Out of Town Bride

by Kara Lennox

  Even after all these years, Muffy could work herself up if she let herself think about it. Perhaps she’d done just that. Jock had happened upon her unwittingly and had said something that set her off.

  That made sense, Sonya thought. Except that the handwriting on the letters was not her father’s.

  Sonya closed her eyes, unwilling to snoop anymore. This was none of her business, and she was decidedly uncomfortable at the thought of her mother having feelings for anyone other than her father.

  She tiptoed toward the door and had almost gained the freedom of the hallway when her mother called out to her.

  She turned. “Good morning, Mother.”

  Muffy scrubbed her face with her hand. “I acted like a complete fool last night, didn’t I?”

  “It was going around. What you did was nothing compared to what Jock McPhee did.”

  Muffy looked startled. “What did he do? Besides tear out my camellias.”

  “Got stinking drunk,” Sonya answered matter-of-factly, “ran around in the woods in the rain, half-naked, played on the tire swing and almost fell into the creek and drowned himself. Whatever you said to him, it really set him off.”

  “Oh, no. He promised!”

  “Don’t be too hard on him, Mother. It must be so difficult for him. He was doing really well before this. You aren’t really going to fire him, are you?”

  “I told him if he was caught drinking again, I would.”

  “You could pay for him to go to a treatment facility,” Sonya suggested. “He’s not beyond help.”

  “I’ve offered before.”

  “Maybe he’ll do it this time. If you tell him he can come back here when he completes the program.”

  “Oh, honey, I don’t know if he’ll even want to come back. After the things we said to each other.”

  Sonya sat on the edge of her mother’s bed and took her hand. “What happened?”

  Muffy glanced at the letters, then back at Sonya, and all at once, Sonya understood. “You and Jock?”

  “It happened a long time ago,” Muffy hastily explained. “Before I’d even met your father. We were just teenagers. His mother was the cook here. He grew up here, and we played together as children, much as you and John-Michael did. But at one point we discovered a new game, if you know what I mean.”

  Sonya clamped her hand over her mouth to prevent a shocked outburst from erupting. Her mother and Jock McPhee?

  “We were so in love. The kind that’s so intense it causes physical pain. Have you ever felt that kind of love, Sonya?”

  Sonya nodded. She knew exactly what Muffy meant. Nothing was as exhilarating—or as painful—as your first love.

  “I went away to college. We wrote to each other every day. But my roommate found out my mysterious lover’s identity, and she made me see how impossible it was. I would never have been allowed to date him, much less marry him. It just wasn’t done. This was back in the sixties, remember. I wanted to rebel, but in the end I toed the line. I met your father, and I wrote a Dear John letter to Jock. It was horribly insensitive of me, but I was young and stupid.”

  Sonya was struck dumb by this revelation. Her mother’s situation hadn’t been so different from hers. She’d fallen in love with an employee’s son, too. Only, unlike Jock, John-Michael never wrote love letters. He’d never loved her as Jock apparently had loved Muffy. Still didn’t.

  “I want you to know, Sonya, that I loved your father. And I was always faithful to him, and faithful to his memory after he died. But my heart never failed to do a little flip-flop every time I saw Jock. Maybe that’s why we always fought. I was afraid if we didn’t fight, we’d do something else.”

  Sonya was familiar with that feeling.

  “Recently things had started to change. Maybe it was when you became engaged, and I felt I was losing the only family I had left. Maybe it was all the romance in the air. I don’t know. But after the heart attack, I realized what was truly important to me. Jock and I…”

  “You don’t have to tell me this part,” Sonya said hastily. She wasn’t comfortable thinking about her mother as a sexual being.

  “Are you shocked?”

  “Frankly, yes. But only because I never saw it coming. Maybe I was so caught up in my own little dramas, I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “We didn’t—that is, things hadn’t gotten too far. But they were heading that way. And if I hadn’t put the brakes on, well…”

  “Yes, I understand.”

