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did he think that, as his mother, Margaret Fraser should be? It wasn't a very
realistic view if he did believe that. Even Darcy, who absolutely worshipped
her father, didn't expect him to be infallible.
Logan gave an impatient shake of his head. 'I can't believe you let her fool
you,' he said almost angrily.
Darcy leaned forward over the table. 'Logan, what I did or didn't think of
your mother is not important,' she told him softly. 'It isn't my opinion that
counts,' she reasoned, having come to that conclusion all too painfully
herself over the last few days.
He didn't look convinced. 'Don't tell me, your father, even though she's
broken their engagement, still thinks she's wonderful!'
'My father,' she began slowly, 'is far from the stupid man you take him to
be.' And far from the besotted widower she had believed him to be, too!
She and her father had talked long into the night after Darcy had
accompanied Margaret Fraser back to her apartment, and Darcy was utterly
sure now that he knew exactly what he was doing, that he loved the other
woman in spite of her faults. As the actress obviously loved him in return.
She moistened dry lips, swallowing hard before she began speaking, aware
even now that, at almost twelve o'clock, her father should really have
returned to the kitchen by now, that he was deliberately allowing her this
time alone with Logan. 'Logan, the engagement is very much back on,' she
informed him gently. 'In fact, the two of them are going to be married—'
'You can't be serious!' he cut in incredulously.
'Perfectly,' Darcy affirmed.
He gave a disgusted snort. 'That is not a word I ever associate with my
mother!'
Darcy sighed, wishing there were some way she could help alleviate the
pain he had known in the past that had caused him to feel this way about his
mother. But at the same time knowing, as Margaret Fraser did herself, that
until Logan was receptive to what she wanted to say to him concerning the
past, that she, and Darcy, would be wasting their breath.
'Nevertheless, the two of them are going to be married,' she continued
determinedly.
His gaze was glacial now. 'I hope you aren't expecting me to offer them my
congratulations?'
She shook her head sadly. 'I think that might be expecting a bit much,' she
conceded.
'But no doubt you've given them yours',' he guessed. 'And—don't tell
me—you're going to be a bridesmaid!' he scorned.
Darcy drew in a quick breath. 'Logan, has no one ever told you that
bitterness is simply a form of self- destruction? That—'
'I believe I have already made my views on your amateur psychology more
than plain,' he cut in coldly.
'Oh, yes, Logan, you can be assured you've made your views on several
subjects more than plain!' She was becoming angry herself now. 'But it just
so happens you aren't a primary player in this particular situation. As I'm
not.' Something she had learnt all too painfully over the last couple of days!
'So, like mine, your opinion is not of particular importance to either your
mother or my father.'
'In other words, our parents are going to marry each other, with or without
our blessing,' Logan acknowledged hardly.
Darcy nodded. 'But they would obviously rather it was with.' She looked at
Logan expectantly.
He remained impassive. 'You might feel prepared to play happy families,
Darcy,' he told her. 'But I am not.'
She looked across at him with narrowed eyes, her frustration with this
situation rapidly rising. 'Meaning?'
'Meaning they will have to get married without my blessing. In fact, as I
have no intention of attending the wedding, they will have to get married
without my being present at all!'
He was so obstinate, so stubborn, so uncompromising! What was it really
going to cost him to be present at his own mother's wedding? Nothing as far
as she could see. Unless he considered his own personal pride more
important than wishing the older couple well?
Nevertheless, she tried one last time to reach him. 'Logan, you're being
unreasonable—'
The loud slamming down of his empty mug interrupted her, Logan's own
expression one of fury now. 'I don't see what's in the least unreasonable
about it. I certainly wasn't present at my mother's first wedding—'
'You weren't even born!' At least, she presumed he wasn't...?
'Correct,' he confirmed icily. 'But I was very much alive when her second
marriage took place, and, as she and Malcolm sneaked off to be married and
told the family about it afterwards, I didn't attend that one either. I see
absolutely no reason to break the habit of a lifetime!'
Darcy stood up, two spots of angry colour in her otherwise pale cheeks.
'You're not twelve years old now, Logan.'
He remained in his seat. 'No matter how old I was, my answer would still be
