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“Spill it, girlfriend! Now!”
“I—well, I have to talk to you privately. About another matter. Oh, it sounds so furtive and silly. Never mind, forget it. My brain is just blowing up like usual! After all, I can’t even eat the night before one of the weddings I’ve planned. Sleep is non-existent as my brain agonizes all night long.”
“Now, that’s not a good idea,” Jenna chided her. “You will eat—even after dinner. Gus has homemade brownies in the pantry. Tonight, we raid them! Right now,youare coming with me!”
Her cousin tugged on her arm, and they walked around to the perimeter wall where the stone paving ended in the pathway toward the front of the mansion. Here there was a second row of goddess statues and a second small pond.
Jenna perched on a bench and pulled Caitey next to her. “The sun is dropping, and it’s getting colder. I’m glad the ceremony will be in the early afternoon and short, so we don’t all turn into ice cubes.”
“There’s a definite chill in the air,” Caitey agreed.
When silence fell for a moment, Jenna burst out laughing, poking at Caitey’s arm. “My stomach is anticipating that delicious dinner Gus is making, so spill it, Caitey girl. I have a sneaking suspicion this is about a man. A man named Marcus Stirling.”
“Are you the bride or my psychiatric counselor?” Caitey said, stifling her laughter.
“Both at the moment. Didsomething happen with Marcus, or am I just pulling all these weird vibes out of my imagination?”
“Nothing happened. Honestly, really, nothing. Except he scared the be-jeebies out of me yesterday.”
“As you can see, he’s perfectly harmless. Andterriblygorgeous,” Jenna said, putting on a high society accent. “Of course, not as handsome as the groom, but then I’m biased . . . Okay, I’m about to smack you if you don’t spill that little secret making your lips twitch.”
“My mouth is twitching?” Caitey asked, horrified.
“Well, I exaggerate, but you know what I mean. I can practically read your mind.”
“Remember the Coffee Loft accidental meet-up yesterday, when you were all in town and I was stuck?”
“Of course. I’m rather good at remembering the day before in my life.” Now Jenna’s lips twitched with amusement.
“Okay, okay, smarty pants. Well, as we were leaving, Marcus pulled out his wallet to get out his credit card . . . and out fell a photograph of a woman. A gorgeous woman, prettier than anybody I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“His mother?” Jenna joked.
“I haven’t met his mother, of course!” Caitey teased in return. “Butno, she wasnothis mother. She was no more than thirty, absolutely stunning. Like a model or a movie star.”
“Hm. Was she blonde? Big green eyes. Like MarilynMonroe or Vivian Leigh—except that actress had gray eyes. I think. I’ll have to watchGone with the Windagain sometime.”
“Blue,” Caitey said absentmindedly.
“How can you be sure?”
“Trust me. I’ve only watchedGone with the Windabout fifteen times. My mother loves it, and we’ve been watching it every year since I was eleven. But some people say that Scarlett’s eyes were blue gray.”
“I remember visiting you for New Year’s when we were about fifteen and we all watched it together. It was my first time to see it and I cried my silly eyes out.”
Caitey turned her head at the same time Jenna turned to look at her. Their eyes locked. Then they laughed.
“Okay, back to thebigquestion at hand?” Jenna asked. “I don’t know for sure who she is, but I’ve heard her mentioned between Marcus and Logan. After all, they’ve been besties since they were children in elementary school.”
“And . . .?”
“She was an old girlfriend . . .”
“That’s pretty vague. Why would he carry a photo of an old girlfriend from eons ago. Have you ever met her?”
“No. I met Logan two years ago, and this woman was from about four years ago, give or take a few months.”
“Why would he still carry her picture?”
