twin sister being paralyzed.
“Yeah it’s a nice change for both of us to get away from the routine of doctors and the helpers that come in, back in Maryland.
“You have really grown up Pat since you were last here.” She smiled with approval. “Well, you have both arrived just in time for my party I’m having on Saturday. I’ll expect to see you both there around eight. We’ll have some fun.”
“Okay. Sounds great! Thank you Mrs. Dawson.”
“Call me Sylvia. I have to go out of town for a couple of days tomorrow, so I’ll see you when I get back hopefully on Saturday.”
“Sounds like you got another shoot.”
“Yes.”
Pat flicked her cigarette and strolled along.”
“Don’t forget the party now on Saturday.”
“Okay, we’ll be there, Sylvia,” said Pat.
Owen watched his mother towel dry her hair and climb the steps that led to the back porch. She looked up.
“Hi honey, did you have a nice dinner out with Brenda?”
“Yes Ma.”
“Well, the twins are back.”
Owen nodded.
“I invited them both to my party on Saturday. I have to be up early in the morning. I’ll be back on Saturday to prepare for the party. Your father will be busy in his study, so try not to disturb him.
“Okay.”
“Goodnight.” She blew her son a kiss.
“Goodnight.”
Owen lit a cigarette, and leaning over the balcony rail he listened to his mother climb the stairs to her room and hit the showers when his cell phone went. It was Brenda. He didn’t feel like picking up. His emotions went haywire whenever the twins were around. He watched Pat walk down the beach. He felt nothing for Brenda right now. It bugged him knowing it was a feeling he noticed he had been having lately. He stubbed his cigarette out and decided he would tell Brenda it was over. When his cell phone went off again, he looked at her name and turned his cell phone off. The ocean roared. He changed into his shorts as if taken by some trance and made his way down to the beach and sat in the sand and stared into the reflection on the waters from the full moon.
Pat had two more weeks of her vacation time left and intended to make the most of it before returning to Maryland. It wasn’t often she got to the West coast to air the rooms to her parents vacation house her self. She wondered about Mrs. Dawson and her exciting life. Then she thought of her sister. These holidays really brought her back to life to just sit out on the porch and watch the ocean from her wheel-chair. Pat missed her parents and began to remember them again here on this beach before their death in the car accident and her play with Cathy in high spirits before her accident, laughing, running and chasing through the sand. Her usual guilt surged up inside her for being the only one unscathed by the car accident. If only she hadn’t quarreled with her father on the day of the accident and ran off the way she did, they wouldn’t have been trying to look for her and they might still be alive, and Cathy wouldn’t be crippled. Ever since that day she stopped having a life, and felt it her duty to look after Cathy.
These thoughts subsided as quickly as they came. Usually these thoughts took up the whole of her vacation time, but she noticed her guilt feelings were not as strong as they use to be. She had changed. I guess I have grown up. On her walk back up the beach, Owen was sitting in the sand looking into the roar of the ocean. Owen turned, smiled and looked up at Pat who stood in front of him. He captured her twinkle. It was the same as Cathy’s. The light of the moon shone on shoulder length blonde hair. Pat blushed slightly.
“Good to see you back Pat.”
Good to see you too, Owen.” She noticed he had a far away look in his eye. His rippling tanned muscles made her quiver for a moment until she thought of Cathy. She sat down beside him and looked where he looked into the roar of the ocean where the full moon shone on the water.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” said Owen. He turned to look at her face.
“Yes.”
He noticed as if for the first time a certain radiance glow in her. His eyes followed the outline of her splendor body. Her breasts were shaped like Cathy’s. He wondered if it was Pat who had really turned him on, or if this was still a special feeling he was picking up about him self maybe, still loving Cathy.
“How’s Cathy?” asked Owen.
“She is still the same. Yea, she’s good. Come by for breakfast if you want, she would love to see you again Owen.”
“Okay.”
