The Bachelor. Marie Ferrarella

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ her head. “Do you realize that there are girls who would kill to have your background and opportunities?”

      And if she didn’t, Jenny thought, there was her mother to remind her. Endlessly. To her credit, she didn’t roll her eyes. “By all means, Mother, give it to one of them before someone gets hurt.”

      Elaine drew herself up. “Everything isn’t a joke, Jennifer.”

      “No,” she admitted, although heaven knew both her parents could do with a little more humor in their lives, “but if you smile, you can get through anything.” She leaned forward and brushed a dutiful kiss against her mother’s cheek. “Smile once in a while, Mother. It keeps the lines at bay.” And then, straightening, Jenny took pity on her mother. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m chairing the annual bachelor auction again for the Parents Adoption Network. Some of your society ladies are bound to be there, drooling over the eligible studs who’ll be parading around.”

      Elaine’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t be vulgar, Jennifer. A lady doesn’t drool.”

      Jenny held up an index finger, begging to differ. “A lady doesn’t let anyone see her drool,” she corrected with a grin.

      In the face of undeniable defeat, Elaine squared her shoulders, a determined soldier to the end. “You are impossible.”

      Jenny cocked her head. “Yes, but I love you and you’ve got another one at home to work your magic on.”

      “Jordan doesn’t live at home, Jennifer. He hasn’t for years now. You know that.”

      Her mother had always been a stickler for precision. “Figure of speech, Mother,” she said as she began to close the door.

      Elaine stopped her for one last-minute order. “Eat something.”

      Jenny held up her right hand, taking a solemn oath. “The moment they deliver it,” she promised, then closed the door quickly just in case her mother changed her mind and found something else to criticize. She leaned against it, looking out toward the living room and Cole. “That woman spreads joy whenever she goes.” She sighed, straightening, then walked into the living room. “She doesn’t mean anything by it, Cole. She’s really got a good heart. It’s just hard to find under all those layers of designer clothes and jewels.”

      She glanced through the window. It faced the parking area and she could see her mother getting into her car, assisted by the chauffeur. Jenny tried to remember if she’d ever seen her mother actually driving a car, but couldn’t.

      “It’s true what they say, you know, the rich are different from you and me.” She nodded as if the boy had responded. It was something she did each evening in the hopes that someday she could coax more than a word or two at a time out of him. A precocious little boy, he’d talked all day long—until his mother had died. “Right, I know what you’re thinking. That I’m one of them, but I’m not. You can’t hold the accident of birth against me, you know. I didn’t ask to be part of the elite and I got out as soon as I could.”

      Which was true. She never felt as if she fit into her parents’ world, not really. The girls her mother wanted her to socialize with were so shallow, so vapid. She had more of an affinity for the people she was trying to help, but she didn’t quite fit in their world, either. Jenny sighed quietly. There were times that she felt like a fish with feet. She could swim in one world and walk in the other, but fit in neither.

      “The privileged think just that—that it’s a privilege for anyone else to look upon them. They don’t realize that floating from cocktail party to cocktail party around the world doesn’t lead you to discover the true meaning of life.”

      Cole merely went on playing with his imaginary friend as if she hadn’t said anything at all, but she tried to convince herself that the sound of her voice was comforting to him somehow. She remembered the boy he had been until six months ago, a bright, sunny child who laughed all the time. But he had been very attached to Rachel and her death had hit him very hard.

      Almost right after the funeral, when the death had finally sunk in, he withdrew from the world. He hardly spoke at all, but he screamed in his nightmares, calling for Rachel, pitifully sobbing out “Mommy” over and over again.

      She would rush into his room and hold him until he’d fallen back asleep again, her own heart breaking. Someday, Jenny promised herself, someday, she was going to reach him. Until then, she would go on being there for Cole.

      Jenny glanced at the kitchen table where the file she’d brought home lay spread out, covering every square inch of surface. She was in the middle of a court battle on behalf of Miguel Ortiz. If she won, it would go a long way to easing the man’s life. It would never, barring a miracle, put him back on his feet again, or free him from the endless pain he’d been subjected to ever since a highly respected and highly inebriated surgeon had worked less than magic on his spine, but it would pay for Miguel’s bills and allow the man to regain some measure of self-respect.

      They were getting closer to the end now. For the last five weeks, she’d done nothing but eat, sleep and breathe the case, but she needed to steal a little time for herself. And she could think of nothing better than creating a tiny island of time where she could share herself with the one person who truly mattered to her. Cole.

      Bending over, she gathered the towhead into her arms and drew him close as she stood up again. Jenny kissed the top of the boy’s head.

      “Don’t you worry about what the Wicked Witch of the West said. I’ll always be here to take care of you. You and me against the world, kid, right?” He raised his head to look at her with Rachel’s soft green eyes, his expression never changing. “Of course right,” she murmured softly. “C’mon, we’ll order that pizza and then I’ll read you a story. I think we both need to unwind after that surprise visit.”

      In her heart, she knew her mother meant well. For that matter, both of her parents did. But there was no way she was going to give up any part of her life. She loved being a champion for people who had all but lost hope. And she loved Cole. More than anything, she wanted to be a mother to him.

      If there was a part of her life that didn’t feel quite right, that felt as if there was something missing, like a supportive prince to turn to in times when her spirits flagged and she desperately needed bolstering, well, whose life was perfect anyway? Hers was close to it as far as she was concerned, and that was enough.

      Juggling the child and the phone, she placed her call to the local pizza parlor. On a first-name basis with most of the people who worked there, she asked Angelo for an extra large pizza with extra cheese and three kinds of meat. He promised to deliver it within the half hour.

      “There,” she told Cole, hanging up, “that should hold us.”

      Going to the small bookcase in the corner, she selected a book she knew was a favorite of Cole’s and sat down in the oversized recliner. She took a moment to nestle Cole on her lap and then started reading.

      Slowly, the tension began to drain out of her.

      “C’mon, it’ll be fun,” Jordan Hall urged his best friend, Eric Logan.

      He had to raise his voice in order to be heard over the rhythmic whack of the handball as it bounced against the far wall in the exclusive gym where they both had a membership. He and Eric were evenly matched and he had to concentrate in order not to lose the game. Not an easy feat when he was preoccupied with subtly laying the foundations of a plan.

СКАЧАТЬ