  “Jock didn’t. He thought I was ashamed to be seen with him, that I thought I was too good for him. But it wasn’t that at all. I just didn’t think the time was right to announce our relationship to the whole world. Not right before your wedding. Is it wrong to want to take things more slowly? I’m not ready for sex! Of course, he thought thirty-something years was enough to wait. Typical man.”

  “Whoa, Mother. Too much information.”

  “It had nothing to do with money or Jock’s station,” Muffy continued, ignoring Sonya’s interruption. “But he jumped to all the wrong conclusions.”

  “Just like his son,” Sonya murmured. John-Michael had misinterpreted her wanting to leave before dawn, jumping to the conclusion that she wanted to hide what they’d done, when all along he was the one who thought they should hide it like some sordid secret.

  “What? What did John-Michael do?”

  Sonya hadn’t thought her mother was paying a bit of attention to her, or she’d never have even breathed those words.

  “He assumes I’m a snob. That I would never consider…” She stopped. Talk about too much information. Her mother was in crisis. It was no time to bring up her own silly soap opera.

  Muffy looked surprised. “Is there something going on with you two?”

  “Yes,” she said miserably. “And no.”

  “What about Marvin?” Muffy asked fearfully.

  Sonya decided she’d put off the unpleasant task long enough. Maybe this wasn’t the ideal opportunity, but it appeared the ideal opportunity wasn’t going to come along.

  “There is no Marvin,” she said. “He dumped me. Not only that, he stole money from me, took my jewelry and some fur coats. I’ve been avoiding telling you because of your heart.”

  “Oh, my poor baby!” Muffy threw her arms around Sonya and dragged Sonya’s head to her breast, as if she were a child.

  Sonya let her. “I’ve gotten over it, Mother. He was scum, and I didn’t really love him, anyway.”

  “We’ve got to call in the authorities,” Muffy said. “I know the chief of police—”

  “The FBI is already looking for him. I’m not the first woman he’s fleeced. I’m so sorry about the wedding. I know you were having fun planning it.”

  “Oh, that’s all right. We can unplan things.”

  “Yes we can. But I was sort of hoping…” Sonya explained about Marvin contacting her, and the ruse she and John-Michael had devised for flushing Marvin out of hiding.

  “So we have to pretend the wedding’s on?” Muffy asked, dismayed.

  “Just for a short while—if it’s okay with you. You’re the one paying.” Sonya was glad her mother had been distracted from the subject of her and John-Michael. She didn’t want to explain further what was going on, when she was so confused about it herself.

  “Well, if it will help put that horrid man behind bars, I guess we can pretend the wedding’s still on.”

  “Thanks, Mother.”

  A short while later, Sonya made a conference call to Cindy and Brenna. “Change of plans, girls. I’m afraid I can’t go to Boston after all. I have a wedding to plan, you know.”

  Chapter Eleven

  In Jock’s quarters, John-Michael cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast. His father dragged himself out of bed, showered, dressed and joined him at the table. He was sober, but he looked like hell.

  “Thanks for doing this,” Jock said. “I don’t deserve—”

  “Let’s not throw the blame and guilt around this tim
e, okay?” John-Michael cut in. After Sonya’s abrupt departure from his bed a few hours ago, he wasn’t in a very tolerant mood. “We have to figure out what to do. First thing, we have to replant the camellia bushes. Second, you have to apologize to Muffy. Third, you have to agree to go through a substance abuse treatment program.”

  “And don’t I have any say?”

  “If you want to continue with your job here—”

  “I don’t. I’ll be moving out as soon as I find another position. Tootsie Milford has tried to steal me away from Muffy often enough. She’ll take me on.”

  John-Michael was shocked into silence. This was the first time he’d ever heard Jock entertain the idea that he could possibly survive anywhere other than the Patterson estate.

  “I think Muffy could be persuaded to take you—”

  “Confound it, boy, don’t you listen? I don’t want to work for Muffy anymore. And if you knew what she’d done, you wouldn’t expect it of me.”

