The Reluctant Bride by Anne Marie Duquette Page A

I’ll always be a photographer.” She paused, then asked a more difficult question in return. “Do you think you could give up having children? Could you be happy with it just being us?”
    â€œIt’d be hard,” he echoed. “Especially if you intend to go chasing after your mother.”
    â€œEven if she’s alive?”
    â€œI know you, Karinne. You’ll want to make up lost years if she is.”
    Karinne couldn’t deny it.
    â€œNo matter what happens, you’ll have to choose between your parents and me,” Max said finally. “If that’s too much for you, then when this trip is over, you accept that we’re done. We’ll be civilized adults, okay?”
    Karinne thought of the unsatisfactory lovemaking they’d just shared. Max was right. They couldn’t live the rest of their lives this way.
    â€œOkay.”
    Â 
    T HE NEXT MORNING dawned clear and sunny, but Karinne had no heart for the beauty of the day, the canyon or the river. Nor did she have any enthusiasm for the three sets of rapids the raft entered once they left Cardenas Creek. She felt physically dull and emotionally heartbroken, so much so that Cory spoke to her once they got to Mile 77, start of the Upper Granite Gorge.
    â€œKarinne, what’s wrong?” he asked.
    She pushed her wet, straggling hair out of her face. “I didn’t sleep well last night.” In her peripheral vision she saw Max lift his head sharply, but couldn’t meet his gaze. She determinedly studied the pink of the mica and the milky white of the quartz, crystallized Precambrian rock glistening in the sun.
    â€œWake up,” Max said harshly. “These gorge walls narrow substantially. They’ll constrict the river and drastically speed up the current. We’ll be hitting three sets of rapids with very little breathing space all the way to Phantom Ranch.”
    â€œHow little breathing space?” Anita asked.
    â€œTwo sets of rapids before we clear Creek Canyon at mile 84, then another set before we reach the Kaibab Trail.”
    Unaccountably, Karinne felt like bursting into tears. Instead, she concentrated on keeping herself safe and managed to control her emotions. By the end of the longest day of her life, they finally got to Phantom Ranch. Karinne was relieved when Cory checked them in at the front desk. Outside, the shadows lengthened from one canyon wall to the other and covered the rustic lodge near the north side of the river. Close to Bright Angel Creek lay a tent campground for the hardier tourists. Various watercraft were docked for the night. The mules in the corrals were already eating a well-deserved dinner. Inside, other sight-seers headed for semiprivate bunking areas or the men’s and women’s dormitories. The brothers had secured a private cabin, which, unlike the dorms, had its own sink, toilet and bathing area.
    Karinne wasn’t looking forward to putting on a cheerful face with the other three in such close quarters. Max had managed to act like his usual self, but Karinne wasn’t having as easy a time. How could Max throw away everything they’d shared?
    Along with the grief and anguish, she felt anger. Max had no right to use Margot as a reason for ending their engagement. He could’ve been indirectly responsible for Margot’s death, if she truly was dead. What if Margot had been able to see Karinne that fateful day? What if the sight of her loving daughter could have wiped out whatever dark thoughts and deeds she carried within? Max couldn’t be correct about a proposed kidnapping. Margot would never take her away from her father. As for a murder-suicide, Karinne didn’t believe that, either.
    But she couldn’t mull over these ideas, couldn’t cry orrave about them. She had to share a tiny cabin with three other people, one of them her ex-fiancé.
    â€œAt least we won’t have to use the dorm’s communal