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Her chin came up. "And just what did Devlin tell you?"
"Climb down off your high horse; he didn't say a thing. Flo told me what happened."
"And you think it wasn't important? That I should just forget I ever saw him kissing that woman?"
"I didn't say that. Maybe it was important and maybe it wasn't. What I do know is that nobody ever solved their problems by not talking about them. I also know that ever since you brought Devlin home, you've been mighty quick to believe the worst about him. And you've been wrong before."
"Maybe so," Jess admitted grudgingly, "but I'm not wrong now. I know what I saw."
Her father gave her a searching look in the darkness. "You absolutely sure you're not being a bit unreasonable?"
She wasn't
sure about anything anymore, except that she wanted to bury her face in her lap and cry. Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, she maintained her defensiveness. "I don't think I'm being the least unreasonable. What would you do if you had found Mama kissing another man?"
Evidently it was the wrong thing to say, for Riley stiffened. "I'd marry her," he said quietly.
The subdued bitterness in his tone made Jess realize she had struck a raw nerve. She bit her lip, not wanting to hurt Riley more, yet needing to know. "Mama wasn't . . . unfaithful to you, was she?"
He gave a slow, deep sigh. "Not that I ever knew, except maybe in her heart. She never did get over losing Burke."
"He told me a little about her," Jess said quietly. "He said he loved her but he didn't realize it till it was too late."
"She should have married him. She would have been better off with him than me."
"No, how can you say that?"
"Jenny Ann never came right out and told me, but I always knew she regretted marrying me. I couldn't give her the nice things Burke could. . . . I couldn't even give her a child."
"I don't believe that was the way she saw it."
"She never loved me. Not like she did Burke."
Jess shook her head. Riley might believe that, but deep down, she knew differently. Since she'd fallen hopelessly in love with Devlin, she'd become a lot more sensitive to things like that. She knew now how her mother had felt loving Ashton Burke. And yet all the precious memories she had of her mother couldn't be wrong. Jenny Ann's feelings for Riley had been deep and abiding. That kind of love had been far stronger than the infatuation she'd once felt for Ashton Burke.
"The way Mama loved you was a lot better than the way she loved Burke," Jess declared with conviction. "She knew you were the better man."
"Well, maybe," Riley said after a long moment. "Thing is, Jess, I don't want to see you end up with the same regrets as your ma did. Remember that wild star she used to talk about? A star's darn hard to get a hold of, just like love. And if you do catch it, you better not let go."
Jess fell silent. She'd always known her mother was referring to Ashton Burke with that analogy, but she'd never given it the same interpretation Riley did. "I thought Mama meant that you shouldn't spend your life wishing for something you could never have. And more than that . . . I think maybe she was talking about Burke himself. She was saying that he's just like a wild star—all flash and no substance."
"Garrett Devlin has substance. You knew it the first time you laid eyes on him. You never would have brought him home, otherwise."
She couldn't argue with that. Devlin had proven over and over again that he wasn't the same kind of man as Ashton Burke, even if he was rich and powerful.
"I think you ought to go catch yourself that wild star," Riley said softly.
"But . . . what if Devlin doesn't want to be caught?"
"He wants to, Jess."
"How can you tell?"
"He came back here, didn't he? Why else would he move out to Colorado unless he meant to settle down?"
"Maybe he figures he can make more money here than in Chicago."
"Maybe he figures money isn't as important as the love of a good woman."