  “What did she do?” John-Michael was now more curious than anything.

  “She toyed with my affections.”

  “What?”

  “She led me to believe she returned my feelings.”

  “Wait a minute. You have some kind of crush on—”

  “A crush?” Jock thundered. “We were in love! At least, I was, and I thought she was, too. But she lost her nerve. Didn’t want us to be seen together. She had a lot of pretty words about how she’d changed her priorities, and she realized how wrong she’d been all those years ago to break off with me—”

  “You and Muffy?”

  “What, you don’t think I’m good enough for the likes of her?”

  John-Michael didn’t know what to think. For the moment he returned to practicalities. “Are you sure you want to work for Tootsie? She’s a tyrant, from what her other employees have said. You could come live with me for a while, till you find something better.” He’d already rented a house within easy driving distance of the Wallisville Substation, where his first posting would be when he started with the Sheriff’s Department next month.

  “I’m sure I can work things out with Tootsie. You’ve taken care of me long enough.”

  “What about going into a treatment program?”

  “I’ll stick with AA,” Jock mumbled. “It was working for me. I already called my sponsor. He’s going to meet with me, and we’re going to talk about what happened and how I could make better choices next time. In the end it comes down to me, doesn’t it?”

  John-Michael nodded.

  “I won’t disappoint you again. I mean it, John-Michael. Once I get away from this place, and I don’t have to see her every day, the pain won’t be so bad.”

  “Won’t you miss this place?” John-Michael asked. He knew he would. “We’ve never lived anywhere else.”

  “Aye, I’ll miss it. But we’re better off somewhere else—both of us. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from Sonya Patterson, too. I’ve no doubt she has a good heart. She might even be in love with you. But no good can come of our kind mixing with theirs. If she were to pair off with you, her mother would likely never speak to her again.”

  John-Michael had long ago considered that possibility. One of the many reasons a liaison between himself and Sonya was hopeless.

  “Sonya would be cut off without a cent,” Jock continued. “And while I’ve no doubt you could provide for the girl, put a roof over her head and food on the table, that isn’t enough for someone born to wealth. She would come to resent not having the fine things she’s used to.”

  John-Michael had considered that, too. Even if she worked—even if she got a job as an engineer—they wouldn’t earn enough to live in a big fancy house, drive luxury cars and employ domestic workers.

  He didn’t bother denying that there was anything between himself and Sonya.

  “I hear you,” John-Michael said.

  Jock finished off his toast and marmalade. “I’m going to call Tootsie. She’s given me her number often enough.”

  John-Michael hoped his father wasn’t jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  SONYA DIDN’T SEE John-Michael again until that afternoon, when she had an appointment with the florist. But she was feeling surprisingly upbeat as she and Muffy waited in the back of the limo for John-Michael to appear. She was so relieved to have admitted the truth to her mother. And Muffy had taken the whole thing surprisingly well. She’d already begun to have her doubts about Marvin, about his exceedingly long absence and the fact he hadn’t come to be at his future bride’s side when her mother had been stricken ill. If he wasn’t willing to put his family first now, how would he be after a few years of marriage?

  “I’m afraid we’ve wasted more money on this nonexistent wedding than he stole from me,” Sonya had said. But Muffy had waved away her daughter’s concerns. “It’s only money. And after we catch him, we’ll be heroes!” She’d been so enthralled with the idea that they would be helping the FBI that she’d forgotten her own heartbreak for a while, or at least had allowed herself to be distracted from it.

  “You know,” Muffy said as they waited for John-Michael, “a lot of the wedding plans won’t be wasted, really. We’ll keep the file, with all the choices about colors and flowers and cakes, and when you decide to get married again, a lot of the work will be done.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Sonya said, forcing a smile, trying to look on the bright side for her mother’s sake. She didn’t have the heart to tell Muffy she didn’t think she would ever want to plan another fancy wedding. Surviving this three-ring circus once in a lifetime was enough.

