“Yes,” her sister said. “I guess she is leaving him.”
“Mother getting a divorce doesn’t come as a surprise at this point,” Kelsey commented dryly.
“No,” Amy agreed, sliding her a sideways glance. “But she did like Jared…and the idea of you two having kids.”
“Yes.” As hard as she tried, Kelsey couldn’t quite keep the hostility she felt out of her voice.
“I guess he sort of jumped the gun about that, huh?” Amy commiserated with a sympathetic glance.
“Something like that.” Just the thought of his casually informing her mother that she’d have grandchildren soon made Kelsey grind her teeth. How could he have told Chloe something so patently untrue?
“I never cared for Armando,” Amy mused. “Too Continental.”
“How nice that we’ve learned to take these changes philosophically,” Kelsey said crisply. “It grows easier and easier to find a reason why our latest step-fathers should be gotten rid of.”
“Well, if he’s cheating on her…,” Amy let the comment trail off.
“Do you ever think about our father?” Kelsey asked abruptly, giving voice to a topic that had crossed her own mind more frequently of late. “Where he is? What he looks like?”
“I sometimes think about why he’s ignored us all our lives,” her sister answered matter-of-factly. “But I haven’t thought much about him lately. Why?”
Kelsey stared at the back of the cab driver’s head. “No reason.”
“Hey,” Amy said suddenly, “do you think I should have told Mom about me and Doug?”
“I don’t know,” Kelsey said, throwing her a glance and bracing herself as the taxi sped around a corner. “Is it still going well between you two?”
Amy smiled, her lips curving like a cat fat on cream. “Oh, yeah. I think we’ll move in together eventually. We’re either at his place or mine, most nights.”
“Really?” Kelsey couldn’t help the urge to caution her soft-hearted sister. “So soon? It seems kind of fast.”
The glance Amy sent her was indulgent. “I’ve known him and loved him most of my life.”
“But he hasn’t known he loves you very long,” Kelsey said, worried. She couldn’t stand the thought of Amy suffering further heartbreak over Doug.
Her sister’s sigh was filled with contentment. “We’re going sofa shopping tonight. Remember that ratty couch I’ve had for years?”
“Yes.”
“Doug’s helping pick out a new one,” Amy told her smugly.
Kelsey leaned forward, catching her sister’s hand in hers. “Amy, you know how much I love you and want you to be happy, don’t you?”
“Of course,” her sister squeezed her hand. “And I am. Just as happy with Doug as you are with Jared.”
“Good,” Kelsey said slowly, trying really hard to keep the grimness she felt off her face.
Why had Jared lied to her mother and what the hell was her husband up to now?
***
“Go right in, Mrs. Barrett,” Jared heard his secretary say as Kelsey pushed open the polished wooden door to his office.
He rose from his desk chair, his heart beating faster with a sudden surge of pleasure. She hadn’t said she was coming by.
“Oh, Mr. Barrett,” his secretary stuck her head in the door. “I made that call about the union contract. They’re still unsure of their position.”
“Thanks,” he said as she closed the door behind his wife.
Kelsey stood just inside the door, looking almost as beautiful as when he’d left her this morning, tousled and sleepy in their bed.
From the moment she’d become his wife, he’d understood why men fought and died for those they loved. He’d never imagined one woman, no matter how sexy, would evoke such powerful feelings in him.
“Sweetheart,” he said crossing the room to where she stood. “Come in.”
“Do you have to call me that?” she asked coolly.
“What?” He stopped in the act of leaning forward to kiss her.
“We agreed we wouldn’t pretend fake emotions when we’re by ourselves,” she snapped.
“Okay,” he said slowly, his mind clicking through her schedule this morning to discover what had changed his warm, responsive bride into the chilly woman before him.
“Did you get your mother on her plane?” he asked smoothly, drawing her closer. Chloe touched off all Kelsey’s worst fears.
Kelsey stepped back, avoiding his light embrace. “Why did you tell my mother we were planning on having children?”