For a moment or two they both sat in silence watching the reflection of the full moon on the water.
Pat lit a cigarette, laid her head back in the sand and looked at the stars, and had managed to forget her self for a moment.
Owen began to take in the characteristics of the twins. Cathy never smoked. Owen turned around facing her and leaned on his elbow, and then took the cigarette from out of her lips and kissed her. Mesmerized by the moment, she eagerly responded hungry to fulfill their need for love. It was so many years since a man had kissed her, that she had forgotten Owen was once Cathy’s boyfriend before the accident. He was always just the boy next door to her. But right now his warmth and penetrating muscles against hers, whirled her senseless. Owen had evoked wild passions to surface that had been sleeping in her for so long. Suddenly she thought of Cathy and grew scared and confused. She wondered if Owen thought he was kissing Cathy, or was this Cathy’s secret longing. As twins they felt almost everything the same but didn’t admit to so much any more now they were older. Pat fought with Owen to set her free, but Owen held her hands down in the sand to catch her gaze. He smiled down at her. She surrendered slightly.
“Pat.” He whispered.
They looked at each other with a longing and a new realization with how they felt for each other. Pat struggled to pull herself free. Owen politely released her. Lost in her orbit he watched her run up the beach to her house.
The next morning the sun light shined through the open window and the sound of the ocean hitting against the waters edge was refreshing, beckoning playful spirits while Pat brushed Cathy’s hair in her bedroom mirror.
“I can’t wait to have a swim this morning. Pat smiled at Cathy in the mirror. “I saw Owen’s Mother last night on the beach. She still takes her midnight swims. Well, she invited us to her party on Saturday. I hope your going to be up to it Cathy?”
“Oh-I’ll be up to it. Somehow, coming back here this summer has made me feel about things a little differently.”
“Oh, how’s that?”
“Five years in this wheel chair, that’s how. Well, life really is to short. I have realized I can’t brood forever. I seem to appreciate what you are doing for me when we come here. I just want us to really start having some fun, especially you. You deserve a little happiness now in your life. I want to see you meet some guys at the party, even if it’s just Owen.
Cathy took pleasure in Pat’s expression. “Owen I have noticed makes you laugh, and well you’re comfortable around him. Really Pat, I have no more feelings for him, so feel free to take him away from that spoilt brat Brenda if you want, she don’t deserve him. That’s if they’re still together. Who knows I might meet a man myself at the party just for some fun, and dam this wheel-chair. Just for that evening I shall have someone else push me around. I hope you understand we can’t always be seen glued to each other. I’ll call one of the care giving agencies just for the night.”
“You know Cathy, its so refreshing to hear you talk that way.”
“Well it true, isn’t it?” Cathy grabbed the hair brush from Pat’s hand and placed it on the dresser. “Oh I know I have been preoccupied with writing my novels, and I can see I’ll have to put them more on the back burner while I start socializing more.”
Pat’s face began to glow. “You know, Cathy, you sound so much happier inside. I wasn’t quite sure how you still felt about Owen. Oh I know you have hinted every now and then you hadn’t anymore feelings for him, but sometimes I wondered.”
“Well now you know. Yes, I’m quite ready, believe-me, for a new challenge and with seeing different men around me on this vacation.”
“I so admire you Cathy.” Her face lit up. “You’re strong.”
“Yea, there’s not much I can do in that department, but I’m looking forward to intellectualizing with some fresh faces around here.” Cathy gazed up and down at Pat in the mirror, admiring her trim, shapely figure. “You look nice in your green bikini?” said Cathy.
Pat smiled back.
“Pink lipstick, I think.” Pat carefully applied lipstick to Cathy’s lips. “Owen might come by for breakfast this morning. I saw him on the beach last night and I told him to pass on by this morning and join us if he liked.”
There was energy inside Pat at her mentioning his name. Pat wondered for a moment if her sister had any real feelings still for him, which she thought she still might be picking up, but she convinced herself they were genuinely only her own feelings surfacing about Owen. For a moment she felt spellbound remembering his kiss last night.
