The Season Of Love: Beloved. Diana Palmer

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      “Why are you so bitter?” Harry wanted to know. “For God’s sake, you can’t think she didn’t try to change him? He should have told her the truth before he married her, not let her find it out that way!”

      Simon was puzzled. “Find what out?”

      Jill glared at Simon, but he made a motion for her to wait another minute and turned back to Harry. “Find what out?” he repeated curtly.

      “That John was homosexual, of course,” Harry said, puzzled.

      The blood drained out of Simon’s face. He stared down at the older man with dawning comprehension.

      “She didn’t tell you?” Harry asked gently. He sighed and shook his head. “That’s like her, though. She wanted to preserve your illusions about John, even if it meant sacrificing your respect for her. She couldn’t tell you, I guess. I can’t blame her. If he’d only been able to accept what he was…but he couldn’t. He tried so hard to be what he thought I wanted. And he never seemed to understand that I’d have loved him regardless of how he saw his place in the world.”

      Simon turned away, his eyes finding Tira across the room. She wouldn’t meet his gaze. She turned her back. He felt the pain right through his body.

      “Dear God!” he growled when he realized what he’d done.

      “Don’t look like that,” Harry said gently. “John made his own choice. It was nobody’s fault. Maybe it was mine. I should have seen that he was distraught and done something.”

      Simon let out a breath. He was sick right to his soul. What a fool he’d been.

      “She should have told you,” Harry was saying. “You’re a grown man. You don’t need to be protected from the truth. She was always like that, even with John, trying to protect him. She’d have gone on with the marriage if he hadn’t insisted on a divorce.”

      “I thought…she got the divorce.”

      “He got it, in her name, and cited mental cruelty.” He shrugged. “I don’t think he considered how it might look to an outsider. It made things worse for him. He only did it to save her reputation. He thought it would hurt her publicly if he made it look like she was at fault.” He glanced at Simon. “That was right after your wreck and she was trying to take care of you. He thought it might appear as if she was having an affair with you and he found out. It might have damaged both of you in the public eye.”

      His teeth clenched. “I never touched her.”

      “Neither did John,” Harry murmured heavily. “He couldn’t. He cried in my arms about it, just before he saw an attorney. He wanted to love her. He did, in his way. But it wasn’t in a conventional way at all.”

      Simon pushed back a strand of dark, wavy hair that had fallen on his brow. He was sweating because the gallery was overheated.

      “Are you all right?” Harry asked with concern.

      “I’m fine.” He wasn’t. He’d never be all right again. He glanced toward Tira with anguish in every line of his face. But she wouldn’t even look at him.

      Jill, sensing some problem, came back to join him, sliding her hand into his arm. “Aren’t you ready? We’ll miss the curtain.”

      “I’m ready,” he said. He looked down at her and realized that here was one more strike against him. He was giving aid and comfort to Tira’s worst enemy in the city. He’d done it deliberately, of course, to make her even more uncomfortable. But that was before he knew the whole truth. Now he felt guilty.

      “Hello. I’m Jill Sinclair. Have we met?” she asked Harry, smiling.

      “No, we haven’t. I’m—”

      “We have to go,” Simon said abruptly. He didn’t want to add any more weapons to Jill’s already full arsenal by letting Harry tell her about John, too. “See you, Harry.”

      “Sure. Good night.”

      “Who was that?” Jill asked Simon as they went toward the door.

      “An old friend. Just a minute. There’s something I have to do.”

      “Simon…!”

      “I won’t be a minute,” he promised, and caught one of the gallery’s salespeople alone long enough to make a request. She seemed puzzled, but she agreed. He went back to Jill and escorted her out of the gallery, casting one last regretful look toward Tira, who was speaking to a group of socialites at the back of the gallery.

      “Half the works are sold already,” Jill murmured. “I guess she’ll make a fortune.”

      “She’s donating it all to charity,” he replied absently.

      “She can afford to. It will certainly help her image and, God knows, she needs that right now.”

      He glanced at her. “That isn’t why.”

      She shrugged. “Whatever you say, darling. Brrrr, I’m cold! Christmas is week after next, too.” She peered up at him. “I hope you got me something pretty.”

      “I wouldn’t count on it. I probably won’t be in town for Christmas,” he said not quite truthfully.

      She sighed. “Oh, well, I might go and spend the holidays with my aunt in Connecticut. I do love snow!”

      She was welcome to all she could find of it, he thought. His heart already felt as if he were buried in snow and ice. He knew that Harry’s revelation would keep him awake all night.

      Tira watched Simon leave with Jill. She was glad he’d gone. Perhaps now she could enjoy her show.

      Lillian was giving her strange looks and when Harry came to say goodbye, he looked rather odd, too.

      “What’s wrong?” she asked Harry.

      He started to speak and thought better of it. Let Simon tell her what he wanted her to know. He was tired of talking about the past; it was too painful.

      He smiled. “It’s a great show, kiddo, you’ll make a mint.”

      “Thanks, Harry. I had fun doing it. Keep in touch, won’t you?”

      He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “You know I will. How’s Charlie?”

      “His brother-in-law had a heart attack. He’s not doing well.”

      “I’m really sorry. Always liked Charlie. Still do.”

      “I’ll tell him you asked about him,” she promised.

      He smiled at her. “You do that. Keep well.”

      “You, too.”

      By the end of the evening, Tira was calmer, despite the painful memory of her argument with Simon’s and Jill’s catty remarks. She could just picture СКАЧАТЬ