by Moriah Jovan
. . . it was less about an extravagant way to inflict damage and more about the reality of facing a life without her beauty, with or without Fen. After an unfortunate—albeit unexplained—accident a year and a half ago that had shattered Trudy’s face and required her to undergo a great deal of plastic surgery to rebuild it, Trudy very rarely ventured outside of the Hilliards’ estate.
To Jerome’s eye, of the three specifically named in Fen’s will, it seemed Fen had loved his niece Giselle the most; Jerome wasn’t sure why. Trudy had hated her the most. Perhaps the two were inextricably entwined. Jealousy did strange things to narcissists.
“So . . . that’s it?” asked Lilly Cox, Giselle’s mother. “One page?”
“That’s it,” Jerome answered, still a little amazed himself. It was the shortest will he’d ever drawn up, two days before Fen’s death because Fen had known he would die, on what day, and by what method. He’d planned to commit suicide-by-Knox-Hilliard—and succeeded.
One of the babies awoke and began to whimper. Dianne Taight, King Midas’s mother, went to retrieve the child—Jerome didn’t know to whom it belonged and apparently, it didn’t matter; it seemed every child in this family was fair game for love and care. This family was its own village.
Giselle Kenard raised her head finally and looked to her husband helplessly. He pulled out a handkerchief and began to gently dry her face of tears. Once he’d finished, he murmured, “What’s in the box, Wife?”
She took a deep breath and looked down at it. Touched it. Caressed it. She hesitantly worked the key out of its hidden pocket (how she found it was anybody’s guess, as Jerome hadn’t been able to find it even after hours of searching), then unlocked it.
A piece of paper fluttered with the opening of the lid; she picked it up gingerly and began to read silently, her husband looking over her shoulder. The husband-and-wife grew matching expressions of shock and horror as they read until Giselle stuffed it back into the box and slammed the lid closed.
She bolted out of her chair and wove through the room’s occupants, sobbing, her husband following, trying to catch up.
When Taight reached out a hand to open the box, Belinda Ashworth, one of his aunts, slapped it. Hard. “Not yours,” she snapped.
It was the first time Jerome had ever seen a forty-two-year-old man—a financial powerhouse—reduced to the affect of a guilty ten-year-old boy.
These people made Jerome terribly uncomfortable; he had never encountered such collective passion and loyalty, such respect, such love. The power that these people represented, in terms of personal strength and nationwide influence, was suffocating. Jerome checked his watch.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I do have another appointment I need to prepare for. If you would excuse me . . . ”
No one said a word, so Jerome stood, gathered his papers, and left unnoticed.
Next in the Dunham series:
STAY
Coming November 27, 2009
At 12, Vanessa defied her family to save 17-year-old bad boy Eric from wrongful imprisonment and, possibly, death. She’d hoped for a “thank you” from him, a kiss on the cheek, but before she could grow up and grow curves, he left town.
Fourteen years later, Vanessa is a celebrity chef at the 5-star Ozarks resort she built. Eric is the new Chouteau County prosecutor with his eye on the governor’s mansion.
Four hours apart and each tied to their own careers, their worlds have no reason to intersect until a funeral brings Vanessa back to Chouteau County, back to face the man for whom she’d risked so much, the only man she ever wanted—
—the only man she can’t have.
MAGDALENE
Coming April 24, 2011
A Mormon bishop.
An ex-prostitute.
A man with a vendetta.
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