“But it hasn’t come up,” Jenna protested.
“It just did.” Dani pinned her with a gotcha! look. “And see—you’re blushing!”
Jenna rolled her eyes. “Only because you’ve embarrassed me.”
Dani paused. “So you’re not seeing him again, aside from business.”
“Actually,” Jenna hedged after a moment, “I am.”
Silence fell between them. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Dani asked after a moment, concern in her eyes. “I don’t want Jake to break your heart again.”
Neither do I, Jenna thought. And yet there was no doubt she still loved him. No doubt, either, that the problems that existed back then still remained. If that wasn’t a recipe for disaster, Jenna thought miserably, she didn’t know what was.
“I remember the way he ditched you the last time when there was trouble with his family.” Dani helped herself to some of the coffee Jenna had prepared for Jake’s mother, then poured a cup for Beau, too.
“He’s not going to do that again,” Jenna said.
“He’d better not,” Dani warned darkly as she stirred cream and sugar into hers. She lifted her cup to her lips. “Or he’ll have the Lockharts and everyone else in Laramie to contend with.”
“NO, NO, NO, NO! I am not wearing a dress!” Alexandra stamped her foot in the middle of Jenna’s shop, several hours later. “I don’t care how pretty it is! I hate dresses. I hate them all.”
Clara, Jake and Jenna exchanged baffled looks. Alex was so worked up, and had been even before she got to the shop, that there was no calming her down now.
“Maybe we should take a break and go over to the hospital to see Nathan James for a few minutes,” Clara suggested, clearly as much at a loss as how to fix this situation as Jake and Jenna. “And worry about your fitting later.”
“Good idea,” Jake said. He shot Clara a grateful look. “I’ll be over in about twenty minutes to get her.”
“Take your time,” Clara said meaningfully. “I know you two have things to discuss.” She and Alex exited the shop.
“What happened this morning?” Jenna said as soon as Clara and Alex had left. She hadn’t seen Alex this upset since the first day she had come in to her shop.
Jake took his hat off and set it on the sales counter at the rear of the showroom. “Melinda came by with a whole carload of dresses that she bought in Dallas, all of them so frilly and expensive it’s ridiculous. She and my mother came in and showed them to Alex, who was pretty overwhelmed just looking at them. I left for a couple of minutes—I had to put Buster in his crate and Miss Kitty in the laundry room, neither Melinda nor my mother are fond of animals of any kind—and when I came back Alex was in a full-fledged temper tantrum.”
“And let me guess. I got blamed for it,” Jenna said, wondering what was going to come next.
“Maybe initially.” Jake closed the distance between them with easy, sensual grace. “But it quickly became clear, even to my mother, that the problem was really Melinda. Alex is—well, there’s no other way to say it—she’s afraid of Melinda.”
Jenna drew a bracing breath and tried to still her racing heart. “I thought you said she barely remembers Melinda.”
“Which is probably the problem.” Jake sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. “Melinda storms in, acts all motherly and demands immediate, daughterly devotion in return. But Alex has spent very little time with Melinda over the years, so it’s no wonder she feels threatened.”
Given all they had going against them, Jenna had been determined to start regarding Jake with an unbiased, unsentimental view. It was easier said than done when he was standing in front of her, clean shaven and smelling of soap and man and his woodsy cologne, his inky-black hair agreeably tousled, his handsome face flushed with the heat of the Texas sun. “What are you going to do about it?”
Jake released a long breath and lounged against the counter. “What I would like to do is take it nice and slow. Get the two of them to get to know each other in a relaxed setting. See if we could get some kind of relationship going between them for both their sakes. Unfortunately, my idea of a relaxed setting and Melinda’s are far from the same.” His gray eyes radiated worry. “My parents think the way to fix everything is to bring Melinda back into the family as quickly and completely as possible. So they’re hosting a welcome-back party for Melinda. They expect Alex to attend. It’s a very dressy, catered affair, complete with a band for dancing. Right now the guest list is at five hundred, but they think they may expand it to include a lot of the prominent locals as well as their many business acquaintances and friends from all over the state.”
