Secret Son, Convenient Wife(27)

“You should join them,” Peggy encouraged.

Gemma looked down at her casual slacks and top that would have cost more than her weekly wage. “I’m not exactly dressed for it.”

“Neither are they,” Peggy pointed out with be musement.

Gemma smiled. “They’re having too much fun playing at being boys. I’ll just watch for now.”

Peggy nodded. “Well, I think I’ll leave them to it. I must clean up the breakfast dishes.”

As Gemma watched Tate be so caring and tender with his son, she suddenly felt herself blinking back tears. It must be the strain of the past two weeks, she decided, and turned to go inside.

By the time she entered the kitchen where Peggy was busy cleaning, she was fine. She poured herself a cup of coffee. “Can I pour you a cup, too, Peggy?”

The older woman looked up from stacking the dishwasher. “No, thanks, Gemm…I mean, Mrs. Chandler.”

Gemma only now realized the housekeeper hadn’t addressed her by name since the wedding yesterday. “Gemma will do nicely, Peggy. Otherwise I may not know who you’re talking to.”

“But you’re Mrs. Chandler now,” Peggy said, not looking as if she would be swayed.

“And I was Miss Watkins these past ten days and you didn’t have a problem calling me Gemma then.” She had insisted right from the start, and while Peggy had been a little reluctant at first, she’d agreed to use Gemma’s first name in private.

“I know, but that was then and this is now.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Peggy,” she teased.

“It does to me. Mr. Chandler is Mr. Chandler, and you’re Mrs. Chandler.”

Gemma laughingly held up a hand. “You’re making my head spin.”

Peggy wrinkled her nose. “It does seem silly, but please, allow me this.”

Gemma remembered how the other woman had mentioned Tate telling them to call him by his first name but they had refused, not because they didn’t like him but because they were old-fashioned.

“Okay, I give in.” Gemma paused deliberately. “For now.”

The housekeeper clucked her tongue with mild exasperation as she continued clearing up. “How are you feeling now that the wedding’s over?”#p#分页标题#e#

“Relieved,” Gemma quipped, then hoped she didn’t sound like she was all about getting married to a rich man. “I mean, relieved that the day is finally over. It was quite nerve-racking.”

Peggy nodded, her eyes understanding. “Getting married is more wearing on the nerves than not. My eldest daughter was a complete wreck. She even fainted at the altar.”

“Who fainted at the altar?” Tate said, coming into the kitchen with Nathan on his hip.

“That would be Sonya,” Clive joked, following him. “Our eldest daughter. She’s a bit of a drama queen.”

“Clive,” Peggy admonished, easing into a smile. “He’s right, though. She is a drama queen.”

“That girl is never going to change. She’s thirty now and still doing it.” Clive shook his head as he walked over to the refrigerator. “What’s that old saying about a leopard not changing its spots?”

As if he couldn’t help himself, Tate’s eyes shot to Gemma. He looked away again as fast, but she didn’t need three guesses to know he was thinking about her supposed kiss with his best friend.

“And you love her anyway,” Peggy pointed out to her husband.

Clive grinned. “Of course.”

Peggy returned the smile, then turned her attention to Nathan. “Heavens, what did you two do to that young fellow? He looks like he’s been sandblasted.”

Tate finally focused on the housekeeper. “He kept trying to eat the sand, so we’ve brought him in to show him the new activity center.”

“They’re a handful at this age,” Peggy said.

Nathan was the excuse Gemma needed. She moved to collect him from Tate’s arms. “I’d better take him upstairs for a wash first.”

Tate handed Nathan over without a word and she made her escape. But not before she’d seen the look in her husband’s eyes. He considered her a person who would never change for the better. A person worthy of his mistrust. It was just a pity he couldn’t see how inflexible he was being himself.



Surprisingly, later that day they did go for that drive, and Tate was polite but remote, as if he’d been reminded of exactly who his wife was and regretted getting close to her earlier. He was the same for the rest of the week, whether they went sightseeing or lazed about on the patio with Nathan or watched television together after dinner. The only time he’d said anything the least personal to her was when she’d been lounging on the deck chair, immersed in a book.