Society Wives: Secret Lives. Patricia Kay

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      “The only opinions that matter to me are my family’s,” Jack told him.

      His father nodded and they continued to walk in silence. Yet his father’s words reminded him of the blackmail note he’d found in his pocket a week ago. He’d dismissed it and would do so again, he admitted. But listening to his father’s warnings now made him wonder who the author had been. He’d learned from Lily that it had been Bunny Baldwin who had given her the ticket to the ball. As the publisher of the Eastwick Social Diary and a maven for gossip, he wouldn’t have put it past Bunny to have discovered that he was the father of Lily’s baby. But the blackmail note had shown up after Bunny was dead, and unless Bunny’s ghost had decided to shake him down for cash, it had to be someone else.

       Maybe someone Bunny had told?

      Jack frowned. The note had appeared while he was at Abby Talbot’s home. Abby was Bunny’s daughter and the pair had been close. It was conceivable that Bunny had told Abby. Despite the fact that Bunny had always spoken highly of this counselor named Lily Miller, the scandal would have been hard for Bunny to ignore. In fact, it was just the sort of dirt that filled the pages of the Diary.

      He recalled how distraught Abby had been following her mother’s death. Too distraught to execute a blackmail plan, he reasoned. Besides, Abby simply didn’t strike him as a blackmailer. Her husband, Luke, was another matter. An image of Luke on the day of the funeral, slipping away and disappearing into another part of the house, coming outdoors to speak on his cell phone, came to mind. While the fellow was pleasant enough, there was something different about him—something that Jack couldn’t quite put his finger on. The man had always struck him as a loner, but it went beyond that. Luke Talbot was … secretive. Maybe Abby had repeated what Bunny had told her to Luke in pillow talk. For that matter, Abby could easily have mentioned it to the Debs Club.

      Jack thought about the five women given the nickname by the country club years ago. They were a close bunch and they had all been at the black-and-white ball. If Bunny had told Abby about him and Lily, Abby could have easily mentioned it to her friends at one of their luncheons. He thought about the other four women now—Emma Dearborn, Mary Duvall, Vanessa Thorpe and Felicity Farnsworth. All of them had been at Abby’s house following the funeral. As he thought about the violet-eyed Emma Dearborn, he couldn’t see her as a blackmailer. The woman had her own money. She had a successful art gallery and she was engaged to Reed Kelly. Where was the motive? As for Mary Duvall, the one-time wild child of the Duvall family had undergone a metamorphosis since her grandfather David’s stroke. She’d become devoted to the older man—hardly the actions of a blackmailer.

      That left Vanessa Thorpe and Felicity Farnsworth. Stuart’s death had left his much younger wife, Vanessa, set for life. He could see no reason for the petite blonde to resort to blackmail. And as for Felicity Farnsworth. He had heard she’d had financial troubles following her divorce a number of years back. But from all accounts her wedding-planning business was doing great. If the lady was the blackmailer, she certainly didn’t act like one.

      “You think Lily knows what a hornet’s nest your marriage and her pregnancy are going to stir up?”

      “She’s a smart woman. I’m sure she has an idea,” Jack told him.

      “You’re probably right. But whispers and innuendos … they tend to be harder on a female. How do you think she’ll handle it?”

      “She’s a strong woman. She won’t let a little gossip bother her.”

      “I sure hope you’re right, son. Because the way I see it, she’s going to get the brunt of the talk and she’s the one who’s going to have to do most of the adjusting.”

      “Marriage is going to be an adjustment for both of us,” Jack pointed out.

      “True. But it’s going to be her life that has to change the most. She’s going to suddenly be a wife, a mother and have to take on the Cartwright mantle practically all at once. That’s a tough assignment for any woman.”

      “I’m going to do everything I can to make the transition easier for her,” he assured his father. “But like I said, Lily’s a smart and strong woman. She’s not going to let a few wagging tongues bother her.”

      “Take it from a man who’s seen his wife through three pregnancies, it doesn’t matter how smart or strong a woman is, when she’s carrying a baby, you’re dealing with a whole other woman.”

      “I’ll remember that.”

      His father fell silent. He said nothing for a long time as they continued to walk. But Jack knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t finished. Whatever else he had to say, he would do so in his own time.

      John took another puff on the cigar and as they approached the stream, he asked, “I ever tell you about the first time I met your mother?”

      “She said you met at a dance,” Jack responded.

      “It was at the military ball actually. I was a college senior and captain of my ROTC unit and she came with her cousin, Bess. I thought I was pretty hot stuff back then. And the truth is, I was. I had more than my share of dates and was in no hurry to settle down,” he continued as they stopped on the bridge that spanned the stream. “Then I saw your mother. There she was standing in the doorway—this slip of a girl in a long white dress with hair the color of coffee and sparkling green eyes. I took one look at her and it hit me.”

      “What hit you?”

      “The Italians call it the lightning bolt. And I guess that’s as good a way to describe it as any. Because I felt this jolt to my system. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. And I knew right then and there that she was the one for me, that she was the woman I was going to marry.”

      As he listened to his father, Jack couldn’t help thinking about his own reaction to Lily the first time he’d seen her. There had been something about her that he hadn’t been able to resist, too. And the truth was he hadn’t been able to forget her either. Even with the shock of learning about the baby, the pull was still there.

      “Unfortunately, your mother didn’t feel quite the same way and it took me a while to convince her that I was the right man for her,” his father added.

      “How did you manage that?”

      “I gave her some space and time to figure out for herself what she wanted. Once I took off the pressure, she realized what she wanted was me.” He paused, looked at him. “I got the impression that Lily isn’t quite as sure as you are about this marriage.”

      “She isn’t,” Jack admitted and the truth was that while he knew marrying was the right thing to do for the baby’s sake, he had his own misgivings. “But unlike you, I can’t give Lily the time to figure out that marriage to me is the right thing.” Because if he gave her time, he wasn’t at all sure she wouldn’t change her mind.

      Four

      Maybe Jack had been right. They should have simply gone to the justice of the peace’s office, Lily thought as she sat at the table in the Cartwrights’ library. How did something that sounded so simple become so complicated? Once Sandra Cartwright had reached Felicity Farnsworth, the wedding planner had offered to come right over with books, pictures and everything needed to plan her wedding.

       Her wedding.

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