Jenna’s heart went out to Alex, just thinking how the nearly six-year-old child would react to such a glamorous, high-pressure, intensely social affair. No way was Alex ready for this. “And this will be where—in Dallas?”
His eyes never leaving hers, Jake shook his head and confided unhappily, “My parents are now back at their summer ranch indefinitely, I suspect at Melinda’s behest. The party will be there.”
A feeling of déjà vu swept over Jenna as she recalled another party—the only party she had ever attended with Jake—at his parents’ summer ranch, shortly before their failed elopement. She had never felt so ill at ease or out of place. Mr. and Mrs. Remington had known it and, angry about Jake’s insistence that Jenna attend as his guest, had purposefully done little to make her feel at home. Rather, they’d made sure she knew she didn’t fit in with their family and friends. At seventeen, it had been a miserable experience she had never wanted to repeat.
He paused, seeming to know exactly what she was remembering, how his own efforts that night to put her at ease had failed, which had then led to their decision to just say the heck with it and elope. His eyes still holding hers, he went on in a gruff, unhappy voice, “It gets better. They’ve invited me, too, of course. And you.”
A trickle of unease slid down Jenna’s spine. “Me—or a date?” Jenna asked in a low, deeply cynical voice.
“My folks said I should bring a date. And it was all right if it was you. Meanwhile, they have invited Melinda to bunk with them and she’s agreed, probably because they have a much more luxurious place in Laramie and a full staff of servants.”
Sensing this was all some sort of trick, Jenna went to the storeroom and began gathering up her dressmaker’s dummy, and several hatboxes. “When is this party?” she asked, knowing if they were going to accomplish anything they had to get busy.
“Tomorrow night.” Jake leaned against the sales counter, his legs spread slightly, his hands braced on either side of him. He looked her up and down, then settled on her eyes. “I know I shouldn’t be asking you this, but I really need your help. Clara is going home with her son-in-law tonight. She’s going to get the house ready for when the baby and her daughter come home from the hospital tomorrow morning. I told her not to worry about us, to take a few days and just spend it with her daughter’s family, and she agreed. Meantime, I’ve got to give Alex a crash course in young-ladylike behavior and figure out some way to get her into a dress for that party. Preferably one that Melinda bought for her.”
Her lips pressed together thoughtfully, Jenna went back to the fabric room to get her portable sewing machine, a bag of cotton stuffing, several shades of green, red and brown velveteen and matching thread. She had a plan to get Alex to cooperate. She wasn’t sure it would work. But it was better than nothing. And if there was any way she could help the little girl, she would. “And if you don’t?” Jenna asked.
“Then it’s almost a certainty, the way things are going now, that Melinda will try to get at least partial custody of Alex.”
“Surely the court wouldn’t grant such a motion,” Jenna said.
Jake looked at Jenna soberly as he explained, “Whenever possible, the court feels it’s better for a child to have ample contact with both parents. The judge who heard the case initially felt Melinda gave up her right to joint custody too quickly. So
if Melinda were to go in now and put on a good show of being concerned and express her regret over her neglect, the court could very well decide to change the terms of our current custody agreement and give Melinda a second chance to be the mother Alex needs and wants.” Jake paused, the worry in his eyes increasing. “I don’t want the court involved if this is something Melinda and I can handle ourselves. And I certainly don’t want Alexandra to have to go to court to testify. That would be far too traumatic.”
Jenna considered Jake for a moment. His irritation with the situation aside, he seemed awfully confident. “You don’t expect Melinda’s interest in Alex to last, do you?”
Jake shrugged. “Experience tells me it won’t.”
As much as Jenna wanted to, she couldn’t figure out Jake’s ex-wife. Not at all. To her dismay, she sensed Jake was just as baffled by Melinda’s actions. “Did Melinda make any other arrangements to see Alexandra again?”
“No.” Jake shook his head wearily. “She said she would just see her at the party tomorrow night.”
“Is she upset about the way Alex is reacting to her?”
