EXPECTANT BRIDE-TO-BE Read online

  Abby felt especially sorry for Jessica. Finding out that the woman who had raised her was a liar and a cheat had been very hard on her.

  And, of course, Larissa hadn't been totally blameless herself. No one had forced her to go along with Deidre Walker. Which could explain why she had never been truly happy. Larissa might have told herself that she'd had no choice about giving away one of her babies, but she must have always known, deep in her heart, that she had.

  With a sigh, Abby looked out the window as they entered the outskirts of Promise. They had been driving along in silence for the past thirty minutes or so, each of them caught up in their own thoughts.

  Beside her, Jack reached across the console and took her hand in his, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Looking over at him, Abby smiled gratefully.

  "Thanks," she said.

  "For what?" he asked, arching an eyebrow as he glanced at her.

  "For smoothing the way for us with Mrs. Winslow. For giving us all a strong shoulder to lean on." Though she continued to cling to his hand as if it were a lifeline, she lowered her gaze. "For just … being here."

  "There's nowhere else I'd rather be, Abby, than here with you," he assured her.

  Jack drove through downtown Promise, then turned onto the street that led to her mother's house. As they drew closer, Abby saw that Jessica's rental car was still parked at the curb. But there was also a larger, more luxurious car, a limousine actually, parked behind it.

  "Looks like you have another visitor," Jack observed, slowing to pull into the driveway.

  "Mother—" Jessica said, apparently recognizing the car, anger riding over the surprise in her voice.

  "Come to do a little damage control, I imagine," Sarah added, her tone matter-of-fact. "Considering how fast on her feet she was when I showed up in Willow Springs with Ryan, we should have known she wouldn't waste any time heading for Promise once she found out we were here."

  "I wonder what she planned to say to us about Abby and Larissa," Jessica mused. "How she thought she could carry on her deception…"

  "She could have gone on claiming ignorance of my existence as well as Sarah's," Abby said. "We wouldn't have known any different if we hadn't talked to Henrietta Winslow."

  "I doubt she considered the possibility that we would find her," Jessica added. "But we did."

  As Jack turned off the car's engine, the limousine driver stepped out and opened one of the rear doors. A moment later, Abby saw a petite blond woman emerge.

  Though she was elegantly dressed in a knee-length, tailored white linen skirt and a flattering, royal-blue, short-sleeved sweater, and decked out in enough gold-and-diamond jewelry to fund a small army, there was a distinctly frazzled look about her.

  Her silvery-gold hair wasn't quite as neatly styled as Abby imagined it usually was, and her makeup appeared to be less than expertly applied.

  "Do you want me to run interference for you?" Jack asked as Abby and her sisters sat in the car. "I can get rid of her, at least for awhile. That would give you time to sort out what you want to say to her."

  "I don't know about Abby and Sarah, but I'd just as soon deal with her now," Jessica replied.

  Abby and Sarah murmured in agreement. Since Jessica would be taking the lead, and she seemed more than ready for the coming showdown, all they would really have to do was lend their support.

  "You'll stay close, though, won't you, Jack?" Abby asked. "Just in case…"

  "Wild horses couldn't drag me away," he vowed with a grin. "Okay, ladies, ready?"

  "Ready," they answered in unison

  As Abby, Sarah and Jessica, along with Jack, climbed out of the car, Deidre skidded to a halt on the sidewalk.

  "Oh, my goodness," she called out in a syrupy voice. "Don't tell me you have another sister, Jessica, darling."

  "All right, Mother, I won't," Jessica replied, her own voice tightly controlled.

  "But, sweetie, you can't think that I knew—"

  Taking Deidre by the arm, Jessica cut in brusquely, "I think we'd better go inside, Mother. Then you can tell us all about what you knew and didn't know twenty-seven years ago. Unless Abby and Sarah have any objections."

  "None at all," Sarah said.

  "No, not a one," Abby agreed, slipping her key into the lock and opening the door.

  Inside, Deidre broke free of Jessica's hold on her arm and strode into the living room, arms spread wide.

