Eye of the Beholder

twelve years ago. "We'll be there to ride the wave."
    " I'm not doubting your instincts for this kind of thing." Nathan glanced uneasily at him. "It's just that I have a feeling this property is different from the others for you. The closer we get to the opening, the weirder you get."
    "There's nothing weird about my going down for the official opening of the resort. I go to every opening."
    "Sure, but you don't make plans to hang around for a month or two afterward."
    "You know that I've been thinking that it might be a good idea for me to spend more time in the field." Trask smiled. "What's the point of having an office and an owner's suite at each of the properties if I don't use them once in a while?"
    Nathan swung around abruptly, intelligent eyes narrowed behind the lenses of his glasses. "Let me handle the opening down in Avalon, JL."
    Trask tapped his fingers together very gently as he considered the best way to deal with his brother.
    Nathan had graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in architecture. He was the creative powerhouse responsible for the unique design concepts of each Avalon Resort.
    Their mother, who had died shortly after Nathan was born, had bequeathed not only her artistic flair but also her light brown hair and warm hazel eyes to her youngest son.
    Women considered Nathan good-looking. He had never lacked for dates. But he had been politely oblivious to every woman who had come along until he had fallen like the proverbial ton of bricks for Sarah Howe. The two had been married within four months of meeting each other. Trask had had his reservations, the chief one being that he considered Nathan too young to marry.
    But, then, what did he know about marriage? His own had been a carefully considered decision made with the same attention to detail he applied to all his business affairs. It had proved to be a spectacular failure.
    Nathan and Sarah, however, seemed blissfully happy. Any day now they would become parents.
    Parents. It struck Trask as very strange to think of his little brother becoming a father.
    From out of nowhere, he had a sudden, searing memory of standing with Nathan at Harry's funeral. That was when it had hit him for the first time that Nathan was now his responsibility. It would be his job to make sure that his younger brother had a roof over his head, went to college, and got started in life.
    Trask knew he would never forget the raw fear that had descended on him at that moment. He had just come from the lawyer's office, where it had been explained to him that Harry had died on the brink of bankruptcy. Every major possession left, including the house in Seattle , was in jeopardy.
    With an effort of will, Trask blanked the screen inside his head. He wondered if he should be worried about the fact that the old images were coming back with increasing frequency.
    He had thought that the disturbing mental snapshots had all faded to distant memories. They had not troubled him much in recent years, perhaps because he had been consumed with one major crisis after another. Back at the beginning there had been the basic problem of keeping Nathan and himself afloat financially. Simultaneously he'd had to deal with his brother's grief, as well as his own mixed bag of anger and guilt.
    When the dust had settled after the bankruptcy, he had focused on his long-term goal, the creation of Avalon Resorts, Inc. He'd continued to work construction for a couple of years, the kind of hard, heavy jobs that had financed his and later Nathan's education. And then he'd gone to work for Carrington-Towne. His success with the dynamic hotel conglomerate had helped him launch Avalon Resorts, Inc.
    The business had been a godsend in ways other than financial. It had provided an outlet for the restless energy that burned within him. It had forced the shards of memories to the distant corners of his mind.
    But now the unpleasant pictures were becoming sharper and more vivid again. All of them had one thing in common. They were connected to his father's death.
    He didn't need a shrink to tell him that it was the plan to return to Avalon that was causing the images and the guilt that went with them to flash across the screen in his mind.
    Nathan stared glumly out the window. "I don't like this, JL. I wish you weren't going down there. I've got a bad feeling about it."
    "You know Glenda wants me there. She says she's pulled in a lot of media because of the hotel's art collection, and