Misfit(244)
“I’m not going to take the payment he offered,” Fee swore. “Even if I decided to go back to school. I’ll find a way to pay for it myself.” She drew in a sob. “I thought Kendall needed a friend. I thought…I felt…Oh, Meggie!”
“You felt as if everyone had deserted her,” Meggie guessed.
“Yes.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. I felt the same way at one time. While it’s true Kendall does need friends, she needs to be one herself. I admired her a lot, but she never allowed me to be me. She never respected the person I wanted to be.”
“Christopher tried to warn me,” Fee confessed. “When I first started working there, he said Kendall would get me on her side and make me forget what he needed me to do.”
“He’s always maintained that she isn’t my friend. Never has been and never will be.”
He was probably right, but enough heartache was going around. She didn’t need to tell Meggie that and add to the drama.
“It hurt me at one time,” Meggie went on. “He and Johnnie are so close, I wanted Kendall and me to be. I put myself in her place, though. All the hurt and grief she went through. Knowing Johnnie had been in love with me.”
Crap. What?
Another sad smile from Meggie. “Maybe, I stuck by her out of guilt. Wanting to make up for the fact that, at one time, Johnnie compared us and tried to mold her to be like me. I hated that so much. That isn’t to say that Kendall didn’t have it in for me from the moment I said ‘hello’. Well before I knew who she was to him. She never understood how much I loved Christopher. The moment I met him, I was lost. Part of the reason Kendall walked away from Johnnie was because of me. She needed to do that, though, to make him realize her value. Guilt also drove her away. She’d come on to Christopher.”
“What a tangled history you two share.”
“Yes. I wanted you to have some insight into her. I wanted you to know that though I understand the root of her problems, her behavior is still unacceptable. I overlooked a lot from her but after what happened with that gun deal. I refuse to enable her any longer. Kendall will always have a place at my table. In my house. In my life. As Johnnie’s wife. As Christopher’s sister-in-law. But that’s it. I won’t divulge secrets to her nor will I trust her.”
“What can I do to have Christopher forgive me? Even though she blackmailed me and I told myself I wasn’t her friend anymore, she still hurt me. I’m so sorry Meggie,” she blurted again.
“Apology accepted, Fee. Let’s move on. This is just a day in the life of being Christopher’s wife.”
Fee hugged Meggie. They’d befriended each other from the moment Christopher introduced them over the last Christmas holiday the entire family had been together.
“I could’ve ruined your marriage,” she whispered, the impact of that statement hitting her hard.
“I had to get it all together in my head, Fee. Christopher wouldn’t cheat on me. My heart told me that, but my head was something completely different. Mortician once pointed out how the heart and the head don’t match sometimes.” Meggie picked at imaginary lint on her sundress. “Women are always around Christopher. I hate it, but he has his brothers to think about. My husband’s an open book to me. Why would he give me access to his phone, his computers, his mail, his pickup, his office, everything, if he intended to cheat? Were those emails and text sent from his accounts? Yes. It just wasn’t adding up, though. But you didn’t know that. That’s the anger and hurt I have to get over toward you. The fact that you could’ve hurt what me and Christopher have.”
“Zoann wouldn’t have listened to anything Val has to say,” she blurted. “She doesn’t have the patience.”
“So Kendall did intend to have Daphne screw with Val, too? Or was it either-or?”
Why had she opened her mouth? She and Meggie were talking the situation out like reasonable adults. Between Zoann’s forgiveness and Meggie’s explanations, Fee had started to feel better.
“Never mind, Fee. Your silence says it all.” Meggie wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this but since you went along with Kendall’s crazy scheme, you chose wisely. Zoann loves Val, but he would’ve had a hard road ahead before she would’ve listened to any explanation he had. It would’ve been a mess. I told Christopher that this morning when he explained what happened. He agreed, although he’s still angry. You hurt him.”
“I know. Tell me how to make it up to him.”