Jake frowned. “Not in the deeply heartfelt way you’d expect from a mother who’s threatening to sue for custody. There’s certainly some surface annoyance, which you’ve seen for yourself. It’s embarrassing to have a daughter who doesn’t want anything to do with you. But other than that…” Jake’s voice trailed off in confusion.
“Your mother indicated that Melinda is hoping to make you, Alex and her a family again.”
Jake nodded. “I know that’s what Melinda is telling them, but I don’t buy it, not for a second,” he said flatly.
Jenna quirked a brow. “We really tried to make our marriage work,” he continued, “but without any real chemistry, well…it was pretty awkward and empty. I think, deep down, she was as disappointed as I was. She’d been looking for her Prince Charming, someone who would give her this fabulous, glamorous, jet-setting life. She married me, thinking I was it, then found out she’d married a workaholic homebody who had zero interest in living life in the fast lane. She wasn’t very happy, and neither was I. Although in our defense we really did try that first year. For Alex’s sake, we wanted and needed the marriage to work.”
“But it didn’t.”
“No. Melinda found she had even less aptitude for motherhood than she did for being my wife, and she was supremely disappointed that our life together was not going to be some fairy tale romance. So she began to shop—incessantly—and when that failed to satisfy her, she began to cheat. When I found out, and it didn’t take me long because she was being so indiscreet, it was over. I couldn’t be married to anyone who was that disloyal to me and our relationship.”
Jenna could understand Jake’s hurt and disgust. She, too, was the kind of person who demanded absolute fidelity and loyalty from a mate. But she could also see why a woman like Melinda—who needed to be adored and admired—would look outside the marriage if she couldn’t get what she needed within it. Jenna shrugged. “Maybe Melinda didn’t really mean for it to go that far. Maybe she was just retaliating, trying to get your attention. Maybe that’s why she’s back now. Maybe she wants to start over, and just doesn’t know how to go about it, except through Alex.”
“With any other woman, I’d agree that was probably the case,” Jake said, his gaze settling on Jenna’s face. “But that’s not Melinda. She’s mercurial. She doesn’t hold anything back. She’s propelled by her emotions. Lives totally in the moment. And she’s very impulsive, to the point of reckless self-indulgence. If it were really me she wanted, she’d still be staying at my place and she’d have already tried to seduce me.” He shook his head in obvious bafflement as he tried to work the puzzle out. “She wants something here; I know it. But it’s not me, and it may not even be Alex.”
“Money?” Jenna guessed.
Again, Jake shook his head. “I’ve already made some phone calls, done some discreet checking. She’s been investing very shrewdly for a number of years now. She’s still got plenty of money, mine and her own. More than even she can spend.”
“Social status, then?” Something was driving Melinda. Making her suddenly want to be in the thick of things here again.
Jake shrugged. “She’s been living in Europe for the past four years, dating some Italian count on and off for the last two. Jet-setting all over Europe. Hobnobbing with royalty. Blue-blooded as it was, her previous life in Texas never compared with that on the excitement scale, so I can’t believe she wants it back.”
“Then what?” Jenna demanded, her frustration mounting at a pace with Jake’s.
Jake lifted his hands helplessly. “I don’t know. But there’s something to be gained from her presence here, from her going after Alex this way,” Jake said flatly. “That I can guarantee.”
“We just don’t know what it is,” Jenna said.
“But we’ll find out,” Jake predicted, his expression growing more worried still. “Probably before the end of the week.”
“YOU ABOUT READY?” Jenna asked Alex that afternoon.
Alex studied herself in the full-length mirror they had dragged into the playroom. She was wearing her usual overalls and a T-shirt, over which she had wrapped a length of pretty rose fabric toga-style from shoulder to floor. She had on a pair of Jenna’s high heels, three necklaces, two bracelets and some clip-on teardrop earrings. “I can’t decide which hat to wear.” Alex turned her head this way and that, studying the full-brimmed straw garden hat, trimmed with bright blue silk flowers. Then exchanged it for a safari hat with a leopard print band. “Should I wear this one?” she asked, admiring herself with a grin. “Or the other one?”
