Читать книгу The Bride's Best Man - Judy Christenberry, Judy Christenberry - Страница 8

“There’s a fine line between right and wrong. I hope we’re coming in on the right side,” Shelby Cook said, navigating through an Internet travel site. “Do you think it looks bad for us to go on a vacation so soon after we buried my mother?”

“She hasn’t actually been your mother for the past ten years, honey, and you know that. Even so, you did what was necessary for her.” Kay leaned back and closed her eyes, hoping to stop any further questions from her niece and soon-to-be traveling companion.

Though she was an honest person by nature, Kay Cook was participating in a deceit that she hoped would not ruin everything. She’d had this plan for some time now, and she simply had to follow her heart and head, in synch on this issue.

Shelby wasn’t deterred. “I’m glad you helped me to keep a relationship with Mom. I realized she was a sad person, especially after her second marriage failed.”

“You were the one bright spot in her life. That’s why I encouraged her to come see you. As long as there was no man involved, she was fine.”

“Is that why my father left?”

Shelby’s question took her by surprise. Kay turned to face her and tried not to let the emotion show on her face. “Y-your father? You haven’t ever mentioned him.”

“I know. Mom always got hysterical if I asked about him when I was little.” She looked down and shrugged. “It was only as I got older and saw her with a man in her life that I thought the problem might not have only been my father’s, as she’d told me.”

“So you wanted to meet him?”

“No, not really. After all, I’ve managed for most of my life without him. And, obviously, he hasn’t suffered any pangs of regret or he would’ve contacted me.”

“I see.” Kay reached across her and clicked on a beachfront hotel. “Who knows? Maybe that’ll change.”