Lost and Found Groom by McLinn, Patricia (most difficult books to read .TXT) 📗

“That’s the coward’s way out. And Wendy never was a coward. Because she was tenacious in her hope, too. Even after she had to accept that he wouldn’t come back. Wendy had experienced such wonderful love that she couldn’t believe those few years with Ken were all she’d have. She became desperate to find another love like Ken.” She shook her head. “Instead, her heart was wounded again and again.”

“And she never learned her lesson.”

“No, she never did. When she lost your father, Wendy traded in the problem of her desperate loneliness for all the problems you saw growing up–the problems you vowed never to have. And you haven’t. Only I worry you’ve traded in the problems your mother had for the very loneliness she was running from.”

A silence stretched out as Kendra absorbed Marti’s words.

Had she completed the circle her mother started? Run away from the troubles she’d seen in her mother’s life, and in the process run right back to where her mother had started?

“Your blood will be alone.”

The words were so soft, Kendra might have imagined them.

“You turn away from your children, so your blood will be alone,” Ellyn repeated. Then she spoke more forcefully. “That’s what the curse said: You turn away from your children, so your blood will be alone. That’s what Marti is saying happened to your mother, and I’ve seen it happening to you, Kendra.”

A soft gasp opened Marti’s lips.

“That’s absolute nonsense,” Kendra snapped. “It’s a stupid legend. It has nothing to do with me. Or Daniel. Or real life.”

“It has to do with real love. I’ve wondered . . .” Marti said in a strange voice. “Only when someone loves enough to undo your wrongs will the laughter of children live beyond its echo in Far Hills. Charles Susland’s first wrong was turning his back on his children. Daniel sure isn’t doing that. You said so yourself, Kendra–he wants to be a good father, he wants to make the three of you a family. That sounds like real love to me. Maybe love enough to undo that wrong. If you let him.”

“That’s ridiculous. All of it. Listen to the two of you, carrying on about this legend. No more. We have work to do. It’s–”

“But–”

“No!” The syllable might have crossed the line from emphatic to strident, but it silenced Marti. Kendra continued more calmly. “We’re going to work on this supplement, and no one’s going to say another word about legends or curses or any other nonsense.”

And not another word was spoken about the Susland legend, or undoing wrongs with love, or Daniel.

But Kendra could not regulate thoughts–not even her own.

*

The back door of Kendra’s house was open when Daniel walked up to it at four o’clock Saturday afternoon.

He saw no one in the kitchen, but he heard Ellyn saying, “Great dress.”

Kendra answered, “Thanks. It’s my post-pregnancy goal dress. I could get into it before, but it’s only now that I feel right in it.”

“Is that because you’re not eating now that Daniel’s around?”

“I’m eating. That’s–”

What’s the old saying about hearing things you didn’t want to hear? He sure didn’t want to hear that having him in her life had made Kendra lose her appetite. Daniel knocked loudly.

“Hi. C’mon in.” Ellyn smiled as she came around the corner. “I dropped by to lend Kendra a purse. She’s about ready for you.”

“No, Ellyn,” came Kendra’s voice from deeper in the house. “Daniel’s not here for–”

“You must have misunderstood, Ellyn,” he said, breaking into Kendra’s explanations. “I’m here for Matthew, not Kendra. She–” He broke off as Kendra came around the corner into the kitchen area. The dress was a muted, rich red of some material that had no fancy touches at all, and didn’t need them because it seemed to cling to her body. It had a plain V-neck that allowed a glimpse of the creamy curves that lay below. He knew the taste and texture and scent of those curves, and his body immediately ached with the longing to know them again. “–must have another date.”

“It’s not a . . .” Her words trailed off as she met his eyes. For a moment they just looked at each other. A flare of some sort of recognition crossed her eyes, recognition of the assumption he’d made, but also a recognition of something deeper. Maybe of the emotions that had pushed him to that assumption. Recognition of how he felt about her. At least of the part of how he felt about her that he understood.

She picked up her purse and keys from the end of the counter only to put them down again.

“I’m working. I’m covering the country club honors–the cocktail reception, then the awards banquet.”

Working.

She was going to this dinner as an assignment. Not on the arm of some sleek country club member who had a hell of a lot more to offer than a guy with a complicated past and uncertain future.

Trying hard to stifle a grin, Daniel informed Ellyn, “And I’m being trusted for the first time with Matthew on my own.”

“Sorry. Guess I jumped to a conclusion,” Ellyn said lightly. Then she added with a look from her friend to him and back that might have been sly in someone less open, “I’m also sorry you’re working, Kendra. That’s a definite waste of that dress. Guess I better get going. Hope the banquet’s not too boring, Kendra. And I hope you and Matthew fare okay, Daniel.”

“I’m sure we will. Thought I’d try taking him to his first movie. The library’s showing ‘The Wizard of Oz’ as a fund-raiser.”

“Hey, maybe we’ll see you there–in fact, it’ll be hard to miss you in the library’s little auditorium. Meg won free tickets and we’re going, too. That’s why I have to get home and feed them.”

“Don’t let Matthew eat too much junk at the movie, Daniel, and he needs to be home in bed by eight-thirty. And don’t let him get too excited or he’ll never sleep.”

“I already signed in blood agreeing to all that, Kendra.”