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“God only knows with that girl. Blaine, the party? Can you talk to a few people and act as if everything is all right?”
“I’ll go with him,” Marjorie said, slipping her arm through his. “My oldest daughter just told me she was pregnant. I didn’t want to take away from David by telling anyone, but under the circumstances…”
Idiot, Elizabeth thought grimly. “Yes, please. Tell everyone you’re about to have another grandchild. How delightful.”
She walked away thinking that of course Marjorie was the type to happily announce she was a grandmother. She probably called it “aging with grace” instead of “letting oneself go,” too.
She left her husband with Marjorie and started looking for Jayne. At leastshewould understand the disaster and give her an honest assessment of the situation. People tended not to notice Jayne and speak as if she wasn’t in the room.
Elizabeth spotted her heading into the kitchen and went to catch up with her. As she moved across the room she saw Rebecca with a tall, good-looking man. He was casually dressed, but his clothes were expensive. Not American, she thought. English, perhaps? She walked faster.
Jayne stood by the large kitchen island with a list in her hands. Probably confirming the entrées were ready to go out to the buffet table, Elizabeth thought, relieved to know she could always count on Jayne.
“Leave them to deal with the food,” she said, motioning for Jayne to follow her into the pantry, where they would have some privacy. The small room was maybe twelve feet square, with rows of shelves, two freezers, and a long counter and sink for prep work. “How bad is it?”
Jayne didn’t pretend to misunderstand. Sympathy flared in her brown eyes. “From what I can tell, about ten or fifteen people heard the whole thing. They’re spreading the word.”
“Of course. I’m sure they’re exaggerating the story.”
“I’m not sure they have to. She was fairly brutal. Jonathan stalked out into the garden. I don’t know if he’s left.”
“He’s probably sulking,” Elizabeth said absently, wondering if there was any way to save the party. “Jonathan has always been sulky.” She pressed her lips together before she said too much. “Would you go check on him? If he’s still lingering, pretend concern and get him to leave.”
“Sure.” She moved toward the door.
Elizabeth grabbed her arm. “Wait. There’s a man with Rebecca. Tall, dark, very nice looking. Mid-thirties. Scar on his chin. Probably not American. Do you know who he is?”
Jayne stepped back and clasped her hands together in front of her waist. “Um, yes. Probably. His name is Nigel. He’s Australian. I didn’t know he was coming here.”
“So Rebecca knows him?”
“They were involved for a while. It didn’t work out.”
“No doubt my daughter is responsible for that,” Elizabeth snapped. God forbid Rebecca make a relationship work. “What does he do? Is there money in the family? Is it possible she’s found someone wealthy and appropriate? Dare I hope?”
Jayne’s eyes narrowed. “I’m sure the question you meant to ask is, Who is he as a person? Is he good for her? Does he make her happy? Isn’t that more important than any money he might have?”
Elizabeth couldn’t have been more surprised if the can of beans on the shelf next to her had spoken. “How dare you?” she breathed. “You areneverto speak to me like that again. You forget yourself; you forget who I am and what you owe me.”
“I’m clear on who you are,” Jayne told her, sounding more angry than contrite. “It’s my role that gets confusing. Not the hired help, exactly. I don’t get paid for what I do. As for Nigel, he’s part owner of a diamond mine. So yes, he has some money. From your perspective, I’m guessing that’s good enough. Wealth makes up for a lot. At least for you. Little else matters, right?”
Fury burned hot and bright, making Elizabeth want to slap her. “Get out,” she breathed. “Get out of my house. After all this time and all I’ve done for you, I finally see the person you are. Ungrateful. Disrespectful. When I think of how foolishly I took care of you. This is my reward? You disgust me.”
“Then we’re even. And Elizabeth, in case you were wondering, you’re the reason I’m moving a thousand miles away.”
Jayne walked out of the pantry. She felt oddly disconnected from her body, as if she were floating alongside of it.
She couldn’t explain what had happened. Something inside of her had snapped. One second she’d been feeling bad about how Rebecca had humiliated her family, and the next she’d wanted to shove a pie in Elizabeth’s unnaturally tight face. It was the other woman’s comments about Rebecca. And, okay, the fight with David.
Every one of the Wordens was insane, with the possible exception of Blaine. He was too clueless about what was going on to qualify as crazy. David wanted to bring her to the “let’s find a wife” party as his date and then had gotten pissed when she’d refused. Rebecca chose to embarrass a perfectly nice man whose only flaw was in adoring her a little too much and not being the married man she was still in love with. Elizabeth was a psycho bitch determined to maintain appearances, despite whatever reality threw at her. For her, there was only the perfect son and the mistake of a daughter.
Jayne didn’t have whatever was necessary to live in this world anymore. She’d done her best to thank Elizabeth for taking her in. She’d been an unpaid servant for years. It had to be enough. She was done. Totally and completely done.
Texas would be better, she promised herself. Quiet and normal. She would find a nice guy to fall in love with. Someone whose idea of a good time was dinner with family or taking his dog for a walk. She couldn’t even care if he liked to spend all Sunday afternoon watching football.
She wanted normal. Boring. Right now, boring looked really, really good.
She opened the closet and pulled out her small handbag.
