Читать книгу His Wedding - Muriel Jensen - Страница 10

Janet congratulated herself on having handled the best-man issue well. Except for the falling-into-the-water part.

“You made him change his mind?” China asked in pleased surprise as Janet walked through the kitchen, heading for the stairs. China, in grubby jeans and shirt, looked as though she’d just come from the orchard, where she’d been working with Campbell since she’d arrived.

Janet and China were both average height and slender, with dark hair and eyes. But China had long hair, while Janet favored a short style that required a minimum of care. Cheerful smiles and carefully tended good looks lent them a similarity in appearance that had made it easy for them to pass as natural sisters. But close friends of Bob and Peggy Grant of Paloma, California, their adoptive parents, knew the girls had come to their home separately.

China’s eyes went over Janet’s shorts, T-shirt and lank hair. “How did your hair get wet? And you bought a new outfit?”

Janet explained about her impromptu dip, then the discussion that followed over coffee and cookies. She left out her insistence that she needed Brian’s help to negotiate the murky waters of social correctness.

China took her arm as they went up the stairs. “He thought we’d be upset if the papers brought up his past?” she asked, incredulous as Janet explained his reluctance to be in the wedding. “It isn’t his fault. And Susannah’s part of this family’s past whether Brian’s involved or not.”

“I know. But he cares a lot about the family, and doesn’t want you to suffer or be embarrassed on his account.”

“Wait till I get a hold of him,” China threatened.

“Easy,” Janet cautioned. “He’s doing what you asked. I wouldn’t scold him if I were you.”

“True. But make sure Campbell doesn’t hear that reason.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

China stopped her at the top of the stairs. “Jan, thanks for doing this. Are you all right? I can’t believe you fell in the water!”

Janet had been hoping her sister would focus more on her heroic accomplishment of getting Brian to agree, rather than her klutzy backward step.

“I’m fine,” she assured her. “And Brian’s going to be here at ten tomorrow morning for the tux fittings.”

China gave her a quick hug. “You are a genius!”

“How many times have I told you that?” Janet teased. “So, how are things in the orchard? Is the Duchess ready for harvest?

The Duchess was the largest tree in the vintage section of the apple orchard. The trees in that area had been a gift from Thomas Jefferson to the early owners of the property. Campbell watched over the entire orchard with great care but devoted particular attention to the old trees.

China had spent almost a month working with him while waiting for Chloe to come home from Paris so that China could take the DNA test to prove she was Abigail Abbott. Killian and Sawyer had been convinced of her honesty, but Campbell had suspected that she was lying.

Killian’s decision that China work on the estate with Campbell in the interim had been intended to help them get acquainted, but they’d disliked each other and warred continually.

Then the DNA test had proved that she wasn’t an Abbott. China had come to Shepherd’s Knoll in the first place because of a box she’d found in the attic of their adoptive father’s home after he’d died. The sisters had been cleaning out the house to put it on the market and found two cardboard storage boxes hidden in the eaves. One had China’s name on the lid and the other Janet’s.

China’s had contained clippings of the Abbott toddler’s kidnap, a pair of rompers made by Abbott Mills and a homemade rag doll.

Janet’s had held a birth certificate and several other things that had led her on a search to Canada while China had come to Losthampton.

When it became clear that China wasn’t Abby, everyone wondered why her box had been filled with clippings about Abby’s abduction. Then Campbell suggested that perhaps the lids of the boxes had been accidentally switched at some point, during one of the times the Grant family had moved, and that the contents might actually be clues to Janet’s family.

China had sent for Janet and her DNA test had proved that Abigail Abbott was finally home. It also allowed the antagonism that had existed between Campbell and China to turn to attraction, since they weren’t related after all and, eventually, to love. Janet was thrilled to have found her family but envied the look in her sister’s eyes.

“The orchard’s coming along nicely. It’s a waiting game at this point. We won’t harvest until sometime in October. We’re even going to get to go on our honeymoon.”

Janet was fascinated by her sister’s adaptation to life at Shepherd’s Knoll. For a woman who’d made a living running a shopping service for other people, who loved going from store to store, mall to mall, checking the Internet for new products and following sales, she’d settled with remarkable ease into this bucolic life.

“How lucky are we that we both belong here?” Janet asked her seriously as they walked down the corridor. “I’m not sure I could have stayed if you’d had to go.” They’d made a deal, when each had set off on her search for her family, that whatever happened, they would remain sisters.

