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After he ordered, he tried to figure out just how much more he had to do for his family. There were one or two more legal issues, but the real estate situation was taken care of, as were the banking problems. At this point, all he wanted to do was to wrap things up and go home to Chicago. He frankly didn’t care if he never saw Pleasantville again.
Just as the gum-chewing waitress deposited a plate full of artery-hardening breakfast on the table in front of him, the café door opened. As Darren entered, Jack looked away. He did not want to talk to anyone, particularly his ex-brother-in-law.
Unfortunately, Darren had other ideas. “Can I sit down?”
“Do I have any other choice?”
Darren took the seat opposite him in the booth. “I need to talk to you. About Angela. She came to see me last night and told me what happened with Kate.”
Jack raised a brow, practically daring Darren to make one slimy comment about Kate. “And?”
“Apparently Kate said something to Angela that made her do some serious thinking. About us.”
“You and Angela?”
“Yeah. She asked me if I’d left her because I thought she faked being pregnant to get me to marry her.”
Jack calmly took a sip of coffee. “Did you?”
Darren answered with a slow nod. “I was convinced she’d made it up, that there had never been any baby. Because I’d overheard your parents arguing about it one night. Your father accused Angela of being like your mother, who’d done the same thing to him.”
Jack could only shake his head. Kate had been right about that much of the story, it seemed.
Before Darren said anything else, the door to the café opened again and Angela came in. Her face was lit up by a huge smile, and her eyes sparkled as she looked around the room. She spotted Darren and walked toward them. Her steps slowed when she realized he was sitting with Jack. Squaring her shoulders, she sat opposite him, sliding easily under Darren’s outstretched arm. The two of them might as well have started cooing like doves.
Jack raised a brow. “I see you’ve worked things out.”
Darren nodded. “Angela made me realize how wrong I’d been.”
Angela had the grace to admit, “I had no idea, Jack, about Mother and Dad. It never occurred to me what Darren thought until Kate accused me of it last night. I had to make sure he knew the truth. I wanted to be sure Darren understood how much I grieved for our very real baby.” She swallowed hard. “I guess I owe Kate one.”
Well, let’s give a round of applause for Kate, matchmaker and revenge seeker extraordinaire.
“You should probably know,” Angela continued, “Darren confirmed what Kate told me. About Dad and Edie being together before he married Mother. I guess…well, it doesn’t make it right, what they did, but I think I can see Kate’s side a little better now.” Angela cast a quick, nervous glance at Darren. He smiled and nudged her, obviously trying to give her courage. “I also, uh, should tell you, I know you only heard part of our conversation. Kate wasn’t the only one who said nasty things, Jack. I was pretty mean to her first.”
Angela expressing regret? He could hardly believe it. “If it’s any consolation,” Jack said, “whatever happened with Armand, whatever revenge you think he got on you? I don’t think Kate was involved. He’s just very loyal to her.”
Angela stared at him. “You’re in love with her.”
He gave her a rueful look. “Crazy, huh?”
“Wow.” His sister bit her lip, looking more nervous. “Jack, one of the mean things I said to her was that you, uh…”
Starting to feel very anxious, Jack leaned closer. “What?”
Darren took her hand, squeezing it to give her courage. “Come on, Ang. New leaf, remember?”
Angela spoke in a rush. “I told her you could never love her. And that you’d never marry a trashy Tremaine woman any more than our father ever would have.”
Jack sat silently for a minute, beginning to understand, to make sense out of what had happened yesterday.
Probably without even realizing it, Angela had pushed exactly the right button to hurt Kate the most. Because in spite of how put-together, confident and successful a woman she was today, there was still that vulnerable, defensive, wrong-side-of-the-tracks kid lurking underneath Kate’s beautiful exterior.
