She called out to the clerk to join her at the back.
"Find something, did you?" the woman asked, coming to a stop next to Jen, her gaze drifting to the costume. "Beautiful, isn't it."
Jen nodded. "Gorgeous."
"A bit pricey," the woman added, as if in warning.
"That's all right," Jen said. "I'm going to need a few accessories."
"I've got it covered. Come with me."
When Jen left the store, she was carrying a shopping bag in each hand, a small smile of satisfaction curving her lips. The skirt, blouse and accessories had cost her a bundle but she didn't care. Since learning the truth about her parents' indiscretions with the Terrells, she had decided this was the last Terrell Halloween bash she would ever attend. This was the last time she was ever going to appease her mother in this regard, so she might as well go all the way.
When she got home, she was struck by a strange sensation. After only a few weeks away, the word home didn't seem to fit anymore. When, she wondered, had she begun thinking of Marsh's place as home?
Jen realized she had started to consider his place her home after the incredible night they had spent together. The fact that the atmosphere around the house had felt strained since their argument didn't matter-it still felt like home. And that fact alone was kind of scary.
After parking her car in the slot that had been hers ever since she got her driver's license when she was seventeen, Jen entered the house by the kitchen door.
She had spent many hours in the kitchen while she was growing up, warmly welcomed there by Tony. She had learned her cooking skills from him in that kitchen...the skills Marsh so vocally appreciated.
Marsh.
Jen sighed. She had been gone less than a day and she was homesick. She scolded herself, heading for the elevator in the hallway right off the kitchen. The elevator rose to her apartment, which took up the entire second floor of the wing attached to the house. Her father had built the wing to house Jen's grandmother when the elderly woman's arthritis put her in a wheelchair.
Jen had adored her grandmother, who died while Jen was in her junior year of college. After graduation Jen had moved into the apartment, and even though she had replaced the Victorian-style furniture and decorations the older woman favored with more modern things, she still felt close to her grandmother there.
That was before she went to live in Marshall Grainger's sprawling house. Stepping inside the living room Jen had once felt so comfortable in, she set her shopping bags on the floor and sighed as she dropped into her favorite chair.
The roomy place now seemed no more welcoming than an expensive hotel suite.
It wasn't the house in the hill country she was missing, Jen reluctantly admitted to herself. It was the man living in it, waiting for her return.
Oh, Lord, I am in trouble, Jen thought. Willingly or not, I have fallen in love with Marshall Grainger.
The man who had not so much proposed to her as decided all on his own that they should get married.
For business reasons, essentially.
This was the man she'd decided to fall in love with?
She heaved a heavy sigh. If only he had indicated some genuine feelings for her. Oh, he enjoyed her company, liked teasing her, kissing her, touching her and pursuing more intimate, sensual, exciting endeavors. And while she reveled in his attention, and couldn't believe the extreme pleasure he was able to give her over and over again, she still longed for him to confess deeper feelings for her. But he never did, and she feared he never would.
Arrogant jerk.
Calling him names in silent frustration didn't help at all, she found.
She was still in love with him.
Sighing, Jen shook her head, as if shaking thoughts of Marsh from her mind-yeah, right-and rose to scoop up the bags to carry to her bedroom.
Before getting settled, she decided she had better let her mother know she was back. Lifting the phone from her nightstand, Jen hit the button for the interior of the house. Ida, the housekeeper for as long as Jen could remember, answered with the first buzz.
"Yes?"
"Hi, Ida," Jen greeted the woman warmly. "It's Jen. Is Mother there?"
"Hi, honey," the older woman replied, still using the same endearment she had always used with Jen. "No, your mother had a dental appointment this afternoon. Are you hungry?"
Jen laughed. Those words had always been the first thing Ida had asked her whenever she walked into the house. "Well, come to think of it, I could eat a snack. I haven't eaten since lunch and all I had was a slice of pizza. What are you offering?" Frowning she tacked on, "Where is Tony? I came in through the kitchen and it was empty."
"He went grocery shopping," Ida said, amusement in her voice. "He wanted some special goodies to serve you and your friends for lunch tomorrow."
"Oh, I can hardly wait," Jen said.
Ida laughed again. "Well, would you settle for a cold roast beef and cheese sandwich now?"
"Hmm, sounds good. Give me a few minutes and I'll be down."
"Take your time."
It took only minutes to hang up the skirt and blouse Jen had purchased. Leaving the apartment, she strode to the end of the hallway and clattered down the back stairs.
"Jennifer's home," Ida said, laughing as Jen entered the room. "Do you ever walk down a flight of stairs, honey?"
"Only when I'm being a lady, which isn't too often," Jen answered, walking to the woman and right into her arms. "It's good to see you, Ida."
"Oh, Jennifer," Ida said, "I miss you-your laughter, your bounding up and down stairs."
"I miss you, too." Stepping back, she sighed. "I had to go. I needed new...scenery."
Ida nodded. "I understand."
Jen suspected Ida knew and understood everything that ever happened in this house. "I know you do," she replied, lowering her gaze.
"Now, then," Ida said briskly. "Your sandwich is ready and I have a fresh pot of coffee brewing."
"You know me so well." Crossing the room to the large solid wood table, Jen seated herself in front of the plated sandwich with a pickle slice next to it.
Tony came in the back door toting two canvas grocery bags just as she was finishing the sandwich. Without much coaxing, she soon had him and Ida at the table with her, the three of them drinking coffee and chatting away, catching up with one another.
Ida had left the kitchen to go finish up what she had been doing when Jen buzzed her, Tony was in the pantry and Jen was nursing her second cup of coffee when her mother swept into the room.
"There you are," she said with a note of censure, as if Jen had no business in the kitchen.
"Yes, here I am," Jen said, rising to accept the brief hug and air-kiss her mother brushed over her cheek. "How are you, Mother?"
"I'm fine now that the dentist has taken care of the tooth that was bothering me." Her gaze touched on the cup on the table. "Is there any coffee left?"
"Yes, I'll get some for you." Scooping up her cup, Jen went to the cabinet, took out another cup, then filled both with the aromatic brew. Tony bought only the best.
Sitting close to her mother while they sipped their coffee was a novel experience for Jen-they had never done it before. Why now, after all this time? Jen wondered as she glanced at her mother, struck by how odd it was to sit with her in the kitchen.
"I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow." Her mother's eyebrows rose in question.
"I left this morning. Mr. Grainger gave me the day off."
Her mother nodded but didn't say anything about Marsh, even though Jen had expected she would. "Did you get a costume or must you still go shopping?"
"I got one. I stopped for lunch and noticed a holiday shop in a strip mall across the highway. There wasn't a large selection left but I found one."
"Are you going to tell me what it is?" her mother asked.
Jen shrugged. "It's only a gypsy outfit," she answered. "But as I said, the selection was small."
"I think a gypsy outfit will do fine."
Jen hid the smile tickling her lips. Her mother was in for a shock when she saw what Jen was going to do with the outfit. "What's your costume?"
"I'm going as a Southern lady in an antebellum costume."
What else? Jen thought. "I bet it's gorgeous. I can't wait to see it. I presume Dad's wearing the costume of the Southern gentleman?"
"Yes, of course," she answered.
Rhett Butler, of course. Jen smiled. Her parents would be a spectacular couple. Jen enjoyed the thought for a moment, until she heard Marsh's words ringing in her ears about the bedrooms at the masked ball. She looked away from her mother for a moment, trying to bring herself back to the present.