“You’re Chloe’s daughter, the little sister the guys have missed so much. I wouldn’t have let you leave them again.” They stopped at China’s bedroom door. “But, had some writer created this story out of his imagination, it couldn’t have worked out more perfectly for us. Now not only are we sisters, but we’re going to be sisters-in-law. And double aunts to each other’s children!”

China was apparently giddy over Janet’s success with Brian. “I don’t think there’s any such thing,” Janet laughed.

“Well, there should be.”

“We are blessed. Are you finished work already?”

“No. But I saw you coming home and wanted to know what happened. I also wanted you to try on the dress for my wedding. You can wear the one we got for me when I was supposed to be a bridesmaid for Sawyer and Sophie.”

“Ah, yes. In the simpler days before you and Campbell made it a double wedding.” Janet started slowly backward toward her room at the end of the hall. “Okay. I’ll shower quickly and wash my hair again. Brian didn’t have any conditioner,” she added as an aside. “Give me fifteen minutes.”

Janet had Sawyer’s old room on the northwest corner of the second floor. It had a view of the gardens and, in the distance, the hedges that separated Shepherd’s Knoll from its neighbor.

The room was painted a subtle oyster color, and Chloe had redecorated it as a guest room, added a pink-and-white quilt and pink-flowered curtains. Janet had placed a few photographs around and, before leaving California, had shipped home some things she didn’t want to put in storage. They would arrive in a couple of days.

She’d inherited an old maple hope chest that had been her adoptive mother’s, and China had been willed a Boston rocker that had been their paternal grandmother’s.

Janet thought wistfully of the Grants and wondered what they would have thought of the upscale lifestyle their daughters had become part of. They’d been happy, middle-class people. She was sure they’d had no idea who their adopted daughter really was. She wondered, as she often had since the DNA test had come back positive, how she’d gotten from here as a toddler to the doctor in Paloma who’d placed her with the Grants.

She shook off a stab of sadness and tried to accept that this was a mystery she might never be able to solve.

In the shower, Janet’s thoughts turned to Brian. He was right that his position as bastard son of the scandalous Susannah would always be a tagline for the press. She felt a little guilty for manipulating him into a position where the subject was bound to come up again—in print.

But while he knew the Abbotts would always welcome him, she doubted that he understood how little they cared about that information resurfacing during the wedding.

So in reality, she told herself while working a rich conditioner through her short hair, she was performing a service for him. He had to see it happen, to be a part of their happiest times, to realize how much he was loved anyway.

Thus far, his life had been grim. China had told her that when Susannah Stewart had died in London shortly after Brian was born, the chauffeur she’d run off with had called Corbin Girard to tell him about his motherless son. But Girard had been out of the country and his wife, Frances, had taken the call.

Frances, a scrupulous woman, had sent for the baby, and when Corbin had arrived home insisted they raise the boy. Corbin had hated Brian for reminding him of the mistake he was unable to escape. And while Frances loved Brian, he reminded her every day of her husband’s faithlessness. Brian claimed to have been confused as a child by the sadness in her eyes when she looked at him.

He was in desperate need of a large dose of good cheer. Preparations for a double wedding would certainly provide that.

She wrapped a towel around herself and left the bathroom, to find Chloe placing a large crystal bowl of white roses on a crocheted doily on top of the old mahogany highboy in the corner. She turned to smile at Janet, her heart in her eyes as it always was when she looked at her.

“I thought you might like these,” Chloe said with a soft smile. She was petite, with short gray hair in a smooth style and a still-beautiful face with smile lines and artfully applied makeup. She wore the outfit Janet had brought her from the Joshua Burke outlet in L.A. Chloe usually wore gauzy, loose-fitting gowns around the house, and tailored suits when she went out. But Janet had fallen in love with the soft pink cropped pants and cropped jacket she’d known would flatter her mother’s still-slender figure.

“Thank you. They’re exquisite. And that looks wonderful on you.” The color pinked her cheeks and brightened her dark eyes.

“When you were a baby,” Chloe said, handing her a light eyelet robe, “you loved to give things—your bottle, your doll, the shirt off your back quite literally. Your father used to tease that you were a bad advertisement for Abbott Mills products because you were always taking off your clothes.” Her voice quieted and her eyes filled. “And this is my first gift from my grown daughter. Thank you, ma chère. I’m thrilled that you thought of me.”

“It was my pleasure.” Janet belted the robe and went to hug her mother. “You’ve been so good to me and China.”

