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After a rousing game of croquet, the gentlemen went “hunting” for the rest of the afternoon—or as Charlotte suspected, took a break. Miss Gardenside was ill, Miss Charming was charmingly petulant, and Charlotte couldn’t stop thinking of her children. She’d never gone five days without talking to them. Maybe they were going crazy missing her! The thought pierced her right through her corset.
In the yellow blaze of afternoon, she put on her bonnet and made the ten-minute walk to the inn beyond Pembrook’s gates. Mrs. Wattlesbrook wasn’t there, but Patience the maid knew of the arrangement and admitted Charlotte into Mrs. Wattlesbrook’s study, where she produced Charlotte’s purse from a locked cabinet and left her in privacy.
Charlotte pulled out her cell phone and dialed James’s number. Lu answered. Oh good! Charlotte knew that Alisha’s presence at Pembrook was supposed to be a secret, but Lu didn’t know exactly where her mom was—just that she was on vacation somewhere in England—so it wouldn’t really be telling if she shared that juicy gossip. And besides, there were no rules when it came to a mother earning points with her teenage daughter.
“Lu! I’m so happy to hear your voice. You’re never going to believe who else is here.”
“Mom, Aunt Shelby told me you hired a private detective to follow Pete.”
A pause.
“Did you hire some guy with a camera to follow Pete?”
Another pause.
“Um …” Charlotte said cleverly.
“Mom!”
Aunt Shelby! Sisters-in-law were supposed to be trustworthy. Well, she no longer felt guilty for never hanging up Shelby’s rainbow-and-smiling-sun cross-stitch.
“Honey, listen, I was worried. I just wanted to make sure he was safe … that he was worthy of—”
“I’m done with you.”
Sounds of the phone being passed along, then Beckett’s voice said, “Hello?”
Charlotte cleared her throat and tried to sound unrattled. “Hi, baby. How are you doing?”
“Fine,” he said.
“What have you been doing for fun?”
“Nothing.”
Okay. “So, tell me the favorite thing you’ve done in the past week.”
“Sleep.”
Mm-hm. “Do you sleep on the pullout couch?”
“Yep.”
“I’m having a pretty weird time. I’ll have to tell you all about it when I get home.”
“K bye.”
“Wait—I love you, Beck, and I miss you lots. Can you put your father on before you hang up?”
Sound of phone switching hands.
“Charlotte!”
This was not James. This was Justice, a.k.a. the Other Woman. Charlotte’s stomach seemed to withdraw into her body like a snail into its shell.
“Charlotte, I just want to tell you how darling the kids are. So cute. I thought you’d like to know. SO cute.”
“Thanks, Justice. I think so too.”