  "Well, isn't this … quaint," she cooed, offering Abby a smile that didn't quite hide the panic glittering in her eyes. "This is where you grew up … Abby?"

  "Yes," Abby answered her, somewhat unnerved by the woman.

  She had the kind of mow-you-over, my-way-or-the-highway personality that Abby had always found extremely intimidating.

  Sarah, who had had a taste of Deidre Walker's forcefulness already, seemed quietly amused by the woman's posturing. And Jessica, who had grown up under Deidre's domineering thumb, made no effort to hide her outrage at the woman's continuing attempt at deception as she squared off with her.

  "Sit down, Mother," she said, pointing to the chair, her tone brooking no argument.

  "Now, Jessica, darling, there's no need—"

  "We went to see Henrietta Winslow this afternoon," Jessica continued as if Deidre hadn't spoken. "You remember her, don't you? She's the midwife who delivered us."

  Deidre stared at Jessica in silence, unable to hide her horror as she sank slowly onto the edge of the chair cushion. After a moment, she blinked her eyes and looked away. Folding her hands primly in her lap, she tipped her pointed chin at a defiant angle.

  "I'm sure I don't know who you're talking about, sweetie. As I've already told both you and Sarah, I thought Lawrence's mistress had only one baby, the baby I adopted—you, Jessica."

  "But you were there when we were born, Mother, posing as Cecelia Winthrop. Mrs. Winslow identified you from the photograph I have in my wallet," Jessica said. Hands on her hips, she stood facing Deidre, with Abby and Sarah on either side of her. "You didn't adopt me through some nameless intermediary as you've always said. You met with Larissa Summers face-to-face and struck a deal with her. And when three babies were born instead of the two you were expecting, it was your idea to keep Larissa in the dark about it. You took two of us for yourself, instead, but when Sarah got sick, you abandoned her at a hospital like so much unwanted baggage."

  Seeming to realize that she had been irrefutably found out, Deidre lifted her hands to her chest in a fluttery motion.

  "Nothing went the way I'd planned," she whined piteously, though Abby saw the sly glimmer in her eyes. "I thought I was doing the Summers woman a favor, taking two of her brats—uh, babies—off her hands. Then you started having trouble breathing." She shot a reproachful look Sarah's way. "I had to dump you or I would have been in big trouble." Deidre shifted her gaze back to Jessica. "Just think of the kind of life you would have had then, darling. I just wanted the best for you—"

  "Too bad you didn't want the best for all of us," Jessica retorted. "Especially when you could have gotten it for us simply by telling Grandfather about Larissa in the first place. He would have taken care of her and of us, too."

  "Oh, but I couldn't do that," Deidre replied with a dismissive flutter of her bejeweled fingers. "Stuart would have had that horrible, lowlife woman living in my house, taking my place in the Walker family."

  Abby felt a searing wave of pain wash over her at Deidre's cruel comment. An instant later, Jack came up beside her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, thankful for his support and understanding.

  "You're talking about our birth mother," Jessica reminded Deidre in an icy voice. "And the house in Willow Springs isn't yours, it's Grandfather's. As for your place there, it's going to be nonexistent once we tell Stuart what you've done."

  "Oh, no, you can't do that. You can't, you can't, you can't." Her voice rising to a piercing shriek, Deidre leapt to her feet and went after Jessica, her hands curled into
claws, her eyes flashing maniacally.

  Only Jack's quick reflexes prevented her from gouging Jessica's face with her long, ruby-red nails.

  Deidre struggled with Jack for several seconds, but even in her agitated state, she was no match for him. At his instruction, Abby went out to the car to retrieve his medical bag. By the time she returned, Deidre was sitting on the chair again, arms clasped around her middle, rocking back and forth, muttering to herself incoherently.

  "I don't think I'm going to have to give her a sedative, after all," Jack said. "I've called an ambulance, though. She's going to need to be hospitalized, at least temporarily."

  "It's my fault," Jessica murmured, her remorse evident in her voice.

  "She had to be told that we knew the truth," Sarah stated pragmatically, leading Jessica to the sofa and sitting down with her. "The way she was behaving, there was no nice way to do it."