Chloe dismissed that with a very Gallic wave of her hand. “You’re my daughter. And we thought China was, too, for a while, and have decided that she will remain one. I’m so happy she’s marrying Campbell, because now I can still claim her as part of the family.” She looped an arm in Janet’s. “Kezia’s made scones. Will you join us for tea? All the girls are up and waiting to hear how you convinced Brian to be in the wedding.”

Kezia was the Abbott’s African-American cook and housekeeper. She and her husband, Daniel, the chauffeur, had been with the Abbotts since before Killian was born. A handsome couple, they had the status of family. While Daniel tried to remember what he considered “his place,” Kezia thought hers was in the thick of things and offered her opinion and counsel on all manner of issues, whether asked to or not.

“I’ll be right there,” Janet promised. “As soon as I’ve put some clothes on.”

Chloe, one hand on the doorknob, studied Janet with suddenly pointed interest. “China tells me you fell into the water.”

Janet reached into the closet to avoid Chloe’s gaze. Though they’d been separated most of Janet’s life, she had a mother’s gift for reading her daughter’s mind.

“I was distracted,” she said, pulling a pale blue shirt out of the closet. She reached into a drawer for matching shorts.

“You find Brian distracting?”

“We were arguing. That’s what distracted me.”

“What did you say to make him change his mind?”

“I heaped guilt upon him.”

Janet tossed the clothes on her bed, expecting Chloe to scold her for doing such a thing. Instead, her mother grinned.

“Well done. I’m never afraid to use guilt in a pinch, if I’m sure it’ll bring about the right result.” She blew Janet a kiss. “It is true that the apple never falls far from the tree. An apt metaphor around here in more ways than one. Hurry, chérie. Killian wants to talk to you, but don’t let him keep you too long or all the scones will be gone. He’s in the library.”

Dressed and feeling triumphant that she’d been able to accomplish something for Killian by encouraging Brian to join the wedding party, she went downstairs to the beautiful, quiet room Killian used as an office when he was home. It opened onto the rose garden, where Chloe had picked the blooms she’d placed on the high-boy in Janet’s room.

But Killian didn’t seem surprised that Janet had convinced Brian.

“I heard,” he said when she tried to tell him about it. He gestured her to a plump sofa. “China told me. Well done. I knew he’d listen to you. But, you’re the one I want to talk about.”

She wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or nervous. Her situation here, though she felt fairly secure in it, was still so new that she half expected it to come crashing down on her at any moment. She waited for him to go on.

“I realize it’s early yet and you deserve some time to get your bearings,” he said, coming to sit beside her, “but when you’re ready to go back to work, I’d like you to think about working for Abbott Mills. You’d find the family business challenging and a good place to spread your wings as a businesswoman. You have an impressive history with Watson, Dunn and Crawford.”

She pretended to frown at him. He was known for the research he put into projects of any description. “You looked me up?”

“I look everything up,” he admitted. “You’ve been in the business only four years, but you had some very happy clients and bosses who raved about your accomplishments. At a time when no one can predict what the market will do, you were making investors money.”

“The market’s fairly simple to analyze…” she began.

“No, it’s not,” he argued. “It’s difficult and painstaking, but you seem to have a gift for it. I’d have probably been able to pick you out as an Abbott even before the DNA test proved you one.”

She shrugged away the compliment. “We had a business class in high school and one of our projects was to pick a few stocks and follow their progress. I won some and lost some but tapped a real enthusiasm for the process. I kept the interest up in college and had so much fun with it I knew I’d make a career of it.”

She heard the words come out of her mouth and wondered what had happened to the woman she’d been just a little over a month ago. She was still Janet Grant, but she felt as though discovering the Abbotts had changed the shape of her life. No, she wasn’t really Janet anymore. She was Janby, a composite of then and now.

Killian’s offer touched and flattered her, but business was the last thing on her mind right now.

“Will it disappoint you if I decide to do something else?” she asked candidly. “At least for a while.”

He considered a moment. “Only in that it’s so great to have you back and to discover that you’re a lot like I am. I’d miss the time it’d give us together. It makes me wonder what our lives would have been like if we’d grown up together, instead of my feeling responsible for the fact that you were taken.”

Every other thought in her head dissolved at that casual admission. She hitched a knee up on the sofa cushion to turn toward him and look him in the eye.

“What?” she asked.

He shook his head and prepared to stand, but she put a hand to his arm to hold him there. “Killian…”

“Doesn’t matter.” He placed a fraternal hand over hers. “It’s not important. It’s just interesting to speculate on what might have been.”

She saw a line form between his eyes, and detected a definite tension in his shoulders. “How could you possibly have been responsible for the fact that I was kidnapped?” she insisted.