Cathy pressed her lips together to even out the color in the mirror. “It will be good seeing Owen again, how did he look?”
“Handsome as ever, more muscle tone and you should see his tan.” They both giggled. There was a hidden joy in both of them as Owen swam around in their minds.
Pat applied some blush to Cathy’s cheeks and continued to hide her own emotions. She sensed Cathy feeling her out. They paused in the mirror at Cathy’s reflection for a moment. She watched her sister touch up her own hair with her palms for perfection, and continued to feel surprised by her overwhelming feelings for Owen, and so openly in front of her sister. It stunned her in how she felt no guilt for last night right now, but rather happiness and a peace with her sister looking on.
Cathy reached out for her notebook and pens on the dresser and placed them in her lap. Being paralyzed from the waist down didn’t stop her accomplishing movement in her arms or using her imagination for her writings. She was still an accomplished published author.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
Cathy sighed heavily with satisfaction before smiling up at Pat one last time in the mirror, and then composed herself to allow her to wheel her out to the patio and up to the breakfast table where she placed her books and pens on a side table for easy reach.
Pat walked to the kitchen and returned with some bread rolls, butter, jelly and orange juice on a tray and they started on them immediately. Cathy breathed in the fresh morning sea air, looked at the sun rising higher in a blue sky, and noticed there wasn’t a cloud to be seen.
“What a beautiful morning. You know Pat, I really love coming to Del Mar with you. It’s the only real time we get to spend alone with each other without the fuss of the cook, nurse and caregivers around me.”
“Coffee-coming up,” said Pat, pausing to greet Cathy’s enthusiasm, and then left for the kitchen.
Cathy began to relax more and eased into her thoughts with what she might be writing today as the sun warmed her soul. The waters ebb flowed in harmony with her spirit.
Pat returned with coffee, poured her self and Cathy a cup and then sat down listening to the sound of the oceans roar. She sighed deeply as she took in the fresh air.
“Mmm, is this good? You know, I think I’m ready for a swim now.”
She jumped up and grabbed last nights towel hanging out that had dried from off the patio.
“Go for it.” Pat took another roll and placed butter and jelly on it. Pat poured Cathy some more coffee.
“I’ll cook us some eggs when I get back.”
“Okay.”
“You okay?”
Cathy nodded, and with her lips still pierced she gave off an encouraging half smile before taking another bite of her bread roll.
Carefully she watched Pat walk down the three wooden steps into the sand. When Pat’s feet landed in the sand she felt something happening inside her. All at once she felt at peace with her twin’s soul, and each stride she took into the sand towards the ocean, she knew it was herself inside her sister’s body while she walked along a stretch of beach. She never felt so alive like she did this morning. It was as if she was living in a waking dream, watching herself walking and swimming in place of her twin sister.
Her Owen, the man she loved was coming up the beach toward her. Cathy’s face glowed with excitement, and knocked her head back with a giggle.
She knew when he saw Pat, that he thought it was her. Owen dived into the water and swam toward her. Cathy knew her rekindled romance with Owen was just about to begin. If it was unawares to Pat, she could look on happily at her own love developing through the eyes of her twin sister. She picked up her notes and knew what she was going to write in her journal today. The Secret Passion of Twins.
They splashed water at each other and laughed at the challenge. Owen went under water and grabbed her legs. She screamed, only to return to duck his head under when she resurfaced.
The End
Jacqueline Howett is the author of the novel, The Greek Seaman and Amorphous Angelic, Selected Poems. She has written numerous short stories, plays, novellas, and has several more novels and short stories on the way. Her next novel Cass, she hopes to publish in the winter of 2010 or early 2011. Jacqueline is also a Fine abstract artist.
To know more about her publishing updates, please visit her Blog website: http://jacquelinehowett.blogspot.com
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