  "Our lives could have been so different if she had been a different kind of person," Abby added, standing close beside Jack as he kept a professional eye on Deidre.

  "You're both right, of course," Jessica agreed.

  When the ambulance arrived a few minutes later, Jack saw to it that Deidre was handled gently. He also rode along to the hospital with her to spare Jessica that unfortunate task, promising to make sure she received the best care available.

  Abby offered to let Jessica and Sarah use her mother's room, but both women insisted on returning to their motel for the night.

  Jessica wanted to call their grandfather and apprise him of the situation with Deidre, as well as her discovery of a third sister in Promise, Nevada. She also wanted to talk to her fiancé, Sam, and Sarah, too, was eager to get in touch with her fiancé, Ryan.

  After agreeing to meet at the house the next morning, they exchanged hugs and said goodbye. Stopping only to send Deidre's driver back to Willow Springs, Jessica and Sarah left in Jessica's rental car, and Abby went inside the house again, relieved to be on her own, after all. Considering the day they'd had, she needed some time to herself, and obviously, Jessica and Sarah had felt the same way.

  Alone in the quiet house, Abby curled up on the sofa, mentally sifting through all she had learned that day about Larissa and herself, about her sisters and the Walker family, and about Jack—dear, sweet, wonderful Jack, who had stood by her so staunchly.

  In the flurry of loading Deidre into the ambulance, he hadn't had a chance to say if he would come back that night. Keeping in mind all that he had been through, Abby didn't really expect him to. In fact, he probably needed some quiet time of his own.

  But it would be so nice if he did return, even for a little while, she thought, smiling as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  * * *

  Chapter 24

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  Jack had decided that if Sarah and Jessica were still with Abby when he finished checking Deidre into the hospital, he would go on home to his apartment. But when he pulled up to her mother's house just after eight-thirty, their rental car was no longer parked at the curb.

  The house itself looked dark and deserted, as if Abby might not be there, either. She could be with her sisters, perhaps finishing a late dinner. Or she could be with her grandparents, filling them in on all she had learned about her mother, her sisters, and her ties to the Walker family.

  Jack suspected she was actually at home, though, dealing with the events of the day on her own, trying to make sense of all that had happened, past and present, and considering how it would affect her future.

  Abby had a whole new family now—sisters to share her joys and sorrows, and a very, very wealthy grandfather who would surely be eager to make up for lost time with his newfound granddaughter.

  Jack was really happy about Abby's sudden, unexpected good fortune. At the same time, though, he couldn't help but be afraid that somehow he would be edged out of her life. Granted, she had leaned on him during the worst of the ordeal she had gone through with Henrietta Winslow and Deidre Walker. But his had been the only strong shoulder available.

  That wouldn't be the case once Stuart Walker arrived on the scene. He could easily sweep Abby off into a whirl of excitement that wouldn't necessarily include a small-town pediatrician, no matter how much the pediatrician loved her.

  Jack didn't want to keep Abby from having all the wonderful experiences Stuart Walker would want to provide for her. But he didn't want to lose her, either.

  He hadn't had a chance to tell her how much he loved her during the long afternoon and early evening they had spent with Sarah and Jessica. And now, with everything else that had occurred, he wasn't sure he should—at least not just yet.

  He couldn't just drive away, though. Not without checking to see if she was at home.

  Jack parked his car in the driveway and walked to the front door, trying not to get his hopes up. He rang the bell and waited; glanced at his watch and rang the bell one more time. He was about to turn away when, to his vast relief, the porch light came on and the door opened slowly.

  Abby peered out at him through bleary eyes, her loose ponytail coming undone, her T-shirt and denim jumper rumpled. In an instant, her expression brightened. Smiling, she reached out for him.

  "Oh, Jack, I was hoping you would come back," she said as she stepped into his embrace.

  He hugged her hard against him, then kissed the top of her head.

  "But I woke you up."

  "Good thing, too. I dozed off on the sofa. Much longer on those lumpy cushions and I would have been too stiff and sore to stand up." She took a step back and looked up at him. "Can you stay?"