“Janby…”

“Please tell me.”

He expelled a breath and leaned back again. “I was a tense little kid,” he said with another shrug, obviously trying to make light of what he was about to say. “And the oldest. I felt responsible for everything. Now, about your working for us…”

She folded her arms. “I want to talk about this. Don’t think you can put me off.”

He rolled his eyes. “God, you’re Campbell all over. Part Abbott, part bull terrier. He never lets anything go, either.”

“In some instances, that can be a good thing.” She smiled. “Please. I’d like to understand.”

“Okay, but it’s pretty simple, and not all that dramatic except in how it affected me.”

She nodded in acceptance of that and he went on.

“You know that Sawyer’s and my mother left when we were very small. She was pregnant with Brian, thanks to Girard, but he wouldn’t leave his wife for her, so she took off with the chauffeur. No one suspected she was pregnant at the time, or that Girard was involved.”

“Yes, China told me.”

“Well, I couldn’t believe my mother wasn’t coming back.” He stared across the room, the memories playing themselves out on some screen Janet couldn’t see. “Every night for years, I sat at my window and watched for her to return. I was sure she’d miss me. Even after your mother married our father, I was sure Susannah would return one day.”

“But she didn’t.”

“No. She died right after Brian was born, but we didn’t know that. Anyway, the night you were taken, I joined a sleepover at a friend’s house. Your mother was wonderful and I was finally beginning to realize that she loved me more than Susannah ever did. So I left my post and went to the party.” He turned to her, speaking the words as if searching for absolution. “And you were kidnapped. Had I been looking out that window, I might have seen someone approach the house or leave with you.”

She took his hand and squeezed it, feeling just a little of what he must have suffered. “Oh, Killian. I’m so sorry. What a burden you’ve placed on yourself, when it wasn’t your fault at all.”

He nodded glumly. “I know. But I was a kid whose mother left him without a second thought. I was sure I had to be pretty bad. It was easy to blame myself for yet another family tragedy.”

Tears filled her eyes and burned her throat. She imagined a serious little boy burdened by all that darkness. And she realized for the first time all the love that must have been hers when she was born.

He saw her brimming eyes and gave her his handkerchief. “Please don’t cry. It’s all over now. And it wasn’t just me. We all felt responsible. Sawyer thought he was the stand-in big brother since I was gone, so it was his fault. And Campbell threw you out of his room that afternoon because you were a destructive little devil and broke one of his precious trucks. So he had to live with the knowledge that his last contact with you was a shout for your mother to get you out of his room.”

She absorbed this information with quiet dismay.

“But all’s well that ends well,” he said, suddenly brisk. “We shouldn’t even be talking about this when we’re so, so lucky to have you back.”

“I’m the lucky one. Now I feel guilty that you all beat yourselves up because of me.”

He leaned over to wrap her in a hug. “That would really be silly. We all have to focus on the fact that you’re back, not that you were gone.”

That made sense. Still, she hated the mystery that had caused her family so much pain. Though she’d been the victim, she’d escaped relatively unscathed. She found that upsetting. But Killian seemed to be trying to put the past behind them and she wanted to support him. “You’re absolutely right,” she said.

“I am. And try to give some thought to how much fun it would be to work together.” He stood, offered her a hand up, then walked her toward the kitchen, telling her about the companies that made up the conglomerate of Abbott Mills, and the different ways her talents could be put to good use. She smiled and gave him her full attention, but she was troubled by what he’d told her.

JOE FANELLI WAS several inches shorter than Brian and more thickly built. He helped Brian restock the shelves after closing, a frown of concentration on his face. Considering he was putting laundry detergent on the same shelf with canned vegetables, Brian figured his focus wasn’t working.

Brian opened two refrigerated colas and invited Joe to join him at the chairs near the potbellied stove that occupied the middle of the shop. Joe looked surprised. “I’m almost finished,” he said, holding up his last bottle of detergent.

Brian nodded. “But look at where you’re putting it.”

Joe turned back to the shelf. His head tipped back in exasperation. “I’m sorry,” he said, gathering up bottles. “It’ll just take me a—”

“That can wait a few minutes,” Brian insisted. “We haven’t had much time to talk since I hired you.” He held up the cola invitingly. “Come and sit down.”

Joe took the place opposite Brian, a dark blue apron over his jeans and white T-shirt emblazoned with the store’s logo. He looked wary as he accepted the can of soda.

“You’re going to tell me I’m not doing a good job,” he said, slightly defensive.