“Whichever one you like,” Jenna said cheerfully. She had on a long sapphire blue flapper dress, a fringed silk purple-and-pink-paisley shawl, a lady Stetson and dark green leather cowgirl boots, more suitable for ranching than an indoor tea party. She’d brushed her hair out and it fell over her shoulders in untamed waves. A heavy gold pendant swung between her breasts, and big bold hoops dangled from her ears.
“I think I’ll wear the one with the flowers,” Alex decided, confirming Jenna’s hunch that Alex really did like girly things. She just didn’t like admitting it. Maybe because Melinda did? Was it possible Alex was just being perverse here? Or was there something more to her stubbornness?
Jenna went back to the table set with real china and silver and co-ordinating linen tablecloth and napkins. Jenna had taken a quick turn in the ranch-house kitchen while Jake and Alex had seen to Buster and Miss Kitty. Her efforts had provided them with heart-shaped tea sandwiches, red and green grapes, and tea sets containing both real tea for the grown-ups and fruit juice for Alex. Pastel petits fours and flaky cheese straws from Isabel Buchanon’s bakery completed the repast.
Now all they lacked was Jake, who had gone off to the master bedroom to dress and await his summons.
Alex settled her flower-hat on her head and put the safari one aside. “Should I call Daddy?”
Jenna nodded as she went down the line, situating their other guests. “Now, remember. He doesn’t know much about tea parties in general, being a guy and all. So it’s up to us to teach him some company manners. We wouldn’t want to embarrass Miss Teddy and Mr. Panda and all the other folks now, would we?”
Alex giggled, getting into the spirit.
“This is going to be funny,” she said. She clomped over to the playroom doorway, being careful to keep Jenna’s high heels on her feet. “Daddy!” Alex called. “It’s time for our tea party!”
“Coming, ladies!” Jake called back.
Seconds later he charged in, acting like a five year old in a hurry and practically tripping over his feet in his haste. Seeing him, it was all Jenna could do not to laugh. He had exchanged his usual jeans for a pair of black tuxedo pants and his crisp shirt for a form-fitting, dove-gray T-shirt. Instead of wearing the tuxedo jacket, he had opted for a brown suede sport coat, and put his black satin bow tie around his n
eck. Two-tone Western boots and a top hat Jenna had brought over from the shop completed his ensemble. He hitched up a chair, and rubbing his hands enthusiastically, looped a leg over the top of the child-sized chair and prepared to sit down. “Great-looking grub, gals. Let’s eat!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Jenna said, stopping him before his bottom could make contact with the seat. “You haven’t met our guests yet, Jake. You have to come and say hello to everyone before we eat. And while we’re at it, you need to make a better, more dignified entrance.”
Jake scowled comically, which made Alex laugh, then stomped over to the door. He sighed, slumped his shoulders dramatically and skulked in slowly and with a lamentable lack of confidence. He hurried up as soon as he reached the table. He rubbed his hands together once again, “Hi, guys.” He waved haphazardly at the stuffed animals. “Now let’s eat!”
Jenna rolled her eyes and pretended to be aghast. “Jake!” she chided. “Surely you can do better than that.”
Jake did not look confident. “You’ll have to show me.”
Jenna sighed. She went over to the door and stepped in graciously. Her head held high she glided across the room with quiet confidence, and then—when Jake continued to look a little confused—turned to Alex. “Maybe you should show him, too,” Jenna suggested.
Alex went over to the door and carefully copied Jenna’s entrance. “See what a wonderful job she did?” Jenna said, praising Alex warmly. “Now that’s a nice party entrance.” Alex beamed at Jenna’s praise.
“Okay, now let’s eat!” Jake said, rubbing his hands together once again.
“Ah-ah-ah!” Jenna and Alex both moved to stop him before he could sit. “You’ve got to meet the guests first.”
Jake sighed and thrust out his lower lip. “Do I hafta?” he complained.
Jenna and Alex nodded solemnly. “Miss Teddy and Mr. Panda’s feelings, not to mention Mr. Zebra’s feelings, will be very hurt if you don’t greet them properly.”
The Bride Said, Finally! (The Lockharts of Texas) Page 14
