CHAPTER TWENTY

 

The silence in the van was heavy. Diana was trying to avoid looking at Robert. His hands were so tightly clenched around the steering wheel that his knuckles were pale. The rutted road got more rocky and difficult to navigate. Had it not been for the red flag in the center, they would have driven into a wide crack in the road.

“We have to swim through that,” Robert muttered, clenching his teeth.

“I can’t believe this,” Diana sighed, exasperated.

“Well, we were warned that the rain could leave stretches of the road impassable,”

Robert said, looking at her gently.

“So is there another route to this place,” Diana said, gazing at him without a smile.

He shrugged. “I am new to this parish, remember? Maybe you should check the map and see.”

She gazed at the map and then shoved it at him. “I can’t do this anymore.”

Robert took the map from her and scanned it. “We may have to turn back from here and take it from the Montego Bay end, which means it could take us another two hours or so just to backtrack.”

“Maybe I should do this another time,” Diana mumbled, “and get Floyd to take me.”

Robert looked at her exasperatedly. “Why are you treating me like a leper? I said I will see this through with you, and I will. I am going to be with you every step of the way.”

“I don’t want to see you again until all this is sorted out,” Diana said through clenched teeth. “You are possibly the very sibling I am most anxious to see. My God, do you think this is easy for me. I feel so…so…dirty.”

“You are overreacting,” Robert said as he caressed her hand. She pulled it away and gazed at the clump of trees at the side of the road.

“Diana, you promised that we would sort this thing out and not jump to conclusions, remember?”

“I thought we were going to sort it out today,” Diana said, turning back to him, tears welling in her eyes. “I had no idea that it would be tomorrow or whenever. Now I have to go home to sit and contemplate that all these signs may be pointing to you and me being related,” she said with a shudder. “It is going to haunt me. All those times we spent together are going to haunt me.”

Robert closed his eyes and sighed. “I don’t feel like your brother. I know in my heart that I am not your…”

“Stop!” Diana shouted. “Just stop! Our ages are right, the circumstances are glaring, and the bond that we developed was unusually intense. Just stop.”

“Maybe we should try this again tomorrow,” said Robert.

Diana shook her head. “I promised Aunt Phillipa that I would teach her to use Floyd’s computer. She has this fear of it, and I haven’t really had time for her since you and I…um…Anyway, I promised, and besides, I also scheduled a meeting with Derrick for tomorrow.”

And I don’t want the confirmation that we are related as yet, she added to herself.

“I still will take you,” Robert said with a sigh. “Don’t expect that I will chicken out on us, Diana.”

He started the van and spun it around. “So we will do this again in two days…just by another route.”

Diana closed her eyes and nodded. She couldn’t bear thinking about not seeing him again. What did that make her? She didn’t even want to consider it.