“No,” Brian corrected him. “When we work together, you do a very good job. But over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to have to leave you alone for a few hours every few days. My friend’s getting married and I’m going to be in the wedding. Lots of fussy stuff to do.”

Joe smiled hesitantly. “The Abbotts?”

“Yes.”

“My mom’s been talking about it. She’s helping my grandfather with the catering. She says you don’t see a double wedding every day.”

“Yeah. That’s why I asked you to work tomorrow morning. I have to get fitted for a tux.”

Joe made a face. “When you’re used to shorts and T-shirts, a tux makes you feel like you’re choking.”

Brian remembered. “I used to have to wear one a lot. I even had my own. It does feel like you’re going to strangle.”

Joe nodded, his manner relaxing. “When you were in the November Corporation? Before your father—” He stopped abruptly, his face going pale. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Brian took a swig of cola. “I know people talk about it. Life’s full of all kinds of things you can’t do much about, and, unfortunately, people find gossip interesting. Probably because they all have their own problems, and they like to talk about stuff that doesn’t affect them.”

Joe seemed surprised by that candor, then a flush replaced his pallor. “Yeah, I know.”

“My concern,” Brian said, “is that the good work you do while I’m watching you doesn’t change when I’m not around.”

Joe’s flush deepened. “That woman complained,” he guessed, “about the afternoon you went to Springfield.”

Before Brian could concur that it was Mrs. Lindell, Joe went on to describe her. “Short, round lady with big, old-fashioned hair?”

“Yes. Mrs. Lindell. I’ve only owned this place a couple of months, but she’s been coming here for years, and we want her to keep it up.”

“I’m sorry.” Joe appeared sincere. “I knew she was going to be mad. She was trying to find this hair stuff I never heard of, and I took her to where we stock hair products. Then Natty called—that’s my girlfriend—and she wanted to talk about this…this problem we’re having.” He lowered his eyes and picked at the rim of the can with his thumbnail. “I tried to tell her I was busy, but we have a big problem and I…I felt like I had to listen. For that minute…it was more important than the work.”

At this point, Brian wished he didn’t know what Joe’s problem was. It would have been easier to tell him that when he was on the job, nothing was more important than the work. But he was Brian Girard, not Corbin. He knew there were times when life was much more important than work, no matter whose livelihood was at stake. Particularly when a woman and a baby were involved.

“Can I promise to do better?” Joe asked hopefully. “I like working here and I really need this job.”

“And I really need someone to help me out. But I have to be able to depend on you.”

“I know, I know,” Joe said eagerly. “I promise you can. I’ll tell her not to call me unless it’s an emergency.”

“Tell her you’ll call her when it’s slow. But if you get busy, you’ll have to call her back.”

“I will.” He looked relieved and sat forward in his chair. “She’s been kind of…well, she’s sort of…” He suddenly gave up trying to talk around it and said with a deep breath, “She’s pregnant. Our parents are totally freaking out, but I’m okay with it. I’m staying home from school so I can save some money so we can get married. But my parents want me to go to school. They say they’ll pay for everything. I want to, though. She’s my girl. It’s my baby.”

Brian had to commend him for his attitude, but wondered if Joe had a realistic idea of what he was up against. And what it would cost.

“Do you have insurance that’ll help with this?”

“No. But I’ll work hard. The trouble is, we were going to wait to get married until I could afford an apartment and a car, but her parents want her to give the baby up for adoption. She’s really upset. Her parents are nice people, but they don’t understand that we really love each other and we want this baby.” He firmed his jaw. “So you can take all the time off you want, and I’ll be happy to fill in for you ’cause I could use the extra hours, and I’ll do everything the way you would do it. Don’t worry.”

Brian felt for his innocence, while still applauding a sense of responsibility that wasn’t always in evidence among kids Joe’s age.

“Tell you what,” he said. “If you do a good job for me—take care of our customers and keep the shelves stocked and the place clean—maybe we’ll have to talk about a raise.”

The boy was stunned, then his face split in a wide grin. “That’d be cool,” he said.

“Okay. After you finish stocking, then you can go home. I’ve got a few orders to place before I leave tonight.”

Brian went into his small, cluttered office, all that talk about babies reminding him that he’d intended to lay in more baby supplies. He had diapers and wipes, but mothers were always asking for baby food, teething biscuits, pacifiers. He pulled out a catalog he’d saved from the score that came in every day and settled down to review it and make some choices.

The cover of the catalog featured a young woman with long dark hair and a young baby on her hip. The woman reminded him of Janet and he was instantly distracted.