  John-Michael trotted out to the limo, saw Sonya and Muffy in the back and elected to ride up front with Tim. Sonya couldn’t blame him.

  “I hope John-Michael doesn’t think I paint him with the same brush as I do his father,” Muffy whispered.

  “Why not? They’re cut from the same cloth,” Sonya said. “Both stubborn as mules and carrying chips on their shoulders the size of Mount Rushmore.”

  “Well, I don’t blame him for anything that’s happened. In fact, I’m very grateful for all he’s done for me over the years. I’ll miss him terribly when he moves on.”

  Sonya swallowed hard. She didn’t want to think about that. “Won’t you miss Jock, too?”

  “Ooooooh, don’t get me started on Jock.” Muffy crossed her arms and set her jaw.

  “Maybe you should talk to him. Explain everything just like you did to me.”

  “You can’t explain anything to Jock. He assumes everything I say is a slight. Next thing you know, he’ll get mad and chop down the live oak tree.”

  “He and John-Michael replanted the camellias, you know.”

  “I know.” She looked at Sonya with tears in her eyes. “I deeply regret not finding out what Jock and I could have been together, all those years ago. Our lives would have been very different. But it might have been really, really good.”

  “But what about Daddy?” Sonya suddenly felt very young, mourning her father all over again.

  “I don’t regret your father, and without him I couldn’t have had you. But still…”

  Sonya wished she could think of something that would ease her mother’s pain. But she wasn’t exactly brilliant where relationships were concerned. Her own love life was a complete disaster. The man she loved had only wanted to get her into bed, and was throwing up every road block he could think of so he wouldn’t have to admit that he didn’t feel the same as Sonya did. She’d left the ball in his court. And he hadn’t even picked it up, much less returned it.

  “It’s too late for Jock and me,” Muffy said. “Too much water under the bridge. But it’s not too late for you. Promise me you’ll always follow your heart. You should never have settled for Marvin, even if your silly mother was over-the-moon about him.”

  “Following your heart doesn’t work when the man you love doesn’t love you back.”

  “Are we talking about anyone specif
ic?” Muffy’s eyes, alive with curiosity, showed no trace of the tears that had threatened a few moments earlier.

  “Who do you think?” She glanced up toward the front seat. Though the soundproof glass was up, she didn’t trust John-Michael not to read lips in the mirror.

  “You’re in love with John-Michael!”

  “Shh! I’ve been in love with him since I was ten! But he was always more loyal to you than hot for me. I gave him plenty of chances.”

  “Sonya!”

  “Oh, don’t you go all sanctimonious on me! Like mother, like daughter, don’t you think?”

  Muffy put her hand over her mouth, and Sonya wasn’t sure if she was delighted or horrified.

  “I can’t believe you’re that shocked. You knew I had a crush on him.”

  “When you were a teenager, yes. That was why I hired John-Michael to protect you. I knew he wouldn’t betray the trust I put in him. But I thought you outgrew that long ago.”

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  “Have you…made your feelings known?”

  “I slept with him.” Sonya’s face burned. “He can’t handle the fact that I’m rich and he’s not. Or that’s the excuse he’s tossing out. I think he just doesn’t feel anything for me.”

  “Don’t you dare start crying,” Muffy said urgently. “Tim can see everything in his mirror.”

  “Tell me a joke, then.”

  “I think I’ll give all my money to charity.”

  Sonya laughed.

  “Maybe that shouldn’t be a joke.”

  “WHAT ARE THEY DOING?” John-Michael asked Tim. “I can’t see without turning around.”

  “There’s a lot of grimacing and gesturing going on back there,” Tim replied. “Sonya’s blushing. Oh, now they’re laughing and now they’re hugging.”

  John-Michael had a very bad feeling about this. It sounded as if Sonya might be confiding in her mother. And though John-Michael was no longer dependent on Muffy for a job or a place to live, he didn’t want to leave her employ on bad terms, as his father was. Even now Jock was packing up his belongings and preparing to move into Tootsie’s servants’ quarters.