  "Until you put me out," he assured her with a grin.

  "Not a chance of that tonight." She smiled, too, with more than a hint of flirtation, then took him by the hand and led him into the house.

  Jack had just closed the door when Abby's stomach growled, making her giggle.

  "Have you eaten since lunch?" he asked, frowning down at her.

  "No," she admitted. "So much was going on that I forgot. Then everyone left, and I was so tired that I fell asleep on the sofa." She reached up and unfastened what was left of her ponytail. "Now what I want even more than food is a long, hot shower."

  "Go have one while I rustle up something for us to eat."

  "Oh, thank you," she murmured as she stretched tall to give him a kiss on the cheek. "That would be lovely."

  "My pleasure," he replied, cupping her face in his hand and feathering a light kiss of his own on her lips.

  At least he had meant it to be a light kiss. Once in progress, it quickly deepened into something that had him wanting to follow her into the shower as he had done the night before. Only his promise to fix her a meal had him turning toward the kitchen as she headed down the hallway.

  Jack found a large container of homemade vegetable soup labeled with her grandmother's handwriting in the refrigerator and a package of yeast rolls in the freezer. By the time Abby joined him, looking somewhat refreshed in her short, sexy, royal blue silk robe, he had the table set, the soup pot bubbling and the rolls ready to come out of the oven.

  "Mmm, smells wonderful," Abby said as she slid onto a chair by the table.

  "All compliments of your grandmother, I believe," Jack replied as he ladled soup into their bowls.

  "She's been spoiling me with all of her cooking and baking."

  After Jack joined her at the table, they ate in silence for a few minutes. Then Abby asked him about Deidre.

  "For the time being, she'll be under the care of our staff psychiatrist at the hospital here in Promise," Jack explained. "But it's more than likely that she's going to need long-term care which I'm sure Jessica and Stuart will want to arrange for her in the Willow Springs area."

  "Will she be all right?"

  "Physically, yes, but I'm not really sure about her mental well-being. She went into a catatonic state this evening. Whether she ever comes out of it is anybody's guess. She's done some terrible things, and she may never be able to
face the repercussions."

  "In a way, that was true of my mother, too," Abby admitted sadly. "She spent all the years since she gave birth to me and my sisters running away from what she had done in one way or another. All of our lives could have been so different if she and Deidre had made other choices."

  "For what it's worth, I don't think either one of them meant you, Sarah or Jessica any harm," Jack said, reaching across the table to cover her hand with his.

  "I don't think so, either." With a weary smile, Abby pushed her empty bowl away, then added, "And we've found each other, at last. That, alone, makes up for a lot."

  "I would say it does, too," Jack agreed, eyeing Abby closely from across the table. "I'd also say it's time I tucked you into bed. You look beat."

  "Let me help with the dishes, first," she protested, though only halfheartedly.

  "I'll take care of the cleanup." He came around the table, took her by the hand and pulled her to her feet.

  Abby went along with him willingly, yawning hugely as they walked down the hallway to her bedroom. She had left the lamp on the nightstand lit, and in its warm glow she looked lovelier than ever to Jack.

  She slipped out of her robe unselfconsciously, and slid, naked, under the bedcovers. Scooting over to the wall, she patted the narrow space beside her.

  "Stay with me awhile?" she asked, her gaze holding his.

  "Until you put me out," he answered her as he'd done earlier.

  "Not a chance of that tonight," she, too, repeated.

  Jack took only a few moments to shed his clothes—consigning the dinner dishes to a morning scrubbing. Then he lay down beside Abby and turned off the lamp.

  She snuggled close to him, deliciously warm, the faint scent of her lavender soap clinging to her delicate skin, and yawned again.

  "Sorry," she said, laughing softly.

  "Don't be."

  He gently turned her so she faced away from him, then curved his body around hers, spoon-style, one hand cupping her belly, the other cradling her breast.

  "Just sleep," he murmured against her hair. She put a hand over his and sighed quietly as she relaxed against him.